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\ SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#164
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\
12-15-98
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\ SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR
BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
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\ http://www.sw-center.org
/
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1. MORE GILA RIVER GRAZING
PERMITS CHALLENGED- SUIT TARGETS
500,000 ACRES ON TONTO
N.F.
2. SW CENTER TO CHALLENGE FOREST SERVICE ON 950 GRAZING
PERMITS
3. SCIENTISTS, ACTIVISTS CHALLENGE SAN DIEGO MULTIPLE
SPECIES
CONSERVATION PLAN
4. GROUPS ALLOWED TO INTERVENE
ON BEHALF OF ENDANGERED WOLVES
5. NM STATE SENATOR TO PROPOSE ELIMINATION
OF ENDANGERED SPECIES
PROTECTION BY
STATE
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***** ***** *****
MORE GILA RIVER
GRAZING PERMITS CHALLENGED- SUIT TARGETS
500,000 ACRES ON TONTO N.F.
On
12-16-98, the Southwest Center filed suit against the Tonto
National Forest
for refusing to protect endangered species from
the impacts of cattle grazing
on 25 grazing allotments. Though
livestock are endangering the Gila
topminnow, Bald eagle,
Southwestern willow flycatcher, Cactus ferruginous
pygmy owl,
Arizona hedgehog cactus, Razorback sucker, and Mexican
spotted
owl, the Forest Service has refused to formally consult with
the
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service on the management of grazing on
the
500,000 acres targeted by the suit.
Part of a larger campaign to restore
wildlife and water quality in
the Gila River Basin, this suit follows two
previous Southwest
Center suits against 139 grazing permits on the Gila,
Apache-
Sitgreaves, Tonto, Coronado, Prescott, and Coconino
National
Forests, and a third suit against all grazing on the BLM's
Safford
Resource District. A fourth suit by Forest Guardians added
60
additional permits to the total.
The new suit is being argued by
Jay Touchton of EarthLaw.
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SW CENTER TO CHALLENGE FOREST SERVICE ON 950
GRAZING PERMITS
The Southwest Center informed the U.S. Forest Service on
12-15-98
that it will challenge the agency's claim that livestock
grazing
will not jeopardize the continued existence of numerous
endangered
birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles and mammals. In
response to suits by the
Southwest Center and Forest Guardians,
the Forest Service issued "effect
determinations" on 950 grazing
allotments, claiming that only one was likely
to jeopardize
endangered species. In order to avoid further
jeopardy
determinations, the agency illegally limited its review to a
1-3
year period, even though permits last for 10 years. This is akin to
a
doctor telling a terminally ill cancer patient that all is fine
because he
won't die in the next three months.
______________________
SCIENTISTS, ACTIVISTS CHALLENGE SAN DIEGO MULTIPLE
SPECIES
CONSERVATION PLAN
On 12-10-98, a coalition of eight conservation
groups led by the
Southwest Center filed suit against a massive and deeply
flawed
plan to allow San Diego area developers to kill endangered
species
and destroy their habitats in return for vague mitigation
promises. Though
the groups did
not secure a temporary restraining order barring the
destruction of
66 vernal pools, the suit extends to potentially hundreds
of
development projects to be authorized under San Diego's
Multiple
Species Conservation Plan.
Ill planned development has already destroyed
95% of southern
California vernal pools. Far from conserving those that
remain,
the Plan would allow the destruction of 12%. Affidavits in
support
of the suit were filed by two of southern California's
most
renowned vernal pool ecologists, both of whom have worked with
the
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service on the recovery of endangered
vernal pool
species.
The suit is being argued by Neil Levine of EarthLaw, Dan
Rohlf
of the Pacific Environmental Advocacy Center, and Tara Mueller
of
the Natural Heritage Institute.
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GROUPS ALLOWED TO INTERVENE ON BEHALF OF ENDANGERED
WOLVES
A Federal judge has allowed Defenders of Wildlife, the
Southwest
Center and a dozen other environmental groups to intervene in
a
lawsuit brought by the livestock industry to stop the Mexican gray
wolf
recovery plan. The industry claims that the wolves should be
removed from the
Gila Headwaters Ecosystem, because wild
wolves already exist there, and
because the introduced wolves are
coyote/wolf hybrids. Federal and academic
scientists dispute both
claims. As interveners, we will be able to
independently defend
the recovery program.
Defenders of Wildlife is
representing the intervening groups.
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NM STATE SENATOR TO PROPOSE ELIMINATION OF ENDANGERED
SPECIES
PROTECTION BY STATE
Perenial foe of environmental protection, NM
State Senator Tim
Jennings (D-Roswell), will introduce legislation this
January to
eliminate the state's endangered species act (the NM
Wildlife
Conservation Act) and the state's Conservation Services
Division.
The latter houses a technical guidance group that comments on
timber
sales, mines, grazing permits, etc., and the state's
Endangered
Species Program. New Mexico has 119 state listed species
(47
endangered, 72 threatened), including 23 fish, 6 amphibians,
14
reptiles, 33 birds, 16 mammals, 25 mollusks, and 2
crustaceans.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Kierán
Suckling
ksuckling@sw-center.org
Executive
Director
520.623.5252 phone
Southwest Center for Biological
Diversity 520.623.9797 fax
http://www.sw-center.org
pob 710, tucson, az 85702-710