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SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
http//www.sw-center.org
#176
3-17-99
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o
ENVIROS, CHRISTIANS SUE TO PROTECT HABITAT OF SEVEN IMPERILED SPECIES
o SUIT
FILED TO LIST TINY UTAH FISH AS ENDANGERED
o FOUR MORE MEXICAN GRAY WOLVES
RELEASED INTO WILD
o RELIGIOUS, SCIENTIFIC, ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS CALL FOR
MORATORIUM
ON PERMITS TO KILL ENDANGERED
SPECIES
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ENVIROS,
CHRISTIANS SUE TO PROTECT HABITAT OF SEVEN IMPERILED SPECIES
In what the San
Francisco Chronicle called "the most significant
manifestation to date of a
growing political phenomenon -- the
conjoining of Christians and secular
environmentalists to 'save God's
creatures.,'" the Center for Biological
Diversity and Christians Caring
for Creation filed suit in a San Francisco
Federal Court on 3-4-99 to
protect the habitat of seven imperiled species
which range from northern
Alaska to southern California.
The suit
charges that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service failed to
formally map out
and protect critical habitat for the following species:
- The
Alameda whipsnake- a slender black-and-yellow reptile which has
declined because of urban sprawl and overgrazing in the East Bay
hills of California.
- The Zayante band-winged grasshopper- a
spectacularly colored insect
which lives only in the Santa Cruz
Mountains. It is threatened by urban
sprawl.
- The Morro
shoulderband snail- a small land snail from the San Luis Obispo
County
sand dunes, a favorite site for luxury home development.
- The San
Bernadino kangaroo rat- a beautiful, nine-inch-long kangaroo-like
mammal which has declined by 95% due to dams, mining, and sprawl.
- The
Spectacled and Stellar's eiders- two Alaskan sea ducks from northern
Alaska that have experienced drastic declines in recent years.
-- The
Arroyo toad- a small amphibian that lives in seasonal streams in
Southern California and the Baja Peninsula. It has declined by
75%
because of sprawl and dam construction.
The Center is
represented by Brendan Cummings in the lawsuit.
_________________________________________
SUIT FILED TO LIST TINY UTAH
FISH AS ENDANGERED
On 3-15-99, the Southwest Center filed suit against the
U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service for refusing to list the Least chub as an
endangered
species. The agency proposed listing the chub on 9-2-95, but
failed
to follow through because of political pressure.
The least
chub, a small brightly colored minnow, is endemic to the
Bonneville Basin in
Utah where it was once common in streams, springs
and ponds. Because of
overgrazing, exotic fish, water pollution, dams, and
diversions, however, it
has declined drastically. It now only exists in
five locations in the Snake
Valley in western Utah.
___________________________________________
FOUR MORE WOLVES RELEASED
INTO WILD
On 3-17-99, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service released four more
wolves into
southern Blue Range in the Gila Headwaters Ecosystem. They will
join
four wolves which were released in the northern Blue earlier this year.
In
response to criticisms that the previous release sites were too close
to
roaded areas and towns, the agency has begun plans to pack future
wolves
into the Blue Primitive area. The Southwest Center's Wolf Save Haven
Plan,
which calls for more remote release sites and greater habitat
protection
is available at http://www.sw-center.org
____________________________________________
GROUPS CALL FOR MORATORIUM
ON PERMITS TO KILL ENDANGERED SPECIES
On 3/9/99, the American Lands Alliance,
the Southwest Center and a large
coalition of religious leaders, scientists
and environmental groups
asked the Secretary of Interior to place a ban on
issuance of any more
permits allowing developers, loggers, dam builders and
others to kill
endangered species. Citing several critical scientific reviews
of the
so called "habitat conservation plans" the coalition asked the
Secretary
to reform long standing policies which promote species declines, as
well
as recent Clinton policies giving development and logging
corporations
greater leeway in destroying
habitat.
_____________________________________________________________________________
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