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SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
http//www.sw-center.org
#179
4-12-99
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o
BELUGA WHALE MAKES FIRST STEP TOWARD RECOVERY-
FEDS CONFIRM E.S.A.
LISTING PETITION
o SUIT PLANNED TO PROTECT 30 IMPERILED PLANTS AND
ANIMALS
o SUIT PLANNED TO FORCE STATEWIDE REVIEW OF B.L.M. IMPACTS TO
ENDANGERED
SPECIES ACROSS CALIFORNIA
o GROUPS REFUSE TO PARTICIPATE
IN COLORADO RIVER "CONSERVATION" PLAN-
ASK BABBITT TO REFORM PROCESS
TO PROTECT ENDANGERED SPECIES
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BELUGA
WHALE MAKES FIRST STEP TOWARD RECOVERY-
FEDS CONFIRM E.S.A. LISTING
PETITION
On 4-2-99, the National Marine Fisheries Service issued an
official
90-day finding agreeing with the assessment of a petition to list
the
Cook Inlet beluga whale as an endangered species. The petition,
filed
on 3-3-99 by the Center for Biological Diversity, former Inupiat
whale
hunter Joel Blatchford, Trustees of Alaska, the Center for
Marine
Conservation and others, documents the rapid decline of the
beluga
due to over hunting and likely impacts to it habitat and prey base
by
commercial fishing, oil production, and excessive boat
traffic.
Formerly seen throughout the northern Gulf of Alaska from Cook
Inlet to
Yakutat Bay, the beluga is now restricted to Cook Inlet. Even there,
it
has become very rare in the lower inlet and is continuing to decline
in
the upper inlet. The National Marine Fisheries Service estimates
that
the 1994 population of 653 whales dropped to 347 by 1998. In the
1970s,
by contrast, it was common to see 450 or more whales in a single
day.
The 90-day finding is the first of three hurdles a species must
pass
to be protected under the Endangered Species Act. The National
Marine
Fisheries Service must determine whether to formally propose
listing
with in 10 months, and whether to issue a final rule by March,
2001.
For more information visit our web site at
http://www.sw-center.org/swcbd/activist/beluga.html
________________________________
SUIT PLANNED TO PROTECT 30 IMPERILED
PLANTS AND ANIMALS
On 2-24-99, the Center for Biological Diversity formally
informed the
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service that it will file suit to
protect 3O
imperiled plants and animals if the agency does not take
immediate
steps to list and protect them under the Endangered Species
Act.
The Fish & Wildlife Service has completed status reviews on all
3O
species and has proposed them for protection under the E.S.A., but
has
refused to issue final, legally binding decisions because of
political
interference.
The species include ten Hawaiian plants threatened by
habitat loss and
feral animals, a fish from UT threatened by water diversions
and
habitat loss, a rabbit and a woodrat from California's central
valley
imperiled by livestock grazing and development, several plants from
CA,
OR, and WA threatened by livestock grazing and development, and a
snake
from Ohio threatened by development.
OREGON AND
WASHINGTON TEXAS, UTAH,
New Mexico
Rough Popcornflower
Zapata Bladderpod
Howell's
Spectacular Thelypody Desert milk vetch
Wenatchee Mountains
Checkermallow Willamette
daisy
Kincaid's
lupine
HAWAII
CALIFORNIA
Kauai Cave Wolf Spider
Baker's
Larkspur
Hedyotis schlechtendahliana var.
remyi
Yellow Larkspur
Alani
Ione Manzanita
Haha (3 species)
Ione (Irish Hill)
buckwheat
Kamakahala
Keck's Checkermallow
Kohe malama malama o
kanaloa
Riparian Woodrat
Kamakahala
Riparian Brush
Rabbit Oha
Wai
Newcomb's Snail
OTHER
Blackburn's sphinx moth
Lake Erie
Water Snake
Na'ena'e
Catesbaea melanocarpa
Kauai Cave
Amphipod
____________________________
SUIT
PLANNED TO FORCE STATEWIDE REVIEW OF B.L.M. IMPACTS TO ENDANGERED
SPECIES
ACROSS CALIFORNIA
On 2-27-99, the Center for Biological Diversity formally
informed the
Bureau of Land Management that it will file suit to compel the
agency
to review the cumulative impacts of its programs in CA for
systematic
and ongoing harm to 75 threatened and endangered species on tens
of
millions of acres of public land. The agency is piece mealing
species to
extinction with hundreds of timber sales, new roads, grazing
allotments,
water diversions, mines, and oil and gas extraction without
ever
systematically assessing the total impact of all its actions as required
by
the Endangered Species Act.
The B.L.M. has 60 days in which to
initiate the review, request that
the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
prepare a formal biological opinion,
and halt adverse affects. If it does
not, the Center will file suit. Among
the species affected are the Peninsular
bighorn sheep, San Diego
thornmint, Morro manzanita, California jewel flower,
Santa Ana River
wooly star, Santa Monica Mts. Dudleya, Kern mallow,
Southwestern
willow flycatcher, Least Bell's vireo, California gnatcatcher,
Arroyo
toad, and Northern spotted owl.
___________________________
GROUPS REFUSE TO PARTICIPATE IN COLORADO
RIVER "CONSERVATION" PLAN-
ASK BABBITT TO REFORM PROCESS TO PROTECT
ENDANGERED SPECIES
A Coalition of nine groups led by Defenders of Wildlife
and the Southwest
Center sent a letter to Interior Secretary Babbitt pledging
not to
participate in the industry driven Lower Colorado River
Multi-Species
Conservation Program absent major reforms. The groups
specifically called
for program expansion TO address effects of U.S. River
operations on the
Colorado River Delta in Mexico, and establishment of
a fair decision-
making process. The signatories include American Rivers,
Pacific Institute,
Sierra Club, Environmental Law Foundation, Environmental
Defense Fund,
Natural Resources Defense Council and the National Wildlife
Federation.
Commenced in 1997, the MSCP is an effort by the Arizona,
California and
Nevada to secure 50-year federal pemits to harm endangered
Colorado River
wildlife during operation of massive dams and diversion
canals. In
exchange for the permits, the states have promised to increase
protective
efforts for the species. But the states have failed to deliver on
their
promises. Recent decisions by the MSCP steering committee indicate that
the
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is willing, perhaps even eager, to allow
the
politically powerful states and the Bureau of Reclamation to
continue
degrading the river while accomplishing little wildlife protection
in
return.
_____________________________________________________________________________
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