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SOUTHWEST
CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
http//www.sw-center.org
#183
5-6-99
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§
FULL PAGE NEW YORK TIMES AD DENOUNCES
CATTLEMEN'S WAR ON THE
WOLF
§ SUIT FILED TO PROTECT 4.8 MILLION ACRES
OF FOREST
FOR MEXICAN SPOTTED OWL
§ SUIT RESULTS IN 1,000 MILES OF
STREAM
PROTECTION FOR COHO SALMON IN OR AND
CA
*****
***** ***** *****
NEW
YORK TIMES AD DENOUNCES WAR ON THE
WOLF- CALLS FOR WOLVES IN GILA
WILDERNESS
On Monday, May 3rd, the Southwest Center ran a full page ad in the
New York
Times denouncing the livestock industry's century long war on the
wolf.
Blaming the industry for the "slaughter of thousands of wolves,
bears,
mountain lions, jaguars, deer, antelope, and beaver," the ad reminded
Bruce
Babbitt, Secretary of Interior, of his promise to "make sure the
interest
of the public is protected" against the "the livestock
industry...which
has come to think of public range rights as exclusive rights
akin to
ownership, for running cattle for their exclusive use."
The ad
called on Babbitt to cancel public lands grazing permits of ranchers
who
threaten to kill wolves, to aggressively pursue the killers of wolves
which
were shot, and to release wolves directly into the remote
Gila
Wilderness.
To obtain a full size copy of the ad, contact
rslack@sw-center.org
____________________
SUIT FILED TO PROTECT 4.8 MILLION ACRES OF
FOREST
FOR MEXICAN SPOTTED OWL
On 5.6.99, the Southwest Center filed suit in federal
court in Albuquerque,
NM to compel the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to
designate 4.8 million
acres of critical habitat for the threatened Mexican
spotted owl on the
Southwest's eleven National Forests. The Forest Service
would not be
permitted to "adversely modify" the critical habitat, and thus
would
essentially be banned from logging old growth or mature forests
within the
protected area.
The Southwest Center petitioned to list the
Mexican spotted owl as
threatened in 1989. In 1994, the Southwest Center,
Forest Guardians, and
Maricopa Audubon Society won a court order which
resulted in 4.8 million
acres of critical habitat being designated. The
designation, however, was
rescinded on technical grounds because the Fish
& Wildlife Service failed
to issue a "finding of no significant impact"
on the designation. Rather
than complete the paperwork required by NEPA,
however, the agency chose to
permanently revoke the protected habitat,
allowing the Forest Service to
log within millions of acres of ponderosa pine
forest with no restrictions.
The Center is represented by Neil Levine of
Earthlaw.
___________________
SUIT RESULTS IN
1,000 MILES OF STREAM PROTECTION
FOR COHO SALMON IN OREGON AND
CALIFORNIA
In response to a 1.13.98 lawsuit by the Southwest Center and
the
Environmental Information Center, the National Marine Fisheries
Service
(NMFS) designated critical habitat for coho salmon in central
California
and Southern Oregon on 5.5.99. Bowing to political pressure,
NMFS had
delayed the listing for over year until the suit was filed. The
designation
includes all accessible reaches of the hundreds of coastal
streams in the
range of the coho from southern Oregon to Santa Cruz,
California, including
two streams that enter the San Francisco Bay. In total,
the designation
covers approximately 1,000 miles of streams.
Formerly
abundant throughout the Columbia River Basin and along west coast
streams
from Washington to central California, Coho are today extinct in
the
eastern half of their range. In California, they have declined by 94%.
Only
10,000 individuals return to streams in southern Oregon and
northern
California. Central Oregon only supports 6,000 fish.
The Coho
were listed as threatened in May 1997 because of over fishing at
sea and
habitat destruction caused by logging, dam building water
diversions
and cattle grazing.
EPIC and the Southwest Center were represented by
Brendan Cummings of
Berkely,
CA.
_____________________________________________________________________________
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