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SOUTHWEST
CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
http//www.sw-center.org
6-1-99
#187
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§
ANOTHER SUIT FILED AGAINST SPIELBERG'S DREAMWORKS
§ FEDS CALL LIVING TROUT
"EXTINCT", PUBLIC SUPPORTS
GREATER STEELHEAD PROTECTION IN
SOUTHERN CAL.
§ AUDUBON VETERAN RECEIVES LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
AWARD FOR SOUTHWEST ACTIVISM
§ CALLS NEEDED TO SLASH PREDATOR KILLING
BUDGET
ANOTHER SUIT FILED AGAINST SPIELBERG'S DREAMWORKS
On 5-11-99,
Wetlands Action Network, the Southwest Center, and
Cal-PIRG filed suit
against Steven Spielberg's production company,
Dreamworks SKG, accusing
Spielberg of "unfair, unlawful and
deceptive" business practices in his
attempt to construct a mega-studio
on the last significant wetland in the Los
Angeles basin, the 1,087-acre
Ballona Wetlands. The action seeks to
enjoin the company from
further destroying sensitive wildlife
areas.
DreamWorks' controversial development has displaced Great
blue
herons that normally nest on the Ballona Wetlands.
Numerous
endangered species have been observed at Ballona, including
the
California brown pelican, California least tern, Savannah
belding
sparrow and the Southwestern willow flycatcher--species
that,
surrounded by urban sprawl, have no other place to
go.
_________________________
FEDS CALL
LIVING TROUT "EXTINCT", PUBLIC SUPPORTS
GREATER STEELHEAD PROTECTION IN
SOUTHERN CAL.
On 5-20-99, 75 enviros and anglers jammed a National Marine
Fisheries
Service (NMFS) hearing on steelhead habitat protection in
southern
California. The crowd overwhelmingly called for expanding
officially
protected "critical habitat" areas south to the Mexican border.
Such a
move could interfere with plans to extend a new toll road across
southern
Orange County, force the U.S. Forest Service to restore trout
streams,
and scale back the U.S. Military's Camp Pendleton's plans to
increase
water pumping and incursions into southern California's rare live
streams.
NMFS recently declared steelhead runs as endangered up and
down
the coast, but stopped short of extending habitat protection south
of
northern Los Angeles County, claiming, with no good rational,
that
steelhead are extinct in southern Orange and San Diego
County.
Shortly after NMFS's decision, however, "extinct" steelhead turned
up
in San Mateo Creek in San Diego County.
Outside the hearing,
demonstrators destroyed a cardboard replica of
Matilija dam, one of many
outdated and useless southern California
dams blocking steelhead runs,
disrupting natural flooding patterns, and
trapping beach
sediment.
_________________________
AUDUBON
VETERAN RECEIVES LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
AWARD FOR SOUTHWEST ACTIVISM
On
5-8-99, the Southwest Forest Alliance, the Southwest Center, and
the Arizona
chapters of the Sierra Club and National Audubon
honored retired doctor
Robert Witzeman with a Lifetime Achievement
Award for Environmental
Excellence in the Southwest. Witzeman,
72, has spearheaded many of the
region's critical environmental battles
over the last three decades. He
worked to stop dams on the Salt, Verde,
Gila and San Pedro rivers in the '60s
and '70s, he fought to stop
construction of telescopes in Mt. Graham red
squirrel habitat in the 80's
and 90's, and recently helped convince the
Rainforest Cafe to use
shadegrown instead of clearcut coffee.
Dr. Bob
has been a constant inspiration and much appreciated birding
consultant to
the Southwest Center and other
groups.
__________________________
CALLS NEEDED TO SLASH PREDATOR KILLING
BUDGET
A federal agency called "Wildlife Services" (formerly called
Animal
Damage Control ) killed 82,394 coyotes in 1997 by aerial
gunning,
cyanide poisoning and leghold traps in order to "protect" privately
owned
livestock industry cattle. It also killed thousands of foxes,
cougars,
bobcats, bears, and badgers. The cost to taxpayers? $10
million.
Mass killing of predators by government is not the way to
protect
domestic animals. Kansas, for example, harbors 300,000
coyotes
and has developed a low-cost program that educates ranchers
to
solve their own predator problems with tools like guard dogs
and
fencing. To spur the development of alternate approaches,
Reps.
Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Charles Bass (R-NH) are sponsoring
a
legislative amendment to the House Agriculture Appropriations
Bill cutting
Wildlife Services' budget by $7 million, thereby severely
curtailing its
extermination program. DeFazio's defunding measure
passed the House
last year, but was defeated in a rare revote 24
hours later.
Please
call your state representatives, tell them to support the
Bass-Defazio
Amendment to the House Agriculture Appropriations
Bill cutting the "Wildlife
Services" budget by $7 million.
Capitol switchboard: (202)
224-3121
_________________________________________________________________
Kierán
Suckling
ksuckling@sw-center.org
Executive
Director
520.623.5252 phone
SW Center for Biological Diversity
520.623.9797 fax
http://www.sw-center.org
pob 710, tucson, az 85702-0710