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SOUTHWEST
CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
http//www.sw-center.org
6-3-99
#188
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§
PROTECTION FOR NATIVE PLANTS PAYING OFF:
- CA & OR
PLANTS LISTED AS ENDANGERED
- PETITION FILED TO PROTECT RARE
UT/AZ PLANTS
§ NEW MEXICO WOLF CAMPAIGN GAINING STEAM:
- NEW
YORK TIMES AD CAUSES SOUTHWEST STIR
- EDITORIAL: NEW YORK WOLF
PLAN MAY MAKE
SOUTHWEST RANCHERS LOOK
"MEAN-SPIRITED"
COMPLAINT LEADS TO LISTING OF 3 RARE CA/OR PLANTS
On
5-26-99, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service listed three California
plants
as endangered in response to a formal notice of intent to sue
by the
Southwest Center and the Center for Biological Diversity. The
three plants
are among 33 species the Centers have planned to sue
over to gain Endangered
Species Act listing and protection.
Howell's Spectacular Thelypody,
reduced to just 11 sites within 100
acres of private lands near North Powder
and Haines in eastern
Oregon (Baker and Union counties), is threatened by
agricultural and
urban development, livestock grazing, competition from
non-native
plants, and disruption of wetland hydrology. Relatives of
Howell's
spectactular thelypody in the mustard family are important
food
crops, such as cabbage and broccoli, and ornamentals such as
alyssum
and peppergrass. It was listed as a threatened species.
Ione Buckwheat
and Ione Manzanita were listed as endangered
and threatened respectively
under the ESA. The two species
are imperiled by mining, residential and
commercial development,
off-road vehicles, and fire suppression. Ione
buckwheat, a small
perennial herb, has been reduced to 11 locations in Amador
County.
Ione manzanita, a perennial low-growing shrub with
olive-green
leaves and berry-like fruit has been reduced to 17 sites in
Amador
and Calaveras County.
__________________
PETITION FILED TO PROTECT RARE UT/AZ PLANTS
On
6-2-99, the Southwest Center and the Southern Utah
Wilderness Association
filed a formal petition with the U.S. Fish
& Wildlife Service to list
Holmgren's milkvetch (Astragulus
holmgreniorum Barneby) and the Shivwit's
milkvetch (Astragulus
ampullarioides Welsh) as endangered species.Both
species
occur near St. George Utah and neighboring Mohave
County, Arizona.
They are threatened by the rapid development
around St. George, cattle
grazing, and off-road vehicles.
Holmgren's milkvetch occurs in just three
areas within a 7-10
mile radius to the south, west and northeast of St.
George. The
majority of its range is within Washington County, Utah, but
it
also occurs in Mohave County, AZ. There are only a total of
about 5,000
individual plants remaining. Shivwits milkvetch
occurs in just 5 sites in
Washington County, west and
northeast of St. George, and on and near the
Shivwits Indian
Reservation. There are only about 2,000 individual plants
left.
_____________________
NEW YORK TIMES AD
CAUSES SOUTHWEST STIR
On 5-3-99, the Southwest Center ran a full page ad in
the New
York Times calling on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
to
reintroduce wolves to New Mexico's massive Gila/Aldo Leopold
Wilderness
complex. The agency wants the wolves to migrate to
the Gila, one of the most
extensive wilderness/roadless areas in
the Lower 48, but won't directly put
them there because of
opposition by the New Mexico livestock industry. The ad
also
denounced the livestock industry's "slaughter of thousands of
wolves,
bears, mountain lions, jaguars, deer, antelope, and
beaver."
In
addition to putting national pressure on Bruce Babbitt to bring
wolves back
to New Mexico, the ad has generated tremendous
regional debate. An Associated
Press story about the ad ran in
most Arizona and New Mexico papers, and was
subsequently
picked up by radio news stations in both states.
The
Albuquerque Tribune invited the Southwest Center and the
New Mexico
Cattle Grower's Association to debate the pros
and cons of New Mexico wolf
reintroduction in a full page
spread on 5-26-99. The Santa Fe New Mexican ran
a story on
the ad in its outdoor section.
To see a copy of the ad, and
to check out the Southwest Center's
"Wolf Safe Haven Plan" to bring wolves
back to New Mexico:
http://www.sw-center.org/swcbd/activist/wolfhaven.html
_____________________
EDITORIAL: NEW YORK WOLF PLAN MAY MAKE
SOUTHWEST
RANCHERS LOOK "MEAN-SPIRITED"
One upping Representative Joe Skeen's (R-NM)
cynical endorsement
of a bill to reintroduce wolves to New York's Catskill
Mountains, the
Southwest Center has also endorsed the bill, noting that NY
activists
want wolves back in the Adirondacks. Skeen made the
announcement
hoping to play up on the illusion that wolves are being forced
on New
Mexico by eastern urbanites. He failed to mention, however, that
the
majority New Mexicans, including those within the wolf release
area,
support the plan.
The 4-23-99 Santa Fe New Mexican quoted the
Southwest Center
calling Skeen "cynical and facetious..[but he] has
accidentally
stumbled into reality" and will withdraw "the instant he finds
out this
actually makes sense, and is actually a viable plan the public
wants
to see. He's really stuck his foot in his mouth this time."
In a
4-26-99 editorial, the Santa Fe New Mexican doubted Skeen's
sincerity, but
mused that if:
"the farmers and the resort-owners of southeastern
New York
welcome the timber wolf to the comparably tiny habitat of
the
Catskills, it would make New Mexico-Arizona ranchers, on
their
vast and federally augmented spreads look truly mean-spirited
for
refusing to share the land with an orginal
inhabitat."
_________________________________________________________________
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