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SOUTHWEST
CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
http//www.sw-center.org
6-22-99
#190
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§
SUIT FILED TO LIST 10 PLANTS AS ENDANGERED-
23 YEAR DELAY
PUSHING SPECIES TO EXTINCTION
§ ENVIROS & CHRISTIANS SUE TO PROTECT
PLANTS
AND FISH FROM EXTINCTION
§ COALITION FORMED TO
FIGHT MILITARIZATION OF
BORDERLANDS
§ LETTERS NEEDED TO
STOP OVERGRAZING ON
MASSIVE NEW MEXICO CATTLE
ALLOTMENT
******
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SUIT FILED TO LIST 10 CAL PLANTS AS ENDANGERED-
23 YEAR DELAY
PUSHING SPECIES TO EXTINCTION
The Southwest Center and the California Native
Plant Society
filed suit on 6-17-99 in San Francisco to force the
U.S.
Fish & Wildlife Service to list and protect ten California
plants as
endangered species:
Santa Cruz Tarplant (Santa Cruz, Monterey, Contra
Costa)
Keck's Checker-Mallow (Tulare)
Baker's and Yellow Larkspurs (Marin,
Sonoma)
Kneeland Prairie Penny-Cress (Humboldt)
La Graciosa Thistle (Santa
Barbara San Luis Obispo)
Lompoc Yerba Santa (Santa Barbara)
Gaviota
Tarplant (Santa Barbara)
Two subspecies of Purple Amole (Monterey, San Luis
Obispo)
All but two of the plants were included in a 1975
Endangered
Species Act listing petition by the Smithsonian Institute.
The
Fish & Wildlife Service proposed to list all ten in 1976,
but
withdrew the proposals for technical reasons and allowed the
species
to continue declining without protection because of
political pressure. In
the ensuing 23 years, the Baker's
larkspur and the Yellow larkspur have been
reduced to 50
individual plants.
The Center is represented by Brendan
Cummings (Berkeley)
and Jay Tutchton of Earthlaw (Denver, Palo
Alto).
____________________
ENVIROS &
CHRISTIANS SUE TO PROTECT SOUTHWEST
PLANTS AND FISH FROM EXTINCTION
The
Southwest Center and Christians Caring for Creation filed
suit on 6-16-99 in
Denver to force the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
to list four imperiled
UT, NM, and TX species under the Endangered
Species Act.
- The Deseret
Milkvetch occurs only in Sanpete and Utah County,
Utah. The only known
population has been reduced to 5,000-10,000
individuals growing in an area of
less than 300 acres. It is
threatened by livestock grazing, urban sprawl and
road expansion.
- The Pecos Sunflower is dependent on desert wetlands. It
is
known from 22 sites in Cibola, Valencia, Guadalupe, and
Chaves
Counties, New Mexico, and from two sites in Pecos
County, Texas. It is
threatened by wetland draining and
destruction, livestock grazing and highway
maintenance.
- The Zapata Bladderpod is known from four locations in
Zapata
and Starr Counties, Texas. It is threatened by urban
sprawl,
highway construction, increased oil and gas activities,
and
overgrazing.
- The Devils River minnow is limited to three stream
systems
in Val Verde and Kinney counties, Texas, and one drainage
in
Coahuila, Mexico. It historic range was much larger and
less
fragmented. It has declined dramatically in the past 25 years
because
of groundwater pumping, dams and water diversion,
overgrazing and nonnative
fish introduction.
The Center and Christians Caring for Creation
are represented
by Geoff Hickcox of Kenna & Hickcox
(Durango).
__________________
COALITION
FORMED TO FIGHT MILITARIZATION OF
BORDERLAND
The Southwest Center, the
Southern Arizona People's Law
Center and other labor and human rights groups
have formed
SWARM (Southwest Alliance to Resist Militarization), a
coalition
committed to ending Joint Task Force-Six (JTF-6). JTF-6 is
a
shadowy, little known domestic military operation,
comprised
predominantly of the U.S. Marines and Army. Formed in 1989,
it
is charged with spearheading the "War on Drugs" and the "War
On
Immigrants." Domestic use of the military is unconstitutional
and
illegal under the 100 year old Posse Comitatus Act. Despite
this fact,
military operations within our border have been
conducted since the Reagan
years and are enthusiastically
promoted by the Clinton
administration.
While JTF-6 has nationwide jurisdiction, the majority of
its
operations are concentrated along the U.S.-Mexico border
between San
Diego and Brownsville, Texas. Its operations
include extensive road building,
low level helicopter flights,
construction of impenetrable walls, and ground
troop deployments.
Many missions are conducted in National Wildlife
Refuges,
including Cabeza Prieta, San Bernadino, and Buenos Aries
in
Arizona, San Andres in New Mexico, and the Santa Ana and
Lower Rio
Grande Valley NWR in Texas. Endangered species-
including the Sonoran
pronghorn, jaguar, and ocelot are being
harmed by JTF-6's indiscriminate
activities. Just as tragically, a
greatly increased Border Patrol and
JTF-6 presence is pushing
would be immigrants into the remotest and hottest
areas along
the border. Many die during the crossing.
The Southwest
Center and SWARM are determined to end the
sacrifice of our borderland
ecology and culture to
unnecessary
militarization.
________________________
LETTERS NEEDED TO STOP OVERGRAZING ON
MASSIVE
NEW MEXICO CATTLE ALLOTMENT
The Lincoln National Forest is
accepting comments on its
proposed grazing plan for the Sacramento Grazing
Allotment.
This 111,000 acre allotment comprises 25% of the entire
Sacramento
District, contains 36 miles of perennial streams and half of
all
the riparian areas on the District. Recent surveys indicate that
less
than 10% of the streams on the allotment are in satisfactory
condition.
Continued degradation will hurt numerous endangered
species
including the Sacramento Mountain thistle, Sacramento prickly
poppy,
Mexican spotted owl, peregrine falcon, and bald eagle.
The U.S.
Forest Service admits that livestock reductions are needed
in order to
recover the many riparian areas and imperiled species,
but is under intense
pressure from cattle ranchers, bankers, and
county officials to retain the
status quo. It is proposing small
reductions, when complete rest of the
streams and riparian areas
is necessary.
Tell the Forest Service that
120 years of overgrazing is enough. All
cattle should be removed from all
streams on the Sacramento Allotment
to allow the streams, the stream banks,
the grasses, the willows, and the
endangered species to recover. Send
comments by June, 30th to:
Rick Newmon, Lincoln National
Forest
P.O. Box 288, Cloudcroft, New Mexico,
88317
_________________________________________________________________
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