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CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
http//www.sw-center.org
7-1-99
#192
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§
731,000 ACRES OF CRITICAL HABITAT DESIGNATED FOR
ENDANGERED PYGMY OWL
§ GOVERNOR SENT INTO PYGMY RAGE OVER INABILITY
TO
"USE UP" STATE'S RESOURCES
§ UPPER SAN PEDRO RIVER
DESIGNATED AS CRITICAL
HABITAT FOR RARE ARIZONA PLANT
§
SPIELBERG GIVES UP BALLONA WETLANDS FIGHT
***** *****
***** *****
731,000 ACRES OF CRITICAL HABITAT
DESIGNATED FOR
ENDANGERED PYGMY OWL
In response to a federal court order,
the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
designated 731,712 acres (1% of the
state of Arizona) as officially
protected "critical habitat" for the
endangered Cactus ferruginous
pygmy owl on 6-30-99. The Center petitioned to
list the pygmy owl as
endangered in 1991, following up with five successful
lawsuits to get the
species onto the endangered list and its habitat
protected.
The habitat designation includes a large stretch of the middle
Gila and
lower San Pedro Rivers, and the heart of the urban sprawl zone
in
west and northwest Tucson. It also includes large area adjacent
to
Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge. The federal government is
not
allowed to permit, authorize, or fund any action with "adversely
modifies"
critical habitat. This includes issuing grazing permits to the
livestock
industry, Clean Water Act permits to developers, and
allocating highway
construction funds.
The second smallest owl in North America, and one of
the few diurnal
species, the Cactus ferruginous pygmy owl is a tiny but
voracious
predator. In Sonoran uplands, it nests in saguaro cacti. It was
formerly
common throughout southern Arizona and as far north as the
New
River. There are only 40 known pairs of pygmy owls left in the
state.
Its preferred habitat, riparian forests and lush, densely
vegetated
Sonoran desert uplands, have been decimated by dams,
overgrazing,
urban sprawl, and water
diversions.
___________________
AZ GOVERNOR SENT INTO PYGMY FIT OVER INABILITY
TO
"USE UP" STATE'S RESOURCES
On 6-30-99, Arizona's Governor Jane Hull took to
the airways in a
bizarrely confused rant against the tiny Cactus ferruginous
pygmy owl.
In her bimonthly radio program she repeatedly attacked the U.S.
Forest
Service for designating critical habitat for the endangered bird,
even
though the agency had nothing to do with the designation. She
asserted
that "pygmy owls actually belong in northern Mexico," which would
be
news to the owls which have lived in southern Arizona for
many
thousands of years. Finally she complained that habitat
protection
might cause habitat to be protected- a disaster for state trust
lands.
"Obviously," she said, "state land is one of big resources that we
want
to use up."
___________________
UPPER
SAN PEDRO RIVER DESIGNATED AS CRITICAL
HABITAT FOR RARE ARIZONA PLANT
In
response to a federal court order, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service
designated almost 52 miles of river as critical habitat for
the
endangered Huachuca water umbel on 6-30-99. The designation
includes a
long segment of the upper San Pedro River as well as
portions of the Santa
Cruz River, Sonoita Creek, and tributaries to
the San Pedro. The federal
government is not allowed to permit,
authorize, or fund any action with
"adversely modifies" critical habitat.
The designation will bolster the
Center's campaign to save the San
Pedro River from being sucked dry by urban
sprawl and the U.S.
Army's Fort Huachuca.
The Center petitioned to
list three wetland species (the umbel, the
Canelo Hills ladies' tresses, and
the Sonoran tiger salamander) as
endangered in 1993 because of massive losses
in wetlands and
functioning river systems in southern Arizona. Following
two
successful lawsuits, the all three were listed in 1997. An
additional
suit was necessary, however, to make the Service designate
critical
habitat for the umbel.
__________________
SPIELBERG GIVES UP BALLONA WETLANDS FIGHT
On
7-1-99, movie mogul Steven Spielberg announced he is pulling
his movie studio
out of an embattled development planned in the
heart of Los Angeles's
last remaining wetland. DreamWorks will
no longer be part of the massive
Playa Vista development slated to
destroy most of Ballona Wetlands.
Environmentalists staged dozens
of protests and five lawsuits against the
development over the last
four years. In May, Wetlands Action Network, the
Center, and
CALPIRG filed suit accusing Spielberg of unfair, unlawful
and
deceptive business practices. In 1998, a federal judge
rescinded
federal permits for the project.
In addition to Great blue
herons, numerous endangered species have
been observed at Ballona, including
the California brown pelican,
California least tern, Belding savanna sparrow
and the Southwestern
willow flycatcher- species that, surrounded by urban
sprawl, have no
other place to go. Wetlands Action Network, CALPIRG, and
the
Sierra Club deserve special credit for leading a relentless,
creative
campaign.
_________________________________________________________________
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