Subject: FW: BIODIVERSITY ALERT #203

************* CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY *************
                 http://www.sw-center.org
                    ALERT #203 9-16-99

§ GROUPS UNITE TO SAVE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA STEELHEAD

§ ACTION ALERT: SOUTHWEST POPULATION OF BALD EAGLE NEEDS
  YOUR HELP

§ COMMENTS NEEDED ON GOLDEN TROUT WILDERNESS GRAZING PERMIT
  RENEWAL

§ AD WARNS OF EXTINCTION CRISIS
_____________________

GROUPS UNITE TO SAVE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA STEELHEAD

Several environmental, fishing and water quality
organizations have joined forces for conservation of
southern California steelhead trout. The Center for
Biological Diversity, CalTrout, Heal the Bay, Natural
Resources Defense Council, Santa Monica Mountains
Conservancy, and the Sierra Club met recently to set
priorities for protection and recovery of steelhead trout.

The Southern California Steelhead Recovery Coalition is
dedicated to restoring free-flowing rivers and streams,
riparian habitat, and watersheds in order to foster the full
recovery of the Southern steelhead and other native aquatic
and riparian species of Southern California.

Steelhead trout historically occurred from the Kamchatka
Peninsula in Asia to the Baja Peninsula. Southern steelhead
were listed as endangered by the National Marine Fisheries
Service in 1997 and are found from the Santa Maria River in
San Luis Obispo County to northern Baja. Less than one
thousand southern steelhead remain, yet the Fisheries
Service has done little to conserve the species. In 1999,
the agency abandoned protection of steelhead south of Malibu
Creek or upstream of dams in critical headwater spawning
habitat.

Contact David Hogan of the Center for Biological Diversity,
(760) 782-9244 or dhogan@sw-center for information on how
your organization can join the Southern California Steelhead
Recovery Coalition.
_____________________

ACTION ALERT: SOUTHWEST POPULATION OF BALD EAGLE NEEDS YOUR
HELP

Please attend the public hearing on removing the Bald Eagle
from the endangered species list and speak  in opposition to
delisting the precariously-established Southwestern
population.

Hearing to be held on: Thurs, Sept 23, 6:30 p.m., Phoenix
Public Library

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has announced its intention
to remove the bald eagle from the federal lists of
threatened and endangered species. Included in the proposed
action is the isolated Southwest desert nesting population
of bald eagles.  While eagles in other regions of the United
States may meet the requirements for delisting, the
Southwest population still needs protection.

· The Southwest desert nesting population of bald eagles is
few in numbers, geographically isolated and faces unique
threats to its continued existence.

· Of the approximately 5500 known bald eagle breeding areas
in the lower 48 states, only 40 are in the Southwest.

· With a single exception, the entire Southwest desert
nesting population of bald eagles is isolated in central
Arizona, Sonoran Desert habitat, below 4400 feet elevation.

· Nearly all recruitment of breeding bald eagles in the
Southwest comes from within the small isolated population.

· The Southwest desert nesting population of bald eagles is
behaviorally distinct. They nest earlier in the season than
do bald eagles elsewhere and they utilize cliffs as nest
sites more frequently than other populations.

· The Southwest desert nesting bald eagle population faces
unique pressures to its survival. It suffers unusually high
adult mortality, high nestling mortality from both natural
and human sources, and is dependent upon management programs
currently underway to ensure its survival.

· The nest productivity of the southwestern bald eagle
population is declining. In 1998, the 40 pairs produced 23
nestlings, for a nest productivity of .59.  Nest
productivity in 1997 was .68; in 1996 it was .85.

· Only the Endangered Species Act provides protection for
the critical habitat southwestern bald eagles require.
Funding to continue the vital management programs that
support southwestern bald eagles, such as the Arizona
Nestwatch Program, has not been guaranteed in the absence of
the listing under the Endangered Species Act. In fact
several agency documents state that funding would be
discontinued upon delisting the bald eagle.

If you can not attend the meeting please send your comments
to
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Secretary Bruce Babbitt
Dept. of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20240
FAX: 202-208-4561
Email: bruce_babbitt@ios.doi.gov

For more information, contact: Robin Silver, the Center for
Biological Diversity, Phoenix Office, 602-246-4170;
rsilver@sw-center.org
_____________________

COMMENTS NEEDED ON GOLDEN TROUT WILDERNESS GRAZING PERMIT
RENEWAL

The Inyo National Forest is soliciting comments on a grazing
permit renewal for allotments containing streams that
comprise half the remaining range of the rare California
golden trout. The golden trout is California's state fish
and the namesake of the Golden Trout Wilderness, where the
allotments are located, on the southern flank of the Sierra
Nevada. Continued utilization of the allotments by Anheuser
Busch--the St. Louis-based multinational that has been
grazing its cattle in the Golden Trout Wilderness since 1987
and has already done considerable damage to the area's
natural resources -will significantly increase the trout's
short-term extinction risk, and if permitted as the scoping
document proposes will violate the recently signed
Conservation Strategy for the critically imperiled fish.

Please contact the Forest Service at the address below
before September 30th and tell them that they should:
(1) Remove all cattle from the Templeton and Whitney
allotments and rest the
allotments, as recommended in the Service's own Conservation
Strategy; and (2) Agree to prepare an Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) rather than a scaled-down Environmental
Assessment (EA) on continued grazing in these areas. For
more information http://www.caltrout.org

Inyo National Forest
Mt. Whitney Ranger Station
Attn: Range Management
P.O. Box 8
Lone Pine CA 93545
TEL: (760) 876-6200
Email: inyovis/r5_inyo@fs.fed.us
_____________________

AD WARNS OF EXTINCTION CRISIS

In the first of a series of ads in the New York Times, the
Turning Point Project (http://www.turnpoint.com) warns that
"50 percent of all plant and animals species could vanish
from the Earth within 50 years" because of human activity.
"Our planet is undergoing the greatest die-off of animals
and plants in 65 million years. THE CAUSES: Habitat loss,
bioinvasions, global trade, new technology, industrial
development, global warming, i.e., human activity."

The Turning Point Project formed specifically to design and
produce a series of educational advertisements concerning
the major issues of the new millennium. The ads will appear
in The New York Times and other newspapers through spring of
2000.

The ad is sponsored by several organizations, including the
Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife,
Earth Island Institute, Greenpeace, Rainforest Action
Network and U.S. Public Interest Research Group (Sept. 13).

_____________________
Please consider making a donation to support our efforts to
protect endangered species and wild places.
http://www.sw-center.org/swcbd/membership/member.html



___________________________________________________________
Shane Jimerfield
Assistant Director
Center for Biological Diversity
Tel: 520.623.5252, ext 302              Fax: 520.623.9797
PO Box 710, Tucson AZ 85702-0710        http://www.sw-center.org