From: Kieran Suckling [ksuckling@sw-center.org]
Sent:
Tuesday, October 05, 1999 10:45 PM
To: Recipient list
suppressed
Subject: BIODIVERSITY ALERT #205
************* CENTER
FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
*************
http://www.sw-center.org
ALERT #205 10-5-99
§ APPEAL SHUTS DOWN OLD
GROWTH TIMBER SALE
SAVES GOSHAWKS & KAIBAB
SQUIRRELS
§ JUDGE ORDERS HABITAT PROTECTION FOR TWO
ARIZONA FISH- 300 MILES OF RIVER TO BE DESIGNATED
AS CRITICAL
HABITAT
§ SUIT FILED TO GAIN INFORMATION LOGGING
IMPACTS
TO CALIFORNIA SALMON
§ ARIZONA BANS PREDATOR HUNTING
CONTESTS
___________________________
APPEAL SHUTS DOWN OLD GROWTH TIMBER SALE
ON KAIBAB PLATEAU, SAVES GOSHAWKS & SQUIRRELS
Affirming an appeal by
the Center for Biological Diversity, the
Sierra Club, and the Southwest
Forest Alliance, the Regional
Forester has ordered the Kaibab National
Forest to withdraw
the Dry Park Timber Sale. The Forest had proposed to log
over 6,000 old growth trees on the Kaibab Plateau, one of the
few
remaining areas in North America with significant expanses
of old growth
ponderosa pine. Though the plateau supports the
largest goshawk population
in North America and is home to
the endemic Kaibab squirrel, the Forest
violated is own goshawk
protection guidelines and refused to even analyze
the effects
of logging on the squirrel, turkey, deer, and the pygmy
nuthatch.
The entire plateau, including the Kaibab National Forest, was
designated the "Grand Canyon Game Preserve" by Theodore
Roosevelt in
1907. Though Roosevelt declared that the forest
should be "protected in
perpetuity" and "not sacrificed to the
short sighted greed of the few," the
Forest Service maintains
the preserve is a meaningless designation which
does not limit
logging in any manner. The Forest Service also chooses to
ignore the fact that 200,000 acres of the plateau, including part
of the
Dry Park Timber Sale was designated the Kaibab Squirrel
National Natural
Landmark by the Department of Interior.
The Center, the Sierra Club, and
the Southwest Forest
Alliance have launched a campaign to designate the
entire
Kaibab Plateau a Northern goshawk/Old
growth.
__________________
JUDGE ORDERS
HABITAT PROTECTION FOR TWO
ARIZONA FISH- 300 MILES OF RIVER TO BE
DESIGNATED
AS CRITICAL HABITAT
On 9-20-99, Judge Edwin Mecham ordered the
U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service to designate and protect critical habitat
for
two threatened Gila River Basin fish: the Loach minnow and
Spikedace.
Though both species have declined to
about 10% of their former range because
of logging, over-
grazing, water diversions, and dams, the Fish &
Wildlife
Service has refused to protect the species' habitat because
of
intense political pressure.
Critical habitat was originally designated in
1994 as a result
of the Center's very first lawsuit. That designation was
struck
down on technical grounds, however, in 1995. Rather than
fix the
paper work glitch, the agency decided to not
protect the species' habitat at
all. This resulted in a new
lawsuit, and the most recent court
order.
Mecham not only ordered the agency to designate the
protected
stream miles in 150 days, he stated that he
expects the new designation to be
more extensive than
the previous. Including stretches of the San Pedro
River,
the Center expects the new designation will be on the
order of 300
miles.
___________________
SUIT FILED TO GAIN
INFORMATION LOGGING
IMPACTS TO CALIFORNIA SALMON
On 9-20-99, the Center
for Biological Diversity filed suit
under the Freedom of Information Act
against the U.S.
Forest Service and the National Marine Fisheries
Service
for failing to provide public information on the effects
of
logging on coho salmon in California.
The Center is being
represented by Matt Kenna of Kenna
& Hickcox (Durango,
CO).
__________________
PREDATOR HUNTING
CONTESTS BANNED
On 9-11-99, the Arizona Game and Fish Commission voted
to
ban hunting contests for predators. The Commission has
been under intense
pressure to deal with problem since
several high profile contests drew
statewide protests in 1999
and 1998. In the contests, hunters are awarded
points for
bobcats, mountain lions, coyotes and other species. Cash
prizes
are awarded to those who score the most points.
Such blatant disregard
for the critical role that predators play
in natural ecosystems, as well as
the ethics of killing animals
in contests, drew protests for hunters as well
and non-hunters.
_____________________________________________________________
"Until
we ourselves are ready to become vegetarians and to stop
eating of meat, it
is hardly fitting for us to brand the Goshawk
'murderer' and 'blood-thirsty
wretch.'"
J.B May, The Hawks of North America, 1935
Kierán
Suckling
ksuckling@sw-center.org
Executive
Director
520.623.5252 phone
Center for Biological
Diversity 520.623.9797 fax
http://www.sw-center.org
pob 710, tucson, az 85702-0710