From: Kieran Suckling [ksuckling@sw-center.org]
Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 1999 4:58 PM
To: Recipient list suppressed
Subject: BIODIVERSITY ALERT #216
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             CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

           <www.sw-center.org>      12-7-99      #216
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THE DAMNATION OF THE WEST- AN UPDATE ON THE CENTER'S
CAMPAIGN TO DISMANTLE AND REFORM THE DAMS KILLING
WESTERN RIVERS AND WILDLIFE

§ BI-NATIONAL COALITION CALLS FOR RIVER PROTECTION,
   RE-WRITE OF COLORADO RIVER WATER LAWS

§ BI-NATIONAL COALITION RUNS NEWSPAPER ADS IN MEXICO
   AND U.S. IN SUPPORT OF COLORADO RIVER DELTA,
   IMPERILED WILDLIFE, AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

§ SECOND SUIT TO BE FILED OVER HOOVER DAM

§ MITIGATION PLAN PROPOSED FOR ISABELLA DAM

§ ARIZONA REPUBLIC: THANK YOU FOR DEAL TO DECOMMISSION
   HYDRO-ELECTRIC PLANTS ON FOSSIL CREEK


BI-NATIONAL COALITION CALLS FOR RIVER PROTECTION, RE-WRITE
OF COLORADO RIVER WATER LAWS
On 11-22-99, a coalition of 38 Mexican and American environmental groups
called for the restoration of fresh water flows to the Colorado River Delta and
the northern Gulf of California. So much water is currently dammed and
diverted from the Colorado River for urban and agricultural uses that it often
runs dry before reaching the Mexican border, the delta or the gulf. Lack of
fresh water has decimated what used to be one the world's great estuaries.
Native fish, birds, mammals and mollusks have all been impacted, as have
fisheries in the northern Gulf.

Remnant riverside forests and marshlands still cling to life in the delta, but are
in grave danger of permanent desiccation. Ironically, death of the delta may
occur at the hands of the U.S.’s Lower Colorado Multi-Species Conservation
Program. The program is cynically billed as a endangered species preservation
effort, but its written mandate is to maintain and maximize the water withdrawal
infrastructure in the U.S. Not surprisingly, it is dominated by mega-water
interests from CA, NV, and AZ. Both the Center and Defenders of Wildlife
resigned from the Steering Committee in protest of its refusal to even
consider protection for the Southwestern willow flycatcher above Hoover Dam
or the fragile delta ecosystem.

In its letter to the Mexican and U.S. governments, the bi-national coalition
called for an amendment to the 1944 Colorado River water treaty in order to
permanently allocate water for the conservation and restoration of the Colorado
River Delta and the northern Gulf of California. The letter was prepared by the
Center and sent by the coalition whose members in both country's total more
than 8 million people. It signals an unprecedented bi-national effort to ensure
national borders and narrow development interests are not allowed to
destroy ecosystems and endangered species.
     _____________________________

BI-NATIONAL COALITION RUNS NEWSPAPER ADS IN MEXICO AND U.S.
IN SUPPORT OF COLORADO RIVER DELTA, WILDLIFE, AND INDIGENOUS
PEOPLE
On 12-6-99, the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, and Centro
Regional de Estudios Ambientales y Socioeconomicos ran a full page ad
entitled "Two Nations, One River, No Water" in the New York Times calling for
restoration of the Colorado River Delta, protection of its imperiled species, fair
treatment of indigenous peoples living on the river, and reform of the antiquated,
development-driven water laws responsible for the near death of one of the
planet's great estuary systems.

Copies of the ad are available from the Center for Biological Diversity, POB 710
Tucson, AZ 85702.
     _________________

SECOND SUIT TO BE FILED OVER HOOVER DAM
On 11-17-99, the Center for Biological Diversity officially notified the
Bureau of Reclamation that it will file suit under the Endangered Species
Act if the agency continues to flood nests of the endangered
Southwestern willow flycatcher on the Virgin River above Hoover Dam.
The agency has knowingly destroyed many nests in the past two
years, yet has refused to consult with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service over the impacts of Hoover Dam on the Virgin River. The Bureau
did review the impacts of Hoover Dam on flycatcher nests on the Colorado
River in 1997, but hastily concluded the analysis without considering the
Virgin River, even though federal biologists warned them that birds were
likely to be impacted there as well.

Through a series of dams and diversions, the Bureau of Reclamation
has turned the Colorado River into a glorified plumbing system,
decimating one the West's largest rivers. The result has been the
near extinction of species such as the flycatcher, Humpback chub
and Bony-tailed chub, and the desiccation of the Colorado River Delta.
     ___________________

MITIGATION PLAN PROPOSED FOR ISABELLA DAM
In response to a court injunction obtained by the Center for Biological
Diversity against Isabella Dam on the north and south forks of the Kern
River, the Army Corps of Engineers has developed a plan to buy
1,100 acres of wildlife habitat to mitigate its destruction of 1,100
acres of flycatcher habitat behind the dam. It plans to use $7.5
million dollars of tax payer money to pay for the mitigation which is
required to continuing operating the dam for the benefit corporate
agribusiness interests.

A thousand acres of fragmented habitat scattered throughout the
river basin, however, is not equivalent to the contiguous thousand
acre stand of willows and cottonwoods in the Kern River Wildlife
Preserve which was regularly flooded prior to the court injunction. It is
one of California's largest remaining riparian forests.
     ________________

ARIZONA REPUBLIC: THANK YOU FOR DEAL TO DECOMMISSION
HYDRO-ELECTRIC PLANTS ON FOSSIL CREEK
"It's a welcome and sensible shift in priorities. Arizona owes all
parties to the agreement an enthusiastic thank you." With these
words, the Arizona Republic supported a recent settlement
negotiation to remove two hydro-electric plants and water diversions
from Fossil Creek in central Arizona. According to the settlement
recently signed by the Center, Arizona Public Service, and other
environmental groups, the plants will be decommissioned and full
flows will be restored to the river by 20005.

Fossil Creek which stems from a spring with a constant flow of
43 cubic feet per second is one the best potential native fish
restoration areas in the Southwest. It has been diverted and abused
for 90 years by an antiquated and redundant system of canals
and power plants. The tiny proportion of Arizona's power that it
supplies pales in comparison to the river's value to wildlife and
recreation.
_____________________________________________________________

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