Subject: FW: BIODIVERSITY ALERT #228


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             CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

           <www.sw-center.org>      3-1-00      #228
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§ PETITION FILED TO PROTECT YOSEMITE TOAD UNDER THE
   ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT

§ COALITION FORMS TO SAVE STEELHEAD TROUT, REMOVE
   UNNECESSARY DAMS

§ BABBITT FAVORS REMOVAL OF MATILAJA DAM TO SAVE
   STEELHEAD- WOULD BE LARGE DAM REMOVAL TO DATE

§ INJUNCTION SOUGHT TO PROTECT HAWAIIAN MONK SEAL

§ FEDERAL GRAZING FEES TO REMAIN AT $1.35/MONTH

PETITION FILED TO PROTECT YOSEMITE TOAD UNDER THE
ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT
On 2-29-00, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Pacific Rivers
Council filed a formal petition with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to
list the Yosemite toad as an endangered species. This action follows
a 2-8-00 petition by both groups to list the Sierra Nevada population
of the mountain yellow-legged frog as an endangered species. Both
the Yosemite toad and the yellow-legged frog have declined
precipitously because of habitat loss, pesticides and other pollutants,
predation due to stocking of non-native fish, and environmental stresses
which render amphibians susceptible to aquatic diseases.  A recent
survey found that the Yosemite toad has disappeared from 47% of historic
locations throughout the high Sierra. Most remaining populations are
small and greatly reduced in number from historical occurrence.  The
alarming decline of the Yosemite toad, the mountain yellow-legged frog,
and other amphibians in the Sierra Nevada indicates that aquatic
ecosystems have been significantly disrupted by human activity, even in
supposedly protected areas such as National Parks.
     ________________________

COALITION FORMS TO SAVE STEELHEAD TROUT, REMOVE
UNNECESSARY DAMS
The "Southern California Steelhead Recovery Coalition," a new alliance
of 25 conservation, surfing, sport fishing and commercial fishing groups,
including the Center for Biological Diversity, San Diego Trout, and
California Trout, have formed a coalition to save southern California's
steelhead trout from extinction. Together, the groups represent over
220,000 Californians.

Steelhead populations in southern California range from San Luis Obispo
County to San Diego County. They have declined over 99% since the
turn of the century, resulting in their listing as an endangered species in
1997. Dams have blocked their migration routes while urban sprawl has
dewater, diverted, and polluted the streams the live in. A host of federal
and state agencies have thus far failed to stop the steelhead's decline.

The coalition has developed a ten point action plan to recovery steelhead
runs including removal of Matilija Dam on the Ventura River and Rindge
Dam on Malibu Creek. The coalition is also calling for full Endangered
Species Act protection for steelhead trout found upstream of dams and
south of Malibu Creek. Currently, the National Marine Fisheries Service
has arbitrarily decided not to protect or recover trout south of Malibu
Creek, even though they are the nearest to extinction. It is also refusing
to consider restoration of historic migration corridors now blocked by
dams. The Center and several coalition member groups will soon sue
the National Marine Fisheries Service for failure to fully protect all
southern California steelhead populations.
     _________________

BABBITT FAVORS REMOVAL OF MATILAJA DAM TO SAVE
STEELHEAD- WOULD BE LARGE DAM REMOVAL TO DATE
Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt, fresh from presiding over the
breaching of a small dam in the Maine, has endorsed a growing call
to remove the 190 foot tall Matilija Dam in southern California. The
dam is blocking endangered steelhead trout runs and robbing
downstream beaches of much needed sand. The U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation, U.S. Geological Survey and Army Corps of Engineers
are conducting studies on how to remove the dam. Babbitt recently
told the Los Angeles Times: "We need to get the study back to make
sure there are no insoluble problems, then work on financing issues."

The 52-year-old Matilaja dam was built to store drinking and
agricultural water for the Ojai Valley and to reduce flood hazards on
the Ventura River. Today, however, it is full of mud, provides little water
and is falling apart. Though decaying sections have been removed, it
still stands 190 feet tall and 620 feet wide.The cost of removal has
been estimated at between $3 million and $150 million.
     __________________

INJUNCTION SOUGHT TO PROTECT HAWAIIAN MONK SEAL
The Center for Biological Diversity, Sea Turtle Restoration Project and
the Greenpeace Foundation filed a preliminary injunction request last
week in the recently filed federal lawsuit to protect the endangered
Hawaiian monk seal. The coalition is asking the federal court to halt
the opening of the commercial lobster fishery season- the leading threat
to the rapidly declining and critically endangered monk seal. The
motion is scheduled to be heard April 21, 2000.

The monk seal has been reduce to about 1,350 individuals, and is
steadily declining because the pups are starving to death. At the same
time, however, lobster boats (which set up to 1,000 traps each night) are
allowed to remove hundreds of thousands of spiny and slipper lobsters
from the monk seal's officially designated, and supposedly protected,
critical habitat.

The case is being argued by Paul Achitoff of the Earthjustice Legal
Defense Fund (Honolulu).
     ________________________

FEDERAL GRAZING FEES TO REMAIN AT $1.35/MONTH IN 2000
Continuing one of the west's most absurd and damaging corporate
welfare traditions, the Bureau of Land Management has decided to
continue charging the lowest possible fee allowed by law for
grazing leases on the U.S. National Forests and BLM Districts in
2000. Though you can't feed a goldfish on $1.35/month, the
federal government "charges" ranchers that much to allow a cow and
a calf, one horse, or five sheep to denude millions of acres of
public lands in the West. The agencies, not surprisingly, loose
hundreds of millions of dollars each year administering their
grazing program.

The $1.35 figure is based on a fee formula not updated since 1966.
It has been held in place by the political power of the livestock
industry, which regardless of its rantings about the evils of the
federal governments is one of the most bloated and effective
advocates of corporate welfare.
_____________________________________________________________

ENDANGERED TOTEMS. Ten of the eleven western states have imperiled species
for their state fish: New Mexico (Rio Grande cutthroat trout), Arizona
(Apache trout), Colorado (Greenback cutthroat trout), Utah (Bonneville
cutthroat trout), Nevada (Lahontan cutthroat trout), California (Golden
trout), Oregon (Chinook salmon), Washington (Steelhead trout), Idaho
(Cutthroat trout), and Montana (Cutthroat trout).

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