Subject: FW: SW Biodiversity Alert #23

Subject: SW Biodiversity Alert #23

* ************* Southwest Biodiversity Alert #23 *****************
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*            southwest center for biological diversity           *
*                      ksuckling@sw-center.org                   *
*             http://www.envirolink.org/orgs/sw-center           *
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1.  SPOTTED OWL FIASCO CONTINUES: FOREST SERVICE CHANGES
     PLAN AFTER E.S.A. APPROVAL, ALLOWS  LOGGING OF OLD
     GROWTH & STEEP SLOPES- LOGGING BAN MAY BE EXTENDED
     YET AGAIN

2.  MEDIA: OVERGRAZING CAUSES WILDFIRE, HINDERS PRESCRIBED
     BURNING - ENDANGERED SPECIES HELP REDUCE CATTLE AND
     WILDFIRE

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1.  SPOTTED OWL FIASCO CONTINUES: FOREST SERVICE CHANGES
     PLAN AFTER E.S.A. APPROVAL, ALLOWS  LOGGING OF OLD
     GROWTH & STEEP SLOPES- LOGGING BAN MAY BE EXTENDED
     YET AGAIN

Logging on the Southwest's 11 National Forests and the Navajo Nation
was halted by a federal judge in August, 1995, until the U.S. Forest
Service consults with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the effects
of all Forest Plans and ammendments on the Threatened Mexican spotted
owl.

Attempts to rush, manipulate, and falsify the consultation have been
repeatedly and successfully challenged by environmentalists, resulting
in the injunction being dragged out for 11 months.

In the latest twist, the Forest Service, *after* recieving a no jeopardy
opinion on Forest Plan amendments, changed the amendments to delete
 prohibitions on old growth and steep slope logging. An affidavit filed
by John Talbert of the Forest Conservation Council, reveals that these
changes were made after complaints by the timber industry.

Redoing the Biological Opinion yet again will delay the completion of 
the consultation and the lifting of the logging injunction.


2.  MEDIA: OVERGRAZING CAUSES WILDFIRE, HINDERS
     PRESCRIBED BURNING - ENDANGERED SPECIES HELP
     REDUCE CATTLE AND WILDFIRE


Showdown Looms: Do Cattle Increase Threat OF Wildfires?
Arizona Republic, July 6, 1996, A1

     For more than a century, cattle and sheep have browsed the
wilderness of Arizona, leveling the grasses that ranchers say would
otherwise feed the wildfires.
     Were it not for the cows, they assert, this year's fire danger,
made severe by the worst drought of the century, would be even
worse.
     But environmentalists and a growing pool of scientists say
that's pure bull.
     Cattle and sheep, in fact, have helped cause the problems by
eating away grasses that prevent the growth of thickets of smaller
trees and bush which choke forests and feed bigger, hotter, more
dangerous wildfires.
     In addition, nearly a century of rushing to put out every fire
has led to an unintended consequence: a potential catastrophic
buildup of fire-prone vegetation.
     "Unless, and until, intensive grazing of the National Forests
end...(this) crisis cannot be resolved," said Dennis Morgan, research
associate for the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity.
     But because of a sharp reduction in herds in recent years,
the dangers posed by grazing may be abating. Since 1980, the
number of cattle and sheep on federal land in the Southwest has
fallen by a third, to fewer than 270,000 head from more than 400,000.
     Among the reasons are growing calls for habitat protection
and preservation of endangered wildlife. Stands of old growth
forest are needed for nesting Mexican spotted owls. And high- mountain,
cold-water streams, which environmentalists say are
ravaged by cattle, are essential for Arizona's dwindling number of
endangered native fish, such as Apache trout.
     One of the biggest reasons for the reduced herds is urban
sprawl, as the recreational needs of an exploding number of city
residents - wanting to tube, hike and hunt - compete with ranching.
     The Southwest Forest Alliance, a coalition of 50 environmental
groups, is calling for less grazing, not just because of
the drought, but because much of the Southwest is simply too dry
to support ranching.
     Most of the nearly 1,670 ranchers in Arizona and New Mexico who
have permits to graze livestock on pubic lands are removing animals
during the drought.
     But as many as 50 ranchers in both states have refused, setting
up a possible show in coming weeks with federal agents.
     Adding tension is the charge that cattle are to blame for the
threat of fires.
     Steve Brophy, treasurer of the Arizona Cattle grower's
Association, said the notion that cattle contribute to fire danger is
laughable. "I don't know how anybody under the sun could possibly blame
a cow," said Brophy, whose family runs several ranches in eastern
Arizona."
     ...
     "Grazing also heightens fire dangers by aggravating the drought,
some experts say.
     Robert Ohmart, a professor of ecology at Arizona State
University's Center for Environmental Studies, maintains that cattle
may be harming the watershed of rivers that flow to the Valley.
     Instead of absorbing rains like a sponge and slowly releasing
them through springs, Ohmart said, the damaged land acts as a frying
pan, so bare and hot that it causes much of the water to evaporate."
     Earlier this year, Ohmart wrote a scathing review of a report
published by the New Mexico Department of Agriculture, which called for
more cattle grazing in wilderness areas. The report concluded that
"economically, it might shield the ranchers and surrounding communities
from bankruptcy."
     The report was also dismissed by Charles Cartwright Jr., the
Southwest's Regional Forester for the Forest Service. Instead of more
grazing, Cartwright said, forest lands need to be thinned through
prescribed burns, ignited during moist period so they can be controlled.
     Dave Stewart, a range-management official for the U.S. Forest
Service in Albuquerque, said a lack of grass in some areas recently has
prevented the agency from setting controlled burns.
     Grasses carry fast-moving spot fires that clear out the
abundance of brush, needles and small pines while leaving unharmed the
mature fire resistant trees with their thick bark. Spot fires return
nutrients to the soil, and grasses quickly sprout back.
     A review conducted by the Forest Service last year concluded
that the lack of culling fires threatens to "unravel and destroy"
wilderness areas."
     ...
     "A measure before Congress known as the Livestock Grazing Act,
backed by the Cattle Grower's Association would ensure that ranching
continues and that government regulation is limited.
     President Clinton has vowed to veto the measure."