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CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
<www.sw-center.org>
4-27-00
#235
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§
900 MILES OF RIVER PROTECTED FOR ENDANGERED FISH
§ NAVAJO COMMUNITIES,
ENVIRONMENTALISTS OPPOSE LOGGING
INCREASE ON NAVAJO
NATION- EMAILS NEEDED TODAY
§ EMAILS NEEDED TO STOP HUGE ARIZONA TIMBER
SALE-
CLICK ON LINK TO SEND A MESSAGE TO THE FOREST
SERVICE
§ SUIT TO PROTECT SEA OTTERS FROM CALIFORNIA GILLNETTING
§
ENVIROS, SCIENTISTS CALL FOR RESTORATION OF DESTROYED
WETLANDS, JAIL TIME FOR SPECIES KILLING DEVELOPER
§ JOB AVAILABLE:
FULL-TIME SOUTHWEST GRAZING ACTIVIST
900 RIVER MILES PROTECTED FOR
ENDANGERED FISH
In response to a lawsuit by the Center for Biological
Diversity, the U.S.
Fish & Wildlife Service has designated 900 river
miles of critical habitat
for two threatened fish: the Loach minnow and
Spikedace. The agency's
decision caps seven years of court battles for these
species, starting with
the Center's very first lawsuit in 1993.
Both
fish are endemic to the Gila River Basin and have declined by 85%
due to
dams, overgrazing, logging, water diversions and introduction of
exotic game
fish. They have continued to decline since being listed as
threatened species
under the Endangered Species Act. In response to a
petition from the Center,
both fish are scheduled to be upgraded to
"endangered" status.
The
designation includes large portions of the Verde and Black River
complexes,
the middle and upper Gila Rivers, the San Pedro River,
Aravaipa Creek, Eagle
Creek, the Blue River, and the San
Francisco
River.
_________________________
NAVAJO COMMUNITIES, ENVIRONMENTALISTS OPPOSE
LOGGING
INCREASE ON NAVAJO NATION- EMAILS NEEDED TODAY
The Bureau of
Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Navajo Nation Forestry
Department have released
the Final Environmental Impact Statement
on the proposed 10-year Forest
Management Plan for the Navajo
Nation in northern Arizona and New Mexico. The
plan calls for the
logging of 31% of the Nation's quarter million acre
commercial timber
harvest base over the next 10 years. At this rate, all of
the Navajo
Nation's timber base will be liquidated in 30 years. An
additional
74,735 acres of wildlife areas will be protected from logging
during the
next ten years.
Despite the fact that very little logging
has occurred on the Navajo
Nation in the past seven years, the "no action"
alternative has been
construed by the BIA and Forestry Department to mean the
logging
of 80,000 acres per decade. Logging within the Navajo Nation
has
declined because of the organizing, education, and litigation efforts
of
Dine' Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment (Dine' CARE). In
their
comments on the Draft EIS, the group
stated
"This is not a Navajo DEIS and the
preferred alternative is not a truly
Navajo FMP.
This is a DEIS based upon industrial logging from
start
to finish...The BIA and the Forestry
Department did not enter into a
dialogue with the
affected communities, the people who live on the
mountain...The 'virtual' forest created by the consultants is not
the
forest on the Chuska Mountains and Defiance
Plateau. There is no
mention anywhere in the
DEIS or FMP of the fact that the entire
80,000 to
90,000 acres that are proposed to be cut under the
preferred alternative are on the Navajo male deity. There is
no
mention of the impacts the years of overcutting
have had on this
sacred cultural landscape. Instead,
the DEIS and FMP continue in the
tradition of NFPI
and previous forest 'managers' by looking at
the
forests
on the Chuska mountains and Defiance
Plateau as so many "crops"
to be harvested, as so
many board feet to be maximized."
The Center has also opposed the logging
ramp up, demonstrating that
it will harm goshawks, spotted owls, and the
endemic Chuska
Mountains tassel-eared squirrel. Please email the Bureau of
Indian Affairs
and respectfully ask them to honor the Chuska Mountains, its
wildlife,
the people that live there, and the wishes of Dine' CARE. Ask
them to
rescind the FEIS and develop an alternative which truly restores
the
Navajo Forest and allows no commercial logging. The
Forestry
Department can be reached at
HaroldRussell@bia.gov.
__________________
EMAILS NEEDED TO STOP HUGE ARIZONA TIMBER
SALE-
CLICK ON LINK TO SEND A MESSAGE TO THE FOREST SERVICE
Arizona's
Tonto National Forest is currently accepting comments on the
Chamberlain
timber sale. Offered to "improve forest health" and reduce fire
danger,
Chamberlain would log over 6 million board feet of trees on
approximately
6,000 acres. The sale would include extensive logging of mature
and
old-growth trees, despite the fact that between 85-98% of the
Southwest's
ancient forests have already been destroyed and the logging of
large trees
does nothing to improve forest conditions or lower the risk of
fire. The
sale would
negatively impact the 16 Mexican spotted owl
territories within the sale
area in
addition to several perennial streams
containing rare native fish species such
as the Sonora and desert suckers,
and the longfin dace.
Comments are due May 1. Click on the link
below, it will take you to a
website were you can easily send an automated
letter, or one of you own
making.
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/activist/Chamberlain.html
______________________
SUIT TO PROTECT SEA OTTERS FROM CALIFORNIA
GILLNETTING
The Center for Biological Diversity and The Turtle Island
Restoration
Network have filed a formal notice of intent to sue the
California
Fish and Game Department for allowing the killing of California
sea
otters in Monterey Bay. The Department regulates the
commercial
halibut fishery, but has not demanded an end to the bycatch
killing
of sea otters. The California sea otter, listed as a federally
"threatened "
species, has dramatically declined over the past four years.
Drowning in
gillnets is one of the likely causes of the decline. The halibut
fishery,
which is located within the Monterey Bay National Marine
Sanctuary,
also kills numerous harbor porpoises, elephant seals, California
sea lions
and common Murres.
_____________________
ENVIROS, SCIENTISTS CALL FOR RESTORATION OF
DESTROYED
WETLANDS, JAIL TIME FOR SPECIES KILLING DEVELOPER
Fourteen
conservation groups led by the Center have sent a letter to
state and federal
resource agencies calling for restoration and mitigation
from a San Diego
development company which knowingly bulldozed
wetlands occupied by endangered
species. The company had mistakenly
been granted a grading permit by the City
of San Diego, but had failed to
secure other wetland destruction and species
kill permits. The
groups called for jail time for the company's owner who is
also the
mayor of a City just north of San Diego. The conservationist's
letter was
echoed by a letter from 54 scientists calling for similar
measures.
Two of the agencies, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and
California
Department of Fish and Game, have sent a letter to the City of San
Diego
threatening to revoke the City-wide endangered species kill permit
(a.k.a.
Multiple Species Conservation Plan) due to the City's negligence
in
granting the grading permit.
_______________________
JOB AVAILABLE: FULL-TIME SOUTHWEST GRAZING
ACTIVIST
The Center for Biological Diversity seeks full-time grazing
activist.
Must be energetic, self-motivated, experienced with legal and
biological
aspects of livestock grazing on public lands- preferably
Southwestern
forests, deserts, and riparian areas. Excellent analytic,
communication,
written and computer skills a must. Ideal candidate has proven
track record,
biological and/or legal background, is comfortable with
controversy, wants to
spearhead aggressive reform of public lands management.
Position is based
in Tucson, AZ and will focus on livestock grazing in
Arizona and New Mexico.
Pay competitive, commensurate with
experience.
Send resume, two writing samples, and three letters of
reference to
Scott Black, Center for Biological Diversity, P.O. Box 710,
Tucson,
AZ
85702.
_____________________________________________________________
ENDANGERED
TOTEMS. Eleven of the twelve western states have adopted
imperiled species as
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, Montana and Wyoming
(Cutthroat trout).
Kierán
Suckling
ksuckling@sw-center.org
Executive
Director
520.623.5252 phone
Center for Biological
Diversity 520.623.9797
fax
<www.biologicaldiversity.org>
POB 710, Tucson, AZ
85702-0710
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