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CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
<www.sw-center.org>
6-28-00
#241
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§
THREATENED SUIT OVER ENDANGERED SPECIES CAUSES
CANCELATION
OF MASSIVE L.A. DEVELOPMENT PERMIT
§ VENTANA WILDERNESS DEFENDED AGAINST
UNNECESSARY
ROAD
§ SUIT FILED TO PROTECT HABITAT
FOR TOPEKA SHINER
AND PREBLE'S MEADOW JUMPING
MOUSE
§ CENTER, STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL JOIN BATTLE
TO
SAVE SAN DIEGO WILDLANDS FROM DEVELOPERS
§ SANTA
CRUZ COUNTY SUPPORTS LAWSUIT CHALLENGING
PRIVATE LAND
LOGGING IN CALIFORNIA.
§ LETTERS NEEDED TO OPPOSE SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA
TOLL ROAD
THREATENED SUIT OVER
ENDANGERED SPECIES CAUSES
CANCELATION OF MASSIVE L.A. DEVELOPMENT
PERMIT
In response to a formal notice of intent to sue by the Center for
Biological
Diversity and SCOPE (Santa Clarita Organization for Planning
the
Environment), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has withdrawn a
permit
approving the construction of 3,000 homes and a golf course on
1,795
acres in the Santa Clarita Valley of Los Angeles County.
The
development is planned along San Francisquito Creek, a tributary of
the
Santa Clara River 30 miles north of Los Angeles, adjacent to the
Angeles
National Forest. The Army Corps issued the permit for the Tesoro
Del
Valle development without review by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
even
though it would harm numerous endangered species including the
Slender
horned-spineflower, Arroyo southwestern toad, Least Bell's
vireo,
Southwestern willow flycatcher, and the California red legged frog.
Most
imperiled by the development is the unarmored threespine
stickleback
(a fish) which could be driven to extinction.
The Santa
Clara River system is the last remaining semi-intact river
system in the
concrete-and-shopping-mall dominated greater Los
Angeles area. Developers
plan to wipe out this last vestige of open
space with nearly 100,000
development units approved in the last
10 years. Tens of thousands more are
in the planning process. The
Army Corps will reissue a permit for Tesoro Del
Valle, but only after
review by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. That
review will hopefully
drastically reduce the scale and impact of the
development.
The Center and SCOPE have launched a aggressive campaign
to
save the Santa Clara River valley from greed and needless
destruction.
We are represented in this round by attorney Babak Naficy
(Los
Angeles).
____________________
VENTANA WILDERNESS DEFENDED AGAINST UNNECESSARY
ROAD
The Center for Biological Diversity and the Ventana Wilderness
Alliance
filed suit on 6-9-00 to prevent the U.S. Forest Service from
re-opening
the Indians-Arroyo Seco Road. The controversial 18-mile stretch of
dirt
roadway, located in southern Monterey County, has been closed
since
two massive landslides hit it in 1995. The unnecessary road bisects
the
Ventana Wilderness and runs immediately east of the Arroyo Seco
River,
the only undammed major tributary of the Salinas River watershed.
The
river is a candidate for protection under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
and
may support the only remnant of the historic Salinas River Steelhead
trout.
It is also home to the federally protected California red-legged
frog.
The ill situated Indians-Arroyo Seco Road has been hit by
numerous
costly landslides and washouts in the past few decades. An
economic
drain and an environmental and human health hazard, it should
be
permanently closed and revegetated, not re-opened. The Forest
Service,
however, planned to reopen it with just a cursory environmental
review,
indeed they "categorically excluded" it from a full
analysis.
___________________
SUIT
FILED TO PROTECT HABITAT FOR TOPEKA SHINER AND
PREBLE'S MEADOW JUMPING
MOUSE
A coalition of groups including the Center for Biological Diversity,
the
Biodiversity Legal Foundation, Biodiversity Associates and the
South
Dakota Resources Coalition filed suit on 6-9-00 against the U.S.
Fish
& Wildlife Service for refusing to map out and protect "critical
habitat"
for the endangered Topeka shiner and the Preble's meadow
jumping
mouse.
The Topeka shiner, a small fish currently found in
small tributary streams
in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, and South
Dakota, was listed as
an endangered species on 1-14-99. Once abundant
throughout the
Central Great Plains and western tallgrass prairies, the
Topeka shiner is
now found in less than ten percent of its original range. It
requires low
volume water flow creeks and rivers. Dewatering, impoundments,
and
channelization continue to destroy its habitat.
Historically, the
Preble's meadow jumping mouse lived along the front
range of the Rocky
Mountains in Colorado and Wyoming in heavily
vegetated riparian areas. Today
it is found in only seven Colorado and
two Wyoming counties. Much of its
former habitat has been fragmented,
degraded, and destroyed by commercial,
agricultural, and residential
development. Habitat loss is accelerating as
front range cities and towns
expand. Preble's meadow mouse was listed as an
endangered species
on 5-3-98.
The case is being argued by Neil Levine
and Jay Tutchton of the
Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund
(Denver).
_____________________
CENTER,
STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL JOIN BATTLE TO SAVE
SAN DIEGO WILDLANDS FROM
DEVELOPERS
The Center has teamed up with Save our Forests and
Ranchlands
to protect nearly 200,000 acres of oak and pine forests,
grasslands and
chaparral from the bulldozer's blade. Along with eight
environmental
groups, submitted a "friend of the court brief" arguing that a
recent San
Diego County zoning decision will allow massive clearing of
native
habitats without adequately consider the environmental impacts
as
required by state law.
In a surprise move, the California Attorney
General also joined the battle
with a brief of its own in support of the
conservationists. According to the
AG, "The [environmental review documents]
fail to provide even the most
minimal information about the specific impacts
of [the County's decision]
on sensitive wildlife species." The AG emphasized
the statewide
importance of the case, noting that "the potential clearing and
grading of
vast amounts of natural habitat in San Diego County . . . will
impair or
destroy the state's biological resources, damaging habitats
utilized by
numerous sensitive plant and animal species." The adverse
"precedents
set by the inadequate environmental review conducted for the
proposed
project," the AG added, "could have enormous impact on the
protection of
natural habitats."
________________________
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY SUPPORTS LAWSUIT
CHALLENGING
PRIVATE LAND LOGGING IN CALIFORNIA.
On 5-27-00, Santa Cruz
County filed a "friend of the court" brief supporting
a lawsuit brought by
the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC),
the Center for
Biological Diversity, Native American, fishing, and
environmental groups to
stop the killing of endangered coho salmon on private
timber lands in
northern and central California. The suit, originally filed on
3-1-00, is the
largest legal challenge ever filed in the U.S. against logging
on private
timberlands. It seeks to enjoin all logging on private lands in
watersheds
where coho salmon currently exists in northern and central
California until
the California Department of Forestry changes it regulatory
policies to
protect endangered species.
Coho salmon have declined in northern
California by 96% and by 99% in
central California. Over the past several
years, Santa Cruz County has
attempted to enact local rules which would
protect salmon and streamside
habitats, but has been consistently overruled
by the California Department
of Forestry which is dominated by the massive
state timber industry.
The case is being argued by Dan Rohlf of the
Pacific Environmental
Advocacy Center (Portland), Brendan Cummings (Berkeley)
and Sharon
Duggan (San Francisco).
____________________________
LETTERS NEEDED TO OPPOSE SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA
TOLL ROAD
Governor Gray Davis is considering a budget line item
to fund the
125-Tollroad proposed for southern San Diego County. Your
letters
could convince the Governor to veto funding for unneeded
habitat-
destroying tollroad. Davis will sign the budget soon, so please send
a
letter today!
Governor Gray Davis, State Capital
Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Ph. (916) 445-2841
Fax (916) 445-4633
Sample letter:
RE: SB 406 (AB
2928) Traffic Plan - Line Item Veto Chula
Vista
Tollway -$8.9 m
(Item 155)
Dear Governor Davis:
I am writing to urge you to veto the $8.9 million Chula
Vista 10-mile toll
road line item. This request for funding was
tacked on to the budget very
recently. The approval of this last
minute request in Sacramento would show
a disturbing disregard
for the residents and organizations who have
dedicated years
working on this issue in the affected
region.
The Chula Vista tollway is
a sprawl inducing blue-print for poor planning
in San Diego. The
Environmental Protection Agency, independent scientists,
and
environmental organizations have been raising serious concerns
about
this project for years. Like other tollways in southern
California, it is
hugely
controversial.
The tollway has
generated a large amount of attention in San Diego, and
many
living in the region oppose it. A coalition of leading
environmental
groups including the Sierra Club, San Diego
Audubon Society, the Center for
Biological Diversity, Preserve
South Bay and Preserve Wild Santee, have
united in an effort to
challenge the tollway in federal
court.
Please veto the tollway
funding (Item 155) and use these funds in favor of
publicly
supported transportation projects that will reduce congestion
rather than create
it.
_____________________________________________________________
PLEASE
NOTE NEW EMAIL ADDRESS: ksuckling@biologicaldiversity.org
Kierán
Suckling
ksuckling@biologicaldiversity.org
Science and Policy
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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