Subject: FW: BIODIVERSITY ACTIVIST #242

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              CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

            <www.sw-center.org>      7-3-00      #242
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§  1,160 RIVER MILES, 42,600 ACRES TO BE PROTECTED FOR
     ENDANGERED FISH IN NM, TX, OK, KA

§ NEW MEXICO TIMBER SALE STOPPED TO PROTECT
    SONGBIRDS AND MAMMALS

§  BLM LAND SWAP WITH MINING GIANT ASARCO/ GRUPO
     MEXICO CHALLENGED

§ BALD EAGLE REMAINS ON ENDANGERED SPECIES LIST

§ SUIT FILED TO STOP MT. GRAHAM POWERLINE

§ JOIN THE CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY TODAY!


1,160 RIVER MILES, 42,600 ACRES TO BE PROTECTED FOR
ENDANGERED FISH IN NM, TX, OK, KA
In keeping with a legal settlement with the Center for Biological Diversity,
the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service published a proposed rule on 6-30-00
to designate 1,160 river miles as "critical habitat" for the endangered
Arkansas River shiner, including 42,600 acres of riparian forest. The
areas proposed for protection include portions of the Arkansas River in
Kansas, the Cimarron River in Kansas and Oklahoma, the Beaver/North
Canadian River in Oklahoma, and the Canadian/South Canadian River in
New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma.

The Arkansas River shiner was listed as an endangered species in
1998 because dams, water diversions, water pumping, and pollution
have drastically reduced its population size and range and will soon
drive the species to extinction if not halted. The Fish & Wildlife
Service, however, declared that it was "not prudent" to protect the
shiners habitat, leading to a lawsuit by the Center and an eventual
settlement in which the agency agreed to review its previous
decision.
      ___________________________

NEW MEXICO TIMBER SALE STOPPED TO PROTECT
SONGBIRDS AND MAMMALS
In response to an appeal filed by the Center for Biological Diversity,
Forest Conservation Council and National Forest Protection Alliance,
U.S. Forest Service has withdrawn the Corner Mountain fire "salvage"
timber sale on New Mexico's Gila National Forest. The sale would
have clearcut 2 ˝ million board feet of ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir
on 340 acres. The Forest Service, however, failed to analyze the
effects of logging on "management indicator species" including
songbirds such as the hairy woodpecker, pygmy nuthatch, violet-green
swallow, and purple martin. A recent Forest Service report published as
part of a legal settlement between the Center, Forest Guardians, and the
Forest Service, found that 100% of "coniferous nesting" and "permanent
resident" songbirds in New Mexico to be in decline. The Forest Service
also failed to consider the negative effects of logging on mammals
such as elk, wild turkey, and Abert's squirrels.  Finally, the timber sale
also violated the Gila National Forest Plan.

The trees to be logged burned in 1998 when the Forest Service lost
control of a 200 acre prescribed natural fire. When implemented properly,
prescribed burns are an important tool to begin reintroduction of natural
fire regimes, restore ecological integrity, and reduce the threat of
catastrophic fire to forest communities. The Gila conducts the Forest
Service's most aggressive prescribed burn policy and eventually hopes
to burn one million areas a year. Salvage logging in prescribed burn
areas, however, undermines the Forest Service's own restoration goals,
creates a conflict of interest, and promotes arson.
      _____________________

BLM PLANS LAND SWAP WITH MINING GIANT ASARCO/GRUPO
MEXICO
On 6-29-00, the Center for Biological Diversity, Western Land Exchange
Project, and the Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter formally protested the
Ray land exchange decision, in which the BLM would give mining giant
ASARCO (now a wholly owned subsidiary of Grupo Mexico) 10,000 acres
of land in exchange for 7,000 of its private holdings. The public land to be
given away borders the spectacular White Canyon Wilderness, contain
rare perennial waters and riparian deciduous forest, are a priority
reintroduction site for bighorn sheep, and lie within designated critical
habitat for the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl.  ASARCO would use the
land to expand its already enormous Ray copper mine near Hayden,
Arizona, resulting in degradation of the beleaguered Gila River and
threatening the recovery of river dependent species such as the
Southwestern willow flycatcher.

The protest was submitted by attorneys Roger Flynn and Jeff Parsons of
the Western Mining Action Project (Boulder).
      __________________________

BALD EAGLE REMAINS ON ENDANGERED SPECIES LIST
In July, 1999, the Clinton Administration announced that the American
bald eagle had recovered after nearly three decades as an endangered
species and would be removed from protection under the Endangered
Species Act on July 4, 2000. A delisting proposal was published, but
has not been finalized. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service officials now say
the delisting has been delayed for an indefinite period of time.

The Center has actively opposed the delisting of the southwestern
population, known as the Southern bald eagle. Only 40 pairs remain
along southern Arizona and New Mexico rivers. The population is far
from self-sufficient, depending upon intensive human intervention to breed
successfully. On a national level, official delisting criteria have not been
met for two of the five regional recovery plans. Bald eagles have still not
been successfully re-introduced to southern California's Channel Islands
from which they were extirpated because of DDT poisoning. The recovery
of the gravely imperiled Island fox may be dependent upon reintroduction
of bald eagles to the islands- the bald eagle (a fish eater) would displace
the golden eagle (a mammal eater), thus reducing predation pressure on
young foxes. The Center and the Institute for Wildlife Studies filed a
petition to list the Island fox as an endangered species in on 6-1-00:
<http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/activist/fox.html>
      _______________________

SUIT FILED TO STOP MT. GRAHAM POWERLINE
Joining with the Apache Survival Coalition, Apaches for Cultural
Preservation, the Maricopa Audubon Society, and Scientists for the
Preservation of Mount Graham, the Center for Biological Diversity has
filed suit against the U.S. Forest Service to stop construction of a
powerline from the base to the top of Mt. Graham. Despite the fact
that the federal observatory regulations specifically state that the 18-mile
long, high-voltage powerline is subject to environmental and cultural
protection laws, the University of Arizona and the Forest Service have
pushed the project forward without any environmental review.

Mt. Graham is an important sacred area to the San Carlos and White
Mountain Apache. It is a unique desert "sky island" ecosystem with at
least 18 endemic animals and plants, including the Mt. Graham red
squirrel. According to Ola Cassadore Davis, Apache elder at the San
Carlos Apache Reservation "They took our homeland. They cause real
pain to our mountain with their telescopes and powerlines."
      _____________________________

JOIN THE CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY TODAY!
If you are not already of member of the Center, and you enjoy these
free alerts and being part of an aggressive effort to rewild western
North American and protect is imperiled wildlife, please click the
link below and join the Center. Our successful campaigns protect
millions of acres of forests, deserts, grasslands, and rivers are
dependent upon the support of our members.

<http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/membership/member.html>
_____________________________________________________________

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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