Subject: FW: BIODIVERSITY ACTIVIST #244


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              CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

            <www.sw-center.org>      7-13-00      #244
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§ ANOTHER 2,566 ACRES ALONG CALIFORNIA COAST PROPOSED
    AS "CRITICAL HABITAT" FOR ENDANGERED SPECIES

§ GOVERNOR DAVIS VETOS 125 TOLL ROAD

§ SUIT IN WORKS TO STOP CALIFORNIA LONGLINE FISHING FLEET
    FROM KILLING SEA TURTLES, MARINE MAMMALS AND SEABIRDS

§ SUIT IN WORKS TO SAVE CONDORS FROM HELICOPTER HUNTING
    ON LOS PADRES NATIONAL FOREST

§ NEW MEXICO RANCHERS SLAUGHTER ELK TO FEED COWS

ANOTHER 2,566 ACRES ALONG CALIFORNIA COAST PROPOSED
AS "CRITICAL HABITAT" FOR ENDANGERED SPECIES
In accordance with legal settlement with the Center and Christians Caring
for Creation, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service proposed to map out and
protect 2,566 acres for the endangered Morro shoulderband snail. Found
only in western San Luis Obispo County, the snail was listed under the
Endangered Species Actin 1994 because its coastal dune, scrub, and
maritime chaparral habitat is being destroyed by unplanned sprawl,
off-highway vehicles, and invasion by non-native species such as veldt
grass (Ehrharta calycino). Pesticides and non-native predatory snails may
also be a problem.

The Center's "Golden State Biodiversity Initiative" has obtained federal
protection for 96 species and proposed critical habitat designation for
1.81 million acres of land.
      ______________________

GOVERNOR DAVIS VETOS 125 TOLL ROAD
In response to overwhelming opposition, California governor Gray Davis has
vetoed $8.6 million in funding to construct the 125 toll road. The ten mile
highway from San Miguel Road to Otay Mesa road would have created even
more sprawl in Southern California while fragmenting open space and wildlife
habitat. Thanks to everyone who wrote letters and made phone calls!
      ___________________

SUIT IN WORKS TO STOP CALIFORNIA LONGLINE FISHING FLEET
FROM KILLING SEA TURTLES, MARINE MAMMALS AND SEABIRDS
On 7-6-00, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sea Turtle Restoration
Project, and the Recreational Fishing Alliance formally notified the National
Marine Fisheries Service ("NMFS") that they will sue over the agency's
failure to properly manage U.S. commercial boats fishing for swordfish in
the Pacific. If NMFS does not act with 60 days to eliminate the take of
threatened and endangered species by this fishery, the coalition will file
suit to shut down the fishery.

The California-based longline fishing fleet operates in international waters
where it kills, as bycatch, many endangered species including leatherback
sea turtles, loggerhead sea turtles, green sea turtles, olive ridley sea
turtles, Steller's sea lions, Guadalupe fur seals, Hawaiian monk seals, and
short-tailed albatrosses. Killing of the critically endangered leatherback sea
turtle is especially egregious- the prestigious science journal "Nature" last
month published an article predicting extinction for the Pacific leatherback
within a few years if fisheries bycatch is not greatly reduced (see alert
below).

U.S. fishing vessels operating in international waters must obtain permits
from NMFS pursuant to the High Seas Fishing Compliance Act.  Despite
the fact that the California-based longline fishery is known to be catching
and killing endangered species, NMFS has refused to analyze the impact
of, or limit killing under these permits.
      _________________________

SUIT IN WORKS TO SAVE CONDORS FROM HELICOPTER HUNTING
ON LOS PADRES NATIONAL FOREST
On 6-7-00, 2000, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Ventana
Wilderness Alliance filed a formal notice of intent to sue the Los Padres
National Forest over a special use permit allowing hunting guide
outfitters to helicopter clients into remote areas of the forest near Big Sur.
The noise and disturbance of low level flights, including helicopters, cause
birds to abandon nests and roosts, lessening their chances of reproductive
success. The proposal calls for helicopters to land adjacent to the Ventana
Wilderness Area and at least two of the four landing sites are known to be
utilized by the endangered California condor. Studies show that condors
use the projected flight paths of the helicopters.

Click here to email Los Padres National Forest, Monterey District
Ranger Will Metz urging him to not approve the special use permit.
<Metz_William/r5_lospadres@fs.fed.us>
      ______________________

NEW MEXICO RANCHERS SLAUGHTER ELK TO FEED COWS
Continuing their century old practice of slaughtering all wildlife
perceived to
prey upon, compete with, or disturb their cattle, New Mexico ranchers are
brutally killing elk under a corrupt 1997 state law. Pushed through by the
livestock industry, the law allows the killing of an unlimited number of
elk, if
they are so rash as to eat grass on private lands. One Catron County
rancher, Narciso Baca, has shot 50 elk this year, many of them pregnant
females, and many of them at night with a spotlight. Though the law attempts
to encourage the salvaging of the elk meat by the State, ranchers rarely
notify the Game and Fish Department in time, causing the carcasses to
waste. If Baca was hunting under state game laws such tactics would be
illegal as well as unethical, but under the 1997 law it is perfectly legal.
_____________________________________________________________

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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