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CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
<www.sw-center.org>
8-7-00
#246
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§
SUIT FILED TO PROTECT SAN PEDRO RIVER WILDLIFE
§ SUIT FILED TO LIST
YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO AS
ENDANGERED IN 49 STATES, CANADA,
AND MEXICO
§ REPORT: QUEEN CHARLOTTE GOSHAWK THREATENED
BY
LOGGING
§ POLLS -SAN PEDRO RIVER RESIDENTS WANT
RIVER
SAVED
- ARIZONANS WANT SPRAWL CURBED
§ LETTERS/EMAILS/FAXES NEEDED TO PROTECT
11.5 MILLION
ACRES OF FOREST IN THE SIERRA
NEVADA
SUIT FILED TO PROTECT SAN PEDRO RIVER WILDLIFE
The Center for
Biological Diversity and the San Pedro 100 have filed suit
to strike down a
federal plan which will allow the continued dewatering of
the San Pedro River
in southeast Arizona. The river basin is currently losing
7,000 acre of water
per year more than is being replenished. This is already
causing noticeable
drying of the river and will eventually lead to its death.
In its review
of the military impacts to the aquifer, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service
determined that Fort Huachuca is responsible for the pumping of
5,802
acre-feet per year, or 62% of the 7,000 acre feet overdraft. The Fish
&
Wildlife Service, however, has signed off on a speculative "plan" that
will
allow Fort Huachuca to continue operating at a massive level, with a
vague
commitment to return 600 acre-feet per year to the aquifer for the next
10
years, and to "participate" in "conservation activities" to be named at
some
time in the future.
The Center has filed suit because the
Endangered Species Act requires
that all plans be based on scientific
information and measurable goals.
The military "plan", by contrast, is
nothing but a grab bag of vague promises.
The case is being argued by Susan
Daggett of Earthjustice (Denver).
_______________________
SUIT FILED TO LIST YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO AS
ENDANGERED
IN 49 STATES, CANADA, AND MEXICO
On 7-31-00, the Center for
Biological Diversity and other groups filed
suit in a Portland federal court
to list the Yellow-billed Cuckoo as an
endangered species throughout its
range in North America including all
U.S. states (except HI), southern
Canada, and northern Mexico. Joining
in the suit were the Huachuca Audubon
Society, Maricopa Audubon
Society, ONRC (Oregon Natural Resources Council),
Wetlands Action
Network, Wildlife Damage Review, San Pedro 100, Southern
Utah
Wilderness Alliance, Friends of the River, Sky Island Alliance,
Oregon
Natural Desert Association, and Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands
Center.
Due to widespread destruction of riparian forests by logging,
grazing,
dam building, agribusiness, water pumping, diversions and
urban
sprawl, the western subspecies of Yellow-billed cuckoo has
declined
precipitously west of the Continental Divide and is now extinct in
Alaska,
British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and northernmost California.
It
is extinct or close to it in most interior western states. Its only
remaining
"strongholds" are in southern California (the Kern River), Arizona
(the San
Pedro River), and New Mexico (Gila, San Francisco, and Rio
Grande
rivers). The eastern subspecies is not yet extinct in any states, but
is
declining rapidly. It has been reduced by 25-99% in most eastern
states
since 1966.
Despite widespread support for listing in the
scientific community, the
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has delayed
protecting western cuckoos
and has refused to protect eastern cuckoos. The
suit is being argued by
Stephanie Parent of the Pacific Environmental
Advocacy Center
(Portland) and Neil Levine of Earthjustice
(Denver).
The Center's cuckoo web page has links, photos, bird songs,
letters by
scientists, legal documents, and a more detailed explanation of
cuckoo
conservation issues:
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/species/cuckoo/cuckoo1.html
_______________________
REPORT: QUEEN CHARLOTTE GOSHAWK THREATENED
BY
LOGGING
A report by the British Columbia Ministry of Environment
entitled "A
Review of the Ecology, Management and Conservation of the
Northern
Goshawk in British Columbia" concludes that less than 200 pairs
of
Queen Charlotte goshawks likely remain in the entire province.
The
government report suggests that the Queen Charlotte goshawk
qualifies
for listing as a "threatened" species by the Committee on the
Status of
Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC).
British Columbia
comprises 50% of the subspecies' range. The other 50%
lies in the Tongass
National Forest in Southeast Alaska. The Center for
Biological Diversity,
Sitka Conservation Society, Defenders of Wildlife,
Biodiversity Legal
Foundation, and Northwest Ecosystem Alliance have
petitioned and litigated to
list the Queen Charlotte goshawk as an
endangered species throughout its
range in Alaska and British Columbia.
Despite repeated admissions by the
British Columbia government that old
growth logging continue to harm
goshawks, and that Candian management
plans are insufficient, the U.S. Fish
& Wildlife Service maintains that the
goshawk is safe in both British
Columbia and Alaska. The Service's refusal
to give ESA protection to the
goshawk is currently being litigated in
Washington,
D.C.
_______________________
POLLS: -
SAN PEDRO RIVER RESIDENTS WANT RIVER
PROTECTION
- ARIZONANS WANT TO CURB SPRAWL
A July 17, 2000 poll by the Sierra Vista
Herald and Bisbee Daily Review
shows that three out of four people in the
Upper San Pedro River Basin
believe steps must be taken to ensure the
waterway remains a running
river. Seventy two percent believe keeping the
river flowing is either
important or very important. Only 12 percent felt
protection of the river was
not important.
Among those who have lived
in the upper basin for 20 years or more, 76%
supported the rivers
free-flowing future. Those earning less than $30,000
supported the river with
the strongest rating of 77%. As income increased,
support decreased, but
never fell below 66%. People between the ages of
35 and 54 gave the river the
strongest support.
According to a July 17, 2000 poll by KAET TV-Arizona
State University,
68% of voters will vote for the Sierra Club sponsored
Citizen's Growth
Management Initiative. Fifteen percent of voters were
undecided, and 17
percent were opposed. The initiative would make local
communities
develop locally approved growth boundaries and force developers
to pay
new infrastructure costs.
__________________
LETTERS NEEDED TO PROTECT 11.5 MILLION ACRES OF
FOREST
IN THE SIERRA NEVADA
Logging and road building have devastated
old-growth forests in California's
Sierra Nevada, threatening such species as
the California spotted owl, Pacific
fisher, pine marten, and red fox.
Off-road vehicles, water diversions and
livestock grazing are degrading
habitat for hundreds of species including
the Little willow
flycatcher,Yellow-legged frog and Yosemite toad.
The U.S. Forest Service
is now taking comments on a draft plan which is
supposed to curb these
abuses. Its preferred alternative, however, does
not provide enough
protection for forests or streams. Please email them
by August 11th and
say:
- Alternative 5 provides the best long-term protection
for watersheds,
old-growth forests, roadless areas,
tourism, recreation, and wildlife.
- Alternative 5
will best protect water quality. Water is the single
most
valuable economic commodity in the Sierra
Nevada's national forests.
- Alternative 5 would cost
taxpayers far less than the timber industry's
choice
and would cost less than the budget for the Forest
Service's
preferred alternative.
Send
comments today to:
USDA Forest Service -
CAET
Sierra Nevada Framework Project
P.O. Box
7669, Missoula, MT 59807
EMAIL: mailroom_wo_caet@fs.fed.us
(enter "SNFP comments: select Alt 5"
in subject line)
FAX:
(406)
329-3021
_____________________________________________________________
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@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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