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CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
<www.biologicaldiversity.org>
9-15-00
#251
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§
FIRST PRIMATE DECLARED EXTINCT IN 200 YEARS
§ MONTEREY BAY GILLNETTING SHUT
DOWN TO
PROTECT ENDANGERED OTTERS
§ REPORT: ROADLESS,
OLD GROWTH LOGGING WON'T STOP
FIRES
§ CATTLE MAY BE
REMOVED FROM 340,000 ACRES OF MOHAVE
DESERT
§ DUNN ROAD
CLOSED TO PROTECT BIGHORN SHEEP
§ LETTERS/FAXES NEEDED TO STOP
ENDANGERED
SPECIES EXEMPTION ON MARINE BASES
FIRST
PRIMATE DECLARED EXTINCT IN 200 YEARS
Miss Waldron's red colobus, a large
West African monkey, has been
officially declared extinct. It is the first
recorded primate extinction since
Xenothrix mcgregori disappeared from
Jamaica in the 1700's and only
the second primate extinction since several
giant lemurs were driven to
extinction on Madagascar in the 1500's.
In
a paper to be published in the October issue of Conservation
Biology,
anthropologist John Oates and others predict that other West
African
extinctions will follow if habitat loss and poaching are not stopped
soon.
Other researchers have suggested that habitat loss has already
created
an "extinction debt" making further primate losses simply a matter
of
time. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature's
Primate
Specialist Group lists 120 of the world's 620 primates as
"critically
endangered" or "endangered", including the Bonobo, one of
Homo
sapien's closes relative. Check out the Bonobo Protection Fund
at
<http://www.gsu.edu/~wwwbpf/bpf/>
.
______________
MONTEREY BAY SET
GILLNET FISHERY SHUT DOWN TO PROTECT
ENDANGERED OTTERS
In response to a
formal notice of intent to sue by the Center for Biological
Diversity and the
Turtle Island Restoration Network, the California
Department of Fish and Game
(DFG) shut down the Monterey Bay set-
gillnet fishery for halibut and angel
shark on 9-11-00. The order bans
gillnetting in waters less than 60 fathoms
from Pt. Reyes to Yankee Point.
As almost all gillnet fishing for halibut
occurs in waters less than 60
fathoms, the closure effectively bans gillnet
fishing in most of the
Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Despite the
name, commercial
fishing is not regulated within National Marine
Sanctuaries.
The "threatened" California sea otter has dramatically
declined in the
past four years, in part due to drowning in gillnets. The
fishery also
annually kills 120 harbor porpoises, 5,200 common murres,
elephant
seals, and California sea lions. Common murres have declined from
one
million to about 100,000 on the Farallon Islands in the past two
centuries.
In issuing the 120 day emergency closure, the Fish and
Game
Department admitted that otter and murre populations could
be
jeopardized by the fishery.
The closure also shuts down a portion of
Santa Barbara County to gillnet
fishing. In total, 150 miles of
California's coast are protected from this
destructive fishery by the
closure.
A public hearing on the emergency closure will be held
Monday,
September 18, 2000, from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm. at the Seaside City
Hall,
440 Harcourt Avenue, Seaside, California. Please attend the
meeting and
urge that the ban be made
permanent.
_______________
REPORT:
ROADLESS, OLD GROWTH LOGGING WON'T STOP FIRES
The Pacific Biodiversity
Institute has completed a report on western
wildfires entitled "Assessment of
Summer 2000 Wildfires: Landscape
History, Current Condition and Ownership".
Using satellite imagery,
federal fire data, and computer mapping systems, the
Institute closely
examined eleven of the largest fires in the Northern
Rockies as well as
national trends. Contrary to Republican and timber
industry assertions
that the fires were caused by excessive amounts of old
growth forests,
wilderness areas, and roadless areas, the report demonstrates
that
- Only 31% of the acreage burned was on National Forest
land.
- Much of the land burned was not forest but
grassland, juniper
woodland, and other non-forest land.
-
Most of the forested area which burned was managed timberland, not
pristine
old growth. Only 38% of the acres burned were in roadless or
wilderness
areas.
- Much of the burning occurred in forests where intense
fire is natural.
The report is available at
<http//www.pacificbio.org/fire2000.htm>. It was
sponsored by the Center
for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife,
Harder Foundation, Heritage
Forests Campaign, Northwest Ecosystem
Alliance, and the Pacific Rivers
Council.
_______________
CATTLE MAY BE
REMOVED FROM 340,000 ACRES OF MOHAVE
DESERT
Following intense pressure
from the Center for Biological Diversity,
Public Employees for Environmental
Responsibility, Sierra Club and
others, the Needles Field Office of the
Bureau of Land Management
proposed to cancel its portion of the Lanfair
Valley Grazing Allotment in
the California Desert. A large portion of the
allotment is within designated
critical habitat for the endangered desert
tortoise which is threatened by
livestock grazing. The proposal fulfills a
commitment made by the BLM in
1999 to cancel the allotment should the
National Park Service retire its
portion.
The Lanfair Valley Allotment
covers 339,553 acres and has been used to
support 12,168 animal-unit-months
of cattle. A private third party is
negotiating acquisition of the grazing
privileges from the permittee. The
grazing privileges will be
permanently retired. The base property for the
Lanfair Valley Allotment is
well over 10,000 privately owned acres.
Under section 510(b) of the
California Desert Protection Act, these private
lands now become federal
public lands within the boundaries,
and part, of the Mojave National
Preserve.
In previous California Desert grazing actions, the Center, PEER
and
others forced the removal of cattle from the 277,125 acre
Granite
Mountains Grazing Allotment within BLM's Bristol Mountains
Wilderness.
_______________
DUNN ROAD
CLOSED TO PROTECT BIGHORN SHEEP
Following a lawsuit by the Center for
Biological Diversity, the BLM has
announced that it will close the
controversial Dunn Road near Palm
Springs to motorized vehicles on October 1,
2000. The closure will last at
least until BLM completes its Coachella Valley
Plan.
The Dunn Road was illegally constructed in 1966 and has been
a
significant factor in the endangerment of the Peninsular Ranges
bighorn
sheep which has been reduced to about 300 individuals. The Dunn
Road
is a prominent target for permanent closure and revegetation in the
Center's
lawsuit against BLM for failing to protect 24 endangered
species
on 10.2 million acres of public land in the California Desert
Conservation
Area.
________________
LETTERS/FAXES NEEDED TO STOP ENDANGERED
SPECIES
EXEMPTION ON MARINE BASES
U.S. Marine Corps officials from Camp
Pendleton and Miramar bases in
San Diego County are engaged in an intense
lobbying effort to thwart
habitat protections for four endangered southern
California species. U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service officials are
reportedly taking seriously a
request by the Marines that the two bases be
entirely excluded from
Endangered Species Act "critical habitat" for the
Arroyo southwestern
toad, California gnatcatcher, San Diego fairy shrimp and
the Tidewater
goby. This exemption would result in continued
destruction of essential
coastal sage scrub, vernal pool, stream-side forest
and estuary by the
military.
Forty-one groups led by the Center sent a
letter on September 13
opposing the exemption. Such a blanket exemption would
set a terrible
national precedent. Procedures already exist for exempting
specific
projects from the ESA where there exists a compelling need and
existing
bases programs are adequate to protect endangered
species.
Please send your own letter today opposing this back room deal
to:
Ms. Jamie Rappaport Clark,
Director
U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service
1849 C Street NW, Washington DC
20240
FAX
202-208-6965
_____________________________________________________________
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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