From: Kieran Suckling [ksuckling@biologicaldiversity.org]
Sent: Monday, October 09, 2000 10:57 PM
To: Recipient list suppressed
Subject: BIODIVERSITY ACTIVIST #255
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             CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

           <www.biologicaldiversity.org>      10-09-00      #255
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§ FOSSIL CREEK VICTORY! AGREEMENT REACHED TO
   DECOMMISSION POWER PLANT, REMOVE DIVERSION DAM
   INFRASTRUCTURE AND RESTORE VEGETATION
§ 406,598 ACRES DESIGNATED TO SAVE ALAMEDA WHIPSNAKE
§ 5,000 ACRES TO BE PROTECTED FOR IMPERILED TEXAS PLANT
§ DISPERSING MEXICAN GRAY WOLF HIT BY CAR
§ TWO NEW MEXICO SPRING SNAILS LISTED AS ENDANGERED

FOSSIL CREEK VICTORY! AGREEMENT REACHED TO
DECOMMISSION POWER PLANT, REMOVE DIVERSION DAM
INFRASTRUCTURE AND RESTORE VEGETATION
After years of grassroots activity, legal notices and intense negotiations,
the Center for Biological Diversity, a coalition of environmental groups
and the Yavapai-Apache Nation have secured a legal agreement to
restore water flows to Fossil Creek in central Arizona. Fossil Creek is fed
by artesian springs at an amazing rate of 320 gallons per second, but for
over 90 years, the Arizona Public Service Company (APS) has dammed
the creek to feed the Childs-Irving hydropower plant. This has left the
entire 14-mile length of the creek dry and the surrounding ecosystem
damaged.

APS had applied to renew its dam license for 30 years, but under the
terms of the agreement will withdraw the application. The power plant
will be decommissioned by 12-31-04 and the site restored by 2009.
Some minor structures will be left for historical reference, but the entire
aboveground flume system, bridges, penstocks, and the top six feet of
the dam including the intake structure will be removed. The maintenance
road will be restored to a hiking trail and three small bridges will be
removed to eliminate potential ORV routes. Underground tunnels will be
fitted with bat friendly grates.

The final, legally binding agreement, including the how-to prescription,
has been signed by APS, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Yavapai-
Apache Nation, American Rivers, The Nature Conservancy, Northern
Arizona Audubon Society, and the Arizona Riparian Council.
     ________________

406,598 ACRES DESIGNATED TO SAVE ALAMEDA WHIPSNAKE
On 10-4-00, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service designated of 406,598 acres
of “critical habitat” for the Alameda whipsnake in the San Francisco Bay
area. The whipsnake was listed as a “threatened” species under the
Endangered Species Act in 1997 due to a threatened lawsuit by the
Center for Biological Diversity. The Fish & Wildlife Service refused to
map and protect the snake’s habitat, however, prompting a suit by the
Center and Christians Caring for Creation. That suit was settled with an
agreement by the Service to designate critical habitat for the whipsnake
and six other endangered species.

The Alameda whipsnake is a gorgeous part of California’s natural
heritage. It is slender and black, with yellow-orange racing stripes on its
sides. Adults grow to three or four feet in length and are extremely fast,
holding their heads up cobra-style while hunting for lizards, small
mammals, birds, and other snakes.

Whipsnake use coastal scrub and chaparral for cover, adjacent
grasslands for hunting, and rock outcrops for basking to control their
body temperature. Their habitat and numbers have been severely
reduced and fragmented by urban sprawl, road construction, livestock
grazing, and fire suppression. The critical habitat designation includes
parts of Contra Costa, Alameda, San Joaquin, and Santa Clara Counties.

To find out more about the Alameda whipsnake and its habitat:
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/species/whipsnake/whipsnake.html
     _______________

5,330 ACRES TO BE PROTECTED FOR IMPERILED TEXAS PLANT
In response to a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity, a rare
Texas plant called the Zapata bladderpod (Lesquerella thamnophila) was
listed as an endangered species on 12-22-99. As the Endangered
Species Act requires (except in rare instances) that critical habitat areas
be mapped out and protected for all threatened and endangered species,
the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has proposed to designate 5,330 acres
for the plant in southern Texas. Seven critical habitat areas have been
proposed on the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge in
Starr County, one on private land in Starr County, and two along the
Texas Department of Transportation's Highway 83 right-of-way in Zapata
County.

All known Zapata bladderpod populations are on terraces above the Rio
Grande river floodplain. Only three populations appear to have survived
the impacts of livestock grazing, introduction of exotic pasture grasses,
urban sprawl, oil development, and natural gas development.
     ____________

DISPERSING MEXICAN GRAY WOLF HIT BY CAR
A lone female Mexican gray wolf has been struck and killed by a car. The
exact location is not known, but prior to the accident she moved several
hundred miles from her release site in eastern Arizona, across the
Mogollon Plateau, to the outskirts of Flagstaff.
     ______________

TWO NEW MEXICO SPRING SNAILS LISTED AS ENDANGERED
The State of New Mexico has uplisted two fragile springsnails from
threatened to endangered species/ The Alamosa tryonia  (formerly
Alamosa springsnail) lives only in Socorro County while Koster's tryonia
(formerly Koster's springsnail) lives only in Chaves County. Both are
restricted to small springs and could be quickly driven extinct by changes
in water quality, temperature, or quantity. The Center previously filed suit
to list Koster’s springsnail as endangered at the federal level under the
Endangered Species Act.
_____________________________________________________________

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