From: Kieran Suckling [ksuckling@biologicaldiversity.org]
Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2000 10:52 PM
To: Recipient list suppressed
Subject: BIODIVERSITY ACTIVIST #258
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             CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

           <www.biologicaldiversity.org>      10-25-00      #258
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§ ORVs TO BE PROHIBITED ON 48,000 ACRES TO PROTECT RARE
   CALIFORNIA DUNE ECOSYSTEM

§ 26,000 ACRES PROPOSED FOR BAY CHECKERSPOT BUTTERFLY

§ FOREST SERVICE AGREES TO LOGGING BAN IN AZ TIMER SALE

§ COLORADO BUTTERFLY PLANT DECLARED THREATENED

§ JUDGE BANS WATER HOG INTERVENTION IN HISTORIC
    INTERNATIONAL COLORADO RIVER LAWSUIT

§ JOIN US IN TUCSON 10-29-00 TO KICK OFF THE “SPIRIT OF THE
    WOLF” MURAL PROJECT

ORVs TO BE PROHIBITED ON 48,000 ACRES TO PROTECT RARE
CALIFORNIA DUNE ECOSYSTEM
In the first round of a massive lawsuit over the management of the 10.5
million acre California Desert Conservation Area, the Bureau of Land
Management agreed on 10-20-00 to temporarily ban off-road vehicles
from 48,000 acres of the Algodones Dunes. Up to now, 77% of this rare
150,000 acre ecosystem has been degraded by the yearly pilgrimage of
one million motorcycles, ATVs, dune buggies, jeeps, and monster trucks.
Especially imperiled are the Peirson’s milk-vetch, a beautiful but federally
threatened plant, the Colorado fringe-toad lizard, Andrews dune scarab
beetle, and the Algodones Dunes sunflower. The ban will remain in place
until a permanent plan is developed to protect the wildlife, plants and
ancient dune ecosystem.

Wildlife are not the only ones assaulted during massive ORV gatherings
at the dunes. The infamous and growing melees are giving off-road
enthusiasts throughout California a bad name. BLM rangers have been
threatened and deliberately run over by dune buggies. They have had
beer bottles and bags of fecal matter thrown at them by crowds
chanting “kill the cops.” Management of the dunes has become so
dangerous that a recent Department of Interior “Law Enforcement Special
Evaluation” concluded that Algodones is "unsafe for family recreation
activity due to the use of drugs and alcohol, and the problems of
lawlessness that occur with such use." It recommended that BLM rangers
be issued riot helmets, batons, and gas masks for their own safety.

For more information on the suit, Algodones Dunes, Peirson’s milk-vetch
and other neat desert creatures:
<http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/goldenstate/algodones.html>

The case is being argued by Brendan Cummings (Berkeley) and
Jay Tutchton of Earthjustice (Denver).
     __________________     _____________________

26,000 ACRES PROPOSED FOR BAY CHECKERSPOT BUTTERFLY
In keeping with a court order won by the Center for Biological Diversity,
the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service proposed on 10-16-00 to designate
26,182 acres of "critical habitat" for the endangered Bay checkerspot
butterfly. Critical habitat includes all areas necessary for the survival and
full recovery of the species. It is protected from federal projects for
permits which would destroy or harm it.

The Bay Checkerspot Butterfly depends on host plants which grow
primarily in grasslands on serpentine soils, a bluish-green soil type that is
naturally highly mineralized, high in magnesium, and low in nitrogen and
calcium. This specialized soil system is very valuable biologically
because it supports a high percentage of California’s endemic species.
Unfortunately, the majority of the checkerspot's serpentine soil habitat in
San Mateo and Santa Clara counties has been destroyed. It is virtually
certain to go extinct if its remaining habitat is not protected.

In a strongly-worded opinion, federal judge Samuel Conti quoted
Congress to point out the connection between conserving biological
diversity and human welfare: “From the most narrow possible point of
view, it is in the best interests of mankind to minimize the losses of
genetic variations....who knows, or can say, what potential cures for
cancer or other scourges...may lie locked up in the structures of plants
which may yet be undiscovered, much less analyzed?”

The Center’s “Golden State Biodiversity Initiative” has won 530,899 acres
of critical habitat in California since 1977, including 1,000 miles of river.
Another seven million acres have be proposed and are awaiting final
approval. To find out more about the Golden State Biodiversity Initiative:
<http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/goldenstate/goldenstate.html>
     _______________

FOREST SERVICE AGREES TO LOGGING BAN IN AZ TIMER SALE
The Center for Biological Diversity and Public Employees for
Environmental Responsibility have negotiated a partial settlement with
the U.S. Forest Service prohibiting logging within a 12 square mile area
pending the resolution over a lawsuit over the Baca Timber Sale. The
settlement allows thinning of trees less than six inches in diameter on
306 acres of fire prone forest next to a housing development.

The lawsuit was filed against the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest on
5-8-00 to halt the cutting of 31 million board feet of ponderosa pine. This
is one of the largest timber sales offered by the Forest Service in the
Southwest in the last decade. Long-term research indicates that the
northern goshawk population on the forest is in decline- population
viability models predict localized extinction in 29 years, assuming a
closed population. Of the 44 remaining goshawk territories on the
Sitgreaves, five are contained within the Baca timber sale. Four would be
logged.

The case is being argued Jay Tutchton of Earthjustice(Denver) and Cliff
Levenson (Phoenix).
     _________________

COLORADO BUTTERFLY PLANT DECLARED THREATENED
In response to a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity and the
Biodiversity Legal Foundation, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service declared
the Colorado butterfly plan as an endangered species on 10-18-00.

The butterfly plant is found only in southeastern Wyoming, western
Nebraska, and northern Colorado. Only ten of the remaining fourteen
populations are considered stable or increasing. Two occur in a
“research natural area” on F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming. The
remaining twelve are on private lands. It is threatened by water
development, herbicide spaying, mowing and conversion of meadows to
agriculture and suburban sprawl.

The suit was argued by Jay Tutchton of Earthjustice (Denver).
     _______________

JUDGE BANS WATER HOG INTERVENTION IN HISTORIC,
INTERNATIONAL COLORADO RIVER LAWSUIT
A federal judge ruled on 10-13-00 that eight Arizona, California and
Nevada water, development and agribusiness agencies can not
intervene in a lawsuit brought by Defenders of Wildlife and the Center for
Biological Diversity over the management of the Lower Colorado River.
The suit charges that the Bureau of Reclamation is destroying the
Colorado River Delta at the northern tip of the Gulf of California in
Mexico. So much water is dammed and diverted from the Colorado River
for urban and agricultural use in the U.S. that it often runs dry before
reaching the Mexican border or the Delta.

Lack of fresh water inflow has severely degraded what used to be one
the world's great estuaries. The Delta’s wetlands have decline from some
1.9 million acres to just 150,000. Native peoples as well as fish, birds,
mammals and mollusks have all been impacted, as have fisheries in the
northern gulf. The Cienega de Santa Clara is also threatened by
government plans to divert its water source for use in the U.S. Numerous
endangered species are being impacted including the totoaba (a large
predatory marine fish), the vaquita (the world's rarest porpoise), and
the Southwestern willow flycatcher.

The suit is being argued by Katherine Meyer of Meyer & Glitzenstein and
Bill Snape of Defenders of Wildlife. It was joined by a coalition of U.S.
and Mexican environmental groups.
     ________________

JOIN US IN TUCSON 10-29-00 TO KICK OFF “SPIRIT OF THE WOLF”
MURAL PROJECT
The Center’s “Spirit of the Wolf” mural project is getting its public kick off
on October 29, 2000. The mural will start taking shape as artist Michael
Schwartz begins painting a series of panels which will later be installed
on an office building in downtown Tucson. Kids are welcome: there will
be wolf mask making materials and apple cider.

  Date: October 29,  2-4 p.m.
  Location: Tucson Arts Brigade Studio 901 N. 13th Ave Suite 131
  Information: Stephanie, 623-5252 ext 305
_____________________________________________________________

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