From: Kieran Suckling
[ksuckling@biologicaldiversity.org]
Sent: Tuesday, November 14, 2000
5:22 PM
To: Recipient list suppressed
Subject: BIODIVERSITY
ACTIVIST
#259
<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><>><<>
CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
<www.biologicaldiversity.org>
11-14-00
#259
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§
CUCKOO PROTECTION DECISION ORDERED BY COURTS
§ REVIEW OF CENTRAL ARIZONA
PROJECT ORDERED TO
PROTECT IMPERILED FISH
§ ORV CLOSURE
DOUBLES WILDERNESS PROTECTION FOR
ALGODONES DUNES
§ PLAN
TO LIMIT WATER FLOWS TO COLORADO RIVER DELTA
OPPOSED
CUCKOO PROTECTION DECISION ORDERED BY COURTS
A federal judge
has ordered the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to make a
decision on
whether to propose federal listing of the western yellow-billed
cuckoo as an
endangered species by 7-1-01. The cuckoo has declined
dramatically as western
riparian areas have been destroyed by dams,
water diversions, logging, cattle
grazing, road construction and sprawl. It
is now essentially extinct in AK,
BC, WA, and OR. A few small, isolated
populations remain in CA, AZ, NM, and
Sonora. Individual birds are
occasionally still seen in NV, UT, ID, WY, MT,
and western CO.
Though the Fish & Wildlife Service admits that
cuckoos have decline
precipitously west of the Continental Divide, and
possesses genetic
studies showing that the western population diverged from
the eastern
population between 410,000 and 460,000 years ago, it has
delayed
protecting it. The Service alternately claims that western cuckoos
may
not constitute a biological population and that the extinction of
cuckoos
from all states and provinces west of the Continental Divide is
“not
significant.”
Still at issue in the suit is the status of the
cuckoo in the eastern U.S.,
Canada, and Mexico. It has also declined there,
but not to the same level
as in the West. In addition to the western
subspecies, the species as a
whole should be listed to stem eastern declines
before they reach critical
levels.
Joining the Center in 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. The
case was argued by Neil Levine of Earthjustice and
Stephanie Parent of
the Pacific Environmental Advocacy Center.
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
_______________________________
REVIEW OF CENTRAL ARIZONA PROJECT ORDERED
TO PROTECT
IMPERILED FISH
In response to a suit by the Center for
Biological Diversity, a federal
judge has ordered the U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service to revisit its decision
supporting extension of Central
Arizona Project canals into the Gila and
San Pedro River system. The Project
diverts heavily polluted Colorado
River water 400 miles across the state, and
would allow exotic species to
invade the Gila and San Pedro systems,
including Aravaipa Creek which
supports the state’s healthiest native
fishery.
The courts ruled that the Bureau of Reclamation had repeatedly
failed to
implement mandatory mitigation measures and that the U.S. Fish
&
Wildlife Service repeatedly watered down the mitigation even though
it
previously found that the loach minnow, spikedace, and razorback
sucker
would become extinct if the mitigation measures were not
completed.
_______________________
ORV
CLOSURE DOUBLES WILDERNESS PROTECTION FOR
ALGODONES DUNES
48,000 acres of
the Algodones Dunes in Southern California were placed
off limits to off-road
vehicles last month as part of a legal settlement won
by the Center, the
Sierra Club, and Public Employees for Environmental
Responsibility. The
settlement sought to protect the endangered
Peirson’s milkvetch and other
species from being run over and eroded
away while the BLM develops a
long-term plan to ensure that wildlife and
plants are protected on the 10.5
million acre California Desert
Conservation Area.
Following another
round of negotiations, the Algodones Dunes exclosure
was increased to 49,130
acres on 10-20-00. Combined with the 32,240
acre North Algodones Dunes
Wilderness, a total of 81,550 acres or 54%
of the dunes are now protected
from ORV damage.
For more information on the suit, the Algodones Dunes,
and rare desert
creatures:
<http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/goldenstate/algodones.html>
_________________________
PLAN TO LIMIT WATER FLOWS TO COLORADO RIVER
DELTA
OPPOSED
Six conservation groups led by Southwest Rivers and
including the
Center have sent a letter to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
opposing its
proposed declaration of “surplus” conditions in the Colorado
River basin
for the year 2001. The proposed surplus determination comes
in
response to California demands for far more water than its
legal
allocation instead of being more logically based on the condition
of
watershed runoff. Dry conditions have lowered reservoir water
levels,
thereby increasing the risk of shortages and harm to the river’s
fragile
delta if dry conditions continue into 2001.
The groups are
concerned with Reclamation’s decision because a
declared surplus will reduce
the amount of water reaching the river’s
imperiled delta ecosystem.
Massive upstream dams and diversions have
eliminated 95% of former delta
wetlands and have pushed to the edge of
extinction Vaquita porpoise, Totoaba
fish and Southwestern willow
flycatcher. No water is allocated for
maintenance of the delta ecosystem,
and currently the Colorado River only
flows through the delta and to the
Sea of Cortez in wet years when all the
water cannot be captured in
reservoirs or diverted into canals. A
surplus determination will compound
this problem by reducing the amount of
water stored behind Hoover
Dam, thereby reducing the likelihood of
delta-benefitting flood control
releases.
_____________________________________________________________
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