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CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
<www.biologicaldiversity.org>
2-06-00
#264
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§
$10,000 REWARD OFFERED FOR CAPTURE OF KILLER OF
MEXICAN
GRAY WOLF IN NEW MEXICO
§ 1,000 ACRES PROTECTED FROM OFF-ROAD
VEHICLES
§ 1.9 MILLION ACRES OF DESERT PROTECTED FROM
LIVESTOCK
§ 845,000 ACRES PROTECTED FOR ENDANGERED BIGHORN
SHEEP
§ 182,000 ACRES PROTECTED FOR ENDANGERED ARROYO TOAD
§
341,140 ACRES TO BE REVIEWED FOR GRAZING IMPACTS IN AZ
§ SUIT TO BE FILED
AGAINST MINE TO SAVE ARIZONA RIVERS
$10,000 REWARD OFFERED FOR CAPTURE OF
KILLER OF MEXICAN
GRAY WOLF IN NEW MEXICO
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service is offering $10,000 reward for information
leading the capture and
conviction of the killer of a endangered Mexican
gray wolf in Catron County,
NM. A member of the Francisco Pack, the wolf
was found shot to death north of
Reserve, NM in a wood cutting area.
Anyone with information regarding the
shooting should call USFWS special
agents at (480) 835-8289 or the New Mexico
Department of Game and
Fish's Operation Game Thief at (800)
432-GAME.
_________________
1,000 ACRES
PROTECTED FROM OFF ROAD VEHICLES
In the second round of settlement
negotiations in a lawsuit brought by the
Center for Biological Diversity,
Public Employees for Environmental
Responsibility, and the Sierra Club, the
Bureau of Land Management agreed
to close over 1,000 acres at Windy Point, CA
to off-road vehicles. The
closure is necessary to protect a suite of
imperiled species including the
Coachella Valley fringe-toed lizard,
flat-tailed horned lizard, Palm Springs
pocket mouse, Coachella Valley/Palm
Springs ground squirrel, Coachella
Valley Jerusalem cricket and Coachella
giant sand treader cricket.
The first round of negotiations resulted in
the closure of 49,310 acres of the
Algodones Dunes to protect the endangered
Peirson's milkvetch.
The suit is being argued by Brendan Cummings
(Berkeley) and Jay
Tuchton of Earthjustice (Denver).
For more on the
suit, settlement and the Center's efforts to protect the
California Desert
Conservation Area:
<http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/goldenstate/cdca/>
________________
1.9 MILLION ACRES OF DESERT PROTECTED FROM
LIVESTOCK
In the third round of settlement negotiations in a lawsuit brought
by the
Center for Biological Diversity, Public Employees for
Environmental
Responsibility, and the Sierra Club, the Bureau of Land
Management
agreed to protect 1.9 million acres of the California Desert
Conservation
Area from livestock grazing. The settlement was contested by the
livestock
industry but approved by a federal judge on 1-29-01.
The BLM
agreed to prohibit permit sheep grazing on 946,295 acres and
cattle on 43,596
acres of desert tortoise critical habitat. It will prevent
grazing
of
285,381 acres of critical and 213,281 acres of essential tortoise
habitat
during the spring and fall. It will prohibit cattle on 394,835 acres
of
currently
ungrazed endangered species habitat, and will remove all
livestock from
within three miles of nesting southwestern willow flycatchers
and least bell's
vireo. Rattlesnake Canyon on the north slope of the San
Bernardino
Mountains will also be closed to livestock to protect Parish's
daisy and other
species.
The suit is being argued by Brendan Cummings
(Berkeley) and Jay Tuchton
of Earthjustice (Denver).
For more on the
suit, settlement and the Center's efforts to protect the
California Desert
Conservation Area:
<http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/goldenstate/cdca/>
_________________
845,000 ACRES PROTECTED FOR ENDANGERED BIGHORN
SHEEP
In accordance with a legal settlement obtained by the Center for
Biological
Diversity and Desert Survivors, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service designated
844,897 acres of "critical habitat" for the endangered
Peninsular bighorn
sheep on 2-1-01.
Reduced from 1,200 in the 1970's
to roughly 400 today, the Peninsular
bighorn ranges from the desert-side of
the San Jacinto Mountains of
southern California to the Volcan Tres Virgenes
Mountains near Santa
Rosalia in Baja California. In 1997, golf courses
outnumbered bighorn in the
Palm Springs area 91 to 75. Dozens of additional
golf courses and
developments are scheduled to destroy the bighorn's
dwindling habitat in the
next few years. Diseases spread from sheep and
cattle ranching is also a
major threat.
Federal agencies are
prohibited from authorizing, permitting, or funding
actions which destroy or
"adversely modify" critical habitat, including the
issuance of development
permits on private land under the Clean Water Act.
As of 2-5-01, the
Center for Biological Diversity has obtained 33.3 million
acres of critical
habitat designations in TX, NM, AZ, CO, UT, CA, OR, and
AK; and federal
proposals to designate an additional 5.6 million acres in CA,
NM, and
OK.
_____________________
182,000 ACRES
PROTECTED FOR ENDANGERED ARROYO TOAD
In accordance with a legal settlement
obtained by the Center for Biological
Diversity and Christians Caring for
Creation, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
designated 182,360 acres of
"critical habitat" for the endangered Arroyo
southwestern toad on
2-1-01.
Arroyo toads formally occupied streams form Monterey, CA to
Baja
California, but now survive only in small, isolated headwaters.
According the
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, urban sprawl, dams, cattle
grazing, mining and
off-road vehicles use have pushed the toad to "the brink
of extinction."
Nevertheless, it excluded critically important streams on the
U.S. Marine
Corps's Camp Pendleton, claiming that the benefits of war
training outweigh
those of preventing extinction. It also failed to protect
upland habitat which
are used extensively by
toads.
___________________
BLM AGREES
TO REVIEW GRAZING IMPACTS ON 341,140 ACRES
In response to a formal notice of
intent to sue filed by the Center for
Biological Diversity on 11-30-00, the
Bureau of Land Management has
agreed to review the impact of allowing
livestock grazing on 341,140 acres
of public land in Arizona. The review was
required following the designation
of 900 river miles of critical habitat for
the loach minnow and spikedace, two
imperiled minnows. The designation was
ordered by a federal judge in a suit
brought by the
Center.
______________________
SUIT TO
BE FILED AGAINST ARIZONA MINE TO SAVE RIVERS
On 1-25-00, the Center for
Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club formally
notified the Army Corps of
Engineers and the Environmental Protection
Agency that they will sue over
violations of the Endangered Species Act
associated with issuance of permits
to the ASARCO mining company for the
Ray Mine. The open-pit copper mine is
located 65 miles east of Phoenix.
Army Corps and EPA failed to review and
mitigate the mine's impacts on
several endangered species, including the
southwestern willow flycatcher,
spikedace, and cactus ferruginous pygmy owl,
and their designated critical
habitat along the Gila and San Pedro
Rivers.
Environmental contamination at the Mine-which reported 45 illegal
spills
1988-1996 alone-is so severe that surveys conducted on Mineral
Creek
found the water entirely devoid of fish. Copper levels in the few
surviving
fish
are the highest recorded nationally. ASARCO, now owned by
Grupo Mexico,
is Arizona's biggest
polluter.
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