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CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
<www.biologicaldiversity.org>
2-14-01
#266
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§
300,000 ACRES TO BE PROTECTED FOR CA BUTTERFLY
§ DEVELOPERS HALTED IN
PYGMY OWL CRITICAL HABITAT AREA
§ NEW MEXICO TIMBER SALE
STOPPED...AGAIN
§ PETITION FILED TO PROTECT TAHOE YELLOW CRESS
§
BARBARA KINGSOLVER BENEFIT FOR CENTER: TUCSON, 2-18-01
§ LETTERS NEEDED
TO SAVE SALAMANDERS FROM COWS
300,000 ACRES TO BE PROTECTED FOR
CALIFORNIA BUTTERFLY
In accordance with a legal settlement obtained by the
Center for
Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
proposed to
designated 301,010 acres of "critical habitat" for the endangered
Quino
checkerspot butterfly on 2-7-01. 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 recently as the
1950's, the Quino checkerspot occurred on every
coastal bluff, inland mesa
top and lower mountain slope in coastal
southern California and northern Baja
California. Today it inhabits only
eight areas in southwestern Riverside and
southern San Diego counties,
and four sites in Baja California. It was listed
under the Endangered
Species Act on 1-16-97 in response to a lawsuit by the
Center.
The Center was represented in this suit by Brendan
Cummings
(Berkeley) and Geoff Hickcox (Kenna & Hickcox,
Durango).
_____________________
DEVELOPERS HALTED IN PYGMY OWL CRITICAL HABITAT
AREA
Attempting to reign in the worst of Tucson's big-sprawl, Pima County
is
refusing to issue building permits to large developments within
or
adjacent to federally designated critical habitat for the
endangered
cactus ferruginous pygmy owl, unless the developers first
provide
written proof that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has approved
the
development. At least 15 developments were brought to a halt by
the
new policy.
Culminating a long series of petitions and suits by
the Center or
Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
listed the pygmy
owl as an endangered species in March, 1997, and designated
731,000
acres of critical habitat in July 1999. The agency has been lax
in
protection of the critical habitat area, prompting the county to take
action
on its own. "To me, if your property is in critical habitat it makes
sense
to talk to Fish & Wildlife and the county and come up with a
mitigation
strategy," said Republican county supervisor Ann
Day.
Developers have filed suit to strike down the policy. The Center
may
intervene on behalf of the county and the
owl.
________________
NEW MEXICO TIMBER SALE STOPPED...AGAIN
In response to
a formal appeal filed by the Center for Biological Diversity,
the U.S. Forest
Service has for the second time withdrawn the Corner
Mountain fire "salvage"
timber sale on New Mexico's Gila National
Forest. The sale would have
clearcut 2 ½ million board feet of ponderosa
pine and Douglas-fir on 340
acres. The sale was stopped because the
Forest Service failed to respond to
the Center's comments on the
proposed action. The comments included
substantial evidence that
salvage logging increases erosion and sedimentation
into rivers and
streams, damages soils, and adversely impacts numerous
wildlife
species, including cavity-nesting songbirds.
The Corner
Mountain timber sale threatened to undermine the Gila
National Forest's
celebrated prescribed burn program - the most
aggressive in the country - by
logging an area which burned two years
ago when the Forest Service lost
control of a prescribed natural fire.
Prescribed burns are designed to
restore natural forest processes by
slowly reintroducing fire into forested
areas. Salvage logging in
prescribed burn areas undermines these restoration
goals by impeding
forest recovery, damaging fragile soils, harming wildlife,
and promoting
arson- a problem that has plagued the Gila in the
past.
__________________
PETITION FILED
TO LIST CALIFORNIA PLANT AS ENDANGERED
On 12-11-00, the League to Save Lake
Tahoe and the Center for
Biological Diversity submitted a formal petition to
the U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service to list the Tahoe yellow cress (Rorippa
subumbellata) as an
endangered species. A member of the mustard family, the
yellow cress
has been listed as "endangered" by the state of California since
1982 and
"critically endangered" by the state of Nevada since 1980. Without
federal
protection, however, the plant has continued to decline toward
extinction.
Only ten of 48 historically known populations still
exist.
The cress inhabits the seven foot "tidal" zone between the low and
high
water lines of Lake Tahoe. This area is pounded by boat wake,
dock
proliferation, housing sprawl, and uncontrolled recreation. Plans to
raise
water levels in the lake and lift a moratorium on pier construction
will
likely drive the plant extinct if action is not take
soon.
____________________
BARBARA
KINGSOLVER BENEFIT FOR CENTER- TUCSON, 2-18-01
In a benefit for the Center
for Biological Diversity, Barbara Kingsolver
will be reading from and signing
copies of her newest novel, Prodigal
Summer, on Sunday, February 18, 2-4 pm
at Reader's Oasis. It is
located at 3400 E. Speedway, Suite 114, Tucson,
Arizona. (Reader's
Oasis is located in the Wild Oats shopping
plaza).
Reader's Oasis will donate 10% of sales from Prodigal Summer to
the
Center for Biological Diversity. This event is free and open to the
Public.
For more information, call Stephanie Buffum at 623-5252 ext.
305.
________________
LETTERS NEEDED TO
SAVE SALAMANDERS FROM COWS
A new species of salamander (Plethodon sp. nov.)
and several new
species of invertebrates have been discovered in caves to the
north of
Fort Hood, TX by Dr James Reddell, University of Texas, Austin.
These
species have not yet been encountered elsewhere in the hundreds
of
caves in the area that have been sampled. Like dozens of
imperiled
species in the Southwest, they are imperiled by livestock grazing
which
impacts water flow, erosion and water quality, or by direct impacts
to
vegetation soils and shading at the entrance to the
caves.
Continued livestock grazing of these areas is especially
inappropriate
since it is not private land, or even "multiple-use" public
land. It is a
military base, the Army's Fort Hood. Please write to Fort Hood,
asking
the Army not to allow livestock to graze on the base. In addition
to
military activities, the primary purpose of these lands should
be
protection of ecosystem integrity and biological diversity, not
private
profit.
The Fort Hood is accepting public comments until
3-06-01.
Written comments may be addressed
to:
DEPARTMENT OF THE
ARMY
DPW ENV DIV. NATURAL
RESOURCES,
III CORPS AND FORT
HOOD
4612 ENGINEER DRIVE, ROOM
76
FORT HOOD, TEXAS
76544-5028.
Phone or email
comments:
Melissa.McDonald@hood.army.mil or
call (254)287-2885
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