From: owner-swcbdmembers@envirolink.org on behalf of Kieran Suckling [ksuckling@biologicaldiversity.org]
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2001 9:17 PM
To: Recipient list suppressed
Subject: BIODIVERSITY ACTIVST #270
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             CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

           <www.biologicaldiversity.org>      3-30-01      #270
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§ CENTER WINS AWARDS FOR PROTECTING CALIFORNIA DESERT
   CONSERVATION AREA, CRITICAL HABITAT FOR TORTOISE

§ 1,148 RIVER MILES PROTECTED FOR ENDANGERED ARKANSAS
    RIVER SHINER IN NM, TX, OK, KA

§ NEW MEXICO TIMBER SALE CHALLENGED

§ ARIZONA TIMBER SALE CHALLENGED

§ SUIT FILED TO PROTECT NEARLY EXTINCT CA WETLAND PLANT-
   SPECIES STUCK IN BUREAUCRATIC LIMBO FOR 26 YEARS

§ LAWSUIT TO PROTECT WETLANDS FROM DEVELOPERS

CENTER WINS AWARDS FOR PROTECTING CALIFORNIA DESERT
CONSERVATION AREA, CRITICAL HABITAT FOR TORTOISE        
On 3-17-01, the Center for Biological Diversity was honored with awards
by two prominent scientific organizations for its protection of millions of
acres of desert tortoise critical habitat within the California Desert
Conservation Area. The awards were given by the Desert Tortoise Council
(whose board of directors includes prominent federal biologists and
members of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Desert Tortoise Recovery
Team) and the Desert Tortoise Preserve Committee at the 26th Annual
Desert Tortoise Symposium.

“The Desert Tortoise Council recognizes the Center for Biological Diversity
for its continued efforts attempting to save the desert tortoise from
extinction,” said Dr. Marc Graff, DTC’s Senior Co-Chair, “specifically, we
recognize the Center’s longstanding efforts for conservation throughout
the Southwest and the nation.”

“We recognize the key role that the Center has played in persuading
government agencies to enforce their own rules and regulations on the
land that they manage,”  said Dr. Michael Connor, executive director of
DTPC. “The threatened tortoise is a direct beneficiary of the recent
settlement between the Center and BLM.  The species will also benefit
from the fresh impetus placed on efforts to ensure recovery of the tortoise
in California engendered by the settlement.”

The Center has dramatically increases wildlife and ecosystem protection
across the Sonoran, Mojave and Great Basin deserts including 3.4 million
acres of designated desert tortoise critical habitat. It recently negotiated a
legal settlement protecting 1.9 million acres from livestock grazing;
ceasing new and expanded mining on 3.5 million acres (including closure
of the largest active mine in the National Park System); banning off-road
vehicles from 550,000 acres; closing 4,500 miles of harmful roads on
874,000 acres; compelling the BLM to complete ecosystem management
plans; and elevating conservation management of the desert to make
wildlife, wilderness, clean water and natural quiet the top priorities.
To find out more about Center’s California Desert Conservation Area
campaign <http//www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/goldenstate/cdca/>



1,148 RIVER MILES PROTECTED FOR ENDANGERED ARKANSAS
RIVER SHINER IN NM, TX, OK, KA
Keeping a legal settlement agreement with the Center for Biological
Diversity, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service designated 1,148 river miles
as "critical habitat" for the endangered Arkansas River shiner on 3-30-01.
The protected stream reaches include:

- The Canadian River from Logan, NM to the upper end of Lake Meredith
   near Amarillo, TX.
- The Beaver River in OK from the Lake Optima dam, 128  miles to the
   upstream side of the Canton Reservoir.
- The Cimarron River from U.S. 54 in KA to near Waynoka, OK.
- The South Canadian River from the OK-TX line to the Indian Nation
  Turnpike near Eufaula, OK.
- The Canadian River from Canadian, TX to the TX-OK border.
- The Arkansas River from the KA 27 bridge in Hamilton, to the KA-OK
   border.

Including 300 feet of riparian habitat on either side of the river, the
designation protects about 127,000 acres. To see a map of the
designation:
<http://ifw2es.fws.gov/Oklahoma/shiner.htm>

The Arkansas River shiner was listed as an endangered species in 1998
because dams, water diversions, water pumping, and pollution had
drastically reduced population and range by 80%. The Fish & Wildlife
Service, however, declared that it was "not prudent" to protect the
shiner’s habitat, leading to a lawsuit by the Center and an eventual
settlement in which the agency agreed to review its previous
decision.
_____________________

NEW MEXICO TIMBER SALE CHALLENGED
On 3-23-01, the Center for Biological Diversity appealed the Cree fire
salvage timber sale on the Lincoln National Forest in south-central New
Mexico. The Forest plans to cut 1 million board feet of ponderosa pine on
369 acres of land which burned last summer after an illegal campfire
spread out of control. In a typical “salvage” logging strategy, the Forest
Service is using the fire as an excuse to enter an area banned from
logging under the Lincoln Forest Plan. The Cree analysis area is inhabited
by Mexican spotted owls and northern goshawks, and ironically, is near
the birthplace of Forest Service icon, Smoky the Bear.
__________________

ARIZONA TIMBER SALE CHALLENGED
On 3-28-01, the Center for Biological Diversity appealed the Stooge fire
salvage timber sale on the Kaibab National Forest in northern Arizona.
The Forest plans to log half a million board feet of burned ponderosa pine
on 150 acres of the Kaibab Plateau. The Plateau contains the most
extensive stands of old-growth ponderosa remaining in the Southwest,
providing habitat for the densest population of northern goshawks in North
America as well as the endemic Kaibab squirrel. Designated the Grand
Canyon Game Preserve by Teddy Roosevelt in 1907, the Plateau’s unique
and irreplaceable forests and wildlife have been consistently sacrificed by
the Forest Service for the short-term gain and greed of the timber industry.
_____________________

SUIT FILED TO PROTECT NEARLY EXTINCT CA WETLAND PLANT-
SPECIES CAUGHT IN BUREAUCRATIC LIMBO FOR 26 YEARS
On 1-22-01, the Center for Biological Diversity filed suit against the U.S.
Fish & Wildlife Service to force the agency to list the Ventura Marsh
milkvetch as a federally endangered species. The nearly extinct plant
formerly occupied coastal wetlands in Ventura, Orange, and Los Angeles
Counties, including Ballona Wetlands. Ballona has been the site of a
lengthy, intense battle between developers and advocates for Los Angeles
county’s last remaining wetland of significant size.

Click to learn more about the Ballona Wetlands struggle:
<http://www.wetlandact.org/>

Ironically, the Ventura Marsh milkvetch has been one the U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service’s poster children in a campaign against designation of
critical habitat. The agency has stated that it is unable to protect the
milkvetch because it is too busy complying with court orders to designate
critical habitat. This cynical logic justifies its nation-wide endangered
species listing moratorium by pitting species protection against habitat
protection.

The sad story of the Ventura Marsh milkvetch, however, reveals a decades
long pattern of illegal delays that have nothing to do with the current
moratorium. The milkvetch was first petitioned for Endangered Species
Act protection by the Smithsonian Institute in 1975. While the species
has languished in the listing process for 26 years, it has been
extirpated from public lands and has declined to a single location on less
than half an acre of private land. That half acre is now slated for
development.
______________________

LAWSUIT TO PROTECT WETLANDS FROM DEVELOPERS
On 3-21-01, the Center for Biological Diversity notified the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers that it will file suit over the agency's approval of the
destruction of wetlands associated with the South Sonoma Business
Park project in Cotati, Sonoma County, California. Under the auspices
of Monahan Pacific Development Corporation, the project would involve
the development of a 35-acre natural area into 650,000 square foot
commercial space with parking for 2,300 vehicles. It would destroy 3.5
acres of wetlands including a population of Sebastopol meadowfoam
(Limnanthes vinculans), a federally endangered plant, and one of the few
remaining breeding areas of a genetically distinct population of the
California tiger salamander.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service asked the Army Corps to review its
impacts to endangered species, but the agency has failed to do so.