From: Kieran Suckling
[ksuckling@biologicaldiversity.org]
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2001
10:18 AM
To: Recipient list suppressed
Subject: BIODIVERSITY
ALERT
#272
<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><>><<>
CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
<www.biologicaldiversity.org>
4-11-01
#272
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§
NORTON REFUSES TO ENACT DESERT PROTECTION
AGREEMENT- CONTEMPT OF
COURT CHARGES FILED
§ 1ST ANNUAL CALIFORNIA DESERT STRATEGY
SESSION
§ ARIZONA NATIONAL FORESTS TO REIGN IN ORVS: SEND
EMAIL,
ATTEND PUBLIC
HEARINGS
§
ARIZONANS, SEND FREE FAX TO SAVE SONORAN DESERT PLAN
§ SUIT TO KEEP
CALIFORNIA RIVERS WILD & SCENIC
§ EMAILS NEEDED TO SUPPORT HABITAT
PROTECTION FOR FOUR
MONTEREY AND SANTA CRUZ COUNTY
PLANTS
NORTON REFUSES TO ENACT DESERT PROTECTION AGREEMENT
CONTEMPT OF
COURT CHARGES FILED
On 3-29-01, the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra
Club, and Public
Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) filed
contempt of
court charges against the Bureau of Land Management. Prior to
Gale
Norton being appointed Secretary of Interior, the agency had agreed to
a
set of sweeping court approved actions to protect the BLM’s 11.4
million
acre share of the California Desert Conservation Area. But under
pressure
from Norton, the agency is now reneging.
Cattle and sheep
have had a tremendous impact on the endangered
Desert Tortoise by mowing down
spring annual plants essential to its
health and reproduction. The hoofed
livestock also trample burrows, killing
tortoises inside or wrecking their
homes. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s
Desert Tortoise Recovery Plan
calls for end to livestock within tortoise
critical habitat areas. The
legally binding settlement required the removal
of livestock from over
504,000 acres by March 1st, but agency has
refused.
To find out more
about the contempt charges:
<http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/press/blmcontempt.html>
_______________________
1ST ANNUAL CALIFORNIA DESERT STRATEGY
SESSION A SUCCESS
The Center’s first annual California Desert Strategy
Session drew desert
activists, ecologists and attorneys to the East Mojave
for three days to
discuss and solidify strategies to protect the California
Desert
Conservation Area. Attendees included representatives from
Public
Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Desert Survivors,
Desert
Tortoise Preserve Committee, Sierra Club, California Native Plant
Society,
and California Wilderness Coalition.
Groups agreed to ramp up
opposition to the expansion of Ft. Irwin, ensure
the BLM implements an
agreement to protect millions of acres from mining,
ORVs, roads and
livestock, oppose groundwater mining projects
such as the Cadiz proposal,
work to shape the BLM’s desert planning and
route designation efforts, and
push for expanded wilderness designation.
For more information on the
Center's California Desert campaign:
<http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/goldenstate/cdca/index.html>
________________________
ARIZONA NATIONAL FORESTS TO REIGN IN ORVS:
SEND EMAIL, ATTEND PUBLIC HEARINGS
The Apache-Sitgreaves, Coconino,
Kaibab, Prescott, and Tonto National
Forests will be holding public hearings
this month on a proposed rule to
make their off-road vehicle policies more
consistent and to limit the rapidly
increasing abuse of Forest Service lands
by off-roaders.
Attendance at public hearings is critical to show public
support for ORV
reforms. The ORV community is a very well funded and
organized
lobbying group. It will fight meaningful protections at every
step.
______________________
SEND EMAILS to
Jim Anderson <janderson08@fs.fed.us>
Key talking
points
ORV use must be allowed only on designated system roads and
trails
posted as open for ORV’s. Cross-country ORV use must be
prohibited.
ORV use must be prohibited within proposed wilderness
areas,
inventoried roadless areas, uninventoried roadless areas, and
any other
areas with roadless values.
ORV use must be
prohibited unless monitoring and enforcement
programs are fully funded
and implemented.
Any designation of ORV routes, construction or
upgrading of existing
routes, or construction or upgrading of ORV
facilities must undergo full
NEPA analysis.
ATTEND public
hearings:
Tusayan, April 11. Grand Canyon Quality Inn.
3-7:30 pm
Fredonia, April 12. (location to be announced).
3-7:30 pm
Payson, April 24. Payson High School Auditorium.
5-9 pm
Phoenix, April 25. Embassy Suites, 44th St.
& McDowell Rd. 5-9 pm
____________________
ARIZONANS, SEND FREE FAX TO SAVE SONORAN DESERT
PLAN
Good News: under tremendous public pressure, Governor Hull
and
Representative Herb Guenther will withdraw a nasty amendment to
HB2362
giving the Governor veto power over all county conservation
plans. The
amendment was designed by developers to torpedo Pima
County's "Sonoran Desert
Conservation Plan."
Bad News: Guenther has announced he will “fix” the
old amendment with
a new one that will only be marginally less damaging.
Click the link below
to send a free fax to Hull, your state senator, and your
state
representative. <http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/StopHB2362>
_______________________
SUIT TO KEEP CALIFORNIA RIVERS WILD &
SCENIC
The Center for Biological Diversity, Environmental Defense Center
and
Keep Sespe Wild filed suit on 4-4-01 to protect the Big Sur, Sespe
and
Sisquoc rivers on the Los Padres National Forest in California. Portions
of
these rivers were designated as “wild” or “scenic” under the Wild &
Scenic
Rivers Act in 1992, yet the Forest Service has never developed a plan
to
ensure their full protection.
For more information
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/press/wildscenic.html
____________________
EMAILS NEEDED TO SUPPORT HABITAT PROTECTION FOR
FOUR
MONTEREY AND SANTA CRUZ COUNTY PLANTS
In response to a court order
from a suit brought by the Center for
Biological Diversity (6/30/99), the
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has
proposed to designate and protect
“critical habitat” areas for four
endangered plants found only in
Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties,
California.
25,800 acres have been
proposed for the Monterey Spineflower
(Chorizanthe pungens var. pungens) and
1,640 acres for the Robust
Spineflower (Chorizanthe robusta var. robusta).
About half of the total
acreage for these species is on the former Fort Ord
Army Base near the
city of Monterey.
310 acres have been proposed for
Scott's Valley Spineflower (Chorizanthe
robusta var. hartwegii) and Scott's
Valley Polygonum (Polygonum
hickmanii), which exist only in small
ecologically unique "wildflower fields"
on private property in northern
Scotts Valley in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Click here to send an email
letter supporting the habitat protection. Letters
must be sent by April
16th.
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/CA_Plants
Native
plants are important for their ecological, economic and aesthetic
values.
Plants play an important role in development of crops that resist
disease,
insects and drought. At least 25 percent of prescription drugs
contain
ingredients derived from plant compounds, including medicine to
treat cancer,
heart disease, juvenile leukemia and malaria, as well as that
used to assist
organ transplants. Plants are also used to develop
natural
pesticides.
Kierán
Suckling
ksuckling@biologicaldiversity.org
Executive
Director
520.623.5252 phone
Center for Biological
Diversity 520.623.9797 fax
<www.biologicaldiversity.org>
POB 710, Tucson, AZ 85702-0710