From: Kieran Suckling
[ksuckling@biologicaldiversity.org]
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2001 2:24
PM
To: Recipient list suppressed
Subject: BIODIVERSITY
ACTIVIST
#280
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CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
<www.biologicaldiversity.org>
7-17-01
#280
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§
MASSIVE CALIFORNIA TIMBER SALE STOPPED...FOR NOW
§ SEVEN MORE ORCAS DEAD,
COUNTY SUPPORTS ENDANGERED
SPECIES LISTING
§ LAND SWAP TO
EXPAND POLLUTING AZ MINE CHALLENGED
§ CENTER JOINS SUIT TO PROTECT GRAND
CANYON
§ BUSH TRASHES CLINTON AGREEMENT TO PROTECT
ENDANGERED CALIFORNIA FISH
MASSIVE CALIFORNIA
TIMBER SALE STOPPED...FOR NOW
On 7-11-01, EPIC, the Center for
Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club,
California Wilderness Coalition,
Klamath Forest Alliance,
Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center and Forest
Conservation Council
won a temporary restraining order blocking a massive
timber sale within
a roadless area bordering the Trinity Alps Wilderness. The
Big Bar timber
sale is the first planned in a California roadless area since
the Clinton
Administration released its roadless area conservation plan in
January. It
would log 1,050 acres of the Six Rivers National forest to
produce 20
million board feet of lumber.
Though the timber sale would
harm northern goshawks, Pacific fishers,
salmon, and steelhead trout, the
Forest Service did not take steps to
protect any of them.
The case is
being argued by Marc Fink of the Western Environmental
Law Center (Eugene). A
hearing will be held soon to determine if the sale
will be stopped for the
duration of the lawsuit.
The Center’s Pacific fisher
page:
http//www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/species/fisher/fisher.html
The
Center’s northern goshawk page:
www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/species/goshawk/swgoshawk.html
SEVEN MORE ORCAS DEAD, COUNTY SUPPORTS ENDANGERED
SPECIES
LISTING
Seven more of Puget Sound’s killer whale population have
been declared
dead after failing to return from their winter travels. As
resident orcas live
their entire lives within their birth pods, usually in
close proximity to their
mothers, long term absence is always an indication
of death. The
population has declined by 20% since 1996, prompting the Center
for
Biological Diversity and others to file a petition with the National
Marine
Fisheries Service to list them as a federally endangered species on
5-1-01.
Puget Sound orcas have some the highest PCP levels recorded in
any
marine mammal- well above levels known to cause death, birth
defects,
reproductive problems, and reduced intelligence in other species.
The
whales are also being impacted by salmon declines (which make up
95%
of their diet), intense whale watching pressure, and the
continuing
unraveling of the Puget Sound ecosystem.
On July 10, 2001,
the San Juan County board of commissioners sent a
letter to the Fisheries
Service supporting the listing petition. It also
allocated $30,000 to develop
new whale watching guidelines.
To learn more about Puget Sound
orcas:
www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/species/orca/index.html
LAND SWAP TO EXPAND POLLUTING MINE CHALLENGED
On
7-12-01, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Western Land
Exchange
Project and the Sierra Club formally appealed decision by the
Bureau of Land
Management to exchange 11,000 acres of federal land
for 7,300 acres owned by
mining giant Asarco. The exchange would
allow the company to expand its
massive open-pit Ray Copper Mine east
of Phoenix. The Ray Mine is a
notoriously toxic and negligent facility. In
1997, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service found copper levels in fish below
the mine to be “by far” the highest
recorded nationally. The mine is just
upstream of the Gila River,
designated critical habitat for cactus
ferruginous pygmy owl, spikedace, and
southwestern willow flycatcher.
The land to be given to Asarco
borders the isolated White Canyon
wilderness area, which contains perennial
waters and riparian deciduous
forest, and is considered a priority
reintroduction site for bighorn sheep.
Roger Flynn and Jeff
Parsons of the Western Mining Action Project in
Boulder are arguing the
appeal.
For more information:
www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/Programs/mining/ray.html
CENTER JOINS SUIT TO PROTECT GRAND CANYON
A
federal judge on 7-12-01 allowed the Center for Biological Diversity to
join
a Sierra Club lawsuit challenging a Forest Service decision to trade
federal
land adjacent to Grand Canyon Nation Park to a developer. The
developer would
then build a small city on the site (Canyon Forest
Village) with Arizona’s
largest commercial shopping center outside
Phoenix, 1,270 hotel rooms,
housing, and up to 20,000 square feet of
commercial space.
The project
is opposed by the cities of Flagstaff, Tusayan, and Williams,
and by
environmental groups because it will bring sprawl to the Grand
Canyon,
threaten water supplies needed by wildlife, and hurt tourist
businesses
already existing in the Flagstaff area.
The case is being argued by
Howard Shanker.
BUSH TRASHES CLINTON AGREEMENT
TO PROTECT
ENDANGERED CALIFORNIA FISH
The Bush Administration
is refusing to abide by a legal agreement to
designate protected critical
habitat areas for the endangered Santa Ana
sucker in southern California. On
7-10-01, the Center for Biological
Diversity, the American Fisheries Society,
California Trout, and Friends of
the River notified the administration that
if it does not immediately protect
the sucker's habitat, we will ask a
federal judge to find it in contempt of
court. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service settled a lawsuit in November
2000 by agreeing to map out and protect
critical habitat areas for the
Santa Ana Sucker by January 2001. But the Bush
administration has
squelched progress on the protections.
The Santa
Ana sucker was once one of the most common fish in lower
elevation Los
Angeles basin rivers and streams. The species is now
absent from 75% of
its historic range as a result of urbanization and
water pollution, and is
now limited to short stretches of the Santa Clara,
San Gabriel and Santa Ana
rivers and Big Tujunga Creek. Because the
sucker requires clean water to
survive, the species serves as a prime
indicator of the water quality of
southern California rivers and streams.