No. 303, May 15, 2002
********************************** CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY Biodiversity Activist No. 303 May 15, 2002 www.biologicaldiversity.org ********************************** WESTERN NATIVE TROUT CAMPAIGN UPDATE
The Center for Biological Diversity, Pacific Rivers Council, Biodiversity Associates, and Trout Unlimited have launched a campaign to protect and restore all native trout species in the western United States. Below are recent actions taken by the Center to further trout conservation in OR, CA, AZ, and NM.
TROUT CHALLENGE STOPS OREGON ROADLESS TIMBER SALE
STEELHEAD TROUT PROTECTION EXTENDED IN CALIFORNIA
PLAN PRESENTED TO CONSERVE STEELHEAD, THOUSANDS OF OTHER SPECIES, AND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA'S MOUNTAIN WILDLANDS
COMMENTS NEEDED ON GILA TROUT RECOVERY PLAN
FREE WESTERN NATIVE TROUT POSTER AVAILABLE ONLINE
********************************** TROUT CHALLENGE STOPS OREGON ROADLESS TIMBER SALE
The Willamette National Forest has withdrawn the Simco Timber Sale because of mounting pressure over its effects on the endangered bull trout. The sale would have logged 9.9 million board feet of trees on 480 acres and reconstructed 32 miles of roads. Much of the logging would have occurred on steep, unstable slopes, and in a roadless area which is a key spawning and rearing ground for bull trout.
The sale was opposed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Oregon Natural Resources Council, and the Cascadia Wildlands Project which formally threatened to sue the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for approving the sale in December 2001. The Service agreed to re-examine the sale, eventually rendering a negative opinion which prompted the U.S. Forest Service to cancel it rather than face legal opposition from the environmental coalition.
STEELHEAD TROUT PROTECTION EXTENDED IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In response to years of public pressure including a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups, the National Marine Fisheries Service announced on 5-01-02 that it will expand the protected range of the endangered southern California steelhead trout all the way to the Mexican border.
The southern steelhead were listed as an endangered species in 1997. But in order to avoid conflicts with coastal sprawl in Los Angeles and San Diego Counties, and in contradiction to the recommendation of its own scientists, the Fisheries Service excluded all portions of the species' range south of Malibu Creek from protective status. It also excluded all stream reaches above impassible dams. Thus the protected southern steelhead trout range stopped exactly where the political conflicts started.
Southern California steelhead are a distinct population of a species which occurs from Alaska to northern Baja California. Like salmon, steelhead are born in freshwater streams, migrate into the ocean where they spend most of their life, then migrate back up the stream of their birth to spawn and die. Tens of thousands of steelhead trout once returned from the Pacific Ocean each year to spawn in southern California streams and rivers. They comprised a major sport fishery. Dams, roads and urban sprawl, however, have destroyed most of southern California's coastal streams, decimating steelhead runs. Only a few hundred fish remain today.
In addition to the Center, the steelhead lawsuit was filed by California Trout, Environmental Defense Center, Friends of the Santa Clara River, Heal the Bay, Institute for Fisheries Resources and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman's Associations.
PLAN PRESENTED TO CONSERVE STEELHEAD TROUT, THOUSANDS OF OTHER SPECIES, AND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA'S MOUNTAIN WILDLANDS
A group of environmental organizations and scientists have developed a visionary conservation plan for the six million acres comprising Southern California's Los Padres, Angeles, San Bernardino, and Cleveland National Forests. The 500 page plan was presented to the U.S. Forest Service on 4-02-02 to be included as a conservation alternative in their comprehensive planning process.
The four national forests span from Monterey County to the Mexican border, providing recreational opportunities and clean water for a massive urban population, and habitat for over 3,000 plant and 500 animal species, many of which live nowhere else on earth. The endangered southern steelhead trout is a flagship species of the plan because of its dependence on the coastal streams flowing down from forests into the ocean.
Sponsors of the plan include the Center for Biological Diversity, Southcoast Wildlands Project, Southern California Forests Committee of the Sierra Club, California Wilderness Coalition, Californians for Western Wilderness, California Wild Heritage Campaign, California Native Plant Society, San Luis Obispo Coast Alliance, Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo, Friends of the River, Republicans for Environmental Protection, Ventana Wilderness Alliance, Mountain Lion Foundation, Conception Coast Project, and a rapidly growing coalition of environmental organizations and concerned citizens. Dozens of scientists, including fire ecologists, wildlife biologists and botanists participated in the plan's development.
For more information and to see a copy of the plan: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/press/4forests4-2-02.html
COMMENTS NEEDED ON GILA TROUT RECOVERY PLAN
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has released a public draft of its revised Recovery Plan for the endangered Gila trout. The Gila trout is endemic to high elevation mountain streams in the Gila, Apache-Sitgreaves and Tonto National Forests in Arizona and New Mexico. It currently occurs in the Gila, San Francisco, and Verde river systems. It was listed as an endangered species in 1967 due to livestock grazing, road construction, water pollution, and hybridization with non-native trout.
The current recovery plan was completed in 1993. It includes criteria for downlisting the trout to a "threatened" species, but not for delisting. It also relies on an outdated, unecological strategy of creating and maintaining small trout populations in isolated headwater streams. Such small populations are prone to extinction and are incapable of supporting themselves, thus are forever dependent upon human intervention. The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Fish & Wildlife Service in 1998 to update the plan to include delisting criteria including the restoration of entire subwatersheds with interconnected tributaries capable of sustaining large, self-sustaining trout populations.
Please send comments to the Fish & Wildlife Service by 6-10-02 calling for cessation of the isolated headwater reintroduction strategy. Gila trout should be restored through entire subwatersheds protected from livestock grazing, exotic trout, and runoff from unnecessary roads. Write to: Gila Trout Recovery Plan U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2105 Osuna NE, Albuquerque, NM 87113.
FREE WESTERN NATIVE TROUT POSTER AVAILABLE ONLINE
The Western Native Trout Campaign has commissioned a large color poster celebrating the beauty and importance of the West's imperiled trout species. It has information about trout conservation, range maps, and beautiful drawings of 15 trout species by renowned wildlife artist Joseph Tomelleri.
Top get your free copy: http://www.westerntrout.org/trout/maps.htm
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