No.
307, June 17, 2002
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32,000 ACRES
PROTECTED FOR SAN BERNARDINO KANGAROO RAT- FEDS IGNORE SCIENTISTS PLEA FOR
MORE PROTECTION
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FOUR OREGON
TIMBER SALES CHALLENGED TO PROTECT ENDANGERED TROUT
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NEW MEXICO
TIMBER SALE CHALLENGED TO PROTECT ENDANGERED OWLS, FROGS, AND FISH
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KOLBE RIDER
AGAINST SAN PEDRO RIVER FINDS NO BACKER IN SENATE
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PETITION FILED
TO PROTECT ALL ORCAS WORLDWIDE
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CENTER ATTENDS
INTERNATIONAL WHALING COMMISSION MEETING IN JAPAN
32,000
ACRES PROTECTED FOR SAN BERNARDINO KANGAROO RAT- FEDS IGNORE SCIENTISTS PLEA
FOR MORE PROTECTION
In accord with a legal
settlement negotiated by the Center for Biological Diversity and Christians
Caring for Creation, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service designated 32,295
acres of critical habitat for the endangered San Bernardino kangaroo rat on
4-13-02. The designation will provide badly needed protection for the species,
much of whose last remaining habitat is proposed for residential and commercial
development.
With its amazing jumping
ability and desert survival skills, the San Bernardino kangaroo rat is a beautiful
and unique part of California's natural heritage. It is one of several imperiled
species that live in the sand and young vegetation left behind by seasonal flooding.
Channelization, water diversions, floodplain mining, dams, sprawl, and flood
control projects have eliminated natural flooding regimes throughout most of
southern California. Without floods, the k-rat has nowhere to go when its habitat
eventually becomes overgrown. Its historic habitat has declined by 95%. About
13,700 acres remain, with the kangaroo rat occupying only 3,250 acres in seven
locations isolated from each other by urban development.
Though helpful, the final
designation is far less than the 55,408 acres proposed by the Clinton administration
in December, 2000. And it flies in the face of scientific opinion: Nine scientists
were asked to peer review the proposed designation; each and every one suggested
adding additional areas. Instead, Secretary of Interior Gale Norton reduced
the protected area by over a third.
FOUR
OREGON TIMBER SALES CHALLENGED TO PROTECT ENDANGERED TROUT
On 6-7-02, the Center for
Biological Diversity, Oregon Natural Resources Council, Cascadia Wildlands Project,
and Willamette Riverkeeper filed suit to stop four damaging timber sales on
the Willamette National Forest. The sales are located in the Upper Willamette
River Basin which supports the only remaining population of bull trout west
of the Cascades in Oregon. They would befoul streams with sediment by logging
675 acres, building 3.5 miles of road, and reconstructing 42 miles of old roads.
Bull trout are extremely sensitive to increased sediment levels and are suffering
from a road density in the Upper Willamette which is already double the level
recommended by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the conservation of bull
trout.
Bull trout in the Upper
Willamette River were on the brink of extinction until the Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife began efforts re-introduction efforts. The proposed timber
sales would undermine those efforts.
Earlier this year, the Willamette
National Forest withdrew the Simco Timber Sale after the Center, ONRC, and the
Cascadia Wildlands Project threatened to sue over its impact to bull trout.
The Simco sale would have logged nearly ten million board feet of trees on 480
acres and reconstructed 32 miles of roads. The current lawsuit is being argued
by the Cascade Resources Advocacy Group.
NEW MEXICO
TIMBER SALE CHALLENGED TO PROTECT ENDANGERED OWLS, FROGS, AND FISH
On 6-11-02, the Center
for Biological Diversity appealed the Sheep Basin "restoration" project
on the Gila National Forest in New Mexico which would log over nine million
board feet of ponderosa pine across 3,840 acres, including thousands of mature
and old-growth trees. In a bizarre twist of logic, the Forest has admits that
the timber sale is not a "restoration" project, but insists on using
the title regardless, "so as not to confuse the public."
Sheep Basin is the first
of 15 planned timber sales spanning 70,000 acres of the Negrito Watershed and
consuming 90 million board feet of trees. The Forest Service admits that such
intensive logging could result in "long-term fragmentation of existing
habitat" due to the "cumulative substantial loss of large trees."
The watershed is an important habitat area for several endangered species including
the loach minnow, Mexican spotted owl and Chiricahua leopard frog.
The Center hopes its appeal
will force the Forest Service to focus on legitimate restoration efforts to
improve the health of the Negrito watershed, including prescribed burning, small-diameter
thinning and removal of cattle from all riparian areas.
KOLBE
RIDER AGAINST SAN PEDRO RIVER FINDS NO BACKER IN SENATE
In response to a court
order forcing the military to take responsibility for its contribution to the
drying up of the San Pedro River, Representative Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) attached a
rider to a government appropriations bill that would exempt the military from
the need to mitigate its off-base environmental impacts. The military is the
single biggest water user in the San Pedro basin and is responsible for off-base
water pollution, air pollution, and habitat destruction around the country.
But in the face of mounting opposition, including angry editorials from both
the Arizona Republic and the Arizona Daily Star, Kolbe was unable to find a
Senator to attach the rider to the Senate version of the bill, which passed
last week. A final version of the bill will be hashed out in a joint House-Senate
committee next week. Kolbe will attempt to resurrect his rider in that process.
In an editorial entitled
"Siphoning the San Pedro," the Arizona Daily Star asked: "How
much water can the military installation and Sierra Vista suck from the watershed
before the San Pedro becomes another tragedy like the dry ditch that once was
the Santa Cruz River?" The Star reminded Kolbe of his pledge to protect
the San Pedro, which is one of the nation's most important migratory flyways,
and asked him to stop his efforts to fuel unsustainable growth.
In an editorial entitled
"A treasure at risk: bill threatens San Pedro River," the Arizona
Republic called the river "exquisite...renowned for its biological diversity...the
last undammed, free-flowing river in the Southwest." It called Kolbe's
rider "a misguided attempt to circumvent the judge's findings and absolve
the Department of Defense of any responsibility for off-base groundwater usage."
PETITION
FILED TO PROTECT ALL ORCAS WORLDWIDE
With the help of the Center
for Biological Diversity, the nation of Australia prepared a petition in April
2002 to protect all orcas worldwide under the International Convention on Migratory
Species. The petition requests that all orcas be added to Appendix II of the
convention, which is for species that are sensitive to declines and require
international conservation and management agreements. A final decision on the
listing will be made in September.
Orca populations in the
northeast Pacific Ocean and the eastern north Atlantic Ocean are already listed
under appendix II. Like humans, there is only one species of orca, and it occurs
worldwide. Being at the top of the marine food chain, orcas are subject to the
bioaccumulation of toxics and indiscriminate killing by fishermen. They are
also threatened by oil spills, boat collisions, and intensive whale watching.
The Center and other environmental groups have petitioned the National Marine
Fisheries Service to list the Puget Sound population of orcas as an endangered
species.
To see Australia's petition,
click
here.
For information on the Center's
orca campaigns, click
here.
CENTER
ATTENDS INTERNATIONAL WHALING COMMISSION MEETING IN JAPAN
Dr. Martin Taylor, conservation
biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, attended the International
Whaling Commission meeting in Japan in May. He joined an international team
of science and policy experts from UK-based Care for the Wild and the Whale
and Dolphin Conservation Society which helped to defeat an attempt by Japan
and other whaling nations to end a worldwide moratorium on commercial whaling.
At the Scientific Committee
meetings, Dr. Taylor presented papers on the effects of habitat degradation
and climate change on bowhead whales and orcas, species which the Center is
currently trying to protect under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The Center
is working to expand the scope of the International Whaling Commission to include
habitat degradation. While the Commission did not agree to expand beyond its
tradition concern with whaling, it did establish a new working group on habitat
degradation. Dr. Taylor will be working with the group to make habitat loss
part of the international whale conservation agenda.
For a blow-by-blow update
on the contentious IWS meeting, click
here.
For information on the Center's
orca and bowhead campaigns, click
here.
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