No. 307, June 17, 2002


  • 32,000 ACRES PROTECTED FOR SAN BERNARDINO KANGAROO RAT- FEDS IGNORE SCIENTISTS PLEA FOR MORE PROTECTION

  • FOUR OREGON TIMBER SALES CHALLENGED TO PROTECT ENDANGERED TROUT

  • NEW MEXICO TIMBER SALE CHALLENGED TO PROTECT ENDANGERED OWLS, FROGS, AND FISH

  • KOLBE RIDER AGAINST SAN PEDRO RIVER FINDS NO BACKER IN SENATE

  • PETITION FILED TO PROTECT ALL ORCAS WORLDWIDE

  • 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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