No. 309, July 10, 2002


  • WILD & SCENIC RIVERS: 531 RIVER MILES PROTECTED IN NEW MEXICO

  • WILD & SCENIC RIVERS: SUIT SEEKS 500 MILES OF RIVER PROTECTION IN MICHIGAN

  • SAN DIEGO AMBROSIA LISTED AS ENDANGERED SPECIES

  • SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MOUNTAIN YELLOW-LEGGED FROG LISTED AS ENDANGERED SPECIES

  • HABITAT PROTECTION ORDERED FOR EIGHT CALIFORNIA PLANTS

  • SUIT CHALLENGES AUCTION OF MOJAVE DESERT PUBLIC LANDS TO DEVELOPERS


WILD & SCENIC RIVERS: OVER 500 RIVER MILES PROTECTED IN NEW MEXICO

In keeping with a legal settlement with the Center for Biological Diversity and Amigos Bravos, the Carson National Forest amended its Forest Plan on 6-26-02 to protect 531 miles of streams and rivers in northern New Mexico. The Carson was one of four New Mexico National Forests sued by the Center and Amigos Bravos in 1997 for failing to identify and protect rivers that are eligible for designation as “wild,” “scenic,” or “recreational” under the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act. The Forest concluded that 67 river segments are eligible for protection under the Act, and now must manage them so as to maintain their eligibility until Congress votes on whether to formally add them to the list of wild and scenic rivers.

Though over 10,500 miles on 150 river segments have been protected under the Act nationwide, very few New Mexico rivers have been included. Combined with those determined to be eligible by the Gila, Lincoln, and Cibola National Forests, the suit has brought protection to over 800 miles of public rivers in New Mexico. On the Carson Forest, these include the Rio Tusas, Rio Vallecitos, Rio Pueblo, Arroyo Hondo, Canjilon Creek, El Rito Creek, Rio Chama, and the Red River; on the Gila Forest they include the Gila, Tularosa, and Negrito rivers; on the Cibola Forest they include the Canadian River; and on the Lincoln Forest they include the Sacramento River and Rio Peñasco.

Many of the eligibility determinations were based on the presence of imperiled native trout including the Gila trout on the Gila National Forest and the Rio Grande cutthroat trout on the Carson National Forest.

The case was argued by Matt Bishop of the Western Environmental Law Center (Taos).

To learn more about the Center’s Wild and Scenic River Campaign in NM, CO, AZ, CA, and MI click here.


WILD & SCENIC RIVERS: SUIT SEEKS 500 MILES OF RIVER PROTECTION IN MICHIGAN

On 11-15-01, the Center for Biological Diversity, Northwoods Wilderness Recovery, and the Superior Wilderness Action Network sued the Ottawa National Forest in Michigan for refusing to protect 300 miles of the Black, Ontonagon, Paint, Presque Isle, Sturgeon, and Yellow Dog Rivers. All were all protected by Congress under the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act in 1992, but the National Forest has continued to log the forests along their banks and has refused to develop a management plan to ensure their complete protection.

The nearly one million acre Ottawa National Forest is located in Michigan's western Upper Peninsula, and contains some of the best wildlife habitat in the state. Over 500,000 acres of second-growth hardwood forests are found within the Forest. They are just beginning to mature and regain characteristics of old-growth forest after being devastated by the logging era that ended in the 1930s. Since the inception of the Ottawa's management plan in 1986, hardwood forests have been overcut by at least 60%. Timbering and road building in and near the Wild and Scenic Rivers have major impacts on imperiled species such as Canada lynx, American bittern, American bald eagle, Northern goshawk, red-shouldered hawk, and Eastern timber wolf.

In June, 2002 the suit was expanded to protect 200 miles of the Whitefish and Tahquamenon Rivers on the Hiawatha National Forests, also in Michigan. The suit is being argued by Brent Plater of the Center for Biological Diversity.

To learn more about the Center’s Wild and Scenic River Campaign in NM, CO, AZ, CA, and MI click here.


SAN DIEGO AMBROSIA LISTED AS ENDANGERED SPECIES

In keeping with a legal agreement with the Center for Biological Diversity, California Native Plant Society, and Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service listed the San Diego (Ambrosia pumila) ambrosia as an endangered species on 7-2-02. A member of the sunflower family, the ambrosia has declined from at least 40 populations to just 15 in San Diego and Riverside counties and northern Baja California. Major threats to the species survival include road construction and maintenance, urban and suburban sprawl, encroachment by exotic plants, and livestock.

Though the Smithsonian Institution petitioned to list the San Diego ambrosia as an endangered species in 1978, the Fish & Wildlife Service repeatedly delayed its protection, allowing it to dwindle to extinction’s edge before taking action. Indeed, its listing this month required a 1997 petition by the Center and two lawsuits filed in 1999 and 2001. This delay-until-sued pattern has characterized the agency’s management of thousands of imperiled species, especially plants. More than 30 species have gone extinct while waiting to be protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Numerous ambrosia populations disappeared since the 1978 Smithsonian petition, and even since the 1997 Center petition.


SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MOUNTAIN YELLOW-LEGGED FROG LISTED AS ENDANGERED SPECIES

In keeping with a legal agreement with the Center for Biological Diversity, California Native Plant Society, and Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service listed the Southern California mountain yellow-legged frog as an endangered species on 7-2-02. With a total known population of only 79 adults, the Southern California mountain yellow-legged frog is probably North America’s most endangered amphibian. It has disappeared from 99% of its range and now occurs in just seven populations.

As is so often the case, the road to federal protection for the frog was long, delayed, and only accomplished with the intervention of citizen petitions and lawsuits. It was first designated a candidate for protection by the Fish and Wildlife Service in 1991. When this failed to result in movement toward protection, the Biodiversity Legal Foundation filed a formal listing petition in 1995. But no action was taken until two lawsuits were filed by BLF and the Center. Finally in 2002, eleven years after being placed on the candidate list, the frog has been given the protection of the Endangered Species Act. Unfortunately, it has suffered such dramatic declines between 1991 and 2002 that its recovery will be more difficult and more expensive than if done promptly and properly.

The Center has also petitioned to list the mountain yellow-legged frog as an endangered species throughout its entire range in California and Nevada and is working to protect the Chiricahua leopard frog, relict leopard frog, California red-legged frog, Mississippi gopher frog, Yosemite toad, Sonora tiger salamander, California tiger salamander, Sonoma tiger salamander, and Santa Barbara tiger salamander.

Learn more about amphibian declines click here.


HABITAT PROTECTION ORDERED FOR EIGHT CALIFORNIA PLANTS

In response to a lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and the California Native Plant Society, a federal judge has ordered the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to designate and protect critical habitat areas for eight endangered California plants in San Diego, Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Inyo and Mono counties of southern California.

While 37% of endangered vertebrate species have been awarded critical habitat designation, only 4% of endangered plants have been given it. The eight plants to be given habitat protection are:

The Lane Mountain milk-vetch (Astragalus jaegerianus) is only known to occur at four western Mojave Desert sites north of Barstow, CA, near the Ft. Irwin tank base in San Bernardino County. It has cream to purple flowers and silvery leaves, and is widely scattered at each site. This endangered plant is threatened by proposed U.S. Army Ft. Irwin expansion, with related tank training, military vehicle trespass on to off-limits BLM lands, dry wash recreational gold mining, off-road vehicle use, increasing fire frequency, and associated fire suppression activities.

The Coachella valley milk-vetch (Astragalus lentiginosus var. coachellae) grows on loose wind-blown and alluvial sands on dunes and flats in the Coachella Valley area of the Sonoran Desert near Palm Springs. It has deep pink-purple flowers, and a mottled fruit or pod. Urban sprawl either directly destroys lands on which this endangered plant occurs, or reduces the source and transport of the blow sands that maintain its habitats. Roads and off-road vehicle use also damage habitat.

Peirson's milk-vetch (Astragalus magdalenae var. peirsonii) is located at Algodones Sand Dunes, in the Sonoran Desert of eastern Imperial County, CA, and is listed as threatened. It grows in sandy and gravelly soils, and has white or pale flowers. Its main threats are destruction of habitat from intensive off-road vehicle use, water projects and pipelines.

Fish slough milk-vetch (Astragalus lentiginosus var. piscinensis) is a threatened plant occurring in the Great Basin Desert northwest of Bishop, CA, in Inyo and Mono counties. It is restricted to a six-mile stretch of alkaline flats paralleling Fish Slough, a desert wetland ecosystem. Trampling and grazing by cattle, roads and off-road vehicle use, modification of wetlands, the Red Willow Dam and related expansion of Fish Slough Lake are all threats.

Spreading navarretia (Navarretia fossalis) occurs primarily in vernal pool ecosystems, and, in 1998, had fewer than 30 populations left. Nearly 60% are concentrated in three locations: Otay Mesa in southern San Diego County, along the San Jacinto River in western Riverside County, and near Hemet in Riverside County. It is an annual in the Phlox family, and is threatened by ongoing degradation and destruction of vernal pools due to urbanization, agricultural practices, off-road vehicles, flood control and widespread habitat loss.

Munz's onion (Allium munzii) is an endangered perennial in the Lily family, with only 13 populations located in western Riverside County, CA, including the Gavilan Hills, Harford Springs County, Paloma Valley, Skunk Hollow, Domenigoni Hills, Bachelor Mountain, and the Elsinore Mountains.

San Jacinto Valley crownscale (Atriplex coronata var. notatior) is an endangered plant reduced to just 12 populations, primarily associated with the San Jacinto River and Old Salt Creek tributary drainages in the San Jacinto, Perris, Menifee and Elsinore Valleys of western Riverside County, CA.

Thread-leaved brodiaea (Brodiaea filifolia) is a member of the lily family, with violet flowers. It is listed as threatened, and in 1998, just 37 populations were known in southern California. 15 are in the cities of Vista, San Marcos and Carlsbad in northern San Diego County. The remaining 22 populations are scattered within Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego and San Bernardino counties.

For more information on the suit and species click here.


AUCTION OF PUBLIC LAND TO PRIVATE DEVELOPERS IN MOJAVE DESERT CHALLENGED

The Center for Biological Diversity, the Western Land Exchange Project and Committee for Idaho's High Desert filed suit against the Bureau of Land Management on 6-26-02 to stop the auction of 6,500 acres of public land in the Mojave Desert northeast of Las Vegas. Much of the public land near this area is designated critical habitat that is essential to the survival and recovery of the threatened desert tortoise.

The combined impact of this and several other development plans on the fragile Mojave Desert and Virgin River would harm water supplies, water and air quality, and endangered species. In addition to the desert tortoise, which would have its habitat bulldozed, at least five other endangered species are threatened by the water mining that would occur if this parcel of public land is sold to developers: the woundfin, Virgin River chub, Pahranagat roundtail chub, Southwestern willow flycatcher and Least Bell's vireo.

The Center and Western Land Exchange Project filed an appeal of these proposed sales in October 2001, just days before a BLM auction. The resulting uncertainty caused developers not to bid, but the Bush Administration redoubled its liquidation efforts and is set to offer the habitat again for sale. The Center is represented in this case by attorneys Christopher Krupp of the Western Land Exchange Project in Seattle and Henry Egghart of Reno.


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