Biodiversity Activist #317 September
10, 2002
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ALGODONES
DUNES TRAVELING PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION SHOWS IN CALIFORNIA, NEVADA
AND ARIZONA
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ENVIRONMENTAL
GROUPS & CABAZON INDIANS JOIN TOGETHER TO SAVE SALTON SEA
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CRITICAL HABITAT
PROPOSED FOR TEXAS CAVE DWELLING INVERTEBRATES
ALGODONES
DUNES TRAVELING PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION SHOWS IN CALIFORNIA, NEVADA AND
ARIZONA
The Center for Biological
Diversity, Natural Trails and Waters Coalition, Desert Protective Council and
National Wildlife Federation, along with West Coast Imaging and others have
teamed up with L.A.-based photographer Andrew Harvey to create a visually stunning
and fascinating photographic exhibition exploring Southern California's Algodones
Dunes. This traveling photographic exhibit is a dynamic combination of art and
education.
The exhibit engages the
public in a memorable visual experience while inviting them to learn more about
the natural history of the Algodones Dunes, the importance of preserving the
diverse array of animals and plants that depend on this fragile ecosystem, and
the looming threat to our environment posed by the increased use of off-road
vehicles on public lands. This is a rare opportunity to view a photographic
exhibit with breathtaking visual imagery that also raises public awareness of
immediate environmental threats to this extraordinarily beautiful and biologically
important piece of the American landscape.
Donations to support this
educational and photographic project are being graciously accepted.
Mail to: Julie Miller, Center for Biological Diversity, P.O. Box 710, Tucson,
AZ. 85702. Please indicate "Dunes exhibit" on your check.
EXHIBIT DATES:
San Diego, CA: through Sept
13th at the National Wildlife Federation's Western Field Office at 3500, 5th
Ave., Suite 101, in Hillcrest, (619) 296-8353.
Las Vegas, NV: Sept 21st
to 28th at the Gianaclis Gallery, 5690 Boulder Hwy, (702) 451-8608.
El Centro, CA: Oct 6th to
27th at the Imperial County Arts Council, 230 S. 5th St., (760) 337-1777.
Tucson, AZ: Nov 2nd to 23rd
(with special events on Nov 3rd and 10th) at Bookman's on Speedway, 6230 E.
Speedway, (520) 748-9555.
View a slide show with Andrew
Harvey's photographs of the Algodones Sand Dunes: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org
(click under "What's New on Our Site")
Learn more about the Algodones
Dunes, or contact Daniel Patterson at (909) 659-2484 or dpatterson@biologicaldiversity.org.
ENVIRONMENTAL
GROUPS & CABAZON INDIANS JOIN TOGETHER TO SAVE SALTON SEA
The Center for Biological
Diversity, Sierra Club and the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians filed a lawsuit
on 9-04-02 against Secretary of Interior Gale Norton and the federal Bureau
of Reclamation for their failure to protect the Salton Sea from over-salinization.
The Salton Sea, located in the southeastern corner of California, is the state's
largest lake and essential habitat for hundreds of species of migratory waterfowl
and other birds on the Pacific Flyway. The Sea now faces rising salinity and
salt concentration is reaching a level where it is likely to interfere with
fish reproduction and survival.
As California's wetlands
have disappeared, the Salton Sea has played an increasingly critical role as
habitat for hundreds of species of migratory birds. In total, more than 400
species of birds have been recorded at the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife
Refuge, the largest number of species found on any national wildlife refuge
in the West. Populations of up to 1.5 million eared grebes have been documented
at the sea during recent years, along with up to one-half of California's wintering
white-faced ibis, tens of thousands of white pelicans, double-crested cormorants,
Caspian terns, and the largest breeding population of gull-billed terns in western
North America. Several endangered species, including the desert pupfish, brown
pelican, and the Yuma clapper rail inhabit the Sea or adjacent habitats.
The groups are represented
by Brian Litmans of the Cascade Resources Advocacy Group, Geoff Hickcox of Kenna
and Hickcox, and Brendan Cummings of the Center for Biological Diversity.
CRITICAL
HABITAT PROPOSED FOR TEXAS CAVE DWELLING INVERTEBRATES
In keeping with a legal
settlement with the Center for Biological Diversity from November of 2000, the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to designate critical habitat for nine
endangered karst (cave) dwelling invertebrate species which occur in the vicinity
of San Antonio in Bexar County, Texas. The proposed critical habitat consists
of 25 units and totals approximately 9,516 acres.
All nine inhabit karst features
(limestone formations containing caves, sinks, and fissures) near San Antonio,
Texas. Threats to the species include destruction and/or deterioration of habitat
by construction, filling of caves, loss of permeable cover, and contamination
from septic effluent, sewer leaks, runoff, and pesticides.
"Karst'' is a type
of terrain that is formed by the slow dissolution of calcium carbonate from
limestone bedrock by mildly acidic groundwater. This process creates numerous
cave openings, cracks, fissures, fractures, and sinkholes, and the bedrock resembles
a honeycomb. The following invertebrate species were listed as endangered on
December 26, 2000 including:
Rhadine exilis (no common
name)
Rhadine infernalis (no common name),
Batrisodes venyivi (Helotes mold beetle),
Texella cokendolpheri (Robber Baron Cave harvestman)
Cicurina baronia (Robber Baron cave spider),
Cicurina madla (Madla's cave spider),
Cicurina venii (no common name),
Cicurina vespera (vesper cave spider),
Neoleptoneta microps (Government Canyon cave spider)
The Center was represented
in the legal action by Geoff Hickcox of Kenna & Hickcox (Durango).
Visit the web address below and tell your friends about this important issue!
http://actionnetwork.org/BIODIVERSITY/join-forward.html?domain=BIODIVERSITY&r=k7111111muFa&
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