Subject: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT #32
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Southwest Biodiversity Alert #32
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southwest center for biological
diversity
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ksuckling@sw-center.org
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http://www.envirolink.org/orgs/sw-center
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1.
NEW YORK TIMES ANTI-SALVAGE LOGGING AD TARGETS CLINTON
2.
ANTI-SALVAGE LOGGING GATHERING COINCIDES WITH CLINTON VISIT
TO
GRAND CANYON
3. CONTEMPT CHARGES FILED IN
GOSHAWK ESA CASE
4. QUEEN CHARLOTTE GOSHAWK ESA LISTING
IMMANENT?
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1. NEW YORK TIMES
ANTI-SALVAGE LOGGING AD TARGETS CLINTON
On Thursday, September 5th, a
second full page ad in the national
edition of the New York Times asked
Clinton to not allow any
exceptions to a ban on salvage logging of roadless
areas. The
headline read: "President Clinton, only you can stop the
Salvage
Scandal killing our national Forests", the subheading
stated:
"suspicious fire sales and lawless logging threaten pristine
national
forests." A text box insert discussed specific roadless sales
in
Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon,
and
Washington.
The ad was initiated by the Southwest Center and
designed by the
Public Media Center. It was signed by the Apache survival
Coalition,
Buckeye Forest Council, California Wilderness
Coalition,
Committee of Wilderness Supporters, Earthlaw, The
Ecology
Center, Forest Guardians, Headwaters, Heartwood, Idaho
Sporting
Congress, Northwest Ecosystem Alliance, Save America's
Forests,
Seventh Generation Fund-Honor the Earth Campaign, Sierra
Club
Grand Canyon Chapter, Siskiyou Project, Southern
Appalachian
Biodiversity Project, Southern Oregon Wildlife Watch,
Southwest
Forest Alliance, Southwest Trout, Student Environmental
Action
Coalition, T & E Inc., Western Ancient Forest Campaign,
Williams
Watershed Protection Association, and Zuni Mountain
Coalition.
2. ANTI-SALVAGE LOGGING GATHERING
COINCIDES
WITH CLINTON VISIT TO GRAND CANYON
The Southwest Center is
organizing a gathering at the site of the
proposed Bridger Fire Salvage Sale
on the Kaibab National Forest,
next weekend, September 21-22. The 35 million
board foot sale would
log up to the boundary of Grand Canyon National Park.
We will be on
hand to greet and educate President Clinton as he speaks at the
Grand
Canyon.
3. CONTEMPT CHARGES FILED IN NORTHERN
GOSHAWK ESA CASE
The Southwest Center and a coalition of activists from
every
western state have filed contempt of court charges against the
U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service for refusing to list the Northern
goshawk
"population" in the western U.S. as endangered. Earlier this
year, a
federal judge ruled the agency's negative 90-day finding as
arbitrary
and capricious because of its selective use of national
policies
regarding the definition of "distinct population", and
its
contradictory listing of populations of other species. The agency
was
ordered to redo its finding that goshawks in the western U.S. do
not
constitute a "distinct population" and are therefore not listable
under
the ESA.
The agency, however, has issued a second negative
finding which
again contradicts its own definition of "distinct population."
Citing
the consistent history of Fish and Wildlife Service refusal to
list
southwestern species under the ESA, the Southwest Center has
asked
the judge to throw out the latest finding, force the agency to
produce a new
finding within 10 days, and propose to list the
goshawk within an additional
90-days.
The Northern goshawk inhabits old growth forests in every
western
state, particularly ponderosa pine, drier mixed-conifer, and
aspen
forests.
The case has been argued by Dan Rolf (Portland) and
Matt Kenna
and Associates (Durango).
4. QUEEN CHARLOTTE
GOSHAWK ESA LISTING IMMANENT?
Alaskan newspapers have reported that,
during oral hearings, a
Washington D.C. federal judge indicated he would rule
in favor
environmentalists who have sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service
for refusing to propose the Queen Charlotte goshawk as an
endangered
species. A petition to list the old growth dependent hawk
was
written by the Southwest Center and filed by a national coalition
of
environmental groups including Save America's Forests,
Northwest
Ecosystem Alliance, Biodiversity Legal Foundation, Native
Forest
Network, and Native Forest Council.
The Queen Charlotte goshawk
inhabits old growth rain forests in
Southeast Alaska, coastal British
Columbia (including Vancouver
Island), and the (probably) the Olympic
Peninsula. In blatant
disregard for the ESA's requirement to consider only
"existing"
management plans, the Fish and Wildlife Service denied the
petition
because of a long delayed Forest Service "promise" to
protect
goshawks in the future.
The case has been argued by Kim Wally
and Cathy Meyer of Meyer &
Glitzenstein (Washington
D.C.).