No. 327, December 13, 2002

BACKPACKER MAGAZINE FEATURE ON THE CENTER: "ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL AND EFFECTIVE CONSERVATION GROUPS IN THE COUNTRY"

   

ENDANGERED SPECIES PROTECTION SOUGHT FOR 12 PUGET SOUND & WILLAMETTE VALLEY GRASSLAND SPECIES

   

SUIT FILED TO PROTECT IDAHO GROUND SQUIRREL

   

SUIT FILED TO PROTECT SEA TURTLES FROM DRIFTNETTERS

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BACKPACKER MAGAZINE FEATURE ON THE CENTER: "ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL AND EFFECTIVE CONSERVATION GROUPS IN THE COUNTRY"

The current issue of Backpacker Magazine features an extensive profile of the Center for Biological Diversity which it calls "one of the most powerful and effective conservation groups in the country." The story chronicle's the Center's battles to save endangered species and wild landscapes.


ENDANGERED SPECIES PROTECTION SOUGHT FOR 12 PUGET SOUND & WILLAMETTE VALLEY GRASSLAND SPECIES

On 12-12-02, a coalition of conservation groups petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list a bird, three butterflies, and eight mammals as endangered species in Washington, Oregon, and California. The species are closely associated with grasslands, prairies, and oak woodlands in the Puget Sound Basin and the Willamette Valley. Over 90% of Puget Sound prairies, grasslands and oak woodlands have been destroyed. Only 3% remain in relative health. The Willamette Valley suffered even worse devastation: only one-tenth of one percent of its grasslands remain. These habitats are one the most endangered and forgotten ecosystems in the West.

The streaked horned lark was formerly was a common nesting species in grasslands and prairies west of the Cascade Mountains from southern British Columbia, through Washington and Oregon. It was so abundant around Puget Sound as to be a nuisance to turn-of-the-century golfers. The destruction of 95% of native grasslands on the west coast, however, caused cataclysmic population declines. The streaked horned lark was likely extirpated from British Columbia in 1990. Though common around Puget Sound up to the 1950's, it is now extirpated from the San Juan Islands. A total about 100 pairs remain divided between south Puget Sound and islands near the mouth of the Columbia River. In the 1920's the streaked horned lark was considered one of Oregon's "characteristics birds" and was fairly common up to the 1970's. It is now extirpated from the Umpqua and Roque valleys and occurs only in scattered sites in the Willamette Valley. The states entire population is about 200 pairs.

The island marble historically occurred in grasslands and Garry oak woodlands of southern Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, and the San Juan Islands. It is now extirpated from Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. Thought extinct since the 1920's, the island marble was rediscovered on San Juan Island in 1998.

The Mardon skipper butterfly once ranged across the extensive fescue-dominated grasslands of Washington, Oregon, and northwest California. Today, just four small, geographically isolated areas populations remain in south Puget Sound, the Cascade Mountains in southern Washington, the Siskiyou Mountains in southern Oregon, and coastal northern California. All of the sites are small, with the majority supporting less than 50 individuals. It has recently been extirpated from four sites in south Puget Sound and one in the southern Washington Cascades.

Taylor's checkerspot butterfly formerly occurred throughout the extensive grasslands, prairies, and oak woodlands of Vancouver Island, the Puget Sound basin, and the Willamette Valley. As this habitat has nearly disappeared, so has Taylor's checkerspot: only four populations remain today, and only one of them has over 50 individuals.

The Cathlamet pocket gopher is known only from the type locality in Wahkiakum County. It may now be extinct. The Olympic pocket gopher is found in the Olympic National Park in Clallam County where it is restricted to subalpine habitat of the higher Olympic Mountains. One Shelton pocket gopher population remains at the Shelton airport in Mason County. Another may occur on penitentiary grounds near Shelton. The Roy Prairie pocket gopher is known only from Roy Prairie in Pierce County. The Olympia pocket gopher is known from Thurston County where it occurs in small numbers. The Tenino pocket gopher is known from Thurston County. It may now be extinct. The Yelm pocket gopher is known from Thurston County. Several relatively large populations were detected on Johnson and Weir prairies on Fort Lewis near the town of Rainier. The Tacoma pocket gopher was known historically from Pierce County. It may now be extinct.

The petitions were filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Xerces Society, Friends of the San Juans, ONRC, Norwest Ecosystem Alliance, Gifford Pinchot Task Force, and the Northwest Environmental Defense Center.

For more information click here.


SUIT FILED TO PROTECT IDAHO GROUND SQUIRREL

The Center for Biological Diversity, Committee for the High Desert and Western Watershed Project filed suit on 12-3-02 against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to protect the southern Idaho ground squirrel. The agency is refusing to process a 1-26-01 petition to list the squirrel as an endangered species.

The southern Idaho ground squirrel has one of the smallest ranges of any ground squirrel and is a native of sagebrush steppe communities. This habitat has been decimated by livestock grazing, and invasive species, such as medusa head and cheat grass. A survey in the late 1990s found that squirrels were only present in about 30% of sites located in the 1980s and that where previously thousands of squirrels would have been observed only one or two were now seen, indicating a drastic population crash.


SUIT FILED TO PROTECT SEA TURTLES FROM DRIFTNETTERS

On 12-3-02, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Turtle Island Restoration Network filed suit against the National Marine Fisheries Service to close portions of the California drift gillnet fishery to protect loggerhead sea turtles from drowning in the fishery's mile-long nets.

In October 2000, following a previous successful suit by the Center and Turtle Island, the Fisheries Service issued a “biological opinion” that the fishery is jeopardizing the endangered loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles with extinction. The opinion requires the closure of certain portions of the fishery north of Point Conception for the leatherback sea turtle. In El Nino years, it requires closure of the fishery south of Point Conception for the loggerhead sea turtle. The agency belatedly implemented the leatherback closure after the Center and Turtle Island threatened to sue, but it continues to stall on the loggerhead protections.

Loggerhead sea turtles off the California coast are thought to nest in Japan. They are declining rapidly, largely due to entanglement in longline and driftnet fishing gear. In El Nino years, unusually warm water off southern California brings loggerheads into the range of the California drift gillnet fishery where they are caught and drowned in large numbers.

The California drift gillnet fishery targets swordfish but also kills dozens of other marine species. Each year over ten thousand each of blue sharks and mola or sunfish are unintentionally killed and discarded by the fishery. Dozens of dolphins of various species are also killed each year, and virtually every year one or more grey whales, fin whales, minke whales, sperm whales, or orcas are entangled and drowned. Drift gillnets have been banned in the high seas by the UN, on the Atlantic coast, and by the state of Washington. Inexplicably California continues to let these curtains of death be deployed in the waters offshore each fall and winter. The Center and Turtle Island are committed to seeing drift gillnets banned from all US waters.

For more information click here.


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