No. 331, March 6, 2003

SUIT CHALLENGES FEDERAL GRAZING SUBSIDIES NATIONWIDE

   

AGREEMENT REACHED TO PROTECT 2,700 ACRES FROM DEVELOPERS

   

PYGMY RABBIT DECLARED ENDANGERED IN WASHINGTON

   

RIVER PROTECTION ORDERED FOR SANTA ANA SUCKER IN CALIFORNIA

   

SUIT FILED TO PROTECT RIO GRANDE CUTTHROAT TROUT IN COLORADO AND NEW MEXICO

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SUIT CHALLENGES FEDERAL GRAZING SUBSIDIES NATIONWIDE

On 2-26-03, the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups filed suit against the U.S. Forest Service for illegally charging just $1.35 per month for each cow/calf pair on tens of millions of acres of public lands. The federal fee is one tenth of the market rate – less than it costs to feed a hamster.

In October 2002, the Center released a report demonstrating that the federal land grazing program loses between $500 million and $1 billion of taxpayers’ money every year in administrative and mitigation costs. The Forest Service pledged to reform the flawed fee in 1994, but it stalled the decision when faced with political opposition by the livestock industry and conservative western congressmen. The suit charges that the agency must complete the decision- making process and increase the federal grazing fee to market rates.

Joining the Center in the suit were the American Lands Alliance, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Committee for the High Desert, Forest Guardians, Oregon Natural Desert Association, the Nevada Outdoor Recreation Association and Western Watersheds Project. The case is being argued by Eric Glitzenstein of Meyer and Glitzenstein (DC).

For more information on the suit and the Center’s grazing reform program, click here.


AGREEMENT REACHED TO PROTECT 2,700 ACRES FROM DEVELOPERS

The Center for Biological Diversity and the San Bernardino Valley Audubon Society have reached an agreement with developers in our suit to stop the proposed Lytle Creek development in San Bernardino County. The 2,466-unit, 647-acre development is adjacent to the San Bernardino National Forest and the Glen Helen Regional Park. It has been designated as critical habitat for the San Bernardino kangaroo rat and coastal California gnatcatcher. The suit challenged the impacts to these species and the refusal to consider the cumulative impact of sprawl on the entire 2,700 contiguous acres owned by the developers.

The settlement permanently protects 1,200 acres of the highest quality habitat from development and secures an option to purchase the remaining 2,500 acres. During the option period, development is prohibited and habitat protection measures will be implemented, including elimination of unauthorized off-road vehicle use of the site.

The Center and Audubon were represented by Center staff attorneys Kassie Siegel and Brendan Cummings and the Law Office of Kate N. Neiswender.

To learn more about the Center's urban sprawl program, click here.


PYGMY RABBIT DECLARED ENDANGERED IN WASHINGTON

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit as an endangered species on 3-5-03.

Weighing just a pound, the pygmy rabbit is the smallest rabbit in North America and the only one in the United States to dig its own burrow. It has lived in Columbia Basin shrub-steppe ecosystems with tall, dense sagebrush and bunch-grass in Oregon and Washington for at least 100,000 years. But the decimation of the shrub-steppe ecosystem by cattle grazing, agricultural sprawl, fire, and invasive species has taken a heavy toll on the pygmy rabbit and dozens of other species. Sixty percent of Washington’s shrub-steppe has been converted to human use, while most of the rest has been degraded by livestock grazing. Shrub-steppe is Washington’s least protected habitat type.

Washington State listed the pygmy rabbit as a “threatened” species in 1990, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not follow suit. It only placed the species on its “candidate” list in 1991, which provides no protection. Washington State’s upgrading of the species to “endangered” in 1993 also did not spur the Fish and Wildlife Service to action. In 2001, the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups negotiated an agreement with the Fish and Wildlife Service to list the pygmy rabbit as endangered on a temporary, emergency basis in 2001. That listing has now been made permanent, but it excludes and prohibits recovery efforts in Oregon.

While the pygmy rabbit languished on the candidate list for over 11 years, it declined from six populations and more than 200 animals to just one population of fewer than 30 animals and 18 captive animals. This tragic and inexplicable delay in federal action has hampered and greatly increased the cost of recovery efforts. It may result in the extinction of the species. Decades-long listing delays, however, are the rule, not the exception. Hundreds of species have languished on the candidate list for 20 or more years. Many went extinct before being protected.


RIVER PROTECTION ORDERED FOR SANTA ANA SUCKER IN CALIFORNIA

On 2-26-03, a federal judge ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to designate and protect critical habitat zones for the endangered Santa Ana sucker within the Los Angeles River basin by February 2004. Until the designation is complete, the court forbid the agency from approving (i.e. issuing biological opinions) projects that harm the sucker’s habitat in the Santa Clara, San Gabriel and Santa Ana rivers and Big Tujunga Creek. The decision came in response to a lawsuit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity, the American Fisheries Society, California Trout, and Friends of the River.

Center efforts to protect the Santa Ana sucker are part of a larger campaign to restore southern California watersheds for the benefit of the sucker, southern steelhead trout, Pacific lamprey, unarmored three-spined stickleback, southwestern willow flycatcher, yellow-billed cuckoo, and many other species. The Center is leading a campaign for a citizens’ alternative to the new southern California National Forest Management Plans.


SUIT FILED TO PROTECT RIO GRANDE CUTTHROAT TROUT IN COLORADO AND NEW MEXICO

On 2-25-2003, the Center for Biological Diversity, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Carson Forest Watch, Center for Native Ecosystems, and the Pacific Rivers Council filed suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to overturn their decision not to list the Rio Grande cutthroat trout as an endangered species. Despite the fact that the Rio Grande cutthroat has been eliminated from as much as 99% of its historic range, Fish and Wildlife still denied the trout protection as an endangered species on 6-11-02.

The Bush Administration claims that the existence of just 13 populations means the species is secure. Most of these populations, however, are found in tiny, isolated headwater streams that provide marginal habitat and are subject to invasion by exotic trout, which often occur in the same streams below a barrier.

The Center for Biological Diversity and other groups petitioned to list the Rio Grande cutthroat trout, which is the state fish of New Mexico, in February 1998. Fish and Wildlife initially denied the petition, but after the Center and other groups sued, it issued a new decision. The second suit is being argued by Neil Levine and Robin Cooley of Earthjustice.


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