No. 337, June 25, 2003

NAPOLITANO VETOES RAID ON ARIZONA WILDLIFE FUND

   

CENTER ATTENDS WHALING COMMISSION MEETING, PRESENTS SCIENTIFIC REVIEW OF HABITAT DEGRADATION AND GLOBAL WARMING ISSUES

   

VICTORY FOR WILD AND SCENIC RIVERS, STEELHEAD TROUT IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

   

DAM LICENSE GIVEN UP, FOSSIL CREEK TO BE RESTORED

Tell your friends about the Center for Biological Diversity's Email Newsletter!
Click here...


and support the Center's work
Click now

To view past newsletters.

If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Endangered Earth Online.

 

NAPOLITANO VETOES RAID ON ARIZONA WILDLIFE FUND

At the urging of environmental activists, Arizona’s new Democratic governor, Janet Napolitano, used her line-item veto power on 6-17-03 to kill a Republican plan to transfer millions of dollars from the state’s Heritage Fund to the general operating budget. The fund was established by a citizen ballot measure and is supposed to be dedicated to protecting wildlife habitat. It is a perennial target of Republican legislators who oppose virtually all forms of habitat protection and all locally made decisions to protect endangered species.


CENTER ATTENDS WHALING COMMISSION MEETING, PRESENTS SCIENTIFIC REVIEW OF HABITAT DEGRADATION AND GLOBAL WARMING ISSUES

Center for Biological Diversity conservation biologist Dr. Martin Taylor attended the 55th meeting of the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Berlin from May 26-June 6, with assistance from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (UK) and the Government of Australia.. He presented a paper entitled “Habitat Degradation in the context of climate change: A review of recent work,” helping to convince the full IWD to form a Conservation Committee. Whaling nations Japan and Norway threatened to resign over the formation of the committee as it represents a historic shift of the IWC from an exclusive focus on whaling to a broader conservation agenda.

With U.S. backing, the Scientific Committee recommended a commercial whaling quota that would allow Japan to catch minke whales in the northwest Pacific Ocean. This is the first time that a quota for commercial whaling of a whale species has been recommended.

More Information.


VICTORY FOR WILD AND SCENIC RIVERS, STEELHEAD TROUT IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

On 6-20-03 a federal judge ruled in favor of a lawsuit to protect the North Fork Eel River brought by the Center for Biological Diversity, EPIC, and a Native American elder, Coyote Downey. The North Fork Eel River was designated as a “wild” river under the Federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 1981, elevating standards to protect it. Nonetheless, the Six Rivers National Forest continued to allow cattle to pollute the water, trash the stream banks and strip away streamside vegetation. In the process, it continued to push endangered steelhead trout toward extinction.

According to Coyote Downey, “My people have always been the caretakers of the river. The entire headwaters of the Eel River ecosystem is our ancestral homeland and needs to be protected for the children.”


DAM LICENSE GIVEN UP, FOSSIL CREEK TO BE RESTORED

In keeping with a legal agreement brokered by the Center for Biological Diversity, the Yavapai-Apache Nation and a coalition of environmental groups, the Arizona Public Service Company has submitted an application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to relinquish its license for the Childs Irving Hydroelectric Project and dams on Fossil Creek in central Arizona.

Fossil Creek is fed by artesian springs at an amazing rate of 320 gallons per second, but for over 90 years, the Arizona Public Service Company has dammed the creek to feed the Childs-Irving hydropower plant. This has left the entire length of the creek dry and the surrounding ecosystem damaged.

APS had applied to renew its dam license for 30 years, but under the terms of the agreement will give it up. The power plant will be decommissioned by 12-31-04 and the site restored by 2009. Some minor structures will be left for historical reference, but the entire aboveground flume system, bridges, penstocks, and the top six feet of the dam including the intake structure will be removed. The maintenance road will be restored to a hiking trail and three small bridges will be removed to eliminate potential ORV routes. Underground tunnels will be fitted with bat-friendly grates.


Click now and become a member of the Center for Biological Diversity, and ensure a future for wildlife and habitat.


This message was sent to [email]. Visit your subscription management page to modify your email communication preferences or update your personal profile. To stop ALL email from Center for Biological Diversity - Biodiversity Activist, click to remove yourself from our lists (or reply via email with "remove or unsubscribe" in the subject line).


Center for Biological Diversity | PO Box 710 Tucson, AZ 85702 | 520-623-5252 | center@biologicaldiversity.org