No. 350, September 3, 2004

8.5 MILLION ACRES PROTECTED FOR MEXICAN SPOTTED OWL

   
WILDERNESS POWERLINE STOPPED IN ARIZONA
   
4,649 ACRES TO BE PROTECTED FOR CALIFORNIA SHREW
   
PUGET SOUND HERRING INCH CLOSER TO PROTECTION
   
   

 

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8.5 MILLION ACRES PROTECTED FOR MEXICAN SPOTTED OWL

On August 31, 2004 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated 8.6 million acres of critical habitat for the Mexican spotted owl including 4 million acres in Arizona, 2 million in Arizona, 2.3 million in Utah and 332,000 in Colorado. The designation came in response to a court order which struck down the previous Bush administration designation of 4.6 million acres as "nonsensical.”  Unfortunately, the designation is still 5 million acres less than that proposed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists. In the past four years the administration has stripped way approximately 45 million acres from the biologists’ protection proposals.

The suit was filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Native Ecosystems. It was argued by Matt Kenna of Kenna & Hickcox and Neil Levine of Earthjustice.


WILDERNESS POWERLINE STOPPED IN ARIZONA

On July 21, 2004 the Coronado National Forest announced it will reject a proposal by Tucson Electric Power to construct a massive 345,000-volt power line through the largest Forest Service roadless area in southern Arizona. The line would also cut through a potential Wild and Scenic River and proposed wilderness area called the Tumacacori Highlands. It would have destroyed critical habitat for the Mexican spotted owl and harmed habitat for the jaguar and Gentry indigo bush. The Center for Biological Diversity won endangered species protection for the owl in 1993, the jaguar in 1997, and petitioned to list the indigo bush as endangered in 2002. It has sued the Forest Service for refusing to propose Wild and Scenic Rivers throughout Arizona.

The powerline was opposed by the Center, Sky Island Alliance and the Arizona Wilderness Campaign.


4,649 ACRES TO BE PROTECTED FOR CALIFORNIA SHREW

On August 19, 2004 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to designate 4,649 acres of critical habitat for the Buena Vista Lake ornate shrew. The high endangered shrew formerly inhabited wetlands and riparian areas in the Tulare, Buena Vista, Kern, and Goose Lakes watersheds of the southern San Joaquin Valley. Over 95 percent of these wetlands have been destroyed by agribusiness, reducing the shrew to just four scattered, tiny populations. It was listed as an endangered species in March 2002 due to a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity to end more than a decade of delays in protection. Only 30 shrews have been sighted in the past decade.


PUGET SOUND HERRING INCH CLOSER TO PROTECTION

On August 10, 2004 the National Marine Fisheries Service issued an initial positive decision on a petition by the Center for Biological Diversity, Ocean Advocates and others to list the Cherry Point herring population as an endangered species.

Once Washington state's largest herring population, the Cherry Point fish have declined by 90 percent in the past 30 years due to industrial development and pollution. The fish are a distinct population of Pacific herring which spawns along the open shoreline north of Bellingham. Two major oil refineries and an aluminum smelter near Cherry Point have directly impacted its spawning grounds through dock construction and operation, outfall discharge, vessel traffic, and disease and foreign species introduced from ship ballast water. More than 70 spills have dumped tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil and poisoned water over the spawning grounds since the Cherry Point refineries were built in 1973. One large oil spill during spawning season could completely wipe out the population.

In addition to the Center and Ocean Advocates, the coalition moving to protect the herring includes the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, People For Puget Sound, and Friends of the San Juans.

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