Subject: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT #38
* *************
Southwest Biodiversity Alert #38
*****************
*
*****
*****
*****
*
*
***
*
*
*
*
*
southwest center for biological
diversity
*
*
ksuckling@sw-center.org
*
*
http://www.envirolink.org/orgs/sw-center
*
******************************************************************
TWO
CLEAN WATER VICTORIES FOR URBAN WATERSHEDS THREATENED BY
GRAZING:
- APPEAL FORCES WITHDRAWAL OF GRAZING PLAN IN
PHOENIX WATERSHED
- FOREST TO STUDY FLAGSTAFF WATERSHED FOLLOWING
CLEAN WATER COMPLAINT
*** *** ***
***
APPEAL FORCES WITHDRAWAL OF GRAZING PLAN IN PHOENIX
WATERSHED
Following an appeal by the Southwest
Center, the Tonto National
Forest has withdrawn a plan to allow 500 cattle to
graze the eastern
end of the Superstition Wilderness Area. The Reavis
Tortilla
allotment has been ungrazed since May, 1995 when the permit
was
cancelled for non-compliance. Returning cattle to the wilderness
would
have cost taxpayers $55,000 for "improvements."
The Southwest Center appealed the decision because the cattle
would
contaminate the Phoenix water supply with the microbial
parasite
"Cryptosporidium." Cattle are a major host of this sometimes
fatal
parasite. The plan would have allowed cattle on Fish Creek,
Lewis
and Pranty Creek and Pine Creek- all tributaries of the Salt
River
which is a source of drinking water for Phoenix
residents.
FOREST TO STUDY FLAGSTAFF WATERSHED FOLLOWING CLEAN WATER
COMPLAINT
Following an appeal and two petitions
by the Southwest Center, the
Coconino National Forest has agreed to
budget $98,000 in 1997 to
comprehensively study its effects on the 90,000
acre Upper Lake Mary
watershed. Grazing in the watershed has come under fire
since the
City of Flagstaff and the Southwest Center complained about
the
possible contamination of the city's water supply by cattle
borne
Cryptosporidium. The Forest originally planned to conduct a
study
after 2000.
Although five grazing
allotments lie within the watershed, the
Forest does not intend to remove
cattle during the analysis and does
not intend to monitor water quality in
Upper Lake Mary. The Center
will continue to advocate for the removal of
cattle from Lake Mary
and all urban watersheds in New Mexico, Arizona and
southern
California.