No. 381, February 9, 2007

ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT WORKS #12: CALIFORNIA CONDOR

   

GLOBAL WARMING/SPECIES RECOVERY RULES SOUGHT

   

KERRY AND INSLEE JOIN GLOBAL WARMING SUIT

   
GREENWALD JOINS SIERRA CLUB SPECIES COMMITTEE
   
SNAPE JOINS CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
   

BLACK MESA MINE REOPENING STOPPED

   

GRAZING PREVENTED IN WOLF COUNTRY

   

FEDERAL GRAZING FEE DROPS, RAISING COST TO TAXPAYERS

   

CALIFORNIA TO BAN LEAD BULLETS IN CONDOR HABITAT?

 

 

 


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ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT WORKS #12: CALIFORNIA CONDOR

The California condor was nearly driven extinct by DDT, lead poisoning and hunting. It was listed as an endangered species in 1967 and given critical habitat in 1976. The population declined to nine birds by 1985. A captive-breeding and release program begun in 1987 increased the population to 279 birds by 2005.


GLOBAL WARMING/SPECIES RECOVERY RULES SOUGHT

On Feb. 1, the Center for Biological Diversity and a coalition of conservation and fishing groups formally petitioned seven Cabinet Secretaries to establish rules requiring federal agencies to combat global warming and recover endangered species. No federal agency has global warming regulations, despite the fact that the Departments of Energy and Transportation alone oversee industries responsible for 73 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions in the United States. The petition calls on federal agencies to review the global warming impact of all federal decisions, review all endangered species to determine if they are threatened by warming, and update all wildlife recovery plans. It also calls on the federal agencies to implement recovery plans, take no action that delays species recovery, and ensure that the economic benefits of protecting endangered species and their habitat is considered.


KERRY AND INSLEE JOIN GLOBAL WARMING SUIT

On Feb. 8, John Kerry (D-MA) and Jay Inslee (D-WA) filed a friend of the court brief  in a Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth lawsuit. The congressmen urged the court to order the Bush administration to complete a national assessment of the economic, environmental and human health impacts of global warming. Though the World Health Organization estimates that 150,000 lives are lost each year due to climate change, the Bush administration worked with the ExxonMobile-funded Competitive Enterprise Institute to suppress the 2001 national assessment and has announced it will not complete a comprehensive 2004 assessment.


GREENWALD JOINS SIERRA CLUB SPECIES COMMITTEE

Center for Biological Diversity conservation biologist Noah Greenwald has been appointed to the Sierra Club's Wildlife and Endangered Species Committee, where he will advise the Club on the protection of endangered species and their habitats. In 2006, the committee worked with the Center to successfully oppose congressional efforts to weaken the Endangered Species Act.


SNAPE JOINS CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

The Center for Biological Diversity has hired former Defenders of Wildlife chief counsel Bill Snape as its senior counsel. From Washington, D.C., Snape will help integrate the Center's scientific and legal strategies with national policy objectives. His initial focus will be the protection and recovery of endangered species and the escalating threat of climate change.  "I look forward to contributing my best to an organization truly dedicated to saving nature's wild things and places," said Snape.


BLACK MESA MINE REOPENING STOPPED

Under fire from the Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council and American Indian groups, the Salt River Project announced on Feb. 7 it is abandoning plans to reopen the Mohave Generating Station, which would have revived the notorious Black Mesa coal mine in Arizona and its 273-mile pipeline to Nevada. Black Mesa was one of the largest strip-mining operations in the country. The project threatened to deplete aquifers linked to the Navajo and Hopi's sacred springs, using pristine, high-quality groundwater to pump coal slurry across the arid desert.


GRAZING PREVENTED IN WOLF COUNTRY

In response to an appeal by the Center for Biological Diversity, Forest Guardians and the Southwest Environmental Center, New Mexico's Gila National Forest on Feb. 6 withdrew a controversial plan to allow cattle grazing on the Hermosa Allotment. The 60,000-acre area is home to the endangered Mexican gray wolf and has been cattle-free for 13 years. It is part of the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area and provides habitat for numerous other imperiled species including the bald eagle, Mexican spotted owl, and Chiricahua leopard frog.


FEDERAL GRAZING FEE DROPS, RAISING COST TO TAXPAYERS

The Bush administration has lowered the monthly cost of grazing livestock on federal land from $1.56 to $1.35 per cow/calf. This is the lowest allowable fee and is based on the cost of livestock grazing in 1966. The ridiculous fee — less than it costs to feed a pet goldfish — is one reason the federal government loses over $500 million per year on its livestock-grazing program.


CALIFORNIA TO BAN LEAD BULLETS IN CONDOR HABITAT?

On Feb. 2 the California Fish and Game Commission announced its intent to amend hunting regulations for 2007-2010 to eliminate hunting with lead bullets in the range of the California condor and possibly statewide. A final decision will be made on March 2. The Center for Biological Diversity, Wishtoyo Foundation, Physicians for Social Responsibility and Natural Resources Defense Council are currently in court with the state over its previous refusal to ban lead bullets.

Lead poisoning is a major cause of condor mortality. Condors ingest lead bullets when scavenging on animals shot by hunters. Nonlead bullets are readily available, but have been resisted by the state and some hunters because of their greater cost.



California condor photo by David Clendenen

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