Subject: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT #39
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Southwest Biodiversity Alert #39
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southwest center for biological
diversity
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ksuckling@sw-center.org
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http://www.envirolink.org/orgs/sw-center
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1.
ESA VICTORY MAY PROTECT SO. CAL. VERNAL POOLS AND MONTANE MEADOWS
2.
JUDGE MUECKE RETIRES, WARNS OF DISEASE CALLED HUMANITY
3. CONDORS ON
WAY TO ARIZONA WILDS
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ESA
VICTORY MAY PROTECT SO. CAL. VERNAL POOLS AND MONTANE MEADOWS
As a result
of a suit by the Southwest Center, a Federal judge has
ordered the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service to issue a ruling, by
February 2, 1997, on
whether five southern California
invertebrate and plant species
deserve listing under the
Endangered Species Act.
Fewer than three
hundred Laguna Mountain skipper butterflies,
and five thousand quino
checkerspot butterflies remain in
existence. Laguna Mountain skippers
are threatened primarily by
grazing and elimination of natural fire,
while checkerspots are
threatened by development and climate change. Though
likely
numbering in the millions, San Diego fairy shrimp are limited
to
the last remaining vernal pools in coastal San Diego County.
All
are threatened by development.
The skipper and checkerspot are
likely to be listed. The Fish and
Wildlife Service, however, is loath
to protect the San Diego
fairy shrimp due to opposition from powerful
developers. Recently
completed "conservation agreements" will likely be used
to justify
denial of ESA protection for the Cuyamaca Lake downingia
and
Parish's meadowfoam.
JUDGE MUECKE RETIRES, WARNS OF DISEASE
CALLED HUMANITY
Judge Carl Muecke, who has presided over a ongoing 15
month ban on all
logging on every Southwest National Forest and the
Navajo
Nation has retired, transferring the case to Judge Strand. "I'm
just
tired of all the crap being thrown around,"' Muecke said, "I
don't
know anything about the forests or spotted owls or anything,
except
I have a desire to see a world that isn't completely destroyed
by the disease
known as mankind."
CONDORS ON WAY TO ARIZONA WILDS
Six condors
have been brought from California to northwest
Arizona where they will be
released near the Grand Canyon come
December. The move comes in the wake of
federal court refusal to
block the Fish and Wildlife Service reintroduction
plan. San Juan
County, Utah had sue to stop the program for fears it would
slow
development. Bowing to country pressure, the Service will
designate
the birds as "experimental, non-essential," decreasing
their legal
protection.
This is the first time in 70 years condors have existed
outside
California. Only 120 of the endangered birds
exist.