Subject: FW: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT #44

Subject: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT #44

* ************* Southwest Biodiversity Alert #43 *****************
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*            southwest center for biological diversity           *
*                      ksuckling@sw-center.org                   *
*             http://www.envirolink.org/orgs/sw-center           *
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1. THREE WETLAND SPECIES LISTED AS ENDANGERED, TWO OTHERS SUBJECT OF
   LAWSUIT

2. NAFTA PETITIONS FILED TO SAVE SAN PEDRO RIVER

3. COMMENTS NEEDED ON ESA PROTECTION FOR QUEEN CHARLOTTE GOSHAWK

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1. THREE WETLAND SPECIES LISTED AS ENDANGERED, TWO OTHERS SUBJECT OF
   LAWSUIT

In response to a petition and two lawsuits by the Southwest Center, the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed three wetland dependant
species as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The Canelo
Hills ladies' tresses (an orchid) exists in only five wetlands in southeast
Arizona, the Huachuca water umbel (an aquatic parsley) has been
reduced to 22 populations in southern Arizona and northern Mexico,
and the Sonoran tiger salamander is limited to 23 populations. In line
with the Fish and Wildlife Service de facto policy of never designating
critical habitat except under court order, none of the three were granted
critical habitat. The Southwest Center has filed a notice of intent to sue
to obtain habitat protection for the salamander and water umbel.

A Southwest Center lawsuit to list two other wetland obligates, the
Jaguar and the Cactus ferruginous pygmy owl, is still pending. All the
suits were brought by Kenna and Associates.


2. NAFTA PETITIONS FILED TO SAVE SAN PEDRO RIVER

The Southwest Center has filed two petitions with the Secretariat of the
Commission for Environmental Cooperation under Articles 13 & 14 of
NAFTA to obtain international protection for the San Pedro River
which flows from northern Mexico into the Gila River in Arizona.
One petition seeks sanctions against the U.S. under Article 14 for
failing to obey its own environmental laws. The expansion of the U.S.
Army's Fort Huachuca is sucking the San Pedro River dry even though
a federal court has ruled they are doing so in violation of NEPA. The
second petition requests a study of the effects of development and
water pumping on the river which was recently designated a Globally
Important Bird Area "to recognize the River's importance to millions
of migrating neotropical birds as well as many rare breeding birds."

In 1988, Congress established the first National Riparian Conservation
Area on the San Pedro river. All cattle were removed along a 40 mile
stretch, mining and ORVs were prohibited. Though the San Pedro is the largest remaining riparian forest in the Southwest, is being steadily
depleted of water by the expansion of Fort Huachuca and associated
suburban development. Both petitions were filed by Earthlaw.


3. COMMENTS NEEDED ON ESA PROTECTION FOR QUEEN CHARLOTTE GOSHAWK

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is accepting comments on whether
to list the Queen Charlotte goshawk as an endangered species until
February 5, 1997. The goshawk is entirely dependant upon old growth
coastal rain forest in Southeast Alaska, the Queen Charlotte Islands
and Vancouver Island (British Columbia), and the Olympic Peninsula
in Washington. As part of its North American Goshawk Project, the
Southwest Center authored a petition to list the rare raptor as
endangered in 1994. In 1996 it won a lawsuit overturning a decision
by the Fish and Wildlife Service to deny protection for the species.

Write to the Fish and Wildlife Service, tell them the Queen Charlotte
goshawk is imperiled by logging on the Tongass National Forest,
Alaska state lands, and Native Corporation lands. Telemetry studies
have determined the species is declining in logged over areas.

   Director
   U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
   1011 E. Tudor Road
   Anchorage, AK 99503-6199