Subject: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT #44
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Southwest Biodiversity Alert #43
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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.
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