Subject: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#46
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SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#46
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~ SOUTHWEST
CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
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ksuckling@sw-center.org
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www.envirolink.org/orgs/sw-center
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1.
LOACH MINNOW AND SPIKEDACE LOSE CRITICAL HABITAT-
PHELPS
DODGE LOSES EFFORT TO BILL ENVIROS $91,000
2. NM & AZ COOK UP
"CONSERVATION AGREEMENT" TO AVOID JAGUAR LISTING
UNDER
ESA...YOUR LETTERS NEEDED!
3. FOREST SERVICE LAUNCHES 11 MILLION
BOARD FOOT SALVAGE TIMBER SALE-
3,600 ACRE CLEARCUT ON
NORTH RIM OF THE GRAND CANYON
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1. LOACH MINNOW AND SPIKEDACE LOSE CRITICAL
HABITAT-
PHELPS DODGE LOSES EFFORT TO BILL ENVIROS
$91,000
The Southwest Center has lost a lawsuit to increase the amount
of
critical habitat for two threatened southwestern fish: the loach
minnow
and spikedace. In 1993, the Southwest Center won a suit
requiring the
Fish and Wildlife Service to designate 200 miles of critical
habitat in
AZ & NM. In 1996, a NM judge in the 10th circuit threw
out the
designation because the agency did not conduct a NEPA analysis.
The
agency then lost again on appeal. This ruling is directly contrary to
a
9th Circuit ruling which states that critical habitat designation
does
not need a separate NEPA analysis since it already includes
an
environmental and economic analysis. The agency declined to take
the
case the Supreme Court, but up to now has maintained the ruling
only
applied to the 10th circuit (NM), not to AZ which is in the 9th
circuit.
In the current suit, the Center argued that the existing
critical habitat is
insufficient to recover the two fish. The Fish and
Wildlife Service
changed its position, cynically arguing that since there is
no critical
habitat in *either* state, it is nonexistent rather than
insufficient. The
court agreed. Opening round four of this four year
battle, the Center
has filed a notice of intent to sue the agency for having
no critical
habitat, planning to back in court in March. Mining
giant Phelps
Dodge meanwhile, lost its bid to bill the Center $91,000 for its
legal
expenses. The judge ruled that since Phelps Dodge intervened in
the
case of its own accord, it was responsible for its own
expenses.
2. NM & AZ COOK UP "CONSERVATION AGREEMENT" TO
AVOID JAGUAR LISTING
UNDER ESA...YOUR LETTERS
NEEDED!
In 1994, the Southwest Center won a lawsuit forcing the Fish and
Wildlife Service to propose the jaguar as an endangered species in CA,
AZ,
NM, TX, and LA. In response to an immanent court ruling
ordering the agency
to make a final determination, the FWS has
cooked up a bogus "conservation
agreement" with the states of AZ and
NM. The agreement they argue, obviates
the need to list the species
under the Endangered Species Act. The
agreement, however, does not
protect a single acre of jaguar habitat or alter
penalties for illegally
killing jaguars. It is nothing more than a wish lists
of studies and
commissions.
The jaguar is currently listed as
endangered in Mexico. The Fish and
Wildlife Service claims it "accidentally"
failed to list the species in the
U.S. threw an "oversight" in 1973.
The oversight was never rectified
and the imperiled cat, the largest in North
America, has since been
extirpated from the U.S. as a breeding species.
In recent years,
however, it has been seen in southern Arizona and New
Mexico. The
jaguar is closely associated with riparian forests and river
corridors in
the Southwest.
Please write to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, tell them they can
not delay listing of the Jaguar based on promises
of studies and habitat
protection. They must rely solely on *existing*
protective measures:
Nancy Kaufman, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service
500 Gold Ave., SW
Albuquerque, NM
85721
3. FOREST SERVICE LAUNCHES 11 MILLION BOARD FOOT SALVAGE
TIMBER SALE-
3,600 ACRE CLEARCUT ON NORTH RIM OF THE GRAND
CANYON
The Kaibab National Forest has proposed an 11 million board
foot
salvage timber sale on the north Rim of the Grand Canyon. The sale
is
within the Grand Canyon Game Preserve which was established by
Teddy
Roosevelt in 1906. The Forest previously authorized an
additional 6 million
board feet under the Salvage Rider, sparking
protests, civil disobedience,
and full page newspaper ads. The sale will
cut 30,000 tree over 18" in
diameter within critical habitat for the
Mexican spotted owl and within the
densest Northern goshawk
population in North America.
The Southwest
Center has presented a petition with over 1,000
signatures opposing the
sale.