Subject: SW Biodiversity Alert
*** SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY
ALERT #5***
Southwest Center for Biological
Diversity
swcbd@igc.apc.org
SALVAGE TIMBER SALE WITHDRAWN!
The
Southwest Region of the U.S. Forest Service withdrew its first
attempt to
implement a salvage rider timber sale on 12/7/95. The Coronado National
Forest
had planned to jump start its long dormant logging program with a
Rescissions Act salvage sale in
the Chiricahua Mountains. The Forest
signed a decision notice to proceed with the sale despite
a standing court
injunction agaist commercial logging on all 11 Southwestern National
Forests
until ESA consultation is completed on the Mexican spotted owl.
The Coronado attempted to use
the salvage rider to override the injunction,
but under the terms of a recent stipulated
agreement, the Forest Service can
not to challenge the injunction or attempt to release any further
timber
sales.
The Southwest Center threatened to sue the Coronado on
12/8/95 for
violating the salvage rider (lack of public notice) and move for
contempt of court charges if the
Forest did not withdraw the sale. The
sale was withdrawn on the 7th.
Despite language in the salvage rider
designed to overule court
orders, the Forest Service was afraid of
challenging Judge Muecke's order. Earlier this year,
Muecke ruled that
a USFWS attempt to use the Hutchinson ESA moratorium to circumvent his
order
to designate critical habitat for the Mexican spotted owl was
unconstitutional. Rather
than risk such a judgement on the salvage
rider, the Forest Service withdrew the timber sale.
As a result of the
court injunction and stipulated agreement, no
salvage rider sales have been
implemented in the Southwest, nor will they be until the injunction
is
lifted. Latest word is the injunction may last into
March.
PRESCOTT COLLEGE AND SOUTHWEST CENTER SUE TO SAVE
HISTORIC
CABIN/EDUCATIONAL CENTER
On December 1, 1995, the two groups
filed suit against the Tonto
National Forest for denying the College's
application for a special use permit to maintain the
historic Grantham Cabin
and orchard as an educational facility. Instead, the Forest Service
ordered the
College to destroy or remove the cabin by December 15,
1995.
Prescott has owned the Cabin, but not the land for 10 years
and has
used it conduct classes in ecology and ethnobotany. Despite the
fact that the Tonto grazes more
than 2.5 million acres of public land for
private profit, it argued that "multiple use"
mandates precluded the
dedication of .5 acres to ecology educational. The Forest Service,
meanwhile
designatedPrescott College as the number one wilderness study
institute in the country
OVERGRAZING IS THE MAJOR CAUSE OF POOR FOREST
HEALTH
On behalf of the Southwest Forest Alliance, the Southwest Center
has
released a paper establishing that overgrazing, not fire suppression, is
the primary
cause of excessive tree densities in forests of the inland
West. Numerous studies going as far back as
the 1920 have shown that
overgrazing causes tree overstocking by removing native grasses.
The
grasses normally outcompete pine seedlings preventing their establishment
and growth.
The grasses also serve as the primary fire vector.
Fire was essentially eradicated from
western forests with the advent of
livestock grazing- long before active fire suppression.
The Forest
Service regularly avoids any discussion of the effects of
overgrazing,
prefering to blame fire suppression. In their version of the story,
frequent low
intensity fires kill small trees while leaving large trees
unharmed. When fire is suppressed, too
many little trees survive and
the forests become thickets. But where did all of these little
trees
come from in the first place? Not from fire suppression.
Numerous studies have shown that in the
absense of livestock grazing, western
forests can go for nearly 100 years without fire with no sign
of excessive
tree encroachment. Tree encroachment is only possible when native
grasses
are removed.
Every study which has attempted to assess
the relative importance of
fire suppression and overgrazing, has determined
the overgrazing is the primary cause of
high tree densities.
Contact
the Southwest Center for a copy of the report .
MEXICAN SPOTTED
OWLS/BIRDS NOT HARMED BY LARGE WILDFIRE
A recent study of University of
Nevada ecologist, Dr. Peter Stacey,
has shown that Mexican spotted owls will
temporarily leave the area of a large wildfire, but
will return to nest the
following year. Studies have found similar behaviour in Northern spotted
owls.
A second study published in the most recent issue of Conservation
Biology, documents use of burned forests by numerous birds in Montana.
Some
species selected for burned area. The pre-burn structure of the
forest greatly affected
post-burn use, indicating that salvage logging of
burned old growth or mature forests is
particularly
damaging.
GENETIC ISOLATION OF GOSHAWKS
The metapopulation
structure of Northern goshawks has been a
contentious issues in the Southwest
Center filed ESA petitions to list the Western and
Southwestern goshawk
populations as endangered. The Fish and Wildlife Service has argued that
the
populations are not isolated and hence not listable under the ESA.
A recent study of goshawks
throughout the West, however, has found a
"surprising" degrees of genetic homogeneity among birds
of the Kaibab Plateau
of northern Arizona, indicating a high degree of isolation. The
more
isolated populations are, the more prone they are to extinction.
Poplulations prone to local
extinction, require unfragmented forests in order
to increase recolonization after local
extirpation.