Subject: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#64
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#64
4/9/97
SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
silver city,
tucson, phoenix, san
diego
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1.
ONE WIN, ONE LOSS AT BLUE RIDGE DAM
2. NORTHERN GOSHAWK E.S.A. HEARING
MOVED TO MAY 5TH
3. USFWS ENCOURAGES HCPs FOR ENDANGERED PYGMY
OWL-
ONLY 20 BIRDS LEFT IN AZ
***
*** *** ***
ONE WIN, ONE LOSS AT BLUE RIDGE
DAM
A federal judge has ruled against a motion by Phelps Dodge
to
dismiss a lawsuit by the Southwest Center seeking a
comprehensive
review of its Blue Ridge Dam in central Arizona. The judge
also
ruled that the Federal Energy and Regulatory Commission be
released
from the suit because it can only be sued in the 9th Circuit.
The
charges against the U.S. Forest Service remain.
The Center is
attempting to force an E.S.A. consultation on the
operations of the dam,
including all interbasin water transfers for its
effects on the threatened
Little Colorado River spinedace. The FWS
requested the consultation in 1992
but has been ignored by the Forest
Service and FERC.
The Blue Ridge
Dam is used by Phelps Dodge to capture and divert
water from East Clear Creek
(in the Little Colorado River basin) into
the East Verde River (in the Gila
River basin). This interbasin water
transfer is designed to mitigate another
Phelps Dodge interbasin
transfer from the Black River to Eagle Creek. From
Eagle Creek, the
water is pumped into Phelps Dodge's Morenci
mine.
NORTHERN GOSHAWK E.S.A. HEARING MOVED TO MAY 5TH
Oral
hearings in a Southwest Center lawsuit to overturn the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife
Service's refusal to consider listing the Northern
goshawk as endangered in
the western U.S. have been moved to
March 5, 1997. The agency claims that the
western population does
not qualify for listing under the ESA because there
are three
subspecies in the west. Biologists at the Arizona field office,
however,
recommended a positive ruling.
A similar negative finding was
overturned last year by the same
judge.
USFWS ENCOURAGES HCPs FOR
ENDANGERED PYGMY OWL-
ONLY 20 BIRDS LEFT IN AZ
Owl Protection Won't
Halt Growth, Just Lessen Scale, Officials
Say
By Tony Davis The
Arizona Daily Star 4/6/97
For months developers
have feared a tiny owl would stop or slow
growth on Tucson's northwest
side.
But federal officials say growth won't be stopped, only
scaled
back, as they negotiate with, rather than regulate,
developers.
Under federal law, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service has broad
powers to protect the endangered cactus ferruginous pygmy
owl from
developers, cities and industries that bulldoze cacti where the
owl
nests, or pump down the aquifer that nourishes the riverfront
trees
where they perch.
The Wildlife Service and state Game
and Fish Department say they
will negotiate with developers.
Service officials predict that protecting the owl will cause developers
to
scale back or move some of their projects, but they don't expect any
projects
to be stopped.
...
The owl, standing less than 7
inches tall and weighing barely 2
ounces, recently was armed with the full
force of federal Endangered
Species Act protection.
In late
February, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the bird as
endangered.
On March 14, a federal judge ordered the service to
designate 290 miles of
Southern Arizona rivers and streams as the
owl's critical
habitat.
The owl's two biggest battlegrounds are likely to be
Honey Bee
Canyon, where developers plan to build nearly 500 homes, and
the
Tortolita Mountains foothills, site of the planned 9,000-home
RedHawk
project.
...
As recently as three years ago,
federal biologists thought firewood
cutting, ground-water pumping and
land-clearing for development
had virtually wiped out the owl in Arizona. But
last year, state
biologists found 12 to 19 owls in surveys in desert scrub on
Tucson's
northwest side.
...
Environmentalists are pushing to set aside the scrub land as
critical
habitat, and the Fish and Wildlife Service may go
along.
Or the service may decide to appeal the March 14 court
ruling that
extended critical habitat protection to the owl, the jaguar,
the
Southwestern willow flycatcher and three other species. As of late
last
week, it hadn't announced a decision.
...
But federal officials are talking about using habitat
conservation
plans to protect the owl. They often allow developers to blade
a
portion of a species' habitat in return for agreeing to protect the
rest.
The state will also try to persuade landowners to grant
conservation
easements. In those, an owner donates or sells parts of his
land, or his
development rights to that land, to protect
species.
Another tactic will be ``safe harbor'' agreements. In
those, landowners
agree to protect endangered wildlife's habitat
indefinitely, with a
proviso that they can back out at some unknown date,
should they
desire to start bulldozing the land for
development.
By then, the federal government hopes, it would
have been able to
move some of the endangered birds or plants to a site
offering
permanent protection.
...
`I
think the effect of the critical habitat decision will be huge,''
[Alan]
Lurie [Southern Arizona Home Builders Association's president] said.
``It is
not only the major tributaries but the smaller feeder streams that
will be
affected. If you map that out, it is significant parcels of land
all over
Arizona.''
But if that happens, says environmentalist Kieran
Suckling,
``developers may end up making $9 million instead of $10
million
next year, but so what?''
``Yeah, the owl is going to
bite into their bottom line a little bit,''
added Suckling, executive
director of the Southwest Center for
Biological Diversity, the group whose
petition and lawsuits led directly
to federal protection of the owl. ``It
will provide for a better
quality of life, for endangered species and for a
river.''
Suckling says habitat conservation plans won't work for
the pygmy
owl. That's because only 20 of the birds are known to exist
in
Arizona.
A larger population lives in South Texas, where
the Fish and Wildlife
Service opted not to list the bird as
endangered.
``If you take one spotted owl, that will not wipe
out the species,''
Suckling said. ``But with pygmy owls, you can't just kill
one. There's
so little riparian habitat or ironwood forest left that you
can't justify
taking any more of that.''
...
Service biologist Mary Richardson said the agency will evaluate each
proposed
development near a known owl site individually, to see if a
habitat plan will
work for it.
If the Fish and Wildlife Service wanted to take a
bold stance toward
the owl, Suckling said, it would quickly draw up a
recovery plan
spelling out exactly what protection would be
offered.
The recovery plan is a linchpin of federal endangered
species
protection, because it says what is needed to save a fish or bird so
it
can be pulled off the endangered list.
``The developers
would know in advance what is OK or not OK,''
Suckling said.
But the Fish and Wildlife Service is moving slowly on many
endangered species
issues these days, because of tight budgets.
The service hasn't
come up with a recovery plan for the endangered
Southwestern willow
flycatcher, for instance, even though it's been
more than two years since
that bird made the endangered list.
And in defending against the
Center's lawsuit asking for habitat
protection of the owl and the other
species, the service's attorneys
admitted falling a year or more behind
congressional deadlines to
protect those creatures. They said Congress hadn't
appropriated
enough money for the service to hire adequate
staff.
Last week, Spiller said he doesn't know when the service
will have
recovery plans for the owl or the flycatcher.
...
Kieran
Suckling
ksuckling@sw-center.org
Executive
Director
505.733.1391 phone
Southwest Center for Biological
Diversity 505.733.1404 fax
http://www.envirolink.org/orgs/sw-center
pob 17839, tucson, az
85731