Subject: FW: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT #67

Subject: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT #67

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           SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT #67
                        4/15/97          

         SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
          silver city, tucson, phoenix, san diego
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1. OLD GROWTH TIMBER SALE ON COCONINO NATIONAL FOREST APPEALED-
   THREE MILES OF NEW ROADPROPOSED NEXT TO OAK CREEK CANYON

2. FEMA PLANS $40 MILLION SUBSIDY TO DESTROYERS OF LOWER GILA
   RIVER

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OLD GROWTH TIMBER SALE ON COCONINO NATIONAL FOREST APPEALED-
THREE MILES OF NEW ROAD PROPOSED NEXT TO OAK CREEK CANYON

The Southwest Center for Biological Diversity appealed today, the
Ritter Timber Sale, bordering Oak Creek Canyon on the Coconino
National Forest, 20 miles south of Flagstaff, AZ. The 4.3 million
board foot timber sale would log ponderosa pines on 2,540 acres,
including 1,383 old growth pines over 18 inches in diameter. The
Arizona Game and Fish Department has objected to the removal of
any more large trees from the  area since so many have been logged
off already. It also warned of the negative effects of new road
construction on native turkey populations.

The Forest Service plans to go ahead with the sale although its
goshawk and spotted owl surveys are years out of date. The agency
refuses to disclose how much money it will lose on the sale, but the
Center estimates it will run to several hundred thousand dollars due to
the road construction.

Please write or call the Forest Service and ask them to withdraw the
Ritter sale and not to cut any large trees period!

Bruce Greco, District Ranger, Mormon Lake Ranger District 4825
South Lake Mary Road Flagstaff, Arizona 86001 Ph. (520) 527- 3650


FEMA PLANS $40 MILLION SUBSIDY TO DESTROYERS OF LOWER GILA RIVER

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is proposing
to give $40 million to the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation District to
reimburse it for previous construction, and allow it to complete the
channelization of 56 miles of the Gila River near Yuma, Arizona.
The project is the largest such action in recent Arizona history and
will destroy vast amounts of  riparian and wetland habitat. The
habitat was created by a 1993 flood which brought the dessicated
Gila River back to life while destroying many instream irrigation and
levee systems.

In direct violation of the National Environmental Policy Act, FEMA's
environmental analysis contains no alternatives to fully funding the
district, not even a no-action alternative! There is no cost-benefit
analysis even though FEMA admits the project will not survive a 100
year flood- two of which have occured in the last 15 years.

One of the best known pork barrel irrigation projects in the West, the
Wellton-Mohawk project has managed to suck up over $600 million
in the  last 40 years- about $6.4 million per farming unit. Defenders
of Wildlife and the Southwest Center sued Army Corps in 1996 for
authorizing the destruction, but were thrown out on standing. The suit
is currently under appeal.

Tell FEMA no more subsidies to destroy the Gila River:

Federal Emergency Management Agency, Region IX
Presidio of San Francisco, Building 105
San Francisco, CA 94129 Ph.
(415) 923- 7100   Fax (415) 923-7270


Kieran Suckling                               ksuckling@sw-center.org
Executive Director                            520.733.1391 phone
Southwest Center for Biological Diversity     520.733.1404 fax
http://www.envirolink.org/orgs/sw-center      pob 17839, tucson, az 85731