Subject: FW: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT #73

Subject: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT #73

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              SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT #73
                           5/14/97          

          SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
           silver city, tucson, phoenix, san diego
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1. SUIT TO BE FILED TO LIST 95 WESTERN SPECIES AS ENDANGERED

2. EDITORIAL RIPS EFFORT TO EXEMPT DAMS FROM E.S.A.

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SUIT TO BE FILED TO LIST 95 WESTERN SPECIES AS ENDANGERED

On May 13, 1997, the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity
notified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that it will sue the agency
in 60-days if it does not immediately list 95 western species under
the Endangered Species Act.  The 95 species have been proposed for
listing, but as usual, the agency is allowing them to languish without
a final decision.

The following story appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle.
A complete list of species appears below.

SUIT THREATENED OVER RARE SPECIES 
Conservation group wants Bay Area flora, fauna listed as
endangered or threatened      

Jane Kay, San Francisco Chronicle, 5/13/97

   The Bay Area's rare Alameda whipsnake, Callippe  silverspot
butterfly and lavender Suisun thistle are  getting a boost from a
conservation group that says it  will sue federal wildlife officials if
they don't offer protection to species facing extinction.
   The Southwest Center of Biological Diversity in Tucson sent a
letter Tuesday saying it will sue Interior  Secretary Bruce Babbitt to
force a decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on whether to
protect an  additional 95 plants and animals under the federal
Endangered Species Act.
   Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Patricia Foulk said  "There is a
very large backload of species across the  country. A congressionally
imposed moratorium from April  '95 to April '96 prevented us from
making any final  listings. There was no money to work on the
proposals, so  we lost a year."
   The group says more than a year
has elapsed since Fish and  Wildlife first proposed that the species be
listed as  threatened or endangered, designations that would shield
them from potentially harmful farming, water diversion,  logging and
urban development.
   "The law gives the agency one year from the date of  proposal to
the final determination date,"  said Peter  Galvin, a conservation
biologist with the group, which  also has offices in San Diego,
Phoenix and Silver City,  N.M.
   "It's extremely disturbing that the agency would  continue to delay,
given their own acknowledgement of the  precarious status of the
species,"  he said.   The law requires that a group give the agency a
60-day  notice of intent to sue.
      Among the species: San Bruno Mountain's Callippesilverspot
butterfly; the sooty black, orange-striped  Alameda whipsnake found
from El Sobrante south to Hayward; and a popular Bay fish, the
Sacramento  splittail.
   Among 20 Bay Area flowering plants are Suisun thistle in  tidal
marshes of San Pablo and Suisun bays, pallid  manzanita of the
northern Diablo Range, Vine Hill Clarkia  and, remaining in vernal
pools of Napa and Solano  counties, Contra Costa goldfields.
  The group has sued Fish and Wildlife 40 times since 1990  and has
won listing for 34 species.

*****   *****   *****   ******

MAMMALS-
Bighorn Sheep (Peninsular Ranges Population) Ovis
canadensis cremnobates (PE)(CA,MEX)

REPTILES-
Black Legless Lizard Anniella pulchra nigra (PE)(CA)
Alameda Whipsnake Masticophis lateralis euryxanthus (PE)(CA)
Flat-Tailed Horned Lizard Phrynosoma mcalii (PT)(AZ,CA,MEX)

FISHES-
Least Chub Iotichthys phlegethontis (PE)(UT)
Arkansas River Shiner  (Native Population Only) Notropis girardi
(PE)(AR,KS,NM,OK,TX)
Sacramento Splittail Pogonichthys macrolepidotus (PT)(CA)

SNAILS-
San Xavier Talsussnail Sonorella eremita (PE)(AZ)

INSECTS-
Comal Springs Riffle Beetle Heterelmis comalensis(PE) (TX)
Comal Springs Dryopid Beetle Stygopanumus comalensis (PE)(TX)
Callippe Silverspot Butterfly Speyeria callippe callippe (PE)(CA)
Behren's Silverspot Butterfly Speyeria zerene behrensii (PE)(CA)

CRUSTACEANS-
Peck's Cave Amphipod Stygobromus pecki (PE)(TX)

FLOWERING PLANTS-
San Diego Thornmint Acanthomintha ilicifolia (PE) (CA, MEX- BAJA CA.)
Rawhide Hill Onion Allium tuolumnense (PT)(CA)
Sonoma alopecurus Alopecurus aequalis var. sonomensis  (PE)(CA)
Hoffman's Rock-Cress Arabis hoffmannii (PE)(CA)
Johnston's Rock-Cress Arabis johnstonii (PT)(CA)
Santa Rosa Island Manzanita Arctostaphylos confertiflora (PE)(CA)
San Bruno Mountain Manzanita Arctostaphylos imbricata (PT)(CA)
Pallid Manzanita Arctostaphylos pallida (PT)(CA)
Bear Valley Sandwort Arenaria ursina (PT)(CA)
Clara Hunt's Milk-Vetch Astragulus clarianus (PE)(CA)
Lane Mountain Milk-Vetch Astragulus jaegerianus (PE)(CA)
Coachella Valley Milk-Vetch Astragulus lentiginosus var.
   coachellae (PE)(CA)
Shining Milk-Vetch Astragulus lentiginosus var. micans (PT)(CA)
Fish Slough Milk-Vetch Astragulus lentiginosus var.
   piscinensis (PE)(CA)
Sodaville Milk-Vetch Astragulus lentiginosus var. sesquimetralis
   (PT)(NEV.,CA)
Peirson's Milk-Vetch Astragulus magdalenae var. peirsonii (PE)(CA)
Coastal Dunes Milk-Vetch Astragulus tener var. titi (PE)(CA)
Triple-Ribbed Milk Vetch Astragulus tricarinatus (PE)(CA)
San Jacinto Valley Crownscale Atriplex coronata var. notatior (PE)(CA)
Nevin's Barberry Berberis nevinii (PE)(CA)
Island Barberry Berberis pinnata sssp. insularis (PE)(CA)
Thread-Leaved Brodiaea Brodiaea filifolia (PT)(CA)
Chineese Camp Bodiaea Brodiaea pallida (PE)(CA)
Mariposa Pussy-Paws Calyptridium pulchellum (PE)(CA)
White Sedge Carex albida (PE)(CA)
Carpentaria Carpenteria californica (PT)(CA)
Ash-Gray Indian Paintbrush Castilleja cinerea (PT)(CA)
Golden Paintbrush Castilleja levisecta (PT)(OR,WA, CAN.-BC)
Soft-Leaved Paintbrush Castilleja mollis (PE)(CA)
Vail Lake Ceanothus Ceanothus opiochilus (PT)(CA)
Catalina Island Mountain-Mahogany Cercocarpus traskiae (PE)(CA)
Akoko Chamaesyce herbstii (PE)(CA)
Akoko Chamaesyce rockii (PE)(CA)
Suisun Thistle Cirsium hydrophilium var. hydrophilium (PE)(CA)
Vine Hill Clarkia Clarkia imbricata (PE)(CA)
Springville Clarkia Clarkia springvillensis (PT)(CA)
Haha Cyanea acuminata (PE)(CA)
Santa Rosa Island Dudleya Dudleya blochmaniae ssp. insularis (PE)(CA)
Santa Cruz Island Dudleya Dudleya nesiotica (PE)(CA)
Munchkin Dudleya Dudleya sp. nov./ined.>East Point>(PE)(CA)
Laguna Beach Liveforever Dudleya stolonifera (PE)(CA)
Southern Mountain Wild Buckwheat Eriogonum kennedyi var.
   austromontanum (PT)(CA)
Akoko Euphorbia haeleeleana (PE)(CA)
Mexican Flannelbush Fremontodendron mexicanum (PE)(CA, Mexico)
Greenhorn's Adobe-Lily Fritillaria striata (PT)(CA)
Island Bedstraw Galium buxifolium (PE)(CA)
Hoffmann's Gilia Gila tenuiflora ssp. hoffmanii (PE)(CA)
Island Rush-Rose Helianthemum greenei (PE)(CA)
Otay Tarweed Hemizonia conjugens (PE)(CA)
Island Alumroot Heuchera maxima  (PE)(CA)
Contra Costa Goldfields Lasthenia conjugens  (PT)(CA)
San Francisco Lessingia Lessingia germanorum var. germanorum
  (PE)(CA)
Pitkin Marsh Lily Lilium pardalinum ssp. pitkinense (PE)(CA)
San Clemente Island Woodland-Star Lithophragma maximum (PE)(CA)
Lobelia gaudichaudii ssp. koolaunsis (PE)(CA)
Mariposa Lupine Lupinus citrinus var. deflexus (PE)(CA)        
Santa Cruz Island Bush-Mallow Malacothamnus fasciculatus var.
   nesioticus (PE)(CA)
Santa Cruz Island malocothrix Malacothrix indecora (PE)(CA)
Island Malacothrix Malacothrix squalida (PE)(CA)
Kelso Creek Monkey-Flower Mimulus shevockii (PE)(CA)
Spreading Navarretia  Navarretia fossalis (PT)(CA, Mex.-Baja)
Few-Flowered Navarretia Navarretia leucocephala ssp. pauciflora
   (PE)(CA)
Many-Flowered Navarretia Navarretia leucocphala ssp. plieantha
Piute Mountains Navarretia Navarretia setiloba (PT)(CA)
Colusa Grass Neostapfia Colusana (PT)(CA)
Lake County Stonecrop Parvisedum leiocarpum (PE)(CA)
Winkler Cactus Pediocactus winkleri (PE)(UT)
Island Phacelia Phacelia insularis var. insularis (PE)(CA)
Yadon's Piperia Piperia yadonii (PE)(CA)
Calistoga Allocarya Plagiobothrys strictus (PE)(CA)
San Bernadino Bluegrass Poa atropurpurea (PE)(CA)
Napa Bluegrass Poa napensis (PE)(CA)
Hickman's Potentilla Potentilla Hickmanii (PE)(CA)
Parish's Alkali Grass Puccinellia parishii (PE)(AZ,NM,CA)
Kenwood Marsh Checkermallow Sidalcea oregana ssp. valida (PE)(CA)
California Dandelion Taraxacum californicum (PE)(CA)
Santa Cruz Island Lacepod Thrysanocarpus conchuliferus (PE)(CA)
Hidden Lake Bluecurls Trichostema austromontanum ssp. compactum (PE)(CA)
Indian Showy Clover Trifolium amoenum (PE)(CA)
Monterey Clover Trifolium trichocalyx (PE)(CA)
Red Hills Vervain Verbena californica (PT)(CA)
Gowen Cypruss Cupressus goveniana ssp. Goveniana (PT)(CA)


EDITORIAL RIPS EFFORT TO EXEMPT DAMS FROM E.S.A.

ENVIRONMENT 1, SCAMS 0
   Editorial, The Arizona Daily Star  5/12/97

Moderates in the House of Representatives, in the first environmental
skirmish of the new Congress, did well to beat back a right-wing effort to
gut a basic ecological protection last week.

This time, the attack was a bid to blow a hole in the Endangered Species Act
under guise of rebuilding drainage control projects after the catastrophic
Midwestern flood season.

Reasonable-sounding with its waivers to speed reconstruction efforts, the
bill in practice would have exempted any flood control project or structure
anywhere from the ESA, no matter its distance from the present flood crisis.

For example, managers of dams along the Columbia River could have dropped
measures to protect endangered salmon, regardless of whether flood
reconstructions were necessary there. Likewise, even operators of Hoover and
Glen Canyon dams, say, would have been permitted to ignore species
considerations along the Colorado - a huge set-back.

And so moderate Republicans, led by Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., joined
Democrats to rebel - and win. No sooner had Boehlert reasonably narrowed the
waiver to include only emergency repairs, than Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska,
pulled the measure entirely, proving the sponsors' real motivation as
wholesale weakening of a key law. The bottom line: Congress' greenish
majority had blocked passage of a sneaky, unnecessary and ecologically
harmful free pass to developers.

It is probably too much to draw grand conclusions from the defeat of this
crude attempt to capitalize on the emotions raised by the human toll of
flooding. Still, last week's vote serves notice that environmental
stewardship retains as high or higher a priority in this Congress as it
gained in the last. House Speaker Gingrich should note this - in the future,
and now, as Don Young reportedly pressures him for a revote on this lousy
measure this week.








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