Subject: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT #79
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SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#79
5/31/97
SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
silver
city, tucson, phoenix, san diego
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1.
SOUTHWEST LOGGING SHUT DOWN AGAIN! APPEALS COURT
ORDERS
HALT OF MOST TIMBER SALES IN ARIZONA AND NEW
MEXICO
2. GILA NATIONAL FOREST LOGS NATION'S FIRST WILDERNESS
AREA
3. USFWS SEEKS TO DELAY GOSHAWK E.S.A.
LISTING
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SOUTHWEST LOGGING SHUT DOWN AGAIN! APPEALS COURT ORDERS HALT
OF
MOST TIMBER SALES IN ARIZONA AND NEW MEXICO
The 9th Circuit Court
of Appeals issued a preliminary injunction on
Friday, May 30th, shutting down
all timber sales on all National
Forests in Arizona and New Mexico which are
inconsistent with the
recently amended Forest Plans. About 25 of 30 active
timber sales
will be affected, including the Bridger Salvage sale on the
Kaibab
National Forest, the Hay Timber sale on the
Apache-Sitgreaves
National Forest, and the La Manga sale on the Carson
National
Forest. Logging will be stopped on about 75,000 acres.
All
logging was previously enjoined from August 1995 to December
1996 on all SW
National Forests and the Navajo Reservation. The
injunction was lifted when
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
completed a Biological Opinion and the
U.S. Forest Service agreed
to amend all eleven Forest Plans to conform to the
Mexican spotted
owl recovery plan. While the Forest Service agreed to subject
all
new logging to the recovery plan, it insisted that
previously
authorized timber sales did not need to meet the new
requirements.
In September 1996, Forest Guardians, the Southwest
Center for
Biological Diversity, and Dr. Robin Silver filed suit, arguing
that
NFMA requires previously authorized timber sales be revised to
be
consistent with Forest Plan amendments. In December, 1996 we
requested
a preliminary injunction. The court stayed the request until
the summary
judgement motion was resolved. In January, 1997 we
filed a motion to
reconsider the injunction request. The court did not
respond, so on May 15th
we appealed, claiming the lack of response
is equivalent to a denial. The
Appeals Court agreed, and on May
30th, ruled that the preliminary injunction
should have been granted.
The case (CIV 96-2258-PHX-PGR) was argued
by Mark Hughes
of Earthlaw (Denver) and Steve Sugarman (Santa Fe). They
also
argued the 16 month injunction
case.
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GILA NATIONAL FOREST LOGS NATION'S FIRST WILDERNESS
AREA
Is this 1997? Gila National Forest firefighters cut down over 100
old
growth snags, with chainsaws, inside the Gila Wilderness on May
27,
1997. The crew told Dave Foreman (Wildlands Project) who
discovered the
incident while hiking, that it was part of a routine
"fire management plan."
In a letter to the Gila National Forest,
Forman, warned that he almost "blew
half a dozen arteries" and
wondered whether the fire crew was on
"methamphetamines and ran
amuk with their chainsaws."
Call the Forest
Service today! Tell them to stop logging the
wilderness, and stop logs snags
anywhere on the Forest.
Able Camerina, Gila Forest Supervisor 3005 E.
Camino del Bosque
Silver City, NM 88061
505-388-8201
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USFWS
SEEKS TO DELAY GOSHAWK ESA LISTING
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is
under a court order to decide
whether to propose the Queen Charlotte goshawk
as an endangered
species by May 31, 1997. It has asked the Court for an
additional
90-days to consider the effects of the Tongass National
Forest's
newly revised Forest Plan. The plaintiffs, however, are opposing
the
request, arguing that the Service has delayed long enough, and
that
existing information already demonstrates that the goshawk
is
endangered.
The Southwest Center for Biological Diversity,
Northwest
Ecosystem Alliance, Native Forest Network, and Don Mueller of
the
Sitka Conservation Society petitioned the Fish and Wildlife Service
to
list the imperiled raptor as endangered in May, 1994. The Queen
Charlotte
goshawk is an obligate of old growth temperate rainforests
from Southeast
Alaska, through coastal British Columbia, to the
Olympic Peninsula in
Washington State.
The agency ruled that the raptor was imperiled, but
denied the
petition, claiming that a promise by the Tongass National Forest
to
develop an adequate conservation plan as part of its revised
Forest
Plan was adequate protection. Judge Sporkin (Washington,
DC)
disagreed, throwing out the denial and ordering the Service to
prepare
a new decision.
In a related case, Judge Bilby (Tucson, AZ) told the Fish
and
Wildlife Service in oral hearings, that he will throw out its
negative
90-day finding on a Southwest Center petition to list the Apache
and
northern goshawks as endangered in the 11 western states. A
written
order is expected soon. This will be the second time Bilby
has
thrown out a negative decision by the Service.
Between them, the
three northern goshawk subspecies live in every
western old growth forest not
occupied by the three spotted owl
subspecies.
The Queen Charlotte
goshawk case is being argued by Kathy Meyer
of Meyer & Glitzenstein (DC),
the Apache and northern goshawk
case is being argued by Matt Kenna (Durango)
and Dan Rolf
(Portland).
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