Subject: SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT #83
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SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#83
7/17/97
SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
silver
city, tucson, phoenix, san diego
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1. USFWS
REJECTS CONSERVATION PLAN, LISTS JAGUAR AS ENDANGERED-
SUPPORTERS THRONG FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE OFFICE
2. SOUTHWEST CENTER
THREATENS SUIT OVER BOGUS FOREST SERVICE GRAZING
PLAN- WARNS
USFWS THAT JEOPARDY CONCLUSION MUST NOT BE WATERED DOWN
3. FOREST SERVICE
IGNORES LOGGING INJUNCTION ON NORTH RIM OF GRAND
CANYON- SUIT
IMMANENT
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***** ***** *****
USFWS REJECTS
CONSERVATION PLAN, LISTS JAGUAR AS ENDANGERED-
SUPPORTERS THRONG FISH AND
WILDLIFE SERVICE OFFICE
35 protesters in jaguar masks gathered outside
the Phoenix office
of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service yesterday morning to
protest
delays in protection for the imperiled cat. They offered
agency
bureaucrats a 10 foot wide pair of jaguar eyeglasses and all
the
carrots they could eat, to help with the agency's chronic
"oversight"
problem. In 1979 the agency admitted that through an
"oversight" it failed to
list the jaguar as endangered in the U.S. (it
is listed in Mexico and South
America). Twenty years, and two
lawsuits later, the agency had still not
listed the magnificent cat
under the ESA.
In the midst of the
demonstration, the first every at the Phoenix
office, Fish and Wildlife
Service personnel scrambled to contact
the Washington, D.C. for advise. In a
closed door session, the
office director announced that on Friday, July 17,
1997, the jaguar
will be listed as endangered in Arizona and New Mexico, and
as
threatened in Texas. Apparently no listing will be proposed
for
California or Louisiana. Critical habitat will not be
designated.
In 1994, the Southwest Center won a lawsuit requiring the
agency
to propose the jaguar as endangered. The agency did nothing
to
finalize the proposal until the Southwest Center won a second
lawsuit
in 1997 requiring a final decision. The agency then
scrambled to put together
a last minute, highly controversial
"conservation agreement" explicitly
designed to take the place of
protection under the ESA. The final
decision not to accept the
conservation plan as a substitute for the ESA, was
prompted by
widespread opposition to the plan and intense litigation
pressure.
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SOUTHWEST CENTER THREATENS SUIT OVER BOGUS FOREST SERVICE
GRAZING
PLAN- WARNS USFWS THAT JEOPARDY CONCLUSION MUST NOT BE WATERED
DOWN
The Southwest Center has warned the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife
Service that it will be sued if it backs down on draft opinion
that
the Southwest's eleven National Forest Plans jeopardize
seven
threatened and endangered species with extinction. The Fish
and
Wildlife Service is currently reviewing a new Forest
Service
management plan designed to alleviate the jeopardy
decision.
In 1995, the Southwest Center gave official notice that it
would
sue the Forest Service for not consulting on the effects of
the
eleven Southwest National Forest Plans on 61 threatened and
endangered
species. That same year, a lawsuit suit brought by the
Southwest Center,
Forest Guardians and others shut down all
logging until the agency consulted
on the effects of their Forest
Plans on the threatened Mexican spotted
owl. Owl related
negotiations resulted in the Center delaying the suit
on the 61
other species. To avoid the impending suit, the Forest
Service
"voluntarily" initiated the larger consultation.
The Fish and
Wildlife Service has issued a draft biological opinion
which concludes that
the Forest Plans, primarily through
overgrazing, jeopardize the existence of
the southwestern willow
flycatcher, cactus ferruginous pygmy owl, loach
minnow,
spikedace, Sonoran chub, Little Colorado River spinedace, and
pima
pineapple cactus. Between 1991 and 1995, the Center
petitioned to list the
flycatcher, pygmy owl, loach minnow, and
spikedace as
endangered.
Rightfully fearing that a jeopardy conclusion will eliminate
grazing
from many rivers and reduce levels throughout the region,
the
Forest Service has -concocted the "Seven Species Project" - a
plan
which supposedly removes jeopardy. Absurdly, the plan tries to
shift
blame from cattle grazing to elk and garbage. It removes
cattle from only a
handful of acres, while establishing more
research programs, best management
practices, public education,
etc., etc., etc.
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FOREST SERVICE IGNORES LOGGING
INJUNCTION ON NORTH RIM OF GRAND
CANYON- SUIT IMMANENT
In the summer
of 1996, the Bridgers Knoll fire burned 53,000
acres on the North Kaibab
Ranger District of the Kaibab National
Forest. Before the fire was even
extinguished, Forest Service
officials were already plotting the Southwest's
largest timber sale
in 20 years. Shielded from bothersome democratic
processes by
the infamous Salvage Rider, the Forest Service proposed
five
separate sales which would have logged up to 35 million board
feet
of
ponderosa pine on 4,600 acres. Three of these sales, totaling 6
million
board feet, were offered under the Salvage Rider and have
been cut. Due
to bureaucratic oversight, the remaining two sales,
Bridger #3 and #5, were
not offered before the Rider expired and
are thus subject to environmental
laws. These sales, if completed,
will result in 11 million
additional board feet of ponderosa being
cut on 2700 acres.
On May 30,
the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for the second time
enjoined Southwestern
timber sales due to Forest Service failure to
protect the endangered Mexican
Spotted Owl. Under this injunction,
the Forest Service may not proceed
with any sales that
do not meet every standard and guideline of the
applicable Forest
Plan. The Kaibab Forest Plan states that at least 3
to 5
adjacent large trees per acre must be left in every timber
operation.
Bridger Sales #3 and #5 fail to do this. Forest
Service
justification? Leaving reserve trees in salvage sales is
"not
appropriate." The Forest Service was able to get away with
this
sort of flagrant dismissal of the law under the Salvage Rider, but
it
no longer has any excuse other than its own arrogance.
Furthermore,
this action is not only illegal, it is bad science.
Research has shown that
leaving reserve trees and snags in logging
operations is essential to
wildlife needs.
The legacy and continuing impact of Stone Container on
the
Southwest cannot be overestimated. This impact is certainly
not
confined to this region, however. Stone has been cited
for
environmental regulatory violations at operations in Snowflake,
AZ,
Panama City, FL, Port Wentworth, GA, Ontonagon, MI,
Missoula, MT and
Coshocton, OH. Stone's toxic releases
are nearly three times the Forest
Products industry average.
Like most trans-nationals, Stone's treatment
of its workers is
on par with its treatment of the environment. Stone
paid $167,000
in OSHA violations from 1986 to 1991. 12 of these
violations were
characterized as "willful." In 1990, Stone had 5.8 billion in
sales
revenues, an 8% increase from 1989. According to Fortune, it
is
the 92d largest industrial company in the U.S., and is the 5th
largest
in the Forest Products industry.
The Southwest Center is preparing an
emergency injunction request
to prevent Bridger from being cut. In the
meantime, we need a
flood of calls to both the Kaibab National Forest
Supervisor's office
as well as the North Kaibab Ranger District. Tell
them:
no logging on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon;
their ideas of
'forest health' have left us a legacy of stumps and cowpies;
Kaibab National Forest: (520) 635-8200. Conny Frisch, Forest
Supervisor
North Kaibab Ranger District: (520)
643-7395
_____________________________________________________________________________
Kieran
Suckling
ksuckling@sw-center.org
Executive
Director
520.623.5252 phone
Southwest Center for Biological
Diversity 520.623.9797 fax
http://www.envirolink.org/orgs/sw-center
pob 710, tucson, az 85702-710