Subject: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#86
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SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#86
7/25/97
SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
silver
city, tucson, phoenix, san diego
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APPEALS COURT
ISSUES SECOND SWEEPING INJUNCTION AGAINST ILLEGAL
LOGGING AND
GRAZING
On July 25, 1997 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued
an
emergency injunction barring the Forest Service from approving
new
timber sales and grazing leases which violate eleven recently
amended
National Forest Plans. Even more significantly, the court
enjoined all
ongoing projects which violate the amended Forest
Plans, including contracted
timber sales and grazing allotments. Up
to 25 timber sales, and 400 hundreds
of grazing allotments could
be affected.
The injunction will remain in
place until the Appeals Court makes
a final decision as to whether the Forest
Service must revise
ongoing projects to make them consistent with all aspects
of the
newly amended Forest Plans.
Background- Spotted
Owl
In 1989, Robin Silver, Conservation Chairman of the Southwest
Center,
filed a petition to list the Mexican spotted owl as an
endangered species. In
1993 it was listed as threatened. In 1994,
the Southwest Center and Forest
Guardians filed suit to force
designation of Critical Habitat. In 1995, the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service was forced to designate 4.6 million acres of
critical habitat
on the Southwest's eleven National Forests.
Also in
1995, the Southwest Center and Forest Guardians sued the
Forest Service for
failing to consult on the effects of the eleven
regional Forest Plans on the
spotted owl. Just days after the
Logging Without Laws rider was passed, a
District Court enjoined
all timber sales on all AZ and NM National Forests
until the
USFWS issued a biological opinion on the effects of logging
on
the threatened Mexican spotted owl. The biological opinion took
16
months to complete, effectively shielding against the SW
against most salvage
rider sales.
The biological opinion determined that the Forest Service
could
not continue to implement the Forest Plans because they
were
jeopardizing the spotted owl. The Forest Service,
therefore,
amended all eleven plans in June 1996, to incorporate the
Mexican
Spotted Owl Recovery Plan. The amendments also finalized
a
conservation plan for the Northern and Apache goshawks.
Background- Goshawk
In 1992, the Southwest Center petitioned to list the
goshawk
(including the Apache and Northern subspecies) as endangered
in
the western U.S.. The Fish and Wildlife Service twice refused to
list
the goshawk as endangered in the West, based on technical
taxonomic
arguments. Twice, a federal judge ruled that the denials
were illegal. A
third, and hopefully final 90-day finding is due in
September.
The
Forest Service, meanwhile, in an effort to head off the listing,
adopted a
series of "interim" goshawk conservation plans. Because
they were supposedly
interim, the plans were implemented without
an EIS. In 1995, Forest
Conservation Council and the Southwest
Center sued to force an EIS. To escape
the inevitable, the Forest
Service did an EIS on the goshawk, simultaneously
amending the
region's eleven National Forest Plans to include the goshawk
plan
and the spotted owl plan.
How This Injunction Came
About
Though the Fish and Wildlife Service declared that the old
Forest
Plans must be amended because continued logging and grazing
will
jeopardize the Mexican spotted owl, the Forest Service
grandfathered
in all ongoing logging and grazing, making them
exempt from
the added protections of the newly revised plans.
In September, 1996,
Forest Guardians and the Southwest Center
sued the Forest Service, arguing
that the National Forest
Management Act requires that all ongoing projects
(including
timber sales and grazing allotments) must be updated to
comply
with all aspects of newly amended Forest Plans. The district
court
judge did not act on our Preliminary Injunction request, we
appealed
to the Ninth Circuit, winning an injunction against 18
timber sales on May,
30, 1997.
On July 14, 1997, the district court ruled against us, and the
Forest
Service moved to have the Appeals Court lift its injunction.
We
responded with an appeal and a request for an emergency
injunction.. On
July 25, 1997, the appeals court simultaneously
lifted the Preliminary
Injunction and handed down a new
emergency injunction which will remain in
place until a final
decision is made on the
appeal.
_____________________________________________________________________________
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