Subject: FW: SW BIODIVERSITY ALTER #87

Subject: SW BIODIVERSITY ALTER #87

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              SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT #87
                           8/5/97          

          SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
           silver city, tucson, phoenix, san diego
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1. FOREST SERVICE ADMITS INJUNCTION MAY AFFECT HALF OF ALL
   SOUTHWEST GRAZING ALLOTMENTS-
   Asks Appeals Court To Delay Injunction

2. SONGBIRD MELTDOWN: LITIGATION DRIVEN FOREST SERVICE STUDY WARNS
   OF PONDEROSA PINE BIRD DECLINES-
   Salvage Logging, Old Growth Logging, Overgrazing To Blame

     *****     *****     *****      *****

FOREST SERVICE ADMITS COURT INJUNCTION MAY AFFECT HALF OF ALL
SOUTHWEST GRAZING PERMITS-
ASKS APPEALS COURT TO DELAY INJUNCTION

On July 25, 1997, the 9th Circuit Appeals Court issued an
emergency injunction barring over 20 timber sales and an unknown
number of grazing permits for violating Forest Plan standards and
guidelines.  On August 3rd, the Forest Service asked the court to
clarify the intent of the injunction and postpone it until the Forest
Service determines exactly how many grazing permits in AZ and
NM violate their own Forest Plans.

The Forest Service estimates that as many as 50% of the region's
1,365 allotments may be covered by the injunction. The Southwest
Center, using the Forest Service's own databases, determined that
88 of 145 permits on the Gila National Forest and 98 of 119
permits on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest violate the their
Forest Plans.

Grazing allotments cover 19 million of the Forest Service's 21
million acres in the Southwest
     ______     ______     ______     _____

SONGBIRD MELTDOWN: LITIGATION DRIVEN FOREST SERVICE STUDY WARNS OF
PONDEROSA PINE BIRD DECLINES-
SALVAGE LOGGING, OLD GROWTH LOGGING, OVERGRAZING TO BLAME

During negotiations which cemented the 16 month logging moratorium
on SW National Forests, environmentalists forced the Forest Service
to fund the Rocky Mountain Research Station to conduct scientific
studies to 1) identify research for Southwest Forests, and 2) review
the state of songbirds in Southwest ponderosa pine forests. We expanded
the logging-centered negotiations to include research because Research
in the Southwest is greatly underfunded and we saw an opportunity to
focus research toward immediate conservation needs.

This summer, the Research Station published both reports. The
first, "Research Needs for Forest and Rangeland Management in
Arizona and New Mexico" is self-explanatory. Hopefully it will
lead to further research.

The second, "Songbird Ecology in Southwestern Ponderosa Pine
Forests: A Literature Review," is a bombshell. We pressed for this
study because the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity had
already put together a study showing extensive songbird declines
in logged forests, but the Forest Service has refused to acknowledge
the problem.  We supplied the Research Station biologists with the
same information and, not surprisingly, they came to many of the same
conclusions:

 - 77% (46 of 61) of all songbirds in NM for which sufficient
    information exists, have declined significantly since 1964.
    In AZ and NM combined, 66% have declined since 1964.
 - The majority of species in all nesting and migration guilds have
    declined, including 100% of all coniferous nesting and permanent
    resident guilds.
 - Since songbirds primarily feed on forest insects, their decline
    may lead to outbreaks of "forest pests"
 - Logging (particularly of snags and large pines) and overgrazing
    (by reducing grass habitat and causing pine thickets) are the
    biggest threats to forest songbirds.
 - A few quotes:

    "Intense burns can create numerous snags that provide foraging
    and nesting resources for many birds"

    "Fire-killed trees are frequently left standing after a natural fire,
    providing nesting and foraging habitat for many bird species,
    whereas salvage logging deliberately culls trees killed by fire,
    disease, and insect infestations."

    "Whether or not dead and dying trees should be removed from a site is
    possibly the most controversial aspect of forest health
    management today...Regardless of the reason for a salvage
    operation, the result is the removal of dead and dying trees from a
    forest stand. Bird species that depend on dead and dying trees
    (snags) are most impacted by any type of salvage logging, whether
    it be selective harvest of individual trees or complete stand
    removal. Cavity nesters in ponderosa pine forests of the
    Southwest, such as the acorn woodpecker, hairy woodpecker,
    northern flicker, pygmy nuthatch, white-breasted nuthatch,
    western bluebird, mountain chickadee, house wren, Cordilleran
    flycatcher and violet-green swallow will potentially be affected the
    most. Snags also provide important habitat features for other
    species."

    "Pre-European forests of the Southwest tended toward a wider
    range and diversity of tree sizes and ages, health states, patch ages,
    structural stages, inter- and intra-patch diversity, and landscape
    designs than do contemporary ponderosa pine forests...Bird
    species that historically preferred open, park-like ponderosa pine
    forests are likely to be negatively affected by contemporary forest
    management that emphasizes continuous or long-term grazing in
    combination with fire exclusion because these practices produce a
    closed forest of dense, young to mid-aged trees with few grasses,
    forbs, or shrubs...In addition, modern-day culling and salvage
    logging of snags, diseased trees, and old trees, and clearing of old
    growth patches reduces the diversity and heterogeneity of stand
    ages and structures, intensifying the trend toward younger, more
    uniform, even-aged forests."

    "Species of concern that are likely to be negatively affected by
    forest management that emphasizes continuous grazing, fire
    exclusion, and post-fire salvage logging include those that nest in
    or forage on, or from, standing dead trees or large, old trees in
    open forests; for example, the three-toed woodpecker, pygmy
    nuthatch, white-breasted nuthatch, and mountain and western
    bluebirds."

    "Species whose abundances in Southwestern ponderosa pine are
    known or suspected to decline in relation to burns, clearcuts,
    natural clearings, or partial-logging, for example, the pygmy
    nuthatch, mountain chickadee, red-faced warbler, hermit thrush,
    violet-green swallow, Cordilleran flycatcher, pine grosbeak, and
    black-headed grosbeak may respond negatively to local
    management implemented for economic gain or to benefit open- forest
    species."

To obtain a free copy of the study, send email to:
    /s=r.schneider/ou1=s28a@mhs-fswa.attmail.com  (the "l" is a "one")
Ask for:
    Songbird Ecology in Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forests: A Literature Review
    RM-GTR-292
    Research Needs for Forest and Rangeland Management in Arizona and New Mexico
    RM-GTR-291
  



_____________________________________________________________________________

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