Subject: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#99
******** SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#98 ***********
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10/24/97
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* SOUTHWEST CENTER
FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
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* silver city,
tucson, phoenix, san diego
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1. NINETY GILA BASIN
GRAZING ALLOTMENTS CHALLENGED
2. SUIT SEEKS CRITICAL HABITAT FOR RARE
OWL, AQUATIC
PLANT
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*NINETY GILA BASIN GRAZING ALLOTMENTS CHALLENGED
The Southwest
Center filed and Endangered Species Act suit on
October 23, 1997 against 90
grazing allotments on six National
Forests in the Gila and Little Colorado
River Basins. Over the
past five years, the Center has filed petitions to
list, upgrade
and designate critical habitat under the ESA for the Loach
minnow,
Spikedace, Gila trout, Southwestern willow flycatcher,
Cactus
ferruginous pygmy owl, Sonoran tiger salamander, Canelo
Hills
ladies' tresses, and Huachuca water umbel. The protection of
these
species and their habitats under the ESA required the Forest
Service to
consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over
the effects of its
cattle allotments. The Forest Service, however,
has refused, bringing on the
current lawsuit.
The protection of these species as well as the Razorback
sucker,
Little Colorado River Spinedace, and Sonoran chub will
require
removal of cattle from hundreds of miles of streams and the
Gila,
Apache-Sitgreaves, Coronado, Tonto, Prescott and Coconino
National
Forests.
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*SUIT
SEEKS CRITICAL HABITAT FOR RARE OWL, AQUATIC PLANT
The Southwest Center filed
suit on November 3, 1997 against the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for
failing to designate critical
habitat for the endangered Cactus ferruginous
pygmy owl and the
Huachuca water umbel. The Service argued that
designation
would further endanger them by alerting developers, bird
watchers
and plant collectors to their presence. The Service, however, is
not
required to reveal detailed site locations, only broad areas
of
crucial habitat.
The pygmy owl, once common along southern Arizona
washes
and streams, has declined to just nine birds: two in Organ
Pipe
National Monument and seven in development ridden northwest
Tucson.
The water umbel has been reduced to a handful of
locations on streams in the
San Pedro Basin and northern
Mexico
_____________________________________________________________________________
Kieran
Suckling
ksuckling@sw-center.org
Executive
Director
520.623.5252 phone
Southwest Center for Biological
Diversity 520.623.9797 fax
http://www.sw-center.org
pob 710, tucson, az 85702-710