Subject: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#118
******* SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#118 ***********
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2/19/98
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* SOUTHWEST CENTER
FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
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1. STRANGE COALITION TO FIGHT
GERMAN AIRFORCE RAIDS ON U.S. WILDERNESS-
RANCHERS,
ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL JOIN FIGHT
2. FORMER DEPUTY FOREST SUPERVISOR BLASTS
SOUTHWEST GRAZING SUBSIDIES-
"PATIENT IS COMATOSE,
TIME TO PULL THE PLUG"
3. KEMPTHORNE EXTINCTION BILL MOVING TOWARD VOTE IN
THE SENATE
BABBITT RE-INSTATES DISASTEROUS "NO
SURPRISES" POLICY
4. GILA NATIONAL FOREST PLANS BIGGEST LOGGING PROJECT IN SW
HISTORY-
CALLS, LETTERS, FAXES NEEDED
TODAY!
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STRANGE
COALITION TO FIGHT GERMAN AIRFORCE RAIDS ON U.S. WILDERNESS
On 2/6/98 the
Southwest Center informed the U.S. and German airforces that
a proposal to
allow the Germans to fly jets 100 feet above the Gila
Wilderness is an
unacceptable threat to wildlife, Native American historical
sites, and human
health. The letter was signed by over 100 groups and
individuals including
the Southwest Forest Alliance, Maricopa Aububon
Society, GREEN, and the
Sierra Club. The German's want to train here because
such low level flights
are illegal in Germany.
The plan is also opposed by ranchers, sports
people, and the conservative
Albuquerque Journal which reminded its readers
of the 20 people killed in
Italy by a low level U.S. jet
pilot
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FORMER
DEPUTY FOREST SUPERVISOR BLASTS SOUTHWEST GRAZING SUBSIDIES
Douglas Barber,
former Deputy Forest Supervisor of the Apache-Sitgreaves
National Forest, has
written a letter to Senator Pete Domenici (R, NM),
calling for an end to the
grazing allotment permit system and subsidized
public lands ranching. His
3/11/96 letter states:
"I have been convinced for a number of
years that the existing term
grazing permit system is broken beyond
repair...What we have is a comatose
patient on life support, and it's
time turn the machine off.
There is no question that grazing has
damaged Southwestern streams and
riparian habitat. The Forest Service
recognizes that, but it can't seem to
realize that managing it better
costs too much and leads to marginal
solutions. For legal, political
and agency reasons, it seems incapable of
doing the right thing, which
is often to eliminate it.
Barber cited a $100,000 fencing project, paid
for by Arizona Game and Fish,
to "help" the threatened Apache
trout:
"Did we build the fences to protect the streams, or to
protect the cows?
After all, if the cows weren't there, the fences
wouldn't have been needed
...the taxpayers are taking a tremendous
beating. For their trouble, they
get an additional 20 miles of fence
which hampers their access to the
streams."
Fencing
streams so cows can remain on the National Forest is simply not a
good
investment. And the situation is getting worse...the agency has the
mindset that if a piece of land can be grazed, it must be grazed. It's
as
if the cows have an inalienable right to be there. So, the
taxpayers
continue to spend far more than we take in...and then spend
a small fortune
to mitigate the damage...The term 'welfare ranchers'
is really untrue, but
not for the reasons ranchers would like us to
believe. Welfare would be far
less expensive.
My
experience tells me preserving public land grazing is not in the
public
interest."
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KEMPTHORNE EXTINCTION BILL MOVING TOWARD
VOTE IN THE SENATE-
BABBITT RE-INITIATED DISASTEROUS "NO SURPRISES"
POLICY
The Kempthorne ESA reauthorization bill has moved out of committee and
could
go before the full Senate for a vote soon. The bill weakens recovery
planning
for endangered species, will likely end the designation of critical
habitat,
and allows corrupt agencies like the Forest Service to consult
with
themselves,
instead of having the oversight of the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service. The
bill is supported by developers, loggers, and the
Clinton Administration. It
is opposed by essentially every environmental
group in the country.
Clinton supports the bill because it includes his
disasterous "no surprises"
policy which mandates that "habitat conservation
plans" can not be altered,
even if they are found to be driving species to
extinction, except with the
permission of the developers, loggers, or miners
who created the plan. Even
then, the burden of change falls on the taxpayers,
not the land destroyers.
The policy was temporarily put on hold and made
subject to public review due
to a lawsuit by the Spirit of the Sage Council,
the Southwest Center,
Biodiversity Legal Foundation, and others. Even though
the vast, vast
majority
of commentors opposed the plan, Babbitt
re-instated it without any changes
whatsoever. The re-instatement was timed
to support the Kempthorne bill as
it moves toward a
vote.
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GILA
NATIONAL FOREST PLANS BIGGEST LOGGING PROJECT IN SW HISTORY-
CALLS, LETTERS,
FAXES NEEDED TODAY!
The Gila National Forest has released a plan to log 90
million board feet of
timber on 65,000 acres over the next eight years. This
is by far the largest
timber project ever proposed on a Southwest National
Forest where timber sales
typically range from 1-5 million board feet. The so
called "Negrito Ecosystem
Project" initially involved environmentalists
concerned with landscape level
planning. They abandoned the project years
ago, and now the Forest Service is
using their involvement (though it can't
remember the group's name)to justify
a massive logging increase.
The
Southwest Center has vowed to occupy the site and wage a
campaign
comparable
to the 1996 Eagle Peak Roadless Area battle. The Gila
National Forest became a
national disgrace in its failed effort to road and
log Eagle Peak, which is
sacred to the Zuni Pueblo. The campaign exposed
Forest Service employee arson,
illegally alterations to the Mexican Spotted
Owl Recovery Plan, and
resulted in
an USDa Inspector General's
investigation of the Gila National Forest. Eagle
Peak was never logged, it is
within the Negrito Ecosystem Project.
Write, call and fax the Gila
National Forest today! Tell them logging on the
this scale is unheard of in
the Southwest. The project should be
permanently
abandoned:
Able Camerina, Gila National
Forest
Supervisor
Phone
505.388.8201 Fax
505.388.8204
3005 E. Camino del
Bosque
Silver City, NM
88061
_____________________________________________________________________________
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