------ SOUTHWEST
BIODIVERSITY ALERT #122 ---------
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3-14-98
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\ SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR
BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
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1.
PYGMY OWL ROARS AGAIN: TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER STOPS DESERT
DESTRUCTION
2. FOREST SERVICE TO AMEND FOREST PLANS TO "PROTECT"
ENDANGERED SPECIES FROM
OVERGRAZING- ENVIROS TO CALL FOR
INDEPENDENT SCIENTIFIC REVIEW
3. ANOTHER ARIZONA PREDATOR KILLING CONTEST
BITES THE DUST
4. CA CONGRESSMAN DEMANDS SOUTHWEST CENTER BE ALLOWED TO
PARTICIPATE IN E.S.A.
REVIEW OF MEGA-TOLL ROAD THROUGH SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA
*****
***** ***** *****
PYGMY
OWL ROARS AGAIN: TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER STOPS DESERT DESTRUCTION
On
3-13-98, the Defenders of Wildlife and the Southwest Center won a
temporary
restraining order, barring the Amphi School District from grading
cactus
ferruginous pygmy owl habitat in northwest Tucson. Despite having 14
already
degraded sites available to it, the District has stubbornly insisted
on
dozing a nearly pristine Sonoran desert landscape for its new school. It
has
also refused to obtain a take permit under the Endangered Species
Act.
The case is being argued by John Fritschie (Defenders of Wildlife),
Eric
Glitzenstein (Washington, D.C.) and Ken Graham
(Tucson).
_______________________
FOREST
SERVICE TO AMEND FOREST PLANS TO "PROTECT" ENDANGERED SPECIES
FROM
OVERGRAZING- ENVIROS TO CALL FOR INDEPENDENT SCIENTIFIC
REVIEW
The U.S. Forest Service has proposed yet another Southwest
regional plan to
"protect" endangered species from overgrazing. In 1996 it
amended all 11
Forest Plans to protect declining aquatic and riparian
species, but
simultaneously counteracted the plan with a loophole that
excluded about
80% of all allotments. In 1997, the Southwest Center forced
agency submit
the amendments to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for ESA
compliance
review. They were found unsatisfactory, of course, so the Forest
created a
"seven species plan" to sneak by the ESA. Now, less than a year
later, in
response to large-scale grazing lawsuits by the Southwest Center
and Forest
Guardians, the Forest Service has proposed yet another grazing
reform plan,
this one to address 14 endangered species.
To end this
game of extinction musical chairs, the Southwest Center and other
groups will
soon call for an independent scientific review of the Forest
Service
proposal. Similar reviews of the California spotted owl draft EIS,
the
Tongass National Forest Plan draft EIS, and the draft Interior Columbia
Basin
Management Plan produced devastating critiques of the Forest
Service's
profoundly unscientific plans.
________________________
ANOTHER ARIZONA PREDATOR KILLING CONTEST BITES
THE DUST
Ralston's Outdoor Sports has cancelled its predator killing
contest after
being overwhelmed with hundreds of outraged phone calls and
letters. The
contest would have awarded points for the killing of bobcats,
coyotes, and
foxes. In January, the organizers of "Predator Hunt Extreme"
called off
their barbaric $10,000 contest after a similar pubic
outcry.
_______________________
CA
CONGRESSMAN DEMANDS SOUTHWEST CENTER BE ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN
E.S.A.
REVIEW OF MEGA-TOLL ROAD THROUGH SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
On 3-6-98,
Congressman Bob Filner of San Diego, sent a letter to the Federal
Highway
Administration and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on behalf of
the
Southwest Center for Biological Diversity, Preserve South Bay, Back
Country
Coalition, the Sweetwater Community Planning Group, San Diego
Audubon
Society, and the San Diego Chapter of the Sierra Club. Filner
requested that
he and the six groups be allowed to formally participate in
the Endangered
Species Act review of of the proposed 10-lane tollroad known
as State Route
125.
State Route 125 would destroy, degrade and
fragment habitat for dozens of
endangered species. Congressman Filner made
the request at the urging of the
Southwest Center because the formal ESA
review process is usually done only
with the involvement of developers,
excluding evironmentalists and
community
groups.
_____________________________________________________________________________
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