Subject: FW: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT #122

       ------ SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT #122 ---------
       \                    3-14-98                     /
        \                                              /
         \ SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY  /
           ------------------------------------------
         
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