From: owner-swcbdmembers@envirolink.org on behalf of Kieran
Suckling [ksuckling@sw-center.org]
Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 1998
9:12 PM
To: Recipient list suppressed
Subject: SW
BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#156
____________________________________________________
\ SOUTHWEST
BIODIVERSITY ALERT #156 /
\ 10-14-98 /
\ /
\ SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR
BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY /
\ http://www.sw-center.org
/
\________________________________________/
1. ELEVEN MORE PLANTS
PUT ON ENDANGERED SPECIES LIST-
SUIT HAS BROUGHT PROTECTION TO 31 PLANTS
THIS YEAR
2. JUDGE ORDERS FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE TO PROTECT
HABITAT
OF PYGMY OWL AND WATER UMBEL
3. WHERE'S THE DOOMSDAY BOOK? SW
CENTER DEMANDS GOVERNOR'S
LIST OF "SMALL ANIMALS" TO BE DRIVEN
EXTINCT
4. JACKSON BROWNE BENEFIT TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE.
*****
***** ***** *****
ELEVEN MORE PLANTS PUT ON ENDANGERED SPECIES LIST-
SUIT HAS BROUGHT PROTECTION TO 31 PLANTS THIS YEAR
In February, 1998, the
Southwest Center and the California
Native Plant Society sued to U.S. Fish
and Wildlife for
refusing to list 44 imperiled plants under the ESA.
In
May, a federal judge ordered the agency to issue listing
rules on the
species post haste. Thus far, the suit has
resulted in 20 plants being
protected. On 10-13-98,
eleven more plants were put on the Endangered
Species
List.
Nevin's barberry (Berberis nevinii), Mexican
flannelbush
(Fremontodendron mexicanum), Vail Lake ceanothus
(Ceanothus
ophiochilus), willowy monardella (Monardella
linoides ssp. viminea), San
Diego thorn mint (Acanthomintha
ilicifolia), Laguna Beach dudleya (Dudleya
stolonifera), and
Otay tarplant (Hemizonia conjugens) live in coastal sage
scrub,
chaparral, and grassland habitats in southwest California
and
northern Baja, Mexico. They are are threatened by urban
and agricultural
development, competition from nonnative
plant species, off-road vehicle use,
mining, and grazing.
Munz's onion (Allium munzii), San Jacinto Valey
crownscale,
(Atriplex coronata var. notatior, thread-leaved brodiaea
(Brodiaea filifolia) and spreading navarretia (Navarretia
fossalis) live
in vernal pools, wetlands, moist grasslands
and clay soils in southwestern
California and northern
Baja, Mexico. They are threatened by agricultural and
urban
sprawl, wetland draining and channelization, ORVs, overgrazing,
fire
suppression and competition from exotic species.
This case was argued by
Jay Touchton of EarthLaw.
______________________________
JUDGE ORDERS
FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE TO PROTECT HABITAT
FOR PYGMY OWL AND WATER
UMBEL
In a ruling that should considerably slow the urban sprawl
killing
the San Pedro River and the Sonoran Desert around
Tucson, a federal judge has
struck down the U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service's decision not to designate
critical
habitat for the endangered Cactus ferruginous pygmy owl
and the
Huachuca water umbel. The agency had argued that
designating critical habitat
would do more harm than good
because it would alert bird watchers and plant
collectors
to the present of the two species. The judge, however,
noted
that habitat destruction is far and away the
greatest threat to the
species.
We expect the San Pedro River to be designated
critical
habitat for both species, and desert uplands around
Tucson to be
designated for the pygmy owl. Earlier this
year, an international panel of
scientists convened under
NAFTA confirmed that urban sprawl associated with
the
Army's Fort Huachuca is sucking the San Pedro dry. The
Tucson area is
being bladed and scraped by mindless
development.
The Southwest Center
was represented by Geoff Hickcox of
Kenna &
Hickcox.
____________________________
WHERE'S THE DOOMSDAY BOOK? SW
CENTER DEMANDS GOVERNOR'S LIST
"SMALL ANIMALS" TO BE DRIVEN EXTINCT
On
10-18-97, Arizona's Governor Jane Hull addressed the
Western Governor's
conference in Reno saying:
"Republicans must unite to end the war on the
West.
Environmental laws, truly the most egregious of all
regulations,
must be controlled. I urge all congressional
delegations to consider
themselves guardians of our
history and our future. These federal laws,
onerous and
debilitating, must be eliminated."
On 10-10-98, she told
the Governor's Rural Development
Conference:
"It may take some time
but the U.S. government will
eventually understand that jobs for Americans
are more
important than some species of birds and animals....
small
animals..."
Under Arizona's Open Records Act, the Southwest Center
has
asked Hull to turn over her list of "small animals" that
should be
driven extint. The Arizona Department of Fish and
Game does not appear to
maintain such a list.
______________________________
JACKSON BROWNE
BENEFIT TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE.
In a special benefit for the Southwest
Center, Jackson Browne
will appear at Tucson's Music Hall (Tucson Convention
Center)
on Tuesday, October 27, 1998 at 7:00pm.
Reserved seating is
available through Dillard's Box Office:
800-638-4253 and the Tucson
Convention Center: 520-791-4266.
Special "Green Circle" tickets, which
include a post concert
reception hosted by the Southwest Center are available
by calling
520-623-5252 x305.
100% of all ticket sales will go
towards the protection endangered
species in the American Southwest and
northern Mexico.
Past biodiversity alerts are archived @
http://www.sw-center.org
/color>
_____________________________________________________________________________
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
/x-rich>