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SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
http//www.sw-center.org
#177
3-23-99
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o
FOUR FORESTS AGREE TO IDENTIFY, PROTECT WILD AND SCENIC RIVERS
o SUIT FILED
TO STOP CONSTRUCTION OF SEVEN OAKS DAM
o CONDOR SHOT, WOLF FOUND DEAD
o
BEAVERS REINTRODUCED ON SAN PEDRO RIVER
o COMMENTS NEEDED ON SANTA ANA SUCKER
LISTING PROPOSAL
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FOUR
FORESTS AGREE TO IDENTIFY, PROTECT WILD AND SCENIC RIVERS
In response to a
suit by the Southwest Center and Amigos Bravos, four
NM National Forests
(Gila, Cibola, Lincoln, and Carson) have agreed to
identify and protect up to
500 miles of rivers as under the Wild and
Scenic Rivers Act. Under the terms
of a settlement, the Forests must
identify all rivers and streams within
their boundaries which may be
eligible for designation as Wild or Scenic
within two years. In the
interim, the Forests must ensure that all rivers and
streams are not
degraded.
Calling the suit a "...sensible plea that
the feds just do their jobs,"
The Santa Fe New Mexican opined that the
agreement is a "...promising
sign that streams in four Southwest forests will
be in for serious study
and, perhaps, for protection."
In southern New
Mexico, the Southwest Center has identified about 300
miles of river which
qualify for protection under the Act including:
Lincoln National Forest-
Sacramento River, Rio Penasco, Agua Chiquita
Creek, and Blue Water
Creek;
Gila National Forest- Gila River (West, East and Middle Forks),
Sapillo
Creek, Mogollon Creek, White Water Creek, Centerfire Creek,
and Trout
Creek;
Cibola National Forest- Las Huertas Creek,
Juan Tabo Creek, Water Canyon,
Indian Creek, and Lobo
Creek.
The suit was argued by David Gomez of the Western Environmental
Law Center
(Taos).
______________________________
SUIT FILED TO STOP CONSTRUCTION OF SEVEN
OAKS DAM
The Southwest Center for Biological Diversity, California Native
Plant
Society and Tri-County Conservation League filed suit in a Los
Angeles
federal court on 3-18-99 to stop the Army Corps of Engineers
from
continuing construction on the Seven Oaks Dam on the Santa Ana River.
If
completed as planned, the dam will likely push the San Bernardino
kangaroo
rat, Santa Ana River woolly star, and slender-horned spineflower to
the
edge of extinction. It may also prevent the Santa Ana sucker from
being
able to recover.
Flooding is the keystone process in Southwest
river ecosystems. Carrying
silt from southern California's mountains, and
dropping it in the lowlands,
floods create alluvial "fans" which the wooly
star, spineflower, and kangaroo
rat live on. The fans are eventually
colonized by dense woody vegetation,
however, forcing the species to move to
newly created fans. By eliminating
natural flooding patterns, the Seven Oaks
Dam will prevent the creation of
new alluvial fans even as the older fans are
naturally overgrown, or are
paved over with developments. Entire towns such
as Pasadena, Claremont, and
Rancho Cucamonga are built on old fans. Ninety
percent of southern
California's
alluvial fan sage scrub habitat has been
destroyed.
The case is being argued by Babak Naficy (Los
Angeles).
_______________________________
CONDOR SHOT, WOLF FOUND DEAD
A
California condor, recently reintroduced to northwest Arizona atop
the
Vermillion Cliffs, has been found dead of a gunshot wound in Grand
Canyon
National Park. It is not known whether the bird was shot within the
Park.
A 10 month old female Mexican gray wolf was found dead several days
ago
along highway 191 in eastern Arizona north of the town of Clifton. She
was
one of four wolves released into the Gila Headwaters ecosystem in
March.
The cause of death has not been determined. Seven gray wolves remain
in the
wild in two packs, further reintroduction are planned this
spring.
_______________________________
BEAVERS REINTRODUCED ON SAN PEDRO
RIVER
The Arizona Department of Fish & Game has reintroduced beavers to
the
San Pedro River. Formerly widespread throughout large and small
drainages
in the Southwest, beavers have been greatly reduced by the fur
trade,
ongoing rodent control by ranchers and irrigators, loss or
riparian
forests, and radically altered flooding regimes. The elimination
of
beavers has profoundly affected southwestern rivers. Beavers
once
dominated the stream morphology of the San Pedro and Little
Colorado
Rivers so fully that the rivers were essentially massive linear
wetlands
with hundreds of ponds flowing into one another.
Numerous
imperiled species including the Southwestern willow flycatcher,
yellow-billed
cuckoo, and Huachuca water umbel are closely associated
with beaver ponds and
backwaters.
_____________________________
COMMENTS NEEDED ON SANTA ANA SUCKER LISTING
PROPOSAL
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has proposed to list the Santa
Ana sucker
as a Threatened species. Formerly abundant in the Los Angeles, San
Gabriel
and Santa Ana rivers of the Los Angeles basin, the Santa Ana sucker
has
been reduced to just three small remnant populations as a result
of
urbanization and reservoir management. More threats loom as a result
of
planned sluice flows from various reservoirs, recreational gold dredging
and
the massive Seven Oaks Dam.
Write the Service today. Ask for an
Endangered rather than a Threatened
listing, and insist that Critical Habitat
be designated in all areas
necessary
for the sucker's
recovery:
Field Supervisor, U.S.F.W.S. Carlsbad Field Office
2730
Loker Avenue West, Carlsbad CA 92008
Fax: (760)
431-9624
_____________________________________________________________________________
Kierán
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