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SOUTHWEST
CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
http//www.sw-center.org
5-25-99
#186
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§
SUIT TO PROTECT HABITAT FOR 12 SPECIES
§ WILD GILA TROUT KILLED AT FISH
HATCHERY
§ CALLS NEEDED: McCAIN BILL WOULD PUT TANKS
IN
WILDLIFE REFUGE/WILDERNESS
§ YELLOWSTONE WOLVES PROVIDE FOOD
FOR
BIRDS AND MAMMALS
SUIT TO PROTECT HABITAT FOR
12 SPECIES
On 4-8-99, the Center for Biological Diversity officially
notified
the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service that it will file suit to force
the
agency to designate "critical habitat" for 12 endangered species.
The
Endangered Species Act requires that (with a few
exceptions) every federally
listed species be granted specific
critical habitat areas which are protected
from destruction and
degradation. The agency never designates such protected
areas
except under court order, however, because of intense
political
pressure to allow continued logging, development,
mining,
grazing, and water diversions regardless of the effect
on
threatened and endangered species.
The twelve species
are:
San Clemente Loggerhead Shrike (California)
San Clemente Sage
Sparrow (California)
El Segundo Blue Butterfly (California)
Island Night
Lizard (California)
Monterey Spineflower (California)
Robust Spineflower
(California)
Bay Checkerspot Butterfly (California)
Lost River Sucker
(California, Oregon)
Shortnose Sucker (California, Oregon)
White Sturgeon,
Kootenai River population (Idaho, Montana)
Hungerford's Crawling Water Beetle
(Michigan)
Hine's Emerald Dragonfly (Illinois,
Wisconsin)
_________________________
WILD
GILA TROUT KILLED AT FISH HATCHERY
Two hundred Gila trout collected from the
wild and transported
to a federal fish hatchery as part of state/federal
recovery
effort died when the tank they were placed dried out because
of a
leak. The endangered trout were taken from Spruce Creek
in the Gila National
Forest and were to be introduced into Dude
Creek on the Tonto National
Forest. The 20 surviving fish
spawned about 1,800 eggs, which may or may not
survive to
fingerling stage this fall.
This is reportedly the
fourth time the Mescalero Fish Hatchery
has "lost" Gila trout. Despite the
ongoing failures of the recovery
program, the Fish & Wildlife Service
continues to seek to
downlist the imperiled Gila trout from "endangered"
to
"threatened," which would allow for the further relaxation
of
efforts to protect the species.
The Southwest Center is suing the
Fish & Wildlife Service to
make it improve the Gila Trout Recovery Plan.
The Center's
petition to designated several million acres of critical
habitat
for the imperiled fish was denied in
1995.
_________________________
CALLS NEEDED: McCAIN BILL WOULD PUT
TANKS
IN WILDLIFE REFUGE/WILDERNESS
The Defense Appropriations Bill
containing Senator John
McCain's rider to hand over 3 million acres of
federal land to
the military on a permanent basis now includes an even
worse
element. A new McCain rider would permit ground maneuvers,
including
tanks and bulldozers, in the largest National Wildlife
Refuge system
wilderness area in the lower 48.
Even though Congress designated 90% of
Cabeza Prieta
National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness in 1990, S. 1059
would
permit an escalation of military ground activities there.
Tanks
and jeep convoys would do irreparable damage to the largest
intact
desert ecosystem in North America.
Call Senators John McCain and John
Chafee. Tell them
wildlife refuges are for wildlife, not tanks:
Sen.
John McCain Phone: 202-224-2235 fax 202-228-2862
Sen. John
Chafee Phone: 202-224-2921
_________________________
YELLOWSTONE WOLVES PROVIDE FOOD FOR
BIRDS
AND MAMMALS
According to a 5-16 Bozeman Chronicle article,
recently
introduced wolves are proving critical to the proliferation
of
other carnivorous mammals and birds in Yellowstone National
Park. When
wolves retire after feeding on their kills, coyotes,
foxes, ravens, magpies,
bears, and bald and golden eagles move
in for the abundant leftovers. The
amount of meat available to
such species has quadrupled since wolves were
reintroduced
to the ecosystem. Grizzly bears in particular are
benefiting.
For years a rare sight in fall in the Lamar Valley, the
great
bears have become common since the wolves were released
there in
1995. Eagles are also winning out: before the wolf
reintroduction
researchers counted an average of one eagle
on every four carcasses, and now
they count five.
In the past, the biggest source of food for
carnivores in
Yellowstone came in the spring, with the thawing carcasses
of
winter-killed elk. But thanks to the wolves, there's now a year-
long
supply of red meat. Says John Varley, head of the Center
for Resources, the
park's research arm, "My prediction is it's
going to be startling, how many
species and how many animals
these wolves are supporting."
The
Southwest Center is pushing to immediately reintroduce
wolves into New
Mexico's Gila Wilderness, and to eventually
reintroduce grizzly bears as
well. This research bode well for
the coexistence and cooperation between the
two
species.
_____________________________________________________________________________
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