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             CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

           <www.sw-center.org>      1-3-00      #219

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STARTING THE NEW YEAR OFF RIGHT FOR IMPERILED SPECIES!

� JUDGE ORDERS HABITAT PROTECTION FOR RED-LEGGED FROG

� SUIT SPURS LISTING OF WASHINGTON PLANT AS ENDANGERED

� RARE CALIFORNIA PLANT PROPOSED AS ENDANGERED SPECIES

� SUIT TO SEEK PROTECTION FOR COLORADO BUTTERFLY PLANT

� LETTERS NEEDED TO SAVE SANTA ANA SUCKER

JUDGE ORDERS HABITAT PROTECTION FOR RED-LEGGED FROG

On 12-20-99, a federal judge order the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

to designate and protect critical habitat for the endangered California

red-legged frog. The order was in response to a suit brought by the

Jumping Frog Research Institute, the Center for Biological Diversity,

Pacific Rivers Council, the Center for Sierra Nevada Conservation, and

Responsible Consumers of the Monterey Peninsula.

The California red-legged frog is the largest native frog in the western

United States. Mark Twain secured its literary reputation in his short

story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County". Overgrazing,

urban sprawl, road building, off-road vehicles, water diversions, dam

construction, agribusiness, mining, logging and exotic species have all

had a hand the frog's decline. Though it was once common throughout

much of California, it now can only be found only in isolated pockets

along the central coast, with a few scattered sites in the Sierra Nevada.

The plaintiff were represented by the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund.

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SUIT SPURS LISTING OF WASHINGTON PLANT AS  ENDANGERED

In response to a 9-20-99 suit by the Center, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife

Service listed the Wenatchee checker-mallow as an endangered species

on 12-22-99. The agency determined in 1980 that the rare plant was likely

endangered, but took no action for nearly two decades as it continued to

decline toward extinction.

The Wenatchee checker-mallow (Sidalcea oregana var. calva) is endemic

to wet meadows at middle elevations in the Wenatchee Mountains of

Chelan County, WA. Urban sprawl, agribusiness, off-road vehicles, road

construction, and exotic species have all taken their toll on the mallow,

shrinking its range down to just five sites.

The Center was represented by Geoff Hickcox of Kenna & Hickcox

(Durango) and Marianne Dugan of Facaros, Dugan & Ross (Eugene).

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RARE CALIFORNIA PLANT PROPOSED AS ENDANGERED SPECIES

On 12-29-99 the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service proposed to list the San

Diego ambrosia as an endangered species. The Center for Biological

Diversity and the California Native Plant Society filed a formal petition to

list the ambrosia in 1996 after determining that urban sprawl was driving

it to extinction. As usual, however, the federal agency bowed to political

pressure, refusing to protect the dwindling plant. It took two separate

lawsuits to win the listing proposal. The agency now has one year to issue

a final rule.

The San Diego ambrosia was once found in stream side grasslands and

sage scrub in San Diego and Riverside counties, and northern Baja

California. Urban and agricultural development have obliterated most of its

habitat leaving only eleven viable populations. The Fish & Wildlife Service's

decision to propose the ambrosia for listing casts serious doubt on

alleged protections afforded by the San Diego Multiple Species

Conservation Program.

The Center was represented by Craig Sherman (San Diego).

     _________

SUIT TO SEEK PROTECTION FOR COLORADO BUTTERFLY PLANT

On 12-24-99, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Biodiversity Legal

Foundation formally notified the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service that they will

file suit to make the agency list and protect the Colorado butterfly plant

as an endangered species. The Smithsonian Institute researched and filed

a petitioned to list the plant as endangered in 1975, but the politically

hamstrung Fish & Wildlife Service has refused to act on the petition for

twenty five years, even as the plant continues to dwindle toward extinction.

The Colorado butterfly plant is a perennial herb endemic to wet meadows

in floodplain areas in southeastern Wyoming, northcentral Colorado, and

extreme western Nebraska. Water diversions, channelization, urban

sprawl and the conversion of dynamic riparian areas to agriculture are the

Colorado butterfly plant's major threats.

The case will be argued by Jay Tutchton of Earthlaw (Denver).

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LETTERS NEEDED TO SAVE SANTA ANA SUCKER FROM EXTINCTION

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has re-opened a public comment period

on its proposal to list the Santa Ana sucker as a threatened species.Your

comments are needed by January 3, 2000 to ensure this imperiled fish

and the rivers of southern California are protected and restored.

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 reservoirs and recreational gold dredging on the San Gabriel

River, and the massive Seven Oaks Dam on the Santa Ana River.

Write the Service today. Ask for an "Endangered" rather than a

"Threatened" listing, and insist that Critical Habitat be designated

concurrent with listing on all river and stream reaches currently occupied

by the species as well as additional areas necessary to provide for the

sucker�s recovery.

   Field Supervisor

   U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

   2730 Loker Avenue West, Carlsbad CA 92008