Subject: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT #70
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SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#70
5/6/97
SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
silver
city, tucson, phoenix, san diego
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JUDGE BLASTS
USFWS IN ORAL HEARINGS-
RULING TO LIST NORTHERN GOSHAWK EXPECTED
SOON
USFWS RUSHES BIOLOGICAL OPINION TO AVOID HOOVER DAM
DRAWDOWN-
ALLOWS DESTRUCTION OF 1,100 ACRES OF FLYCATCHER HABITAT
HELP
NEEDED IDENTIFYING 25 WORST SOUTHWESTERN PROJECTS
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JUDGE BLASTS USFWS IN ORAL HEARINGS-
RULING TO
LIST NORTHERN GOSHAWK EXPECTED SOON
In oral hearings on May 5th, Judge
Richard Bilby criticized the
USFWS for claiming that the western population
of the northern
goshawk can not be listed under the ESA. Though its own
biologists
recommended a positive finding, bureaucrats ordered a
negative
finding on the basis that since the western population contains
three
subspecies (Queen Charlotte, northern, and Apache) it does
not
qualify as a "population" according to the agency's policy.
Judge
Bilby noted that the new population policy does not reflect the
ESA,
that numerous listed populations (such as the wolf) contain
multiple
subspecies, and that common sense would have dictated listing
each
population separately if they truly believed this to be
more
technically correct.
A final written decision is expected within
a month. If successful,
this would be the second time Bilby has overturned a
negative 90-day
finding on the Southwest Center's petition to list the
western
population under the ESA.
The northern and Apache goshawk
(both subspecies of the northern
goshawk) inhabit old growth ponderosa pine,
mixed-conifer, and
aspen forests in every western state. The Queen Charlotte
goshawk
depends upon old growth rainforests in SE Alaska, British
Columbia,
and the Olympic Peninsula. Last year, a DC Federal Court
overturned
the USFWS' refusal to propose the Queen Charlotte subspecies
as
endangered. A second decision is due on Queen Charlotte goshawk
June
8th.
Plaintiffs in the most recent case include the Southwest
Center,
ONRC, The Ecology Center, Native Forest Network, and others.
They
are represented by Dan Rolf and Matt Kenna.
USFWS RUSHES BIOLOGICAL
OPINION TO AVOID HOOVER DAM DRAWDOWN-
ALLOWS DESTRUCTION OF 1,100 ACRES OF
FLYCATCHER HABITAT
In order to escape a Southwest Center lawsuit seeking
to draw down
Lake Meade by 3.5 million acre feet, the USFWS has declared
its
draft Biological Opinion on the effects of all Bureau of
Reclamation
projects on the lower Colorado River to be complete. The Center
had
argued that the Bureau was not permitted to store the water,
drowning
one of the largest southwestern willow flycatcher populations,
while
the agency was consulting with the USFWS. By suddenly declaring
its
draft Biological Opinion final, the USFWS concluded the
consultation before
the judge could order a draw down.
In response to a 60-day notice of
intent to sue by the Southwest
Center, BuRec has been consulting on the
effects of its operations on
the entire lower Colorado River ecosystem.
Species most at risk from
the agency's dams, water withdrawals, and dredging
include the
southwestern willow flycatcher, razorback sucker, and bonytail
chub.
The opinion declares jeopardy on all three.
The opinion states
that destroying the endangered songbird's habitat
would be "catastrophic"
since it represents one of only five places
where more than 20 flycatchers
are thought to nest. The opinion
declared that destruction of 1,100 acres of
contiguous habitat would
jeopardize the flycatcher. Nevertheless, the agency
authorized the
destruction, with no effort to make BuRec modify operations
of
Hoover Dam. Instead, it declared that a plan to protect 1,400 acres
of
currently unknown, fragmented habitat, sometime in the next five
years,
not necessarily on the Colorado River, would provide
adequate
mitigation.
In the last two years, the FWS has authorized the
complete
destruction of flycatcher populations at Lake Meade, Lake
Isabella,
and Lake Roosevelt. It has authorized the take of approximately
20%
of the entire subspecies since it was listed as endangered. Though
the
agency admits the species is going extinct, it refuses to allow
jeopardy
opinions to stop or even alter any SW water projects. The
Regional
Director could only say that the Hoover Dam opinion would
allow
the endangered bird to "limp along".
HELP NEEDED IDENTIFYING
25 WORST SOUTHWESTERN PROJECTS
The Southwest Center for Biological
Diversity is preparing a report
on the 25 most destructive projects in the
Southwest. The report will
look at habitat destruction, impact to endangered
species, government
subsidies, and political motivation. It will include a
wide range of
categories, such as logging, development, predator control,
mining,
grazing, waste dumping, and water diversion projects. If you know
of
projects, whether currently being implemented or just in the
planning
stages, that would rate as one of the top 25 most destructive in
the
Southwest please contact Project Coordinator: Shane
Jimerfield,
502.733.1391, sjimerfield@sw-center.org.
Kieran
Suckling
ksuckling@sw-center.org
Executive
Director
520.733.1391 phone
Southwest Center for Biological
Diversity 520.733.1404 fax
http://www.envirolink.org/orgs/sw-center
pob 17839, tucson, az
85731