Subject: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT #73
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SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#73
5/14/97
SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
silver
city, tucson, phoenix, san diego
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1. SUIT TO BE
FILED TO LIST 95 WESTERN SPECIES AS ENDANGERED
2. EDITORIAL RIPS EFFORT
TO EXEMPT DAMS FROM E.S.A.
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SUIT TO BE FILED TO LIST 95 WESTERN SPECIES AS
ENDANGERED
On May 13, 1997, the Southwest Center for Biological
Diversity
notified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that it will sue the
agency
in 60-days if it does not immediately list 95 western species
under
the Endangered Species Act. The 95 species have been proposed
for
listing, but as usual, the agency is allowing them to languish
without
a final decision.
The following story appeared in the San
Francisco Chronicle.
A complete list of species appears below.
SUIT
THREATENED OVER RARE SPECIES
Conservation group wants Bay Area flora,
fauna listed as
endangered or
threatened
Jane Kay, San Francisco
Chronicle, 5/13/97
The Bay Area's rare Alameda whipsnake,
Callippe silverspot
butterfly and lavender Suisun thistle are
getting a boost from a
conservation group that says it will sue federal
wildlife officials if
they don't offer protection to species facing
extinction.
The Southwest Center of Biological Diversity in
Tucson sent a
letter Tuesday saying it will sue Interior Secretary
Bruce Babbitt to
force a decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on
whether to
protect an additional 95 plants and animals under the
federal
Endangered Species Act.
Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman
Patricia Foulk said "There is a
very large backload of species across
the country. A congressionally
imposed moratorium from April '95
to April '96 prevented us from
making any final listings. There was no
money to work on the
proposals, so we lost a year."
The
group says more than a year
has elapsed since Fish and Wildlife first
proposed that the species be
listed as threatened or endangered,
designations that would shield
them from potentially harmful farming, water
diversion, logging and
urban development.
"The law
gives the agency one year from the date of proposal to
the final
determination date," said Peter Galvin, a conservation
biologist
with the group, which also has offices in San Diego,
Phoenix and Silver
City, N.M.
"It's extremely disturbing that the agency
would continue to delay,
given their own acknowledgement of the
precarious status of the
species," he said. The law
requires that a group give the agency a
60-day notice of intent to
sue.
Among the species: San Bruno Mountain's
Callippesilverspot
butterfly; the sooty black, orange-striped Alameda
whipsnake found
from El Sobrante south to Hayward; and a popular Bay fish,
the
Sacramento splittail.
Among 20 Bay Area flowering
plants are Suisun thistle in tidal
marshes of San Pablo and Suisun
bays, pallid manzanita of the
northern Diablo Range, Vine Hill
Clarkia and, remaining in vernal
pools of Napa and Solano
counties, Contra Costa goldfields.
The group has sued Fish and
Wildlife 40 times since 1990 and has
won listing for 34
species.
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******
MAMMALS-
Bighorn Sheep (Peninsular Ranges Population)
Ovis
canadensis cremnobates (PE)(CA,MEX)
REPTILES-
Black Legless
Lizard Anniella pulchra nigra (PE)(CA)
Alameda Whipsnake Masticophis
lateralis euryxanthus (PE)(CA)
Flat-Tailed Horned Lizard Phrynosoma mcalii
(PT)(AZ,CA,MEX)
FISHES-
Least Chub Iotichthys phlegethontis
(PE)(UT)
Arkansas River Shiner (Native Population Only) Notropis
girardi
(PE)(AR,KS,NM,OK,TX)
Sacramento Splittail Pogonichthys
macrolepidotus (PT)(CA)
SNAILS-
San Xavier Talsussnail Sonorella
eremita (PE)(AZ)
INSECTS-
Comal Springs Riffle Beetle Heterelmis
comalensis(PE) (TX)
Comal Springs Dryopid Beetle Stygopanumus comalensis
(PE)(TX)
Callippe Silverspot Butterfly Speyeria callippe callippe
(PE)(CA)
Behren's Silverspot Butterfly Speyeria zerene behrensii
(PE)(CA)
CRUSTACEANS-
Peck's Cave Amphipod Stygobromus pecki
(PE)(TX)
FLOWERING PLANTS-
San Diego Thornmint Acanthomintha
ilicifolia (PE) (CA, MEX- BAJA CA.)
Rawhide Hill Onion Allium tuolumnense
(PT)(CA)
Sonoma alopecurus Alopecurus aequalis var. sonomensis
(PE)(CA)
Hoffman's Rock-Cress Arabis hoffmannii (PE)(CA)
Johnston's
Rock-Cress Arabis johnstonii (PT)(CA)
Santa Rosa Island Manzanita
Arctostaphylos confertiflora (PE)(CA)
San Bruno Mountain Manzanita
Arctostaphylos imbricata (PT)(CA)
Pallid Manzanita Arctostaphylos pallida
(PT)(CA)
Bear Valley Sandwort Arenaria ursina (PT)(CA)
Clara Hunt's
Milk-Vetch Astragulus clarianus (PE)(CA)
Lane Mountain Milk-Vetch Astragulus
jaegerianus (PE)(CA)
Coachella Valley Milk-Vetch Astragulus lentiginosus
var.
coachellae (PE)(CA)
Shining Milk-Vetch Astragulus
lentiginosus var. micans (PT)(CA)
Fish Slough Milk-Vetch Astragulus
lentiginosus var.
piscinensis (PE)(CA)
Sodaville Milk-Vetch
Astragulus lentiginosus var. sesquimetralis
(PT)(NEV.,CA)
Peirson's Milk-Vetch Astragulus magdalenae var. peirsonii
(PE)(CA)
Coastal Dunes Milk-Vetch Astragulus tener var. titi
(PE)(CA)
Triple-Ribbed Milk Vetch Astragulus tricarinatus (PE)(CA)
San
Jacinto Valley Crownscale Atriplex coronata var. notatior (PE)(CA)
Nevin's
Barberry Berberis nevinii (PE)(CA)
Island Barberry Berberis pinnata sssp.
insularis (PE)(CA)
Thread-Leaved Brodiaea Brodiaea filifolia
(PT)(CA)
Chineese Camp Bodiaea Brodiaea pallida (PE)(CA)
Mariposa
Pussy-Paws Calyptridium pulchellum (PE)(CA)
White Sedge Carex albida
(PE)(CA)
Carpentaria Carpenteria californica (PT)(CA)
Ash-Gray Indian
Paintbrush Castilleja cinerea (PT)(CA)
Golden Paintbrush Castilleja levisecta
(PT)(OR,WA, CAN.-BC)
Soft-Leaved Paintbrush Castilleja mollis
(PE)(CA)
Vail Lake Ceanothus Ceanothus opiochilus (PT)(CA)
Catalina Island
Mountain-Mahogany Cercocarpus traskiae (PE)(CA)
Akoko Chamaesyce herbstii
(PE)(CA)
Akoko Chamaesyce rockii (PE)(CA)
Suisun Thistle Cirsium
hydrophilium var. hydrophilium (PE)(CA)
Vine Hill Clarkia Clarkia imbricata
(PE)(CA)
Springville Clarkia Clarkia springvillensis (PT)(CA)
Haha Cyanea
acuminata (PE)(CA)
Santa Rosa Island Dudleya Dudleya blochmaniae ssp.
insularis (PE)(CA)
Santa Cruz Island Dudleya Dudleya nesiotica
(PE)(CA)
Munchkin Dudleya Dudleya sp. nov./ined.>East
Point>(PE)(CA)
Laguna Beach Liveforever Dudleya stolonifera
(PE)(CA)
Southern Mountain Wild Buckwheat Eriogonum kennedyi
var.
austromontanum (PT)(CA)
Akoko Euphorbia haeleeleana
(PE)(CA)
Mexican Flannelbush Fremontodendron mexicanum (PE)(CA,
Mexico)
Greenhorn's Adobe-Lily Fritillaria striata (PT)(CA)
Island
Bedstraw Galium buxifolium (PE)(CA)
Hoffmann's Gilia Gila tenuiflora ssp.
hoffmanii (PE)(CA)
Island Rush-Rose Helianthemum greenei (PE)(CA)
Otay
Tarweed Hemizonia conjugens (PE)(CA)
Island Alumroot Heuchera maxima
(PE)(CA)
Contra Costa Goldfields Lasthenia conjugens (PT)(CA)
San
Francisco Lessingia Lessingia germanorum var. germanorum
(PE)(CA)
Pitkin Marsh Lily Lilium pardalinum ssp. pitkinense (PE)(CA)
San
Clemente Island Woodland-Star Lithophragma maximum (PE)(CA)
Lobelia
gaudichaudii ssp. koolaunsis (PE)(CA)
Mariposa Lupine Lupinus citrinus var.
deflexus (PE)(CA)
Santa Cruz
Island Bush-Mallow Malacothamnus fasciculatus var.
nesioticus
(PE)(CA)
Santa Cruz Island malocothrix Malacothrix indecora
(PE)(CA)
Island Malacothrix Malacothrix squalida (PE)(CA)
Kelso Creek
Monkey-Flower Mimulus shevockii (PE)(CA)
Spreading Navarretia
Navarretia fossalis (PT)(CA, Mex.-Baja)
Few-Flowered Navarretia Navarretia
leucocephala ssp. pauciflora
(PE)(CA)
Many-Flowered
Navarretia Navarretia leucocphala ssp. plieantha
Piute Mountains Navarretia
Navarretia setiloba (PT)(CA)
Colusa Grass Neostapfia Colusana
(PT)(CA)
Lake County Stonecrop Parvisedum leiocarpum (PE)(CA)
Winkler
Cactus Pediocactus winkleri (PE)(UT)
Island Phacelia Phacelia insularis var.
insularis (PE)(CA)
Yadon's Piperia Piperia yadonii (PE)(CA)
Calistoga
Allocarya Plagiobothrys strictus (PE)(CA)
San Bernadino Bluegrass Poa
atropurpurea (PE)(CA)
Napa Bluegrass Poa napensis (PE)(CA)
Hickman's
Potentilla Potentilla Hickmanii (PE)(CA)
Parish's Alkali Grass Puccinellia
parishii (PE)(AZ,NM,CA)
Kenwood Marsh Checkermallow Sidalcea oregana ssp.
valida (PE)(CA)
California Dandelion Taraxacum californicum (PE)(CA)
Santa
Cruz Island Lacepod Thrysanocarpus conchuliferus (PE)(CA)
Hidden Lake
Bluecurls Trichostema austromontanum ssp. compactum (PE)(CA)
Indian Showy
Clover Trifolium amoenum (PE)(CA)
Monterey Clover Trifolium trichocalyx
(PE)(CA)
Red Hills Vervain Verbena californica (PT)(CA)
Gowen Cypruss
Cupressus goveniana ssp. Goveniana (PT)(CA)
EDITORIAL RIPS EFFORT TO
EXEMPT DAMS FROM E.S.A.
ENVIRONMENT 1, SCAMS 0
Editorial,
The Arizona Daily Star 5/12/97
Moderates in the House of
Representatives, in the first environmental
skirmish of the new Congress, did
well to beat back a right-wing effort to
gut a basic ecological protection
last week.
This time, the attack was a bid to blow a hole in the
Endangered Species Act
under guise of rebuilding drainage control projects
after the catastrophic
Midwestern flood season.
Reasonable-sounding
with its waivers to speed reconstruction efforts, the
bill in practice would
have exempted any flood control project or structure
anywhere from the ESA,
no matter its distance from the present flood crisis.
For example,
managers of dams along the Columbia River could have dropped
measures to
protect endangered salmon, regardless of whether flood
reconstructions were
necessary there. Likewise, even operators of Hoover and
Glen Canyon dams,
say, would have been permitted to ignore species
considerations along the
Colorado - a huge set-back.
And so moderate Republicans, led by Rep.
Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., joined
Democrats to rebel - and win. No sooner had
Boehlert reasonably narrowed the
waiver to include only emergency repairs,
than Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska,
pulled the measure entirely, proving the
sponsors' real motivation as
wholesale weakening of a key law. The bottom
line: Congress' greenish
majority had blocked passage of a sneaky,
unnecessary and ecologically
harmful free pass to developers.
It is
probably too much to draw grand conclusions from the defeat of this
crude
attempt to capitalize on the emotions raised by the human toll of
flooding.
Still, last week's vote serves notice that environmental
stewardship retains
as high or higher a priority in this Congress as it
gained in the last. House
Speaker Gingrich should note this - in the future,
and now, as Don Young
reportedly pressures him for a revote on this lousy
measure this
week.
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