Subject: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT #80
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SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#80
6/9/97
SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
silver
city, tucson, phoenix, san diego
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1. QUEEN
CHARLOTTE GOSHAWK E.S.A. DECISION DELAYED 90 DAYS
2. CENTRAL
ARIZONA PROJECT DEFUNDS FISH PROTECTION
3. FOREST SERVICE VIOLATES
LOGGING INJUNCTION
4. FOIA SUIT FILED AGAINST C.E.Q.- AGENCY HIDING
DOCUMENTS LINKING
CLINTON ADMINISTRATION TO SUBVERSION OF
E.S.A.
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QUEEN
CHARLOTTE GOSHAWK E.S.A. DECISION DELAYED 90 DAYS
A Washington, D.C.
court has granted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service an additional 90 days to
decide if it will propose the Queen
Charlotte goshawk as an endangered
species. In response to a
petition and lawsuit filed by the Southwest Center
for Biological
Diversity, the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance and others, the
court
threw out an earlier decision by the agency not to list the
species,
ordering a new decision by May 31, 1997. The agency has
been
granted an extension to consider the impact of the new Tongass
Forest
Plan. The new decision date is August 31, 1997.
The Queen Charlotte
goshawk is an obligate of old growth coastal
rainforests from Southeast
Alaska, the British Columbia coast, and
the Olympic peninsula. The Southwest
Center is expecting a
favorable ruling soon on a separate petition and
lawsuit to list the
Apache and northern goshawks as endangered in all 11
western
states. The Apache and northern goshawks are dependent
upon
interior old growth forests, especially ponderosa
pine.
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CENTRAL ARIZONA PROJECT DEFUNDS FISH
PROTECTION
For the second year in a row, the Central Arizona Project
(CAP) has
requested a decrease in its own budget to cut funding for
protection
of endangered fish. The cut will eliminate funds to construct
fish
barriers to protect the loach minnow, spikedace, Gila topminnow,
and
razorback sucker from competition with, and predation by exotic
fish.
CAP transports water and exotic fish from the Colorado River,
350 miles
across central Arizona, to deliver them into the Gila River
system. The fish
barriers are required by a 1994 biological opinion
which determined CAP will
jeopardize the existence of the four
species.
The biological opinion
was rushed to completion after the Southwest
Center threatened to file suit
against the Bureau of Reclamation for
operating the canal system without Fish
and Wildlife Service
approval. The Center is currently challenging the
adequacy of the
biological opinion in court.
According to a 6/8/97
article in the Arizona Republic: "It seems like
a surprising turn since
Arizona politicians have had their hands out
for federal funds in the $4.7
billion project for half a century. On
close inspection, however, the recent
offer by CAP managers isn't
just about trimming the budget. It's another shot
in a war over things
that really matter: the survival of endangered
species.
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FOREST SERVICE VIOLATES LOGGING
INJUNCTION
On May 30, 1997, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued
a
preliminary injunction banning logging on all southwestern timber
sales
which violate recently amended forest plans. The Forest
Service has suspended
logging on all or part of 20 timber sales,
about 2/3 of the regional total.
The agency, however, claims that the
Bridger Salvage timber sale on the north
rim of the Grand Canyon is
exempt from the injunction and its own forest
plans. The Kaibab
National Forest admits that the sale violates mandatory
leave tree
requirements, but argues that salvage sales are inexplicably
exempt
from the requirements.
All eleven Southwest National Forests
amended their forest plans in
1996 to add protective measures for the
threatened Mexican spotted
owl and the imperiled northern goshawk. The
amendments
effectively ended a 16 month injunction. The agency,
however,
refused to update older timber sales to comply with the
new
amendments, leading to the second injunction. Both lawsuits were
filed
by Earthlaw (Denver) and Steve Sugarman (Santa Fe).
The 11 million board
foot Bridger sale is the largest in the region. It
has been appealed by the
Southwest Center and has been the focus of
numerous demonstrations, full page
newspaper ads, and civil
disobedience.
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FOIA
SUIT FILED AGAINST C.E.Q.- AGENCY HIDING DOCUMENTS LINKING
CLINTON
ADMINISTRATION TO SUBVERSION OF E.S.A.
The Southwest Center for
Biological Diversity filed suit against the
Council on Environmental Quality
on March 30, 1997 for refusing
to provide politically embarrassing documents
as required by the
Freedom of Information Act. The documents show that
Katie
McGinty, a presidential appointee and head of CEQ, conspired
with
California Congressman Calvin Dooley and deputy Secretary
of
Interior, John Garamandi, to subvert the Endangered Species
Act.
McGinty and Garamandi illegally intervened in an
Endangered
Species Act consultation over the effects of Lake Isabella dam
(CA)
on the endangered southwestern willow flycatcher. They
arranged
secret meetings with Congressman Dooley to override Fish
and
Wildlife Service biologists' attempts to alter management of the
dam
to protect the endangered songbird.
The Southwest Center won a
similar lawsuit in 1996 against John
Garamandi's office for hiding
politically and legally embarrassing
documents. The documents led to a
Southwest Center petition to filed
criminal charges against Garamandi. Both
suits were filed by Larry
Sanders of Berliner Law Offices (Nevada City,
CA).
________________________ !!! NEW ADDRESS !!!
______________________________
Kieran
Suckling
ksuckling@sw-center.org
Executive
Director
520.623.5252 phone
Southwest Center for Biological
Diversity 520.623.9797 fax
http://www.envirolink.org/orgs/sw-center
pob 710, tucson, az 85702-710