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DEVELOPMENT
HALTED IN ARIZONA WILDERNESS...FOR
NOW
In
response to an appeal filed
by the Center for Biological
Diversity, the Arizona Wilderness
Coalition, Wilderness
Watch and Maricopa Audubon
Society, the Department of
Interior has issued a stay
halting a Bureau of Land
Management decision to construct
a road within the Mount
Tipton Wilderness area. The
road was requested by two
California residents wishing
to build an upscale, commercial
horse ranch on a 60-acre
inholding in the middle of
the Wilderness.
Designated under the Arizona
Desert Wilderness Act of
1990, the 31,000-acre Mount
Tipton Wilderness lies in
the Cerbat Mountains in remote
western Arizona, north
of Kingman. It ranges from
Mohave desert scrub to a
remnant stand of old-growth
ponderosa pine near the
summit of 7,148 foot Mount
Tipton. It is home to bobcat,
kit fox, several species
of raptors, mule deer and Gamble’s
quail. According to the BLM,
over 1,100 vehicles would
use the newly constructed
road each year, and the lights
and noise associated with
the proposed horse ranch would
directly impact thousands
of acres within the Wilderness
boundary.
There
ared 311,500 acres of privately
owned land within BLM
Wilderness areas and an additional
132,600 acres within
Forest Service Wilderness
areas. Instead of approving
road-building within Wilderness
areas to develop these
inholdings, federal agencies
should purchase the lands
through funds appropriated
through the Land and Water
Conservation Fund, other
federal funds, or via private
land trusts.
NEW
MEXICO TIMBER SALE CHALLENGED
TO PROTECT SPOTTED OWLS,
ENDANGERED BUTTERFLY
The
Center for Biological Diversity
has appealed the proposed
Rio Peñasco II timber
sale on the Lincoln National
Forest in south-central New
Mexico. Rio Peñasco
II would log over 8 million
board feet of largely mixed-conifer
trees from approximately
4,350 acres. Over 10 miles
of “temporary”
road would be constructed to
facilitate the proposed logging,
and over 40 miles of
old road would be “re-opened.”
Although termed
a “thinning” project
by the Forest Service,
Rio Peñasco II would
include extensive logging
of mature and large overstory
trees. CBD did not file
an appeal of a separate decision
authorizing thinning
of small-diameter (smaller
than 9 inches) trees on an
additional 23,600 acres within
the same analysis area.
The Sacramento Mountains,
where the Rio Peñasco
II timber sale is located,
are a classic “sky island”
range, harboring many rare
and endemic species, and
containing the second largest
population of spotted
owls in the U.S., with 110
known territories. The proposed
Rio Peñasco II timber
sale would authorize logging
and road building within
a staggering 38 spotted owl
territories, and would directly
impact at least 36 acres
of occupied habitat and an
additional 42 acres of proposed
critical habitat for the
highly imperiled Sacramento
Mountains checkerspot butterfly.
While exact spotted
owl populations are not currently
known at this time,
due to Forest Service and
Fish and Wildlife Service
failure to institute required
population monitoring
programs, recent studies
suggest the population is declining
at a rate of greater than
10% per year. The Sacramento
Mountains checkerspot butterfly
is currently proposed
as an endangered species
under the Endangered Species
Act, but the Fish and Wildlife
Service is over two years
late in finalizing the designation.
SUIT TO
CHALLENGE BUSH DELAY IN PROTECTING
ENDANGERED SIERRA NEVADA
AMPHIBIANS
The
Center for Biological Diversity
and Pacific Rivers Council
have notified the Bush administration
that we will sue
over a decision by the U.
S. Fish and Wildlife Service
to delay federal protection
for the Sierra Nevada mountain
yellow-legged frog (Rana
muscosa) and the Yosemite
toad (Bufo canorus).
The Wildlife Service declared
both species to be biologically
endangered, but refused
to list them as endangered
species, claiming it was
too “busy” with
higher priorities. The Bush
administration, however,
has the slowest rate of listing
endangered species since
Reagan in 1982.
The mountain yellow-legged
frog, which inhabits high
elevation lakes, ponds, and
streams in the Sierra Nevada,
has disappeared from 70-90
percent of its historic range.
The Yosemite toad has disappeared
from over half of
its historical locations
in the central Sierra.
Both are thought to be declining
due to predation by
introduced trout, habitat
degradation caused by livestock
grazing, and the impacts
of drought and environmental
changes caused by global
warming. Disease has ravaged
many frog populations recently
factors such as
pesticide drift into the
Sierra Nevada, acid precipitation,
and increased ultraviolet
radiation as a result of ozone
depletion likely render amphibians
much more susceptible
to disease. Recent frog surveys
in relatively pristine
areas of the Sierra Nevada
in the John Muir Wilderness
and Kings Canyon National
Park revealed an alarming
extinction rate of over 40
percent in the last 5 to
7 years alone.
USE YOUR
ONLINE PURCHASES TO SUPPORT
THE CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
The
Center for Biological Diversity
has teamed up with ForSociety.com
to use the growth of online
purchasing to raise money
for endangered species. The
company's website is an
online shopping emporium
linked to over 400 online retailers
such as Amazon. ForSociety
will donate 100% of its commission
(usually 5-30% of the purchase
price) to the Center
for all purchases made through
the Center’s portal
on the ForSociety.com website.
There is nothing to join,
just click on the link below
when you plan to purchase
online. It will bring you
to the Center’s portal:
www.forsociety.com/com/cfbd/index.html
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