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PETITION
FILED TO PROTECT IMPERILED
FISH IN AZ AND NM
The
Center for Biological
Diversity and Sky Island
Alliance filed a petition
on 4-2-03 to protect the
roundtail chub and headwater
chub under the Endangered
Species Act. Formerly occurring
throughout the lower
Colorado River Basin, the
roundtail chub is now limited
to 19 small tributaries
of the upper Gila, San Pedro,
Salt, and Verde rivers
in Arizona and New Mexico.
The headwater chub
is limited to 13 small streams
in the
Gila, Salt and Verde watersheds.
Both fish species
are threatened by competition with
and predation by non-native
fish and habitat degradation
related to livestock grazing,
water withdrawal, dams,
and urban and agricultural
development.
For
more information click
here.
PETITION
FILED TO PROTECT BUTTERFLY
IN MT, SD, ND, AND
MN- SPECIES HAS BEEN
ON FEDERAL WAITING LIST
FOR 27 YEARS
On 5-12-03, the Biodiversity
Conservation Alliance,
Center for Biological Diversity,
Xerces Society, and
Center for Native Ecosystems
filed a petition to protect
the Dakota skipper butterfly
under the Endangered Species
Act. Once widely distributed
across the midwestern
U.S. and south-central Canada,
the Dakota skipper has
disappeared entirely from
Iowa and Illinois, and from
much of Minnesota, North
Dakota, and South Dakota
Conversion of prairie to cropland
is the primary reason
for the butterfly's decline.
The Dakota skipper depends
on high-quality prairie habitat
for survival, and is
also an important indicator
of prairie health. Prairie
habitat in Illinois, Iowa,
Minnesota, and the Canadian
Province of Manitoba has
declined by over 99%. Prairie
habitat in North and South
Dakota has declined by nearly
75% and the Province of Saskatchewan
has lost over
80% of its native prairie.
Gravel mining, road construction,
domestic livestock grazing,
herbicide and pesticide
use, the spread of non-native
plants, burning, and
mowing are also taking a
toll.
Like hundreds
of other imperiled species,
the Dakota skipper has
suffered due to systematic
undermining
of the Endangered Species
Act by U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service bureaucrats. The
agency declared in 1975 that
skipper was a “candidate”
for Endangered
Species Act protection. In
1978, it proposed to place
the skipper on the endangered
species list and designate
five units of critical habitat
in Minnesota. For technical
legal reasons, it withdrew
the proposal in 1979 and
promised to reissue the proposal
as soon as possible.
Instead, the species has
remained on the candidate
list for almost 30 years
while its habitat continue
to be destroyed and its numbers
plummeted.
SUIT FILED
TO PROTECT ENDANGERED
TROUT IN OREGON
On 3-24-03, the Center for Biological
Diversity and
the Oregon Natural Desert
Association filed suit against
the Malheur National Forest
for allowing cattle to
destroy endangered bull trout
and steelhead trout habitat.
The Forest has allowed cattle
to pollute streams and
destroy riparian areas on
the Murderers Creek and Blue
Mountain grazing allotments
despite adopting a conservation
plan ten years ago to stop
the degradation.
For more information see the
press
release.
For more
information on the Center’s
Western
Native Trout Campaign.
SUIT IN WORKS
TO PROTECT ENDANGERED
TROUT IN MT, WY, ID, NV,
UT
On 3-20-03, the Center for Biological
Diversity, Biodiversity
Conservation Alliance, Center
for Native Ecosystems,
Ecology Center and Pacific
Rivers Council filed formal
notice of intent to sue Secretary
of Interior Gale
Norton for refusing to add
the Yellowstone cutthroat
trout to the federal endangered
species list. Once
widely distributed throughout
the Yellowstone and Snake
River Basins in MT, WY, ID,
NV, and UT, the Yellowstone
cut has been eliminated from
most of its historic range
due to habitat degradation
and competition/hybridization
with non-native trout.
The impending lawsuit to protect
the Yellowstone cutthroat
trout is part of an ongoing
campaign by a coalition
of groups to protect native
trout across the western
U.S. For more information,
visit the Western
Native Trout Campaign's webpage.
CONSERVATION
ALTERNATIVE FOR SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA NATIONAL FORESTS
The Forest Service is developing
six
alternatives management
proposal for the six million
acres contained
within the Los Padres, Angeles,
San Bernardino and
Cleveland national forests.
Alternative six will be
based on the “Conservation
Alternative for the
Management of the Four Southern
California National
Forests," a comprehensive
400-page forest plan
authored by the Center for
Biological Diversity with
assistance from the Sierra
Club, California Wilderness
Coalition, and others.
The
Conservation Alternative
is a scientifically based
forest management plan that
emphasizes the value of
preserving species, ecosystems,
habitat, watersheds,
and wilderness as well as
maintaining opportunities
for low-impact recreation
in the most highly visited
national forests in the nation.
The plan is available
on our website, click
here.
Click
now and become a member of
the Center for Biological
Diversity, and ensure a future
for wildlife and habitat.
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