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MASSIVE
SIERRA NEVADA TIMBER SALE STOPPED
On 7-1-03, a federal judge sided
with the Center
for Biological Diversity,
the John Muir Project, and
the Sierra Club, temporarily
halting logging on 4,309
acres of forest in the Duncan
Canyon Roadless Area
on the Tahoe National Forest.
Most scientists
agree that fire suppression,
old growth logging,
and cattle grazing have
caused pine forests
in the interior west to have
an excessive density of
small trees under 12 inches
in diameter. These trees
increase fire danger and
compete with large trees for
nutrients and water. Thus
environmentalists have supported
thinning projects aimed at
small trees, especially
near fire-threatened towns.
In contrast, the so called “Red
Star Restoration Project,”
shows how the Bush
Administration is cynically
using the fear of fire
to log old growth trees many
miles from any town. Instead
of focusing on the small
trees, the timber sale mandated
the logging of all trees
over 15 inches in diameter.
Instead of directing resources
to the needs of rural
towns threatened by fire,
the timber sale targeted
a roadless area from human
habitation.
In issuing the temporary restraining
order, the federal
judge agreed that the logging
would likely increase
rather than reduce the threat
of fire because of the
enormous amounts of slash
that would be left over from
the logging. The case was
argued by Rachel Fazio of
the John Muir Project with
expert testimony provided
by Center biologist Monica
Bond.
Learn
more about the Center's
Ancient
Forest Program.
VIDEO
ON CAUSES AND SOLUTION
TO ARIZONA’S DYING
RIVER AVAILABLE
Tucson Center staffer Sonya
Diehn has recently completed
an independent video entitled
Oasis Under Siege:
A Journey Through the Dying
River, exploring the
causes and consequences of
disappearing water in the
southwest.
Featuring Robin Silver, Conservation
Chair for the
Center for Biological Diversity,
Oasis Under Siege
highlights the Center's challenge
to Arizona water
law, which has failed to
protect imperiled desert riparian
areas -- ninety-five percent
of which have already
vanished -- from excessive
groundwater pumping. Weaving
together personal narrative,
interviews with experts,
and the story of a couple
living on the Cañada
del Oro Northwest of Tucson,
Oasis Under Siege is not
only testimony to the significance
of water in the
desert, but also an urgent
call for the reform of water
law in Arizona.
For
the remainder of 2003,
Sonya will be distributing
copies
and scheduling screenings
throughout Arizona.
Contact her [email protected]
if
you are interested in purchasing
a copy or hosting
a showing in your community.
The video is also available
for ordering and viewing
in streaming format at www.oasis.panleft.org.
SUIT FILED
TO JUMPSTART JAGUAR
RECOVERY ON U.S./MEXICO BORDERLANDS
On 7-21-03, the Center for Biological
Diversity and Defenders
of Wildlife sued the Bush
Administration
for failing to develop a
recovery program for the endangered
jaguar. Though the largest
cat in North American was
listed as an endangered species
in 1969, the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service has
yet to create a recovery plan,
designate critical habitat,
or plan for the species’s
reintroduction to the borderlands
of Arizona, New Mexico,
and Texas.
Jaguar once roamed the hills
of southern California,
Arizona, New Mexico, Texas,
Louisiana, and possibly
as far west as Arkansas and
as far north as southern
Colorado. All U.S. populations
were hunted down and
killed by the livestock industry
and government predator
control programs set up to
subsidize the industry.
Habitat loss and decline
of prey species such as mule
deer, white-tail deer, and
elk also caused jaguar populations
to decline. Populations still
remain in northern Mexico
and individual jaguars have
made forays into southern
Arizona and New Mexico in
recent years.
Though put on the endangered
species
list in 1969, the jaguar
was removed from the list
in the mid-1970's
due to what the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service termed
a bureaucratic "oversight".
After two decades
of failed promises to put
the cat back on the endangered
specie list, the Center for
Biological Diversity filed
suit in 1996, securing protection
for the species in
1997.
To learn more about Jaguars.
PROTEST CHALLENGES
RADIOACTIVE MINE
WITH LONG HISTORY OF SPILLS
NEXT TO MOJAVE NATIONAL
MONUMENT
The Center
for Biological Diversity,
local citizens, and seven
other conservation organizations
including
Great Basin Mine Watch, National
Parks Conservation
Association, Sierra Club
and California Communities
Against Toxics, formally
objected in June to the proposed
expansion of a rare-earth
metals mine adjacent to the
Mojave National Preserve.
Despite its track record
of polluting the region’s
air, land, and water,
Molycorp, Inc. (owned by
parent company Unocal) wants
to expand and operate its
Mountain Pass Mine for another
30 years.
Before ceasing
full operations in 1997,
the Mountain Pass mine was
ranked as one of California’s
worst
polluters, amassing a dangerous
track record of spilling
radioactive and toxic wastes.
Over 2,600 chemical,
mining waste, and other spills
were reported between
1982-1998. Molycorp has been
subject to criminal investigation
and charged with fines for
its irresponsible and dangerous
practices and the illegal
storage of hazardous mining
wastes at the mine site.
In 1995 and 1996, Molycorp
pipelines spilled hundreds
of thousands of gallons
of radioactive and toxic
wastes including uranium,
thorium, and radiumon on
BLM lands neighboring the
Mojave National Preserve
that are critical habitat
to the desert tortoise.
Molycorp’s evaporation,
tailings, and process
ponds have contaminated regional
groundwater supplies
and air quality. Several
children contracted a serious
illness while attending the
school neighboring the
mine. The California Department
of Health found toxic
contaminants such as strontium,
arsenic, yttrium, and
lanthanides were found in
the carpet and the dust in
the classrooms. Dust blowing
from Molycorp’s
mine, laden with rare-earth
metals, has long been a
top suspect as cause of illnesses
in children at the
Mountain Pass Elementary
School and among area residents.
SUIT
FILED TO PROTECT
SAN FERNANDO VALLEY SPINEFLOWER — ESA
PROTECTION HAS BEEN DELAYED
FOR 23 YEARS
On 7-17-03, the Center for Biological
Diversity, California
Native Plant Society, Friends
of the Santa Clara River,
Heal the Bay, and Save Open
Space/Santa Monica Mountains
filed suit against the Bush
Administration for refusing
to protect one of North America's
most endangered species-
the San Fernando Valley spineflower.
Once found across Ventura, Los
Angeles and Orange
counties, San Fernando Valley
spineflower populations
were destroyed wholesale
by urban and suburban sprawl.
It was thought extinct until
two populations were discovered
in 1999- both of them on
isolated pockets of undeveloped
lands slated for California
style mega-developments:
the 3,000 home Ahmanson Ranch
development and 21,000
home Newhall Ranch development.
The Department
of Interior acknowledges
that the spineflower is
endangered and that massive
developments are planned
around them, yet claims it
can not place the spineflower
on the endangered species
list because of “higher
priorities.” Instead
it has placed the spineflower
on the “candidate”
list which confers no
protection. Like hundreds
of other species spiraling
toward extinction, the spineflower
was first put on
the candidate list in 1980
in response to a listing
petition submitted by the
Smithsonian Institution.
Twenty three years later
it still waiting for protection.
To
learn more about the Center's
Native
Plant Conservation Program.
The
case is being argued by John Buse of the Environmental
Defense Center.
Click
now and become a member of
the Center for Biological
Diversity, and ensure a future
for wildlife and habitat.
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