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8.5 MILLION ACRES PROTECTED FOR MEXICAN
SPOTTED OWL
On August 31, 2004
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated 8.6 million acres
of critical habitat for the Mexican spotted owl including 4
million acres in Arizona, 2
million in Arizona, 2.3 million in Utah and 332,000 in Colorado. The designation came
in response to a court order which struck down the previous Bush
administration designation of 4.6 million acres as
"nonsensical.”
Unfortunately, the designation is still 5
million acres less than that proposed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service biologists. In the past four years the administration
has stripped way approximately 45 million acres from the
biologists’ protection
proposals.
The suit was filed
by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Native
Ecosystems. It was argued by Matt Kenna of Kenna & Hickcox
and Neil Levine of Earthjustice.
WILDERNESS POWERLINE STOPPED IN
ARIZONA
On July 21, 2004 the
Coronado National Forest announced it will
reject a proposal by Tucson Electric Power to construct a
massive 345,000-volt power
line through the largest Forest Service roadless area in
southern Arizona. The line would also
cut through a potential Wild and Scenic River and proposed
wilderness area called the Tumacacori Highlands. It would have
destroyed critical habitat for the Mexican spotted owl and
harmed habitat for the jaguar and Gentry indigo bush. The Center
for Biological Diversity won endangered species protection for
the owl in
1993, the jaguar in 1997, and petitioned to list the indigo bush
as endangered in 2002. It has sued the Forest Service for
refusing to propose Wild and Scenic Rivers throughout Arizona.
The powerline was
opposed by the Center, Sky Island Alliance and the Arizona
Wilderness Campaign.
4,649 ACRES TO BE
PROTECTED FOR CALIFORNIA SHREW
On August 19, 2004
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to designate 4,649
acres of critical habitat for the Buena Vista Lake ornate shrew. The
high endangered shrew formerly inhabited wetlands and riparian
areas in the Tulare, Buena Vista, Kern, and
Goose Lakes watersheds of the southern
San
Joaquin Valley. Over 95 percent of
these wetlands have been destroyed by agribusiness, reducing the
shrew to just four scattered, tiny populations. It was listed as
an endangered species in March 2002 due to a lawsuit by the
Center for Biological Diversity to end more than a decade of
delays in protection. Only 30 shrews have been sighted in the
past decade.
PUGET SOUND HERRING INCH
CLOSER TO PROTECTION
On August 10, 2004
the National Marine Fisheries Service issued an initial positive
decision on a petition by the Center for Biological Diversity,
Ocean Advocates and others to list the Cherry Point herring
population as an endangered species.
Once Washington state's largest
herring population, the Cherry Point fish have declined by
90 percent in the past 30 years
due to industrial development and pollution. The fish are a
distinct population of Pacific herring which spawns along the
open shoreline north of Bellingham. Two major oil
refineries and an aluminum smelter near Cherry Point have
directly impacted its spawning grounds through dock construction
and operation, outfall discharge, vessel traffic, and disease
and foreign species introduced from ship ballast water. More
than 70 spills have dumped tens of thousands of gallons of crude
oil and poisoned water over the spawning grounds since the
Cherry Point refineries were built in 1973. One large oil spill
during spawning season could completely wipe out the
population.
In addition to the
Center and Ocean Advocates, the coalition moving to protect the
herring includes the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance, Public
Employees for Environmental Responsibility, People For Puget
Sound, and Friends of the San
Juans.
For
more information.
Click
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for Biological
Diversity, and ensure a future for
wildlife and habitat.
Center
for Biological Diversity | PO
Box 710 Tucson, AZ 85702 | 520-623-5252 | [email protected]
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