Biodiversity Activist, No. 353
Center for Biological Diversity 
October 1, 2004
www.biologicaldiversity.org
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SIGN THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PLEDGE!

PROTECTION SOUGHT FOR BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS

LEGAL AGREEMENT TO PROTECT U.S. JAGUARS
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SIGN THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PLEDGE!

As part of a national campaign to rally support for the
Endangered Species Act, the Center for Biological Diversity has
committed to getting 10,000 people to sign a pledge affirming
the Act's importance. The Endangered Species Act is our nation's
strongest environmental law. It has saved over a thousand
species from extinction, including bears, butterflies, whales,
minnows, palm trees and lilies. Even the unarmored three-spine
stickleback.

Please sign the pledge today and pass this message along to all
your friends and family.
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/esa_pledge
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PROTECTION SOUGHT FOR BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS

On 9-30-04, Turtle Island Restoration Network, the Center for
Biological Diversity and Earthjustice petitioned the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service to list the black-footed albatross as an
endangered species. The seabird nests almost exclusively in the
northwestern Hawaiian Islands. It was decimated in the early
20th century by plume hunters and is currently threatened by the
industrial longline fishing industry for swordfish and tuna. The
industry sets nearly 10 billion baited hooks each year, killing
over 300,000 seabirds of various species. The Bush
administration's recent reopening of the Hawaii-based longline
fishery for swordfish will likely result in the drowning deaths
of several thousand black-footed albatross each year.

Globally, 19 of the 21 albatross species are threatened with
extinction. In each case, a primary threat is longline fishing.
About 60,000 nesting pairs of black-footed albatrosses survive
today. As many as 14,000 are estimated to be killed by longline
fishing each year.

The black-footed albatross has a wingspan of over six feet and
spends much of its life on the wing, scooping flying fish eggs,
squid and fish from the ocean surface while foraging along the
western coast of the United States. It is long-lived with a life
history similar to humans. They mate for life, lay only one egg
per year, and if one of the pair dies, it can take three or more
years before the living partner finds another mate and begins to
reproduce again. These life history traits make them highly
susceptible to extinction when animals of reproductive age are
killed.

Immediate Endangered Species Act protection looks grim. The Bush
administration has placed fewer species on the endangered
species list than any presidency in history, is the only
administration to have never listed a species on its own, and
has removed more species from the endangered list than any other
administration.

For more information:
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/press/albatross10-1-04.html
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LEGAL AGREEMENT TO PROTECT U.S. JAGUARS

On 9-24-04, the Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of
Wildlife reached a settlement agreement with the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service which should lead to the development of a
recovery plan and critical habitat for the jaguar. The jaguar
was listed as an endangered species in 1997 due to a Center
lawsuit, but the agency has refused to prepare a federal
recovery plan or identify critical habitat areas. Settling a
lawsuit filed in July 2003, the agreement requires the agency to
issue a new critical habitat decision by July 3, 2006 at which
time adequacy of habitat protection and recovery planning will
be reanalyzed.

Reports by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National
Marine Fisheries Service show that species with critical habitat
and recovery plans recover much faster than species without.
Nonetheless, the Bush administration has dramatically reduced
the number of recovery plans being developed and has refused to
designate a single critical habitat except under court order.

The Arizona Department of Game and Fish developed a state-wide
map indicating habitat that may be suitable for jaguar
re-occupation. The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish has
done the same, but the interagency Jaguar Conservation Team
rejected New Mexico's map as inadequate, indicating that
additional areas qualify as habitat. The New Mexico map will be
redone.

Although jaguars are typically thought of as rainforest
creatures, historically they also lived in the United States and
have been recorded in the southern tier of states from
California through Louisiana. Like wolves, jaguars were
exterminated by the federal government and by ranchers. A female
jaguar with kittens was killed in the early 20th century as far
north as the Grand Canyon, and others were killed in northern
New Mexico and in central Texas during the 1930s and 1940s. The
last female jaguar known in the United States was killed in 1963
in southeastern Arizona in the region where Mexican gray wolves
now roam. Over the past few years, jaguars have been
photographed in Arizona and New Mexico close to the border with
Mexico. Additional records considered valid by the Jaguar
Conservation Team indicate jaguars in the Gila National Forest
during the 1990s.

For more information:
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/press/jaguar9-24-04.html
_______________________________

Click now and become a member of the Center for Biological
Diversity, and ensure a future for wildlife and habitat...
https://maxvps016.maximumasp.com/V016U45GEB/joinus/joinus.html
_______________________________

The Senate Appropriations Committee has included a rider in the
upcoming Interior Appropriations Act, S. 2804, that seeks to
eliminate public and environmental review of grazing activities
on millions of acres of public land. The rider (in Section 339)
attempts to undermine the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) by removing any environmental or public oversight for
three years on up to 900 grazing allotments on Forest Service
Land. NEPA is already threatened by efforts that seek to weaken
public review of hazardous waste projects, transportation
projects, and oil and gas drilling. We can't let grazing on
public lands be next! 

Please call or fax your senator in Washington today to remove
the rider from the Interior Appropriations Bill.


You can take action on this alert via the web at:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/grazing_rider/8gxg5d4yj353kd

Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/grazing_rider/forward/8gxg5d4yj353kd

We encourage you to take action by November 11, 2004

Grazing Rider Threatens Western Public Lands

INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA THE WEB:
If you have access to a web browser, you can take action on this
alert by going to the following URL:

http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/grazing_rider/8gxg5d4yj353kd 

Your letter will be addressed and sent to:
Your Senators 

----THIS LETTER WILL BE SENT IN YOUR NAME----
Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

I am writing today to urge you to remove the public lands
grazing rider from Section 339 of the Interior Appropriations
Act, S. 2804. This rider seeks to eliminate public oversight and
environmental review of grazing activities on millions of acres
of public lands. This rider will undermine the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and also threatens to continue
the ravaging effects of livestock grazing in western lands for
years to come.

Ninety-six million acres of our National Forest is affected by
livestock grazing. The ecological impact of this commercial use
endangers human health, imperils species, contaminates water
sources, damages fragile riparian habitat and destabilizes
soils. Livestock grazing has contributed to the endangerment of
twenty-two percent of federally-listed Endangered or Threatened
species. The current rider proposes that environmental review of
grazing allotments is not necessary if monitoring data shows
that the allotments are meeting management objectives. However,
monitoring on grazing allotments rarely addresses the broad
spectrum of ecological impacts of grazing. Of the riparian areas
that have been monitored in Arizona and New Mexico, more than
half are in violation of utilization standards. Without public
oversight, we can only expect the situation to worsen.

For many years Congressional riders have allowed the Forest
Service to delay legally required environmental reviews and
thereby ignore laws that protect human health, wildlife, water
quality, and archeological sites. We should not compromise our
public lands so that the Forest Service can clear its backlog of
allotment assessments. The agency must comply with the law and
conduct environmental analysis, and this rider must be removed
from this critical piece of legislation.

----END OF LETTER TO BE SENT----

Clean air and intact forests - is it so much to ask? You 
and I know the answer. Clean air should be a right for 
all. Forests, and the threatened animals within, deserve 
protection. Take two actions today to make a better world 
a reality, and thank you for receiving "Action," Care2's 
Environmental Alerts newsletter!

________________________________________
1. Help Save the Orangutan and Its Rainforest Home
Petition: http://www.care2.com/go/z/17590

Expectant parents have a lot to think about - but they 
shouldn't have to worry about whether the wood in their 
baby's crib destroyed habitat for an endangered orangutan.

Unfortunately, the reality is that the wood used so often 
in baby cribs in the U.S. is ramin wood, which is subject 
to extensive illegal logging in the rainforests of 
Indonesia and Malaysia. And these rainforests are the home
of the endangered orangutan. The fact is, rampant demand 
for ramin wood could soon lead to the extinction of the 
orangutan, Asia's largest primate.

There are so many environmental crises these days. But the
thought of gentle, large apes like orangutans facing 
extinction because of demand for consumer goods in the 
U.S. is almost too much to bear. 

Your signature today can help. Please sign this petition 
to ask major retailers who sell ramin products - Sears, 
Target, Toys "R" Us and Wal-Mart - to stop selling ramin 
products, and to ask the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to
support Indonesia's efforts to curb illegal ramin logging.
These actions would make a world of difference to the 
estimated 15,000 - 25,000 orangutans that remain in the 
wild. Please sign here: http://www.care2.com/go/z/17590

________________________________________
2. Clean Air Act Threatened - Send a Letter Today
Action: http://www.care2.com/go/z/17592

Stop. Take a deep breath. What do you think of? 

Did you think about the quality of the air you breathe? 
It's okay if you didn't. But right now, our clean air - 
and our health - is threatened by lawmakers who want to 
dramatically weaken the Clean Air Act. 

More than 159 million Americans live in communities with 
unhealthy air. Air pollution from power plants alone 
contributes to an estimated 30,000 premature deaths, 
hundreds of thousands of asthma attacks, and tens of 
thousands of hospitalizations for respiratory and 
cardiovascular illnesses each year. 

So what is our government doing to protect our health? 
President Bush's answer is the "Clear Skies" Initiative 
of 2002, a voluntary program that would achieve limited 
reductions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury 
by the electric utility industry. 

"Clear Skies" may sound good, but it will be disastrous 
to the public's health. Bush's proposal would weaken 
standards for soot and smog, jeopardizing the public's 
health while helping big polluters. Tell your members of 
Congress to pass legislation that will protect Americans 
from air pollution: http://www.care2.com/go/z/17592

________________________________________
3. Activist Tip

This election could be one of the most important elections
of our lifetime. Don't miss it! Register to vote, make 
sure all of your friends are registered, and if you are 
inclined to volunteer, help get out the vote! 

Here are some links to get you started:
Register to vote: http://www.care2.com/go/z/17594
Environmental Victory Project: http://www.envirovictory.org/

Get Out Her Vote 2004: http://www.getouthervote.org/
America Coming Together: http://actforvictory.org/

________________________________________
4. Inspirational Quote

"Treat the Earth well. It was not given to you by your 
parents. It was loaned to you by your children." 
- Kenyan Proverb

________________________________________

Thank you for all that you do,

Rebecca,
Care2 and ThePetitionSite team
http://www.care2.com/go/z/rebecca

Endangered Species Act in Danger

Unfortunately, this critical 
Act is threatened again - we need your help once more to 
protect imperiled species: http://www.care2.com/go/z/17579

The Endangered Species Act turns 30 this year. This 
landmark legislation is our nation's most important 
safety net for wildlife, plants and fish that are on the 
brink of extinction. But there's no time to lose in 
celebrating this historic legislation; the Bush 
administration and some in Congress want to 
limit the Endangered Species Act by weakening 
existing requirements for the designation of habitat 
necessary for the recovery of an endangered species. 
You can help protect the Endangered Species Act: 
http://www.care2.com/go/z/17579

Should politics or biology manage the recovery of 
imperiled species? Tell Congress that the Endangered 
Species Act needs to be protected; there are plants and 
animals that rely on it for survival: 
http://www.care2.com/go/z/17579

There are currently 1,821 species of plants and animals 
listed as threatened or endangered in the United States 
and abroad. At a time when we should be applauding the 
vision of this country to protect declining species, we are 
confronted by an administration that wants to: 
-- Significantly weaken existing requirements for the 
designation, and thereby protection, of habitat necessary 
for the recovery of an imperiled species; and 
-- Undercut the use of the best science in protecting 
endangered species.

Take action today to protect the Endangered Species Act 
and the plants and animals that rely on it for survival. 
Tell Congress to protect the Endangered Species Act for 
our generation and future generations. 
http://www.care2.com/go/z/17579

Thank you for your commitment to protecting endangered species.

Sincerely,

Lisa Sock
Care2 & ThePetitionSite

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/archived_petitions/605696099.html

The public has voted a resounding "yes" to protect deep sea
corals and sponges from destructive fishing. Over 99.9 percent
of the people that responded to the Fisheries Service's first
public comment period wanted increased protections for these
ancient habitats.

However, apparently 99.9 percent isn't enough to convince the
Fisheries Service to do the right thing -- they've reopened the
comment period on this important decision! That's right,
apparently they need more people to tell them that they should
protect deep-sea corals. That's why I'm writing: to ask you to
help by contacting the Fisheries Service in support of our
petition to do just that.

* Tell the Director of the Fisheries Service's Office of Habitat
Conservation to Support Oceana's Petition for Rulemaking:
http://takeaction.oceana.org/campaign/hapc_comments_final/3378bg2hj8jtd5

We at Oceana have filed a "petition for rulemaking" with the
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), requesting them to put
regulations in place that would provide strong protections for
deep-sea coral and sponge habitats.

The regulations we propose in the petition are based around the
principle of "first, do no harm" -- our goal is to ensure that
coral protection is a top priority for government and the
industry, rather than an afterthought.

Here's how we propose to do it:

* We're asking NMFS to block trawling in areas where we know
deep-sea corals exist;
* We're asking them to put a system in place to watch for
evidence of corals in places where trawling is taking place,
and, if such evidence turns up, to check the area for corals and
block trawling if any are found there;
* We're asking them to block trawling anywhere where no trawling
has occurred in at least three years until those regions can be
mapped for corals; and
* We're asking them for stiffer penalties for violations and
increased funding for programs to locate and map coral
concentrations on the sea floor.

Taken together, these proposals would mean that it would be up
to the bottom trawlers to explain why they should be able to
destroy ancient and fragile corals, rather than it being up to
coral defenders -- up to you and me -- to explain why they
should be preserved. And that would be a dramatic change for the
better in our ocean policy.

As I mentioned above, public support for this proposal has been
overwhelming -- but the Fisheries Service still isn't ready to
move forward with it yet. For whatever reason, they need more
people to tell them that it's important to protect deep-sea
corals and sponges before they'll do it.

Crazy? You bet. But we can't afford to let them pretend that
corals aren't worth protecting -- the stakes are just too high.
So if you would take a moment to contact the Fisheries Service
and tell them to support this petition, you'd be doing a great
service for the oceans. 

The final deadline to submit comments is October 15, 2004 -- so
don't wait, get your comment in today:

* Tell the Director of the Fisheries Service's Office of Habitat
Conservation to Support Oceana's Petition for Rulemaking:
http://takeaction.oceana.org/campaign/hapc_comments_final/3378bg2hj8jtd5

Thanks for standing with us as we make the case to the
government that corals are worth protecting!

For the oceans,

Dave Allison
Director, Campaign to Stop Destructive Trawling
Oceana

You can take action on this alert either via email (please see
directions below) or via the web at:
http://takeaction.oceana.org/campaign/hapc_comments_final/3378bg2hj8jtd5

Tell your friends to give their comments, too -- the more
feedback NMFS receives, the more likely it is that they will pay
attention!
http://takeaction.oceana.org/campaign/hapc_comments_final/forward/3378bg2hj8jtd5

We encourage you to take action by October 15, 2004

Last Chance to Protect Vulnerable Deep Sea Corals and Sponges!

INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA THE WEB:
If you have access to a web browser, you can take action on this
alert by going to the following URL:

http://takeaction.oceana.org/campaign/hapc_comments_final/3378bg2hj8jtd5 

INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA EMAIL:
Just choose the "reply to sender" option on your email program.

Your letter will be addressed and sent to:
Mr. Rolland Schmitten 

----THIS LETTER WILL BE SENT IN YOUR NAME----
Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

It is my understanding that the public comment period concerning
the petition for rulemaking for protecting deep sea corals has
been reopened to public comment(69 Fed. Reg. 53043 (August 31,
2004)). 

I am writing to urge you to adopt the rule as coral and sponge
habitats are too vulnerable and valuable -- for ocean health and
potentially for human pharmaceuticals -- to allow bottom
trawling fishing vessels to destroy them. 

The proposed rule would provide the most reasonable protection
from damage to living sponges and corals while having the least
harmful impact on the economic well-being of existing fisheries
and fishing communities.

Thank you for considering my comments.

----END OF LETTER TO BE SENT----

The government of Manitoba has just issued a report that gives the 
green light to yet another dam that could have far-reaching consequences for the 
wildlife and indigenous people of Canada's boreal forest.

They need you to speak out right now on their behalf!

Please go to http://www.savebiogems.org/boreal/takeaction.asp

and send a message urging Canada's minister of the environment to 
oppose the dam until there is a full review of the cumulative impacts from all 
existing and proposed dams.

Many of Canada's indigenous "First Nations" communities depend on the 
boreal forest for their very survival. They have already experienced the 
devastating impacts of hydropower development. Decades ago, Manitoba Hydro built 
dams that flooded the forest and destroyed ancestral waterways, choking lakes and 
rivers with sediment and killing fish.

Even today, fluctuations in lake and river levels, due to dam releases, 
continue to erode the banks and expose sacred burial sites. Manitoba 
Hydro and the governments of Manitoba and Canada signed a treaty that promised to 
alleviate this terrible damage. But they have not made good on that 
promise.

Instead, Manitoba Hydro now wants to build the Wuskwatim dam -- the 
first in a series of hydroelectric projects that would also threaten the Heart of 
the Boreal by cutting roads and transmission lines through some of North 
America's last unspoiled wilderness.

These evergreen forests provide summer nesting grounds for billions of 
songbirds, many of which you enjoy in your own backyard every year. 
But, ironically, the destruction of the boreal forest is being carried out 
in our name. Forty percent of the electricity generated by Manitoba Hydro is 
transmitted to U.S. consumers.

Please raise your voice in protest against further destruction of the 
boreal.

Go to http://www.savebiogems.org/boreal/takeaction.asp
and tell the Canadian government to oppose the Wuskwatim dam until 
Manitoba keeps its promise to mitigate past damage and discloses all the 
consequences of dam building for wilderness, wildlife and people.

Thank you for taking action.

Sincerely,

John H. Adams
President
Natural Resources Defense Council

. . . 

BioGems: Saving Endangered Wild Places 
A project of the Natural Resources Defense Council
http://www.savebiogems.org