Frontline Newsletter of Forest Guardians: 11/18/97
11/18/97
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Headline: Frontline Newsletter of Forest Guardians: 11/18/97
Source: John Horning
Watershed Protection Program
Forest Guardians
1413 Second Street
Santa Fe, NM 87505
505 988-9126
505 989-8623 fax
www.fguardians.org
Date: 11/18/97
*FRONTLINE*: THE ONLINE NEWSLETTER OF FOREST GUARDIANS
ISSUE 4, NOVEMBER 18, 1997
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1. REJECTION OF ARIZONA UNRANCHING BIDS APPEALED
2. RIO GRANDE MINNOW HABITAT DECISION APPEALED TO 10TH CIRCUIT
3. DOMENICI INTRODUCES BILL ALLOWING COWS TO RETURN TO SOUTHERN NM BLM LAND
4. DIRECT ACTION UPDATE
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1. REJECTION OF ARIZONA UNRANCHING BIDS APPEALED
Forest Guardians and the Western Gamebird Alliance of Tucson, AZ recently
filed three appeals challenging the Arizona Land Department's decision to
reject the groups "unranching" bids, submitted in late July. The
administrative appeals signal the beginning of the groups' efforts to bring
to end the rancher monopoly of state school trust lands and open them to
non-ranching interests.
The Land Department rejected the lease applications on October
10th,claiming the groups were not qualified to hold a grazing lease because
the groups did not intend to graze livestock. The Land Department made the
ruling despite the fact that the groups had submitted bids two to fives
times what the ranchers currently pay to lease state land. One of the
bids submitted by Forest Guardians included 5,000 acres controlled by
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt's family. In the appeal, the groups argued
the Land Department, which is constitutionally obligated to maximize
revenue to support public schools and other public institutions, must
consider higher bids, especially when the competing applicant would
"protect the land and preserve its environmental values."
In its rejection the State land Department claimed Forest Guardians and the
Western Gamebird Alliance needed to apply for a commercial lease, a claim
the groups rejected in their appeals. Commercial leases would be a minimum
of 50 times more expensive than the fee for grazing leases. An
administrative hearing on the appeals will be held early next year. The
groups are represented by Tim Hogan of the Arizona Center for Law in the
Public Interest.
2. RIO GRANDE MINNOW HABITAT DECISION APPEALED TO 10TH CIRCUIT
Forest Guardians and Defenders of Wildlife have appealed to the 10th
Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver a recent decision by Federal Judge John
Conway to deny the groups' request to increase protection for the Rio
Grande silvery minnow by designating 170 miles of the middle Rio Grande as
critical habitat for the species. Although the Endangered Species Act
requires the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to designate critical habitat
within one year of listing, which occurred on July 20, 1994, the FWS argued
that it should not be required to do so because of its listing backlog and
a lack of congressional funding.
In his ruling Judge Conway accepted agency arguments that its "listing
priority guidance" policy, which codifies the agency's long standing
practice of ignoring critical habitat designations, was sufficient reason
for delaying a final decision on critical habitat. Accepting the illegal
"listing priority guidance" policy, which was implemented in response to
the May 1996 congressional moratorium on species listings and critical
habitat designation, means that congressional funding can dictate whether
the statutory requirements of the ESA are implemented. The groups are
represented by Matt Kenna of Kenna & Hickcox.
3. DOMENICI INTRODUCES BILL ALLOWING COWS TO RETURN TO SOUTHERN NM BLM
LAND; CALL NOW TO OPPOSE THIS BILL
Senators Pete Domenici and Jeff Bingaman introduced a bill last week giving
the BLM authority to allow livestock to return to 25,000 acres of BLM land
in southeastern New Mexico. The area, known as Fort Stanton, which includes
nearly 20 miles of the perennial Rio Bonito and its tributaries, has been
off limits to livestock since 1995 when Forest Guardians filed an appeal
challenging the BLM's authority to allow grazing on the former military
fort. From 1991 to 1994 the BLM allowed livestock grazing through a
competitive bidding process in violation of their land-use plan which
permitted livestock grazing for research purposes alone. The illegal
competitive bid, vegetative sales process at Fort Stanton generated as much
as $16 per animal unit month in 1994. On the Lincoln National Forest,
immediately adjacent to Fort Stanton, the federal grazing fee is $1.35.
Because of its unusual ownership history, the area has never become a part
of the BLM grazing district and a grazing "preference" to the area has
never been issued to a rancher.
Although the area includes some of the only publicly owned low-elevation
riparian habitat in southeastern New Mexico, includes prime antelope, elk,
and deer habitat, and is a major recreational area, the BLM officially
claims that grazing is necessary to "remove excess vegetation at the Fort
Stanton Special Management Area." The bill, entitled the "Fort Stanton
and Rio Bonito Corridor Vegetation Management Act" (S.1509), would allow
for the renewal of the competitive bidding process and also authorizes the
BLM to retain 75% of the grazing fees for management of the area.
Forest Guardians is proposing the Fort Stanton area be designated a
riparian national conservation area and will release a report on the
proposal within weeks. Please call Mark Edwards of Sen. Bingaman's office
at 202 224-5521 and Ann Catherine Clausen of Sen. Domenici's office at 202
224-6621 to voice your opposition to the bill.
4. DIRECT ACTION UPDATE: TAYLOR RANCH AND SANTA FE SKI AREA
Thirteen people were arrested on Monday, November 17, for protesting
logging on the privately owned Taylor Ranch near the southern Colorado
community of San Luis. Two women locked themselves to the axles of a forty
ton loaded logging truck, risking injury or death. The activists are
committed to non-violent direct action to protest one of the largest
logging operations in the United States. Police removed the protesters
attached to the truck with carbide saws and metal cutters, while other
non-violent protesters encountered police brutality in the form of pain
compliance holds.
Opposition from the local farming and ranching community is focused on the
significant erosion and sedimentation that is resulting from the massive
210 million board foot sale. The community is concerned that clear cutting
on steep slopes will harm their traditional lifestyle by filling their
acequias with sediment. Protests to the ongoing logging have resulted in
dozens of arrests over the past year, including two Forest Guardians
employees.
One woman arrested during a week long protest at the Santa Fe ski area for
locking her neck to a Diesel Cat at the site of the parking lot expansion
has a court date set for December 2, in Albuquerque. The 10 acre parking
lot was clearcut by La Compania Ocho, the logging firm that is presently
logging the La Manga timber sale in the Carson National Forest. Expansion
of the Santa Fe ski area has been opposed for many years by a wide variety
of community groups including Tesuque Pueblo, Ski Area Containment
Coalition, Forest Guardians, New Mexico Direct Action, and the Santa Fe
City Council.
John Horning
Watershed Protection Program
Forest Guardians
1413 Second Street
Santa Fe, NM 87505
505 988-9126
505 989-8623 fax
www.fguardians.org