Glamis - CBD petitions DOI to list 16 species

[Crowdog]

From: Daniel R. Patterson [mailto:dpatterson@biologicaldiversity.org]
Sent: Monday, July 19, 2004 1:58 PM
To: dpatterson@biologicaldiversity.org
Subject: NEWS: Citizens move to protect 16 dunes animals from Bush ORV plan


CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY -- Tucson
PUBLIC EMPLOYEES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY -- Washington DC
SIERRA CLUB -- San Francisco


NEWS RELEASE: for immediate release Monday, July 19, 2004


Conservationists move to protect 16 Algodones Dunes endemic species from Bush
off-road plan
BLM's plan to open 86% to off-roading puts rare desert wildlife at risk of
extinction.


Contact: Daniel R. Patterson, Desert Ecologist 520.623.5252 x306

CARLSBAD CA -- In a move to protect unique Sonoran Desert wildlife threatened by
off-road vehicles (ORVs), the Center for Biological Diversity, Public Employees
for Environmental Responsibility, and Sierra Club today filed a petition with
the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to list 16 Algodones Dunes endemic species as
threatened or endangered species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act: two
sand wasps (Microbembex elegans Griswold and Stictiella villegasi Bohart); two
bees (Perdita algodones Timberlake and P. glamis Timberlake); one vespid
(Euparagia n. sp.); two velvet ants (Dasymutilla nocturna Mickel and Dasymutilla
imperialis); three jewel beetles (Algodones sand jewel beetle, Lepismadora
algodones Velten, Algodones white wax jewel beetle, Prasinalia imperialis
(Barr), and Algodones Croton jewel beetle, Agrilus harenus Nelson); two scarab
beetles (Hardy's dune beetle, Anomala hardyorum Potts and Cyclocephala wandae);
and four subspecies of Roth's dune weevil (Trigonoscuta rothi rothi, T. r.
algodones, T. r. imperialis, and T. r. punctata). Conservationists also want
critical habitat designated for the species concurrent with listing, as required
by law.

The most significant impact on the Algodones Dunes is intensive off-road
driving -- the dunes are hammered by upwards of 240,000 ORV users on a single
busy weekend. ORVs at the Algodones Dunes include sand rails, motorcycles,
trucks, and ATVs whose tires cut deeply into the sand even when accelerating on
level ground (Stebbins 1995).

"We have to move for protection of these endemic species because the Bush
administration's plan to sacrifice the Algodones Dunes to the off-road industry
could cause their extinction," said Daniel R. Patterson, Desert Ecologist with
the Center. "BLM hasn't even considered these unique and interesting desert
animals, which clearly need Endangered Species Act protection now."

The dunes are currently managed under a 2000 agreement between the U.S. Bureau
of Land Management (BLM), off-roaders, and conservationists that keeps over 106
sq. miles open to ORVs, while the other roughly half of the dunes are protected
for wildlife, and scenic non-motorized recreation. But the Bush BLM wants to
scrap this balanced multiple-use management and open all available dunes habitat
to intensive, destructive off-roading.

The preferred alternative in the Bush BLM's Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
for the proposed Recreation Area Management Plan for the Algodones Dunes (BLM
RAMP 2002) would permit ORVs in an astounding 198,220 acres and protect only
25,800 acres which are already designated wilderness by act of Congress. The
EIS listed only five insect species as "known to occur or having the potential
to occur" at the Algodones Dunes, and only three of the species are endemics or
near-endemics (Andrew's dune scarab beetle, Carlson's dune beetle, and Hardy's
dune beetle). Therefore, the BLM ignored the nearly two-dozen other endemic
insects at the Algodones Dunes for which information has long been available in
the scientific literature. Conservationists were able to locate information on
these endemics readily in published journals, reports to the agency, and via
personal communication with entomologists familiar with the area. It is
therefore disturbing why the BLM made no acknowledgement of these species in its
management plan.

Dunes are hotspots of biological diversity in desert regions, likely because
they are more mesic than other desert habitats due to their ability to store
water. The Algodones Dunes are no exception, harboring dozens of rare endemic
insects and plants within its habitat island. Insect species endemic to the
Algodones Dunes are adapted to the hot, arid environment and often exhibit
habitat specialization, such as dependence upon a particular host plant. Narrow
endemic species and habitat specialists are considered more prone to extinction
than widespread habitat generalists (Rabinowitz 1981, Sarre et al. 1995, Fischer
and Stocklin 1997, Henein et al.1998).

During daylight and early evening, perhaps 80% of desert fauna are buried
underground, and are subsequently crushed and maimed by ORV tires (Stebbins
1995). For example, surveys comparing areas used by ORVs with unused areas at
the Algodones Dunes indicate that ORVs cause drastic reductions in the abundance
of several beetle species (Luckenbach and Bury 1983). These ORVs also result in
reduced plant cover, further threatening the survival of the rare endemic
species of the Algodones Dunes that depend on these plants for food and breeding
sites. Studies at the dunes have indicated that even moderate ORV use results
in significant reductions of plant cover (Luckenbach and Bury 1983, Hess in
prep.).

BLM has continued to push its abysmal management plan despite demonstrated
adverse impacts of ORVs on the species that inhabit the Algodones Dunes.
Therefore, vulnerability from anthropogenic (historic, ongoing, and imminent
human-caused habitat destruction) and environmental (restricted range, habitat
specialist) pressures, as well as a complete failure of the existing regulatory
mechanisms to protect this fragile dune habitat and the species it supports from
excessive ORV use, puts the rare endemic insects at the Algodones Dunes at risk
of extinction.

The BLM plan to remove the protected areas would be devastating to dozens of
imperiled species -- including the Peirson's milkvetch, desert tortoise,
flat-tailed horned lizard, and Andrew's dunes scarab beetle -- worsen air
pollution, and run off hikers, birdwatchers, photographers, Native Americans and
others. In addition to allowing intense environmental harm, opening
conservation areas to off-road vehicles will displace non-motorized visitors,
costing nearby communities in the Imperial Valley and Yuma at least $3.3 million
annually in sustainable recreation related spending.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently rejected a petition by the off-road
industry to remove Endangered Species Act protection for the Peirson's
milkvetch, finding that the rare flowering plant is harmed by ORV's and in need
of continued legal protection.


*** CENTER / PEER / SIERRA CLUB ***

[Crowdog]

Groups' petition seeking protection for insects

01:39 AM PDT on Tuesday, July 20, 2004



By JENNIFER BOWLES / The Press-Enterprise

Environmental groups on Monday filed a petition with federal wildlife officials requesting protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act for 16 bees, beetles, wasps and other insects unique to the Imperial Sand Dunes.

The move, seeking to keep portions of the towering, wind-sculpted dunes in Imperial County closed to off-roading, is the latest in a four-year tug-of-war over the California desert's most popular off-roading area. Known as the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area, major portions of the dunes were closed in 2000 to protect a threatened plant. However, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has proposed reopening roughly 50,000 acres, about a third of the dunes.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service didn't return telephone calls seeking comment on Monday's petition. But officials have said that it takes time to determine if such a petition is warranted. If that is determined, they then launch a study to examine whether the species should be listed.

Doran Sanchez of the BLM said he couldn't comment on the petition since he hadn't seen it. But he said the dunes management plan is adaptable to changing biological information.

"The plan basically is like a living document," he said

Sanchez said the BLM is awaiting clarification from the wildlife agency on other biological issues before reopening the dunes.

Monday's petition by the Center for Biological Diversity in Idyllwild, the Sierra Club and the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility seeks endangered or threatened status for 16 species: two sand wasps, two bees, two velvet ants, three jewel beetles, two scarab beetles and five other insects.

"It's clear these insects are under severe threat," said the center's Daniel Patterson, a desert ecologist. Patterson said the species and the shrubs and plant life that make up their habitat can be destroyed by off-road vehicles.

Many of the insects burrow into the sandy hills, especially during the hot summer days, he said.
Off-roaders criticized the petition.

"It's another abuse of the Endangered Species Act to close the public out of public lands," said Grant George of Rancho Cucamonga, president of the American Sand Association, a 17,000-member group.

The group, whose members roll over the dunes in buggies, motorcycles and four-wheel vehicles known as quads, recently lost its effort to remove the Peirson's milk-vetch - the threatened plant that prompted the first dunes closures four years ago - from the nation's endangered species list.

The Fish and Wildlife Service decided last month the plant should stay protected. In turn, the American Sand Association filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue over the decision, George said.

"It's a never-ending cycle," said George. "We feel the center fully expected the off-highway community to have caved in by now, and we're just not going to compromise anymore."

Patterson said environmental groups won't back off, either.

"The immediate goal is to make sure the BLM understands these dunes have a huge variety of plants that live nowhere else (but the dunes)," he said.

"They ought to understand they need to have enough of a habitat base protected there to make sure these species don't go extinct."

Reach Jennifer Bowles at 951-368-9548 or jbowles@pe.com

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_dunes20.ee98.html

[stuntrunner]

It seems, only in California you heard crap like that.

[Dunesurfer]

Tree huggers out of control !!! I have a really hard time believing any of these would be extinct. There is sooo much area closed to off roading on the other end of the dunes. It's just an attempt to close public land to the public. Makes me want to slap the next dumb arse I see with a sierra club sticker:mad:

[Thump_It]

People are trying to close the dunes down everyday down in Coos Bay. There are a couple guys that live across the highway that are on the phone everyday complaining about the noise that bikes and rails make. Apparently one guy is pushing the U.S. Congress to shut down the dunes. There are also many environmentalist that would love to shut the dunes down because of their beloved beach grass. I say they can go to hell. If John Kerry becomes president, our dune riding area can and will most likely shrink to nothing. Keep this in mind while voting. My 2 cents worth.

[loons]

I have been going to the dunes for 25 years, and I have never seen a damn beetle, scarab, wasp, or bee. Maybe a sidewinder or lizard, but that it. Oh and I have seen plenty of that "endangered" milk veg too.

[allmixedup047]

i mean for christ sakes, they live in the freakin sand dunes. what is there, like 5 people that accually go out there and study them. who cares. LET US RIDE.:cuss: and i dont know about you guys but i dont go out to the dunes to ride around and kill animals. and besides,im afraid of half that $hit. although last weekend me and some buddies went to the dunes and we came across a porkupine( or how ever you spell that ) and a kid that was with us ran over it on purpose. and i could of beat the living dog piss out him for that because there was no reason for it.:mad: . but i guess thats just one of the many wrongs you get when you cross stupidity with quads.