DESERT CONSERVATION UPDATE
by John McCully

The California Fish and Game Commission has decided to remove the Mojave ground squirrel from the state's list of endangered species. This list is more likely to be affected by local pressure than is the federal list maintained in far off Washington. Developers in Ridgecrest and California City complained of economic hardship and were able to convince the commission of the need to remove the squirrel from the list so they could bring on the bulldozers. This is the first time that a living species has been removed from the state list without evidence that it has recovered from its threatened status. The Sierra Club has filed a suit challenging the decision.

On August 28 the Los Angeles Times reported that Federal wildlife officials were proposing to designate 6.6 million acres in four Western states as habitat critical to the survival of the desert tortoise. This designation will provide an additional hurdle for projects involving federal funds. The proposed Ward Valley nuclear dump is within the designated area. As of this writing the only thing standing in the way of the Ward Valley project is the approval of Bruce Babbit, who says he will not transfer the federal site to the state until additional hearings have been held.

Fixed wing sight seeing tours of Zion National Park started in July and a helicopter tour operation based in Kanab has been approved, although intense local opposition may prevent its actually starting operation. Won't be so quiet in ZNP with helicopters thrashing about overhead.

The usual opponents of the Desert Bill have recently been joined by the always formidable National Rifle Association, which wants to preserve hunting rights in the proposed Mohave National Park. Hunting is currently proscribed in National Parks except for a minor exception, excess elk are hunted in Grand Teton National Park. Although it appears that hunting is not a particularly fruitful endeavor in the California desert, with only two dozen deer being taken each year in the proposed park, the NRA has a long consistent history of taking extreme positions. The NRA is pushing for the park portion of the bill to be downgraded into a "preserve". The things that are allowed in a preserve are subject to congressional discretion, causing alarm among environmentalists, since mining or various other activities that are not allowed in National Parks are more likely to be condoned in a preserve. At last count 36 senators were sponsoring the Desert Bill and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is expected to mark it up in September. It's possible that a full Senate vote on the measure will occur by early October and the Sierra Club is having a lobby week in Washington on September 17-22. For more Sierra Club information about the bill contact Larry Freilich at 213-387-6528.


Because of the pressures of foreign travel, John McCully has reluctantly turned over his DPS conservation chair to MARIS VALKASS. In the future please send your conservation news and articles for publication to Mans at 1728 Van Home Lane, Redondo Beach CA 90278.
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