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San Pedro River Conservation The San Pedro River and its watershed are located in southeastern Arizona and northern Sonora. It is a very diverse ecosystems and one of North America's most important wildlife havens. More than four hundred bird species use the watershed, either as residents or migrants. Congress recognized the river's value by establishing the nation's first Riparian National Conservation Area along a 45-mile stretch of the upper San Pedro. The American Bird Conservancy has chosen the San Pedro River as a "globally important bird area." The Nature Conservancy has rated this ecosystem as one of the eight "last great places" in the Northern Hemisphere. However, the river's viability is threatened by groundwater pumping at nearby Fort Huachuca and the city of Sierra Vista. For more information, read the articles below. Other sources of information: Center for Biological Diversity. News * Grijalva letter to Salisbury of Resolution Copper (April 15, 2008)
Congressman Kolbe calls his rider a "common sense amendment reinforcing the fact that the military has no authority over civilian water use in communities near a military installation." The word ‘civilian’ is misleading and inaccurate. Even if we ignore the contractors and civil service personnel (all of whom are there because of Department of Defense dollars), the number of uniformed military in the community represents a significant amount of water use. This is the rationale behind Fort Huachuca agreeing with U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in the Biological Opinion of 1999 that they are responsible for more than 34,000 people being in the area and most of the water deficit. Congressman Kolbe’s rider relieves the Secretary of Defense from the responsibility for water consumption that occurs outside of a military installation. This rider will make it extremely easy for the Army to balance its water use. It has confirmed it will start transferring personnel, housing, contracts and services off post, thereby washing its hands of the responsibility. Lots of soldiers in uniform are already barracked in local hotels! The city of Sierra Vista has told Congressman Kolbe that the Upper San Pedro Partnership will take care of our water deficit woes and it is all the protection that the river needs. So far the USPP has been meeting for three years. They have yet to accomplish their first priority, which was to come up with a water conservation plan - meanwhile the overdraft grows daily. Now is the time for all of us to voice our opposition to Congressman Kolbe’s rider. Please contact Senators Kyl and McCain, urging their non-support of this rider in the Senate. If that effort is successful, a joint conference committee will then struggle with this. At that point, renewed communication with Congressman Kolbe about his voting constituency’s unhappiness with the rider could have an impact. Please do it! His DC office phone is (202) 225-2542. Editor’s Note: For background on this story, see page 4 of the May-June Flycatcher. The law firm representing the Center of Biological Diversity (a plaintiff in the lawsuit) is Earthjustice. A non-profit, it represents hundreds of environmental organizations, pro bono. Contact it at © 2002 Earthjustice, 426 17th St., 6th Floor, Oakland, CA 94612, (510)550-6700, or action@earthjustice.org. A Win for the San
Pedro River Environment U.S. District Court Judge Alfredo C. Marquez ruled that an agreement entered into by the U.S. Army at Ft. Huachuca and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service invalid because it is "arbitrary and capricious." The two entities had agreed upon a biological opinion in October 1999, which stated that Ft. Huachuca’s environmental actions; i.e. growth of its operations, wouldn’t put species dependent on the San Pedro River in jeopardy. In his 23-page ruling Judge Marquez also ruled that the U. S. Army is violating its duty as outlined in the Endangered Species Act "to not to cause jeopardy or adverse modification to endangered species or critical habitat." The lead plaintiff in the case is the Center for Biological Diversity here in Tucson. The Center was represented by lawyers from Earth Justice, a group based in Denver. At the heart of the suit was the contention by the plaintiffs that the Army’s actions would jeopardize the critical habitat for the Southwest Willow Flycatcher and the Huachuca water umbel, both of which depend upon the San Pedro River remaining a free flowing stream. The migrating Southwest Willow Flycatcher depends upon the San Pedro as a transit corridor, while the Huachuca water umbel is a semi-aquatic plant. Prior to October 1999, the Fish & Wildlife Service had issued a draft decision that expansion would jeopardize the flycatcher and umbel. It laid out concrete actions that the military would have to take to save the river. The Center for Biological Diversity asserts that under heavy political pressure, however, the agency later reversed itself, declaring that the military’s water conservation plan was adequate. Because the Army’s operations the overdraft of the San Pedro aquifer is estimated to be over 18,000 acre-feet by 2030. The judge found that it would be impossible to bring into balance what is used and what is returned to the aquifer. The mitigation measures at the Sierra Vista Recharge Facility that were proposed in the Army’s agreement with the U.S. Fish & Game were found to be deficient. Judge Marquez asserted: "Mitigation measures must be reasonably specific, certain to occur and capable of implementation; they must b subject to deadlines or otherwise enforceable obligations." The Army hasn’t yet decided to file an appeal. (Editor’s Note: The information provided in the above article was obtained from articles published on April 14 and 15, 2002 in the Bisbee Daily Review and from a press release by the Center for Biological Diversity.)
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