FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] Injunction to protect Ivory-billed and White River habitat

["Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>]

TN-Birders:
Don Miller of Greeneville, TN ask that I post this announcement to the list.  
It regards a hearing concerning the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.  It was sent to 
Don and his wife, Alice, by Randy Sargent, an environmental lawyer for National 
Wildlife Federation. 
Don felt some west Tennessee birders might want to attend the hearing scheduled 
for this coming Monday.  

Let's go birding....

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
-------------------------BEGIN FORWARD FROM DON MILLER-----------------

Nice talking to you, Alice.  Below is the information that was emailed.  
Thanks!  Randy

Subject: Show Your Support for the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

 

Dear Friend of Wildlife,

 

You're invited to watch the National Wildlife Federation and Arkansas Wildlife 
Federation in action! NWF and AWF recently filed an injunction to stop further 
construction on the Grand Prairie irrigation project until the court rules on 
the claim that the Endangered Species Act has been violated, placing the newly 
rediscovered ivory-billed woodpecker in harm's way. 

 

Show your support by attending the hearing!

 

WHEN:

Monday, Feb. 6, 2006 

9:00 a.m.- ?

 

WHERE:

Federal Building / Courthouse

615 South Main, Courtroom #324

Jonesboro, Ark.

 

MORE ABOUT THE CASE:

The Army Corps of Engineers has refused to perform an in-depth investigation 
into the threats posed by the Grand Prairie irrigation project to the 
ivory-billed woodpecker and the bottomland hardwood forests that provide the 
woodpecker's essential habitat. As a result, the National Wildlife Federation 
and Arkansas Wildlife Federation are asking the court to halt construction of 
the Grand Prairie Irrigation project until a formal Endangered Species Act 
consultation is performed and ruled upon.

 

The Grand Prairie Area Demonstration Project (GPADP) is a $319 million U.S. 
Army Corps of Engineers project designed to pump 158 billion gallons of water a 
year from Arkansas' lower White River to irrigate 867 rice farms in four 
counties in eastern Arkansas. 

 

By the Corps' own estimate, the project will lower the level of the White River 
by approximately 1 foot. Such massive withdrawals will permanently alter the 
complex hydrology of internationally acclaimed forested wetlands that line the 
river and rely on its seasonal pulses of high water for their continued health 
and vitality. Thousands of acres of these bottomland forests have long been 
protected by their inclusion in the Cache River and White River National 
Wildlife Refuges.    

 

In 2004, the ivory-billed woodpecker was sighted for the first time in 60 years 
in the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Arkansas. Based on 
recent sound recordings, the ivory-bill is now also believed to be present in 
the White River National Wildlife Refuge.   Despite worldwide interest in the 
bird's rediscovery and public pledges by Interior Secretary Gale Norton to aid 
in its recovery, the Corps is forging ahead with the Grand Prairie Project, 
building its massive pumping station at DeValls Bluff, less than 20 miles from 
where the woodpecker was sighted.  

 

Despite the importance of these wetlands and the National Wildlife Refuges 
charged with protecting them, the Corps has refused to perform an in-depth 
investigation into the impacts of the project on the ivory bill and its 
habitat. They have refused to do either a formal consultation under the 
Endangered Species Act or a supplemental Environmental Impact Statement to 
formally study the impact of the project on the bird, even though they admit 
that the Grand Prairie project will destroy part of the ivory bill's habitat 
and that the amount and quality of habitat needed by this critically endangered 
bird is not yet known.

      

Despite the lack of any real factual dispute on these points, the Corps is 
rushing forward with construction. An injunction is necessary to stop 
construction and ensure that the ivory billed woodpecker's already-limited 
habitat is not further damaged and destroyed, and so that options for saving 
the species from extinction are not foreclosed.

 

For more information, contact Jeff Barger, NWF Aquatic Habitats Scientist, at 
barger@xxxxxxx or 512-476-9805, ext.19.

 

Thank you very much!



-----------------------END FORWARD FROM DON MILLER------------------



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