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Lower San Pedro River Important Bird Area

For Immediate Release, June 4, 2008

Contact:	Dr. Robin Silver, Center for Biological Diversity (602) 246-4170
	Herb Fibel, Maricopa Audubon (480) 966-5246
	Dr. Paul Green, Tucson Audubon (520) 777-9525

PHOENIX, AZ—The Center for Biological Diversity, Maricopa Audubon Society, and Tucson Audubon Society filed a lawsuit today against Pinal County to stop the county’s ongoing ecological damage to the Bureau of Land Management’s lower San Pedro River conservation easement southeast of Phoenix. The suit seeks to revoke the county’s eminent domain seizure of federal property, to limit entry of damaging off-road vehicle traffic, and to stop the county’s dredge-and-fill operations in the river. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix.

The lawsuit results from Pinal County’s January 31, 2008 seizure of a local ranching family’s private property, which is restricted by a Bureau of Land Management conservation easement. In 1996, the family had sold the conservation easement on its property to protect its rare year-round stream and habitat from cattle grazing and off-road vehicles. The conservation easement restricts motorized access to emergency and administrative use only.

The county used eminent domain seizure to create an unrestricted passageway across the San Pedro River through the conservation area. It did so in local county court proceedings, claiming an “emergency” need to create an unrestricted San Pedro River passageway and testifying that they did not “believe BLM will raise any objection to the condemnation proceeding.”

Only no emergency existed, and the Bureau of Land Management objects.

The conservation easement is federal property. Seizure of federal property by the county violates the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, prohibiting seizure of federal property without federal permission.

The Bureau of Land Management did not approve the county’s seizure; its signs in the conservation area still read “NO MOTORIZED VEHICLES, ADMINISTRATIVE USE ONLY.” Emergency access has never been denied. The lawsuit seeks revocation of the county’s eminent domain seizure of the conservation area.

The county is maintaining the newly unrestricted passageway open to all traffic, including off-road vehicles. Off-road vehicles are now accessing the streambed and stream banks via the passageway. The result is accelerating erosion and destruction of streamside habitat.

The county maintains its newly unrestricted passageway by bulldozing in the stream and by importing fill from outside the area, but the Clean Water Act requires a federal permit prior to dredging and filling in a year-round stream. Pinal County has no permit. The lawsuit seeks an injunction against the county’s dredge-and-fill operations in the river.

The Bureau of Land Management’s lower San Pedro River conservation easement is home to an endangered songbird, the Southwestern willow flycatcher, which has been federally protected as endangered since 1995. The Center initiated protective efforts for the flycatcher in 1992. The lower San Pedro River has been designated as federal critical habitat for the flycatcher since 1997.

“We cannot allow Pinal County’s misuse of the eminent domain process to destroy the conservation area. We must protect the Southwestern willow flycatcher and the San Pedro River,” said the Center’s Robin Silver.

“Tucson Audubon has been instrumental in securing Important Bird Area designation for the lower San Pedro River. The area is crucial habitat for recovery of the imperiled Southwestern willow flycatcher, and for the Western yellow-billed cuckoo. It is also an area of global importance for Bell’s vireo. Pinal County’s destructive activities must be halted,” said Tucson Audubon’s Paul Green.

“Maricopa Audubon has a long history of protecting the San Pedro River. Pinal County’s advocacy for wanton ORV abuse in such a sensitive and important conservation preserve is inexcusable,” said Maricopa Audubon’s Herb Fibel.

The Center for Biological Diversity, Maricopa Audubon, and Tucson Audubon are represented by attorney Cliff Levenson of Phoenix and the Center’s Mike Senatore.

Conserving Arizona’s Future Lands Voter Initiative Endorsed by Audubon Arizona

Conserving Arizona’s Future will reform state trust land management to:

• Conserve and protect 570,000 acres of some of the most important natural areas in Arizona
• Require the state land department and local communities to cooperate in planning for trust land
• Protect and guarantee essential classroom funding through improved management of state trust lands

Where can I get a copy of the initiative?
If you get calls asking where people can get copies of the imitative, please refer them to this link (from the Arizona Secretary of State's election website).

Where can I get petitions to collects signatures?
Call Petition Partners at (480) 874-8100. Drew Chavez is the lead person handling the signature gathering, but anyone at Petition Partners should be able to provide information. They will send out petitions and can give you up to the date information about when to send them back and how to sign people up. Remember, all signatures on a page must be from the same county so if you are at an event with people from several counties you will need a separate petition for each county. Including sending out a stack of petitions for grassroots canvassing by other groups.  Every petition gathered saves us $3.00 we can use to get the message out.

Audubon Arizona recently endorsed the “Conserving Arizona’s Water and Land” campaign, the state trust land ballot initiative spearheaded by the Nature Conservancy. To learn more or to help, please contact Magill Weber @ 602.322.6989 or via email.