Ecos Sue To Regain
4.8 Million SW Acres

ALBUQUERQUE — A Tucson-based environmental activist group has filed suit to reinstate almost five million acres of so-called "critical habitat" for the spotted owl.

The Southwest Center for Biodiversity filed suit May 6 in federal court here to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to designate 4.8 million acres of critical habitat in the southwest's eleven national forests for the Mexican spotted owl, an officially "threatened" species of bird.

The Southwest Center was the group that petitioned the listing of the owl in 1989. In 1994, the Southwest Center, Forest Guardians and Maricopa Audubon Society won a court order resulting in 4.8 million acres being designated critical habitat. The designation, however, was rescinded because the Fish and Wildlife Service failed to issue a "finding of no significant impact" concerning it.

Activists claim the failure by the FWS to complete its critical habitat action allowed them to log the forests with no restrictions.