Ariz. tribes threaten U.S. with suit over eagles
Posted on May 11th, 2007E&E News: Arizona tribal leaders threatened legal action and walked out of a Wednesday session with Fish and Wildlife Service officials, saying their opposition to taking bald eagles off the endangered species list was being ignored.
The Southwest regional director for FWS, Benjamin Tuggle, invited 13 Arizona tribes to the meeting after the tribes complained they had not been consulted on the eagles’ delisting. But he acknowledged the status of the eagles would be determined entirely by scientific findings and said the delisting decision was beyond the scope of his office.
After Tuggle would not commit to another date to discuss the issue with the tribes, the San Carlos tribal delegation walked
out.
Raymond Aspa, the fish and game director for the Colorado River Indian Tribes, remained inside and told the agency that although they might have good intentions, there probably would be legal action against them. “That’s why these gentlemen left,” he said. “They’re done with you.”
The Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity and Maricopa Audubon sued the government over the case, claiming Arizona’s 43 breeding pairs of eagles are an endangered population segment apart from the 20,000 eagles in the rest of the country (Kate Nolan, Arizona Republic, May 11).
Arizona lawmakers protested the plan to delist the eagles as well.
Reps. Harry Mitchell (D) and Raul Grijalva (D) sent a letter expressing their opposition to the action to H. Dale Hall, director of the FWS.
A Grijalva spokeswoman said the congressman was in a unique position to look into the issue. He recently became chairman of the House subcommittee on national parks, forests and public lands (Kate Nolan, Arizona Republic, May 11). – KB