We
urgently
need your help to help the tortoise. Congress is back in
session
and a "rider" that will facilitate the Army's expansion of Fort Irwin into
desert
tortoise critical habitat in the Superior Valley is back on the radar
screen.
Please
call Senator Barbara Boxer and Congressman George Miller and ask them to
speak
out to save the Superior Valley for the desert tortoise and the other rare
and
endangered plants and animals that live there.
Tell them
to oppose the Fort Irwin expansion rider because:
·
The proposed legislation is a lose/lose proposition for the desert tortoise.
It will
lose
over
110 square miles of its critical habitat. It will lose one
of its strongest
remaining
populations in the West Mojave.
·
The tortoise is already under severe pressure
in the West Mojave and the loss of
the
Superior Valley will be devastating. The public will lose out because
ever larger
amounts
of money and more and more restrictions on desert users will be needed
to
try
to nurse the tortoise back from the brink.
·
The Superior Valley is a magnificent public resource that
will
be lost for good
once
the Army moves in. An entire species of plant, the Lane Mountain
Milk-vetch,
may
be lost forever.
·
Taking the Superior Valley away from the public
is too big a decision to be made
by
adding a rider onto another bill. Decisions on public resources should
be carefully considered -- not decided on at the last minute.
Without an adequate opportunity to
provide
informed local input the public loses out.
A handful
of votes made a difference in the Presidential race and a handful
of telephone
calls
could make all the difference for the desert tortoise.
Please find time to make one
or
two telephone calls. If you can't call (best) then please send an
e-mail.
