Environmentalists sue feds over endangered bird

Thursday, April 17, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Environmentalists have sued the Bureau of Reclamation, charging that the federal agency must manage Hoover Dam to benefit endangered species and ecosystems downstream as well as provide water and energy.

The Southwest Center for Biological Diversity of Tucson, Ariz., filed suit Wednesday, asking U.S. District Judge Earl Carl in Phoenix to restore habitat for the Southwestern willow flycatcher, an endangered bird.

It's been a year since the Bureau of Reclamation created a man-made flood from Glen Canyon Dam along the lower Colorado River to rebuild lost beaches and endangered habitat within Grand Canyon National Park.

But the rising water in Lake Mead has created a threat to 1,300 acres of the bird's habitat. If the lawsuit is successful, the lake could drop by 23 feet. The bureau would have to release 3.5 million acre-feet of water from Lake Mead.

Flycatcher habitat is located where the river flows into Lake Mead from the Grand Canyon. Other flycatcher places are within the Grand Canyon and on Hualapai tribal lands.

Flycatchers have dropped to 300 pairs. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has said the bird will become extinct, the lawsuit said.

Water levels behind Hoover Dam have been held at high levels for the past 22 months, endangering and killing the bird's habitat, the suit argues.

Surplus water was declared on the Colorado in 1996 and 1997, meaning significantly better-than-average water flowed in the river basin.

"Reclamation has got to lower lake levels before the habitat dies," said David Hogan, rivers coordinator for the center.

"This is an historic day. From now on, wildlife and ecosystems will be on equal footing with agribusiness, and dam management will be brought into the 21st century."

The center notified the bureau in December 1995 that it would sue if the agency did not consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service to develop a conservation management plan for the dams, diversions and other activities on the lower Colorado River.

The organization American Rivers announced Wednesday that the lower Colorado is the ninth most endangered river in the country. The Missouri River is the most endangered.

Reclamation responded by entering into a consultation and initiating development of a conservation plan.