PUBLIC LAND ACCESS GROUPS FILE SUIT AGAINST
DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR AND SUBORDINATE AGENCIES

Motorized Recreation Organizations Charge Federal Agencies
With Impeding Recovery of Threatened Desert Tortoise

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - A coalition of motorized recreation organizations filed suit today against the Department of Interior and two of its subordinate agencies in Federal District Court in Utah for knowingly and negligently impeding the recovery of the threatened Mojave Desert Tortoise, violating the federal Endangered Species Act.

Also named in the suit along with the Department of Interior are the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management.

Plaintiffs in the case include the American Motorcycle Association (AMA) District 37, Utah Shared Access Alliance (USA-ALL), the Off-Road Business Association (ORBA), California Off-Road Vehicle Association (CORVA) and the San Diego Off-Road Coalition (SDORC).

The organizations claim that the federal agencies failed to take reasonable steps to arrest the spread of Upper Respiratory Tract Disease, which is suspected to be the primary cause of the dramatic decline in the population of the desert tortoise.

"The Department of Interior's efforts to recover the desert tortoise have been an abject failure," said David Hubbard, an environmental attorney who filed the suit on behalf of the recreation groups. "Millions of dollars have been spent and millions of acres of federal land have been closed off to public use, yet the tortoise continues to spiral towards extinction."

The desert tortoise, found in the Mojave and Colorado/Sonoran deserts of California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, was first listed as threatened in 1989. Since then, the U.S. Government has designated more than six million acres as critical habitat for the species and has spent more than $100 million on tortoise recovery.

A member of the coalition, Michelle Cassella of AMA District 37, said, "the federal agencies are being driven to closure decisions by environmental lawsuits and fail to consider the science or economical impact of the communities that are affected. Recent studies funded by the U.S. government itself clearly indicate that in many cases the public has little or no adverse impact on threatened species."

"Speaking for the thousands of stakeholders who have an interest in this critical issue, we are appalled that our federal agencies have not shown any efforts to implement an immediate strategy to address known existing problems such as Upper Respiratory Tract Disease, herpes disease, shell diseases, or the raven predation problem," said Roy Denner, president and CEO of ORBA. "Their remedy has been to remove cattle, vehicles, and humans from desert tortoise habitat, which we believe will eventually lead to the total demise of the tortoise."

Additionally, the suit charges that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has failed to review and adjust the 1994 Desert Tortoise Recovery Plan, even though the plan, by its own terms, requires such review and adjustment every three to five years.

"We are not seeking any compensatory damages with this filing," Cassella said. "We simply are demanding that these government agencies comply with their own regulations and take a close examination of the millions of acres that have been needlessly closed to recreationists, cattle ranchers, and other groups whose livelihood depends on the desert. The desert tortoise will soon be extinct if the federal government does not radically change its recovery approach."