FRIENDS OF THE EARTH

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The First Endangered Species Lost

Los Angeles developers may have gotten rid of more m a fire hazard when they dozed a patch of scrub grass in the Palos Verdes hills. They may have eradicated the last of the endangered Palos Verdes blue butterflies.

As late as 1981, the butterfly was common to a few brushy areas of the Palos Verdes peninsula, south of Los Angeles. But researchers could find only seven in 1983... and this year none could be found. If, as federal officials believe, the Palos Verdes butterfly is extinct, it's the first species protected under the Endangered Species Act to have disappeared forever.

A Whale Deal

Japanese diplomats have reportedly been pressuring the U.S. Department of State to allow Japanese whalers to continue killing sperm whales. According to an International Whaling Commission decision made in 1981, the hunting of sperm whales was supposed to end forever after the spring of 1984. But the Japanese hope to convince the United States not to enact the economic sanctions that were agreed to at that meeting.

Two U.S. laws could come into play: one that allows the federal government to restrict fishery-product imports from any country found to be "diminishing the effectiveness" of any international fishing agreement; another that allows the U.S. to take away no less than 50% of a country's fishing allocation in U.S. waters for diminishing the effectiveness of the whaling commission.

In addition to objections to the cessation of sperm whale hunting, Brazil, the Soviet Union, and Japan have filed others relative to the minke whale quotas set by the IWC in 1984. Present levels are too low to support both Soviet and Japanese whaling fleets.

Swan Song

British wildlife biologists report reaching a disturbing conclusion about dying swans. In a recent investigation, the scientists found that 85% of the dead birds had succumbed to lead poisoning after swallowing lead fishing weights.

Water birds face this hazard in any area that is fished regularly, but the solution is simple: Nontoxic, lead-free sinkers cost a little more, but they're worth their weight in waterfowl.

The Election and the Environment

Even though they're faced with four more years of the up-to-now environmentally destructive Reagan presidency, environmentalists are not about to give up. As David Brower, founder of Friends of the Earth, put it, "Walter Mondale said, 'From defeat are sown the seeds of victory.' I say, 'Let's plant them fast.' "