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<br />.- <br />f <br /> <br />page 2, Coalition <br /> <br />ri~' <br />r <br />;~ <br /> <br />.... <br /> <br />~ Charles Babbitt, Maricopa Audubon Society Vice President, said, "It <br />~ is unthinkable to build a dam which would destroy this unique and critical <br />I:.. riverine habitat for the purpose of building a residential and commercial <br />floodplain real estate development in the riverbed running through Phoenix." <br />Babbitt noted that Cliff Dam is being built to allow deveiopers to reclaim <br />2071 acres of land in the Salt River bed at a taxpayer cost of $800,000 per <br />acre. In the Phoenix area developable lend is not at such a premium that <br />we should risk development that would place 36,000 people in a highly <br />unpredictable floodplain. <br />Alma Williams, spokesperson for the Sierra Club, stated that "Cliff <br />Dam threatens some of the last stretches of flowing river in Arizona." She <br />said, "Because of man's alterations to the rivers of Arizona only a tiny <br />fraction of the river mileage present in the year 1900 exists today. Not <br />only is wildlife habitat diminished, but also the opportunities for people to <br />enjoy flowing streams." <br />Fibel summarized: "The loss of seven miles of Bald Eagle habitat to <br />provide a mere 13,000 acre-feet of water, which is less than 1.0% of the <br />water available from the CAP and SRP, is the height of fOlly." "The irony <br />is that the real estate project must have 21,000 acre-feet of water annually <br />just to water its Bermuda grass and ornamental lakes. To destroy the <br />world's only desert-adapted Bald Eagles in order to create water for a <br />Bermuda grass channel and riverbottom land for developers is absolute <br />economic and environmental insanity," Fibe1 stated. <br /> <br />For info: Herb Fibel 968-7451; Bob Witzeman 254-5237, 840-0052 <br /> <br />- <br /> <br />,-,-. <br /> <br />->- -,~ <br />