Officials at Harvard-Smithsonian are still deciding where to place their telescope and say a decision should be made some time in the spring.

Shapiro says he and other observatory officials are weighing a number of factors, but says some of the environmental arguments advanced have not been persuasive. "It's not at all clear that the observatory would harm the red squirrel," he says.

A Lack of Viewing Time

Shapiro's words are echoed by administrators and astronomers at Arizona who say that there is a compelling need for high-powered telescopes.

"In 1980 astronomers from University of Arizona and the Smithsonian realized there are not enough telescopes to provide sufficient viewing time for many research projects," says Steven E. Emerine, associate director of public information and a member of Arizona's Mt. Graham steering committee.

"They found many existing telescopes, such as the one on Mt. Palomar, to be damaged due to light polution. They needed new telescopes at higher altitudes, above 8000 feet," he says.

Emerine says that the University has been conscious of the environment while planning new telescope sites. "We thought we were environmentally responsible to not inflict an observatory on an untouched mountain--Chiricahua Peak in Southeastern Arizona. Therefore, Mt. Graham is the choice."

In a survey ranking 280 mountains useful for telescope observatories, the virgin-forested Chiricahua Peak was first, Emerine says. Mt. Graham, a mountain whose lower regions were logged for a century, came in second in the study.

Emerine says that the need for the observatory outweighs concern over the red squirrels.

"This is a red squirrel like all other red squirrels in America, except they are genetically different due to their isolation on the mountain for 10,000 years," he says.

And Elizabeth J. Maggio, Arizonia's associate director for development and public information says there is strong enough support on campus to go ahead with the project.

"In general, we have good support from the administration," she says. "There has been some protest from biologists, but not enough to stop the project. In a university community, you're going to get differing opinions."

`In Jeopardy of Extinction'

Those differing opinions are still echoing through the faculty at Arizona, where the biology department is still fighting the observatory, saying it would destroy a virgin habitat.

Arizonia biologist Peter J. Warshall '65 discovered the subspecies of squirrel and has led the opposition to the observatory.