"Until the number of squirrels exceeds 450, the number the mountain can support, they will be in jeopardy of extinction," says Warshall. "The squirrels' population has fallen due to a bad cone crop. The extreme fluxuation in their food supply due to tree cutting may cause their population to crash."
The squirrels live off seed cones from the Engleman spruce that they stockpile for winter. Each squirrel collects its own midden or pile of closed cones.
"The whole niche of the red squirrel is to bury the closed cones for later," says Warshall. "The cold microclimate under the tree canopy insures the seed cones remain closed. If the temperature under the tree heats up, the cones open, and other animals can get the seeds."
Warshall contends that a "fact war" is raging about how much of the squirrels' habitat will be encroached upon by the planned observatory.
About 650 acres of habitat remain now. Nine acres are to be cut for observatory construction. "Nine acres actually means 40 acres of damage to the squirrels habitat due to the `edge effect,'" says Warshall. "Sunlight and wind heat up the area of forest near the cut line, creating a microclimate too warm for the squirrels' use."
The fight over the Mt. Graham squirrel extends beyond academia. The squirrel is listed as an endangered species by the Fish and Wildlife Service. Because the squirrels are a listed species, their population is monitored by the U.S. Forest service.
Allegations of Fraud
A 1988 biological opinion about the Mt. Graham Red Squirrel from the Fish and Wildlife Service's regional director, Michael Spear, wreaked havoc in local and national environmental circles. He argued that the proposed observatory would not threaten the fragile squirrel population.
Spear's document became the basis for an exemption attached to conservation legislation in Congress that allowed development of Mt. Graham.
The Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund challenged Spear's opinion, and in June, Congress's Governmental Accounting Office labeled his report as "fraudulent."
"Michael Spear took his own opinion and weighed it against biological facts," says Robert A. Witzeman, director of the Maricopa Audubon Society.
In light of the false basis for the rider's passage in Congress, the Sierra Club Legal Defense appealed to the U.S. Justice Department to change the exception that allows development of Mt. Graham.
"One month ago the Justice Department made a ruling--consisting only of a news release--that the Idaho-Arizona Act exempts the red squirrel from the Endangered Species Act," says Witzeman. "It came as quite a surprise to the drafters of the act. They seem to think the squirrel is not exempt."
A bill, introduced by Gerry Studds (D-Mass.), the chair of the House Subcommittee of Fisheries and the Environment, would reverse the observatories special status. But the measure did not pass this session.
A final hearing with the Justice Department is scheduled for December, and Harvard-Smithsonian will decide where to put its telescopes soon after.
Meanwhile, Mt. Graham and its population of red squirels waits. Some of the land has already been cleared, and Arizona is ready to finish the job when the spring thaw comes.