Stop Extinction Blog

Celebrate Endangered Species Day!

2012-05-17T17:47:00.000-07:00

May 18th, 2012 is the seventh annual Endangered Species Day! Started by the United States Senate in 2006, Endangered Species Day is observed annually on the third Friday in May.

There are over 130 events being held from coast to coast through the end of the month. Here in Washington, DC, we'll be at the United States Botanic Garden for the Endangered Species Day Festival. There will be educational booths, children's activities, tours of endangered plants and more! Please stop out if you're in the city or if not, go to endangeredspeciesday.org and find an event near you.

Endangered Species Day is a unique opportunity to both celebrate the successes we've had in protecting and recovering threatened and endangered species, and to learn about everyday steps we can take to protect at risk plants, fish, and wildlife.

If you can't make it to an event in person, there are fun ways to take part online this year. Listen to some of our Endangered Species Day podcasts, watch live video from the U.S. Botanic Garden Endangered Species Day Festival tomorrow and follow our Species of the Day on Facebook.

You can help spread the word about the importance of saving species by sending a free ecard, tweeting, posting to your Facebook wall or changing your profile picture for the day.

Here's a tweet from US Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) marking his support for Endangered Species Day:

Happy #ESDay! Co-sponsored Senate Endangered Species Day resolution and will keep fighting to protect wildlife and open space.
— Frank R. Lautenberg (@FrankLautenberg) May 18, 2012

However you celebrate, thank you for being a part of Endangered Species Day 2012!

Proposal Threatens to Lower the Bar on Northwest Forest Protection

2012-04-26T05:59:00.000-07:00

This is a guest blog post by Steve Holmer, Senior Policy Advisor for the American Bird Conservancy.

The Obama administration has unveiled a draft critical habitat proposal for the Northern Spotted Owl which the public may comment on until June 6. The proposal marks a significant departure from the standards and guidelines of the Northwest Forest Plan, weakens habitat protection for the threatened owl, and does not reflect the best available science.

The draft critical habitat rule notes that the Northwest Forest Plan “…has been successful in the conservation and recruitment of late-successional forest and associated species on Federal lands (Thomas et al. 2006. P. 283) (p.52), but then proceeds to recommend its dismantling based on two main justifications, that commercial timber harvest from matrix lands was insufficient, and the lack of active restoration in areas that may contain “uncharacteristically high risk of severe fire,” or in moist forests where early seral habitats are lacking.

A number of recent studies and timber sale data raise serious questions about these justifications. The final Northwest Forest Plan was a political compromise that under-delivered on old-growth protection by placing 42% of the remaining acres in the matrix, and overpromised on timber volume. The plan’s billion board foot estimate was never realistic because it is predicated on logging old-growth, which is not supported by the public and that in practical terms has generally been ruled in violation of wildlife protection laws. The estimate was also completed prior to the designation of the riparian reserve network which turned out larger than anticipated. The Bush Administration recognized these factors to a degree, and lowered the estimate to 800 million board feet.

A look at timber sale output in the Northwest Forest Plan region reveals the agency is at a sustainable level and meeting the volume targets budgeted by Congress. Since 2003, the budget approved by Congress and the Administration has called for 4,668 million board feet from the Northwest Forest Plan area. The agencies have offered 4,507 board feet, or 96% of the planned budget. In addition, exports from the region are skyrocketing. In 2010 over 2 billion board feet of logs and lumber were exported from the West Coast. In 2011 it topped 3 billion. There is no shortage of logging in the Pacific Northwest.

While early- seral habitats are desirable for some species, logging is not the best means to establish early-seral habitat. We recommend that agency utilize natural disturbances. Simply refraining from post-fire logging has the potential to create abundant high-quality early-successional habitats. It is not acceptable to convert nesting, roosting, and foraging habitat of the Northern Spotted Owl to early-seral. Under the Northwest Forest Plan restoration of owl habitat, when it occurs, should hasten creation of owl habitat, not set it back by many decades. This provision is unrelated to owl recovery or sound forest management and should be removed from the final designation.

Active Management in Critical Habitat

The draft Critical Habitat rule includes extensive language supporting active management in all areas of owl Critical Habitat, including regeneration harvest in moist Westside forests. The draft goes so far as to suggest that forest management goals can take precedence over owl conservation, and that the conservation of this endangered species must be “compatible with broader landscape management goals”:

This approach has raised the concern of Society for Conservation Biology, The Wildlife Society, and American Ornithologists’ Union who wrote:

“These proposed policy changes have the potential to adversely impact federal lands in the Pacific Northwest to the detriment of spotted owls and other federally threatened and endangered species….we are especially concerned about the potential habitat impacts of adopting untested “active management” forestry technique.”

The groups are asking the Department of the Interior to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement to prepare a scientific approach to test active management forestry’s impact on spotted owl prior to being used at a commercial or landscape scale.

Adverse Modification of Habitat

The draft Critical Habitat rule further states that if projects have considered ecological forestry principles, that in general these activities would not be considered adverse modification of owl habitat by FWS. As a result of this provision, the normal protections provided by critical habitat to address adverse modification may not apply at the discretion of FWS.

Presidential Memorandum

President Barack Obama issued a memorandum to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar stating that logging should be allowed and considered an acceptable practice in all owl Critical Habitat.

Importantly, the proposed rule recommends, on the basis of extensive scientific analysis, that areas identified as critical habitat should be subject to active management, including logging, in order to produce the variety of stands of trees required for healthy forests. The proposal rejects the traditional view that land managers should take a "hands off" approach to forest habitat in order to promote species health; on-going logging activity may be needed to enhance forest resilience.

Society for Conservation Biology, The Wildlife Society, and American Ornithologists’ Union raised concern about the President’s memo stating:

“We are concerned that this memorandum overstates the quality and quantity of scientific research on the potential benefits of active forest management, especially in the Pacific Northwest on a federally threatened species. In particular, we are unaware of any substantial or significant scientific literature that demonstrates that active forest management enhances the recovery of spotted owls.”
Changes are needed to modify the draft as follows:

Active management in owl habitat should be considered experimental, conducted on a small scale, and monitored to determine its impact on Northern Spotted Owls. The necessity and benefits of active management in owl habitat remains in dispute. We recommend FWS develop an environmental impact statement to devise a research strategy that addresses this question. The Northwest Forest Plan allows for management experiments in the designated Adaptive Management Areas; we recommend that these projects be limited to those areas.

The proposed definition of adverse modification of habitat is not supported by the best available science. We recommend that the standards and guidelines of the Northwest Forest Plan be used to preclude inappropriate or unsustainable management practices. The Northwest Forest Plan allows for restoration and provides standards and guidelines that are more protective of owls and better suited to experiments in ecological restoration.

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Take action! Tell President Obama to protect old growth forests vital to the survival of Northern Spotted Owls.

Shoot Down Polar Bear Trophy Hunts and Other Radical Proposals

2012-04-13T12:23:00.001-07:00

This post is a guest blog from Michael Markarian, President of the Humane Society Legislative Fund.

As early as next week, the U.S. House of Representatives may consider H.R. 4089, the so-called “Sportsmen’s Heritage Act of 2012,” a highly controversial omnibus bill that combines several radical hunting proposals into one awful package. Among other things, the legislation seeks to allow importation of polar bear trophies taken in sport hunts in Canada; mandate that the Department of Interior and the U.S. Forest Service open nearly all federal public lands to hunting without regard to the impact on wildlife and other resources; and strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its ability to regulate toxic lead. Each one of these component parts would warrant our vigorous opposition, but to combine all of them into one package, is a disgrace and the House should reject it.

The measure would undermine several current federal wildlife protection and environmental laws, further imperil already threatened species and the environment, and undermine federal agencies’ ability to carry out their wildlife and public lands management obligations. I want to demonstrate why this bill, in all of its component parts, is such a disaster:

POLAR BEARS: H.R. 4089 would amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act to allow the importation of two classes of polar bear trophies taken in sport hunts in Canada. First, it would allow import of polar bear trophies taken in Canada before February 18, 1997, regardless of whether the polar bear was taken from an approved or unapproved population. Since prior to 1997 there were approved populations from which U.S. trophy hunters could take bears and import their trophies, only trophy hunters who killed polar bears from unapproved populations would benefit under this provision. We shouldn’t reward these trophy hunters who killed polar bears in contravention of the MMPA and now seek to benefit from their unlawful behavior.

Second, H.R. 4089 would allow import of polar bear trophies taken in Canada and only from bears hunted from approved populations before the May 2008 Endangered Species Act listing took effect. In practice, it would treat trophy hunters who killed their bears before the ESA listing took effect as though the listing had never taken effect. The trophy hunting community was aware that the ESA listing would take place for over 16 months prior to its effective date, and trophy hunters were repeatedly warned by federal agencies and hunting associations that the final listing would cut off imports immediately. These individuals knowingly assumed the risk that their trophies might not be approved for importation, and allowing them to import those trophies now would constitute an unfair bailout.

The MMPA prohibits the sport hunting of polar bears in the U.S. and it prohibits the import of any marine mammal, including dolphins, whales, seals, sea lions, and walruses. The law should be consistently applied, and we should not have a special carve-out for a few trophy hunters who shot polar bears in Canada, knowing full well that they may not be able to import the trophies under U.S. law. While some argue this is just a small number of trophies, it encourages hunters to continue killing protected species in other countries, store the trophies in warehouses, and simply wait for their allies in Congress to get them a waiver on the imports. It sets a dangerous precedent, and encourages more killing of threatened species and protected marine mammals, which flies in the face of the ESA and MMPA.

FEDERAL LANDS: H.R. 4089 would open sensitive and primitive wilderness areas to recreational hunting and shooting activities, despite the fact that these areas have been long protected from invasive human recreational pursuits. Further, H.R. 4089 would open up national park lands to recreational hunting even though such activity is generally prohibited by law.

H.R. 4089 would also exempt all federal agency decisions concerning recreational hunting or shooting activities from environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act. No analysis of the impacts of these activities to target and non-target wildlife, habitats, or any other aspect of the environment would be permitted. These provisions of H.R. 4089 are entirely antithetical to the science-based principles of sound wildlife and federal lands management.

H.R. 4089 explicitly requires federal agencies to facilitate recreational hunting opportunities on all federal lands. This will raise serious safety concerns, and create significant conflicts with the non-consumptive activities, such as hiking and wildlife watching, of other public lands visitors who contribute significantly more to the U.S. economy than hunters. If H.R. 4089 passes, virtually every decision by federal agencies to restrict hunting and shooting activities would be subject to expensive lawsuits as to whether the decision is “necessary and reasonable.”

There are millions of acres of federal lands currently open to sport hunters who have the opportunity to participate in recreational hunting on many national wildlife refuges, national forests, and other federal properties. The activities mandated in H.R. 4089 are already disproportionately favored against the interests of other larger outdoor user-groups.

LEAD AMMUNITION: H.R. 4089 would also eliminate the jurisdiction of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate ammunition, under the Toxic Substances Control Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has already banned the use of lead ammunition for waterfowl hunting—a policy which has been in place for more than two decades yet waterfowl hunting still thrives in this country due to the many forms of non-toxic ammunition available—and the National Park Service prohibits the use of lead ammunition by agency staff and contractors, with both agencies’ decisions being based on the known deleterious effects of lead. Such decisions should be left to the discretion of federal agencies based solely on the best available science on the impacts of toxic substances such as lead.

This omnibus measure includes several highly controversial pieces of legislation that would severely roll back federal conservation laws and set a dangerous precedent for the management of wildlife and the environment. Please call your U.S. Representative today at (202) 225-3121, and follow up with an email, asking him or her to vote “No” on H.R. 4089.
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This post originally appeared on Animals & Politics, a blog by the Humane Society Legislative Fund.

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Take Action! Tell your Representative to oppose H.R. 4089.

Motivation in Washington

2012-04-06T10:08:00.003-07:00

“Without inspiration the best powers of the mind remain dormant. There is a fuel in us which needs to be ignited with sparks.”
Johann Gottfried Von Herder

Sometimes you need a jolt to fire you up – a little motivation so you can continue to do the work you do.

I got that jolt last week when I had the pleasure of running around the U.S. Capitol with 26 other wildlife advocates to talk with our members of Congress about the importance of wildlife funding.

Federal spending on all land, water and ocean and wildlife programs comprise less than 1% of the federal budget. Yet, wildlife and habitat conservation programs are threatened by draconian cuts. Cutting these modest but important programs will not address the problems with the federal budget but will have real and severe impacts on our nation's fish and wildlife,millions of outdoor enthusiasts, and the economies of local communities around the country.

The Wildlife Funding fly-in was made possible through a truly collaborative effort on the part of The Endangered Species Coalition, AmericanBird Conservancy, Association of Zoos & Aquariums, Audubon, BatConservation International, Defenders of Wildlife, League of ConservationVoters, National Wildlife Federation, National Wildlife Refuge Association, Natural Resources Defense Council, The Nature Conservancy, The WildlifeSociety, Wildlife Conservation Society and the World Wildlife Fund.

I have to admit, I've been doing this work for over 25 years and sometimes I forget how important it is for our Representatives to hear from their constituents and how empowering it is for the constituents to meet with their member and share their personal stories. The participants that came to DC represented small businesses, bird watchers, refuge and zoo volunteers, hunters and anglers, and local conservation groups. And their stories were powerful!

The schedule we had was a bit grueling. A half a day of preparation and training and then we hit the ground running. In one day 27 participants of our wildlife funding fly-in, representing 17 states, visited over 70 Congressional offices!! That evening we celebrated with a wildlife reception at the Capitol Visitor Center. Special thanks go out to Senator Cardin (D-VA), Senator Collins (R-ME), Representative Fitzpatrick(R-PA) and Representative Moran (D-VA) for hosting the reception. And to Representative Heinrich (D-NM), the Director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service- Dan Ashe, and other officials from the Bureau of Land Management and the US Forest Service for also attending.. It was great way to wrap up the fly-in and it provided a nice opportunity for all of us to come together, share our stories from the day, celebrate with our champions on the Hill and talk with members of the Administration.

I was truly inspired by all of the advocates that took time out of their daily lives, left their work and families, to travel to Washington DC to help raise awareness about why wildlife is important to them.

The feedback we've received has been overwhelmingly positive from both the offices we visited and from the advocates themselves.

I want to personally thank all of the team that came in to DC – your enthusiasm and motivation fired me up!!

Cheers,

Tara Thornton

Program Director

Endangered Species Coalition

Making a Difference

2012-04-02T08:45:00.000-07:00

This is a guest blog post by Maggie Howell from the Wolf Conservation Center.

Wildlife and its habitat are valuable national assets. Wildlife-related recreation is an industry that generates $122 billion a year in the U.S. Protecting wildlife and its habitat also supports healthy natural systems that provide clean air and water, food, medicines and other products. The value of benefits provided by natural habitats in the U.S. is estimated at more than $2 trillion per year. (The Economics Associated with Outdoor Recreation, Natural Resources Conservation and Historic Preservation in the United States)

As a member of the Wolf Conservation Center’s education team, road trips are not an uncommon part of my job. I’m often on the road traveling throughout the northeast to educate young and old about the importance of wild wolves. My adventure earlier this week, however, was different from most. I was traveling solo without my most impressive co-workers including Atka the wolf!

Defenders of Wildlife, American Bird Conservancy, Endangered Species Coalition, Bat Conservation International, National Resources Defense Council, National Wildlife Refuge Association, Sierra Club, The Wildlife Society, and WWF invited over two dozen U.S. citizens representing seventeen states to participate in a two-day advocacy marathon to help secure funding for wildlife programs. My fellow participants hailed from all walks of life. I joined hunters, anglers, bird watchers, paddlers, hikers, wildlife lovers, and business owners to meet with our Congressional representatives about the importance of funding for wildlife programs in the Fish and Wildlife Service and other agencies.

Our diverse group met at Defenders of Wildlife’s Washington DC Headquarters to meet our cohorts and for an overview of the current status of wildlife appropriations. We reviewed crucial programs that support wildlife and habitat conservation within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, U.S. Geological Survey, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Multinational Species Conservation Funds. Several members of the host organizations delivered compelling and educational presentations re: the severe cuts that threaten many federal wildlife and habitat conservation programs. We then split into teams and were assigned “Sherpas” to help us navigate the though the halls of Congress.

I was paired with James Brumm, a fascinating fellow and the Chair of the American Bird Conservancy, and together with our super Defenders of Wildlife Sherpa, Marcia Lesky, we prepared for the mission. Our team was the busiest of the bunch, Marcia scheduled seven meetings in all with representatives from both New York and Connecticut.

During all the meetings, the focus of my message was the importance of keeping the Endangered Species Act (ESA) strong. The ESA is one of our nation’s cornerstone environmental laws and has helped prevent the extinction of treasured wildlife including the bald eagle, Florida manatee, and California condor. It exists because of the citizens of this country and a bi-partisan Congress almost 40 years ago had a vision of responsible stewardship of the Earth. Thanks to the ESA, the reintroduction of wolves to our Nation’s landscape has helped to restore vital ecological processes and continues to impact our environment in positive ways scientists are only now beginning to realize. Wolves and other wildlife supported by the ESA have also proven to have great economic value. The wildlife-related recreation industry generates $122 billion annually here in the U.S.. Seems to me that wildlife is a great investment on many fronts.

At day’s end we gathered for a nice reception with all the amazing staff from the hosting organizations, some Congressional staffers, their bosses and more. It was an educational experience that I would welcome to repeat and I hope that our personal stories will have a positive impact on the future of our Nation’s natural treasures. Do you have a story you would like to share with your representative?

Visit http://www.senate.gov/ to contact your Senator and http://www.house.gov/ to contact your Congressperson. Please remember that we all have a voice and the right to use it in order to safeguard our planet for generations to come.

Ocean Action Plan Streamlines Ocean Policy, Benefiting Species

2012-03-21T13:39:00.001-07:00

image credit NOAA

For decades, ocean policy decisions have been made on an ad hoc basis in the United States, leading to both disjointed policy and inefficiency. The Obama administration sought to change that through the 2010 creation of the National Ocean Council to help oversee ocean policy implementation. The creation of the National Ocean Council coordinates the work of the more than 20 different agencies that oversee activities affecting our oceans, coastlines and the Great Lakes.

As part of President Obama's National Ocean Policy, the National Ocean Council recently released the draft National Ocean Policy Implementation Plan. This plan lays out the 50+ actions the Federal Government will take to improve the health of our oceans, coasts, and the Great Lakes. The final Implementation Plan is scheduled to be released in spring of this year and Federal agencies will then coordinate with state, local, and tribal authorities and with NGO's to implement the actions.

image credit NOAA

The Plan is guided by four themes, including the adoption of "ecosystem-based management". This is defined in the plan as, "an integrated approach to resource management that considers the entire ecosystem, including humans." Importantly, it calls for the consideration of all elements that are essential to ecosystem functions, treating ecosystems as a whole, rather than managing their individual uses or pieces. In finding that ecosystems are not constrained by political boundaries, it brings collaboration among all state, federal, and regional agencies into the process of making policy.

The implementation of ecosystem-based management is a major shift in how the United States considers uses of marine ecosystems and potentially beneficial to imperiled species. Some of the biggest problems facing ocean species -- including acidification, pollution, and habitat loss -- can be better addressed if approached holistically. It's important that this them of ecosystem-based management remains in the final Implementation Plan.

The National Ocean Council is accepting public comments on the Draft Implementation Plan through March 28th, 2012.

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Take action! Urge the Obama administration to finalize a strong Ocean Action Plan.

Large Agribusiness Threatens States Rights, West Coast Fisheries

2012-02-28T15:11:00.001-08:00

By Dr. Mark Rockwell

California Representative

Endangered Species Coalition

California Bay Delta

This week Congress is voting on a dangerous bill that would turn upside down 150 years of Western water law. House Resolution 1837 (HR 1837), the so-called San Joaquin Water Reliability Act, removes all environmental protections for the Delta and Central Valley rivers of California and allows destructive exports of water from California’s beleaguered Bay-Delta to politically connected San Joaquin Valley farmers.

If enacted, H.R. 1837 would set an unprecedented standard of state preemption, environmental disregard, and the privatization of a public resource for the benefit of a select few. It would prohibit California from adhering to its own water code and State Constitution when managing its water resources (Section 108(b)). Additionally, it would deem that all requirements of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) would be met through a 1994 Bay Delta Accord agreement, ignoring the last fifteen years of science demonstrating the negative effects of this accord on fisheries. (Section 108).

Chinook Salmon courtesy FWS.gov

Of great importance here is that this law is not limited to only California. All states are open to the precedent established in this bill. Hence, several states have filed letters of opposition to HR 1837 - Oregon, Wyoming, Colorado and California. Hundreds of letters have been filed with the House of Representatives asking them to vote against this bill. This is simply a bad bill - for states rights, for environmental quality, for privately negotiated local agreements on water.

California is a state with nearly 38 million citizens, 2/3 of which live in the southern 1/3 of the state. Water has historically been the center of controversy since William Mulholland dried up the Owens valley in the eastern Sierra and shipped the water to Los Angeles in the early 1900s. this started what has been known since as the “California Water Wars.”

In recent years because of increasing water demands south of the state capital in Sacramento, the central California Bay-Delta, the largest estuary on the west coast of the Americas, has been under siege. Fish and other wildlife have all declined in population, and many have been placed on the state and federation Endangered Species Lists. Since 2001 the efforts to save the Bay-Delta fish and wildlife has been pitted against large economic interests in other areas of the state. Seemingly forgotten are the tens of thousands of lost jobs in the north state due to closures of both the recreational and commercial salmon fishing industries in 2008 and 2009, and minimal openings in 2010.

California Bay Delta

During this time California was in a 3 year drought, and suffering from the global economic collapse. Unemployment was high throughout the state, including the central valley farming regions. Some large farmers in the San Joaquin valley started blaming the water cutbacks to protect fish as the reason they were not able to farm, forgetting the drought or economic problems. A report from the Economic Forecast Center at the University of the Pacific clearly states: “We estimate the San Joaquin Valley has lost 8,500 jobs from reduced water exports in 2009 with roughly 2,000 of these attributable to the endangered Delta Smelt, and the rest to the natural drought.”

In June, 2011 House members Nunes, McCarthy and Denham introduced HR 1837, a bill that would undermine more than 100 years of California water law. This legislation repeals existing law regarding the use of water from the Bay-Delta and its tributaries, and reallocates that water in a way that elevates agricultural uses above all other water needs, including cities, fisheries and environmental uses.

In reality this is a huge water grab by economically advantaged large agribusiness landowners and developers in the southern parts of the state. Proponents try to ride the emotions around job loss and family farms, and blame all the problems in the valley on government regulations. Facts are hard to avoid, however, and while helping themselves to public trust water, they risk further destruction to the salmon fishery that has supported thousands of fishing families and coastal communities since the 1800s. Data shows that 23,000 jobs were lost in 2008 and 2009 in the fishing industry, and a loss of $1.4 billion each year to California’s economy. These are all truly “family” business, and many are gone today because they could not weather the closures resulting from impacts from mismanagement of the Bay-Delta.

If we are really concerned about the economy and jobs, there is much more to be gained by recovering the Bay-Delta through cutbacks in water diversions. Families are important. Fish and wildlife are important. Our children and grandchildren will benefit from a restored Bay-Delta, its fisheries and its wildlife. California is a great place because we have such fish and wildlife diversity. We need to protect it for future generations. Its part of what makes California a great place to live.

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Take action! Call your Representative and ask them to vote NO on HR 1837.

Please follow up with an email after your call.

Mussel Atrophy

2012-02-06T14:25:00.000-08:00

This is a guest post from John Motsinger, a Communications Associate at Defenders of Wildlife.

How coal is killing America’s freshwater mussels

Mussels act as a water filter, keeping our rivers clean and healthy. But species like the tan riffleshell can no longer keep up with coal pollution. More than a third of freshwater mussel species are critically imperiled or already extinct.

Who cares about some little mussel that inhabits a few rivers in eastern Tennessee and southwest Virginia? Well, if you happen to live in the area, news that the tan riffleshell is on the verge of extinction could mean that your water isn’t safe to drink. For the rest of us, it’s yet another sign that pollution is taking a very serious toll on the environment.

These endangered mussels are the proverbial “canary in the coal mine” for Appalachian rivers, and they’re just one of 10 species identified in a new report released today called Fueling Extinction: How Dirty Energy Drives Wildlife to the Brink.

Like all freshwater mussels, the tan riffleshell makes its living by eating small particles in the water. These so-called “filter feeders” remove sediment and other pollutants, thereby keeping our streams healthy enough to support other plants and animals, including ourselves. So when these little shellfish start disappearing, that means one of nature’s vital water filters is broken and can longer keep up with all the pollution being dumped into the river.

North America once boasted some 300 species of freshwater mussels, according to the Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society. But as a result of land development, over-harvesting and chronic pollution over the last 200 years, 38 mussel species are already thought to be extinct and another 77 are considered imperiled.

Today, the greatest threat to mussels comes from various by-products of coal mining and coal-burning power plants. These pollutants contaminate our waterways with heavy metals and other environmental toxins that can kill mussels as well as countless other plants and animals.

Mussels aren’t the only ones threatened by fossil fuel development, however. More familiar imperiled species include:

Bowhead Whale: The remainder of the endangered bowhead whale population is at risk from contaminants and noise from off shore oil drilling and deadly collisions with ships. An oil spill could easily wipe out the small population of whales, which exists only in Arctic waters.
Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle: According to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Kemp’s ridley is the most seriously endangered of all sea turtles, and they only breed in Gulf waters. In the immediate aftermath of the Gulf oil disaster, 156 sea turtle deaths were recorded – most of them Kemp’s ridleys.

Whooping Crane: There are just 437 whooping cranes in the wild today, after overcoming near extinction in the 1940s. But the proposed Keystone Pipeline would run along the crane’s entire migratory path from Canada to Texas, and could destroy the flock with toxic waste , collisions and electrocutions from power lines, and the risk of oil spills.

Drilling in the Arctic. Spilling oil in the Gulf. Building a pipeline across the country. Removing mountaintops to get at more coal. All of these actions have dire consequences for our land and wildlife. Fossil fuels are dirty and dangerous, and they’re pushing many at-risk plant and animal species toward extinction. Oil company executives take home millions of dollars every year while the rest of us have to clean up the mess. It’s time to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and rescue these species from the brink.

To learn more about the top 10 U.S. species threatened by fossil fuels, visit http://fuelingextinction.org.

Read more about the importance of freshwater mussels on Defenders blog and in our magazine.

Watch the interview below with “mussel man” Monte McGregor, a malacologist with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources:

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Take action for the tan riffleshell!
Ask the Obama administration to close the mining waste loophole!

Buried For Cheap Coal

2012-01-30T06:40:00.000-08:00

This is a guest post from Tierra R. Curry, M.S. a Conservation Biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity.

Photo credit Conservation Fisheries, Inc

The Kentucky arrow darter is literally being blown up and buried for cheap coal. The darter is a handsome brightly colored fish that is found in only six counties in the Appalachian Mountains in southeastern Kentucky. Unfortunately for this newly discovered species, its entire range is within an area that is being devastated by mountaintop removal coal mining. Mountaintop removal is a radical form of mining where coal companies dynamite the tops off of mountains and then dump the waste directly into nearby streams, permanently filling in the stream and poisoning downstream wildlife. More than 2,000 miles of streams and 500 mountains have already been destroyed. The pollution from mountaintop removal is toxic for aquatic animals and has been linked to cancer and birth defects in humans. In some counties in eastern Kentucky, nearly one-quarter of the total land area of the county is under open permit for surface mining.

Coal mining has already extirpated the Kentucky arrow darter from more than half of its range. It is a candidate for protection under the Endangered Species Act, but this status does not provide real protection for the fish or its habitat. The headwater streams that are home to the Kentucky arrow darter are biologically rich and are a source of drinking water for people.

Darters are exceptionally interesting fish. During the mating season male arrow darters become showy, and change from pale yellow and green to bright colors with blue, green, orange and scarlet spots and stripes. They undergo elaborate courtship rituals involving dashing, nudging and quivering. Parental care is generally rare in fish, but male darters establish territories and then defend their nests until the eggs have hatched.

The Environmental Protection Agency has recently taken some steps to attempt to reduce water quality degradation caused by mountaintop removal in Appalachia, but the agency’s efforts to curb the practice are under political attack in Washington. The coal industry and their politicians claim that mining is essential to the economy of Kentucky, but the bleak reality is that the counties with the most mining remain among the poorest counties in the nation. The highly mechanized mining employs few people and keeps the region locked in poverty. Mountaintop removal caused the loss of thousands of mining jobs and prevents a sustainable economy from developing. Mountaintop removal threatens the survival of the Kentucky arrow darter as well as the health and culture of mountain communities.

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Take action for the Kentucky arrow darter!
Ask the Obama Administration to close the mining waste loophole.

Fueling Extinction

2012-01-19T06:49:00.000-08:00

Just as we were putting the finishing touches on a new report, Fueling Extinction, the Obama administration delivered some really big news--the State Department rejected TransCanada's request to build the Keystone XL Pipeline.

Whooping crane credit fws

As we've written here previously, the Keystone XL Pipeline could have been catastrophic for one of our nation's most endangered species, the whooping crane. This now-rejected pipeline is a tragic illustration of a simple fact: Fossil fuels are killing wildlife and putting the planet at unprecedented risk.

In continuing to use dirty fossil fuels, we are fueling extinction.

In the report, Fueling Extinction, the Endangered Species Coalition and participating member organizations highlight the top ten U.S. species threatened by fossil fuels in addition to the activists choice of the polar bear. These species range from a bivalve (tan riffleshell) to a rare wildflower (Graham's penstemon) to the bowhead whale.

Bowhead whale credit FWS

These diverse species all have at least one thing in common. They're being driven closer to the edge of extinction by our nation's continued reliance on energy sources produced in the age of dinosaurs.

Polar bears are seeing their habitat melt from beneath them, while facing a new threat in the form of Arctic drilling. Endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtles still recovering from the Gulf spill, are uniquely vulnerable to threats from oil and gas development. Greater sage-grouse have seen their range-wide abundance decrease between 69-99 percent from historic levels due in large part to habitat loss from oil and gas development.

Please take a few moments and read the entire report, Fueling Extinction, to learn more about the impacts of dirty fossil fuels on our nation's most imperiled plants, birds, fish and wildlife.

Welcoming Wolves Back To California

2012-01-09T10:07:00.000-08:00

OR7 Photo Credit Allen Daniels

On December 29th, 2011 the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) announced that an endangered gray wolf wandered into California from southern Oregon. For anyone who appreciates wildlife, or has followed the very successful recovery of the gray wolf in the northern Rockies, this is an historic event because it marks the first confirmed gray wolf in our state since the last wild gray wolf was killed in Lassen County in 1924.

OR7's travels

The wolf is OR7, a 2 ½ -year-old male gray wolf fitted with a Global Positioning Device (GPS) collar by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. He has been on quite a walkabout since early Fall when he dispersed from the Imnaha pack in Northeast Oregon. It is estimated he has covered more than 700 miles on his trek through Oregon’s protected and unprotected landscape- a journey which now includes a visit into our state.

My own interest in wolves began in 2003 when I was a volunteer with the Nez Perce Tribe/US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) on the gray wolf reintroduction project in central Idaho. Working with an agency biologist I would spend the long summer days in Idaho’s vast backcountry attempting to locate established wolf packs, confirm reproduction, and occasionally attempt to trap and radio collar individual animals. We observed wolves very infrequently but when we heard their howls or had an occasional glimpse, it was an unforgettable moment. OR7’s mother, B300, was born in Idaho where she dispersed from the Timberline pack in 2008. She swam across the Snake River to reach Oregon and establish the Imnaha pack. It is thrilling for me to know wolves are reclaiming their rightful place in the landscape of the Pacific Northwest.

Barry Braden releasing
Mexican Gray Wolf in 2006.

The recovery of wolves, California condors, bald eagles, grizzly bears, and so many other critically endangered animal and plant species, would not have been possible without the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The ESA is not just a strong environmental law - it also articulates a noble vision. In it, for the first time in world history, the legislators of a great nation said that it would do everything in its power to prevent the extinction of any species within its border. The ESA was originally passed by Congress in 1973 with overwhelming bipartisan support, including a 92-0 vote in the Senate, and was signed into law 38 years ago on December 28th by President Richard M. Nixon. The strength of this commitment represents the best of who we are as a people. Unfortunately, the current political climate brings ongoing challenges to the ESA- and many of the other laws designed to protect our environment- from the fringes of both major political parties. The Endangered Species Coalition and our 400+ member groups are one hundred percent dedicated to ensuring the ESA remains the law of the land and maintains the noble vision of a Congress and President united almost 40 years ago to stop extinction.

No one knows where OR7’s travels will take him next. He is likely in search of a mate but it is unlikely he will find a female wolf on our side of the border. However, it is certain that others will eventually follow his path. OR7 has made it possible for us to imagine a day when viable wolf packs inhabit areas of California where suitable habitat remains, restoring ecological integrity to some of our state’s best wild places. I know I speak for all who are represented by the Coalition when I say “Welcome to California OR7”!

________________________________________________

This post was written by Barry Braden, a member of the Endangered Species Coalition Board of Directors.

A Cry for the Tiger

2011-12-09T10:56:00.001-08:00

The following is a guest post from National Geographic Magazine highlighting the severe decline of the tiger. In the early part of last century, there were around 100,000 tigers throughout their range. Today, fewer than 4,000 of these big cats remain in the wild and at least 3 of the 9 tiger subspecies are already extinct. As with many species worldwide, tigers are being pushed to the brink of extinction by habitat loss, poaching and climate change.

By Caroline Alexander

Photographs by Steve Winter

We have the means to save the mightiest cat on Earth. But do we have the will?

A tiger peers at a camera trap it triggered while hunting in the early

morning in the forests of northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Tigers can thrive in

many habitats, from the frigid Himalaya to tropical mangrove

swamps in India and Bangladesh. ©Steve Winter/National Geographic

The tiger. Panthera tigris, largest of all the big cats, to which even biological terminology defers with awed expressions like "apex predator," "charismatic megafauna," "umbrella species." One of the most formidable carnivores on the planet, and yet, amber-coated and patterned with black flames, one of the most beautiful of creatures.

Consider the tiger, how he is formed. With claws up to four inches long and retractable, like a domestic cat's, and carnassial teeth that shatter bone. While able to achieve bursts above 35 miles an hour, the tiger is built for strength, not sustained speed. Short, powerful legs propel his trademark lethal lunge and fabled leaps. Recently, a tiger was captured on video jumping—flying—from flat ground to 13 feet in the air to attack a ranger riding an elephant. The eye of the tiger is backlit by a membrane that reflects light through the retina, the secret of his famous night vision and glowing night eyes. The roar of the tiger—Aaaaauuuunnnn!—can carry more than a mile.


A mother rests with her two-month old in Bandhavgarh National Park,where—contrary to the global trend—managers have built up tiger numbers. Compensation for loss of life caused by cats outside the park gives villagers some consolation. ©Steve Winter/ National Geographic

For weeks I had been traveling through some of the best tiger habitat in Asia, from remote forests to tropical woodlands and, on a previous trip, to mangrove swamps—but never before had I seen a tiger. Partly this was because of the animal's legendarily secretive nature. The tiger is powerful enough to kill and drag prey five times its weight, yet it can move through high grass, forest, and even water in unnerving silence. The common refrain of those who have witnessed—or survived—an attack is that the tiger "came from nowhere."

But the other reason for the dearth of sightings is that the ideal tiger landscapes have very few tigers. The tiger has been a threatened species for most of my lifetime, and its rareness has come to be regarded matter-of-factly, as an intrinsic, defining attribute, like its dramatic coloring. The complacent view that the tiger will continue to be "rare" or "threatened" into the foreseeable future is no longer tenable. In the early 21st century, tigers in the wild face the black abyss of annihilation. "This is about making decisions as if we're in an emergency room," says Tom Kaplan, co-founder of Panthera, an organization dedicated to big cats. "This is it."

The tiger's enemies are well-known: Loss of habitat exacerbated by exploding human populations, poverty—which induces poaching of prey animals—and looming over all, the dark threat of the brutal Chinese black market for tiger parts.

Read more...

The photos are in the December 2011 issue of National Geographic magazine, on newsstands now.

I have seen the future – and it works!

2011-11-30T11:41:00.001-08:00

By Brock Evans

President

Endangered Species Coalition

The occasion was the event billed as a Rally Against the Proposed Keystone (‘Tar Sands’) Pipeline, slated to run 1700 miles from far northern Canada to Houston Texas – its oil there to be refined, and sold abroad.

November 6 was the date of this, my Opening to the Future. The Rally was to be held at Lafayette Square, right across from the White House. Its purpose was to protest the environmental dangers of this pipeline, and the even worse earth-and-atmospheric abuses involved in its brutal extraction process, sited in the wildlife-rich Canadian Boreal Forest zone. The message was to President Obama, and it would say “Do Not allow Big Oil to build this monstrosity – and all it represents -- across our own country.”

This was to be no ordinary protest, of which we see many each year here in the capital. This time we were going to encircle the White House, the whole thing, grounds and all – with a fence of human arms and hands. That’s something that hadn’t even been attempted for decades.

“Human arms and human hands… cannot be done except by many thousands,” I thought rather gloomily to myself as I journeyed downtown that bright sun-filled Sunday afternoon. “Thousands and thousands of people; no likely way!”

I did not expect much; just knew I had to be there… take a stand, bear witness against what I have always considered to be one of the greatest of all the assaults on our lovely little planet. Not the least of these was this monstrous project’s utter destruction of, and potential future damage to, endangered species. For example, the endangered whooping crane makes its summer nesting grounds in those same boreal forests and wetlands which are being so harshly logged off, ripped out, its marshes and meadows filled with toxic pollutants. The proposed pipeline -- almost eerily – closely follows the crane’s migration route, as they return to Texas each year. And that’s only a part of what’s so wrong, so unacceptable about this one, I thought.

I confess I did not expect any dramatic outcome, or even a particularly major event itself, this time. I just knew I had to be there, no matter what.

I was stunned and delighted by what it actually was, even more by what it became. When I arrived the Square was already over half-filled; and the people kept coming, in their thousands – especially the younger people. My heart opened up – stirred as much by the feeling of the crowd, as by the eloquence of numerous passionate speakers, from all parts of US and Canadian society – each detailing why this was a wrong idea, a Bad Thing.

The huge crowd roared and cheered at just about every phrase, waving hundreds of mostly hand-lettered signs. As the Square continued to fill, its overflow started to file, in a solid column 10-15 deep, across Pennsylvania Avenue, around the Treasury Building, down 15th Street. Borne along by the crowd, I looked across its massed ranks and saw one of those signs – held high – an endangered species sign, about the whooping crane, and in the name of the Endangered Species Coalition! My own issue, my own people! I thought. Who can that be? Honing in on that placard as my beacon, twisting and turning, until I could get close enough – there was Mitch Merry, our young Online Organizer, and his girlfriend.

Hugs all around, and we marched happily together, down 15th street. But the crowd was so great we had to separate, looking for an open spot to link hands. Mitch had two signs, so I gladly took one.

Brock Evans

I kept on walking, down past row upon row of linked hands, looking for an empty place. But there were none; the other half of the crowd had crossed Pennsylvania Avenue the other way – west, down 17th street and past the Old Executive Office Building, there to link up at the far southern end of the White House grounds, on the Ellipse. And they had already arrived, at least 6-8 rows deep even at that distance from the beginning at Lafayette Square..

There was so much more, that giddy, perfect, crystal-blue, happy day. There are photographs of it, which capture its outward essence – which was the crowd itself. I only wish there had been some way to also capture its inner essence too.

This essence, and the secret of the whole thing, was in two parts. First, the sounds: the calls and response, the variety of the chants, the drummings, the happy rumblings from 10-12,000 committed people, all there for one common cause.

And second, the smiles. The smiles on everyone’s face.

For that was the best of it and that is most of why I now feel so much faith in the Future, however scary it seems sometimes. It was the smiles, the plain unadulterated happiness out there, filling the whole air. Happiness, yes, Happiness, that at last our side was fighting back; taking on Big Oil; pushing back publicly and hard. Happiness, that there were so many of us, and the happiness of actually seeing each other there, all together… the happiness of knowing that we who care about this earth are nowhere near as alone as sometimes it seems portrayed in the media.

And that greatest of all happinesses, I think – the happiness of knowing that we CAN do it – we can win. (“Yes We Can”, one of the President’s campaign phrases, was one of the most commonly heard chants).

And my own personal happiness – for me, the greatest of all: the younger ones, the young people, there in their thousands and their thousands. Their energy, passion, commitment, could just be felt, everywhere, out there in the air -- everywhere. And that, for me, is the happiness of knowing, now for sure, that there is hope – much hope – for the future.

I know this now, I have seen it. Because the young ones were there, and they are claiming that future. What a blessing I thought then to myself… to have lived long enough to witness, and to be a part of this moment, and at this time and in this place.

-Brock Evans
www.endlesspressure.org

Going After the One Percent

2011-11-03T15:49:00.000-07:00

In what is ostensibly an effort to address the nation's budgetary woes, Congress is going after the one percent. No, not that one percent. Some in Congress are targeting the one percent of the federal budget that is allocated to all land, water, ocean, and wildlife programs to try to make ends meet.

Image credit Flickr user Neelob

The House Interior, Environment, and related Agencies appropriations bill (HR 2584) calls for a variety of potentially devastating cuts to wildlife and conservation programs. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is targeted for the worst cuts, potentially reducing it by nearly 21 percent.

By slashing budgets for wildlife, Congress is putting our natural resources -- and our economy -- at unnecessary risk.

Major programs at 128 national wildlife refuges would be closed or eliminated, costing hundreds of jobs and putting critical habitat at risk.
Endangered Species Act (ESA) programs would be cut by more than 20 percent. Included in these cuts is a call to zero out the ESA listing account, preventing FWS from listing any new species regardless of their status. Not only would this put species at greater risk of extinction, but it would ultimately result in greater expense to taxpayers by waiting until these species further languish to grant protections.
Programs to support migratory birds, international species, FWS law enforcement that prevents poaching and smuggling and grants to help cash-strapped states protect species would all be impacted.

Americans value wildlife and support conservation measures. We spend more than $120 billion yearly pursuing wildlife related recreation. The ability to continue to enjoy our unique natural treasures, in addition to this economic benefit, is placed at risk by these cuts.

A recent poll commissioned by the Endangered Species Coalition found that the majority of Americans support the Endangered Species Act (84%) and believe decisions about whether to remove the Endangered Species Act’s protections should be based on science, not politics (63%). Using funding bills to attack regulations that safeguard our nation's wildlife is not what the public wants and it's potentially disastrous for wildlife.

Take action to stop this attack on wildlife funding. Send your Representative and Senators an email today.

Help Stop a Bat-killer

2011-10-28T13:37:00.000-07:00

Bat populations are being decimated by a mysterious and incredibly deadly killer. The infectious disease White Nose Syndrome (WNS) has killed more than one million bats and is spreading unchecked across the United States.

Image credit FWS.gov

Since first being discovered in 2006 by a caver in New York state, WNS has affected bats in 16 states and 4 Canadian provinces. Bats infected with WNS are often found with a white substance on their muzzles or other parts of their bodies and dangerously low body fat. The disease seems to confuse infected bats as they fly during the day and during cold winter weather when the insects they feed upon are not available, rapidly depleting stored body fat.

WNS appears to prefer hibernating species of bats but each of the 45 species of bats in North America may be at risk if a solution isn't soon found.

Fist found in New York, the disease has spread as far west as Oklahoma and is already threatening local extinctions of some species. Endangered species such as the Indiana and gray could be at particular long term risk.

This catastrophic decline of an important species has far-reaching impacts as bats control insects that damage crops and carry disease. A recent study published in Science magazine estimates that the value of pest control provided by bats each year is at least $3.7 billion.

USGS Scientists recently identified the fungus Geomyces destructans as the culprit behind WNS but much more research needs to be done to develop a means of controlling this deadly disease. We are asking President Obama to include urgently needed funding for White Nose Syndrome research in the Fiscal Year 2013 budget to stop this killer before it pushes vulnerable bat species closer to extinction.

Please help protect bats by telling President Obama to fund the fight against White Nose Syndrome at the White House's petition site, "We the People". The November 25 deadline is just around the corner! Spread the word by asking your friends and family to sign on, too.

World Animal Day: A 13th Century Saint Meets 21st Century Challenges

2011-10-04T06:48:00.000-07:00

This is a guest blog from Shelly Roder and John Celichowski in celebration of World Animal Day.

Many backyard gardens feature a statue of a slight man dressed in rags. His sinewy and outstretched arms form a perfect perch for a bird or two. A rabbit and sometimes even a wolf are often shown sitting at his sandaled feet. The man is Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and ecology, who died 785 years ago this October 3 at age 45.

This weekend many churches throughout world, Protestant as well as Catholic, will celebrate the legacy of St. Francis by opening their doors to bless Fido, Fluffy, and friends. It is a sweet ritual, this blessing of pets from goldfish to pot-bellied pigs. For many, however, this custom begs the question: What is the connection between an itinerant medieval preacher and ascetic and house pets and gardens?

Francis had a vision and spiritual understanding of creation that was radical for its time and in many respects remains so today. A son of the city of Assisi as well as the verdant Umbrian countryside that surrounded it, Francis expressed his deep devotion to the earth and her creatures by preaching about them as part of a larger communion that reflected the goodness, love and power of their Creator. Francis taught his followers that human beings are brothers and sisters not only to each other but to the sun, moon, fire, wind, water and the animals, too.

Francis taught that because of our profound relationships with Brother Sun, Sister Water and others, we are required to repair any ruptures that exist in those relationships. One story recalls how Francis brokered a deal between the people of Gubbio and a wolf whose severe hunger led him to threaten the townsfolk and eat their livestock. The people agreed to feed Brother Wolf in exchange for his protection. Peace ensued as their terrorist became their guardian and friend.

Nearly eight centuries later we frequently hear about the ways in which our relationship with our sister, Mother Earth, is suffering. Oil spills from the Gulf of Mexico to the rivers of Montana and Michigan threaten water, fish, birds, shores, and livelihoods. Carbon emissions from fossil fuel diminish the quality of the air we breathe and contribute to climate change. Human well-being and the lives of many species are at-risk because of our broken relationship with creation.

As Franciscans, we believe that we can work to mend these relationships by driving our cars less and using public transportation more; eating locally produced foods; buying less and reusing more; investing in energy-saving appliances and devices, and recycling. This conservation makes even more sense as tens of millions of our fellow Americans living in a shaky global economy and at a time of high unemployment are trying to do more with less.

At the same time, we can encourage our elected officials to be Franciscan conservatives as well as fiscal ones and to be as concerned with protecting and conserving our natural resources and wildlife as they are to the bottom lines of their corporate campaign contributors. This year on the feast of St. Francis of Assisi we have just such an opportunity.

A proposal pending approval by President Obama would allow the construction of an oil pipeline through sensitive habitats from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The Keystone XL Pipeline, would trace the same route used by migrating Whooping cranes, one of the world’s most endangered birds. Sister Whooping Crane, along with as many as 10 other imperiled animals would suffer if the pipeline is approved . The President will decide soon.. Meanwhile, Congress is considering an unprecedented number of attempts to weaken the Endangered Species Act, the safety net that has successfully protected the bald eagle, the gray whale, the Florida panther and many more from the brink of extinction. We hope that the President and Congress will consider the teachings of St. Francis in making their decisions.

On the feast of St. Francis, as many get their pets blessed at local churches we hope that you will also extend a blessing to those animals who are threatened with extinction by doing your part to protect their habitat. Economic development and energy independence inevitably demand some trade-offs. With courage, creativity, and commitment they need not also demand selling out our brothers and sisters.

Shelly Roder is the Co-Director of the Capuchin Franciscan Volunteer Corps (Cap Corps). She lives in Milwaukee with her husband, Joe Halaiko, and children Sylvia and Jacob. Rev. John Celichowski, a friar and priest, is Provincial Minister of the CapuchinProvince of St. Joseph (Detroit).

What do wild salmon, failed nuclear plants, and Google have in common?

2011-09-26T09:16:00.000-07:00

This is a guest blog from ESC Member Organization Save Our Wild Salmon.

They all play a role in how the hugely complex Federal Columbia River Power System – and the agency that runs it, the Bonneville Power Administration – makes and spends money.

That was the take-home message from a hearing held September 22nd in the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power about a controversial bill, the Endangered Species Compliance and Transparency Act, or HR 1719. The legislation would require federal power agencies such as Bonneville to estimate and report their direct and indirect costs of complying with the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

While the bill is veiled in consumer “right-to-know” language, here’s what consumers should really know: this bill isn’t about transparency. Instead, HR 1719 would only create confusion (and perhaps ill-will toward protecting fish and wildlife) by distorting costs associated with ESA compliance.

NW Energy Coalition executive director Sara Patton was among the witnesses who testified at yesterday’s hearing, and described HR 1719 as unnecessary (ESA costs are already readily available to utilities and members of the public from both BPA and the Northwest Power and Conservation Council); one-sided (it would only require the reporting of ESA costs, and not the immense benefits associated with fish and wildlife protection); and virtually impossible to implement (BPA is obligated by a myriad of federal laws and treaties to restore fish and wildlife; HR 1719 proposes no way to distinguish which costs are specifically linked to meeting the requirements of the ESA).

But perhaps most alarmingly, H.R. 1719 codifies a kind of “black market” accounting: by including indirect costs like foregone revenue associated with legally-required salmon protection measures (such as spilling water over the dams to help young fish reach the ocean), the bill states that BPA is entitled to money it could have earned had it violated federal law (a highly controversial practice that BPA currently employs). In other words, under H.R. 1719, power administrations would be entitled to claim lost revenue from power that’s illegal to generate in the first place. Plus, the inclusion of foregone revenue in ESA costs creates the very false impression that these costs are far higher than they are in real life. Salmon have it tough enough already; they don’t need fuzzy math and phantom kilowatts muddying the waters even further.

But enough about what HR 1719 would do…let’s talk for a moment about what it wouldn’t do. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, captured the bill’s shortcomings perfectly when he asked the witnesses whether any of BPA’s other big-ticket items should be spelled out on utilities’ monthly power bills – after all, if we’re trying to inform consumers about their electricity costs, we should make sure all the relevant information is available to them. As Rep. Markey pointed out, this should include BPA’s payments to retire the massive debt it absorbed when Washington State’s nuclear power system (“WPPSS”) collapsed under its own weight in the 1980s, a sum that clocks in at about $550 million a year, with almost $6 billion in debt still outstanding. But when asked if BPA’s utility customers should receive this information on their monthly bills, two of the panel’s witnesses (who testified in support of HR 1719, citing the importance of transparency) demurred, saying they weren’t prepared to support the inclusion of any other costs beyond those associated with ESA compliance. This laser-like focus on ESA costs to the exclusion of all others begs the question: does HR 1719 have an anti-ESA bias? Just sayin’.

Rep. Markey grappled with this possibility by noting the recent migration of hi-tech companies, such as Google and Facebook, to the Pacific Northwest. An excellent example is Google’s decision to site its power-thirsty server farm in The Dalles, where it has easy access to some of the most affordable electricity in the United States: BPA-marketed power from the Columbia River dams. Rep. Markey asked NWEC’s Sara Patton, “Have you heard Google complain about the Endangered Species Act?” to which Ms. Patton replied, “Not once.” Indeed, even with its investments in fish and wildlife protection, BPA provides electricity at rates that are the envy of the nation.

Here's the video:

Efforts to blame the Endangered Species Act for economic woes (or jacked-up power rates) are as old as the Act itself. And like most every other instance of species scapegoating, HR 1719 comes no closer to reality. Salmon restoration is an integral part of BPA’s responsibilities, and a shared goal of all Northwesterners. Distorting costs and confusing consumers will only get in the way of reaching that goal. For that reason alone, HR 1719 should get mothballed along with Washington’s old, failed nuclear plants.

Gilly Lyons is the Senior Policy Analyst for the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition.

Idaho Congressional Delegation Jumps the Gun on Grizzlies

2011-09-23T14:12:00.000-07:00

By Derek Goldman
Field Representative
Endangered Species Coalition

The town of Porthill, Idaho lies along the Kootenai River, about 20 miles north of Bonners Ferry. Porthill is about as close you can get to Canada without actually crossing the border. It is also the home of Jeremy Hill, a man who shot a two-year old grizzly bear on his property last May. Mr. Hill claimed to have shot the bear after it and two others went after one of his pigs in his yard. Mr. Hill reported that he grabbed his gun when he saw the bears and realized that his children were outside the house playing in the yard.

The Endangered Species Act has provisions that allow an exception to its probation on lethal “take” of listed species in the case of self-defense, and the facts and testimony in the Jeremy Hill certainly make a self-defense claim seem plausible. However, on August 8, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, after investigating the incident, decided to file charges against Mr. Hill. He was facing a year in jail and/or a fine of up to $50,000.

The Idaho Panhandle has long been a hotbed of radical, anti-government sentiment, and predictably, folks in the region rallied to Mr. Hill’s defense, and quickly propelled the husband and father of six into a cause-célèbre for the anti-Endangered Species Act types (and the anti-federal government movement, generally). Also predictably, long-time ESA foes like Idaho Governor Butch Otter got into the act, using Mr. Hill’s unfortunate situation to push his agenda. Subsequently, the government agreed to drop its charges in exchange for Mr. Hill agreeing to a fine of $1,000.

Although the government dropped charges against Mr. Hill in early September, the political grandstanding escalated again last week when all four members of Idaho’s Congressional delegation, citing the Hill incident, introduced legislation to amend the Endangered Species Act to clarify that people have right to self-defense.

Now here is where things get interesting. The ink was barely dry on the Senators’ press release (which noted that their bill would make a “drastic improvement” over current ESA law), when a savvy reporter at the Spokane Spokesman-Review looked up the Act, and discovered that the self-defense language proposed by the bill sponsors ALREADY EXISTED, ALMOST VERBATIM in current Endangered Species Act statute. Here is her analysis. Apparently some politicians were so quick to seize upon an opportunity to bash the Endangered Species Act that they forgot to actually read it first!

In fact, the Endangered Species Act is very flexible and (the few times it happens) the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service routinely gives folks who have shot a grizzly bear the benefit of the doubt on self-defense claims. I have no idea what facts and evidence the Service uncovered in its investigation, but why – out of all the dozen or so dubious grizzly bear shootings that occur each year in the Northern Rockies – the government decided to file charges in this case is a mystery to me.

Keystone Pipeline Could Push Endangered Whooping Crane Into Extinction

2011-09-02T13:20:00.000-07:00

If you were to choose a route through which to move toxic, highly corrosive, sludgy crude oil, would you place it on the same narrow corridor used by one of the world’s most endangered birds? The Canadian energy company TransCanada did and the Obama administration is on the verge of approving that absurd proposal.

Keystone XL Proposed Route

If approved by the administration, the Keystone XL tar-sands pipeline will move a half million+ barrels daily of Canadian crude 1,700 miles from Alberta, Canada to the Texas coast as soon as 2013. TransCanada would like the world to believe that their pipeline is relatively safe, claiming just one predicted spill in the first 7 years. Yet, TransCanada’s existing Keystone Pipeline has experienced 12 spills – in just 12 months of operation.

Whooping Crane Migration Route

Despite assurances by pipeline operators, spills continue. The July spill of a much smaller pipeline under the Yellowstone River in Montana released 1,000 gallons of oil into the Yellowstone. The Keystone XL would be 3 times as large, carrying 600,000 of oil per day. There have been five major pipeline spills in the United States in the last 24 months. Adding nearly 2,000 miles of high-pressure pipeline carrying one of the most corrosive and dirty fuels known to man is a disaster in the making.

That doesn’t sound safe, particularly not for the one of the most highly endangered birds in the world—the Whooping crane. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) calls the Whooping crane one of the most famous symbols of America’s dedication to saving its wild national heritage. Unfortunately for the crane, however, it uses the same 1,700-mile route as the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline.

image credit USFWS

Whooping cranes follow the proposed path of the pipeline annually each spring, as they migrate from Texas to their breeding grounds in Canada. Along the way, they depend on the rivers, marshes, wetlands and streams for stopover and feeding habitat. Since the pipeline’s proposed route crosses many of these habitats—including the Platte River in Nebraska, one of the most important feeding and resting locations—miles of these critical stopping points would be at risk of being fouled with sludgy, toxic tar-sands oil every day of the year.

Scientists are deeply concerned about the potential harm to Whooping Cranes. The Society for Conservation Biology—the world’s largest international conservation science society—has recently released a press release sounding the alarm about the cranes. For instance, a recent report found that a major spill on the Platte River could result in 5.9 million gallons of toxic, corrosive tar-sands oil being dumped into the Platte. A worst-case scenario per their research would result in nearly 8 million gallons of oil being spilled. A catastrophe of this magnitude would almost certainly decimate wildlife and potentially all that remains of this population of whooping cranes—just 74 breeding pairs.

Deepwater Horizon mercilessly demonstrated the near impossible task of cleaning oil from a marsh or wetland. And this oil—tar-sands oil—is much more corrosive, toxic and difficult to clean up. Once coated with sticky oil, the birds would be unable to insulate and regulate their temperatures and could slowly die from hypothermia or acute toxicity. Imagine the brown pelicans in the Gulf but with much thicker oil (and much more endangered birds).

In addition to the grave risk of catastrophic spill, whooping cranes would be put at still further risk by the installation of aerial power lines that would be constructed to power pumping stations on the proposed pipeline route. Collisions with power lines are already the largest known cause of death for migrating Whooping cranes. This proposal would result in hundreds more miles of aerial lines throughout the birds’ migrating path, compounding the likelihood of disaster. These aerial lines won’t be built without the pipeline and the pipeline won’t be built without them.

This pipeline simply cannot be built without putting the whooping crane and as many as 10 other endangered species at great and unnecessary peril. Despite that, the State department recently published its Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) asserting that there would be no significant impacts along the proposed corridor. Alarmingly, the State Department declined to include any analysis from the soon to be completed USFWS biological opinion regarding the Keystone XL Pipeline. In doing so, the State Department has completely ignored the impacts of the proposed pipeline on the highly endangered Whooping crane and in so doing, ignored the requirements of the Endangered Species Act.

The Obama administration could announce its decision whether to block this remarkably flawed proposal at any time. The White House needs to hear from you. Please go to stopextinction.org to tell the President to block the Keystone XL Pipeline.

Let’s Get Rid of Regulations - Wait a Minute!

2011-08-23T09:09:00.000-07:00

By Dr. Mark Rockwell

California State Representative

Endangered Species Coalition

To listen to Congress today, at least from one side, you would think that federal regulations are the source of our economic plight, and is the one major cause of our weak economy, and lack of recovery. After all, they claim, it is regulations that always get in the way of business activity, and prevent free enterprise from doing what they do best - create products and jobs. Of course, it seems to many that the focus of these attacks are on regulations that protect the environment, be it fish and wildlife (Endangered Species Act), or clean water and air (Environmental Protection Agency enforcement of the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts).

Well, let’s look back and think about why we have regulations in the first place. At times in our illustrious past we have seen the impacts of over-indulgence from business. In California, for instance, in the 1850s and the gold rush, miners literally destroyed rivers and streams, and even diverted huge quantities of water to wash away hillsides (Placer mining) to wash out and find gold. This action created huge siltation problems that destroyed water quality for farming, killed spawning fish and their off-spring, and caused flooding in the valley. Alas, the state stepped in and blocked this type of mining, but after the damage was done. Mercury was also used to extract gold, and today mercury contamination is a huge health risk to people and wildlife, more than 150 years later. State and Federal regulations on mining have stopped these impacts.

I can remember as a child growing up in the Los Angeles basin and the terrible smog created by pollution from cars and industrial activity. It was so bad that you could not see hills less than 1/4 mile away because of the smog. It caused huge health problems to residents, and heralded in the era of respiratory illnesses like asthma, bronchitis and other lung diseases. Additionally, whole forests in the local mountains began to die from the effects of the air pollution. Again, it was state regulations that began to mandate changes from the auto industry, and soot emitting business, that eventually helped to improve the situation , and reduce the killing impacts to people and vegetation.

Can anyone remember the river in Ohio (Cuyahoga River) that spontaneously ignited in flames as a result of the high level of combustible fluids poured into the river from industry? Time Magazine said, “Some river! Chocolate-brown, oily, bubbling with sub-surface gases. It oozes rather than flows.” It was a national headline item, and a national disgrace. People asked, “how could this happen in America?” Many rivers were so polluted that it was unsafe to swim in them, and it killed all the fish and other aquatic wildlife. The Chesapeak Bay, rivers around Pittsburg including the Ohio River, as well as many big cities in the Northeast all suffered from river pollution that was causing death and illness.

Do you remember the book, Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson? It was a book about pesticides in our environment that were causing the “silent” death of our wildlife, especially birds. A major focus was DDT, a pesticide used to kill mosquitos, but its impact was great on birds and wildlife. As it turned out, it caused bird egg shells to become thin and break in the process of incubation. As a result we nearly lost the Bald Eagle, our national symbol. Thanks to Rachel, we became aware of the impacts of man-made compounds in our world, their impacts on us, and the fish and wildlife around us..

So, what does that have to do with regulations? Well, it was public and Congressional awareness and outcry that lead to the development of federal laws to protect us from these types of harmful outcomes. Here are a few laws that were created for our benefit:

• Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 - This law was created to keep us from actions that would lead to the extinction of fish, plants, animals and birds in our world. It does not block economic activity, but does call for evaluation before action is taken to understand what impacts would happen to fish and wildlife. It only applies to actions involving the federal agencies, and if the impacts are bad (lead to great harm) then the agency will recommend a “preferred” action so the harm can be reduced or avoided. The ESA does not block economic activity, but may require changes in a developed plan.

• Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1972- This law came from the “burning river” and other similar conditions primarily in the east, more industrialized areas of the country. It is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is tasked with protecting public health impacts from pollutants released into our waterways.

• Clean Air Act (CAA) of 1963 and 1970 - Another law created by Congress as a result of worsening conditions in areas like Los Angeles, and other major cities, especially those where heavy industry was present. Much of the pollution in the air came from business and industrial activity, either directly from business themselves, or the products of those businesses. Again, it is the Environmental Protection Agency tasked with enforcing and creating protections for human health.

Do we need regulations? Well only if we want to be able to pass along a country that is suitable for our children and grandchildren. Only if we want our families to be able to live in a healthy place, with clean water and air. Only if we feel having birds, fish, bears, bugs, etc. is important to our lives, and the lives of our communities. There is little doubt that the American public has weighed in long ago on all this. With an over-whelming vote of confidence did the public agree that these agencies and the regulations used to protect us were necessary. Citizens agreed that protections of our fish and wildlife, water and air were all important to our wonderful country.

It is important to remember - regulations are there to protect us from abuses, be they for personal gain, or business advantage. Our collective health is worth the extra expense and effort required. Future generations, including our grandchildren, will thank us.

Excellent News for Endangered Species! Extinction Rider Defeated in House

2011-07-27T14:04:00.000-07:00

The U.S. House of Representatives today averted what would have been the greatest threat to the Endangered Species Act in recent history.

An amendment to the House Interior Appropriations bill (HR 2584) introduced by Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA) and co-sponsored by Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) and Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-HI) struck a radical provision that would have pushed hundreds of species closer to extinction.

The now relegated proposal, dubbed the Extinction Rider, would have slashed protections for wildlife and debilitated the statutory power of the Endangered Species Act by standing in the way of protections for species and their habitat.

Species including Pacific Walruses, Wolverines, and Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout would have been denied needed protections under the Act.

The Dicks-Fitzpatrick-Thompson-Hanabusa Amendment passed the full House 224-202 marking an enormous win for wildlife against entrenched big money special interests. Thank you to everyone who took action by contacting their Representative opposing the Extinction Rider!

Visit our website to find out if your Representative voted for the Extinction Rider and send them an email thanking them, or asking them to do better next time.

House Spending Bill Could Cripple Endangered Species Protections

2011-07-21T11:50:00.000-07:00

The summer of 2011 is turning into a prolonged, multifrontal assault on America's imperiled species and the Endangered Species Act.

Recently, we wrote about a plan by the State of Wyoming to allow for unlicensed and virtually unlimited hunting of wolves. Less than a week after that news broke, the House Appropriations Committee gave the thumbs up to an Interior Appropriations Bill that would not only grant that disastrous plan exemption from judicial review but would effectively cripple the Endangered Species Act.

Under the proposed bill, de-listings of gray wolves in the Western Great Lakes States and Wyoming would be conducted completely outside the watchful eye of the courts. This end-run around the democratic process would enable states and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to craft potentially flawed policy without recourse, undercutting our nation's system of checks and balances.

Another legislative proposal, or "rider", would bar the FWS from adding any new species to the Endangered Species List or granting critical habitat protections to species already protected under the Act. The so-called "Extinction Rider" would also prevent FWS from upgrading the status of struggling species from threatened to endangered. This proposal would preclude FWS from addressing the backlog of more than 260 species it's already determined warrant protections but are in the gray area of "candidate species" designation for lack of resources. Wolverines, Pacific Walrus and Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout would all slip closer to extinction under this plan.

Still more riders would effectively eliminate the ability of the Endangered Species Act to protect imperiled species from poisons such as pesticides and eliminate nearly all protections for the fewer than 8,000 bighorn sheep left in the United States.

Taken together, these riders constitute the most sweeping attempt to debilitate the Endangered Species Act in recent history.

Representatives Norm Dicks (D-WA) and Mike Thompson (D-CA) have introduced an amendment to the bill to strike the "Extinction Rider". Please contact your Member of Congress today and urge that they vote in favor of the Dicks-Thompson Amendment to defend the Endangered Species Act.

Salazar Agrees to Shoot-On-Sight Wolf Plan

2011-07-14T13:24:00.000-07:00

Last week, the new director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and Wyoming's governor held a press conference to announce that they'd agreed in principle to a deal to remove federal protections for wolves in the state.

While the plan has yet to be formally approved, the tentative endorsement by Secretary Salazar is ominous news for Wyoming's estimated 343 wolves. If approved, it would treat wolves as a nuisance species--allowing them to be shot on sight across most of the state. No license would be necessary and there would be no protections for pregnant or nursing wolves or their cubs.

CC photo courtesy Brian Scott

Inexplicably, the plan is by all accounts identical to those previously proposed by Wyoming which were--until now--found to be insufficient by the USFWS.

In apparent recognition of the likely tenuous legal foundation of the plan, Wyoming Governor Matt Mead is urging the U.S. Congress to do an end-run around the democratic process and prevent judicial review of this plan.

This is no way to create policy and it's no way to manage wolves.

Please take action for Wyoming's wolves today. Urge Secretary Salazar to uphold the spirit of the Endangered Species Act, the will of the courts and his own FWS by forcing Wyoming to come up with a responsible, science-based management plan.

Endangered Species Act Defenders Flood the Hill

2011-06-28T09:49:00.000-07:00

Last week, the Endangered Species Coalition and other conservation organizations brought a team of experts to Washington, D.C. to impress upon Members of Congress the importance of protecting the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

ESC Executive Director Leda Huta talks with Major General Michael Lehnert

In a series of meetings on Capitol Hill, representatives of the scientific, ranching, military and fishing communities educated legislators of the unique value of the Act.

Meetings with Members of both Houses of Congress and both parties were held to defend the Endangered Species Act at a time of unprecedented threat.

Tara Thornton, ESC's Program Director traveled from Maine to meet with decision makers and help organize the group.

"They told their stories and gave first hand accounts of why the ESA is critical for their livelihoods, land and water, communities, families, health and the nation. When Brett Baker, a five generation farmer explained why regulating pesticides wouldn't hurt his farm or his business and Major General Michael Lehnert told Members of Congress that a country worth defending was a country worth preserving, decision makers took notice. And this is just a sampling of Americans that support the Endangered Species Act!", Tara Thornton, ESC Program Director.

These meetings were crucial in our fight to save the Endangered Species Act and the species it safeguards. The political environment in Washington is increasingly hostile to conservation and sound stewardship. Hearing from respected members of these important communities is one of the ways elected officials make decisions about the future of the Act and our nation's disappearing wildlife.

You can help too. If you have not already, please join the ESC Activist Network. We'll keep you updated on ways you can speak out for wildlife and wild places in your community.

America supports saving species

2011-06-16T15:37:00.000-07:00

The first five months of the 112th Congress might leave the unengaged observer with the impression that the streets and sidewalks of America are teaming with a desire to roll back protections for wildlife and their habitat. The Continuing Resolution with its legislative de-listing of N. Rockies gray wolves set the tone for what is rapidly becoming a full scale assault on the Endangered Species Act.

Last week, Senators Inhofe (R-OK) and Cornyn (R-TX) introduced a pair of what would in any other Congress be radical amendments. In an unusually blatant kowtowing to big money special interests, the pair seeks to exclude the dunes sagebrush lizard and lesser prairie chicken from ever receiving federal ESA protections. This attempt to micromanage ESA isn't based on some science or biological facts known only to them and their staffs, it's pure politics.

Representative Steve Pearce (R-NM) has been even more creative in his demonization of wildlife and the laws that safeguard them. Recently, the Congressman alleged that somehow the protection of the habitat of the endangered desert pupfish was interfering with the ability of U.S. Border Patrol agents' ability to do their job. The Department of Homeland Security quickly responded, saying no such hindrance existed and that "agents are able to effectively detect and apprehend individuals in that area,". Representative Pearce has also taken aim at protections for Mexican spotted owls, the Mexican wolf, gila trout, bighorn sheep, and the dunes sagebrush lizard.

None of this, however, is what the American public asked for. A recent poll commissioned by the Endangered Species Coalition found broad support for the Act (84%) and a strong preference that decisions about wildlife management and which animals need protection be made by scientists, not politicians (92%).

This is not stopping the efforts in Congress to weaken the Act and the special interest groups funded by Big Oil and others that seek to roll back proven regulatory protections are aggressively pushing for even more attacks. The Safari Club International has been in Washington over the course of several months stalking the halls of Congress advocating for a weakening of the Endangered Species Act. Among the "experts" in town representing the Safari Club, were former NBA star Karl Malone, who "loves shooting rare wild animals for sport", and was a vocal advocate against protections for endangered wolves.

Next week, we'll answer them. The ESC and other conservation groups will be bringing farmers, business leaders, scientists, ranchers and even a retired Marine Corps Major General to Washington to educate lawmakers about the importance of the Endangered Species Act.

Bringing respected members of these communities to speak to elected officials about the economic and societal benefits of saving species is one of the most effective ways of educating Members of Congress and the time to do so has never been more pressing.

But, we need your help to make this happen. Please make an emergency contribution today to help us bring these voices to Washington. Your support is 100% tax-deductible, 100% secure and 100% necessary to save the Endangered Species Act.