“To be effective, conservation must be guided by a vision that is bold, scientifically credible, practically achievable, and hopeful.“  -Dave Foreman

Welcome To The Rewilding Website…

The essential resource for conservation vision, values…and action!

A Welcome Message from Dave Foreman…

There is no way to sugarcoat it…

Earth is in the throes of a mass extinction event that is caused solely by the population explosion of six-and-a-half billion human beings.  If Nature lovers hope to minimize or stop The Big Killing, we must be bold and think big: Big in terms of space, time, and vision.

The Rewilding Institute is committed to doing whatever we can to stop The Big Killing. Our work is grounded in traditional conservation values—that Nature and species have inherent worth—and in recognition that strictly protected areas are the best tool to defend and restore wild Nature.

We stress the vital role of large carnivores in maintaining and restoring ecological health and the need for a continental-scale approach to conservation in North America.

The Rewilding Website is a service provided to Nature lovers and the conservation community by The Rewilding Institute. It is designed to educate, connect, and activate conservationists by explaining key conservation concepts and giving access to essential resources: groups, books, websites, papers, and so on.

About The Rewilding Institute…

Wild Nature in North America is attacked on two fronts and threatened on a third. The last wild places are being invaded and ravaged by logging, livestock grazing, off-road vehicles, road building, market hunting and fishing, mining, energy exploitation, and a host of other assaults by governments, industry, and thrill-seekers. The greatest remaining wildernesses in North America are imperiled by this juggernaut, even in the Arctic.

The second front attacking wild Nature is the coordinated effort to tear down over a century of bipartisan conservation law, policy, and tradition in the United States. This assault is directed by extractive industry, anticonservation extremists, and politicians guided by an ideology that exalts corporate profits and anarchistic business practices above all else. The same forces thwart effective conservation actions in Canada.

Third, conservationists and conservation groups are being softened by some of our leaders, consultants, and funders who do not share our love for wild Nature or our steadfast support for protected areas.

Conservationists throughout North America, including many working for government agencies, are as worried as they have ever been. And with good cause.

The Rewilding Institute believes that for conservation on all levels to be more effective, it must be guided by a grand conservation vision, which is at once bold, scientifically credible, practically achievable, and HOPEFUL. Without a vision, without hope, Nature lovers become distraught, depressed, and without the spark to fight effectively.

The concepts, ideas, and strategies behind continental conservation and a hopeful vision used by The Rewilding Institute are:

• The importance of strict protected areas
• The need for continental-scale conservation
• The vital role large carnivores play in maintaining or restoring ecological health
• Ecologically effective populations of large carnivores and other highly interactive species as the goal of species recovery plans and management
• Rewilding (large carnivores, large wild core habitats, and landscape permeability between cores) as an overarching conservation strategy
• Landscape permeability (wildlife movement connectivity) as an underlying principle of public land management
• Four Continental MegaLinkages (Pacific, Spine of the Continent, Atlantic, and Arctic-Boreal) as the foundation for Rewilding North America
• Selection and design of Wilderness Areas and other protected areas based on ecological principles
• Need to better integrate continental-scale conservation into day-to-day conservation work
• The importance of a hopeful vision underlying conservation campaigns
• Biocentric values: we strive to protect and restore wild Nature and wild species for their own sake, not just because they are of use to humans

The Rewilding Institute (TRI) is a 501(c)3 conservation think tank dedicated to the development and promotion of ideas and strategies to advance continental-scale conservation in North America and to combat the extinction crisis. Think-tank though it may be, The Rewilding Institute is engaged in and dedicated to activist conservation work with real successes on the ground. Dave Foreman and the Board of Directors of the Wildlands Project established the Rewilding Institute in August 2003 as an independent organization.

Mission | Vision | Programs | Rewilding North America by Dave Foreman

Photo Courtesy of the AZ Zoological Society

There are only 52 Mexican gray wolves in the wilds of Arizona and New Mexico. The Rewilding Institute has joined with local, regional, and national conservation, scientific, and sportsmen’s organizations, and concerned citizens in launching a new website, mexicanwolves.org, to help save this highly endangered animal.

The new website has everything related to the Southwest’s lobos, including beautiful photos, news updates, ways to get involved and take action, information about the reintroduction program, a Kids Zone with fun educational activities, and more.

Learn more about Mexican Wolves at MexicanWolves.org.

Fetzer Lecture
Rewilding North America
THURSDAY, MARCH 26

Click Here To Listen In!

The Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin collided with the Yushin Maru No.2 this morning in the Ross Sea as the harpoon vessel moved in to block the Steve Irwin’s attempt to prevent the transfer of a dead whale up the slipway of the Nisshin Maru.

“We were in the process of blocking the transfer from the Yushin Maru No.2 when the Yushin Maru No.1 moved directly in front of the bow to block us,” said Captain Watson. “I could not turn to starboard without hitting the Yushin Maru No.1. I tried to back down but the movement of the Yushin Maru No.2 made the collision unavoidable.”

The Yushin Maru No.2 was transferring a 2nd whale killed this morning. To the Sea Shepherd crew the murder of these defenceless whales is as tragic as if they had lost one of their own. The three harpoon boats had spread out over the night in an arc of fifteen miles. Earlier in the day, one of them returned to the Nisshin Maru with a whale in tow and quickly transferred it to the flensing deck. Within minutes, thick red blood could be seen pouring from the scupper holes on both sides of the ship into the sea.

“The whalers have decided to test our resolve,” said 1st Officer Peter Hammarstedt. “They have escalated this battle to see just how determined we are to protect these whales. We’re shepherds and we will do what we can to protect our flock from these murderous poachers.”

The Yushin Maru No.3 has also killed a whale but is unable to approach the factory ship because the Steve Irwin is now guarding the slipway.

The Sea Shepherd crew intend to hold this position to prevent the transfer.

END

About Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

Established in 1977, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is an International non-profit conservation organization whose mission is to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans in order to conserve and protects ecosystems and species. Sea Shepherd uses innovative direct-action tactics to investigate, document, and take action when necessary to expose and confront illegal activities on the high seas. By safeguarding the biodiversity of our delicately-balanced ocean ecosystems, Sea Shepherd works to ensure their survival for future generations. Founder and President Captain Paul Watson, is a renowned, respected leader in environmental issues. Visit www.seashepherd.org for more information.

Friday Harbor, WA - Just days after reaffirming that they will head to the Southern Oceans alone to defend the whales in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary, even after Greenpeace and the Australian government have backed out, Sea Shepherd begins its final preparations for departure. Sea Shepherd’s flagship vessel, the Steve Irwin is in Brisbane, Australia and is scheduled to depart on the first of December.  More…

Western politicians and environmental groups seek to slow oil shale leasing

Here’s an update on oil shale leasing shenanigans by the outgoing Bush administration, from the AP via the Examiner Denver. From the article

Colorado officials say an analysis of the effects of commercial oil shale development in the Rockies is “greatly deficient” and that the federal government should hold off on final regulations instead of issuing them before year’s end as planned.  More…

Got news on wilderness, wildlife, wilderness politics or bills?  Let us know here!

(No trees were harmed while making this video.)

Animal Planet is going all out to promote the new series “Whale Wars” which features Sea Shepherd’s efforts to stop illegal whaling on the high seas.  Though Paul Watson and his crew have been thwarting attempts by countries like Japan to kill whales in protected waters for decades, this will be the first time millions will have an up close look at what it is like to enforce international whale protection law.

As a non-profit organization, Sea Shepherd has had to scrap for every nickel and dime to support a fleet of ships and other boats (even a helicopter).  One of the most effective ways to raise money these days?  Get your own show on Animal Planet!

Congratulations to Capt. Watson and everyone at Sea Shepherd.  You’ve earned your place in the spotlight many times over.  If this does not increase pressure on countries who continue whale killing, nothing will!

Show Times (USA):  Friday, 9p.m. est on Animal Planet

ANCHORAGE, Alaska— Today the National Marine Fisheries Service announced its long-awaited decision to list the Cook Inlet beluga whale population as “endangered” under the federal Endangered Species Act.

The Cook Inlet beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) is a genetically distinct and geographically isolated population whose numbers have plummeted by more than 50 percent in the past decade. The Cook Inlet beluga population’s status is so perilous that in 2006 the scientific experts at the World Conservation Union (IUCN) placed the Cook Inlet beluga on its Red List for critically threatened species. The expert agency charged by Congress with protecting marine mammals — the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission — repeatedly requested that the Fisheries Service list the species under the Endangered Species Act.

“The science was clear — and it has been for a very long time,” said marine mammal scientist Craig Matkin of the North Gulf Oceanic Society. “The population is critically endangered. The protections of the Endangered Species Act provide the safety net so that the population can escape extinction and recover.”

Conservation groups initially filed a petition to list the population as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in March 1999. Opposition from the state of Alaska, local cities and boroughs, and industry groups led the Fisheries Service to reject the petition. Instead of protecting the population under the Endangered Species Act, it listed the population as “depleted” under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. At that time, the Fisheries Service said that the imposition of severe restrictions on Alaska Native hunting imposed under that Act would lead to the population’s recovery. But while almost no Native hunting has occurred since then, recovery of the population has not occurred. Recent surveys show that the Cook Inlet beluga whale’s population now hovers around 375 animals, down from the Fisheries Service’s estimated population of approximately 1,300 whales in the early1990s.

Because the population had not recovered as the Fisheries Service predicted, in April 2006 conservation groups filed a new Endangered Species Act listing petition. Once again, the petition was opposed by local cities and boroughs, industry groups, and the state of Alaska. The Fisheries Service had until April 2008 to decide whether or not to list the population. However, the agency extended that deadline for six months (until October 20, 2008) at the request of the state of Alaska. The Palin administration claimed that 2007 survey data demonstrated an upward increase in the whale’s population trend and therefore claimed that listing was unwarranted. The Fisheries Service’s recent survey results have demonstrated, however, that there is no upward population trend.

“Hopefully the listing decision is not too late for the Cook Inlet beluga whale population’s recovery,” said John Schoen, senior scientist of Audubon-Alaska. “It is unfortunate that the population was not listed in 2000, when the scientific evidence was overwhelming that it should be listed under the Endangered Species Act.”

Cook Inlet is the most populated and fastest-growing watershed in Alaska, and thanks to oil and gas dumping, sewage discharges, contaminated runoff, and regular shipping and pipeline spills, rising pollution levels threaten the beluga whale and its habitat. Furthermore, several massive infrastructure projects — including the proposed Knik Arm Bridge, the Port of Anchorage Expansion, the Chuitna coal strip mine, and the Port MacKenzie expansion — will directly impact some of the whale’s most important habitat. Listing the Cook Inlet beluga whale will ensure that developers and scientists work together to avoid further population declines.

“This ends the debate about whether the beluga should be protected under the Endangered Species Act and starts the critically important process of actually working to recover the species and protect its habitat,” said Brendan Cummings, oceans program director for the Center for Biological Diversity. “Hopefully the state of Alaska will now work towards protecting the beluga rather than, as with the polar bear, denying the science and suing to overturn the listing.”

“Contrary to the rhetoric from opponents to listing in industry and government, evidence from across the nation shows an Endangered Species Act designation will not curtail responsible development. Instead, a listing decision will simply ensure that federal agency actions do not jeopardize the whales or their habitat,” said Karla Dutton, with Defenders of Wildlife.

Cook Inlet is a unique setting that supports the southernmost of Alaska’s five beluga populations. Cook Inlet offers a true estuary environment that is very different from the beluga habitats to the north. According to the Fisheries Service, no similar habitats exist in Alaska or anywhere else in the United States.

Those who petitioned to list the whale population under the Endangered Species Act are: Cook Inletkeeper, Alaska Center for the Environment, National Audubon Society - Alaska State Office, North Gulf Oceanic Society, Alaska Community Action on Toxics, Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC), Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, Kachemak Bay Conservation Society, Friends of the Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge, and Sylvia Brunner, PhD. Petitioners are represented by the nonprofit law firm Trustees for Alaska.

Source:  Center for Biological Diversity