WildEarth Guardians FRONTLINE Newsletter
 

Guardians to Western Power
Agency: Stop Propping Up Coal

Navajo Gen Statin pc Grand Canyon Trust

An arcane federal agency is subsidizing coal-fired power plants and electric utilities throughout the American West, threatening our climate and the western landscape. That’s why last month, we called on the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) to put an end to the practice. After a detailed investigation, we found WAPA is selling wholesale power generated from publicly owned hydroelectric dams to utilities that also burn massive amounts of coal. However, under federal law the agency can only sell to utilities that minimize the environmental impacts of their power generation. Sadly, WAPA is turning a blind eye to the impacts of its customers’ coal burning, effectively using public power to prop up dirty energy. We’re calling on the agency stop subsidizing coal and start leading the way to clean energy.

Read more >>>


1.5 Million People Stand for Wolves

Lamar Alpha Thumb pc Trip Jennings

By the time the final public comment period on the government’s fatally flawed plan to strip Endangered Species Act protections from the gray wolf closed in late March more than 1.5 million comments had been submitted opposing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposal, including tens of thousands from Guardians members and supporters. We intend to hold Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell to her promise to follow the science and ensure the Service complies with the ESA. The independent peer review of the proposal unanimously concluded that the rule does not represent the best available science, rendering it contrary to the ESA. With this unprecedented outpouring of public support for wolf protection and the damning peer review results, all eyes are now on the Service to withdraw the irresponsible and scientifically unsound proposal.

Read more >>>


Nearly 400 Miles of Colorado's
Waters Proposed for Protection

CO ONRW White River pc Guardians

In March WildEarth Guardians filed official proposals with the state of Colorado to permanently protect nearly 400 miles of native trout streams in roadless national forests. As part of our ongoing Clean Waters, Wild Forests campaign Guardians will argue that the headwaters of the White and Yampa Rivers deserve the highest protection possible under the Clean Water Act—an outstanding waters designation. The streams are inside of Forest Service roadless areas and are designated as critical cutthroat trout habitat by the state. We believe we have an obligation to generations to come to apply the precautionary principle and to ensure that these waters are safeguarded.

Read more >>>


Proposed Coal Mine in Western
Colorado is a Dirty Energy Disaster

Red Cliff Mine

WildEarth Guardians last month joined a coalition of groups in pressing the Bureau of Land Management to abandon plans for new coal mine in western Colorado’s iconic Book Cliffs northwest of Grand Junction. Not only would this mine destroy habitat for imperiled wildlife, it would despoil a potential wilderness area and fuel the region’s growing air and water pollution problems. Worse, the mine would vent 24 million cubic feet of methane annually and up to 4,000,000 tons of carbon every year. That’s as much as a single coal-fired power plant and it’s on top of the 150 million tons of carbon that would be dumped into the air once the coal is burned. Our message to the Bureau of Land Management is simple: we can’t afford this dirty energy disaster.

Read more >>>


Guardians Lawsuit to Allege Prairie
Chicken Deserves Better Safety Net

Lesser Prairie Chicken thumb pc Jess Alford

The recent listing of the lesser prairie chicken as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act fails to reflect the true peril faced by this ground-dwelling bird according to a notice of intent to sue filed this week by WildEarth Guardians and partner groups. The notice informs the agency that the bird, well-known for its elaborate mating dance, needs full “endangered” status to ensure its survival and recovery. As of 2013, only 17,616 lesser prairie chickens remained in the wild, down from 34,400 just the year before, and numbers are expected to drop further this year due to oil and gas development and drought. The Service further weakened the ESA safety net by giving industry and private landowners a free pass if they sign up for voluntary, state conservation plans, which are replete with feel-good statements about conservation but aren’t legally enforceable.

Read more >>>


Giant Utah Timber Sale on
Uinta National Forest Challenged

Uinta pc WildEarth Guardians

WildEarth Guardians recently formally challenged the Smiths Fork timber sale on the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. The timber sale involves logging thousands of acres of important Northern goshawk and lynx habitat on the densely forested north slope of the Uinta Mountains along the Utah-Wyoming border. Along with partner groups we challenged the project because it actively reduces important lynx denning habitat, goshawk post fledgling habitat as well as habitat for sensitive species ranging from the three-toed woodpecker to wolverine. The timber sale also compromises the forests' resiliency to climate change.


Guardians Tell Wildlife Services to
Stop Imperiling Endangered Jaguar

Jaguar pc Yannick Turbe

With our allies the Animal Welfare Institute we recently warned the ironically named “Wildlife Services” program that we’ll be suing the agency if it fails to protect magnificent jaguars in the newly-designated critical habitat of the species in Arizona and New Mexico. Wildlife Services uses traps, poisons and other cruel tools to kill wildlife across the U.S., often killing non-target wildlife and domestic animals. The Endangered Species Act requires that federal agencies “consult” with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about any activities that could harm species and their critical habitats. While only a few jaguars currently occur in the U.S. more are expected to re-colonize historic habitat as the impacts of climate change push these beautiful big cats northward. The Service recently designated “critical habitat" in response to a series of lawsuits filed by the Center for Biological Diversity. We will be represented by the Western Environmental Law Center in the case. 

Read more >>>


Guardians' Petitions for an
End to Toxic Clouds at Coal Mines

Orange Cloud pc Alexis Bonogofsky

Coal mines aren’t just taking a toll on our climate, they’re producing orange clouds of toxic pollution that is putting clean air and communities at risk throughout the nation. In a petition filed with the U.S. Office of Surface Mining last week, we called for the agency to adopt a rule prohibiting these poisonous billows. Formed when mines use explosives, orange clouds are a dangerously common phenomenon, especially in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana. Comprised of nitrogen oxide gases, this pollution often drifts away from mines and over homes and public lands. Our petition seeks a nationwide standard prohibiting orange clouds at coal mines, which would force companies to limit their blasting. It’s another step forward in exposing the true cost of coal and keeping people and the planet safe from dirty energy.

Read more >>>


Legal Eagles Fight for Prairie Dogs

Gunnison's Prarie Dog pc Jess Alford

WildEarth Guardians’ legal team is going to court to protect the embattled Gunnison’s prairie dog. As promised, we recently filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s refusal to list the species under the Endangered Species Act inspite of a 98 percent decline since the early 1900s. We are demanding that the Service explain why the loss of 98 percent is not a “significant portion” of the species’ range, and challenging the idea that the remaining 2 percent is an acceptable baseline for conservation. We will not stand by while the current impoverished state of our grasslands is deemed the “new normal.” Rather, we want healthy, thriving colonies of prairie dogs, a keystone species, across as much of its historic range as possible, bringing life and diversity to grassland ecosystems.

Read more >>>


photo credits: Navajo Generating Station: Grand Canyon Trust. Lamar alpha wolf: Trip Jennings. White River: WildEarth Guardians. Red Cliff mine: public domain. Lesser prairie chicken: Jess Alford. Uinta: WildEarth Guardians. jaguar: Yannick Turbe/Flickr. orange cloud colstrip mining: Alexis Bonogofsky. Gunnison's prairie dog: Jess Alford.

Activist Spotlight

Activist Sarah Chang snapshot
"So far during Aveda's Earth Month, I've raised $444 which I’m proud to know will plant 44 trees. Every $10 a guest donates gets a raffle ticket for a free haircut. WildEarth Guardians does so much for New Mexico. I'm a native New Mexican and that means a lot to me."

~ Sarah Chang, Stylist at Mark Pardo in Nob Hill, Albuquerque

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Aveda Salons of New Mexico are celebrating Earth Month benefiting WildEarth Guardians clean water and wild river work thru April 30. Find a cut-a-thon or other treatment event near you.

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Rio Puerco 2009 pc Jess Alford

WildEarth Guardians invites you to join our Stream Team tree-planting event on Saturday, April 26, 10am to 3pm in the Jemez Mountains where together, we will plant trees. Participation price is $10.00. RSVP and purchase your spot today.

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Come celebrate 25-Years at our Howling Affair. Get your tickets for our 6th Annual fundraiser in Denver happening May 8, 6:30-9:30pm.

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Stay-tuned for Guardians’ Santa Fe Summer Office party happening June 19.

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Choose Your Email Frequency

Want to stay in touch with Guardians but receive fewer emails? You can change your email preference here and elect to receive only the monthly Frontline, the occasional appeal and event invites, or remain as “keep me informed” and get all the latest Guardians’ actions and news.

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Prairie dog volunteers needed! In a time of increasingly diminished habitat, a colony of Santa Fe’s endangered Gunnison's prairie dogs were rescued from slivers of urban habitat in Santa Fe and carefully relocated to new homes on the Galisteo Basin Preserve. We are looking for volunteers to further assist with additional relocation and monitoring this spring. Please contact Wild Places Program Director Bryan Bird for further details.

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So, How'd it Go?

White-sided Jackrabbit

Wow! Thanks to our incredibly generous donors, we successfully crowdfunded a research project to benefit the rare white-sided jackrabbit! This “handsome hare,” as Aldo Leopld described the jackrabbit, is rapidly disappearing from its U.S. range. With the money we raised, a jackrabbit biologist will travel to Mexico to study the hares and their habitat across the border and the possible connection to the last remaining U.S. jackrabbit population. Thank you for helping us learn more about the incredible and rare animals we are working together to save! Check out the project page for updates at loveanimals.org.

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In April, monarch butterflies overwintering in Mexico will start their return to the United States, and they’ll need food, shelter, and places to lay their eggs when they arrive. Guardians launched Monarch Madness last month in an effort to bring light to the plight of this declining species. If you haven’t done so already, Pledge to plant a milkweed patch this spring and help monarchs on their way! Learn more and get access to the milkweed that grows in your region.

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