Flickr photo by Jerry Oldenettel.

The recent Jaguar sightings come at a time when a few local policy battles could determine the size and scope of the species US habitat. After years of lawsuits and controversey, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently issued a plan to recover the endangered species to its historic US terrain. FWS proposed designating 838,232 acres as critical jaguar habitat—covering four stretches of mountains in southeastern Arizona, a section of the Peloncillo Mountains on the Arizona–New Mexico border, and a tiny piece of New Mexico’s San Luis Mountains.

In addition to this ongoing controversy over critical habitat there also exists a potentially frightening roadblock to the Jaguar recovery as well as other species such as the Chiricahua leopard frog. Not too far from where this recent photo was taken is a pending proposal to develop a large scale copper mine. Rosemont, the local subsidiary of a Canadian mining corporation, is requesting permits to dig a mile-wide, half-mile deep pit and dump waste rock and tailings on more than 3,000 acres of National Forest land.

The draft Environmental Impact Statement  lists 27 imperiled plants and animals that would be directly harmed by the mine, including the jaguar. It says that the proposed action would directly destroy more than 6,000 acres of wildlife habitat and negatively affect another 90,000 acres. It describes significantly elevated levels of air and water pollutants associated with the mine, including greenhouse gases, and it states that groundwater impacts would dry up 84 springs and diminish or eliminate the flow of important perennial streams.

In addition to these issues highlighted by the Forest Service draft EIS,  EPA and DEQ have also issued concerns including:  Serious impacts to drinking water to local residents, potential violations to Arizona aquifer water quality standards as well as issues with 11 Indian Tribes. The mine site is alleged to contain up to 80 cultural sites, including burial sites, that must be considered and mitigated according to the National Historic Preservation Act.

Utah mine similar to Rosemont Mine proposed in Arizona- photo Earthworks

In this dry arid environment where water is arguably more precious than any metal, Rosemont Copper is proposing to dump untreated mining waste on 10–15 miles of streams and desert springs.

If you care about clean water and responsible energy development, and if you care about helping the endangered species such as the jaguar recover, please speak up today and ask the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers to prevent mining companies such as Rosemont Copper from endangering our fish, wildlife, and communities with industrial pollution.

Let’s give wildlife a fighting chance!

Speak up to protect jaguars, grizzlies, and many more wildlife from toxic mine pollution.

February 4, 2013 correction: This post was updated to better reflect the historic reasons for the decline of jaguars in North America, and to provide a broader view of the environmental and cultural impacts of the proposed mine. It was also changed to correctly attribute the recent jaguar photograph.

photo by Nic Callero

• Port St. Helens, Oregon - Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, in partnership with Pacific Transloading, plan a facility to export up to 30 million tons of coal.
• Port of Morrow, Oregon - Ambre Energy plans an expansion, a transfer station to off-load coal from rail cars and take them down the Columbia River to St. Helens, to handle 8 million tons of coal a year.
• Coos Bay, Oregon - Port of Coos Bay officials have disclosed they are in “discussions” with coal companies, a plan known as “Project Mainstay.”
• Longview, Washington - The Millennium Bulk Logistics Longview Terminal on the Columbia River Estuary could balloon into a “mega-terminal,” the largest West Coast export facility in the nation, to ship up to 60 million tons of coal a year.
• Cherry Point, Washington - The Gateway Pacific Terminal, proposed by Peabody Energy and SSA Marine, could ship up to 48 million tons of coal per year. Peabody Energy is the country’s largest coal company.
• Gray’s Harbor, Washington - An expansion of the Port of Grays Harbor near the Gray’s Harbor National Wildlife Refuge could threaten one of the largest staging areas for migrating birds in the lower 48.

photo by Nic Callero

The new report makes a strong case that these port proposals will have a negative impact on fish and wildlife and that the Army Corps of Engineers should conduct a programmatic EIS on all projects to gather hard science on potential fish impacts.

Some of these concerns include:

• In the lone biological assessment prepared for any of these proposals to date, numerous ill effects were cataloged for the Morrow Pacific project in Boardman. For example, “The proposed construction at the Port of Morrow will involve piling installation using vibratory and impact hammers, which produce sound levels above the thresholds for fish disturbance and injury.
  

  (Photo: Paulv2c/flickr.com)

• The report cites studies from British Columbia in watersheds supporting similar salmon species indicate that coal dust can have negative impacts on fish. A study of juvenile Chinook in British Columbia found that exposure to the hydrocarbons found in coal dust increased the expression of certain genes that play “crucial roles in cellular metabolism,” one of which can convert cancer causing substances found in coal dust hydrocarbons into active carcinogens.
• In the marine sediments adjacent to the Westshore Terminals coal facility on Roberts Bank, British Columbia, the concentration of coal residues doubled between 1977 and 1999- the concern is that sediments with high levels of coal will become devoid of the oxygen that bottom dwelling plants and animals need to breathe.

The report, “The True Cost of Coal” represents some of the very first vocal concerns from the sportsmen community regarding the proposed coal export terminals.

The Association of NW Steelheaders is one of Oregon and Washington’s most well respected sportsmen voices with a mission dedicated to enhancing and protecting fisheries and their habitats for today and into the future.

Urge the Army Corps of Engineers to thoroughly review the risks to Northwest fish and wildlife from proposed coal export terminals.

Salmon Salmon!

Occasionally lost in the limelight of nude bicyclists, triple IPA’s and feminist bookstores is our amazing Chinook Salmon fishing.

How many places on our planet exist where on your lunch break you can cruise the river that bisects your downtown metropolis, go catch a salmon, and be back to work before your boss notices? Not too many.

This salmon fishery defines our state and is why the conservation work that the National Wildlife Federation is doing throughout the Pacific Northwest is so important.

Check out the video for proof that salmon fishermen are a little wacky and why many salmon fishermen will fight like hell against threats to the fishery.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Say “No” to Big Coal

Right now, Big Coal is attempting to transform Oregon’s majestic Columbia River from the heart of  our renewable energy corridor and salmon fishing paradise into the nation’s hub for exporting dirty coal to China.

If the big coal companies get their way, up to 38 million tons of coal per year could soon be shipped through Oregon on uncovered trains and exported through the Port of St. Helens- directly adjacent to one of the hottest salmon fishing spots on the river come late summertime. 

This is not the Oregon I know. No room for coal, lets keep it Bikes, Brews, Books, Salmon and more Salmon!

Live in Oregon? Speak up to stop coal export terminals today.

National Wildlife Federation’s Storytelling Video Diary Series shares the candid tales of 10 NWF staffers from around the country; armed with their cameras in California, Wisconsin, the Pacific Northwest, Northern Virginia, and Washington, DC, these nine staffers will share with you their individual trials, epiphanies and stories as they unfold in their daily adventures.

Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard, Deepwater Horizon response.

As we near the two year anniversary of BP’s Deepwater Horizon explosion, the worst environmental disaster in our nation’s history, one has to wonder if BP has learned a thing from that incident. Our Federal Government has yet to fully hold BP accountable as Gulf state residents desperately try to get a vote on the RESTORE Act which would dedicate the BP oil spill penalties to restore the Gulf Coast communities, environment and economy—where the damage from the BP oil spill was done—rather than simply being deposited into the Federal Treasury. After eleven workers lost their lives in the Deepwater incident BP made lofty promises to implement even more stringent safety requirements than mandated by federal regulations to prevent future disasters. After almost two years without accountability, yet another explosion at BP’s Cherry Point refinery in Washington State prove these promises ring hollow.

As fire crews continue their attempt to fully contain the fire from the explosion at BP’s Cherry Point refinery, comments from BP spokesman Scott Dean indicate where Big Oil’s priorities lie.

“The refinery continues to produce products for customers, and it is too soon to speculate on future supply impacts.”

With over 100 workers evacuated watching the fireball from the parking lot, amazingly BP did not even halt the refining process.

Local news station King5 photo.

Even more alarming, this same BP refinery was fined 13 different times in 2010 for serious safety violations.

So what exorbitant penalty was BP forced to pay for to teach them a lesson for continually putting workers safety at risk? They were fined $69,000. Plain and simple- 23 million dollars per day is worth more than $69,000. Unless this dynamic changes, unless Congress steps up and holds Big Oil accountable for their transgressions, companies like BP will make their billions as Washington State burns, the Gulf suffers and workers lives are put at risk.

Tell Congress to Hold BP accountable!

Photo by Nic Callero

A few months ago I asked one of the most important questions I have asked to date, which was for my girlfriend Megan’s hand in marriage. Many important decisions were made and internal conversations resolved leading to the one simple question of “will you marry me?”

When should I ask? Where should I ask..?  Should I talk to her father first?…what if she says no?….How the hell do I even know what size ring to get?

Despite this seemingly unending stream of internal dialogue, there was one question I did know the answer to. The ring I purchased had to be special, and it had to be special in two ways. First, Megan had to love it plain and simple. Second, the ring had to be from a Jeweler that has pledged their opposition to Bristol Bay’s proposed Pebble mine.

Photo by Nic Callero

As lifelong Oregonians, avid backcountry campers and myself a bona fide salmon fishing addict, untouched places like Bristol Bay have a very special place in both of our hearts. Oregon has very few of these unspoiled treasures left, Alaska has many and Bristol Bay may be the crown jewel. I have had the pleasure of traveling to Alaska many times fishing throughout the state and exploring some of these untouched wonders. I have spoken with Alaskans and Oregonians whose jobs and livelihoods depend on the health of the Bristol Bay fishery, many of them are my friends. This is why supporting a jeweler who recognizes that Pebble mine is the wrong mine in the wrong place was so important- for both of us.

Photographer Michael Melford captures the essence of Bristol Bay

Over the past few years, dozens of jewelry companies have pledged to boycott any gold sourced from the pending Pebble mine. The pledge recognizes that Alaska’s Bristol Bay Watershed is an ecosystem of national and international significance, supporting the world’s largest wild salmon fishery. The Pledge also points out the Pebble Mine proposal would jeopardize the salmon fishery and the businesses and native communities it supports.  It is very hard to argue this point as Pebble mine would:

• Be the largest open pit mine in North America, up to two miles wide destroying over 60 miles of prime salmon spawning habitat.
• Require massive earthen dams 700 feet tall to contain 10 billion tons of toxic mine waste.
• Be located in an unstable seismic zone prone to frequent earthquakes.
• Require nearly 35 billion gallons of water a year, critically reducing flow to multiple salmon rivers.

The Jeweler I decided on was a local Ben Bridge store here in Portland, Oregon. When I purchased the ring I made a point to tell every single employee in the store that their opposition to the Pebble mine was the reason they were getting my business, I was even able to leave a note for the owner. A small but symbolic step to spread the word about the threat Pebble mine poses to Bristol Bay, one of the planet’s remaining untouched wonders.

Oh, and most important my now fiancé Megan said Yes. My next tough question will be trying to convince her to take our honeymoon to Bristol Bay’s Nushagak River to fish for salmon.

Urge federal agencies to protect the wildlife of Bristol Bay against toxic mining. You can also “like” Stop Mining Pollution on Facebook and follow @NWFSalmon on Twitter for important updates.

Photo by Earthworks

Prior to this 2010 report, the national trend of toxic releases had been dropping significantly.  However, in 2010 Alaska’s toxic releases increased twenty percent, producing a total of 835-million pounds of toxic material being discharged in local air, water and land. 92.3 % of this total comes from metal mining. This fact joins the long list of reasons why the proposed Pebble Mine is the wrong mine in the wrong place.

For some perspective: Pebble Mine is estimated to dump 10 billion tons of hard rock mining waste at the headwaters of the greatest wild salmon fishery in the world. That’s twelve times more toxic waste than all toxic material released in Alaskan air, land and water the entirety of 2010. This is why the majority of Bristol Bay Natives oppose Pebble Mine. It is why commercial fishers, sport fishers and even seafood processors oppose Pebble Mine.

Aerial view of pristine Bristol Bay (Photo by William Bowen)

Take action now and help stop the Pebble Mine. For Pebble Mine campaign updates check out our Facebook page “Stop Mining Pollution” and follow us on Twitter @NWFSalmon.

Ben Gotschall drinks straight from the Ogallala Aquifer on his farm in the Nebraska Sandhills

This is an important step in the battle to protect the Sandhills and the Ogallala Aquifer from the pending danger of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. For months, Nebraska citizens have been gathering signatures, writing letters and knocking on doors urging their Governor to hear their concerns and use his leadership to pass a law protecting their land and water from the pending pipeline. It appears Governor Heineman is listening. In announcing the special session the Governor said he expected a thoughtful and thorough public discussion about solutions for the pipeline route. Lets hope that this “discussion” actually leads to a law preventing the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline from jeopardizing Nebraska’s Sandhills and the heart of the Ogallala Aquifer.

Just as Governor Heineman seems to be finally hearing the drumbeat of concern from Nebraska citizens and landowners, the Obama Administration needs to now do the same. As the Department of State moves closer and closer to making a final decision on this project, this recent development in Nebraska should perk their attention. If the state of Nebraska steps up to the plate and is able to legislate the pipeline around the Sandhills and the aquifer, TransCanada would face an additional roadblock potentially having to conduct an entirely new Environmental Impact Statement.

The list of concerns is long. Over the past months the EPA has highlighted their alarm with Keystone XL- giving it a failing grade on its environmental merits. Tens of thousands of landowners, farmers, ranchers and concerned citizens in Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, Oklahoma and Texas testified to the Department of State that this project threatens their land, water and livelihood. Thousands more even traveled to Washington DC risking arrest to deliver these concerns in front of the White House. Now the entire state of Nebraska may make an unprecedented attempt at halting this dangerous pipeline from crossing their beloved Ogallala Aquifer.
The Obama Administration has a decision to make. They must decide if the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is in our national interest.

Our nation is speaking loud and clear and the answer is as straightforward as the jack-o-lanterns staring at Governor Heineman- NO.

Take Action Now

–”I am a self-admitted city slicker.  Born and raised just south of Omaha, I became a die-hard urbanite.  So when I heard landowners in central Nebraska were being threatened with eminent domain by TransCanda, the gravity and emotion of the situation was initially lost on me.

When you grow up in a two-story house with a 30-year mortgage in the middle of suburbia, the concept of owning land is pretty lost on you.  I’m still a college student, so owning property in general isn’t something I could immediately relate with.  It took a trip to the Sandhills for me to understand how deeply connected these ranchers are with the land.

The Sandhills are not just a place and the residents are not just people who live there.  Their connection is much deeper and far more intimate.  The ranchers nurture the land, and in turn, it provides life.

If there is such a thing as true love, you can see it when these landowners talk about the Sandhills.  It is their everything.  It is the legacy that was left to them and that they hope to leave to their children and grandchildren.  No one knows this loosely populated and overlooked landscape as completely as these ranchers.

The Keystone XL pipeline would be a permanent scar on the face of this majestic ecosystem and the livelihood of these landowners.  It would not just be a nuisance during construction.  It is a permanent threat to their way of life.

The Sandhills are an incredibly delicate system.  For the most part, they are prairie grass precariously holding down sand that just barely sits above the Ogallala Aquifer.  It doesn’t take much to tear up the grass and permanently scar the land with a huge blowout.  You can still see blowouts from 50, 60 and 70 years ago where the grass has never grown back over the sand.

In such a vast landscape, it’s easy to take the open space for granted.  But nothing is wasted here.  Every inch of land is used for a purpose.  Every square foot of land lost is a permanent loss of productivity to these families.

On my trip to the Sandhills, I was lucky enough to meet a variety of individuals.  First there was Teri Taylor, a grandmother who owns one of the largest cattle herds in Holt County and has ranch land in two other counties.  On the opposite end of the ranching spectrum was Jerry Gotschall who runs an organic, grass-fed beef and dairy operation.  These two probably don’t agree on much on any given day of the week.  But they are vehemently opposed to the Keystone XL.

You cannot stop your heart from breaking when Teri talks about her fear that a leak could ruin the ranch her family has worked so hard to build and that she wants to leave to her children.  And when Jerry talks about his sons moving out of state to try and earn a living ranching elsewhere, you become infuriated at the politicians who have abandoned economic development in Holt County.

It takes a special kind of people to stay and make their living in the Sandhills.  Not everyone who wants to live there can (Jerry’s sons are proof of that).  Not everyone has the tenacity to get up every day, even on Sunday, and feed the cattle before noon.  Ranching here is more than a job; it is a way of life.  The people here are more than just landowners; they are the heart of this land.  It lives in them, and they are rooted deep in it.

The pipeline is not just a nuisance to some landowners and a threat to some grass, birds and the aquifer.  It is a dagger pointed at the heart of this place.  I may be a city slicker who doesn’t understand much about roping or cattle drives, but I have seen the indescribable love that these people have for the Sandhills.  It’s something worth protecting, no matter where you’re from.”

Help us protect the Sandhills and say NO to TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline.

If you are not familiar with the Pebble Mine issue, the plan is to build one of the world’s largest gold and copper mines at the headwaters of Bristol Bay’s unparalleled wild salmon fishery – a fishery that supports over 40 million sockeye salmon a year.

Our protest was focused outside a symposium conducted by the Keystone Center titled “Responsible Large-Scale Mining”. While the intended focus of the industry funded conference was to engage a variety of players involved with the Pebble Mine project, there was a noticeable contrast in the Pebble Mine stakeholders who were nice and warm inside the heated symposium versus the stakeholders who were literally left out in the cold.

Wearing burnt orange “Fish First” hats and chanting “Clean Water, Wild Salmon!,” close to 100 natives, commercial fishermen, and sportsmen and women rallied their opposition to the Pebble Mine project.

Despite the industry’s attempt to convince us otherwise by using catchy symposium titles like “Responsible Mining”, the Keystone Center’s conference can’t change the fact that the Bristol Bay watershed is the wrong place for one of the world’s largest open pit gold and copper metallic sulfide mines.

Last year Cynthia Carroll CEO of Anglo American, the controlling company attempting to build Pebble Mine said “If I’m not satisfied we can proceed (with Pebble Mine) without harm to the local people and the environment, then we simply won’t do it. We will not go where communities are against us.”

Let’s hope she is listening.

Alaskan Natives Brave the Cold to Protest the Pebble Mine