What do California’s Western Burrowing Owl, Montana’s Trumpeter Swan, and Florida’s River Otter have in common?   They’re all being conserved thanks to the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants Program! 

Burrowing owls, photo- Rob Palmer

It may be Endangered Species Day- a day to celebrate the successes of the Endangered Species Act- however it’s important to remember that the Endangered Species Act is just one of many conservation programs working to preserve our wildlife heritage.  The Endangered Species Act protects some of our rarest wildlife facing the greatest risk of extinction, however it depends upon other conservation programs that keep wildlife from getting to this dangerous point.

In every state across the nation, the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants Program works to “keep common species common” or prevent species from becoming endangered or threatened.   States use grants to conserve wildlife populations that are starting to decline and restore or expand key wildlife habitat.  However, that’s not all- when states need extra help conserving endangered species, the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants Program is there.  Grants are helping the humpback whale and successfully helped the bald eagle along its road to recovery.

The Endangered Species Act and the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants Program work together to keep our wildlife from becoming extinct.  However, it’s hard for these programs to be successful if they don’t receive sufficient funding. 

>>TAKE ACTION: Help Wildlife this Endangered Species Day!! 

Tell Congress to provide robust funding for endangered species and the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants Program.

When I think of conservation successes, I think of the bald eagle.  While the Endangered Species Act was critical for the eagle’s recovery, we also need to thank the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants Program. 

When the grant program was created in 2000, states like Arizona, Iowa, Kentucky and Maine used it protect eagle nesting habitat and monitor eagles.  State and Tribal Wildlife Grants have played an important role in helping keep eagle recovery on track.

However, bald eagles are just one type of wildlife that is benefitting from this program.  You don’t have to look hard to see how State and Tribal Wildlife Grants are helping wildlife in your own state.

Photo courtesy of John C. Moerk

• In Minnesota, grants are restoring oak savanna for the Karner Blue Butterfly.
• In Idaho, grants are used to enhance sage grouse habitat and study the pygmy rabbit.
• In Georgia, grants are putting bog turtles back into the wild.

Learn more about state wildlife grants in your state.

However, state wildlife grants need your help! The House of Representatives put State Wildlife Grants on the chopping block and completely eliminated the program in their budget.  Some members of congress are standing strong in support of the grants, but we need to make our voices heard and protect funding for this important program.

Urgent! Click here and personalize this message to tell Congress that State and Tribal Wildlife Grants are important to you and your state’s wildlife.

NWF has been hard at work with other members of the Teaming with Wildlife Coalition to make sure that the final government budget restores funding for this program.  So far:

1. In March, citizens from across the country came to DC to tell Congress how State and Tribal Wildlife Grants are helping wildlife in their state.
2. NWF held a press event with other conservation organizations and coalition members to protest conservation cuts.
3. Over 600 organizations from all 50 states have joined NWF in signing a letter to Congress opposing the elimination of State and Tribal Wildlife Grants.

Let’s keep fighting to keep common species common and protect our wildlife!

Take the desert southwest.  It’s consistently sunny and close to major population centers.  This would be the perfect place to develop solar energy.  But the southwest is also home to sensitive habitat and several wildlife species that are already suffering population declines.

For example-

• Desert Tortoise ( video)
• Sage grouse (video)
• Flat-tailed horned lizard (video)

Solar energy development in the southwest could hurt these species (and others like pronghorn, Mojave ground squirrel, bighorn sheep, and elk) if it occurs in important wildlife habitat like migration corridors or overwintering grounds.

Can an industry as new and as important to our clean energy future as the solar energy industry afford such a controversial reputation?

Photovoltaic panels used to collect solar energy

Fortunately, President Obama and the Department of the Interior are taking steps to make sure that solar energy projects are built quickly and in a wildlife-friendly way- for example, the recently released draft Solar Energy Program (Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement).

The solar energy program identifies 24 Solar Energy Zones on public land that could be developed. These areas, about 700,000 acres in total, were chosen because they possess all the right ingredients for generating and delivering solar power to the American public, but the Interior Department determined they have minimal potential for negative impacts to important wildlife habitat.

Tell the Department of the Interior to make solar energy wildlife-friendly >>

The Solar Energy Zones are a great first step forward.  They’re a game-changer that will  let us develop solar energy rapidly and responsibly.

However, NWF believes that there is still more that the Department of the Interior must do to make solar energy wildlife-friendly.

First, additional vital wildlife habitat (such as winter ranges for big game) that overlaps with solar energy zones should receive protection.

Secondly, the Department of the Interior might also let developers use an additional 22 million acres of public land (outside of the Solar Energy Zones).

NWF thinks that’s a bad idea because:

1. The additional public lands have not been thoroughly examined for potential wildlife impacts.
2. There’s already more space in the 24 Solar Energy Zones than is needed to reach current or anticipated state renewable energy generation requirements.
3. Rather than open millions of acres to solar development, we should establish a process for identifying more solar energy zones if they’re needed in the future.

Solar Energy Zones are a great idea because the best way to get solar projects built quickly is to plan them responsibly from the start.  By keeping areas outside of the 24  Solar Energy Zones off-limits to development and thoroughly examining the Solar Energy Zones for  sensitive wildlife habitat, the Department of the Interior will set a strong precedent for responsible solar energy development in the United States.

Tell the Department of the Interior to make solar energy wildlife-friendly >>

NWF supports efforts to reclassify polar bears as "endangered"

A new study published in Nature indicates that if we reduce greenhouse gas emissions, polar bears have a better chance of avoiding extinction.

Take Action for Polar Bears >>

Previous studies from the USGS, which examined the effect “business as usual” carbon emissions would have on Arctic sea ice and polar bear population levels, painted a pretty grim picture for the polar bear.

If we continue on our current path (of carbon emissions), based upon projected changes in Arctic sea ice conditions, U.S. Geological Survey studies indicate that the polar bear will lose approximately 2/3 of its world-wide population by the mid 21st century, with severe population declines in the Southern Beaufort Sea (northern Alaska).

This new study doesn’t change the conclusion of the previous work, but does offers hope for the polar bear. If we reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the study shows that less Arctic sea ice will be lost and polar bear populations have a better chance at survival.

This study highlights the importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and the opportunity that Congress lost when it failed to pass comprehensive greenhouse gas legislation.

However, you can do your part to save the polar bear!

Right now, as the result of a long court battle, the U.S. government is deciding whether to reclassify the polar bear from “threatened” to “endangered” status under the Endangered Species Act.  This Act declares that a species is endangered if it could die-out through all or a significant portion of its range.

Based upon the best science we have, it is clear the polar bear should be reclassified as endangered.

Giving polar bears “endangered” status is important because it will require greater scrutiny of proposed actions, such as oil and gas development, to ensure that there is no harm to polar bears if such activities are  allowed in polar bear habitat.

Reclassifying the polar bear as endangered isn’t the magic solution that will solve all of the polar bear’s problems, given the need to make significant reductions in greenhouse gases , but it will ensure that other potential disturbances to polar bears are not allowed (or are modified) to avoid further impacts to polar bears.

National Wildlife Federation believes that listing the polar bear as endangered is an important step.

Speak up for Polar Bears!

Email President Obama and the Interior Department to tell them that polar bears should be on the endangered species list >>

To learn more about the polar bear and global warming visit these NWF links:

Polar Bears and Global Warming

Incredible Shrinking Polar Bears

On Thin Ice

I am a caribou from the Alaska Refuge. You didn’t hear from us much when the Refuge was created and enlarged (we caribou are not born lobbyists), but on the 50^th birthday of the Arctic Refuge, we thought it high time to express our gratitude.

We caribou are wanderers, and we need the big refuge that you created. Over the course of a year, we may meander 3,000 miles chasing food, avoiding predators and insects, and finding the perfect place to raise our young. Over the course of a year, we call many places within the Arctic Refuge home.

flickr | Martha de Jong-Lantink

Spring is our favorite time in the Arctic Refuge.  Just as the snow melts and the vegetation greens up on the coastal plains, we arrive in this oasis.  Here, mother caribou give birth.  These stomping grounds are ideal (there aren’t many grizzly bears, golden eagles, or wolves) and almost all caribou from my herd (the Porcupine Herd) and many from the Central Arctic Herd come here.  For the first weeks of spring we thrive – gaining weight after a long cold winter and enjoying a respite before the pesky insects of summer arrive.

However, the coastal plains are just one special place, of many, that we caribou have in the Arctic Refuge. During the worst days of July when mosquitoes bite, we retreat to the refuge’s beaches and mountains where winds give us a respite.  As winter approaches we move south of the Brooks Range and even into Canada’s Yukon Territory to enjoy rich lichen and safe haven from winter weather in the Arctic’s boreal forests.

You see, the refuge is a special place, precisely because it is many different places all at once. It’s not just the mountains, or the coastal plains, or the forest.  The Arctic Refuge is all of these places- and caribou are grateful because we need each type of place at a different time of year.

Caribou aren’t alone in their gratitude. Musk oxen thank you for the coastal plains and the marmots for the mountains.  Moose love the refuge’s bogs and polar bears thank you for ice on the Beaufort Sea.  All of us know that the refuge is the size of South Carolina for many good reasons.

So thank you, Presidents Eisenhower and Carter, for creating and enlarging the Arctic Refuge. We hope you’ll tell your predecessors to follow in your footsteps and to abide by Teddy Roosevelt’s awestruck prescription for the Grand Canyon when deciding the fate of our homeland:

“Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it.”

Sincerely,

A caribou from the Arctic Refuge

Click here for more on the Arctic Refuge

Click here for more on caribou of the Artic Refuge.

This month, America celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Clean Air Act.

In honor of the 40th birthday of the Clean Air Act, I decided to figure out how much air I breathe.  It seemed an easy way to see how important clean air is to my life.  Thanks to the marvels of an internet connection and Google, I have several interesting ways to think about this question at my fingertips.

The amount of air that I breathe as an adult female is different than the amount of air that I would breathe if I were male or if I were a child.  (Children breathe a high volume of air given their small size, because they need oxygen for all the body processes that help them grow.) Similarly the amount of air that I breathe depends a great deal upon what I’m doing. The volume of air I would breathe every minute doubles if I were to switch from walking to running 4 mph.

If you want a ballpark estimate (not tailored to age, sex, or activity profile) here are some numbers to consider:

• 2 gallons of air a minute.
• 20,000 breaths or 35 pounds of air a day.
• 625 million breaths a lifetime.  That’s a volume equivalent to 2 football fields, seventeen stories high!

That’s a lot of air- and I’m grateful for the steps the Clean Air Act has taken to keep it clean.

While it’s easy to look to our own lungs and our own health to find good reasons to celebrate the successes of the Clean Air Act, it’s important that we don’t forget some more subtle, yet critical, successes of the Act:

• Wildlife have benefited from the Clean Air Act just like people.
• The Clean Air Act is reducing acid rain and helping acidic lakes in the Adirondacks start to recover.
• The Clean Air Act is helping to reduce ozone pollution from Los Angeles, which damaged the ponderosa pine in California’s San Bernardino National Forest.
• The Clean Air Act is regulating mercury pollution, which prevents anglers from eating the fish they catch in many of our nation’s lakes.

Wildlife enthusiasts have these reasons, and many more, to celebrate the 40^th anniversary of the Act.

To highlight these successes of the Clean Air Act and consider what can be done to continue the successes of the Clean Air Act in it’s next 40 years, the National Wildlife Federation has prepared a fact sheet on the Clean Air Act and Wildlife.  We invite you to take a look!

For more on the 40^th anniversary of the Clean Air Act, read NWF’s interview with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.

Little brown bat affected by White-nose syndrome (Photo credit: USFWS)

It’s almost Halloween and there is no better time to spotlight an animal in need of our attention: bats!

Bat populations across the northeastern United States are being destroyed by a deadly new fungal disease known as white-nose syndrome. As the name suggests, this fungus burrows into the live tissue of hibernating bats, covering their muzzles, ears, and sometimes wings with white fuzz.

A fuzzy appearance is just one symptom of the disease. A bigger issue is that hibernating bats with white-nose syndrome became emaciated and lose most of their body fat. This is a huge problem for hibernating bats, which rely upon stored energy to survive the winter. Although nobody yet knows exactly how the disease operates, Scientists hypothesize that bats infected with the fungus may wake up more frequently during hibernation, causing them to burn through energy and eventually starve to death.

White-nose syndrome was first discovered in February 2006 in Howes Cave near Albany, NY. In just four years, it has spread nearly halfway across the country. Because bats can fly long distances and tend to congregate in large numbers, the disease seems to spread easily from bat to bat, and to new caves.

The effect of white-nose syndrome on bat populations is truly devastating. In one year, 30-99% of the bats in infected hibernacula may die. A recent study in the journal Science predicts that as a result of white-nose syndrome, the little brown bat—one of the most common North American bats—may become extinct within the next sixteen years. The little brown bat is just one of seven hibernating bat species in North America currently affected by white-nose syndrome. Other species affected by the disease include the Indiana bat, which is already listed as an endangered species.

The loss of so many bats will not go unnoticed! Bats can eat up to half their body weight a night in insects. Without bats patrolling our skies, agricultural pests and crop damage could increase. Furthermore, bats are a keystone species in cave ecosystems. Cave dwelling invertebrates and micro-organisms depend upon bat guano for food. Without bats, cave ecosystem function will be disrupted.

You can celebrate Halloween and help save bats by doing the following:

1. Report unusual bat activity (e.g. bats flying outside during the daytime in winter) to the Fish and Wildlife Service.
2. Abide by cave closures and decontaminate caving equipment after each cave visit.
3. Tell your friends and family about white-nose syndrome and why it is important to conserve bats.
4. You can learn more about bats on NWF’s website.  Also check out white-nose syndrome resources like the USGS website and this neat video put together by the Fish and Wildlife Service and US Forest Service