John Kostyack Subscribe to Feed

John Kostyack is Vice President of Wildlife Conservation for the National Wildlife Federation, where he leads NWF's effort to safeguard wildlife and people through innovative ecosystem protection and restoration strategies. A key focus of his work is addressing intensified storms and droughts and other harmful effects of climate change. John frequently writes and lectures on meeting the challenges of conserving U.S. wildlife and ecosystems in a warming world.

40 Years of Success Protecting Backyard & Endangered Species

5/21/2013 // John Kostyack

2013 is the 40th anniversary of two important moments in wildlife conservation history. In 1973, Congress enacted and President Nixon sign into law the Endangered Species Act. The ESA has become the nation’s most important wildlife conservation law, helping rescue… Read more >

Engaging with local communities has big salmon and water conservation payoffs

10/26/2012 // John Kostyack

NWF’s Yakima River salmon and ecosystem project shows how engagement with local communities pays off. Read more >

Hands-On Habitat Volunteers – A Key to the Future of the Environmental Movement

10/22/2012 // John Kostyack

The near absence of any discussion of the environment in the presidential debates has led me to think about the state of the U.S. environmental movement. In one sense, conservationists in the U.S. should be proud of all that we… Read more >

Communicating about Climate Change and Wildlife

6/6/2012 // John Kostyack

The folks at Climate Access have asked me to share lessons I have learned in my past decade dealing with opponents of taking action on climate change. A key lesson I’d like to share is about the importance of identifying… Read more >

Settle the BP Oil Spill Litigation? Maybe, But Let’s Not Let BP Shortchange the Gulf Yet Again

2/28/2012 // John Kostyack

Next week, the long-awaited trial begins to decide the liability of BP, Transocean, Halliburton and other companies involved with the April 2010 oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The trial was set to begin this week, but it was postponed… Read more >

Standing on top of another decapitated mountain

Saving the Appalachians from Mountaintop Removal Mining

9/30/2011 // John Kostyack

Last week I travelled to Charleston West Virginia to see mountaintop removal coal mining. I saw the scale of mining underway and was taken aback. No community should be forced to tolerate this amount of environmental destruction. The mountain forests… Read more >

Victory for Endangered Species

7/27/2011 // John Kostyack

Today’s bipartisan vote in the House of Representatives to restore protections for endangered species was a nice surprise. Read more >

Pacific Fisher: WA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife

Settlement Will Increase Protections for Imperiled Wildlife

5/10/2011 // John Kostyack

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) recently announced that it has resolved a host of lawsuits concerning deadlines it missed to protect wildlife under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). As someone working to defend and strengthen our nation’s premier… Read more >

(via Eutrophication & Hypoxia on Flickr)

An Opportunity for the Supreme Court to Hold Polluters Accountable

4/19/2011 // John Kostyack

Today I attended arguments at the US Supreme Court over the question of what role the courts should play in holding polluters accountable for climate change. The Players On one side of the case we had five biggest electric power… Read more >