Photo Credit: Kelsey Bensch, The Wilderness Society

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is home to a diverse ecosystem that provides habitat for polar bears and Arctic terns as well as other species such as caribou, Arctic Fox, and musk oxen.  A wilderness designation for the Arctic Refuge’s coastal plain — the area that is constantly under threat of drilling — is needed protect this habitat forever from development and help increase resiliency to the impacts of climate change.

National Wildlife Federation joined groups like Alaska Wilderness League, The Wilderness Society, Defenders of Wildlife and more to deliver 860,000 comments urging wilderness protection for the coastal plain of the refuge to the Fish and Wildlife Service.  Only Congress can designate wilderness through legislation, but a recommendation in Fish and Wildlife Service’s Comprehensive Conservation Plan would send a strong signal to Congress that oil and gas drilling is incompatible with the Refuge’s purpose.

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, Big Oil’s friends in Congress are still pushing a dirty energy agenda that includes open up the refuge to drilling and putting wildlife at risk.  They are even pulling out their own costumes.  Alaska Representative Don Young ‘donned’ a propeller beanie cap in a House Resources committee hearing in order to drive home the point that he favors more drilling on federal lands and waters.

Rep. Young wasn’t done there.  He also got into a heated exchange with famous author and historian Douglas Brinkley (author of “The Wilderness Warrior” about President Teddy Roosevelt) at an oversight hearing on “ANWR (Arctic Refuge): Jobs, Energy and Deficit Reduction.”  Clips from that hearing can be viewed here.

It’s clear that the pressure is on for the future of the Arctic Refuge and other sensitive areas at risk from drilling.  If you would like to make a difference to protect wildlife by pushing back against drilling proponents, take action by weighing in with federal decision makers.

USFWS/Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

The Alaskan Arctic is a place most people only dream about.

Endless daylight alternates with constant, freezing night. The Northern Lights illuminate wilderness rivers flowing from the Brooks Range to the Arctic Ocean. Polar bears, caribou, moose, grizzlies, Arctic fox, and seals depend on this extraordinary, but harsh environment for their survival.

>> Speak up for the Arctic Refuge by Nov. 15, 2011

Even with all the unique beauty and diversity the Alaskan landscape has to offer, it has been a political battleground for over 30 years. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a national treasure which sustains more biological diversity than any other Arctic protected region, yet is constantly under attack by the oil industry. Big Oil wants to move their big drill rigs into the Arctic refuge, and are throwing around their big money on Capitol Hill to try to get their way. Under current law, Congress must approve any resource extraction activity on the refuge, including oil and gas drilling.

Right now, there are several proposals in Congress to drill for oil and gas in 1 million acres of the Arctic Refuge’s Coastal Plain. That’s why this region (a.k.a. the 1002 Area) is in desperate need of wilderness protection. In addition to supporting distinctive wildlife like muskoxen, a variety of waterfowl, diverse insects, and thousands of migratory birds, the Coastal Plain is critical for caribou herds that travel there in the summer months to birth and raise their calves.In fact, the Coastal Plain is known as the “Sacred Place Where Life Begins” to the native Gwich’in Nation, who have occupied this area for as long as 20,000 years and depend on the Porcupine caribou herd for their survival.

Arctic Fox

This fall, the Fish & Wildlife Service released a revised draft of the Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) for the Arctic Refuge. These documents are reworked periodically for each refuge and contain necessary guidelines for long-term management. The draft CCP for the Arctic Refuge lists several management plan alternatives, including a recommendation that the Arctic Refuge’s coastal plain be designated a wilderness area, protecting it from oil and gas extraction.

The Fish & Wildlife Service will consider public comments before selecting a preferred plan, giving Americans everywhere the opportunity to protect this critical calving ground and diverse habitat from unnecessary resource extraction. The Coastal Plain is in serious jeopardy from the proposed drilling and the more comments sent in, the more of an impact we can make on the decision.

If you feel the Arctic Refuge’s Coastal Plain deserves wilderness protection from big oil, we need YOU to send the Fish and Wildlife Service a comment. Please submit a comment by November 15th, 2011 and together we can keep Alaska wild!

Since Theodore Roosevelt established the first national wildlife refuge in 1903, the National Wildlife Refuge System has been preserving native habitats to protect hundreds of animal and plant species. Not only do refuges provide protection for wildlife and plants, they also provide excellent recreational opportunities to get people interacting with nature. However, refuges need our help to continue to be the world’s premier habitat conservation system.

NWF's initiative will help restore wild, free ranging bison to their native prairie habitat.

A Safe Haven for Wildlife

The refuge system’s top priority includes protecting wildlife and preserving native lands. As the largest refuge in the lower 48 states, the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge contains approximately 1,100,000 acres. Animals protected within the Charles M. Russell refuge include mule deer, bighorn sheep, black-footed ferrets, approximately 235 species of birds, and hopefully soon, American bison.

The National Wildlife Federation has been actively engaged in bison restoration in the Charles M. Russell. To help restore this once prevalent and majestic creature to its native habitat, you can help protect bison by taking action.

Interacting with Refuges

National Wildlife Refuges provide many opportunities for outdoor recreation including:

• Hunting
• Fishing
• Bird-watching
• Photography
• Wildlife Observation
• Environmental Education

Annually, the 45 million visitors contribute nearly $1.7 billion to local economies and support tens of thousands of local jobs and additionally, studies estimate that refuges return over $874 for every $1 spent in refuge services. Every state has at least one national wildlife refuge, and there’s a national wildlife refuge within an hour’s drive of most major cities. Find out where your nearest National Wildlife Refuge is located.

Help Threatened Habitats

The Refuge System faces some serious problems, including:

• 

  Arctic wildlife are at risk from oil drilling's devastating impact on native habitats.

  The total operations and maintenance backlog for the Refuge System exceeds $3.3 billion.

• More than 2.5 million acres of refuge lands are overrun with non-native invasive plants, while nearly 4,000 invasive animal populations ravage millions more acres.
• Drug production and smuggling, wildlife poaching, illegal border activity, assaults, natural resource violations and other crimes are on the rise in the Refuge System, yet only 213 full-time law enforcement officers are available to patrol the System’s 150 million acres.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is especially threatened. The oil and gas industry wants to drill in the refuge, endangering the future of iconic wildlife species, such as caribou, gray wolves, polar bears, and more, due to toxic spills and habitat degradation. You can help support NWF’s efforts to stop the attack on arctic wildlife.

Contribute to the Future of Refuges

Go bird-watching, take pictures, or walk on the nature trails – your support and engagement in the refuges helps protect habitats and wildlife for future generations. Every state has at least one refuge, many located within an hour’s drive of most major U.S. cities. You can also observe local wildlife and find parks, trails, and other nature sites using NWF’s NatureFind.

via Tollers/Flickr

Polar bears may be Arctic icons, but even their animal rock-star status can’t always sway Congress to protect wildlife.

Global warming is melting habitat the big white bears depend on to survive, but recent and upcoming votes by the nation’s lawmakers could make the situation even worse.

This year, some members of Congress have taken a sledgehammer to America’s bedrock environmental safeguards, shattering protections that have been in place under Republican and Democratic administrations for decades.

Congressional Attacks

For polar bears, Congress has focused its attack in two ways:

1. Pushing for drilling in vital polar bear habitat:

In February, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) introduced legislation to drill the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, putting polar bears and their onshore denning habitat at risk. More recently, House members tried to push aside the federal Clean Air Act permitting process to allow Shell Oil to rush forward with ”exploratory drilling” off of Alaska’s coast.  As NWF has reported, an oil spill in this area would be devastating to polar bears and other Arctic species.

2. Blocking the Environmental Protection Agency from controlling carbon pollution:

Congress has considered and voted on a slew of anti-EPA amendments aimed at hamstringing the agency’s court-ordered responsibility to control carbon pollution. According to scientists, we must take swift action to reduce carbon pollution if we hope to save polar bears from extinction.

Even though polar bears are one of the fiercest creatures on the planet, they are helpless against these attacks.

Speak up for Polar Bears

Help protect polar bears and urge Congress to support programs that mitigate the consequences of climate change on wildlife.  It’s not too late for lawmakers to try and make things right, but like Arctic sea ice, time is a resource we’re also running out of.

Wildlife in the Crossfire – About this Series

This four-part blog series highlights wildlife caught in the crossfire of the federal budget battle raging in Congress and gives you the tools to fight back. Congress is in recess and members are back in their home districts. Now is the time to stand up for wildlife.

Fact: America’s investment in wildlife is not to blame for the budget problems we face today. Over the past 30 years, America’s investment in parks, wildlife, clean water and clean air has fallen from 1.7%  to 0.6% of federal spending.

Photo by Mila Zinkova via Wikimedia Commons.

It’s happening again – Big Oil is using deceptive tactics to confuse the public about climate science. And this time, the attack threatens polar bears. We need your help to see through their smokescreen and to stand up for the truth.

Let’s go step by step to understand the attack, why it’s happening, and how we can fight back together.

The Strategy

A federal agency is looking into compliance with procurement process regulations, so global warming must not be happening and we can stop protecting polar bears. No, really – that’s what climate science-denying polluter front groups are claiming.

It’s become a familiar pattern, most recently repeated in the illegally hacked climate scientist email story:

• Take a complicated story most people don’t fully understand yet and make wild, completely unsubstantiated claims about what it means.
• Target individual scientists with personal attacks, leaving other advocates of scientific truth fearful of speaking out and being the next victim.
• Urge journalists to report to the controversy, leaving the public confused.

By the time the truth comes out, it’s too late – just enough doubt has been sowed to keep the profits rolling in.

The Attack

In the latest version, polluter groups are attacking the work of Dr. Charles Monnett, a wildlife biologist whose heartbreaking observations (pdf) documented polar bears’ vulnerability to the global warming-fueled retreat of summer Arctic sea ice.

His research was apparently the first documentation of polar bears drowning at sea on long swims. The study is part of a mountain of evidence that led to polar bears being listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (though the National Wildlife Federation argues they should be considered endangered).

“When it comes to science demonstrating the threat to polar bears posed by global warming, this study is only the tip of the iceberg,” says Dr. Doug Inkley, senior scientist with the National Wildlife Federation. “The latest major study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey further documents that on long swims to receding Arctic sea ice, some bear cubs are disappearing, and their mothers burn much-needed calories. So far, 2011 is no exception – the Arctic’s summer sea ice is at record-low levels.”

Big Oil’s strategy reveals much more about its own shameful lack of integrity as it does about Dr. Monnett’s work. That’s because the federal agency itself says its probe has “nothing to do with scientific integrity,” instead focusing on contract questions:

Some new details have emerged in the mysterious case of Charles Monnett, the government wildlife biologist under investigation by the Department of Interior’s Inspector General. When Monnett, who works for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE) in Alaska, was placed on adminstrative leave last month pending an investigation into unspecified “integrity issues,” there was speculation that the probe was linked to the biologist’s 2006 paper on polar bear deaths in the Arctic. But a spokeswoman for BOEMRE insisted last week that the investigation has “nothing to do with scientific integrity, his 2006 journal article, or issues related to permitting, as has been alleged.”

On Tuesday, Monnett’s legal representatives at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) released a memorandum that the IG’s office issued to the biologist last Friday indicating that its investigation centers on the procurement process for a research project on “Populations and Sources of Recruitment in Polar Bears.” The University of Alberta in Canada is the lead organization on the ongoing study, but BOEMRE provided a substantial portion of the funding. The agency ordered to the university to “cease and desist” all work on the study five days before Monnett was suspended in mid-July. [NWF Update: Suspension has since been lifted.]

The IG’s memo to Monnett requests an August 9 meeting to discuss “compliance with Federal Acquisition Regulations, disclosure of personal relationships, and preparation of the scope of work.”

Here’s just one example of how Big Oil’s allies have been executing their smokescreen strategy. The New York Post (owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation) ran an op-ed on Tuesday claiming BOEMRE’s probe–again, BOEMRE itself now says it has nothing to do with the polar bear study– saying that while “the specifics of the investigation are as yet unclear,” we can safely leap to the conclusion that climate science itself is in question. Sound familiar?

The article was written by Matt Patterson of a polluter front group called “Capital Research Center.” The CRC has received $265,000 from Exxon Mobil since 1998 according to ExxonSecrets.org, along with millions more from organizations built with polluter profits like the Sciafe Foundations. Like many polluter front groups, the CRC had extensive ties to the tobacco industry before moving on to climate science denial.

What, you expected Exxon Mobil to attack climate and polar bear science directly? That’s not how it works. Polluters pay front groups to do it for them, so instead of coming from a big, bad oil company, the attacks appear to be coming from a dispassionate third party.

The Motive

Why is attacking the science connecting polar bears and global warming so critical for these polluter front groups? Oil companies have been pushing relentlessly to drill in the Arctic, not only in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge but in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas – which the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has designated under the Endangered Species Act as critical polar bear habitat. Given the rock-solid scientific evidence, Big Oil knows it can’t win a fair debate, so it needs to resort to smokescreens and personal attacks to have any shot at drilling.

“The BP Gulf oil disaster reminds us that offshore drilling in environmentally sensitive areas, such as critical habitat for polar bears and other Arctic species, is simply not worth the risk,” says Dr. Doug Inkley.

via Norbert Rossing

Fight Back for Polar Bears

Legislation in Congress right now would gut the Endangered Species Act, and cripple the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to protect wildlife, clean air and water. Please take a moment to ask your members of Congress to stop this attack threatening polar bears.

Once you do, please pass this post along to your friends using the share, tweet and like buttons at the bottom of this post, or just email the link to your friends. The more people know about Big Oil’s deceptive tactics, the stronger our case will be for protecting polar bears.

Murkowski's Arctic Refuge drilling bill bring adverse impacts to polar bears and other Arctic wildlife

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski has introduced another Arctic Refuge directional drill bill that she claims “should silence any potential controversy over ANWR development.”  Here’s how the controversy would be silenced:

Allow intrusive seismic testing and surface exploration activities with no mandatory seasonal restrictions to protect wildlife or wilderness in the coastal plain, the “biological heart” of the Arctic Refuge;

Waive fundamental legal requirements to consider new studies and information and instead deem a 1987 environmental analysis adequate to support drilling the Refuge today.  Mandate a lease sale of at least 200,000 acres within 18 months and another within two years;

 Authorize the Bureau of Land Management to hold further lease sales in regardless of the opinion of the Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency charged with managing the Arctic Refuge;

Ensure a rubberstamp for BLM decisions by instructing courts that they ”shall be presumed to be correct unless proven otherwise by clear and convincing evidence.”

So let’s see: disruptive activities in the Arctic Refuge like seismic testing and exploratory drilling; mandatory lease sales, with mandatory dates and sizes, to be run by the BLM regardless of what the Refuge managing agency, the Fish and Wildlife Service, thinks? 

And regardless of what the socio-economic, environmental and other studies say?  Oh wait, there won’t be any studies.  A 1987 study will be deemed all we ever needed to know, despite the fact that it’s 24 years old and incapable of assessing the wildlife, habitat, climate change and other relevant issues of today.  And if all this might lead to some underinformed decisions?  Not to worry, the bill tells the courts to presume everything is OK.  

Silence the controversy?  I don’t think so.  Reminds me of her attempt to silence the climate change controversy by gutting the EPA’s ability to do anything about carbon pollution . . . but that’s another story.

Santa Barbara Oil Blowout, 1969, photo by USGS

Historically, environmental disasters have tended to prompt introspection, learning and some level of commitment to do a better job in the future.

When an oil blowout blackened the waters near Santa Barbara in 1969, the nation galvanized in its support for protecting our coasts and oceans, and a grassroots movement leading to the first Earth Day was begun.

Later that year, the burning Cuyahoga River led us to question our widespread practice of simply dumping pollution into rivers and streams, a process that led to the Clean Water Act and the modern architecture of environmental law.

The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill shocked and horrified us, and our political leaders responded by demanding better oil spill prevention and response, double-hulled tankers, better surveillance and more oversight.

One year after the largest oil spill disaster in our history, however, the loudest cries from our elected leaders are not for a sober assessment of our energy options, or even for improvements in oil drilling safety or emergency preparedness.  Instead, we see a mad rush for decreased regulation and taking even more risks in the hopeless pursuit of drilling our way to energy security.

The Deepwater Horizon disaster led to...ever-riskier offshore drilling?

Despite extensive evidence of ecological damage in the Gulf and no evidence of any improved ability to prevent and respond to oil spills, drilling has simply resumed apace. Worse, pressure has only increased to push into other frontier areas like the Arctic Ocean, a sensitive and productive environment where the oil industry has not demonstrated an ability to clean up an oil spill.

Congress has made no move to implement the recommendations of the National Commission on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. The U.S. House of Representatives will likely pass legislation to speed up offshore drilling and reduce or eliminate the environmental safeguards.

It’s beyond ironic that our national response to the Deepwater Horizon tragedy has largely been to drill more, faster, riskier, and with less concern for the environment. It’s desperate, and it’s doomed to fail us.

TAKE ACTION! Urge Congress to mark the oil spill anniversary by passing legislation that dedicates BP’s fines from the spill toward restoring the Gulf.

We Need Your Input

The National Wildlife Refuge System is unique in that there is a Refuge within an hour’s drive of most major U.S. cities in every state, all set aside specifically to conserve America’s fish, wildlife and plants. In fact, the system’s 553 refuges and 150 million acres are recognized as the world’s premier network of wildlife habitats, protecting more than 750 animal and plant species.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is crafting a new “vision” for the National Wildlife Refuge System and they need bold ideas for the future of wildlife conservation.  FWS is teaming up with the National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA), an independent non-profit organization, to spearhead a 21st century public engagement effort to shape this process.

A draft “vision document” was released earlier this year to outline the problems facing the Refuge System and to explore the possible solutions to those problems.  After public input and revisions, the vision document will be adopted at a July 2011 conference in Madison, WI.  National Wildlife Federation is playing an important role to give feedback to administration officials and NWRA, but we need your ideas and creativity in order to tackle the challenges facing wildlife in the coming decades.

There are a few ways you can participate in the feedback process, but one innovative way is commenting on the draft vision and sharing ideas on the americaswildlife.org website, set up by FWS and NWRA. It doesn’t just have to be technical comments; photos, video, stories and insight are all encouraged as part of the conversation.

Important challenges that are important to consider: how can refuges play a role in helping facilitate the movement and adaptation of plants and animals in a warming world? How can the refuge system reconnect people with the nature and nurture the next generation of conservationists by getting children outside? Are there certain refuges that are threatened by special circumstances, such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, that warrants special attention and protection?

Join the conversation to help National Wildlife Federation and our partners develop a bold vision and a stronger National Wildlife Refuge System.

A new report by insurance company Munich Re has done just that.

The report indicates that natural disasters, including climate change, have amounted to$2.5 trillion in losses in the past 30 years. 2010 is the costliest for climate change-related disasters on record so far.

“Altogether, the insurance industry had to shoulder losses in the order of $37 billion for natural catastrophes worldwide in 2010.”

Extreme flooding near Nashville, Tennessee in May 2010.

It is no surprise that temperature-driven disasters in 2010 were so costly. According to the World Meteorological Organization, worldwide mean surface temperatures were the warmest ever recorded during the first 10 months of 2010. These increased temperatures provided the fuel to wreak havoc on areas such as Tennessee, Mississippi, Pakistan and Russia, to name a few.

“Fire, water, earth and air — the four basic elements have seldom been so destructive as in 2010,” said Torsten Jeworrek, chairman of Munich Re’s reinsurance committee in a letter accompanying the new report.”

Arctic sea ice with open water.

Another region experiencing climate change-related disaster in a very real way is the Arctic. The Arctic wildlife of fox, polar bear and caribou are already struggling to find new ways to survive in a rapidly changing environment, but may face even bigger challenges:

“Temperatures in the Canadian sector were particularly high, allowing the meltdown to continue unchecked there,” says the report. “As a result of the long-term decline in sea ice, the Arctic passages have become more easily navigable, facilitating exploration for and exploitation of the natural resources thought to exist there.”

We are going to continue to lose money and lives to climate change unless we reduce carbon emissions while finding ways to lessen the blow of climate change-related disaster. The insurer urges countries to work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Get involved with National Wildlife Federation to support greenhouse gas reduction policies nationally and globally.

Staghorn coral (center) on healthy patch reef

My friends at the Endangered Species Coalition have produced an excellent new report called It’s Getting Hot Out There: Top 10 Places to Save for Endangered Species in a Warming World. As the title suggests, ESC identified 10 ecosystems that it believes will be the most important to conserve to help wildlife survive global warming.

Considering that wildlife is threatened by global warming, habitat destruction and other factors in virtually every corner of the planet, deciding as a national or international organization where to focus your conservation effort is never an easy task.  No single approach works for every organization.

The ESC picked 10 ecosystems with U.S. species listed under the Endangered Species Act.  That makes sense because defending the Endangered Species Act, and especially its provisions protecting U.S. species and their habitats, is a primary focus of that organization.

In contrast, internationally-oriented groups such as Conservation International prioritize so-called “biodiversity hotspots” around the globe, areas with especially high numbers of endemic species.

As someone who works for an organization with a large U.S. membership, as well as state and territorial affiliates who meet annually to set its conservation policy, my work tends to gravitate toward helping local activists and state affiliates save the special places and treasured wildlife where they live. I’m always on the look-out for evidence from National Wildlife Federation’s constituents about what resources they value most.  Oftentimes these places indeed serve as habitat for species listed under the Endangered Species Act and can safely be called biodiversity hotspots.  For example, Hawai’i has by far the greatest number of ESA-listed threatened and endangered species of all the states.  NWF’s state affiliate, the Conservation Council for Hawai’i, deserves kudos for contributing to the ESC report and helping to bring national attention to that state’s unique and wonderful native flora and fauna.

However, a strategy of tapping into the energy, wisdom and passion of individuals and organizations working on the front lines of conservation means that biodiversity hotspots is not always the priority.

Most people prioritize the places they know and love, such as the streams and forests in and around their communities or the beaches and lakes they visit on their summer vacations, regardless of their richness in endemic species.  That’s fine with me, I’m with them.

There’s no more powerful force than a group of activists organized to save a treasured place in their community.

If we at NWF can tap into that energy and contribute our expertise and resources, we can not only help our partners succeed with their local objectives, but also help them see the benefits of joining the network of conservationists working together to achieve positive change at broader scales.

By the way, one of the other places featured in the ESC report is the Arctic (not a biodiversity hotspot), where polar bears and other treasured wildlife species are threatened by declining sea ice and oil and gas development.  If you are one of those activists who already likes the idea of helping threatened wildlife outside your local community, you should know that an effort is underway to permanently protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil and gas drilling.  Show your support for protecting the Arctic Refuge >>