These prairie winecups are among the plants native to Colorado. Photo by the National Wildlife Federation.

Whatever the reason, Denver-area gardeners seem to be increasingly interested in indigenous flowers, grasses and shrubs. Every May for the past seven years, the Boulder office of the National Wildlife Federation has been a key stop for those gardeners. The staff sponsors what’s believed to be a one-of-a-kind event in the Denver area – an all-native plant sale.

Ranger Rick helps one of the volunteers at the 2012 National Wildlife Federation Native Plant Sale. NWF Photo

NWF: What are some of advantages of native plants?
Eirin: There are quite a few advantages. I would say first and foremost is the habitat value. There are certain native insects that will take nectar only from the native wild flowers. Secondly, I would say the plants do not need the increased fertilizer. They do not need, for the most part, high irrigation. Since they are native plants, they can exist on very low fertilizer, just what exists in the soil, and also exist on the precipitation we get in this area. And the native plants are perennials, so you’ll get to enjoy them year after year. They’re not something you’re going to have to pull up every season. They’re going to pop up every spring.

NWF: How do native plants benefit wildlife?
Eirin: When you plant natives, you’re creating an insectary. What I mean by that is you’re creating a place for beneficial insects to reside that are either going to pollinate our vegetables or fruit trees or they’re actually going to eat or kill some of the pests in our garden. We have 17 species at the plant sale that are honey-bee attractors. We also have hummingbird-attractor plants, plants that are good for butterflies and also plants that are wonderful nesting habitat for our local bird species.

NWF: Do native plants require less water than non-native plants?
Eirin: If they’re planted in the micro-climate that they’re supposed to be planted in, they exist on what is termed moderate to low water. That’s water two or fewer times a week.

NWF: Is interest in native plants growing?
Eirin: I think so. I’ve only lived in Denver for three years, but since (the drought in) 2002, with the low water use, people began to get interested in low-water-use plants and that naturally turned toward some of our indigenous plants in the area. It’s so important for us to be using native plants to show the landscape vernacular that used to exist here – the prairies, the grasslands. The native grasses are wonderful habitat and foundation plants in the landscape. The keystone species to our short grass prairie is blue grama and it’s host to a Colorado alpine butterfly. A taller grass species, big bluestem, is host to two rare skipper butterflies.

NWF: Does Denver plant native vegetation in its parks?
Eirin: We have the more traditional parks that I think a lot of people are familiar with, which has the Kentucky bluegrass. Starting in 2006, conversion sites were defined, starting with four parks in the city. They were converted to short-grass prairie. So, there’s been a large movement. Now, just in my district, I have about 350 acres of native short-grass prairie areas. We’re going to be seeing less and less Kentucky blue grass and more native areas being planted.

The columbine is one of the most popular native plants of Colorado gardeners. Photo by John Gale.

Outside Denver? You Can Still Go Native!

Learn more about choosing and cultivating native plants, then turn your yard into a Certified Wildlife Habitat ® site. This month only, Garden For Wildlife Month, NWF will plant a native tree in your honor when you certify your property.

Students at Copper Mesa Elementary School raise the school’s Eco-Schools USA Green Flag. Photo by Judith Kohler

“Way to go Cougars!” a student at Copper Mesa Elementary in Highlands Ranch exclaimed as the gym full of students cheered.

The occasion was a kind of pep assembly at the Denver-area school, but it was unlike any pep assembly I remember attending. The kids weren’t cheering for a sports team; they were excited about earning a Green Flag, the highest honor in the Eco-Schools USA program. The students didn’t sing the school fight song; they recited Copper Mesa’s “eco-code.”

“You’re part of an elite group of schools and students,” said Ann Morgan, executive director of the National Wildlife Federation’s Rocky Mountains and Prairies Regional Center.

Ann Morgan, executive director of the regional NWF office, presents a Green Flag to Flagstone Elementary School.

The two Douglas County schools are the first in Colorado to earn Green Flags and as of April 25, were just the 14^th and 15^th nationwide.

Students at both schools were clothed in several different shades of green to mark the special day. During an outdoor assembly, Flagstone students waved green paper flags attached to pencils. Parents stood around the outside of the group, taking pictures and clapping along with the kids when the Eco-Schools flag was hoisted up the flagpole.

The raising of the Green Flags followed a lot of work by students and school staffs. Copper Mesa has saved more than 127,000 kilowatt hours of electricity the past three years with the help of energy audits. The school has saved about $400 by using both sides of copy paper and decreased trash pick-ups from five to two days a week.

Flagstone has reduced the amount of waste left from school lunches. The school provides vegetables for the community from its garden and has built and located bluebird houses to enhance the birds’ population.

Flagstone Elementary studets cheer as their school is awarded the Green Flag. Photo by Judith Kohler

“They found I left my light on once and they haven’t let me forget it,” she said.

Members of Copper Mesa’s student “Green Team” said the work has been worth it.

“We’ve had to be like a team,” 10-year-old Hailey Merrill said. “It’d be really cool if all the other schools could do it, too.”

One of six beavers caught in an oil spill at a Utah state park rests at a wildlife center. Photo by the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah.

Unfortunately, the dams couldn’t protect the beavers. The diesel flowing from a break in a pipeline covered beavers, including a mother and her two kits. Volunteers and staffers at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah are working to save six of the animals caught in the spill discovered March 18 in wetlands at Willard Bay State Park. All the beavers are improving, although two yearlings exposed to the oil for days are still in rough shape.

“Wildlife officials… had to dismantle the large lodge ‘stick by stick’ to gain access to the chamber where the mother and her two kits were hiding. The environment of the chamber was heavy with fuel vapors and all three beavers were covered in the toxic liquid,’’ according to staff at the wildlife center. The animals inhaled and ingested diesel, said DaLyn Erickson-Marthaler, the center’s executive director and wildlife specialist. Some of the beavers lost a lot of their fur and have abcesses.

At least 21,000 gallons of diesel have spilled from the Chevron pipeline that runs from Salt Lake City refineries to Spokane, Wash. Media reports indicate this is Chevron’s third oil pipeline spill in Utah in fewer than three years. Utah isn’t the only place where wildlife is suffering or facing threats because of oil and gas spills and leaks.

In Arkansas

Meanwhile, nearly 1,500 miles to the east, another oil spill is taking its toll on wildlife and their two-legged neighbors. The National Wildlife Federation’s Miles Grant and Geralyn Hoey have provided frontline reports about the tar sands oil spill from  Exxon Mobil’s Pegasus pipeline in Mayflower, Ark.  As of April 8, 139 creatures had been recovered.

Speak up for wildlife at risk from tar sands — Tell the White House to say NO! to Keystone XL.

In Colorado

Staffers at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah tends to one of the beavers caught in an oil spill. Photo by the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah.

The contamination is near Parachute Creek, which supplies irrigation water and eventually runs into the Colorado River – a major source of water for communities, fish and wildlife. So far, state and federal environmental experts say the contamination hasn’t been found in the creek. Oil spills in 2006 and 2011 in Spring Creek, a tributary of the North Platte River in Colorado’s North Park area, have poisoned the creek bed, according to state and federal records. Colorado-based Lone Pine Gas Inc. has a permit allowing it to discharge hundreds of thousands of gallons of treated liquid waste into the creek. North Park is highly prized by hunters and anglers for its gold-medal fisheries and abundant wildlife, including mule deer, pronghorns, moose and greater sage-grouse. It’s home to the Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge.

Isn’t this supposed to be refuge?

One of the six beavers soaked in an oil spill rests against the side of a bathtub while the water runs. Photo by the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah.

When drilling and the location of pipelines are considered, when oil and gas regulations are written and updated, wildlife must be factored in. It’s clear that what’s good for wildlife and the environment is also good for people. Just think of those beaver dams.

“The irony of it all is the beavers’ dam absolutely contained the oil spill and saved the bay,”  Erickson-Marthaler. “But they’ve certainly paid a heavy price.”

Speak up for wildlife TODAY by urging President Obama to stop the Keystone XL pipeline once and for all. And watch our new video on the impacts tar sands oil poses to wildlife from Canada to the Gulf coast of Texas and beyond.

Click here to view the embedded video.

“The area’s designation as a monument under the Antiquities Act is a refreshing sign that President Obama and Secretary Salazar recognize the importance of passing New Mexico’s heritage on to future generations,” said Kent Salazar, a National Wildlife Federation board member whose family has lived and ranched in New Mexico for generations.

A Shining Jewel in America’s Crown of Public Lands

Río Grande del Norte National Monument in Northern New Mexico. BLM photo.

The wild and scenic portion of the Rio Grande River in northern New Mexico cuts a deep and jagged line across the Taos Plateau, carving a canyon that not only carries the liquid life-blood of the arid Southwest but also a rich culture and heritage that spills beyond its polished boulders.

Known as Tierra Sagrada, or Sacred Land, the Taos Plateau stretches from the Servilleta lava flows at the Colorado border and gives way to the solitary volcanic cinder cone mountains of Cerro de la Olla, Cerro San Antonio and Cerro del Yuta. Their dramatic eruption from the valley floor is a reminder of the turbulent geological history.

As President Obama noted in his declaration, El Rio Grande del Norte is an “extraordinary landscape of extreme beauty and daunting harshness’’ that contains an “extraordinary array of scientific and historic resources offer opportunities to develop our understanding of the forces that shaped northern New Mexico, including the diverse ecological systems and human cultures that remain present today.”

Congressional gridlock is holding America’s conservation legacy and our children’s inheritance hostage. It’s therefore heartening to see President Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar demonstrate their commitment to future generations as bold stewards of the treasured landscapes that provide habitat for fish and wildlife and embody the character of those people whose cultural heritage is inextricably connected.

Flickr:USFWS/Rocky Mountain-Prairie Region. The black-footed ferret is one of North America’s rarest species.

Now, one of the rarest animals in North America could be on the verge of a comeback. The next big step is buy-in from private landowners who typically cringe at the mention of endangered species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is hoping ranchers and others will agree to host black-footed ferrets in exchange for assurance they won’t face restrictions that hinder their operations.

Foster program for ferrets?

Several federal agencies will offer assistance (including financial help) to participants in the proposed Safe Harbor program, kind of the conservation equivalent of foster homes for ferrets. The plan is undergoing an environmental assessment.

 ”We’ve got to have wider geographical distribution of colonies of black-footed ferrets. The only way we’re go to achieve that is with the help of landowners,” said Tom Dougherty, who first got involved with the recovery program when he was with the Wyoming Wildlife Federation.

Dougherty later became a regional director and a senior adviser with the National Wildlife Federation. He represented NWF on an advisory committee to the team overseeing ferret recovery.

Ferrets have been released – and some have been born in the wild – on federal, tribal, state and private lands in the Intermountain West and Plains. The recovery program’s goal is a population of 3,000.

According to the Black-footed Ferret Recovery Implementation Team, the biggest obstacle to ferret recovery today is lack of suitable reintroduction sites.

Friendly environs for ferrets

Gary Walker, who ranches near Pueblo, Colo., thinks his land is more than suitable. His cattle ranch is stocked with thousands of acres of ferrets’ favorite food – prairie dogs. He’d like to see ferrets take a big bite out of the rodent’s population.

Walker also prefers working with – not against – nature.

 ”I believe in nature and native predation,’’ Walker said. “It’s nonsense to me why we would be raising all these ferrets in captivity and not be introducing them into the wild, letting mother nature do what it is intended to do.”

Terry Fankhauser agrees. The executive vice president of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association say his group “is on board” with the Fish and Wildlife Service’s efforts to find landowners who will host ferrets. It’s a turnaround for an organization that in the late 1990s backed a bill requiring legislative approval to reintroduce an endangered or threatened species not currently in the state. That followed on the heels of the Colorado Division of Wildlife’s release of lynx to restore the long-haired mountain cat in the state.

The cattlemen’s group is now backing legislation that would authorize reintroduction of black-footed ferrets on the property of consenting owners.

“Landowners can participate and should participate in the conservation of these species,’’ Fankhauser said.

Black-footed ferrets were on the edge of extinction in 1987, with only 18 ferrets left. Today, captive breeding programs are slowly helping the species recover. This photo of a mother and her four kits was taken at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Conservation Center in Colorado

Fankhauser would like to see similar programs aimed at keeping wildlife off the Endangered Species List in the first place.

Dougherty doesn’t understand the opposition the Fish and Wildlife Service plan has met in some places, including Colorado’s neighboring state of Kansas. He thinks it’s in everybody’s best interests to restore a threatened or endangered species to viable population levels, eliminating the special protections that can restrict land uses.

“If you told me 20 years ago that we had a chance in recovering the black-footed ferret, I’m not sure I would’ve believed it,” he added. “Now, I actually think we’re on the threshold of recovering the species.”

Photo by NWF's Judith Kohler

Like all Coloradans, staffers in the National Wildlife Federation’s Rocky Mountain Regional Center in Boulder have anxiously watched as wildfires have erupted north and south of us. It feels like being under siege and not knowing where the next attack will spring up. The High Park fire in the foothills northwest of Fort Collins has burned more than 87,000 acres, destroyed nearly 260 homes and killed one person. A new, quick-moving fire to the south in Colorado Springs has scorched 6,200 acres and forced tens of thousands out of their homes in the city and at the Air Force Academy.

Smoky Skies

We learned of the latest threat looking out the windows of our third-floor Boulder office Tuesday afternoon. Smoke was surging from behind the Flatirons, a line of craggy mountains on Boulder’s western edge. The plume of smoke quickly swelled to fill the sky over southwestern Boulder. The one-acre blaze, likely ignited by lightning, exploded to more than 200 acres.

A coworker had taken off earlier to check on her family, dogs and house after hearing about the fire. We learned later that her home was in a big chunk of southwest Boulder that remained on pre-evacuation notice Wednesday. The blaze is one ridge away from sweeping down into a heavily populated area.

We could smell the burning trees and grass from miles away. I started feeling it in my throat. Several of us started getting headaches. The National Center for Atmospheric Research that’s tucked in below the Flatirons was evacuated. NCAR’s work includes studying climate.

Climate Change Adding Fuel to Wildfires

As NWF’s Dr. Amanda Staudt blogged recently, climate is a big part of the story. The same day the Boulder fire started, 30 miles down the road Denver tied an all-time record by hitting 100-plus degrees five days in a row. It was 105 in Denver, only the fourth time in recorded history the city has reached that mark. The other times were just the day before; in 2005; and way back in 1878.

The record-breaking heat follows one of the area’s warmest, driest springs on record. Denver had its driest March in 124 years. The Natural Resources Conservation Service says this year’s Colorado’s snowpack is the lowest since 2002, when drought-driven wildfires included the Hayman fire, still the state’s largest. In some river basins, the report says ”this year became the new minimum on record.”

Lives Changed

Those are the numbers. They don’t begin to tell the biggest part of the story – the sorrow for the people displaced, their losses, those who’ve died. In March, a wildfire in the foothills southwest of Denver killed three people. The wildfires are also posing major threats to our region’s wildlife, as NWF’s Doug Inkley detailed last week. Photos of a deer hurtling through a fence to flee the flames and wildlife officers carrying a tranquilized moose that had run into town are wrenching.

There’s concern about the lingering effects of the slurry used to stop the flames. The chemicals have been blamed for fish kills. And understanding that fire is a natural part of the environment in the West doesn’t make it easier to see forested hillsides morph into barren, charred slopes or lose access to your favorite hiking trails.

After three decades in Colorado, this doesn’t feel normal to me. But then, the weather really hasn’t been “normal” for a while. As climate change and its effects keep playing out, the scary part is that this might be the new normal.

Take Action

We can avoid the worst impacts of global warming – but only if we start cutting our carbon pollution now. Tell the Environmental Protection Agency you support limits on carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants >>

Related Links

• More about Global Warming, Wildfires and Wildlife
• 5 Ways Wildfires Threaten Western Wildlife
• Connecting the Dots: How Climate Change is Fueling Western Wildfires
• Whitewater-Baldy, Extreme Fire and Wildlife in the West

Curt Spalding, who is the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 1 administrator, talked about the proposed rule, which would drop carbon pollution from new power plants. He pointed out that the vast majority of New England’s power plants are already out ahead of this standard and this can really protect New England from pollution from the rest of the country.

Climate change is America’s greatest opportunity, believes Dr. Aaron Bernstein of Harvard’s Center for Health and the Global Environment. Dr. Bernstein said that we have a chance to take real leadership and be out in front now.

Vince Maraventano of Interfaith Power and Light pointed out that 83% of MA residents want action on climate change and carbon pollution. “It is easy to feel frozen by the gridlock in Washington”, Maraventano pointed out, but reminded the audience that we have a moral imperative to care for the earth and for each other.

Dr. Rachel Cleetus with Union of Concerned Scientists, who studies the economics of climate change including the costs of inaction, said she would like to see the dirty polluters forced to stand up and say they care more about profits than children’s health or the future of the planet.

Dan Bakal from CERES reminded the audience that there are plenty of corporations and businesses who get that clean air is important and good for business. He said CERES has found in their work with economic movers and shakers that businesses understand that the risks are far outweighed by the benefits (a point that many speakers made).

And then we all had pie – cherry pie! So there’s the link between cherry pie and carbon – they were both topics of much interest at the Boston Public Library on June 13th. See our pictures and “LIKE” us on facebook and take action on carbon.

more info about the event:

Public Roundtable Set for June 13 at Boston Public Library

Local Experts to Speak in Support of Cutting Carbon Pollution

The Massachusetts Clean Air Action Coalition will host a roundtable on June 13 with community leaders and EPA Region 1 Administrator Curt Spalding.

This event will provide an interactive opportunity to learn about the recent advances being made by the EPA towards cleaner air, and to hear from a diverse panel of local leaders who will provide their perspectives on how these issues impact Massachusetts.

Here in Massachusetts there are increasing signs that our health, environment, and economy are vulnerable to the effects of air pollution and climate change. Speakers representing the faith, health, business and scientific communities will speak to the specific impacts cleaner air has for their constituencies, as well as how recent efforts to prevent increases in carbon pollution from power plants will benefit the Bay State.

Panelists:

• Curt Spalding, Regional Administrator, Region 1, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• Dr. Rachel Cleetus, Union of Concerned Scientists
• Vince Maraventano, Interfaith Power and Light
• Dr. Aaron Bernstein, MD MPH, Associate Director, Center for Health and the Global Environment and Instructor in Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
• Dan Bakal, CERES
• Moderated by Dr. Nejem Raheem, Environmental Economist and professor at Emerson College

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Enjoying a rare quiet moment in the Augusta Civic Center

We gave out a couple thousand Ranger Rick, Animal Baby, and Big Backyard magazines as well as copies of our On Thin Ice report, which is about how warm winters are impacting sporting traditions. We even had a Maine-specific NWF fact sheet about warm winter impacts, written by Eric Orff, a Game and Fish Commission member and retired wildlife biologist.

These photos and the video below capture the welcome home ceremony.

The Round Up

Bison bound for release at Fort Peck, MT are herded together.

Driving the Bison Home

Jim & Lexi Marsh prepare to drive one of the trailers with bison bound for Fort Peck, MT.

The Bison are Released

Bison leaving the trailer at Fort Peck, MT.

Bison leaving the trailer at Fort Peck, MT.

Bison being released at Fort Peck, MT.

The Pipe Ceremony

Tribal drum ceremony

Video of the Bison Release:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Help support National Wildlife Federation’s ongoing work to bring wild bison back to tribal lands >>

Related Links

• Wild Bison Homecoming for Indian Tribes
• National Wildlife Federation’s Tribal Bison Work
• Article: “Tribes Welcome Home Yellowstone Bison”

Kayaking in the fall of 2009, Lake Wentworth NH

Many Northeastern game species are threatened by mild winters (also see NWF’s “Game Changers” report), not to mention that sportsmen and hikers are coming home with ticks on them or on their dog. A recent radio piece talked to the president of the Berkshire County League of Sportsmen, and he said they had to cancel all their ice fishing derbies this year.

Right here in Massachusetts, we are seeing impacts that are more severe, too: the Springfield tornadoes, the Halloween snowstorm and power outages, and increased flooding from extreme storms (100 year storms every few years) throughout the region.

There are economic impacts not only from cleaning up from those natural disasters, but also from things like a shorter and less sweet maple sugaring season from New York to Vermont, cancelled ice fishing derbies, and a bad ski year on the East Coast all add up to a drop in revenue for businesses not to mention a drop in fun.

For gardeners, the whole map has moved! Who knows when the last frost free date is in their area any more? I put corn and peas in at least a month too late last year, because I went by the zones on the packages. This year I am going in a month ahead, but who knows if some late freak storm will kill all my plants.

This kind of oddball winter weather is exactly what climate scientists say we can expect in a warming world. This is why it is more important than ever to stand up for clean air now. The more we cut down on mercury and industrial carbon pollution coming out of smokestacks, the better chance we have of being able to enjoy our fine New England winters as well as our beautiful New England summers, each in their own time.

Find out how you can help us fight for clean air and reduced emissions at www.nwf.org/cleanair.