If the Keystone XL pipeline is constructed and tar sands development continues unchecked, some herds of Woodland Caribou could disappear in as little as 30 years. (Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

The Good

Thanks to the help of the many NWF members and activists who influenced their Senators, we beat back many bad environmental amendments and saw the Senate pass some positive ones.  We were especially pleased to see a majority of Senators stand up for the Clean Air Act by voting down amendments that would have struck down the Mercury Air Toxins standard and blocked agencies from curbing the pollution driving climate change. The Senate also passed amendments to insure that critical funds are available to prevent the risk of wildfires, increase funding for ARPA-E, which provides research funding for innovative energy technologies, increase the amount of funding for weatherization and energy efficiency programs, and help homeowners and small businesses mitigate against flood loss.

The Bad

Unfortunately, several amendments with harmful consequences for people and wildlife did pass.  One passed amendment undermines federal efforts to avoid the need to list the greater sage-grouse  under the Endangered Species Act.   And another amendment weakens the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)—the landmark environmental law that requires every federal agency to consider the environmental impact of any government action—by saying that greenhouse gas emissions produced outside the United States by any good produced here (including fossil fuels) are not subject to the requirements of NEPA.

And finally, the Senate passed an amendment that expresses support for building the Keystone XL pipeline—something that will have a disastrous impact on the climate and on wildlife.

For more information on the Keystone amendment and to see how your Senator voter, click here and hold them accountable>>

The Amendments

Pro-environment actions

• Udall-Barasso Amendment 239 – passed by voice vote.  Ensures critical funds are available to help reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires, which threaten communities and natural resources across the country
• Merkley Amendment 398 – passed by voice vote.  Increases the investment of government research dollars under the Department of Energy ARPA-E program
  
• Reed-Collins-Merkley Amendment 482 – passed by voice vote.  Increases the budget for weatherization and energy efficiency retrofit programs
  
• Coats-Manchin Amendment 514 – failed 46-53.  Undermines the Mercury/Air Toxins Standard under the Clean Air Act.
• Inhofe Amendment 359 – failed 47-52.  Proposes funding cuts to block agencies from curbing the pollution driving climate change.
• Menendez 619 – passed by voice vote.  Helps homeowners and small businesses mitigate against flood loss.

Anti-environment actions

The Farm Bill is one of the most important laws helping farmers protect and enhance wildlife habitat on private lands in America.  It’s a massive piece of legislation that has been around a long time in different forms and comes up for reauthorization in Congress about every 5 years.

The last Farm Bill passed in 2008 and expires in 2012 – so this year, Congress should reauthorize the Farm Bill in order to ensure stable funding and consistent delivery of the conservation programs it contains.

Most Farm Bill spending actually goes to nutrition. The little green slice of the pie that goes to conservation may not look like much, but that 9% can go a long way, and it provides considerable return to taxpayers, by ensuring that land and natural resources are preserved for the future. (The estimates in the pie chart are based on data from the Congressional Research Service.)

How Does 9% of the Farm Bill Work for Wildlife?

Most of the money from Farm Bill conservation programs like the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP), the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), and the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) provide funds to protect valuable wildlife habitat from being converted to production, restore marginal farmlands to habitat, and share  the cost of Best Management Practices (BMPs) with landowners to help protect wildlife, water quality, and soil quality on working farm lands.

Many wildlife species depend on habitat on private lands to survive.  Farm Bill conservation land retirement programs combined provide about 33 million acres of wildlife habitat; that is more than National Wildlife Refuge lands, which total around 26 million acres (minus Alaska).

Greater Sage Grouse, credit USFWS/Stephen Ting

That is why it is important for wildlife enthusiasts, lawmakers, farmers, and all Americans to support continued and increased funding for conservation programs in the 2012 Farm Bill.  Learn more about how Farm Bill programs can help protect wildlife.

Jan 6: Science Friday

Winter Wonderland? Wonder No Longer

The winter solstice has come and gone, making it officially winter in the U.S., with cooler temperatures, less sunlight, and, in some places, snow, ice, and frost. NWF’s David Mizejewski joins a panel of experts to discuss the different phenomena that combine to make up the season we call winter, and give tips for how best to appreciate the natural world in wintertime.

Jan 5: The Washington Post

Advice from a former obese kid

The new year has brought with it renewed pledges to make 2012 the year we finally take on the childhood obesity epidemic.

Max Greenberg has his own thoughts on this front. Greenberg works for the National Wildlife Federation and Outdoors Alliance for Kids. He’s an avid promoter of unstructured physical activity to combat the childhood obesity epidemic.

Jan 4: Foster’s Daily Democrat (op-ed)

Silent Swing: On Trips Through NH, Candidates Failing to Talk Conservation

Theodore Roosevelt creating the National Parks System to Richard Nixon establishing the Environmental Protection Agency to George H.W. Bush signing a strengthened Clean Air Act, Republicans have a long history of supporting common sense solutions to problems facing our wildlife, air, water and public health. Will this year’s crop of GOP candidates follow that conservative presidential tradition?

So far, the signs aren’t promising. I’ve heard plenty about jobs, but little of protecting the rivers, lakes and wildlife habitat that supports thousands of hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation related jobs across New Hampshire. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife, in New Hampshire 228,000 people spent $177 million on fishing in 2006. Every dollar spent on conservation programs here in New Hampshire delivers jobs and economic activity.

Dec 30: The Washington Post

Mild weather redefines winter landscape

At the National Arboretum, the white petals of snowdrops — normally an early spring flower — have unfurled. In Maine’s Acadia National Park, lakes still have patches of open water instead of being frozen solid. And in Donna Izlar’s back yard in downtown Atlanta, the apricot tree has started blooming.

It’s not in your imagination. The unusually mild temperatures across several regions of the country in the past few months are disrupting the natural cycles that define the winter landscape.

Dec 29: The Colorado Independent

BLM sage-grouse guidance ruffles some enviro feathers

Reactions from conservation groups both nationally and on the ground in Colorado have been mixed regarding this week’s U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) guidance for the preservation of habitat for the greater sage grouse.

The size of small chickens, the wild, mostly ground-bound birds are found on up to 47 million acres of federal land managed by the BLM in 10 western states, including Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. Scientists say the bird is a key indicator species, but that populations have declined by up to 90 percent over the last century because of energy development, mining, grazing, residential development and invasive species of weeds in sagebrush country.

Dec 28: The Today Show

David Mizejewski with Cold-Weather Critters

David Mizejewski from the National Wildlife Federation introduces the TODAY gang to a few amazing animals, including an arctic fox, a snowy owl, a porcupine and more.

Dec 27: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (op-ed)

Keep drilling out of state parks

Pennsylvania’s state parks are special places. These public lands provide opportunities for families to connect with nature and for sportsmen and women to enjoy hunting and fishing. Our state parks also allow folks to escape from the stress of traffic jams and crowded cities for cleaner air and more peaceful moments.

Unfortunately, conserving these precious outdoor spaces for recreation and the quality of life they provide for Pennsylvania’s residents may conflict with another resource: natural gas.

Photo: Susan Lehman

Oil and natural gas may be valuable resources out West, but so are the area’s wildlife and outdoor heritage. Increased energy exploration, however, could make certain species much harder to find.

Mule deer, pronghorn antelopes, greater sage grouse, raptors and songbirds that depend on the sagebrush in the region are just some of the wildlife that could be seriously affected by oil and gas drilling.

Oil and Gas Companies Need to Disclose “Fracking” Chemicals

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a natural gas drilling process raising concerns about the health and safety of people and wildlife across the country.

Not only is the process highly destructive to wildlife habitat, but it can potentially leach toxins into rivers, lakes, streams and groundwater.

Unfortunately, in most cases, oil and gas companies don’t have to disclose the chemicals they use during fracking, which can include nasty ingredients like diesel fuel. Furthermore, the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal authorities can’t fully regulate oil and gas companies because of exemptions in laws like the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Water Act.

Members of Congress from Colorado, New York, Pennsylvania and other states are trying to pass legislation to close loopholes that allow fracking chemicals to remain a mystery and a threat to animals, people and the environment. The National Wildlife Federation is also working to mitigate the impacts of energy exploration on America’s valuable natural landscapes before oh deer turns into no deer at all.

Help Protect Wildlife From Fracking

You can speak up to protect wildlife from the dangers of fracking or support National Wildlife Federation’s work on this and other important wildlife issues.

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 >>

Photo courtesy of Field & Stream

Nevada Wildlife Federation’s Gale Dupree has been named the Conservation Hero of the Year by Field & Stream magazine. Dupree was among seven finalists honored at a recent Washington D.C. Gala awards event.

Each finalist was awarded $5000 for their conservation programs and, as the big winner, Dupree also received a Toyota 4Runner for his work on restoring sage brush habitat.

“Sportsmen don’t just talk about protecting wildlife and wild places,” says Anthony Licata, editor of Field & Stream. “They actually do it. The conservationists we named heroes tonight are out in their community doing grassroots work, while also inspiring a lot more people to get involved and do their part. We’re proud to recognize and celebrate their accomplishments.”

According to Field & Stream:

Dupree noticed a decline of sage grouse in Nevada, so he helped develop a handbook that informs landowners of how to improve nesting habitat for the birds. He also mobilizes volunteers to count leks (strutting grounds) in spring. “They’re what you call an indicator species,” Dupree says of grouse. “If they’re not doing well, other populations of wildlife are not doing well, either.” A 30-year member of the Nevada Wildlife Federation, he serves on several local conservation boards.

Watch this video to see Dupree in action, and read a short profile of him on the Heroes of Conservation site.

Congratulations Gale from all of us here at National Wildlife Federation!

Sagebrush-Steppe Landscape

This important wildlife habitat of the interior West supports an abundance of plant and wildlife species, like sage-grouse, pronghorn antelope, mule deer, jack rabbits and golden eagles. But this habitat is threatened by not only climate change, but also invasive species, urbanization, inappropriate energy development, and wild fire.

I’m looking forward to joining the Montana Wildlife Federation Saturday April 17 to celebrate 75 years of success. National Wildlife Federation shares Montana Wildlife Federation’s conservation values and history. At the first gathering of the North American Wildlife Conference in 1936, where National Wildlife Federation was formed, Montana sent five delegates to that meeting. They went back and started Montana Wildlife Federation.

Montana Wildlife Federation has been fighting for Montana’s wildlife ever since, which is a good thing since Montana’s wildlife is facing some of their toughest challenges ever:

Due to warmer winter temperatures and less precipitation, most Montana rivers are at 50% of their snowpack.

Fishing restrictions in Montana are expected to start as early as July this year. This has happened in five of the past seven years. This is no longer the trend but the norm.

The current drought in the West is the worst in 500 years.

Warmer, drier conditions have caused a fourfold increase in the number of wildfires in the West. The acreage burned by wildfires will double by 2100. Montana will be particularly hard hit. One doesn’t have to look far to see red and dying trees caused by mountain pine bark beetles. Upwards of 70% of some Montana forests have been affected.

Big sagebrush habitats could decline by almost 60%.

This will have devastating consequences on sage grouse, mule deer, and pronghorn antelope.

Higher stream temperatures could reduce cold water trout habitat up to 50% percent in Montana.

Up to 90 percent of Prairie Potholes would be destroyed by global warming. The Prairie Potholes are America’s “duck factory.”

Montana’s youth are facing the indoors deficit facing children across the country – the typical child today spends over seven hours a day in front of a screen and only four to seven minutes a day in unstructured playtime outdoors.

Montana’s outdoors industry is threatened as wildlife is on the frontlines. Over half of Montanans hunt and fish, and outdoor recreation results in $1.1 billion in consumer spending and 21,755 jobs created.

I’m looking forward on Saturday to joining the courageous men and women of Montana Wildlife Federation who are “mapping out a course of action and following it to the end” to protect Montana’s most special places and get Montana’s kids outdoors to inspire a love of nature.