Among other things, the RESTORE Act created the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council, which is a multi-state, multi-agency group that has been tasked with developing a comprehensive ecosystem restoration plan for the Gulf. The Council is currently developing the plan, with a draft due for public comment this spring.

The Vanishing Paradise team is working to make sure the Council remembers the national hunting and fishing community was at the forefront of the efforts to pass the RESTORE Act, and we intend to see this through.

Our message to the Council is simple. We believe habitat restoration can drive and support economic recovery. The people, businesses, communities and economy of this region are undeniably reliant upon a healthy and productive Gulf, and ecosystem restoration should be the top priority in drafting and finalizing the Council’s comprehensive restoration plan.

This message will be delivered to the Restoration Council in the form of a letter that carries the signatures of roughly 350 hunting and angling businesses and organizations that believe investments in long-term ecosystem restoration will drive economic prosperity in the Gulf Coast region.

As the Council considers how best to “restore and protect the natural resources, ecosystems, fisheries, marine and wildlife habitats, beaches and coastal wetlands of the Gulf Coast region,” we believe that they should engage the hunting and fishing community to ensure that their restoration plan reflects the interests and values of our country’s hunters and anglers.

Following up on this letter, we’ll be meeting with the Restoration Council early next month. We will deliver the message that sportsmen and women are paying attention, but more importantly we will also discuss a list of recommendations on restoration project selection, implementation and monitoring.

Louisiana’s coastal wetlands are some of the most important habitats American hunters and anglers will ever know. The sad truth is that this American treasure is disappearing before our eyes.

The future of the Mississippi River Delta has long been challenged by a severed connection between the river and its wetlands. Hurricanes that destroy our marshes made us famous. More recently the Gulf of Mexico was thrown another curveball, the 2010 oil spill.

The unprecedented release of 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf has caused near-term impacts to the fishery, coastal habitat and thousands of people’s livelihoods. It may cause significant long-term damage to the Gulf, affecting sportsmen and women throughout the country that rely on a healthy Gulf coast that serves as wintering grounds for nearly 10 million waterfowl and one of the absolute best fisheries in our country.

We all take something different from the field. Whether it’s an exciting adventure chasing the trophy of a lifetime, a quiet day at your favorite fishing hole or some good old-fashioned quality time with your grandkids.

Hunters and anglers rarely agree on everything, but there is a fundamental connection between people who hunt and fish. No matter what our goals or interests are, we all depend on quality habitat to enjoy our passion. It sounds simple, and it is. At the end of the day, despite all of our opinions, preferences and predispositions, the key to quality hunting and fishing opportunities all comes down to productive habitat.

That’s why sportsmen and women must be involved in the development of the Council’s restoration plan. Investments in projects that restore healthy and productive habitat mean a future full of quality hunting and angling opportunities. If the wild spaces of the Gulf region are protected and restored, sportsmen and women will have played an essential role in saving one of America’s last best places.

A legacy to be proud of indeed.

US Fish and Wildlife Service – Midwest Region/Flickr

But as American Wetlands Month kicked off last week, another water-related anniversary quietly slipped by…but it wasn’t a happy one. May 2^nd marked the two-year anniversary since the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers submitted proposed clean water guidance that restores and clarifies Clean Water Act protections for America’s wetlands, lakes, and streams.

This widely supported guidance has been languishing at the White House in final form for over a year. Meanwhile, 20 million wetland acres and an estimated 2 million stream miles are at increased risk of pollution and destruction. Over half of America’s streams and rivers are in poor condition according to the latest National Rivers and Stream Assessment. And, for the first time since the 1980s, wetland losses are on the increase again.

Not exactly the most fitting celebration for the 23^rd anniversary of American Wetlands Month.

This unacceptable two year delay of action to restore crucial Clean Water Act protections to wetlands, lakes, and streams is costing our wildlife and our drinking water. The Obama administration should promptly finalize the clean water guidance and proceed with clean water rulemaking. Doing so is a crucial first-step toward restoring lasting protections to wetlands, lakes, and streams that are currently at risk.

Wetlands Under Attack

The American White Pelican is huge – it has a nine-foot wingspan, measures over five feet in length, and weighs about 16.4 pounds. Image: mikebaird/Flickr

But prairie potholes are not simply America’s “Duck Factory,” they also function as sponges and store water, reducing the risk of downstream flooding in the Red River as well as the Missouri and Mississippi River Basins. It is imperative to restore Clean Water Act protections and bolster agricultural wetland conservation measures to protect these valuable prairie wetlands.

The prairie pothole region is under particular threat from weakened Clean Water Act protections. Plains and Prairie Potholes Landscape Conservation/Flickr.

Let’s give our wetlands a better celebration – Act now to restore Clean Water Act protections

Our nation’s large, more iconic and recognizable rivers, lakes, and coastal waters depend on the health of the smaller streams and headwaters that sustain them. If the Clean Water Act doesn’t protect this network of small streams and wetlands, how can we hope to ensure the lasting health of our nation’s larger waterways?

It’s time for the administration to take a stand to restore protections for millions of wetland acres and stream miles. The very fate of our nation’s clean water and wildlife depends on it.

A small cascade along the Pemigewasset River in Franconia Notch State Park. Photo by Avelino Maestas.

To reverse this water quality degradation in our rivers, lakes, and bays, we must protect and restore the millions of small streams and wetlands that store and filter pollutants upstream, before they enter major waterways. Office of Water Acting Assistant Administrator Nancy Stoner put it best in announcing the study results (emphasis added):

 “The health of our Nation’s rivers, lakes, bays and coastal waters depends on the vast network of streams where they begin, and this new science shows that America’s streams and rivers are under significant pressure.” As she went on to say, “We must continue to invest in protecting and restoring our nation’s streams and rivers as they are vital sources of our drinking water, provide many recreational opportunities, and play a critical role in the economy.”

These headwater streams and wetlands serve important ecological functions. They trap floodwaters, recharge groundwater supplies, filter pollutants, and provide fish and wildlife habitat. These streams and wetlands are also economic drivers because of their key role in providing agricultural and industrial water supplies, and support for fishing, hunting, boating, and other outdoor recreation and tourism industries. They also provide approximately 117 million people – one-third of the U.S. population – with some or all of their drinking water. Protecting these small streams and wetlands is essential to protecting downstream waters and the communities and economies that depend on them.

It is of the utmost importance for these waters to be protected now!

What’s truly in jeopardy?

About 60 percent of stream miles in the continental U.S. only flow seasonally or after rain. Approximately 20 percent of the wetlands – roughly 20 million acres – in the continental U.S. are not visibly connected to other waterways but have critical groundwater connections and provide many other benefits.

These streams and wetlands are the very foundation of our nation’s water resources and are absolutely vital to the health of waterways and communities that are downstream. Because they are often small, unnamed, not on maps and not always wet, these streams and wetlands are very vulnerable. With each mile of stream and acre of wetland destroyed, we are losing critical resources we depend on.

Next Steps

Last February, the Obama Administration was poised to issue its final Clean Water Act guidance, which will clarify protections for millions of wetland acres and stream miles. Then, suddenly, progress stalled at the White House. A process that should have taken 60 days has gone on more than a year! These guidelines are crucial for at-risk wetlands and streams to regain critical protections from polluters and developers.

Now more than ever, we must encourage officials to protect our iconic waters and important tributaries. Contact the Obama Administration today>>

Pintail ducks in flight (Photo: USFWS Pacific)

“Few conservation programs can boast the success rate of conservation compliance,” said Moseley, who served as Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 2001 to 2005. “This program has helped farmers save 295 million tons of soil per year and kept an estimated 1.5 million to 3.3 million acres of vulnerable wetlands from being drained. The results of this compact between farmers and taxpayers have been astounding.”

Unfortunately, we are now at risk of losing the conservation gains we have made through this important program. Currently, farmers who receive crop insurance subsidies from the government do not have to participate in conservation compliance. However, over the last 15 years, Congress has increased the subsidy amounts on crop insurance, making it the largest subsidy to farmers.  And, as Congress updates federal farm policy in the next Farm Bill, it is increasingly likely that some commodity programs – which do require conservation compliance – will be phased out in favor of a strengthened crop insurance program. Therefore, it is essential that conservation compliance also be updated to apply to the crop insurance premium assistance.

As Moseley explains:

As Congress reauthorizes the farm bill, it is important that the conservation gains made over the last 25 years be retained. Unless included in the ongoing farm bill discussions, there is a possibility that, for the first time in a quarter century, conservation compliance provisions will no longer be attached to the largest federal payment program supporting producers.

Take Action: Call your member of Congress and tell them that you support linking conservation compliance to crop insurance in the next farm bill.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It’s a romantic view of farmers, but still it resonates with me. I grew up around farmers and the FFA and I don’t believe there’s a more important vocation on the planet. Farmers carry a lot of responsibilities, looking after the land, feeding their own families, and also producing food for the world. As I watched, I wondered why Dodge chose the Super Bowl to deliver that message of appreciation to farmers.

Maybe it was a show of solidarity after a hard year. First, there was the 2012 drought, one of the worst in recent history. Then, the House of Representatives and Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) let farmers down everywhere when they dropped the ball and failed to get a five-year farm bill on the floor.

But for me the Super Bowl commercial evoked an important question: What is the most important role of farmers in our society? It has always been my belief that one of the most important duties is farming the land in a way that protects the earth, and maintains natural resources for the next generation. Liberty Hyde Bailey, a Michigan farmer’s son and agrarian philosopher who lived over a hundred years ago, put it this way:

“We shall conceive of the earth, which is the common habitation, as inviolable. One does not act rightly toward one’s fellows if one does not know how to act rightly toward the earth.” – Liberty Hyde Bailey, The Holy Earth, 1915

Most of the lifelong farmers that I know share Bailey’s views. However, high crop prices, combined with farm subsidies have created a situation that removes the natural risks of farming.  As a result, some farmers are draining wetlands, and grasslands are being plowed up in the Prairie Pothole Region and Great Plains.

We need farmers, and we need to help support farmers as they provide food for the world, while still promoting good stewardship of the land. Two things need to happen in 2013:

1. Congress needs to pass a farm bill.
2. The farm bill must contain a conservation compliance provision and a Sodsaver provision.  This will close the loophole that eliminates natural risks and rewards bad practices.

Please consider writing personally to your Senator and Congressional Representative about this issue, and let s/he know that this is an important issue to you, and why.

Koontz’s suit ignores the public’s strong interest in wetlands protection and the state and federal laws protecting that public interest.  It is critically important for people and wildlife that the Court does not, and that the Supreme Court justices understand and respect the public’s strong interest in wetlands protection and the state and federal laws protecting that public interest.

A white heron with a tiny catch. Flickr photo by Marc Banks.

What the Science Says

The real “friends of the Court” on whose behalf this brief was written are distinguished wetland scientists, academics, and professionals who are former members of the National Research Council (NRC) Committee on Mitigating Wetland Losses. Their 2001 NRC report, “Compensating for Wetland Losses under the Clean Water Act,” concluded that the widely accepted policy goal of “no net loss” of wetlands was not being achieved. The report recommended policy reforms to ensure that permit conditions reflect a tight nexus between wetland functions lost as the result of permitted activity and wetland functions gained through compensatory mitigation projects.

In our brief, and in our on-going wetlands work, we emphasize:

• Wetlands provide essential ecosystem services and economic value to people, businesses, and communities. These ecosystem services include improving water quality, providing flood control and coastal storm mitigation, supporting fish, shellfish, avian, and other wildlife populations, and sequestering climate-harming carbon.
• The destruction and degradation of wetlands trigger a cumulative loss of wetland functions and services, harming people, communities, and wildlife.
• Consequently, “no net loss” of wetland function is a widely accepted objective of federal and state water law.
• To achieve “no net loss,” wetland impacts must be avoided and minimized to the extent practicable. Any remaining impacts should then be eliminated or offset through compensatory mitigation projects: restoration, enhancement, creation, and/or preservation of other wetlands.
• There must be a tight nexus between wetland functions lost due to permitted activity and wetland functions to be gained through wetland mitigation in order to achieve “no net loss” of wetland functions and services and protect the public’s interest in the water quality, flood protection, and fish and wildlife habitat services that wetlands provide.

Wetland scientist Joy B. Zedler, past chair of the NRC Committee on Mitigating Wetland Losses, sums it up best: “There is no excuse to continue to allow wetland losses, now that we know how effective wetlands are in providing clean water and other essential services.”

The wetland scientists have spoken. Let’s hope the Supreme Court will listen.

The Mississippi River Delta provides critical breeding, wintering and migratory stopover habitat for 100 million individual birds each year. The type of projects funded by the BP settlement will help restore the delta, which is eroding into the Gulf of Mexico at an average rate of a football field every hour. Flickr photo by Dan Pancamo.

Decades of National Wildlife Federation involvement in efforts to restore the Mississippi River Delta are about to see fruition.  This was not just serendipity. It followed on the passage of the RESTORE Act and the adoption of the 2012 Louisiana Master Plan for a Sustainable Coast, two signature achievements in 2012—the result of years of hard work and dedication by NWF and its many partners. It is no coincidence that both of these accomplishments were referenced during the AG’s press conference.

Furthermore, an additional $1.2 billion will be distributed through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to the remaining Gulf States—Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas, for restoration purposes. That is great news for NWF’s efforts to restore the Gulf of Mexico.

We are still anticipating a much larger payment from the resolution of the civil case against BP for their violations of federal environmental laws such as the Clean Water Act and the Oil Pollution Act. For now, we welcome that the Department of Justice chose to craft the criminal settlement in the way announced Thursday.

Importantly, the Justice Department made it clear that BP will enjoy no tax advantages from this payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and that this will not be used to offset any part of its civil penalties. And Justice also made it very clear that it intends to pursue the civil case vigorously, if BP does not proffer an acceptable settlement.

Thanks to the RESTORE Act we anticipate a great deal more money for restoration, but this restoration money from the criminal case is truly lagniappe, as we say in New Orleans.

Make sure the Department of Justice holds BP fully accountable for the 2010 disaster in the Gulf!

Aerial views of the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy to the New Jersey coast taken during a search and rescue mission by New Jersey Army National Guard, Oct. 30, 2012. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Mark C. Olsen)

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the first priorities for federal, state, and local governments are to prevent additional loss of life, assist those in need with all resources possible, and begin the difficult recovery process.  But once the recovery process begins my family and friends, along with countless others up and down the eastern seaboard, will begin to consider how to repair, rebuild and strengthen their homes and business properties.

As we move towards the repair and recovery phase, NWF has identified a 10 ways to better prepare for extreme hurricanes: five national policy changes that can be made right now to make all us safer, and five activities that must be stopped to avoid and minimize future storm-related catastrophes.  These recommendations all have one thing in common – they promote protection and restoration of natural defenses that are critical for safe, affordable, and sustainable protection from storms and floods.

Five Actions to Protect People, Property and Wildlife from Storm and Flood Damages

High water in the wetlands of Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. Flickr photo courtesy U.S. FWS.

1. Promote Climate Readiness. Many federal, state, and municipal agencies have taken steps to develop climate-adaptation plans, which chart a path toward preparing for and coping with extreme weather events and other climate impacts. Most of these plans have yet to be implemented, though, and will require political will and adequate funding to truly create more climate-resilient communities. And Readiness is the key word here—the best time to protect against and plan for natural catastrophe is long before it happens. We can start by implementing the recommendations of the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force.
2. Make Flood Insurance Reform Real. Hurricane Sandy destroyed countless properties across the Northeast, including many that belonged to people who had no idea their property was located within a floodplain and therefore did not have flood insurance. Thankfully, the just passed Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act made great strides towards updating how we map flood zones by taking into account increased storm frequency and intensity. By updating our maps and requiring more people to purchase flood insurance we’ll protect more properties, and also send a market signal that there are smarter, safer and better places to develop than in the middle of a floodplain. We can do this if we fully fund and implement the Flood Insurance Reform Act. 
3. Protect Our Natural Defenses. Natural features like wetlands reduce storm intensity and protect nearby properties from flooding. In fact, a single acre of wetland can store 1–1.5 million gallons of flood water. We must capitalize on these benefits and ensure that government helps protect these beneficial and cost-effective flood control features. The Obama Administration took several new steps to meet this goal. It has created new guidance and intends to pursue rulemaking to reinstate crucial Clean Water Act protections for wetlands and streams, and is also poised to release new water resources planning guidelines.
   
4. Encourage Better Stormwater Management. During major rain events, like Hurricane Sandy, stormwater and sewer systems are often inundated.  New storm water rules and guidance allow us to address these serious storm water concerns for communities across the country—especially those with aging infrastructure. We must update stormwater regulations to require that major sewer system upgrades in urban areas account for projected increases in rainfall and provide adequate holding basins to protect towns and communities from flooding, while protecting water quality at the same time.
5. Reduce Carbon Pollution. To avoid increased damage from super storms and other severe weather events, Americans must begin taking steps to reduce carbon pollution. The administration must follow through on its efforts to use the Clean Air Act to limit carbon pollution from power plants and other sources. And it must accelerate development and deployment of innovative clean energy solutions. Until we solve the problem at this level, we’ll be playing catch up after every storm. See my colleague Joe’s Mendelson’s recent piece for more details.

Five Actions that put People, Property and Wildlife at Risk from Storm and Flood Damages

The aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in Rodanthe, North Carolina. Flickr photo by North Carolina Dept. of Transportation

1. Government Subsidization of Development in High Risk Areas. Earlier this year, the Congress passed and the President signed the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 which made significant steps towards ensuring that property owners pay actuarial- or market-based rates for flood insurance. This is important as it helps people understand their risk and lessens floodplain development via the free market. But the bill didn’t go far enough. There are still countless properties that receive federal subsidies for flood insurance, including home owners living behind decertified and failing levees. Until we ensure everybody pays according to risk, we should continue to expect dangerous coastal development.
2. Failure to Prioritize & Harmonize Civil Works Projects. While some improvements have been made to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers planning process, the Corps continues to plan and operate projects that increase flood risks and destroy natural features that protect communities from flooding. Moving forward, Congress must consider the flooding impacts of all projects regardless of their primary purpose. For instance, we must consider the flooding impacts of navigation projects and have the political courage to veto them if these projects put people and property at risk.
3. Destruction of wetlands and streams.  Actions by the Supreme Court, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Environmental Protection Agency over the last decade undermine the Clean Water Act’s ability to prevent destruction of many wetlands and small streams by developers and others. Similarly, lax enforcement of the Farm Bill’s Swampbuster restrictions has exacerbated wetlands loss.  Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, and Missouri have each lost 85-90 percent of their wetlands and countless headwater streams. Between 1998 and 2004, coastal watersheds in the eastern United States lost almost 1 percent of their freshwater wetlands. Just a 1–percent loss of a watershed’s wetlands can increase total flood volume by almost 7 percent.
4. Backstop State and Federal Insurance Programs: Subsidized government insurance—like the National Flood Insurance Program of Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp—mask risk and encourage unsafe development. And still legislators across the country continue to call for an expansion of these subsidies by creating federal backstops or bailouts for these poorly run programs. We must not move towards this type of dangerous policy.
5. Build with Concrete instead of Mud and Grass: The WRDA 2007 national water policy proposed to “protect the environment” by “protecting and restoring the functions of natural systems and mitigating any unavoidable damage to natural systems,” and by “seeking to avoid the unwise use of floodplains.” The Corps is ignoring these requirements by continuing to promote environmentally destructive and costly structural projects even where less costly and environmentally protective nonstructural and restoration measures would provide better solutions. We need a major change of course to stop building structures that protect those directly behind them and exacerbate downstream flooding and instead use natural, open floodplains to allow rivers room to expand and cover their banks without impacting property.

How You Can Help

By going to the polls this Tuesday, we can show Big Polluters their money is no match for millions of Americans who have the power to elect leaders that will stand up to protect wildlife and fight climate change. Get ready to vote by locating your polling place today, deciding now what time you will vote and making sure that your friends and family have rides to the polls. Let’s Pack the Polls for Wildlife.

Much of the Central Wetlands were once a flourishing cypress swamp much like the one in the top image, by photographer Paul Mannix. Click to LIKE and SHARE this image on Facebook!

Today the Central Wetlands are an open expanse of saltwater, punctuated only by the stumps of dead cypress trees.

Over the past fifty years, approximately 1000 square miles of habitats were damaged or destroyed by a shipping channel known as the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO).

Worse still, during Hurricane Katrina, the MRGO funneled storm surge into large areas in and around New Orleans, dramatically increasing the devastation from the storm.

In Katrina’s wake, Congress ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers—who built and operated the channel—to come up with a plan to restore the damaged habitats.  Incredibly, the Corps was openly considering ignoring Congress and taking no further action towards restoration.

But thanks to almost 49,000 emails from activists across the country, today the fate of the Central Wetlands and other habitats damaged by the MRGO is looking a little brighter.

A new report by the Corps’ Chief of Engineers, published early last week, recommends moving forward on a $3 billion plan to restore wetlands damaged or destroyed by the construction and operation of the
M­ississippi River Gulf Outlet.

This news was greeted enthusiastically in New Orleans. Locals know that wetlands—particularly cypress forests—can help protect communities by buffering storm surge.

There are still obstacles to implementation: The Corps and the State of Louisiana are mired in a cost-sharing dispute that looks likely to hold up the restoration plan for at least the near future.

But the urgent need for restoration ought to transcend the cost-sharing issue. The MRGO plan—now more than four years behind Congress’ deadline—is critical to restoring the wetlands and wildlife habitats damaged by the canal.

NWF and our partners in the MRGO Must Go coalition have offered other major recommendations to the Corps, including prioritizing the 19 projects in the MRGO restoration that are also recommended in Louisiana’s 2012 Coastal Master Plan.

We’ve also recommended that the Corps expedite the Violet Freshwater Diversion, a project that will bring freshwater from the Mississippi River into the Central Wetlands and help to rebuild the lost marshes and cypress swamps while controlling salinity. These measures will ultimately lead to better resilience in the face of hurricanes—and will help the city adapt to sea level rise.

Want to make a difference for wildlife? Speak up for wolves affected by massive Keystone XL pipeline—urge the U.S. State Department to reject the dangerous tar sands oil pipeline.

NWF Report Says Climate Change Ruined Summer in the U.S.

August 30 – A new National Wildlife Federation report says climate change made its presence felt in disappointing, dangerous, and destructive ways this summer. From severe heat waves, devastating wildfires, catastrophic floods, serious crop damage, and destructive pests expanding their range; people in most parts of the U.S. suffered the impacts scientists have predicted for years. Those impacts will spill over into next year with higher food prices and damaged ecosystems struggling to rebound.

“This summer has been the season climate change became real to many Americans,” said Joe Mendelson, NWF’s director of climate and energy policy. “From burned houses to parched fields to West Nile virus, it’s time for all political parties to start protecting our homes, families, and communities. We need to get serious about reducing the uncontrolled carbon pollution that is ravaging our country.”

Important Wetland Gains Achieved in Mirasol Settlement near Corkscrew Sanctuary

August 23 – National Wildlife Federation and Florida Wildlife Federation and partner conservation groups achieved hundreds of acres of additional wetland protection and restoration in a landmark settlement over the Mirasol project, a proposed golf course development to be sited in wetlands and wood stork habitat of Florida’s Western Everglades. The groups had opposed and litigated to reduce the damage from this development for almost a decade.

This latest settlement follows on the groups’ 2010 settlement of challenges to the adjacent Saturnia Falls and Parklands developments. All three developments were proposed originally in 1999 in the ecologically sensitive Cocohatchee Slough, a natural wetland flowway emanating from Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. The Slough plays a vital role in providing foraging habitat for the endangered wood stork, whose largest nesting rookery in the nation is at Corkscrew Swamp. The Cocohatchee Slough also provides vital regional watershed benefits, like water supply and flood protection.

August 28 – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today is set to finalize new fuel efficiency and carbon standards, landmark rules that will double the fuel economy of America’s cars, SUVs and pickups to an average of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.

Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, said today:

“As a onetime General Motors mechanic, I’m proud to see Americans already proving we have what it takes to lead in a prosperous clean energy future. Taken together, new fuel economy standards for cars and trucks are the biggest step America has ever taken to cut carbon pollution and reduce our oil dependence, critical for wildlife which faces both the global threat of climate change and the direct impacts of oil spills and pollution.”

Make a Play Date with Nature

August 27 – Back to school shouldn’t mean back inside for kids. While busy school schedules, sports and other extra-curricular activities make free time for playing outdoors or a trek to the park more challenging, National Wildlife Federation and the Natural Learning Initiative at North Carolina State University, have developed a guide to creating enticing outdoor play spaces as close as your backyard, patio or balcony.

Nature Play at Home : A Guide for Boosting Children’s Healthy Development and Creativity shows parents and caregivers how they can turn an uninspired outdoor environment into an entertaining and exciting play area that will have kids from 1-12 years welcoming that frequent parental command, “Go outside and play!”

And here are highlights from NWF in the News:

• Climate Wire: Conservative Republicans launch a new group to promote clean energy(subscription required)
• Indian Country Today Media Network: Northwest Tribes Fight for Treaty Rights in Face of Coal-Transport Plan
• Greenwire: Company cancels Pacific Northwest shipping plans(subscription required)
• Metro Times: Hitting the pipe hard: Enbridge’s tar sands oil pipelines dodge oversight

For more, visit www.nwf.org/News