If sequestration goes into effect, $1.8 million will be cut from Yellowstone, the only place in the lower 48 states where a population of wild bison has persisted since prehistoric times. Our national parks are crucial to protecting American wildlife: one-third of endangered and threatened species in the U.S. can be found within park boundaries. (Debra Boucher)

Last month, we finally got a peek at what exactly sequestration might mean for America’s habitats and ecosystems—and it’s not pretty.

A setback for conservation and the economy

According to a January 25 National Park Service memo obtained by the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, sequestration will have a disastrous impact on parks and all those who enjoy them.

This is not mere speculation: in the memo, National Park Service director Jon Jarvis explicitly said that sequestration will force them to delay permanent and seasonal hiring—perhaps indefinitely, if the budget situation is not resolved—and limit access to cherished national treasures:

“We expect that a cut of this magnitude, intensified by the lateness of the implementation, will result in reductions to visitor services, hours of operation, shortening of seasons and possibly the closing of areas during periods when there is insufficient staff to ensure the protection of visitors, employees, resources and government assets.”

And there’s more: according to additional information obtained by the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees last week, sequestration will directly impact more than 1 million visitors to 12 of the nation’s leading national parks.  In a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar warned that, in addition to the steps above, the Department of the Interior will have to close 128 wildlife refuges and discontinue visitor services at all 561 national wildlife refuges.

If the Department of the Interior is forced to enact these cuts, it will not only undermine our rich national conservation legacy and restrict the activities of hunters, anglers, hikers, boaters, and all outdoor enthusiasts, it will have a serious economic impact. America’s 37 million sportsmen spent $90 billion in 2011 alone.  And 140 million Americans spend $646 billion a year on outdoor recreation, an industry that employs 6.1 million Americans.

Sportsmen agree: don’t cut conservation funding

In NWF’s 2012 national poll of sportsmen, 84% of respondents said that the federal government should make it a priority to conserve fish and wildlife habitat and manage public lands for fishing, hunting, and other outdoor recreation.

Don’t let Congress shirk their responsibility to our public lands. Indiscriminate cuts to discretionary programs that devastate our public lands and wildlife are not the solution.

Act now: click here to tell Congress  not to let the budget crisis devastate wildlife.

Yellowstone Bison, credit GVoggesser/NWF

Since the mid-1990s, the National Wildlife Federation has been working to ensure people won’t have to ask that question. We believe restoration to other landscapes is a better management strategy to resolve livestock-wildlife conflicts. We envisioned a future when Yellowstone bison, the last genetically pure, free-roaming, wild bison population in the U.S., could provide animals to establish new herds across the West.

In 1997, we signed a memorandum of understanding with the Intertribal Bison Cooperative, the first ever conservation agreement between an environmental organization and a tribal organization, to advocate for the return of wild bison to tribal lands. NWF and the tribes shared a common vision – restoring wild bison to their historical habitat and restoring Native peoples’ cultural connections to bison. But the political opposition to the return of the bison seemed insurmountable.

A Victory for Conservation and Tribes

Room to Roam, credit Stephen C. Torbit/NWF

This has been one of the hardest nuts to crack in wildlife conservation history. Many other large mammal species that had depleted in numbers have been restored, but not bison. By restoring bison to tribal lands and other former habitats across the country, we’re also revitalizing a landscape, habitat, and a diversity of wildlife. Simultaneously, we’re helping to re-establish Native peoples’ cultural and historic connections to wildlife and the land.

This is a win-win proposition for the tribes, the state of Montana, and the millions of Americans nationwide who want bison back where they belong. The return of wild bison to tribal lands is a major milestone in efforts to restore an iconic North American species to the landscape and restore an important element of Native American culture.

This spring, we will welcome the bison home.

Yellowstone Grizzly Bears Still on Road to Recovery Despite Latest Twist in Delisting Saga

Nov 22, 2011 – Today, a federal appeals court ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to reinstate Endangered Species Act protections for grizzlies in the Yellowstone region. The Court found that the USFWS developed solid criteria for managing bears once they were delisted, but that the agency had failed to justify delisting given concerns about a decline in an important food source for the animals. Warmer weather due to climate change allowed beetles to flourish and devastate whitebark pines that produce nuts the grizzlies rely on for food. The bears will be relisted as a threatened species.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service delisted the bears in 2007 once their populations began to grow. Because the Yellowstone grizzly numbers exceeded all recovery targets, the National Wildlife Federation and its affiliates in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming intervened on behalf of the USFWS in the litigation challenging the delisting decision.

A Chance for Media Redemption on Hackergate?

Nov 22, 2011 – Today another hacked batch of 5,000 emails purporting to be from the Climate Research Center at the University of East Anglia was leaked by unknown parties.  It’s old, discredited news. Let’s hope the media exercises due diligence and practices objective journalism instead of blindly reinforcing the climate skeptics’ distorted claims.

When a similar batch of emails was unloaded without permission in 2009, many in the media hastily reported some of the information as solid facts and did not bother to understand the information in its broader context.  As a result, the science was distorted, twisted and misrepresented, and a stream of sloppy reporting ensued and was repeated over and over all too often.  Some in the media joined the climate naysayers who tried to argue that the climate scientists had doctored scientific data to exaggerate the world’s climate crisis.  They tried to unravel the facts and upend the science.

And here are highlights from NWF in the News:

• Associated Press: Court says Yellowstone grizzlies still threatened
• Minnesota Public Radio: Push to keep invasives out driving force behind ballast water measures 
• Durango Herald: Report: Nature conservation is a ‘huge economic driver’

"Just another Buffalo" attracting some attention in Yellowstone this summer.

“Oh, It’s just another Buffalo,” Anthony said when we finally discovered what was causing the excitement in the cars stopped up ahead.

Really?  It only took 36 hours for Yellowstone to ruin my 9-year-old kid?

I had to laugh, but it brought into focus one incredible wildlife success story, and how grateful I am to my colleagues at the National Wildlife Federation for playing such an important part in bringing this amazing species from the brink of extinction to a relatively common sight during our recent visit to Yellowstone.

Giving Bison Room to Roam

In the early 1800s, an estimated 65 million bison roamed throughout the continent of North America. However, hunting and poaching had a devastating effect on the bison population; and by 1890, fewer than 1,000 remained.

Due to federal protections, there were approximately 1,500 bison in Yellowstone National Park by 1954. By 1997, there were approximately 3,500 bison in Yellowstone National Park.

However conflicts with cattle grazing interests have been a long-standing threat to bison and access to their historic grazing lands.  Federal officials used slaughter and hazing to confine herds to park property and limit their natural migration for food, killing more than 3,800 bison to prevent conflicts with ranching and cattle interests.

Now, thanks to the work of groups like National Wildlife Federation and a new agreement between federal agencies, several American Indian tribes and five states, the bison of Yellowstone National Park will have more room to roam.

According to the recent agreement, bison will no longer be shot or hazed upon leaving Yellowstone Park. Instead they will be allowed to migrate into Gardiner Basin, a 75,000 acre area that lies immediately north of Yellowstone and encompasses the upper Yellowstone River valley.

“The establishment of the Gardiner Basin Bison Conservation Area ends an era where bison were killed or quarantined simply for walking across boundary in search of winter feed,” said NWF’s Tom France. “It is a huge step forward for wildlife conservation in the northern Rockies.”

Paying Ranchers to Turn Land Used for Grazing into Bison Habitat

National Wildlife Federation has successfully fought for decades to change bison management through our Adopt-a-Wildlife-Acre program, which compensates ranchers for retiring their grazing allotments and relocating their livestock.  NWF has successfully phased out livestock grazing in key areas around Yellowstone National Park and raised more than $1 million to provide additional habitat.

The work to create a safe haven for bison is not over. In addition for continued work in the Greater Yellowstone, National Wildlife Federation has created a campaign to restore a wild, free-ranging bison herd in and around the 1.1 million-acre Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge in north-central Montana.

It’s a lot of work and a difficult task – much like convincing a 9-year-old looking at a herd of hundreds of free-roaming bison that there was once a question of their very existence.  Yet sometimes it’s nice to take a moment to silently enjoy a hard-fought policy victory by realizing the power behind simply giving a kid the opportunity to say “just another Buffalo.”

Find out more about National Wildlife Federation’s work to restore bison to Montana’s Northern Great Plains >>

Adopt a Wildlife Acre – Help retire grazing allotments near Yellowstone National Park to provide room for bison to roam >>

U.S. Today Science Fair reports:

The report – National Parks in Peril: The Threats of Climate Disruption – outlined hazards due to rising temperatures in 25 of the country’s 351 national parks. The top risks to the parks include loss of snow and water, rising sea levels, more extreme weather, loss of plants and wildlife, and additional air pollution.

According to the report, the risks of a changed climate dwarf all previous threats to our national parks: ‘If we continue with high emissions of heat-trapping gases, our nation could be 7 to 11 degrees hotter by the end of the century — and our parks would be drastically changed.’ Endangered parks include some of the nation’s most popular, including Great Smoky Mountain, Yellowstone and Yosemite.  See full article.

I believe that we have little time to act to protect the nature of tomorrow. In the book I have attempted to cover the latest science behind the fast-approaching threats and to make the case for wildlife, to offer practical solutions, and to suggest actions we can all follow.

To help get the essential message of the book out to an even wider audience, I will be speaking in the cities below. I hope you will come to a presentation and share your views on the important steps we must take together to preserve life on earth and safeguard wildlife for future generations.

In order to help protect our natural resources further I’m donating all author proceeds to National Wildlife Federation, which is inspiring Americans to protect wildlife for our children’s future.

I look forward to seeing you soon.

Book Tour Schedule

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

Saturday, December 12 2009 @ 5 pm
UNITED NATIONS CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE
Bella Centre
http://en.cop15.dk/

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

Sunday, January 7, 2010
Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming
Grand Opening of Climate Change Interpretive Facility: “For Future Generations: Yellowstone Gifts”
http://www.yellowstonenationalparklodges.com/press-releases-217_2883.html

DENVER, CO

Wednesday, February 3, 2010 @ 7:30 pm
TATTERED COVER COLFAX AVENUE
2526 East Colfax Avenue
http://www.tatteredcover.com/

Thursday, February 4, 2010
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURE AND SCIENCE
http://www.dmns.org/main/en/

ST. LOUIS, MO

Monday, February 8, 2010
MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN
http://www.mobot.org/

WASHINGTON, DC

Tuesday, February 23 2010
GARDEN CLUB OF AMERICA
http://www.gcamerica.org/

In early January, the U.S. Senate passed sweeping legislation to provide historic protections for millions of acres of America’s cherished public lands. Last week, new Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, canceled 77 leases that would have allowed oil and gas companies to disturb red rock areas in Utah.

We’ve won some great victories.

Now the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act– the same one passed by the Senate– is up for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives. And our sources say the vote could be tight. Furthermore, if the House makes ANY amendments to the bill, it must return to the Senate, where it will be stalled indefinitely.

This bill has already come such a long way. Help make sure it gets to the President’s desk.

And the next time you take a family vacation to Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon, you’ll know that those lands are going to be protected for generations to come.