Helena, MT— Last week, the Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks Department announced that the U.S. Department of the Interior has approved paintballing by the public to haze grizzly bears, a threatened species protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Bakersfield, CA— Today, reports suggest that Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Bernhardt will officially grant a permanent contract to Westlands Water District to divert water from California’s Central Valley to wealthy agricultural interests. Sec.
Jackson, WY — A conservation coalition today filed a lawsuit against the U.S.
WASHINGTON— A federal judge on Tuesday overturned a decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect northern long-eared bats as threatened rather than endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
Washington, DC-- Tomorrow (1/29), the House Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on several wildlife conservation bills-- including the Protect America’s Wildlife and Fish in Need of Protection Act (PAW and FIN Act) that will undo the Trump administration’s recent rollbacks to the Endangered Species Act.
PINEDALE, Wyo.— The Center for Biological Diversity and Sierra Club notified the Trump administration today of their intent to sue over plans allowing 72 grizzly bears to be killed to accommodate livestock grazing in Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest. The forest encompasses the headwaters of the Green River, an area important for Yellowstone ecosystem grizzly bear recovery as well as elk, deer and pronghorn migrations.
Last year the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service authorized the killing of up to 72 grizzly bears over the 10-year life of the grazing program.
Oakland, CA—Sierra magazine’s January/ February edition is now on newsstands and arriving at subscribers’ homes.
Highlights include:
Pinedale, WY-- Today, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) will host its first public meeting to announce recommendations of the state’s Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Working Group. The Working Group was formed earlier this year to revise Wyoming’s CWD management plan. CWD is the always-fatal wildlife disease that is spreading rapidly across the state and severely threatening Wyoming’s renowned deer, elk and moose populations.
Conservation groups today blasted a U.S. Forest Service decision to authorize continued livestock grazing in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. The forest encompasses the headwaters of the Green River, an area important for grizzly bear recovery and elk, deer and pronghorn migrations. The Service itself determined that the plan’s grazing is “likely to adversely affect” grizzly bears, which are protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Seattle, WA-- Today, at the Northwest Power and Conservation Council (NWPCC)’s public hearing on their annual Fish and Wildlife Plan, over 80 advocates from multiple organizations testified-- calling out the Council’s inadequate plan to protect region’s struggling steelhead and Snake-Columbia salmon populations - along with the orca that rely on them -from extinction.
After the meeting, representatives from organizations in attendance released the following statements:
Seattle, WA-- Tomorrow, advocates from conservation and local organizations will publicly call on the Northwest Power and Conservation Council (NWPCC) to include critical protections for orca and salmon at their public hearing seeking public comment on their latest five-year Fish and Wildlife Plan. Advocates from conservation organizations will testify -- stressing the need for a plan to ensure recovery of the region’s rapidly declining whale and fish populations. See full event details here.
Dupuyer, MT-- Tomorrow, Interior Secretary Bernhardt will host a media event with Rep. Greg Gianforte in Dupuyer on the subject of grizzly bear management. The press event comes after Bernhardt implemented substantial rollbacks to the Endangered Species Act in August and assisted the finalizing of the delisting of grizzly bears in the Yellowstone region in 2017. Bernhardt’s record in Montana underlines his ties to extractive industry in the state, efforts to undermine wildlife protections and growing questions of ethics.