Defenders of Wildlife Blog

One of the most powerful voices for protecting wildlife does not come from non-profit organizations, members of Congress, or renowned biologists. It comes from passionate, dedicated citizens. As constituents, everyone has the opportunity to hold elected officials responsible for upholding critical environmental laws and policies to ensure protections for wildlife and habitat remain strong.

Recently, Defenders of Wildlife partnered with several other conservation groups to help facilitate that communication by bringing wildlife advocates and experts from 17 states to Washington D.C. to speak to their representatives and senators about conservation issues important to them. The group included small business owners, anglers, bird watchers and friends of National Wildlife Refuges. These advocates took the time to travel to D.C. and share their stories with their representatives and senators, explaining why funding for wildlife conservation programs is critical to their livelihoods, recreation experiences, and the wildlife in their states.

As a part of this effort, I too traveled to our nation’s capitol to speak with members of Colorado’s delegation and share information on how funding the federal agencies responsible for managing our wildlife and open spaces — U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management — can directly benefit wildlife in Colorado.

Federal spending on all land, water, ocean and wildlife programs accounts for only about one percent of the federal budget, yet these programs face draconian cuts. But cutting these modest yet vital programs will not address the problems with the federal budget. What it will do is have real and severe impacts on our nation’s — and Colorado’s — fish and wildlife, millions of outdoor recreation enthusiasts, and the economies of local communities around the country.

There’s an enormous economic benefit to protecting Colorado’s wildlife. Many communities in Colorado thrive on wildlife recreation and tourism. The work required to conserve wildlife and to restore and manage its habitat creates thousands of jobs for our citizens. Across the country, wildlife related recreation is a $122 billion-a-year economic engine, and here in Colorado, wildlife-related recreation generates $3 billion in economic activity every year. Additionally, the money that hunters and anglers spent in Colorado supported an estimated 21,000 full-time jobs.

When residents and out-of-state tourists travel to Colorado to hear elk bugling near Rocky Mountain National Park or view bighorn sheep, Colorado’s state animal, along the Arkansas River, they spend money on lodging, food and equipment. That money spent in local communities then ripples throughout the state, strengthening our economy.

But having strong environmental policies in place to protect our wildlife and their habitat is only part of the picture. We also need make sure our federal agencies are financially capable of supporting the wildlife programs that help maintain these resources. And yet funding for vital wildlife conservation programs is under assault these days more than any time in recent memory.

For example, the National Wildlife Refuge System, the largest land and water system in the world dedicated to wildlife conservation, is just one of the programs that would be compromised by damaging funding cuts. In Colorado, these refuges protect diverse habitats such as wetlands, native grasslands, riparian habitat and woodlands, which support elk, hundreds of thousands of migratory songbirds, waterfowl and federally endangered species such as the Colorado pikeminnow and southwestern willow flycatcher, just to name a few. And in 2011, approximately 78,000 visitors took the opportunity to enjoy these wonders in Colorado alone.

Unfortunately, without sufficient funding, national wildlife refuges in Colorado may not be able to continue protecting wildlife, which would, in turn, hurt local economies.

Traveling to Washington D.C. and speaking with your representatives and senators is an incredible experience. But this is not the only way you can share your story. Every Coloradoan can visit a district office of their representative or senators, call or write these offices, or write letters to the editor of their local newspapers explaining why these programs are so important.

We are lucky that several members of our delegation, including Senators Mark Udall and Michael Bennett and Representatives Diana DeGette and Jared Polis, understand why these land and wildlife conservation efforts are so critical and the key role they play in keeping Colorado’s economy strong. As the battle over funding heats up in D.C., all our elected officials need to continue hearing this message so they can keep fighting to protect the programs and federal agencies that safeguard Colorado’s natural heritage and outdoor legacy.

You can see the Huffington Post article here.

Defenders' president and CEO, Jamie Rappaport Clark

This week, the National Journal’s Energy and Environment Experts Blog asked, “Who’s to blame for high gas prices?“ Read what Defenders president and CEO Jamie Rappaport Clark thinks Congress should do to redirect this country to a more sustainable energy future. 

The phenomenon has become as reliable an indicator of spring as budding trees: gas prices go up just before peak summer driving season begins. Then, just as reliably, by Labor Day they’ve fallen again. According to 2012 Republican presidential candidates, the President of the United States has the ability to dictate these numbers at the pump. If only he had such power. But the reality is, as long as America is dependent on fossil fuels like oil, we’re at the mercy of those factors that influence the global market: Israel’s threatened war with Iran, the reduction in output from certain foreign producers, Wall Street speculators, Middle Eastern countries dominated by political unrest, and oil companies out to make a profit.

If the federal government is serious about redirecting this country to a more sustainable energy future, it should immediately eliminate the subsidies paid out to Big Oil–up to $4 billion each year. Instead of fattening the wallets of Big Oil CEOs, our government should be taking that money and investing it in clean energy solutions and higher fuel efficiency vehicles that will break our country’s dependence on foreign energy and dirty fossil fuels. Some in Congress are already taking steps to do just this. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) recently introduced a measure that would end several tax benefits for major oil companies while extending a series of renewable energy tax breaks that have recently expired or are soon scheduled to do so. A vote on this forward-looking bill is expected in the coming days.

Instead of sacrificing America’s pristine lands and waters to profiteering oil companies, our leaders should be investing in long-term, clean energy and energy efficiency solutions that will end our dependence on dirty fossil fuels and break us from the cycle of rising gas prices forever.

Passing legislation to invest in clean energy solutions will not be easy. The 112^th Congress has an ugly record of voting in favor of Big Oil profits over the public interest, slipping measures into draft legislation like the Transportation Bill that have oil executives licking their chops; measures that seek to open places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or waters off Virginia’s coast to drilling. These efforts to sell off some of our most cherished public lands will do nothing to solve high gas prices this year, next year or for many years to follow, but they are great for oil profits and for the elected officials funded by Big Oil.

Drilling in the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will not solve our country's energy needs. Photo courtesy of USFWS

Instead of sacrificing America’s pristine lands and waters to profiteering oil companies, our leaders should be investing in long-term, clean energy and energy efficiency solutions that will end our dependence on dirty fossil fuels and break us from the cycle of rising gas prices forever. Building a renewable energy portfolio will take some time, but by eliminating Big Oil’s tax break giveaway and investing that money in clean energy solutions now, Congress can put us on the track to get there. Without a realistic plan to end our country’s addiction to oil, the Republican leadership’s promise to lower gas prices rings as hollow as an empty gas tank.

Learn more:

Read the full question and see what others are saying on the National Journal’s Energy and Environment Expert Blog.

Stay tuned for how you can help Sen. Menendez pass his bill to end oil subsidies and propel America toward a clean energy future.

The last light was fading fast from the sky when the first three trailers arrived. Gale force winds were ripping through the high plains, and the thermometer had dropped well below  freezing. Still, I was incredibly excited and gratified to be part of the small gathering with Fort Peck tribal members  to witness a historic homecoming and tremendous win for wildlife.

It was so worth it to spend  almost the entire day yesterday traveling from Washington, D.C. to eastern Montana, for the return of wild bison to the Great Plains. I watched in awe last night as the tribal wildlife manager flipped the latch of the first trailer, opened the door, and out roared the first two wild bison from Yellowstone National Park, storming back onto the Fort Peck Indian Reservation.

One of the Yellowstone bison emerging from a trailer into a corral at Fort Peck Indian Reservation in eastern Montana.

The bison had spent all day as well, traveling  about 500 miles from a quarantine facility just outside Yellowstone, where some of them had been  for more than five years. But last night, they were finally set free where they truly belong in their new home.

In total, about 60 genetically pure, wild bison completed the journey. These are some of the only descendants of the historic herds that once roamed the Great Plains by the millions, and they are the first Yellowstone bison ever to be relocated to the Great Plains—the heart of their historic range– to start new herds.

Half of them will soon be moved to the nearby Fort Belknap Reservation once fencing is completed there. Both reservations will manage their new herds sustainably as a valuable cultural resource for the tribes.

Defenders has been able to work closely with the tribes to help bring Yellowstone bison to Fort Peck and Fort Belknap Reservations. Over the last few years, we’ve helped the tribes secure grazing permits to convert tribal land from cattle grazing to bison, paid for wildlife-friendly fencing, and lobbied with them against bad bills in the state legislature. We even chipped in for trailers to help transport the bison from Yellowstone.

But our work here isn’t finished yet. We’ve already committed resources to help the tribes at Fort Belknap, hopefully the next release site, put up fencing around their bison pastures this spring and summer. And in coming years, we’ll be helping the tribes set aside more of their lands  to expand the areas where bison can roam free.

Mike Leahy, Jonathan Proctor, Fort Peck Fish & Game Director Robbie Magnan and Jamie Rappaport Clark at the bison corral (left to right).

Incredible wildlife moments like these leave an indelible mark that will stay with me forever. As I listened to those bison hooves cantering around  on the prairie last evening,  I was reminded how fortunate I am to lead an organization like Defenders. I am also gratified and thankful for the many Defenders donors who have been with us on this long journey to restore bison to their native lands in northeast Montana and have so generously supported us along the trail.

I feel truly honored to have been able to share this incredible conservation achievement with the Assiniboine, Gros Ventre, and Sioux tribes of Fort Peck and Fort Belknap. I also want to thank Gov. Schweitzer and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks for their leadership with bison restoration. Their persistence and perseverance has ensured that future generations of Americans will be able to witness magnificent wild bison out on the range once again.

It’s been slow but steady progress lately for bison conservation in Montana.

Tribal wildlife managers at Fort Peck and Fort Belknap Indian reservations are busy making preparations to receive 65 disease-free, genetically pure bison from a quarantine facility near Yellowstone National Park—a move that was approved late last year by the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Commission. Litigation from a handful of local private landowners threatens to stop the move, which could occur any day.

Meanwhile, the state has agreed to open more land outside the park for bison to use during the winter when heavy snow sends them in search of food at lower elevations. Last week, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks released its updated interagency bison management plan that will allow bison to continue roaming north of Yellowstone National Park into Gardiner Basin during winter months.

The revised plan is not perfect, but it is a step in the right direction for Yellowstone bison, the most important bison population in the United States. These genetically pure wild bison are essential to the ecological restoration of the species, and there is no better place than Gardiner Basin for Montana to learn how to live with free-roaming bison.

Yellowstone bison were first allowed to roam Gardiner Basin last year when deep snow pushed hundreds of bison to leave the park in search of food. In previous years, bison that strayed beyond park boundaries were promptly hazed back into the park, shipped to slaughter, or held in captivity. But the new policy allows bison to remain in the area until May 1 each year. Just as with the proposed move to tribal lands, litigation threatens to end this progress as well.

Montana Governor Schweitzer has also weighed in, once again prohibiting the shipment of Yellowstone bison to slaughter, thereby forcing the state and federal agencies involved to seek alternatives. Defenders supports this move to prohibit needless slaughter and will continue to help in the effort to find alternatives. In 2011 Defenders contributed $7,000 to pay for fencing to keep bison off private property in Gardiner Basin where they are not wanted. This new effort, managed by the state wildlife department, increases tolerance for bison by allowing local landowners and bison to coexist.

The revised plan for Gardiner Basin is not all that these bison deserve, as some bison will continue to be hazed and held in captivity should more than 300 or so roam the basin at any one time. Ultimately, we believe bison should be allowed to roam year-round in Gardiner Basin – and other locations around Yellowstone – without confinement. Still, this is a start, and our hope is that we will see greater tolerance in the near future based on the success of coexistence projects.

Joel Sartore, National Geographic photographer, Defenders board member, and concerned Nebraskan.

Not only is Defenders board member Joel Sartore a world-renowned wildlife photographer, but he’s also a consummate activist. Read the column below that was published today in the Lincoln Journal Star opposing a  terrible piece of legislation in Nebraska that would expand counties’ authority to poison prairie dogs.

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Local View: Oppose LB473: Protect our wildlife and property rights

By Joel Sartore

For more than 20 years, I’ve had the privilege to photograph wildlife all around the world for National Geographic Magazine.

And in every place I’ve visited, there’s at least one plant or animal that is considered a “keystone” species for the outsized role it plays in maintaining nature’s balance. In parts of Africa, it’s elephants. In our oceans, it’s sharks and sea otters. For Nebraska, it’s the black-tailed prairie dog, though it’s an animal already so reduced in numbers you would be hard-pressed to find one if you drove this state from one end to the other.

So it’s hard to imagine why some of our elected leaders seem hell-bent on getting rid of as many of the remaining prairie dogs as possible, even forcing landowners to poison them against their wishes. Right now, a bill (LB473, “The Black-tailed Prairie Dog Management Act”) is working its way through the Legislature that would allow county governments to force the poisoning of prairie dogs on private land should any cross a property line. To add insult to injury, the bill would allow the county to come on your property without asking, and then send you the tab for killing native wildlife.

Forget about the prairie dogs for a minute and think about this with me. What if a deer beds on one landowner’s property but eats crops on a neighbor’s land? Should the landowner where the deer sleeps be held responsible? Of course not. Nobody owns wildlife, so why would anyone be liable for a species that moves from one parcel of land to the next?

In an era where every new government mandate is met with great outrage (remember Obamacare?), how is this any different? This bill is an effort by the government to force individuals to pay for something they do not want; trespassers and poisoning at the landowner’s expense.

So this leaves just one question: How did this thing ever get out of committee? This not only is an affront to property rights, but to personal liberties and freedoms as well. Beyond that, is it even constitutional to force private citizens to eradicate a native species at their expense and against their will?

The fact that few senators have spoken out against this actually speaks volumes about the Unicameral at this point in time. Nebraska Game and Parks remains silent as well, even though they’re the agency designated to protect our nongame wildlife.

If individual landowners want to poison prairie dogs on their own dime, that’s their business. But this bill is similar to a 1901 Kansas law that still is being enforced against the wishes of private landowners.

This new bill would similarly set Nebraska back to an outdated mind-set when healthy wildlife and healthy lands were not valued. And this clear violation of property rights stands to have major impact on not only prairie dogs, but on all the other imperiled species that rely on them, from burrowing owls to salamanders.

In a crowded world worn increasingly ragged, we should be doing everything we can to protect these vital animals and restore the ecosystems that depend upon them, not making it easier for counties to wipe them out.

It’s time for our elected leaders to stand up for both Nebraska’s wildlife and our property rights by rejecting this bill. Contact your state senator now. They will vote on this within days, and it will take only a simple majority, 25 out of our state’s 49 lawmakers, to allow this terrible idea to become law.

Wolves, like this on in the Cascade Mountains, are receiving the ire of the Yakima County Farm Bureau even though only one livestock loss has been attributed to wolves in Washington in more than five years.

Tempers flare in Pacific Northwest – Though there are fewer than 30 wolves in Washington, and the state’s wolf management plan has only recently been approved, wolf opponents are already pushing for more aggressive control actions. Legislators are proposing a significant decrease in the fine for illegally killing wolves from $4,000 to $1,000 and relisting wolves as a “game” animal instead of endangered. The Yakima County Farm Bureau is opposing the state’s wolf plan outright. Some of their members want all wolves to be eliminated, even though there has only been one confirmed livestock loss to wolves since they returned to Washington more than five years ago.

At least some landowners are taking a more measured approach. Dan Studley, quoted in the Yakima Herald, says he’s not too concerned about wolves:

As the story points out, Defenders has already chipped in $15,000 in start-up funds to help Washington get a compensation program off the ground. We are also organizing another series of workshops to help local, state, federal and tribal wildlife managers enhance their skills in field investigations and nonlethal deterrents.

Montana county considers wolf bounty – This week, anti-wolf zealots in Jefferson County, Montana are pushing to reinstate a wolf bounty program that would pay people for killing wolves. Only three cattle were lost to wolves in Jefferson County in 2011 according to state compensation payment records, but rather than taking steps to learn to live with wolves, county commissioners are considering a bounty to encourage all wolves to be killed. But not all residents of Jefferson County are on board with the proposed bounty. One hunter, quoted in the local paper, said that the state should be given a chance to manage wolves responsibly before counties take more aggressive action. Another person suggested that cougars and coyotes are likely taking more elk calves and fawns than wolves are, and another said bounties often amount to legalized fraud. Read more in the Helena Independent Record.

Wood River overseas – This summer we were lucky enough to have Pete Haswell, a young biologist from the UK Wolf Conservation Trust, volunteering on the Wood River Wolf Project. He spent his days and nights with our field team tracking wolves and sheep through the central Idaho wilderness, and when he returned, he had some great stories to tell. One night he came within 60 feet of a wolf in the Phantom Hill pack and exchanged late night howls with other packs as well. More importantly, he got to learn first-hand about the nonlethal tools we use to deter wolf attacks, which he hopes to utilize in his work in Eastern Europe. Pete also created an interactive map to keep track of known wolf locations in relation to grazing bands of sheep. Read more about Pete’s adventures in Idaho in the latest issue of Wolf Print, the quarterly magazine of UKWCT (see pg. 14). Pete also wrote a blog post for Defenders during Wolf Awareness Week.

Video of OR7 in his Oregon days – While OR7 remains in northern California in the shadows of Mt. Lassen, his legend continues to spread. This week a video surfaced of the lone male wolf from his Oregon days. The goal of the group named “Oregon Wolf Education” that sponsored the video is “to educate people on how the recent invasion of the Canadian gray wolf is affecting our lives.” But the video also tells a different story of a lone wolf that repeatedly moved through cattle pastures without causing trouble, due at least in part to the effective use of a range rider. Decide for yourself whether the short video portrays OR7 as a serious threat or just another wild animal sharing the landscape:

OR-7 from Pahsimeroi Pictures on Vimeo.

And in case you missed it, OR7 has also made news in the New York Times and TIME magazine!

What does the data show? – Understanding wolf behavior and their interactions with both wild ungulates and livestock isn’t easy. Wolves share the landscape with other animals that target the same prey, so it takes some careful analysis to determine the impact of any one species on another. That’s why Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is leading an in-depth study of predator-prey interactions in the Bitterroot Valley, where elk herds have declined in recent years. There are two years remaining in the study, but so far state biologists are learning that cougars in the area may be having a bigger impact on elk populations than wolves (last year, cougars killed 13 tagged elk calves and wolves killed three). The results of the study should yield important information about the relative impact of wolves on elk. Read more in this feature story from the Missoula Independent.