Defenders of Wildlife Blog

Sea otters frolic off the coast of California.

With their expressive faces and soft, furry bodies, sea otters exude charisma. But when it comes to survival, cute and cuddly doesn’t always cut it.

As few as 2,800 sea otters call California’s waters home. The population descends from a single remaining colony of about 50 hidden amid the crags of Big Sur, out of sight from fur hunters who nearly wiped out the world’s entire population by the early 1900s. Today they are at risk from pollution-caused disease, oil spills and fishing gear.

But even in such small numbers, these marine mustelids—related to weasels, ferrets and minks—have a profound influence on the marine ecosystem, keeping crucial kelp forests healthy by eating urchins that can overgraze. The otters’ diverse diet includes clams, crabs and mussels, which they cleverly crack open with a rock—every otter keeps one tucked away in a chest pouch.

Unlike most of their blubbery brethren, sea otters have fur—the densest of any mammal at up to 1 million hairs per square inch—to keep the chilly waters at bay. Because they can’t afford a bad hair day, much time is spent grooming their “do.” If their fur becomes soiled, it’s no longer waterproof and they can freeze to death. That’s one reason oil spills are so lethal.

Despite these amazing adaptations, California sea otters still need our help to keep their heads above water—so they can frolic and we can be charmed throughout this century and into the next.

Read more from the spring issue of Defenders magazine.

The wind energy project puts endangered California condors at risk.

Hoping to avoid avian “death by turbine,” conservation groups have filed a lawsuit in federal court to protect California’s endangered condors and golden eagles from a wind-energy project in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains. The North Sky River wind project will have more than 100 wind turbines on 13,000 acres.

Listen to the story. 

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Kim Delfino, California program director for Defenders of Wildlife, says the project is moving forward, despite their requests to get it redesigned to avoid environmentally sensitive areas and to include measures to protect at-risk birds.

“This project being proposed is right next door to the now-infamous Pine Tree wind facility. A documented total of eight golden eagles have died there so far this year.”

Delfino says the environmental review of the North Sky River project documented more than 50 golden eagle sightings within just 10 miles of the proposed site. Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported nearly 1,600 bird kills, which is among the nation’s highest fatality rates.

The wind energy project also poses a huge threat to other bird species, including the highly endangered California condor, Delfino says.

“All the condors have radio telemetry, and we know where they go. They have flown over this site, and there’s real concern that this site is a very, very bad location.”

The Defenders of Wildlife, along with the Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club, are asking the federal court to stop the project and require the BLM to complete a thorough review before allowing construction to move forward.

Lori Abbott, Public News Service – CA

With the tax deadline looming there is still time for Californians to help make a positive difference for sea otters by donating as little as $1 to the California Sea Otter Tax Fund located on their state tax forms. With fewer than 2800 sea otters left along the California coast these charismatic critters are struggling to make a comeback and your donations will help fund vital research dedicated to helping sea otters survive.  With a target amount set by the Franchise Tax Board each year, the tax check off must raise $267,934 this year to return to the tax forms next year. So as you finish filling out your tax forms this year don’t forget about our furry aquatic friends. Visit www.saveseaotters.org to find out more on sea otter conservation and Defenders’ work with the California Tax Check-off.

A massive wind energy project with turbines similar to these proposed for the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California threatens golden eagles and endangered condors.

BREAKING: Conservation groups challenge North Sky River wind project.

A controversial wind-energy project threatening endangered California condors and golden eagles in California is the target of a federal lawsuit filed today by the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Sierra Club against the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management.

Before turning to the court, the conservation groups met several times with the developer, asking that the some 100-turbine North Sky River wind project be redesigned to avoid known environmentally sensitive areas in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains and to include measures to reduce harm to at-risk bird species. However, the project is proceeding without these necessary changes.

Sprawling across more than 12,700 acres, the project’s alarming potential for impacts to rare and endangered species prompted warnings from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Department of Fish and Game in letters to Kern County supervisors, who approved zoning changes to accommodate the project. The North Sky River project is sited next to another wind farm – Pine Tree – that has a history of bird kills, including at least eight federally protected golden eagles in just over two years. The environmental review of the North Sky River project documented more than 50 golden eagle sightings and 14 nests within just 10 miles of the proposed site.

Golden eagle

In August 2011, the Fish and Wildlife Service wrote: “The first full year of fatality monitoring [for the Pine Tree Wind project] resulted in an estimated 1,595 fatalities per year, which per megawatt (11.8 fatalities/megawatt) is among the highest fatality rates being recorded in the nation…It’s reasonable to estimate that the proposed [North Sky River] project would have avian fatality rates equal to or greater than those observed at the adjacent Pine Tree Wind Facility.”

Additionally, the California Department of Fish and Game said the “combination of highly suitable habitat features on site, the known historic condor occurrences in the area, and recent condor activity nearby lead the Department to conclude that Condors will utilize the Project area in the near future and be at risk from turbine strikes.”

The conservation groups are concerned that the BLM discounted these dangers to rare and endangered species in granting the developer, NextEra, permission to build a new transmission line and improve an access road to the proposed site across public lands. The groups’ lawsuit contends that the BLM violated federal law by focusing only on the threats from the power line and road, while entirely ignoring the expected harm from the massive wind development itself. The groups are asking the court to stop the project and require the BLM to complete a thorough review before allowing construction to move forward.

The groups have a successful track record of working with renewable-energy developers to reduce threats to wildlife and the environment, facilitating the permitting of some 2,600 megawatts of clean energy since 2010. But unlike the many renewable energy developers who have modified their projects to lessen harm to wildlife, NextEra has failed to change the North Sky River project to sufficiently reduce the risk to condors, eagles and other bird species.

Following are statements from representatives of the conservation groups presenting the lawsuit:

Kim Delfino, Defenders' California program director.

“NextEra Energy and the Bureau of Land Management have thrown caution to the wind with the North Sky River project by ignoring the evidence of high rates of bird kills at the nearby Pine Tree wind energy project,” said Kim Delfino, California program director for Defenders of Wildlife. “NextEra had the opportunity to reconfigure the project to reduce the risk to endangered California condors and golden eagles. We’ve been left with no alternative, but to resort to legal action to prevent further harm to one of rarest animals in the country.”

“BLM shirked its responsibility to fully evaluate impacts to California condors and other rare species from the North Sky River project,” said Ileene Anderson, biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “Properly sited and designed wind energy can be implemented without unnecessarily killing off rare birds and bats.”

“Building another poorly designed wind project adjacent to one that’s under investigation for numerous eagle deaths just doesn’t make sense,” said Barbara Boyle, Sierra Club senior representative in California. “This project is right in the pathway of California condors moving back into their historic range in California.  There is a better way—we need to locate these projects where they will pose fewer risks and have a better chance for success.”

Approval by Imperial County officials means work can begin on what will be the world’s largest solar farm.

The project will produce enough electricity to power more than 200,000 households and create about 700 construction jobs.

Conservation groups say they support it because it isn’t being built on environmentally sensitive public lands. Kim Delfino, California program director for Defenders of Wildlife, says the project is a great example of the “right way” to develop solar energy.

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Listen to Defenders’ Kim Delfino on California News Service radio.

“There’s a lot of land out there. They don’t need to be going into these more intact, pristine areas. We think that, with good planning and good information, they can choose good, low-impact sites.”

Burrowing owls like this one are threatened by the Calico solar project.

Delfino calls the proposed California-based Calico solar project near Barstow an example of the “wrong way” to develop solar. She says the project fails to meet basic environmental-protection requirements and threatens fragile wildlife.

The Calico project covers more than 4,000 acres of vital wildlife habitat in the Mojave Desert’s Pisgah Valley, she says, and is located on key habitat for the desert tortoise.

“Despite the fact that we have been meeting with the developer of this site for the last three years, urging them to move the project because of the conflicts with wildlife, they’ve chosen to move ahead.”

Defenders of Wildlife, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club are filing a federal lawsuit in an attempt to stop the Calico project.

Lori Abbott, Public News Service – CA

SAN DIEGO – Four major conservation groups today announced their support for a set of proposed large-scale solar power projects in Imperial County, Calif., because of the project meets the need to promote well-located clean energy development, demonstrate the care taken to address wildlife concerns, and create good union jobs. The Sierra Club, Audubon California, Defenders of Wildlife and the Natural Resources Defense Council all support the projects, which the Imperial County Board of Supervisors approved today.

When completed, the Mt. Signal, Calexico I and Calexico II solar projects under development by 8minutenergy will produce about 600 megawatts of electricity each year, enough to power more than 200,000 households. The projects are located on privately owned, disturbed land currently used to grow highly water-intensive landscaping grasses. The biological effects from the projects are significantly less than proposed renewable energy projects on environmentally sensitive public lands. These Imperial County projects show that it is possible to develop viable, cost-effective projects without sacrificing our precious desert wildlands.

“By choosing a project site with very few impacts to wildlife, 8minuteenergy has shown that renewable energy can be developed quickly and without sacrificing sensitive wildlife and wild lands,” said Kim Delfino, Defenders of Wildlife’s California program director. “These projects are shining examples of how to develop solar energy right.”

Read the groups’ full statement.