Defenders of Wildlife Blog

Responsible beach management will allow imperiled wildlife like the piping plover to continue down the path to recovery.

BREAKING: The National Park Service (NPS) today announced new rules to manage off-road vehicle traffic on beaches so nesting and baby sea turtles and birds as well as pedestrians are protected in Cape Hatteras National Seashore, according to conservation groups.

In 2007, the groups—Audubon North Carolina, Defenders of Wildlife and Southern Environmental Law Center— turned to the courts for help in getting the NPS to  implement long overdue safeguards for pedestrians and beach-nesting wildlife on park beaches overrun by off-road vehicles.

“The park service’s rules are a compromise that provides protections for both pedestrians and wildlife while still allowing responsible beach driving,” said Julie Youngman, senior attorney, Southern Environmental Law Center.

The long-awaited rules are the final step in a process agreed to by all parties concerned about beach driving in the national seashore. During an interim management period prior to today’s rulemaking, rare bird and sea turtle populations showed signs of recovery, park visitation held steady or increased annually, and tourism remained strong in Dare County, NC, where much of the seashore is located, despite a recession.

“With both the number of hatchlings and visitors to the beach climbing, the success of responsible beach management is clear,” said Jason Rylander, senior attorney for Defenders of Wildlife. “The new rules will ensure that Cape Hatteras continues to provide enjoyment to beach users while protecting the unique wildlife that call the seashore home.”

Tourism flourished in Dare County during the period when interim protections were in place.  Rental occupancy receipts in Dare County increased by millions over the previous decade as recorded by the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau. Park visitation and gross occupancy inDareCountyduring peak breeding and nesting season under interim management held steady or increased compared to the three preceding years. According to a state report on tourism for 2009-2010, Dare County experienced an 8.8 percent growth in tourism—making it among the top growth counties in the state during a recession.  The county’s strong tourism industry employed 11,260 people with $172 million in payroll and generated $44.55 million in tax receipts for the state and $39.78 million in local tax receipts.

After three years of temporary protections, a record-breaking 153 sea turtle nests were recorded at Cape Hatteras.

As a unit of the National Park System, Cape Hatteras National Seashore has been required under federal law since 1972 to establish guidelines that minimize harm from the use of off-road vehicles to the natural resources of the seashore in accordance with the best available science for present and future generations. The new rules bring the NPS into compliance with that requirement.

The park service’s rules allow ORV use on the majority of the seashore. Twenty-eight of the seashore’s 67 miles are set aside as year-round ORV routes, with only 26 miles designated as year-round vehicle-free areas for pedestrians, families, and wildlife. The remaining 13 miles of seashore are seasonally open to ORVs.  The plan also proposes new parking facilities, ORV ramps, and water shuttles to increase visitor access to beaches.

“Under the reasonable, science-based management of the past few years, beach-nesting birds and sea turtles are rebounding at Cape Hatteras National Seashore and visitors continue to flock to this national treasure,” said Heather Starck, executive director of Audubon North Carolina. “The new rules appear to give the National Park Service the guidance to protect and manage the natural resources while allowing for responsible ORV use.”

With temporary beach driving rules implemented in April 2008, beach-nesting birds and sea turtles within the national seashore showed signs of recovery after reaching alarming lows under unmanaged beach driving. Only 44 sea turtle nests were recorded in 2004, but a record-breaking 153 sea turtle nests were recorded in 2010 and 147 sea turtle nests were recorded in 2011. No piping plover chicks survived to fledge (learn to fly) in 2002 and 2004, but 15 chicks fledged in 2010 and ten fledged in 2011.

Late condor biologist Mike Tyner looks on as a released California condor takes flight.

With a heavy heart, I write this post about the tragic, untimely death of condor biologist Mike Tyner.

While out checking on a recently released condor in Big Sur, Calif. Mike was fatally struck by a large tree during a severe windstorm on November 30, 2011.

But he was no stranger to putting his life on the line to help save these rare, magnificent birds. In 2008, he joined the rescue team responsible for saving eight condors from the Basin Complex Wildfire, which razed two condor facilities as it raged across Big Sur.

Mike was unassuming, humble and hard working, says Ventana Wildlife Society’s executive director, Kelly Sorenson. “He was truly an exceptional individual. This loss is catastrophic, heartbreaking and painful. As we mourn the passing of a remarkable friend, our hearts go out to his family. Mike will be greatly missed.”

Mike worked for the Ventana Wildlife Society, an organization solely dedicated to monitoring Big Sur’s flock of wild condors. And for several years, Defenders partnered with Ventana, helping to support Mike’s research.

Thanks to Mike, the team was able to locate numerous nests in Big Sur. And twice each year, he led an effort to recapture every condor in the flock to check their blood for lead poisoning—the leading cause of death among endangered condors—helping to ensure that sick condors received urgent, lifesaving medical care.

Although Mike is no longer with us, his dedication and research will be with us every day. His work has left a lasting mark on condor conservation efforts.

Our partners at Ventana Wildlife Society have helped to bring the California condor back from the brink of extinction—thanks, in part, to Mike’s dedication.

May his spirit soar with the condors.

Sage grouse

BREAKING: Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management to update land-use plans with sage grouse protections

WASHINGTON—The Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service will update their land-use plans, which outline areas open to development and those that should be protected, to include conservation measures for imperiled sage grouse, the Interior Department announced today.

The federal agencies plan to take a comprehensive approach in responding to the multiple threats to the sage grouse across the western U.S., looking for ways to conserve the species and coordinate habitat conservation across large swaths of land spanning both agencies’ boundaries.

RELATED: Read more about this announcement on Defenders’ experts blog, dotWild.

The greater sage grouse has disappeared from almost half of its former range, and the population has declined by more than half since the late 1960s. Habitat loss is the main threat to the sage grouse’s survival, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Conserving the sage grouse and the habitat it depends on is of critical importance to the western way of life. – Peter Nelson

Defenders of Wildlife is encouraged by the Obama administration’s broad scale approach to sage grouse conservation, says Defenders’ federal lands program director Peter Nelson, and will work with the agencies, states and other stakeholders to ensure that it results in a science-based, comprehensive plan to protect the species from extinction.

“Conserving the sage grouse and the habitat it depends on is of critical importance to the western way of life,” he says. “We’re encouraged by the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service’s plan to put in place essential protections for sage grouse and to coordinate their conservation measures across the region. We’re counting on the Obama administration to put forward a smart, scientifically-sound and coordinated strategy for conserving the species and its habitat – one that allows for responsible land use and development while protecting wildlife and public lands for future generations of Americans.”

From the ever-growing dead zone to last year’s Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, it’s no secret that the Gulf of Mexico faces a world of trouble. But here’s something you might not know: every hour, an area of coastal wetland equivalent to the size of a football field disappears into Gulf waters. You read that right – every hour. And as any sports fans will tell you, that’s quite a lot of land. Already, 2,000 square miles of the Mississippi River Delta have slipped into the sea.

For the diverse wildlife that make the region’s coastal wetlands home, this loss is devastating. The wetlands at the mouth of the Delta provide habitat for a range of animals, including endangered species such as the Louisiana black bear, wood stork and snail kite. They’re crucial spawning grounds for fish in the Gulf, and also provide wintering habitat for migratory ducks.

And that’s not all – wetlands are important for people too. From decreasing flooding to acting as a buffer from storm surges, this ecosystem provides a natural defense against some of the worst nature can throw at us. The aquatic habitat also removes pollutants from water and recharges groundwater, providing us with a clean, reliable source of drinking water. Not to mention the financial benefits of healthy fisheries and coastal economies. Failure to protect this resource would be a tremendous loss.

Every hour, an area of coastal wetland equivalent to the size of a football field disappears into Gulf waters.

Fortunately, action is being taken to reverse this alarming trend. Right now, the Gulf Coast Restoration Task Force (created by President Obama in the aftermath of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil disaster) is developing a plan to restore the Gulf shore to its former glory and strengthen it going into the future. How do they expect to tackle such an ominous feat? Well, one strategy is to simply let nature take its course.

In this image you can see where water and sediment from the Mississippi is washed into the Gulf of Mexico. Photo courtesy NASA.

Right now, levees direct water flowing from the Mississippi River far out into the Gulf of Mexico, where it carries the nutrients and sediment that result in the dead zone.  The Task Force is looking instead at diverting that river water back into its original destination — the Delta’s vast coastal wetlands. Doing so would not only rebuild previously washed-out habitat, but it would shrink the dead zone as well — simultaneously creating habitat on shore and off. Better yet, this strategy also happens to be the most budget-effective plan of action proposed so far, saving the region hundreds of billions of dollars.

That’s not to say this is a quick fix — restoring the Gulf region will not be easy. But letting this vibrant ecosystem fall into the ocean is simply not an option. By taking advantage of the natural flow of the Mississippi River, we can save time, money and energy, as well as the those who call the coast home.

Learn more:

Get more information about how wetlands are crucial to humans and wildlife. 

Read a more detailed account of the Gulf Task Force’s strategy to save the Gulf.

A golden eagle.

Hundreds of thousands of acres of wildlife habitat and sensitive public lands once targeted for large-scale solar power plants are now off the table, sparing threatened desert tortoises, desert bighorn sheep, golden eagles and other unique wildlife.

On Thursday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar released an improved draft of the federal government’s plan for solar energy development on public lands in the West, which dropped some proposed energy zones that Defenders opposed, such as the Iron Mountain and Pisgah zones in California.

The announcement came as good news for wildlife, but it could also spell a bright future for the emerging solar power industry.

That’s because the Bureau of Land Management made several improvements to the plan that could jumpstart responsible solar energy development in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.

BLM officials say the draft plan now aims to focus development in sunny places that also have a better chance of avoiding and minimizing impacts on wildlife and the environment.

A solar dish.

Solar power projects that steer clear of wildlife habitat and fragile desert lands, says Defenders senior director for renewable energy Jim Lyons, tend to face less controversy and fewer slowdowns.

“The benefits of guided development are clear: Clean energy can come online faster and at a lower cost to developers and to our nation’s wildlife and treasured places,” he says.

Related: Read our press release on the Interior Department’s announcement.

Defenders and the conservation community worked alongside solar industry representatives earlier this year to answer to the question of how to quickly ramp up solar energy production without sacrificing imperiled wildlife and the unique desert landscape.

After long hours of negotiations, the group agreed on a number of commonsense solutions, including removing some inappropriate zones, a process for creating new zones to meet future energy demand, and giving developers some flexibility to plan projects on low-conflict lands outside the zones.

BLM worked these ideas into the new draft of the plan after receiving more than 80,000 public comments last summer, including thousands from Defenders’ members and supporters.

BLM lands in California.

“Although the new draft has reduced the amount of land available for solar development, the proposed areas appear to offer a bigger shot at success,” says California program director, Kim Delfino, who helped to draft the joint comments. “The remaining zones, which still total nearly 300,000 acres, have been refined to help developers avoid and minimize the worst impacts on wildlife and the environment.”

There’s still ample opportunity for solar growth in California and across the West, she adds, pointing out that BLM is still considering some 79 solar project applications on nearly 700,000 acres of land.

There is also the potential for new solar zones to be created through the Interior Department’s proposed solar plan and California’s Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan process, which aims to identify important places in the desert to protect for conservation and areas that are suitable for renewable energy development.

The Bureau of Land Management is taking public comment on the supplement to the draft Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement over the next three months.

Meanwhile, Defenders will be taking a closer look at the nearly 600-page-long document to make sure it delivers on its promise of a “Smart from the Start” solar energy program.

Turbines like these produce clean electricty by catching the wind, but can harm birds if put in the wrong locations.

BREAKING: Conservation groups told the Kern County Board of Supervisors today that a large-scale wind-energy project proposed for the southern Sierra Nevada needs to go back to the drawing board and be redesigned to avoid risks to endangered California condors, golden eagles and other rare bird species.

The groups filed a legal challenge in Kern County Superior Court in California, seeking to reopen the environmental review for the 100-plus-turbine wind project approved by the county last month.

“This wind project highlights the urgent need for a smart-from-the-start renewable energy strategy that guides development away from sensitive wildlife habitat to places with the lowest chance for conflicts,” said Kim Delfino with Defenders of Wildlife. “The proposed site is in an important bird migration corridor and isn’t an ideal place for large-scale wind energy, as evidenced by the impacts nearby wind projects have already had on imperiled birds. Despite our inability to reach an agreement with NextEra Energy, we are open to working with the company to reconfigure the project to minimize harm to sensitive wildlife. With changes, we believe the project can move forward.”

Kim Delfino, Defenders' California program director.

The conservation groups remain hopeful that the project can be redesigned to avoid the most sensitive areas, greatly reduce the risk to California condors and golden eagles, and provide enhanced mitigation measures such as requiring the use of radar to monitor for incoming flocks of birds so that turbines can be shut down in time to avoid massive collisions. The groups have met several times with the developer prior to filing the lawsuit, but have yet to resolve these concerns.

“We need more clean energy from well-planned and carefully sited renewable energy projects that both utilize proven technology and avoid harm to sensitive wildlife and their habitat,” said Barbara Boyle with the Sierra Club. “Unfortunately, the North Sky River wind project does not meet these requirements. It unnecessarily presents a significant threat to endangered and sensitive species, including the California condor, golden eagle, southwestern willow flycatcher and sensitive bat species.”

The project consists of two components: North Sky River, by NextEra Energy, and the much smaller Jawbone project, by a private landowner. The project area is in the middle of a flyway regularly traversed by migratory birds. California condors were also documented flying near the project site this summer.

The wind energy project puts endangered California condors at risk.

“There’s plenty of room in the state for both wind projects and the California condor to thrive,” said Ileene Anderson, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “But if condors and wind turbines are going to coexist, those turbines need to be sited carefully and measures have to be taken to minimize the risk that condors will be killed. Unfortunately, this project fails to do that.”

The proposed project is directly north of the Pine Tree Wind project, which is under federal investigation for killing at least six legally protected golden eagles. More than 50 sightings of golden eagles were made, and some 15 golden eagle nests found, within 10 miles of the North Sky site during an environmental review of the project. The 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 the county supervisors.

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 project would have avian fatality rates equal to or greater than those observed at the adjacent Pine Tree Wind Facility.”

This wind project highlights the urgent need for a smart-from-the-start renewable energy strategy that guides development away from sensitive wildlife habitat to places with the lowest chance for conflicts.

Kern County officials approved the project despite the warnings from wildlife agencies and conservation groups, allowing the project to move forward without having to undertake sufficient conservation measures to offset or minimize impacts on wildlife.