Defenders of Wildlife Blog

Defenders’ president and CEO, Jamie Rappaport Clark

Jamie Rappaport Clark, President and CEO 

It’s no secret Congress is gridlocked on climate change. Climate change challenges the sources of energy that fueled the industrial revolution and our current standard of living. Shifting to new sources of energy is a big deal, with lots of special interests with high stakes in the outcome.

We have to change. And we can. Think of the amazing technological revolutions we have seen in just the last decade. Yes we are powering 21st century technology with 19th century energy. There simply has to be a better way.

It has become clear that we can’t wait for Congress to help transition to a low-carbon energy system. In 2012, we experienced the most expensive storm on record, record heat waves, record wildfires and record lows in Arctic sea ice. Our communities and the natural systems we value and depend on are feeling these impacts now.

Our lawmakers finally took an excellent step in the right direction over the winter. When Congress funded emergency recovery efforts following Superstorm Sandy, it put in provisions to encourage rebuilding with climate change adaptation in mind and preparing for future storms and weather events made more likely by our planet heating up. Now Congress needs to build on that foundation and get ahead of the curve, enacting laws to make our communities, wildlife and natural areas more resilient to the changes to come.

The Obama administration is trying to move forward, as exemplified by the recent release of the National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy. That strategy now needs to be implemented, and Congress needs to incorporate climate risks throughout federal decision making to mitigate those risks and prepare for future impacts. This will save lives, livelihoods and dollars.

Hopefully, our political leaders have a growing awareness of extreme weather and the formidable threat it poses both to our communities and our natural resources. It’s time for them to focus on the future and put people, homes and habitat ahead of 19th century interests.

Originally published in the National Journal, in response to “What’s Holding Back Energy & Climate Policy?”

Defenders’ president and CEO, Jamie Rappaport Clark

Jamie Rappaport Clark, President & CEO

This is a big week here at Defenders: Monday was Earth Day and today is Defenders’ 66th anniversary.

When I joined Defenders over nine years ago, I felt privileged to be part of an organization that shared my passion for wildlife and conservation. Like most kids, I grew up loving animals: both wild and domestic, from the neighborhood dog and my pet turtle to lightening bugs, deer, beavers and butterflies. I was lucky to make a career out of my passion.

One of the best things about Defenders is knowing that when I meet with corporations or elected officials, when I testify on Capitol Hill, when I work with states agencies or tribes, I know that I am representing more than one million conservation minded people. And that all of you stand ready to speak out for the wildlife that have no voices for themselves. We are their voices, their activists, their lobbyists, their ambassadors, their communicators. They are counting on us to conserve and represent them.

Thanks to the Defenders’ conservation community, we have done some amazing things for wildlife. Thanks to you, we have:

• Brought wolves back to Yellowstone, the Northern Rockies and the desert Southwest
• Protected the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from the dangers of oil and gas drilling
• Initiated a national campaign to help guide proposed solar and wind energy projects to low conflict zones that avoid impacts to wildlife and fragile ecosystems
• Advocated for slower speed zones, wildlife underpasses and other tools to protect Florida panthers and other wildlife from collisions and death on Florida roads
• Relocated genetically pure bison from Yellowstone Park to tribal lands on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana
• Remained vigilant and effective against attacks upon the Endangered Species Act

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

We could not have accomplished any of this without you. Our members and activists are critical to conservation. So this week, as we celebrate Earth Day, pat yourself on the back and know that you have played a big part in some incredible conservation success stories. Keep up the great work! Happy Anniversary and Happy Earth Day. Thank you!

Jamie Rappaport Clark, President & CEO

Defenders’ president and CEO, Jamie Rappaport Clark

Happy Earth Day, everybody! Today is that annual celebration when environmental leaders take the podium and implore us to stop poking holes in the planet, chopping down its trees and polluting its waters. These are important messages to be sure. To solve our greatest challenges, we need to continually ask ourselves how we can enjoy nature’s bounty while still preserving it for future generations in a truly sustainable way. But for me, Earth Day is also a time to reflect on my own values and remind myself why I got into wildlife conservation in the first place.

It all started with Speedy, my pet turtle that I had as a little kid. I named him Speedy as a joke, but I used to love watching him crawl through the grass and climb over pebbles in the driveway or just stand still, stretching his neck out of his shell. I remember how ancient his wrinkled body and stony shell looked even though he was quite young. I would stare into his dark, little eyes as if peering through a gateway to another world, wondering what mysteries lay on the other side.

I grew up in a military family, so we moved around a lot. Being a shy kid, it was hard to make friends when we were moving every year or two from state to state and sometimes to different countries. But wherever we went, I found animals to hang out with, whether it was one of our pets, backyard birds, or a stray dog from down the street. Then in sixth grade, my parents finally broke down and got me a pony named Spooky. I probably spent more time with that pony than I did in school, but as long as I made straight A’s, my mom was fine with that.

As I got older, my love of animals sparked an interest in studying biology, which eventually led me to a career as a wildlife biologist with the military. I never dreamed that I would work my way up the ranks to become the top wildlife biologist for the U.S. Army, the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and now president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife.

Protecting wildlife is not just a job for me; this is my life’s mission and what I love to do. Each day there is a new problem to solve on the path toward securing a brighter future for wildlife great and small and the habitat they all need to survive. Sometimes it’s frustrating or downright exhausting, especially when it feels like we’re only fighting to stop from sliding backwards instead of leading the charge forward. But our country’s natural wonders are worth fighting for and too important to give up on.

These days, however, too many politicians seem to have lost touch with the values Congress and our country embraced 40 years ago when conservation laws such as the Endangered Species Act passed with overwhelming bipartisan support. Those visionary leaders recognized that America’s wildlife has both intrinsic worth as well as practical value. Our native plants and animals are a source of artistic and spiritual inspiration, but they also provide a cornucopia of natural and medicinal benefits and recreational opportunities worth billions of dollars every year.

Yet that’s still not enough for those who prize near-term profits over the long-term health and sustainability of our planet and the human race. Unfortunately, a number of lawmakers now seem intent on weakening or repealing our bedrock environmental laws altogether. Indeed, wildlife opponents often use national economic challenges as an excuse to try to roll back essential protections under the guise of creating more jobs, ignoring the fact that maintaining a healthy planet will ensure a healthy economy as well. And even though conservation programs are a minuscule portion of the federal budget, some politicians are still attempting to slash vital funding for conserving imperiled wildlife. Others are playing special-interest politics by trying to dismantle endangered species protections one species at a time.

It’s time to stop gambling with America’s most vital assets. We need our elected leaders to reaffirm their conservation values from the first Earth Day and recommit to the basic environmental principles that our nation adopted over four decades ago. In the face of rapid climate change, rampant energy development and continued habitat loss, we must stop the further decline of imperiled wildlife before they slip closer to the abyss of extinction.

I have felt a strong moral obligation most of my life to conserve our natural resources, especially America’s rich diversity of wildlife. Part of that is a simple appreciation of all the amazing animals that helped me get through those childhood years on Army bases around the world. But the other part is a recognition of how lucky we all are to spend a lifetime on a beautiful planet with such incredible creatures. It is perhaps the greatest gift we can give to our children and grandchildren.

As you celebrate Earth Day this year, please take a moment to consider your own values. We must all reconnect with what’s important in our own lives and recommit to conserving our planet so the next generation can share in our collective sense of wonder.

This article also appeared on The Huffington Post.

Jamie Rappaport Clark, President and CEO

Defenders’ president and CEO, Jamie Rappaport Clark

Anniversaries are often a time for balloons and confetti. Sometimes, though, it takes an anniversary to remind us of a bigger picture and more important message. On March 29, we mark the 15th anniversary of the initial release of Mexican gray wolves from captivity into the wilds of the American southwest. Before you cheer this victory and marvel at how fast time goes by, realize that celebration may be a bit premature. Mexican gray wolves will be in a lot of trouble soon if things don’t change.

In 1998, while serving as the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, I was privileged to help release the first group of Mexican gray wolves back into the wild in Arizona. These wolves (lobos, as they are affectionately known) were on the brink of extinction in the mid-1970s. But thanks largely to the work of scientists overseeing captive breeding programs, we were able to release 11 lobos into the Apache National Forest of Arizona.

It was the first time in three decades that wolves roamed wild again in that state. Being there to see the wolves take their first steps into the wild was an unforgettable and moving experience, one that I will carry with me forever. Since then, Defenders of Wildlife and other organizations have worked closely with federal and state wildlife agencies, tribes and local communities to help people coexist with wolves and protect this most endangered creature.

Jamie (left) and former Arizona governor Bruce Babbit (right) carry a mexican wolf to the release site. (©Hans Stuart)

Thanks to these efforts, 75 Mexican gray wolves were recorded in the wild last year. A climb from 11 to 75 is clearly nothing to sneer at, but an underlying crisis warrants placing a big, bold asterisk next to that tally.

All of the Mexican gray wolves in the world today are descended from just seven wolves that began the captive breeding program. Such a limited genetic heritage leaves the lobos with smaller litters of pups, increased susceptibility to disease, and less adaptability to changing conditions. And only three breeding pairs remained in the wild in 2012, further hampering the likelihood of producing offspring. Over the long term, these wolves’ very survival is at risk.

All of this points to a perfect storm of trouble for the beleaguered Mexican gray wolves that will only get worse in the next few years. These wolves have remarkable resiliency, but they can’t do it all alone. They need our help, and this 15th anniversary marks the perfect time to help give them the ultimate anniversary present: a better chance of survival in the wild.

Defenders of Wildlife is calling on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to implement a three-point emergency rescue plan for Mexican gray wolves in order to assure their long-term survival:

• Release more wolves from captivity as the first step in a science-based genetic rescue plan.
• Complete the Mexican gray wolf recovery plan, and implement it.
• Move ahead as quickly as possible to establish at least two additional populations of Mexican gray wolves in the wild.

Captive Mexican gray wolf and pup (©Joel Sartore)

There’s a silver lining here. There are about 300 Mexican gray wolves in captivity at zoos and breeding centers, many of which have yet to breed. If we want to be able to celebrate many more anniversaries of the date of their original release, the Service needs to repeat its actions from 15 years ago by releasing more of these wolves from captivity into the wild.

Mexican gray wolves are an icon of the American southwest. They are near and dear to my heart as well as the heart of many who have invested time and energy into their recovery. The 15th anniversary is an important time to reflect on how far these wolves have come, to be sure. But let’s not just stand by and watch the inevitable decline start to happen. Now is the time to act.

This post also appeared on the Huffington Post.

Click here to take action and urge the USFWS to make Mexican gray wolf recovery a priority!

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has just confirmed our fears in Wyoming — wolves in that state are now officially being removed from the protections of the Endangered Species Act, and will be vulnerable to the state’s wildlife management plan, a document hardly worthy of the name. Since speaking with officials at the White House and the USFWS, I knew this day could be coming soon, but I hoped that those with the power to make this decision would see reason and allow science, not politics, to carry the day.

To add insult to injury, the announcement was made today – the Friday before Labor Day weekend. Many people in a position to react to this news — policy officials, legislators, the media  — are likely taking an early day off to enjoy the long weekend. Unfortunately, it is a common practice in Washington, D.C., to use a day like this to make an announcement that one is fairly certain will not be well-received. It can be made to a minimal audience, while few may be paying attention, and then hopefully forgotten about through the many distractions of a holiday weekend. A common practice, but a cowardly one.

Now, wolves in Wyoming are more vulnerable than they have been in decades. The state’s management plan allows for the unregulated killing of wolves throughout most of Wyoming. Those who wish to kill wolves in all but a small portion of the state will not need to buy tags or permits. There will be no bag limits no wolves, or any requirement to report wolf kills. Anyone will be free to eliminate wolves by almost any means, from shooting to gassing them in their dens, even on national forests and wildlife refuges. There will be a quick and merciless effort to bring the wolf population down to the lowest possible number without triggering a re-listing. Wolves will be treated as vermin, instead of being protected as the still-recovering species that they really are. And all of this could start as soon as October 1 — sooner, if the USFWS decides to waive the traditional 30-day waiting period between the announcement and the effective date.

Though I hoped for a better outcome, we at Defenders have also made sure that we were prepared for the worst, if it came to that. We’ll be taking this fight to the courts to show the administration and the USFWS that this so-called management plan is unacceptable. Its approval is questionable, its methods are reckless, and the low bar that it sets for wildlife recovery under the Endangered Species Act has the potential to place hundreds more endangered species in harm’s way. It is a dangerous precedent, and we cannot allow it to stand.

In the meantime, if you are as upset by this decision as we are, there are two things you can do. The first is to spread the word. Tell others about this situation, and raise awareness, instead of allowing the decision to pass quietly. You can also give feedback directly to the parties responsible through the links and phone numbers below:

White House (202-456-1111)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (1-800-344-9453)
Department of the Interior (202-208-3100)

You can also help support our efforts to fight the delisting through legal channels by clicking here.

Together, we worked for years to help bring wolves back from the brink in one of the most successful wildlife conservation efforts in U.S. history. We have come so far. If we have to keep fighting to prevent them from turning back the clock, then that’s exactly what we’ll do.

It wasn’t so very long ago that the sight of a gray wolf in the northern Rockies was a reason to celebrate. It meant that the hard work of thousands of people for many years was finally paying off, and a species that was nearly snuffed out entirely was beginning to set down roots in its native habitat once again. As a biologist in charge of endangered species conservation for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the time of the wolf reintroduction into the northern Rockies, I was deeply involved in working on the release. Knowing we were finally restoring a key missing piece of the northern Rockies ecosystem was a highlight of my career, and incredibly exciting.

Today, however, I’m stunned that we are fighting to save the same species from the very people who should be working to keep it safe. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has decided, without the scientific data to prove it, that gray wolves no longer require the protection of the Endangered Species Act in the state of Wyoming. They’ve made the same delisting decision before, in Idaho and in Montana — delistings that led to the killing of hundreds of wolves. While the management plans in Montana and Idaho are extremely troubling, Wyoming’s wolf management plan is much worse. Under that plan, wolves in most of the state will be treated as vermin that can be killed at any time, for any reason, or no reason at all. Wyoming intends to drive wolves down to the smallest population they can — just above the threshold that could land the species back on the endangered species list. That is no way to manage wolves. In fact, it is unlike any other plan to manage similar wildlife in the area, like mountain lions and bears. Clearly, the ability for wolves to fulfill their natural ecological role in maintaining healthy, balanced ecosystems will be severely compromised, casting their long term recovery into serious doubt. This approach would also cut off routes for wolves dispersing to Colorado or Utah, making it nearly impossible for northern gray wolves to ever return to these important parts of their historic range.

That such a plan could even be entertained is shocking. How could reckless, unregulated killing of wolves be considered a credible plan for a species just barely returned to the region? But even more distressing is the seemingly unqualified support that this plan is receiving. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Department of the Interior. The Obama Administration. These are the voices that should be railing against a plan so completely lacking in scientific reasoning, and so clearly inadequate to sustaining a healthy population of wolves in the region. Instead, they are lowering the bar for the Endangered Species Act, and diminishing what it means to recover imperiled species.

If it seems like this decision cannot possibly have been based on sound science, it’s because it wasn’t. It was based on politics. The Obama Administration wants to be able to point to delisted wolves and say, “Look! The Endangered Species Act works!” I can’t blame them for wanting to say that wolves are recovered — I’d love to be able to say it too. The truth is, the Endangered Species Act can and does work, and gray wolves in the Northern Rockies have made a tremendous comeback. But the recovery  isn’t truly complete until the state plans guarantee the long-term sustainability of wolves in the region, using the best available science and long-trusted wildlife management goals and standards.

President Obama and his administration have prided themselves on bringing science-based decision making back to the White House. But now, when the need for science and reason is critical, the White House is eerily silent. For all of them — for the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of the Interior, for the Obama White House itself — the problem isn’t a lack of scientific reasoning; it’s a lack of political will and courage. It appears that it is safer to claim a hollow victory than to keep working toward a real one. It is easier to say “job well done” than to keep working until it really is.

The Administration may have abandoned the Endangered Species Act with this decision, but I can’t. Having spent years pursuing protection and stability for our most threatened and vulnerable species, I can’t stand by and watch as the administration undermines 40 years of recovery for gray wolves. At Defenders of Wildlife, we’re ready to throw all our weight behind this effort. We’re continuing to talk to the White House and the relevant agencies to show them that this plan cannot be put into action. And if, as we suspect, the delisting is announced in the coming days, we are ready to take the fight to the courtroom. Your support — whether through donations, advocacy, or simply spreading the word — will be invaluable as we pursue this course, and I thank you sincerely for standing with us, and standing up for wolves.