Nature & Wildlife
Sea otters can be a powerful ally in confronting climate change, according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. In places where they’re thriving, they can maintain and restore kelp forests and coastal wetlands, strengthening our natural defenses against the worst impacts of a warming world.
Conservation
On December 28, 1973, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was signed into law. We’ll soon be celebrating the 50th anniversary of this landmark conservation legislation, which has saved hundreds of animals that once wavered on the brink of extinction.
News & More
Whales are fascinating beings. After living on the land for a while, their ancestors chose to go back to the sea; they have their own, complicated cultures; they help us and our planet by sequestering carbon dioxide; and they seem to have forgiven us for the many horrific crimes that we’ve committed against them.
Conservation
“There was a special adventure to being a young boy in northwestern Wisconsin. There was the adventure of exploring a deep green pine forest, crunching noisily through the crisp leaves and pine needles on a sharp fall day, or taking a cool drink from a fast-running trout stream or a hidden lake.”
Nature & Wildlife
Because of ongoing and potential loss of their sea ice habitat resulting from climate change, polar bears were listed as a threatened species in the United States under the Endangered Species Act in May 2008.
Conservation
“Way back in the days when the grass was still green and the pond was still wet and the clouds were still clean … .” So starts the tale the “Once-ler” tells in the classic Theodor Seuss Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) book The Lorax, published in 1971.
Conservation
Saving natural and wild areas from development and for the use of people like you and me is usually thought to be thanks to endeavors such as national park unit designations, wilderness area nominations or the establishment of marine reserves.
Conservation
Conflict between wolves and ranchers is just about as old as, well, as there have been ranchers in the West. Wolves were nearly hunted, poisoned and trapped to extinction in the Lower 48 a few decades ago, due in part to the threat they posed to livestock.
Conservation
There’s a sinister bill making its way through Congress, but you probably don’t know about it. The reason you don’t know about it is because of its name. It’s called the “SAVES Act” (Saving America’s Endangered Species Act, H.R. 2603). Sounds like it could be a good law, right? You couldn’t be more wrong.
News & More
Later this month, in late July 2017, Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bears outside Yellowstone National Park and nearby Grand Teton National Park will lose their Endangered Species List protections. Jurisdiction over the bears will be handed over to Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. In general, that will mean fewer restrictions on killing the bears.
News & More
Scarface is dead. Otherwise known as Bear No. 211, the Yellowstone National Park bruin was shot and killed just outside the park in Gallatin National Forest in November 2015. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service confirmed the death just two weeks ago, on April 25, 2016.
News & More
As of January 22, 2016, lions will be protected under the Endangered Species Act, which is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). Our federal government, of course, cannot regulate conservation practices in other nations.
