New Lawsuit Aims to Stop Yellowstone Grizzly Killings

Our fight to protect Yellowstone-area grizzly bears goes on.

The Center for Biological Diversity and allies just launched a lawsuit over the Trump administration's plan to let 72 grizzly bears be killed in the name of livestock grazing in Wyoming's Bridger-Teton National Forest.

Instead of making sure that measures to reduce grizzly bear conflicts are enforceable, Trump's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has authorized more and more killings of Yellowstone's grizzlies — a unique, highly threatened population.

"Wiping out Yellowstone grizzlies to make way for cattle to graze cheaply on our public lands makes no sense," said the Center's Andrea Santarsiere. "These treasured bears deserve better."

Watch a news report at KPAX and consider supporting our lawsuit with a donation to our Predator Defense Fund.

445 River Miles to Be Protected for Two Coalfield Crayfish

Two crayfish species that live among the coalfields of West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia will soon be thrown a lifeline. After a petition and lawsuit by the Center, the Fish and Wildlife Service proposed Monday to protect 445 miles of waterways as critical habitat for Guyandotte River and Big Sandy crayfish under the Endangered Species Act.

"Coal mines are bad for the health of every living being around them," said Perrin de Jong, a Center attorney based in Asheville, North Carolina. "These rare crayfish could be wiped out by the mines, which also threaten people by polluting their air and drinking water."

Get more from The Washington Post.

Center Launches Energy Justice Program

The Center has launched an Energy Justice program to drive the urgent transition to a clean energy future.

Most utility companies are private monopolies. They choke off the development of cleaner energy through price-fixing and court battles aimed at maintaining the existing fossil fuel infrastructure that brings them such easy profits.

Our new program, staffed by attorneys and green energy experts, will wage innovative campaigns to challenge utility corruption and build toward democratic, decentralized, renewable electricity.

"In this era of climate catastrophe, we have to stop these outdated monopolies and usher in a new electricity future," said Jean Su, the new program's director. "We're seizing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to design a new system of accountable, equitable, truly public power."

Get more from Common Dreams.

With critically endangered species, every individual matters. In this new video from The Revelator, meet "Stevie Nicks" — a blind black-footed ferret who's played a key role in a conservation success story. For years the Center has defended these endangered animals against fracking in their habitat, trapping and killing, the Keystone XL Pipeline, toxic pesticides, and other threats. Watch the video and get more from The Revelator.

House Dems Stand Up to Defend Endangered Species Act

Good news: The House Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday voted to approve legislation to reverse the Trump administration's rollbacks of the Endangered Species Act.

Last fall Trump launched a massive, unprecedented attack on the lifesaving law, severely weakening protections for threatened and endangered species. We asked you to speak up, and you answered the call swiftly and strongly: 500,000 people signed our petition urging elected officials to fight back.

Your collective action made a difference — thank you.

The newly approved bill, named the Protect America's Wildlife and Fish in Need of Conservation Act, now goes to a vote by the entire U.S. House of Representatives. We'll keep you posted.

Keeping Florida's Terrapins From Dying in Crab Traps

Diamondback terrapins — beautiful little turtles that grace the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from Massachusetts to Texas — are in decline in many of the places they live.

So the Center and allies petitioned Florida state wildlife officials on Tuesday to adopt laws protecting them from drowning in blue-crab traps.

The use of "bycatch reduction devices" — small, inexpensive attachments for the traps that stop turtles from getting in — could save many terrapin lives with little to no effect on crab haul.

It's a simple solution. We're counting on state officials to do the right thing.

Learn more in our press release.

Around 1,000 people gathered on Sunday at the San Pedro River in southeastern Arizona to show their love for this fragile waterway, now targeted for border-wall construction.

Trump has waived 41 laws in Arizona to build his wall, an ecological and cultural disaster that's already well underway. Follow the Center's Borderlands Campaigner Laiken Jordahl on Twitter for news from the front lines.

Wild & Weird: Crane Snowbirds Come to Arizona From Siberia

Some 20,000 sandhill cranes are now occupying their winter home in a southern Arizona wetland. Many migrated to Whitewater Draw all the way from Alaska and Siberia, with others making shorter trips from Colorado and Utah. The sight of so many large, boisterous birds finding refuge in the arid grasslands near the U.S.-Mexico border is breathtaking.

Watch video of sandhill cranes at Whitewater Draw.