Protect 330 Endangered Species |
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management oversees more than 245 million acres, mostly in the West — more ground than any other public U.S. agency. From deserts to forests to wetlands, these irreplaceable public lands provide habitat for thousands of sensitive species. Three hundred and thirty of them are protected under the Endangered Species Act, including grizzly bears, black-footed ferrets, and southwestern willow flycatchers. Yet for more than 40 years, the BLM has favored destructive land uses like oil and gas extraction, mining, and livestock grazing over its duty to protect wildlife and healthy ecosystems. Finally, the agency is proposing an important rule to change that — but it needs to hear from you.
Take action: Tell the agency its proposal is a good step forward, but it must be stronger to fight climate change and the extinction crisis. |
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Chaco Canyon Protected From Oil, Gas Drilling |
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Center Op-Ed: Where Land and Water Meet |
Wetlands — places where water covers or saturates the land either year-round or for parts of the year — are wildly diverse, taking the form of floodplains, ponds, swamps, deltas, bogs, estuaries and more.
Wetlands are wonders. They provide habitat for unique and threatened species. They filter water, protect against floods, buffer climate impacts, and provide endless recreational opportunities for nature lovers.
But despite all that, the U.S. Supreme Court just recklessly and drastically reduced protections for wetlands.
Learn more from the Center’s Tierra Curry about what that means — and what wetlands mean to her. |
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Help Protect the Grand Canyon from Uranium Mining |
The Grand Canyon Tribal Coalition — including the Center — is calling on President Biden to permanently protect the Grand Canyon by designating the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument.
Banning new uranium mines forever across 1.1 million acres, the monument would honor the area's sacred Indigenous landscapes, permanently ban new uranium mines, and safeguard habitat for federally protected species including California condors, Mexican spotted owls, and highly endangered fish like humpback chubs.
Tell Biden to heed our call and protect the canyon's history, lands, waters and wildlife. |
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Disastrous Idaho Mine Defeated |
A federal judge just nixed needed approvals for a phosphate strip mine we challenged in Idaho. The mine would’ve cut through crucial habitat for imperiled greater sage grouse.
To make matters worse, the mined phosphate would’ve been used to make glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup. This dangerous chemical poses risks to a whopping 93% of species protected under the Endangered Species Act, including manatees. As a potent killer of milkweed plants, it’s a major threat to migratory monarch butterflies. And studies show it probably causes cancer in humans.
We’ll keep fighting to stop extinction, protect the environment and safeguard human health. It’s all connected. |
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Center Report: A Border Wall of Lights |
According to a new Center report, federal government contractors have erected more than 1,800 stadium-bright lights along more than 60 miles of the Arizona-Mexico border, in some of the most biodiverse conservation lands in the United States.
If all those intense artificial lights are turned on, they’ll cause severe light pollution that harms wildlife — including more than 270 bird species, crucial pollinators like lesser long-nosed bats, and endangered species like ocelots. |
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That’s Wild: A Wolverine in California |
For just the second time in a century, last month a wolverine appeared in California. Spotted in the eastern Sierra Nevada, this wolverine was a young male likely seeking a mate. Male wolverines have huge territories — tens of thousands of acres — and this winter’s heavy snowfall in the West may have helped him travel from as far away as Canada. This guy is probably a different animal from Buddy, the wolverine last seen in California in 2018.
The largest land-dwelling members of the weasel family, wolverines are ferocious scavenger-predators who’ll eat just about anything and can smell a dead animal 20 feet under the snow. Although they’re native to California, they disappeared from the state in 1922 due to hunting, trapping and other human threats. We’ve been fighting for wolverines since 1994, but they’re still not protected under the Endangered Species Act. Take action now to save them. |
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Center for Biological Diversity
P.O. Box 710
Tucson, AZ 85702
United States 0-0-0-0 |
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