Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** New report shows "catastrophic" loss of wildlife in the last 50 years
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Friday, October 11, 2024
Sonoran Desert Tortoise. Photo Credit: AZ Game & Fish ([link removed])
According to a new analysis ([link removed]) , the world has lost a "catastrophic" 73 percent of wildlife populations in the past 50 years. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Zoological Society of London track over five thousand species of amphibians, birds, fish, mammals, and reptiles around the world through the Living Planet Index ([link removed]) .
The database shows the alarming extent to which human activity is negatively impacting wildlife. “It really does indicate to us that the fabric of nature is unraveling,” Rebecca Shaw, WWF’s chief scientist said of the report’s findings. The report identifies the primary drivers of biodiversity declines ([link removed]) as habitat loss (typically from farming, logging, building, producing energy and mining), hunting and fishing animals directly for food or other reasons, climate change, pollution, invasive species, and disease. “Wildlife population declines can lead to the loss of ecosystem function and ecosystem services to people such as carbon storage, water storage, clean air, clean water, pollination services and protection against storm surge and flooding, just to name a few,” said ([link removed]) Shaw.
The report calls for renewed focus on and funding for existing international conservation goals, including conserving and protecting 30 percent ([link removed]) of lands, oceans, coastal areas, and inland waters by 2030. Early in his term, President Joe Biden established a national goal ([link removed]) of protecting 30 percent of America's lands and waters. To learn more about the efforts underway to reach the 30x30 goal, please check out our Road to 30: Postcards ([link removed]) campaign for examples of local and Indigenous-led conservation efforts from across the country.
By the numbers: Oil and gas companies aren't that into Utah
A new op-ed published in the Deseret News ([link removed]) by Center for Western Priorities' Communications Manager Kate Groetzinger digs into the data of what's actually happening with oil and gas drilling on America's public lands. Spoiler alert: claims made by the oil and gas industry that the Biden administration is trying to end drilling on public lands don't add up. The reality shows that the industry is sitting on a stockpile of leases for over 23 million acres of public land, nearly half of which oil and gas companies have not yet tapped and are lying idle. In Utah, the industry is sitting on 1.3 million unused acres—more than half the total land under lease in the state.
** Quick hits
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New report shows "catastrophic" loss of wildlife in the last 50 years
Washington Post ([link removed]) | New York Times ([link removed]) | BBC News ([link removed]) | Vox ([link removed])
Opinion: By the numbers: Oil and gas companies aren't that into Utah public lands
Deseret News ([link removed])
Wyoming lawmakers open the door for nuclear fuel waste storage
WyoFile ([link removed])
Booming power demand is slowing utilities' climate progress
Canary Media ([link removed])
Idaho inmates work to restore sagebrush habitat following wildfires
KTVB-7 ([link removed]) | Idaho News 6 ([link removed])
Public lands offer great dark skies to view Comet A3 this weekend
Forbes ([link removed])
BLM holds geothermal lease sale in Nevada
Las Vegas Sun ([link removed])
Lightning strike explodes bald eagle nest
Colorado Sun ([link removed])
** Quote of the day
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”
[The Living Planet Report] shows us that we’re still not doing enough. The most important thing to understand is that unless we can save biodiversity there’s no way we can save humanity. People have accused me and other people of being alarmists. We are alarmists because we are alarmed.”
—Gerardo Ceballos, an ecologist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Vox ([link removed])
** Picture This
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@usinterior ([link removed])
This is nuts!
As autumn arrives each year, acorn woodpeckers begin harvesting (you guessed it) acorns. The birds create holes in trees to store their bounty. The trees they use are called granary trees and may have up to 50,000 holes, each filled with an acorn.
Photo at @sequoiakingsnps ([link removed]) by Steve Bumgardner
#birds ([link removed]) #woodpecker ([link removed]) #wildlife ([link removed]) #usinterior ([link removed])
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