More Mexican Wolves Could Someday Roam Free

For decades — since the effort to bring back Mexican gray wolves to the U.S. Southwest began — there’s been a federally imposed cap on their population: Once numbers reach 325 wild wolves, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said, it would trap and shoot “excess” animals.

But now, after a 2018 legal victory by the Center for Biological Diversity and allies, the Service plans to drop that population cap. Its new proposed rule could also temporarily curb federally authorized state and private wolf-killing — even before the population reaches 325. At last count 186 wolves roamed Arizona and New Mexico.

“It’s a huge relief to know that when the wolf population grows beyond its current precarious status, widespread shooting is no longer planned,” said the Center’s Michael Robinson. “And if genetic diversity collapses even more, the government won’t authorize shooting of genetically valuable wolves who were released from captivity as pups.”

Biden Drops Ball on Protecting 66 Species

The Fish and Wildlife Service recently declared 23 species extinct — five of which, including a bird called the Guam bridled white-eye, likely could have been saved by timely Endangered Species Act protection.

But in 2021 the Biden administration hasn’t rushed to give relief to the hundreds of U.S. animals and plants that need it in the wake of Trump’s scorched-earth approach to nature. Instead the Service has failed to make required protection decisions for 66 imperiled species, breaking promises it made in a 2016 workplan.

“If the Service can’t follow its own workplan, we’re going to lose more plants and animals to extinction,” said Noah Greenwald, the Center’s Endangered Species program director.

Help the Center save these 66 and many other species by donating to our Saving Life on Earth Fund. Do it now and your gift will be matched.

At COP26, Biden Urged to End Fossil Fuel Era

At the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland this week, representatives of frontline communities and climate justice groups, including the Center, demanded President Joe Biden take executive action to stop U.S. fossil fuel projects and declare a climate emergency.

By executive action alone, he could stop at least 24 key fossil fuel projects totaling over 1.6 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions. But the president has kept approving fossil fuel expansion while pointing to Congress to excuse the country’s lack of climate ambition.

“All the negotiation in the world is hollow unless Biden acts boldly to end the fossil fuel era at home,” said the Center’s Jean Su. “He can personally stop oil and gas leasing on public lands, end fossil fuel exports, and jumpstart a just and resilient energy system, but he refuses to do it.”

Read about the climate summit at The New Republic and watch this Guardian video.

Help for Humpbacks After More Entanglements

After a Center lawsuit helped show that too many humpbacks get entangled in California crabbing gear, the state has delayed opening Dungeness crab fishing from south of Monterey up through Point Arena. At least 11 humpback whales have been entangled in fishing equipment off the West Coast so far this year.

“We’re glad to see whales protected from crab gear in some areas, but the whole season should have been delayed,” said the Center’s Kristen Monsell. “The best way to help imperiled wildlife is for state officials to push through a transition to ropeless gear.”

Map of California's pollution burden percentile

The Costs of California’s New Drilling

A new Center analysis reveals the staggering health and climate costs of the more than 5,000 new oil and gas wells California’s Gov. Newsom has approved since taking office in 2019.

Our study of permits for 4,240 new wells shows that 95% are located in communities already burdened with the worst pollution. In addition to perpetuating environmental injustice, these new wells will produce an estimated 144 million metric tons of climate-destroying carbon dioxide.

“Californians need Gov. Newsom to protect them by slamming the brakes on new drilling,” said Shaye Wolf, the Center’s climate science director.

Vandals Strike Oak Flat

Vandals have desecrated three crosses at the sacred site known as Oak Flat — which Apache Stronghold, supported by the Center and other allies, has been fighting to save for more than a decade. And it’s not the first terror attack on this holy place: Apache Stronghold leader Wendsler Nosie Sr., who lived on the land for two years to resist its destruction by the U.S. government and mining company Resolution Copper, has been shot at more than once — most recently in late September.

“We’re in a war against what’s evil in the world,” he told the Arizona Republic Oct. 28. “This is like in the South, where they burned down churches.”

Take action now: Tell Congress to respect Apache religion as they respect any other, save Arizona’s public lands and water, and pass the Save Oak Flat Act.

Lawsuit Launched to Stop More Offshore Oil Spills

In the wake of Southern California’s major spill from an aging oil pipeline, the Center just filed a notice of intent to sue the feds for letting “Platform Elly” and others in the Beta oilfield operate under outdated drilling plans written in the 1970s and ’80s.

“The oil industry is drilling and spilling off California’s coast under plans written when Carter and Reagan were in the White House and floppy disks were high tech,” said Kristen Monsell, legal director of the Center’s Oceans program. “Retro isn’t a good look for those ominous oil platforms, which should be shut down entirely.”

Rare Illinois Prairie Rescued

Although Illinois is called the “Prairie State,” less than 0.01% of its prairies are left. So we’re excited to report that priceless Bell Bowl Prairie has been saved, for now, from an expansion of the Chicago Rockford International Airport.

Bell Bowl provides habitat for endangered rusty patched bumblebees and some of Illinois’ rarest plants. It’s one of the last patches of a vanishing ecosystem: Only 148 acres of gravel hill prairie survive in the state, five of them in Bell Bowl.

Thanks to everyone who spoke up for Bell Bowl Prairie through a recent Center action alert — you made a difference.

Protest sign reading, ''Real climate leaders DIVEST from fossil fuels''

Revelator: Divestment’s Big Month

Large investment funds pulled their money from fossil fuel companies in record numbers in October. Will the decades-long push for fossil fuel divestment — withdrawing big money from destructive oil, gas and coal — finally “revoke the social license of the fossil fuel industry,” as Bill McKibben once put it?

Find out in The Revelator and, if you haven’t yet, subscribe to the free newsletter.

That’s Wild: Sisters Doing It for Themselves

While checking out molecular genetic samples from two California condor chicks, conservation geneticists made a shocking discovery: Neither bird was related to a male condor — which means their mothers reproduced asexually. It’s the first time humans have found parthenogenesis, sometimes called virgin birth, in this critically endangered species.