Northern Long-Eared Bats Win ‘Endangered’ Status |
After years of legal work by the Center for Biological Diversity and allies — plus more than 24,000 comments by our supporters — the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service just protected highly imperiled northern long-eared bats as endangered. That reversed a previous “threatened” listing that let clearcutting and other activities destroy the bats’ habitat. Unlike many other bats, northern long-eareds forage on wooded hillsides and along the top of ridgelines — and they like to live in mature forests.
Now these extraordinarily vulnerable animals, whose populations have plummeted drastically in the past 15 years due to the white-nose epidemic, will have more protection. “Northern long-eared bats are on the brink of extinction,” said Center lawyer Ryan Shannon. “We have to find a cure for the white-nose syndrome that’s killing these bats, and we have to protect the forests where they live. This endangered listing will help on both counts.” |
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Stop the Boondoggle at Black Mesa |
For decades the Indigenous people of Arizona’s Black Mesa have resisted energy-industry attacks on their sacred land. Now they need support to fend off the latest threat: a disastrous plan to build three hydroelectric “pumped-storage” projects that would result in massive industrialization. The projects would cause irreversible harm to land and water resources that are as critical to people as they are to endangered wildlife like Mexican spotted owls.
You’ve helped us stop similar projects along Arizona’s San Francisco and Little Colorado rivers — and you can help us again. Urge federal regulators to protect Black Mesa by denying these permits. |
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Lawsuit Demands National Gray Wolf Plan |
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Wins for Wildlife Across the World |
Center staff just got back from the latest meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Panama. There we helped defeat bids to reopen trade in ivory and rhino horn and won protections for dozens of turtle species, glass frogs, sea cucumbers, and sharks. CITES countries agreed to hold Mexico accountable for failing to protect vaquitas and work to save pangolins, elephants, leopards, seahorses, and lions. On the downside, it let Namibia relax white rhino trade controls and didn’t grant its highest protections to hippos and elephants in four countries.
“I’m thankful the international community recognizes the grave threat trade poses to reptiles, amphibians and many ocean animals,” said the Center’s Tanya Sanerib. “We’ll keep fighting for species that got short shrift this year and pushing for an ambitious pandemic prevention plan.” |
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Check Out Our Fall Membership Newsletter |
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Saving Wolves Like OR-93 With Wildlife Crossings |
One year ago, after breaking records by traveling from northern Oregon to Southern California, beloved wolf OR-93 was struck and killed by a vehicle.
In a new tribute, our Senior Wolf Advocate Amaroq Weiss reflects on OR-93’s untimely death — and the crucial importance of California’s recent wildlife-crossings law, cosponsored by the Center, in preventing future tragedies. “In the coming decades, more wolves are bound to return to California. Wildlife passages are an invaluable way to do right by them, and by the memory of OR-93,” says Amaroq. |
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Gains for Carnivores and More in Montana |
Following opposition from the Center and our supporters, the U.S. Forest Service has rejected a proposal to expand Montana’s Holland Lake Lodge, which would’ve been disastrous for imperiled grizzly bears, wolverines, Canada lynx, and bull trout. POWDR, the company behind the proposal, plans to keep pushing it — and we’ll keep resisting.
“We’ve stopped the most imminent threat,” said the Center’s Senior Northern Rockies Attorney Kristine Akland. “Now we have time to prepare for the next stage of the fight.” |
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Revelator: The Cost of ‘Free Water’ in the West |
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That’s Wild: Bees Aren’t Too Busy to Play Ball |
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Center for Biological Diversity
P.O. Box 710
Tucson, AZ 85702
United States |
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