Mountain yellow-legged frog
Center for     Biological     Diversity   

1.8 Million Sierra Nevada Acres Protected for Frogs and Toads

Great news: After more than 15 years of work by the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has protected 1.8 million acres of critical habitat in California for Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs, Yosemite toads and a northern population of mountain yellow-legged frogs.

Sierra Nevada and mountain yellow-legged frogs have declined by about 90 percent throughout the Sierras, and more than half of former Yosemite toad populations are now gone.

"Yellow-legged frogs and Yosemite toads were a common sight in the high Sierras until fairly recently," said the Center's Jeff Miller. "Their rapid declines are a warning of the failing health of our high Sierra ecosystems. Critical habitat will help save them and also protect habitat for other species, as well as water sources for Californians."

Get more from ABC News.

Profanity Peak wolves

Snipers Kill 6 Washington Wolves, Target Rest of Pack

Washington state's Profanity Peak wolf pack has been shattered by government-funded snipers who've already killed six of its members and now plan to finish off the rest of the family. State officials put the pack on the kill list after conflicts with livestock on public land -- even though a rancher reportedly had moved his grazing cattle into an area known to contain a wolf den and rendezvous site. Killing the entire Profanity Peak pack would wipe out 12 percent of the state's wolf population.

The Center is on the front lines of the fight to save this pack and establish a safe haven for Washington's fledgling wolf population. We and allies organized a rally today outside the state wildlife agency's headquarters.

Take a moment to watch our video on Facebook or YouTube, sign this petition opposing the killing, and consider donating to our Wolf Defense Fund.

It's About Time: Ancient Nautilus Moves Toward Protection

Nautilus

A unique ocean species called the chambered nautilus, a spiral-shelled relative of squid and octopus, is often described as a "living fossil" -- ironic, since it isn't far from extinction (and then real fossil-hood).

This 90-tentacled mollusk is imperiled by overharvesting for its beautiful shell. But finally, in response to a Center petition, the National Marine Fisheries Service has declared that it may warrant Endangered Species Act protection.

"This is fantastic news," said the Center's Abel Valdivia. "We're lucky to share a planet with this ancient creature." Read more.

Maya Golden-Krasner

"We're at a precipice point where the state is going to have to prioritize water over an industry that isn't going to last."

— Center attorney Maya Golden-Krasner on the California scandal over oil and gas pollution in aquifers. Read more in ProPublica.

Fisher

New Agreement Will Speed Protection Decisions for 10 Species

Good news for species from fish to fishers: The Center reached a settlement with the Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday requiring the agency to speed protection decisions for 10 at-risk animals and plants.

Over the next five years, the Service must decide whether these species will receive Endangered Species Act protection by the following dates: alligator snapping turtles (2020), Barrens topminnows (2017), California spotted owls (2019), beaverpond marstonia (2017), Canoe Creek pigtoes (2020), cobblestone tiger beetles (2019), foothill yellow-legged frogs (2020), monarch butterflies (2019), Northern Rockies fishers (2017) and Virgin River spinedace (2021).

Under the Center's 757 species agreement with the Service, we can choose 10 additional species per year for expedited protection decisions. So far 147 species have gained final protection and 35 have been proposed for safeguards.

Read more in The Mercury News.

Ready to Speak Up for Red Wolves? Join Our Thunderclap

Red wolf

The Fish and Wildlife Service and its director Dan Ashe are caving to political pressure and turning their backs on red wolves, among the most endangered species in the world. Fewer than 45 exist in the wild -- but the Obama administration has pulled the plug on red wolf reintroductions and even curtailed law-enforcement efforts to bring wolf killers to justice.

Join our Thunderclap and Tweetstorm on Sept. 6 and tell the Fish and Wildlife Service and Director Ashe to do their jobs and save red wolves.

Arches National Monument

The National Park Service just turned 100. Watch our video on Facebook or YouTube.

Taking a Stand Against Dangerous North Dakota Pipeline

Protestor

We've been inspired in recent weeks and months by the tremendous work being done by tribal members from around the country who have come to North Dakota to fight the Dakota Access Pipeline, a $3.7 billion project near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation that would transport crude oil out of the Bakken oilfield.

The encampment has drawn a core group of 500 to 1,000 people, with hundreds more coming and going. It includes members of more than 90 tribes who have come together to fight the pipeline -- and find common ground for the protection of land, water and cultural sites. Read more.

Hey, List Lovers: We've Got What You Need on Medium

Flotsam logo

Which animals have pockets? Which artists help us see wildlife in new ways? And which species are the "creepy-cutest"? You'll find the answers to these questions (and more) by checking out the Center's new Medium eco-list called "Flotsam." Published every other week, Flotsam is a compendium of provocative topics related to the things we love -- including animals, the environment, and art and culture as they touch on the Center's mission of protecting wildlife and wildlands.

Check out our first Flotsam list, "5 Animals With Pockets," and follow the Center on Medium so you don't miss a list.

Strandbeest

Wild & Weird: Magnificent Wind-eating Megafauna

Strandbeests (Dutch for "beach animals") are large kinetic sculptures that have galloped the coastline of the Netherlands for nearly 30 years, powered by wind and the imagination of artist and physicist Theo Jansen.

Jansen created his first beast in 1990 to help repair coastal dunes threatened by rising tides in the Netherlands. That 28-legged contraption collapsed under its own weight, never to rise again. Since then, though, his strandbeests have evolved wildly; some have recycled plastic bottles along their flanks that collect and compress air, then pump it into cantilevered sails when the breeze dies down -- and all the creatures are marvelously sturdy.

Watch our new video on Facebook or YouTube of Theo Jansen's magnificent strandbeests roaming the Dutch coast.

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Photo credits: mountain yellow-legged frog courtesy Isaac Chellman/NPS; Profanity Peak wolf pack courtesy Washington DNR; fisher by Josh More/Flickr; Maya Golden-Krasner staff photo; Dakota Access Pipeline protestor by Peg Hunt/Flickr; nautilus by pacificklaus/Flickr; Arches National Monument by P7025912/Flickr; red wolf courtesy USFWS; Flotsam logo courtesy Center for Biological Diversity; strandbeest by Theo Jansen.

Center for Biological Diversity
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