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Moose
Center for     Biological     Diversity   

Trump Gears Up to Gut Crucial Environmental Law

The Trump administration this week launched the largest rollback in history to the vital protections for air, water and wildlife provided by the National Environmental Policy Act.

The president's Council on Environmental Quality began its assault on the 48-year-old law Wednesday, targeting its longstanding requirements for robust environmental review before federal projects are approved.

"The Trump administration is taking a sledgehammer to the process that gives scientists and the public a say on federal projects harming clean air, water and wildlife," said the Center for Biological Diversity's Paulo Lopes. "If this landmark law is gutted, the power plants and factories that corporations target for poor and underrepresented communities will routinely be rubberstamped."

Stay tuned for how you can help fight this attack and read more in our press release.

Black bear

A Win for Black Bears in Washington State

After a Center lawsuit, a judge has stopped — for now — the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife from issuing any more permits for killing black bears on private timberlands using bait, traps and other inhumane methods.

Despite the fact that voters in the state had already outlawed these cruel practices, the department created a program authorizing these types of bear killings by a small group of hunters in industry-owned forests. The judge's ruling, made last Friday, suspends that illegal program.

"This decision will save many bears from a cruel death, and that's a big relief," said the Center's Collette Adkins. "Now we'll focus on shutting down the program for good."

Get more from Associated Press.

Destructive California Mega-warehouse Defeated

Burrowing owl

Responding to a lawsuit by the Center and allies, a judge has ruled against a massive, environmentally destructive warehouse project planned for Southern California, called the World Logistics Center.

This 40-million-square-foot project — about three times the size of New York's Central Park — would've added 14,000 daily truck trips to roads leading to the city of Moreno Valley; worsened already poor air quality; and harmed imperiled wildlife in the San Jacinto Wildlife Area, from burrowing owls to Los Angeles pocket mice. Read more.

Southern Resident orcas

Crisis Deepens for West Coast's Southern Resident Orcas

The news for endangered orcas on the West Coast just went from bad to worse. Researchers announced over the weekend that another Southern Resident orca has died — driving this population to its lowest levels in more than 30 years.

The death of the whale named "Crewser" now means there are just 75 left in the wild.

This news comes in the wake of a Center legal petition pressing Trump to protect Southern Resident orcas' habitat off California, Oregon and Washington.

We've been fighting for these unique marine mammals for years, and we won't stop now. Learn more in our press release and make a donation to help us save endangered West Coast orcas.

Nasty Virus Threatens Pacific Salmon

Coho salmon

Wild salmon in the Pacific already have it rough, and now they face a new threat. Recently wild salmon in British Columbia have been hit with an infection called piscine reovirus, which is linked to farmed salmon.

The Revelator has a story this week about the spread of the virus (which makes it more difficult for salmon hearts to pump blood), how it may have spread from Norway to the waters off western Canada, and the threat it poses to salmon in the United States.

Read the story at The Revelator.

Big Sandy crayfish

Lawsuit: Speed Habitat Protections for Appalachian Crayfish

We sued the Trump administration's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this week for failing to protect critical habitat in West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky for the Guyandotte River crayfish and the Big Sandy crayfish.

The two Appalachian crayfish were protected under the Endangered Species Act in 2016 because of habitat loss and water pollution, largely due to mountaintop removal and other forms of coal mining. But the Service is now late in designating required critical habitat areas for the imperiled crustaceans, which are found nowhere else on Earth.

"Every day that we delay these habitat protections is a day these two Appalachian crawdads move closer to extinction," said the Center's Perrin de Jong.

Read more in our press release.

Lions

Trump's Trophy-hunting Panel Pushes Ahead

The national controversy over trophy hunting of imperiled wildlife came to Atlanta this week with the latest meeting of a new federal wildlife advisory committee that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke stacked with trophy hunters and gun-industry reps.

The so-called International Wildlife Conservation Council is composed almost entirely of hunters and people affiliated with the National Rifle Association. Fifteen of the council's 16 members have ties to trophy hunting or guns.

This week's meeting is a sure sign that Zinke and others aren't giving up on their push for more trophy hunting of elephants and lions. Check out what the Center's Tanya Sanerib has to say in her op-ed this week in The Hill.

Fox

Wild Mammals Moving to Cover of Darkness to Avoid People

They're just not that into us.

A new study published in Science shows that wild mammals are shifting their activities to the nighttime to avoid people.

As our population expands further into wildlife habitat, many wild mammals are left with only one option for steering clear of humans: switching to the night shift. An increase in nocturnality has been observed across the globe in mammals, from grizzlies to tapirs to antelope to sun bears.

Learn more about what this trend may mean for wildlife at The Conversation.

Florida panthers

Wild & Weird: Florida Panthers, Otters on Critter Cams

Wild mammals may not like hanging out with humans, but luckily remote cameras can give us a peek into their lives without disturbing them at all.

Check out this remarkable wildlife-cam footage of Florida panthers, river otters, bears and other critters on Facebook or YouTube.

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Photo credits: Moose by Free-Photos/Pixabay; black bear by Alan D. Wilson/Nature’s Pics Online; burrowing owl by Alan D. Wilson/Nature’s Pics Online; Southern Resident killer whales by Miles Ritter/Flickr; coho salmon by BLM; Big Sandy crayfish by Guenter Schuster; lions by ThJa2305/Flickr; fox by mieshahmo/Flickr; Florida panthers by USFWS.


Center for Biological Diversity
P.O. Box 710
Tucson, AZ 85702
United States