November 25, 2014 — Conservationists are celebrating the news from the Salmon, Idaho U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office announcing the agency is withdrawing the 5-year permit it issued for a cruel killing contest on
some of the wildest and most scenic BLM-managed public lands in the country. The move comes only twelve days after WildEarth Guardians, Cascadia Wildlands, and Boulder-White Clouds Council, represented by the Western Environmental Law Center, filed a lawsuit to stop the “Predator Derby” killing contest on BLM and U.S. Forest Service-managed lands.
Conservationists Challenge Insufficient Lynx Protection
November 17, 2014 — Today, the Western Environmental Law Center (WELC) filed suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in federal court under the Endangered Species Act for inadequately protecting Canada lynx habitat, a
threatened species, on behalf of WildEarth Guardians, Cascadia Wildlands, Oregon Wild, and Conservation Northwest.
Conservationists Sue to Stop Wolf and Coyote Killing Contest
November 13, 2014 — Today, a coalition of conservation organizations sued the Bureau of Land Management for granting a 5-year permit allowing predator-killing contests on public lands surrounding Salmon, Idaho over the winter holiday season (see complaint). The agency unlawfully relied on faulty analysis and failed to conduct a full environmental impact statement. The suit also names the U.S. Forest Service for failing to require a permit for the killing contests. The next competitive killing derby is slated for January 2-4, 2015.
Cascadia Sues Over Lack of Federal Protections for the Wolverine
October 20, 2014 — Cascadia Wildlands, along with a broad coalition of conservation groups, has filed suit over the Fish and Wildlife Service’s failure to list the wolverine on the Endangered Species Act list. The Fish and Wildlife Service officially withdrew its proposal to list the species after applied political pressure from a handful of western states. Only 250-300 wolverines call the contiguous United States home, living in small populations scattered across the west. A unanimous panel of Fish and Wildilfe scientists had previously recognized serious threats to the wolverine’s continued existence, acknowledging that the greatest threat to the species’ survival in the United States is habitat loss due to climate change.
Annual Bear Cub Orphaning Hangs on Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission Vote
October 8, 2014 — Cascadia Wildlands and a coalition of conservation groups are urging Gov. John Kitzhaber and the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission to reject the “Siskiyou Plus” proposal to expand springtime black bear hunting in southwest Oregon, during a time in which mother bears are nursing dependent cubs. The coalition of local and national conservation groups sent letters in advance of the commission vote.
Washington’s Stevens County Urges Citizens to Kill Endangered Wolves
October 7, 2014 — Conservation groups today called on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to stop providing wolf location information to Stevens County, which recently adopted resolutions claiming a constitutional
right to kill wolves and exhorting its citizens to do so. In a letter sent today, the Center for Biological Diversity and Cascadia Wildlands said the agency must immediately revoke written agreements to disclose daily locations of radio-collared wolves to county officials. The groups also urged the agency to rescind agreements with other counties if those counties adopt similar resolutions.
Last Stand: The New Book On Ted Turner The Bison Baron, Wolf Warrior and Eco-Capitalist Stirring Buzz In Pacific Northwest
October 2, 2014 — How can the Pacific Northwest be “rewilded”? What does eco-capitalism really look like on the ground? What
does it mean to be having wolves crossing the Cascades? What’s the role of the United Nations in a modern world fraught with nuclear dangers, America-hating terrorists and the spectre of Ebola? All of these issues flow dramatically through the life of one man who makes his home on the eastern flanks of the region.
With Huckleberry Wolf Pack in Crosshairs, Conservation Groups Appeal to Gov. Inslee to Require Rules Limiting Killing of Washington’s Endangered Wolves
August 28, 2014 — Eight conservation groups filed an appeal with Governor Jay Inslee today to reverse the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission’s denial of a petition asking for enforceable rules limiting when wolves can be killed in response to livestock depredations. The petition seeks to limit when the Department of Fish and Wildlife can kill wolves and require livestock producers to use nonlethal measures to protect their stock. Rules similar to those requested by the petition are in place in Oregon and are working to encourage ranchers to enact nonlethal measures; there, the number of depredations has decreased dramatically, and the state has not killed wolves in more than three years.
Lawsuit Takes On Devastating Old-growth Logging Project in Tongass National Forest–Suit Follows Scientist’s Warning That Alexander Archipelago Wolves Are Threatened
August 26, 2014 — Five conservation groups filed a lawsuit today to stop the U.S. Forest Service’s Big Thorne timber project on Prince of Wales Island in southeast Alaska. Big Thorne is by far the largest U.S. Forest Service logging project on the Tongass National Forest since the region’s two pulp mills closed about 20 years ago.
Washington Wildlife Agency Urged to Revoke Kill Order for Huckleberry Pack
August 22, 2014 — Eight conservation organizations, representing hundreds of thousands of Washington residents, are calling on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to rescind a kill order issued earlier this week for wolves of the Huckleberry pack. The order authorizes agency staff and a sheep operator to shoot any wolves seen in the vicinity of a band of sheep that has incurred losses due to wolves over the past few weeks. In a letter to the Department, the conservation groups urged the agency to continue efforts to deter wolves from killing more sheep using nonlethal means rather than killing wolves, as it did two years ago when seven members of the Wedge pack were killed.