Help protect Glacier National Park

Two proposed mining schemes could despoil the Canadian
headwaters of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park -- one
of the wildest places in North America and part of our Greater
Rockies BioGem.

We need your urgent action to block these disastrous proposals,
which would pollute the pristine Flathead River with
contaminated waste and threaten the outstanding fish and
wildlife of Montana's Glacier National Park.

Please go to http://www.savebiogems.org/yellowstone/takeaction
and urge the Canadian government to prohibit industrial mining
activities and coalfield developments in the headwaters of
Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.

Cline Mining Corporation is proposing to put an open-pit
coalmine just 25 miles upstream of Glacier National Park. The
mine would remove a mountaintop to create an open pit mine,
settling ponds and waste dumps in a pristine valley.

Meanwhile, BP Energy Corporation has proposed a massive coalbed
methane project (over 125,000 acres) that would require miles of
pipelines and wells producing hundreds of millions of gallons of
toxic wastewater. A dense network of roads would destroy prime
habitat for grizzly bears and other wildlife.

The Flathead River, which originates in British Columbia and
flows south into Montana where it forms the western boundary of
Glacier National Park, is one of the most wild, biologically
rich places in the world.

The Flathead valley and river form the heart of the Crown of the
Continent ecosystem, which is home to wolves, grizzly bears,
wolverines and lynx.

Go to http://www.savebiogems.org/yellowstone/takeaction
and tell the Canadian government to protect Waterton-Glacier
International Peace Park from damaging industrialization.

Thank you for helping to save one of North America's most
valuable wildlife habitats.

Sincerely,

Frances Beinecke
President
Natural Resources Defense Council

Katmai Bears Caught in the Crossfire

Brown bears living in and near Katmai National Park & Preserveare threatened by overzealous hunting regulations adopted by thestate of Alaska.

I wrote a letter for NPCA to deliver to the Alaska Board of Game meeting in March asking that these bears beprotected. I hope you will take a minute to do the same.

These bears are some of the most photographed in the world--but all that could change with continued over-harvesting.

Take action today! http://ga1.org/campaign/katmai_bear?rk=p7M1DF11XzhsW

Help Save The Wolves!

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released its proposal to strip wolves of crucial Endangered Species Act protections in Idaho and parts of Wyoming. Both states are now preparing massive wolf eradication plans, and hundreds of wolves could be killed.

I was so outraged by this proposal that I sent a message to Dirk Kempthorne, U.S. Secretary of the Interior, who oversees the Fish and Wildlife Service. I hope you'll take some time to send a message, too.

It's easy. Just go to the website below to take action:

http://action.defenders.org/rockymountainoutrage2

Both Idaho and Wyoming have begun actively planning efforts to kill hundreds of wolves. As many as two-thirds of the wolves in Wyoming could be killed. And as many as 60 of Idaho's 71 wolf packs could be eradicated!

The government once nearly allowed our Northern Rocky Mountain wolves to be shot, harassed and poisoned into extinction. We can't let that happen again.

Please send Interior Secretary Kempthorne a message about the importance of protecting our wolves right now:

http://action.defenders.org/rockymountainoutrage2

These wolves are in trouble. I hope you'll help...
To take action on this issue, click on the link below:

https://secure2.convio.net/dow/site/Advocacy?s_oo=lH2o41P5QcYAajEWfAkD0Q..&id=629

If the text above does not appear as a link or it wraps across multiple lines, then copy and paste it into the address area of your browser.

HELP SAVE POLAR BEARS FROM GLOBAL WARMING

http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/biogems_polar_0107

The Bush Administration is beginning the review process to decide whether to protect the polar bear, threatened with extinction due to global warming, under the Endangered Species Act. But we must speak up before February 23, 2007, or they will not hold public hearings on this critical matter.

Please help by sending a message directly to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, letting them know you want public hearings on polar bear protection. They are not required by law to hold such hearings, but they can be swayed if we all speak up.

CLICK HERE to show your support for polar bear protection.

GLOBAL WARMING DISRUPTING BEAR HIBERNATION IN EUROPE

It's not just Arctic creatures suffering from the negative effects of global warming. Spanish scientists are blaming global warming for the fact that brown bears appear to have stopped hibernating in Spain's northern Cantabrian Mountains, the first bears known not to hibernate in Europe.

According to Douglas Futuyma, professor of ecology and evolution at the State University of New York in Stony Brook, "There is a grave concern about the prospects of a great number of species. They are likely to be harmed by temperature changes, by mismatch between their life cycles and the altered seasonal life cycles of species on which they depend, and by invasion of competing species that are better adapted to warmer conditions."

http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/biogems_polar_0107

Bush administration proposes listing polar bears as threatened species

WASHINGTON (AP) — Polar bears are in jeopardy and need stronger government protection because of melting Arctic sea ice related to global warming, the Bush administration said Wednesday.

Pollution and overhunting also threaten their existence. Greenland and Norway have the most polar bears, while a quarter of them live mainly in Alaska and travel to Canada and Russia.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne on Wednesday proposed listing polar bears as a "threatened" species on the government list of imperiled species. The "endangered" category is reserved for species more likely to become extinct.

"Polar bears are one of nature's ultimate survivors, able to live and thrive in one of the world's harshest environments," Kempthorne said. "But we are concerned the polar bear's habitat may literally be melting."

A final decision on whether to add the polar bears to the list is a year away, after the government finishes more studies.

(MORE)

Farmers and Conservationists Form a Rare Alliance

By JESSICA KOWAL
Published: December 27, 2006

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — The standoff here between farmers and environmentalists was familiar in the modern West.

With salmon and wildlife dwindling in the Skagit River Delta, some environmentalists had argued since the 1980s that local farms should be turned back into wetlands. Farmers here feared that preachy outsiders would strip them of their land and heritage.

This year, though, the standoff ended — at least for three longtime farmers in this fertile valley, who began collaborating with their former enemies to preserve wildlife and their livelihoods.

(MORE)

Cougar Fund Action Alert

ACTION ALERT:

Dear Cougar Fund Members and Friends,
Please Voice Your Concern on the Proposed Cougar Hunt on
Arizona’s Kofa National Wildlife Refuge

Comments are needed by December 29th, 2006.

Send your letters to:
J. Paul Cornes, Manager
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Kofa National Wildlife Refuge
356 W. 1st Street
Yuma, Arizona 85364
Paul_Cornes@fws.gov
Phone: 928-783-7861
Fax: 928-783- 8611

The Kofa National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Arizona plans to open the refuge to cougar hunting. The proposed cougar-hunting season would allow one cat to be taken per year from the refuge and adjacent lands.

BASED IN SCIENCE?

The Arizona Game & Fish does not have accurate and consistent scientific information regarding cougar population and densities to demonstrate that there is a biological necessity for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to institute a sustainable hunt. “At this time, insufficient data exists to determine the sustainability of the hunt beyond the harvest of one lion annually. Continued population monitoring is required to determine if births or immigration are sufficient to replace any lions taken by hunters.”

WHAT IS A REFUGE?

The Kofa National Wildlife Refuge is public land and one of the few places that cougars are protected from hunting. If wildlife is not safe on a refuge, where are they protected?

POLITICAL PRESSURE?

Much of the pressure to establish a hunt is coming from the Yuma Valley Rod and Gun Club, whose legislative chair is also the chairman of the Arizona Game & Fish Commission, which sets hunting regulations and policy for the state.

WHO PAYS?

If a hunt were to be implemented, the cost of this hunt, which is only one cougar, would be $24,000 annually. Funding for the Kofa Refuge ultimately come from federal taxes. That means you, the taxpayer, would be subsidizing the hunting of Americas’ Greatest Cat™ on our public lands.

YOUR LETTERS AND COMMENTS DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

BY ALSO REQUESTING AN EXTENSION TO THE DECEMBER 29TH DEADLINE, YOU CAN HELP MORE VOICES BE HEARD.

THROUGH PUBLIC INPUT WE ENABLE OUR GOVERNMENT AGENCIES TO MANGMENT WILDLIFE FOR THE BENEFIT OFALL.

Learn more about the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge and the proposed mountain lion hunting season at:
http://www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/arizona/kofa.html

Sara L. Carlson
The Cougar Fund
PO Box 122610 W. Broadway, Suite 103
Jackson, WY 83001
307.733.0797
307.733.7129
http://www.cougarfund.org

Take action so grizzlies can rest easy this winter

Dear NRDC BioGems Defender,

Thanks to our legal action, we now have even more to celebratethis holiday season. Last week, a federal court rejected a planto expand destructive road-building in the Cabinet-Yaak andSelkirk wildlands that span Montana, Idaho and Washington. Theyare home to two of America's most imperiled grizzly bear populations.

But elsewhere in the vast, snow-covered ranges of the Rockies, anew threat to endangered grizzlies is looming. And we need your immediate online action to block it!

A major railroad company is plotting to use powerful military artillery to control avalanches along its railway in Glacier National Park. The deadline for public comments on this disastrous plan is December 29th, so please act quickly.

Go to http://www.savebiogems.org/bears/takeaction and tell Glacier officials that you support their preferred alternative, which would protect human safety, while safeguarding the park's magnificent wildlife and winter tranquility.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad has proposed firing explosives and dropping bombs from helicopters at Glacier'ssouthern boundary, even though scientific research has shown that such earth-shattering explosions are likely to disturb grizzly bear denning.

Instead, the company should upgrade its neglected, century-oldsystem of snow sheds to include overpasses for wildlife. Over the past 30 years, trains traveling along the borders of the park have killed at least 42 grizzlies, which are attracted tothe vegetation growing in avalanche chutes by the tracks, as well as grain spilled by railway cars.

Please go to http://www.savebiogems.org/bears/takeaction and urge Glacier officials to reject Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad's reckless proposal and adopt an avalanche control plan that protects Glacier's natural values.

Thank you for all your efforts to protect grizzly bears andother imperiled Rockies wildlife.

Sincerely,
Frances Beinecke
President
Natural Resources Defense Council

http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/biogems_bears_1206