|
|
|  |
1. POLITICS: President Calls for New Funding for Parks and Forests During last night's State of the Union address to Congress, the President announced his "Lands Legacy" proposal to provide permanent conservation funding to protect America's most valuable but unprotected ancient forests, wildlife habitat and other natural and historic resources. The President called for bi-partisan support for the new funding proposal in last night's nationally-televised address saying, "As our communities grow, our commitment to conservation must continue to grow. Tonight I propose creating a permanent conservation fund to restore our wildlife, protect coastlines, save natural treasures, from the California redwoods to the Everglades..." The initiative is the next step to providing permanent conservation funding after Congress and the President agreed last year to substantially increase funding in fiscal year 2000 for America's best remaining wildlife habitat and natural areas. While the details of the President's proposal won't be made public until February 7, it should help assure that a strong national commitment to land conservation is actually realized into the future. For the past several decades, more than $12 billion has been legally set aside in federal revenue from offshore oil drilling to permanently protect these national treasures through the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). However, special interests have blocked spending the money on its legally mandated conservation purpose. To date, the Land and Water Conservation Fund has helped preserve such American treasures as Alaska's Denali National Park, the Appalachian Trail, and Cape Cod National Seashore. But sprawl, uncontrolled development and wealthy special interests threaten our remaining unprotected special places. 2. BEARS: Defenders Leads Efforts To Restore the Grizzly A century ago, grizzly bears dominated the forests and mountains of the American West. Today, however, only an estimated 1,000 survive in the lower 48 states, primarily in just two areas in the northern Rockies -- the alpine valleys of Yellowstone National Park and the isolated mountains of Glacier National Park. Biologists say a population of as many as 2,000 bears may be needed to assure the species long-term survival south of Canada. Only three areas remain in the lower 48 states that are large enough and isolated enough from human contact to support grizzly bears. The most promising is the 15-million-acre Bitterroot ecosystem in central Idaho with four million acres of federal wilderness, low road densities, and ample food and habitat. A diverse coalition of conservationists, including Defenders of Wildlife, and local timber industry developed a proposal to restore the grizzly to the Bitterroot ecosystem. The plan calls for focusing reintroduction efforts in remote wilderness areas, establishing a 15-member bear management committee consisting of state and federal officials, tribal representatives and local citizens, and increasing management flexibility for problem bears. That proposal was offered as the preferred alternative in a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) released by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in 1997. Although the plan has been subject to a series of delays, conservationists are hopeful that a final decision will be reached later this spring. If FWS approves the grizzly reintroduction proposal, bears could be released into the Bitterroot wilderness after a year-long public education campaign about grizzlies and related issues in surrounding communities. A subspecies of the American brown bear, the "grizzly" bear actually gets its name from its thick fur, which sometimes takes on a silver or frosty hue. The grizzly is North America's largest omnivore, eating both plants and other animals such as small mammals, rodents, insects, carrion and sometimes elk or moose calves. About 80 to 90 percent of the grizzly's food is green vegetation, wild fruits and berries, nuts, and bulbs or roots. Between 1800 and 1975, grizzly bear populations in the lower 48 states decreased from more than 50,000 to less than 1,000. As mountainous areas were settled, development contributed to an increase in human-caused mortality. Habitat deterioration, commercial trapping, unregulated hunting, concerns about livestock predation and the perception that grizzlies threatened human life were leading causes of the bear's decline. Because of the size and power of grizzly bears, people often fear and exaggerate stories about them. However, bears rarely harm humans. Far more people are killed each year in the United States by lightning, bee stings or man's best friend -- the domestic dog. Most of the Bitterroot is designated wilderness where bear attacks would be rare. Experts say that's because most wilderness users know how to camp in bear country. For example, in Montana's heavily used Bob Marshall Wilderness, only one bear-caused death has been reported during the last 50 years. In 1975, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the grizzly bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Defenders of Wildlife teamed up with the National Wildlife Federation and two traditional opponents of endangered species reintroductions timber companies and timber workers -- to develop an innovative approach to reintroducing bears with input from local communities. The Bozeman Chronicle called it "one of the most forward-thinking developments on the threatened species front." The proposal for grizzly reintroduction by Defenders and othershas three key parts. First, grizzly reintroduction would occur as an "experimental population" under a special provision of the Endangered Species Act that allows federal agencies more management flexibility while promoting species conservation. Second, the proposal focuses grizzly reintroductions on the four million acres of congressionally designated wilderness in the Bitterroot ecosystem where potential conflict is lowest. Third, the plan calls for joint management of a Bitterroot grizzly population by a team of local citizens, state and federal officials and tribal representatives. The coalition agreed that it could not ask people to live next to grizzly bears without giving them a meaningful role in bear management. While the citizen management committee would have substantial authority, it would be required to abide by the same rules as federal agencies. All actions of the committee must lead to the recovery of the bear and must be based on the best available science to make decisions. 3. ENDANGERED SPECIES: Canada Fails To Protect Species and Habitat While the United States works to recover endangered species that also range north across the border -- such as the grizzly bear, spotted owl and marbled murrelet -- Canada currently has no federal legislation to protect these same endangered species. Because many imperiled wildlife cross the border, it is essential that Canada pass a strong Endangered Species Act to protect our mutual natural heritage. Last year Canada's Environmental Minister David Anderson proposed draft endangered species legislation. However, the bill is unacceptable to conservationists because, unlike the U.S. Endangered Species Act, it (1) does not protect endangered species habitat; (2) lets politicians, and not scientists, determine whether a species can be listed as endangered; and (3) does not include a mechanism for citizens to hold the government accountable if agencies fail to protect a species. Anderson met with key U.S. officials last week to discuss endangered species issues. Conservationists have appealed the Canadian government to strengthen the draft legislation before it is introduced in Parliament next month. We expect to have future opportunities to weigh in on this issue in the coming weeks, so stay tuned. 4. ADVOCACY: Leading Conservation Groups Join Forces At least 16 of the largest national environmental organizations, representing more than 3.5 million citizens, have joined forces in an exciting new partnership to advocate more effectively for important environmental initiatives and fight Congressional proposals to roll back environmental laws. Chaired by Defenders President Rodger Schlickeisen, the Partnership Project is a non-profit organization that helps national environmental groups cooperatively contact their members with a call to action on a limited number of crucial environmental campaigns. The collaboration will focus on campaigns that are supported by a super-majority of participants, and no group is required to participate in any individual campaign. Following its inception in September, the Partnership Project has already initiated successful collaborative campaigns to remove anti-environmental riders from federal funding bills and to gain funding for land and water conservation. The project generated more than 60,000 petitions to President Clinton and countless phone calls to members of Congress and the White House supporting funding for conservation lands such as parks, forests and refuges. 5. DID YOU KNOW: Great White Shark The great white shark is the world's largest predatory fish, with an average length of 10 to 20 feet and an average weight of 2,500 pounds. A familiar sight on television and in movies like "Jaws," this solitary shark is characterized by its torpedo-shaped body, pointed snout, cresent-shaped tail and large triangular dorsal fin that can sometimes be seen breaking the water's surface. Like most sharks, great whites have inefficient gills that require them to swim constantly to get enough oxygen into their bloodstream. They locate prey -- such as seals, sea lions, dolphins, fishes and other sharks -- primarily through their extremely sensitive sense of smell. The great white has a white underbelly and a gray top surface that blends in with the dark water when viewed from above. When hunting the great white usually strikes from below allowing it to approach its prey by surprise. It uses its 3,000 teeth to rip prey into mouth-sized pieces that it then swallows whole. As teeth are lost, broken or worn down they are replaced by new teeth that rotate into place. The great white is the only shark that will go to the surface to poke its head out of the water perhaps to see potential prey such as surface-dwelling sea lions. Attacks on humans are extremely rare and are most likely a case of mistaken identity -- a human floating on a surfboard looks surprisingly like a seal or sea lion from below. Despite their notoriety, great white sharks are one of the most poorly understood of the world's sharks. Reliable information on their breeding habits and overall population numbers are not fully known. They are a protected species along the east and west coasts of the United States, Australia and South Africa. 6. PRESIDENT'S CORNER: Save Something Wild "The new millennium provides a unique opportunity. Where other years serve mainly as rear-view mirrors with which to examine what's behind, the year 2000 offers itself as a giant focusing prism through which we are invited to debate the decades and century ahead ... In that spirit, I offer two questions: Given current trends, will there be any bigger challenge in the 21st century than saving wild things and wild places? What will it mean for the future if we fail this challenge?" --Defenders President Rodger Schlickeisen
DENlines is a bi-weekly publication of Defenders of Wildlife, a leading national conservation organization recognized as one of the nation's most progressive advocates for wildlife and its habitat. It is known for its effective leadership on endangered species issues, particularly predators such as brown bears and gray wolves. Defenders also advocates new approaches to wildlife conservation that protect species before they become endangered. Founded in 1947, Defenders is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization with more than 380,000 members and supporters.
1101 14th Street, N.W., Suite 1400 Washington, DC 20005 Copyright © Defenders of Wildlife, 1999-2000 |
