Endangered Earth Online: Your weekly wildlife update.
If you like what you read here, sign up to get this free weekly e-newsletter and learn the latest on our work.

Hawaiian petrel
Center for     Biological     Diversity   

Kauai Power Lines Kill 1,800 Endangered Seabirds a Year

Troubling news out of the Hawaiian Islands: About 1,800 endangered seabirds die every year in collisions with power lines on Kauai, according to a new government analysis obtained by the Center for Biological Diversity. Further, the study predicts, all Kauai seabird colonies could disappear by 2050.

Newell's shearwaters and Hawaiian petrels — two seabirds protected under the Endangered Species Act — are nocturnal and only come ashore to their breeding colonies at night. That makes them particularly susceptible to collisions with power lines, which are virtually invisible after dark. The Center has been fighting for years to save Hawaii's most imperiled birds.

"Stopping power lines from killing so many seabirds will be an enormous challenge," said the Center's Brett Hartl. "Both the federal and state governments must help Kauai's people solve this problem." The Center will keep helping, too.

Get more from Hawaii News Now.

Oakland sunset

California Cities Unite Against Offshore Drilling, Fracking

The Oakland City Council has just approved a resolution opposing fossil fuel drilling and fracking off the California coast — joining Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Berkeley, Arcata, Goleta, Malibu, San Luis Obispo and Cayucos in passing resolutions against new offshore drilling.

The vote follows Trump's April order urging expansion of oil and gas exploitation in federal waters, which could expose the Pacific Ocean to new oil leasing for the first time in more than 30 years.

"Californians are uniting in opposition to Trump's reckless designs on our coastline and calling for a clean energy future, not more dirty drilling and fracking," said Center organizer Blake Kopcho.

Read more in our press release.

Ask Dr. Donley: 'Can I Use Paper Towels as Coffee Filters?'

Ask Dr. Donley

Why, yes. Yes, you can. At least ... technically. But using paper towels as filters while also avoiding coffee cups full of crappy chemicals? That's a little more complicated.

In the latest installation of his handy eco-advice Medium column, the Center's Dr. Donley poses a couple questions to ask yourself before you use another paper product as a coffee filter — to ensure you don't unwittingly take your coffee with a splash of chlorinated dioxins and a dash of phthalates.

Read more in Medium.

Chambered nautilus

Chambered Nautilus Proposed for Protection as Endangered

In response to a Center petition, the National Marine Fisheries Service has proposed Endangered Species Act protection for the chambered nautilus, which may disappear due to overharvesting for the international shell trade.

A relative of the squid and octopus, the chambered nautilus grows to about 8 inches long, with a spiral shell and about 90 tentacles it uses to catch prey. It's often called a "living fossil" because of its striking resemblance to ancestors that swam shallow seas half a billion years ago.

"Treating these animals like tourist trinkets is driving them to the brink, so it's incredibly important they get protections," said the Center's Miyoko Sakashita. "Without help the nautilus will face extinction in decades."

Read more in our press release.

Center, Allies Raise Reward to Catch Oregon Wolf-killer

Oregon wolf

Oregon conservation groups including the Center increased a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reward for information on the illegal killing of OR-33, a protected gray wolf in southwestern Oregon. After the federal wildlife agency offered a $5,000 reward, five local nonprofits contributed $10,500 more — bringing the total reward to $15,500. Since 2015 at least eight wolves have been poached or died under mysterious circumstances in Oregon, where poaching is a heartbreaking problem that demands serious attention from lawmakers and wildlife-management officials — both to strengthen and enforce wildlife laws, and to deter and prosecute criminals. Read more.

Mount Graham red squirrel

Mount Graham Red Squirrels on Brink of Extinction

According to a recent census, there are only about 35 endangered Mount Graham red squirrels left on Earth — down from 252 in 2016. The Center has been working to protect them for decades, including from a University of Arizona telescope that fragmented or destroyed almost half the squirrels' essential mountain habitat.

"Removing the telescopes would allow the high-elevation squirrel habitat to grow back and prevent more destruction,” says Center cofounder Robin Silver. “And in the short term, we have to remove the cabins and bible camp that have been built where crucial habitat remains."

Earth's southernmost red squirrels, Mount Graham's population has survived in isolation since the continental Pleistocene glaciers receded more than 10,000 years ago.

We'll keep fighting to save them.

Read more in the Arizona Daily Star.

Ignite Change event in Oakland

Ignite Change Volunteers Are Stepping Up — Are You In?

Volunteers with the Center's Ignite Change network are making important headway. Already Ignite Change activists have held meetings with 10 members of Congress to urge them to sign the pledge to protect America's national monuments and other public lands. More meetings are happening soon.

These kinds of in-person discussions with congressional offices — part of Ignite Change's Stand for Lands campaign — are crucial to saving our public lands from oil and gas drilling, large-scale logging, and other kinds of destruction.

Ready to join this important work? Take a moment to sign up for Ignite Change and we'll be in touch quickly about how to get involved.

Take Action — Stop This Reckless Logging Bill

Oregon logging

Soon the House will vote on a bill allowing massive logging projects — of up to 45 square miles each — on public lands, without any disclosure of potential harms to wildlife, forests or watersheds. It would also severely limit the public's ability to meaningfully engage in national forest management. The bill, misleadingly named the "Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2017," is a blank check to special interests that'll take us back to the dark days of reckless logging.

Act now: Urge your representative to vote no on H.R. 2936.

Petey Mesquitey

Wild & Weird: An Ode to Borderland Jaguars

If you aren't from Tucson, Ariz., you may not have heard of Petey Mesquitey — a southwestern poet and storyteller who puts out weekly radio bulletins about the wonders of the Sonoran desert biome. Sometimes he sings love songs about badgers and coyotes; sometimes he loses himself in a description of the contents of owl pellets.

At a recent Center event Petey sang a newly penned, bluesy ode to borderland jaguars in which he cursed Trump's border wall, riling up the crowd.

Have a listen to "I'm a Borderland Jaguar" on Facebook or YouTube. You'll be glad you did.

Follow Us
 Facebook  Twitter  YouTube  Instagram  Medium 

Center for Biological Diversity   |   Saving Life on Earth

Opt out of this mailing list.    |    View this email in your browser.

Donate now to support the Center's work.

Photo credits: Hawaiian petrel by Brett  Hartl, Center for Biological Diversity; Oakland sunset by Thomas Hawk/Flickr; Ask Dr. Donley graphic courtesy Center for Biological Diversity; chambered nautilus courtesy  USFWS; Oregon wolf courtesy ODFW; Mount Graham red squirrel by ggallice/Flickr; Ignite Change event in Oakland courtesy Center for Biological Diversity; Oregon logging by Francis Eatherington/Flickr; video still of Petey Mesquitey courtesy Center for Biological Diversity.

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