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Mojave poppy bee
Center for     Biological     Diversity   

Protection Sought for Vanishing Mojave Bee

Native bees need our help. That's why the Center for Biological Diversity just petitioned for Endangered Species Act protection for the Mojave poppy bee, known to survive in only seven locations in Clark County, Nev.

This small, black-and-yellow bee once thrived across much of the Mojave Desert, but it's been pushed to the brink of extinction by habitat loss, grazing, gypsum mining and off-road vehicles. Its pollinating skills are tied to the survival of two increasingly rare desert poppy flowers.

"If we don't act quickly, we're going to lose this beautiful little native bee as we watch two of the Mojave's irreplaceable desert flowers continue to decline," said the Center's Tara Cornelisse. "Their story is a perfect example of why we can't turn our backs on the plight of our imperiled native bees."

Read more and donate to the Endangered Species Defense Fund, which makes this work possible.

Hoosier National Forest, Ind.

The Carbon Bomb of Fracking, Mining in National Forests

The Trump administration has begun making rules that could slash public and environmental reviews for fracking and mining in national forests. A new Center analysis shows developing federal oil and gas on national forests could produce 2.4 billion tons of greenhouse gas pollution. This is the equivalent of annual emissions from 601 coal-fired power plants.

"Pushing new fossil fuel development in our national forests ignores the alarm bells that world climate scientists rang loudly last week," said the Center's Taylor McKinnon. "National forests and public lands are where we should stop fossil fuel expansion first."

Fracking and mining in national forests will also harm wildlife, watersheds, public health and public lands.

Learn more at Nation of Change.

Help Get Out the Vote for the Environment

Gray wolf

Midterm elections are right around the corner. Data shows that millions of environmental voters don't vote during midterms. But this time around, you can help change that.

Ignite Change — our grassroots organizing arm — has launched Ignite the Vote, a new voter-engagement program designed to get every voter who cares about the planet to the polls.

Help ignite a green wave at the polls. Sign up to get out the environmental vote.

Lion

Suit Seeks Online Reveal of Elephant, Lion Trophy Imports

Since Ryan Zinke took over the Interior Department, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has approved imports of elephant and lion trophies from Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia and South Africa, to the delight of trophy hunters — despite President Trump's tweet that trophy hunting's a "horror show."

So this morning the Center and partners sued. We're asking a federal court to make the Service post elephant and lion permit applications — plus agency decisions on trophy imports — on the Internet so the process and decisions are public.

"The Fish and Wildlife Service needs to come clean," said the Center's Tanya Sanerib. "With huge threats facing Africa's wildlife, its secrecy about these bloody imports is unacceptable."

Read more in our press release.

Mojave poppy bees

In this video male Mojave poppy bees vie for a flower so that they can mate with the pollen-collecting females. These bees and the two flower species they pollinate are facing extinction. But the Center's working to protect them under the Endangered Species Act. View on Facebook or YouTube.

Revelator: The Environment on the Ballot

Solar array, Nev.

Next month voters across the country will have the chance to weigh in on the environment via state ballot initiatives.

Montana and Alaska will each vote on water protections. Nevada and Arizona will make choices on renewable energy. And Washington could significantly move the needle on climate action by being the first state to enact a fee on carbon emissions.

Learn more at The Revelator and sign up to get it in your inbox.

Mountaintop-removal mining

Suit Launched to Protect People From Coal Pollution

Acting Environmental Protection Agency chief (and ex-coal lobbyist) Andrew Wheeler has failed to ensure that seven states are taking legally required steps to clean up harmful sulfur dioxide air pollution that's driven by dirty coal emissions.

So this week the Center and allies filed formal notice of intent to sue the agency to compel Arizona, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, Maryland, West Virginia and Kentucky to put cleanup plans in place.

"It's disgusting that coal-lovers like Trump are forcing children to breathe unhealthy air," said Robert Ukeiley, a Center attorney. "Our kids, the elderly and our most imperiled wildlife and fish will pay a steep price for this heartless scheme to prop up dirty, expensive coal."

Read more in our press release.

Center Triples Rewards to $15,000 for Condor Killers

California condor

We've tripled the rewards to $15,000 each for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the fatal shootings of two California condors — one in May and another in July. California condors are one of the world's most endangered species.

"I'm shocked that two California condors have been tragically shot and killed within two months," said the Center's Ileene Anderson. "We hope these additional rewards push anyone with knowledge to come forward so these ugly crimes can be prosecuted." Read more.

Bear

Wild & Weird: Three Minutes of Bears and Baby Javelinas

Check out the most recent footage from our borderlands critter cams on Facebook or YouTube. Come for the bears, foxes and bobcats; stay for the baby javelinas so small they look like pig-shaped gummy bears.

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Photo credits: Mojave poppy bees by Zach Portman/Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota; Hoosier National Forest by Steven Higgs/Flickr; gray wolf by Gary Kramer/USFWS; lion by Alex Derr/Flickr; Mojave poppy bees by Zach Portman/Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota; solar power plant at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada by Airman 1st Class Nadine Y. Barclay/USAF; mountaintop-removal mining of Kayford Mountain in West Virginia by Margaret Killjoy/Flickr; California condor by Wade Tregaskis/Flickr; bear by Russ McSpadden/Center for Biological Diversity.


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