No. 1199, June 29, 2023

Lawsuit Filed to Save 13 Species

The Center for Biological Diversity just sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for delaying lifesaving federal protections for 13 species.

 

Most of these animals and plants have been waiting for protection for years — some more than a decade. They include cactus ferruginous pygmy owls in Arizona, foothill yellow-legged frogs in California, Mt. Rainier white-tailed ptarmigans in Washington state, pyramid pigtoe mussels in the Southeast, and Peñasco least chipmunks in Texas. Also, the Service has dragged its feet on protecting critical habitat for Oregon’s tall western penstemon for three years and for Humboldt martens in the same state for almost 15 years.

 

As the Center’s Endangered Species Director Noah Greenwald declared, “The Endangered Species Act is our best tool for addressing the extinction crisis, but it only works if we actually use it.”

 

You can help: Tell the Fish and Wildlife Service to do its job and stop extinction now.

New Federal Proposal Isn’t Enough to Protect Species

The Biden administration has finally issued a proposal to revise disastrous Trump-era rollbacks of the Endangered Species Act. Unfortunately, it keeps some of the worst ones.

 

The proposal rightly restores protections for threatened species, blocks consideration of economic impacts in protection decisions, and removes some big barriers to properly designating critical habitat. But it retains harmful provisions letting federal agencies dodge their responsibility to fully implement safeguards within critical habitat — especially harmful to species like northern spotted owls, polar bears, and gulf sturgeons — and lets agencies off the hook for past harms.

 

“As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, we need bold, transformative action — not more policy half-measures,” said the Center’s Stephanie Kurose.

 

Keep an eye on your inbox for a chance to take action. In the meantime, help the Center protect the most imperiled species in the United States with a gift to our Endangered Species Act Protection Fund.

Return of the Kangaroo Rats

In 2019 a trail camera captured the first sighting of a Santa Cruz kangaroo rat in 75 years in Santa Clara County.

 

A research team just confirmed the presence of these ultra-rare rodents in the Sierra Azul preserve near San Jose, California. Now biologists can collect data on the threats they face, maybe helping win them Endangered Species Act protection.

 

Kangaroo rats aren’t really rats. They’re rodents closely related to chipmunks, with massive hind legs like their namesake marsupial. Santa Cruz kangaroo rats are a keystone species, meaning they improve the habitat where they live — in this case, by spreading manzanita seeds and digging burrows that provide homes for other animals.

 

Check out this video of Center biologist Ileene Anderson being interviewed by news program California Today about the newly discovered kangaroo rat population.

Fighting — and Winning — for Fascinating Mussels

One thing that makes the Center unique is our passion for protecting some of the world’s most interesting and underappreciated invertebrates: freshwater mussels in the U.S. Southeast.

 

Mussels have complex, remarkable lives that can be 100 years long — starting as larvae that develop into perfectly shaped tiny mussel babies attached to a fish’s gills. Mussels are crucial to river health, filtering pollution from the water. Sadly they’re also the world’s most endangered group of organisms.

 

Thanks to Center work, this month Fish and Wildlife protected western and Ouachita fanshell mussels and proposed to protect southern elktoe mussels. These are big wins for such tiny animals, but Endangered Species Act protection shouldn’t take that long.

 

If you live in the United States, you can help: Tell your members of Congress to take action for freshwater mussels and other imperiled species.

The Orca Uprising Continues

After an article about boat-sinking orcas went viral in May, the killer whales have become an internet sensation.

 

Fact check: Scientists don’t know why a small, endangered population of Strait of Gibraltar orcas began attacking and sinking ships in 2020 — or why and how this behavior is now spreading to orcas in other places. Is it a form of play? A fad, like fish hats ? Self-defense?

 

Whatever it is, the internet has fallen in love with these yacht-destroying cetaceans and turned them into mascots for justice movements, including anti-capitalism and environmentalism.

 

Learn more from this Earth First! Journal article by Center staffer Cybele Knowles.

Revelator : Your Summer Reading List

This month The Revelator has what you need for summer: the lowdown on the best new environmental books tackling tough topics like pollution, extinction and trauma — while also providing a healthy dose of hope.

 

Check it out now. And if you still haven’t joined the club, subscribe to The Revelator ’s free weekly e-newsletter.

That’s Wild: This Is Your Brain on Birdsong

Hearing birds does wonders for your brain, according to two studies published recently in Scientific Reports. Generally speaking, being in nature is good for human health, but the songs of birds, in particular, seem to be a boon for emotional wellbeing. Birdsong has now been linked with the alleviation of depression and improvements in mental health.

 

Give a listen to those healing chirps from The Washington Post.

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Photo credits: Cactus ferruginous pygmy owls courtesy NPS; polar bear cubs by Alan D. Wilson; Santa Cruz kangaroo rat by Matt Sharp Chaney/Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District; southern elktoe mussel by Jason Wisniewski/Georgia DNR; collage of orca uprising memes with inset image of Cybele Knowles courtesy Earth First! Journal ; person reading by Mike L/Unsplash; silhouette of singing blackbird by Karen Arnold.

 

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