No. 1224, December 21, 2023

Biden Moves to Protect Old-Growth Forests

In a boon for forests and the climate, the Biden administration just proposed a plan to advance protections for the last old-growth trees in U.S. national forests.

If the plan goes through, bringing new logging restrictions, the forests’ most ancient trees can keep doing their lifesaving work of removing climate-warming pollution from the air and storing it, providing clean drinking water, and safeguarding species — from wolves and lynx to spotted owls and goshawks.

“Protecting our old-growth trees from logging is an important first step, but mature forests also need protection so they can become the old growth of tomorrow,” said Randi Spivak, the Center’s public lands policy director.

Our thanks to all you Center for Biological Diversity supporters who sent in more than 59,000 comments on this issue in the past year and a half alone.

Lawsuit Defends Species From Arizona Interstate

The Center just filed new legal challenges against the Federal Highway Administration for failing to consider harm to endangered species before approving Interstate 11, a 280-mile freeway proposed for Arizona. Species at risk include western yellow-billed cuckoos, southwestern willow flycatchers, and cactus ferruginous pygmy owls — who just won Endangered Species Act protection in July, after decades of Center work.

Fun facts about these adorable owls: An adult pygmy owl weighs only about 70 grams (less than a hamster) and is about 6.5 inches tall (about the length of a banana). But don't let their teeny size fool you; they’re so ferocious they can take down prey twice their size. Check out this video of an owl in action on Facebook, Instagram or YouTube.

“Cactus ferruginous pygmy owls nest and raise young in saguaro cacti and other desert trees that would be bulldozed for the highway’s construction,” said the Center’s Russ McSpadden. “We’re fully committed to protecting these rare owls and their habitat from destruction.”

Help our work for rare birds and countless other species with a donation to our Saving Life on Earth Fund. Give now and get it doubled.

Court Victory: Antibiotic Can’t Be Sprayed on Citrus

Pollinators, the Center and our allies had an important win in federal court Wednesday when a judge reversed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of spraying a broad-spectrum, medically important antibiotic on citrus crops.

In 2021 the EPA greenlighted streptomycin for use against citrus greening disease, but spraying it as a pesticide threatens public health: The misuse of antibiotics has contributed to an alarming rise in people’s resistance to antibiotic medicines — a resistance responsible for more than 35,000 U.S. deaths every year.

If you took action with us on this issue, thanks — you made a difference.

Learn more in this op-ed on the subject by Center scientist Nate Donley.

Colorado Welcomes Five New Wolves

What a thrill: On Monday five gray wolves were released into the Colorado wild.

It was the first of several releases planned to fulfill a voter-approved mandate to reestablish a population of gray wolves in Colorado.

“This is a huge step toward seeing wolves thrive in this wild landscape once again,” said the Center’s Andrea Zaccardi.

Along with our partners, the Center has worked for more than three years to get paws on the ground in Colorado. If you collected signatures for the ballot measure, voted for it, participated in hearings about the wolf reintroduction plan, or sent a comment, thank you.

Watch a video of the wolf release on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.

Costumed Activists Deliver Petition to Costco

Dressed as lobsters and carrying a big blow-up whale, last week Center activists delivered more than 20,000 petition signatures from supporters like you to management at a San Francisco Costco store. Our petition urges the company to stop selling lobster products not certified as sustainable. Uncertified fisheries pose a major threat to endangered whales, like North Atlantic right whales.

Entanglement in fishing gear is a persistent risk for whales on both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. When marine mammals get entangled in fishing gear, they can drown or suffer from injuries, infections and starvation.

Keep pressure on Costco to put whales first.

COP28’s Gender Agenda

Climate change exacerbates gender inequality and disproportionately affects the livelihood, health, and safety of women and girls around the world. On the frontlines of the climate crisis, women have invaluable experiences and expertise to advance a just transition. This year’s climate conference recognized women’s crucial role with dozens of events on how inclusive, gender-responsive climate action can create a just, equitable and feminist future.

Center staffers Kelley Dennings and Karuna Jaggar joined a COP28 panel alongside Indigenous leaders to discuss how burning fossil fuels harms reproductive health. Kelley also published an op-ed about how extreme heat, pollution and other factors of climate change harm pregnant people and their babies: Reproductive justice is climate justice.

Revelator: Solar for Low-Income Families?

Rooftop solar has long been out of reach for people and families who can’t pay high upfront costs. But now there’s a way for everyone to reap the benefits: cooperatives.

Read more in The Revelator. And the free weekly newsletter is back — sign up now to stay in the know about the latest conservation news.

That’s Wild: Penguin Powernaps

Breeding chinstrap penguins, according to new research, take more than 10,000 naps a day — and each nap is only about 4 seconds long.

Using EEGs and constant video monitoring, French, German and South Korean researchers studied wild chinstrap penguins living in a colony in Antarctica, where the local predators, birds known as brown skuas, have a hankering for penguin eggs. Penguin parents have to safeguard the incubating eggs by themselves while their partners are off foraging, and to do that — and still get their beauty sleep — they zap-nap prodigiously.

Researchers said the discovery is “unprecedented, even among penguins.”

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Photo credits: Northern goshawk courtesy USFWS; cactus ferruginous pygmy owl from screenshot of video by Leslie Epperson/Small Wheel Films; ladybug by Don Graham/Wikimedia; gray wolf screenshot from video by Jerry Neal/CPW; Costco lobster protest © Drew Bird Photo; screenshot from COP28 video courtesy Women's Earth and Climate Action Network; rooftop solar by Everybody Solar; chinstrap penguins courtesy NOAA.

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