Hope for Our Borderlands — and You Can Help

The Trump administration is moving fast along the southern border, bulldozing roads and erecting walls through some of the United States' most spectacular and ecologically important landscapes.

Fortunately the UNESCO World Heritage Committee recently published a decision that clears the way for an international mission to urgently assess damage caused by the U.S. border wall to Mexico’s El Pinacate and Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve and its wildlife. The committee also gave the United States until Dec. 1 to produce an action plan to restore wildlife connectivity. The review can't come fast enough.

“The U.S. border wall isn't just destroying habitat in the United States — it's also harming a World Heritage site in Mexico and severing wildlife corridors for species like Sonoran pronghorns,” said Alejandro Olivera, senior scientist and Mexico representative at the Center for Biological Diversity.

Congress needs to do its part, too, to protect the borderlands. Tell lawmakers to act now.

Fighting Public-Lands Giveaways in Cali, Georgia

This week saw two big developments in the fight to keep treasured, irreplaceable federal public lands in public hands.

On Tuesday the Center and more than 150 allies officially urged the Trump administration to reject a proposed giveaway of Yosemite National Park land. The move would let a private equity firm bulldoze a road through the park and build a luxury development right next to one of Yosemite’s great sequoia groves.

The next day, not two weeks after proposing its Yosemite deal, the administration announced plans for similar land giveaways on Cumberland Island National Seashore off the Georgia coast. We’re on the ground defending this precious national park unit, which protects ancient live oak forests and nesting beaches for endangered sea turtles and shorebirds.

Help us preserve public lands for wildlife and future generations with a gift to our Future for the Wild Fund.

California Temporarily Protects Western Spadefoots

Thanks to a Center petition, the California Fish and Game Commission has voted to make western spadefoots a “candidate species” under the state Endangered Species Act. Now these cryptic, charmingly plump frogs will get protection for the next year while state biologists study their plight to decide whether safeguards should be permanent.

“This is a ray of hope for a species that has lost vast swaths of habitat,” said Brendan Cummings, the Center’s conservation director. “Spadefoots deserve a fair chance to survive and thrive.”

Suit Defends Mariana Islands From Deep-Sea Mining

The Center and allies, represented by Earthjustice, just filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s plan to kick-start deep-sea mining off the coast of the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam in the western Pacific. We’re contesting NOAA Fisheries’ conclusion that a deep-sea-mining lease sale here isn't likely to harm imperiled species like humpback whales, giant manta rays, and sea turtles. Our suit also highlights the importance of a healthy ocean ecosystem to the people of the Mariana Islands.

“Mining the bottom of the ocean is a spectacularly nightmarish idea that Trump should back away from immediately,” said Center attorney Emily Jeffers.

The Revelator: Readers’ Art and Photos

This month’s Revelator Gallery showcases a sea lion nicknamed “Jaws,” a perfect row of pelicans, an American bumblebee covered in pollen, and more — all thanks to the many readers who submitted their wildlife and landscape photos and artwork.

Check out this month’s contributions and find how to submit to next month’s gallery.

And if you haven’t yet, subscribe to The Revelator’s free weekly newsletter for more wildlife and conservation news.

That’s Wild: A River Bottom’s Hidden Treasure

You never know what you’ll find when you sift through the sand and gravel bed of a Georgia river. Zach Schumber, a state aquatic biologist surveying the Ocmulgee River this summer, almost spit out his snorkel when he pulled out a spiky, palm-sized mussel and realized it was an Altamaha spinymussel. No one had seen a live specimen since 2011, and some were contemplating declaring it extinct.

Schumber popped up and quickly showed off his find to his fellow surveyors: “Everyone was like, ‘Whoa!’”

The mussel, which is on the endangered species list, remains something of a mystery. No one even knows for sure which host fish this species uses to help raise its eggs. Now there’s hope that its secrets may yet be discovered.

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Photo credits: Sonoran pronghorn fawns courtesy NPS; giant sequoia tree in Yosemite by Alex Demas/USGS, loggerhead sea turtle hatchling courtesy NPS; western spadefoot by Chris Brown/USGS; humpback whale by Charles J. Sharp/Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); American bumblebee © Denise Blough; Altamaha spinymussels by Jimmy Rickard/USFWS.

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