The Fight Is On to Save Tiny Beach Birds From ORVs

We're heading to court to save one of the most threatened shorebirds in North America from being crushed by dune buggies.

This week the Center for Biological Diversity filed a notice of intent to sue the California Department of Parks and Recreation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for allowing ongoing deaths of snowy plovers at San Luis Obispo County's Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area. These pocket-sized, white-and-tawny shorebirds are federally protected, but their population is still declining.

The state park department isn't doing enough to protect plovers — as required by law — and last year alone, six of these charming little birds were found dead in vehicle tracks at Oceano Dunes.

"The sandy beaches and fragile dunes where plovers feed and breed must be protected," said Center scientist Ileene Anderson. "Letting dune buggies crush them isn't just illegal, it's indefensible."

Read more in The San Luis Obispo Tribune.

Santa Barbara Opposes Offshore Drilling

The Santa Barbara City Council approved a resolution this week opposing new drilling off the California coast and fracking in existing offshore oil and gas wells.

The resolution is the first in a statewide campaign, led by the Center, to rally local governments against proposals to expand offshore fossil fuel extraction in federal waters — following President Trump's April 28 executive order urging federal agencies to do just that.

"The last thing Californians want is more drilling and fracking off our coast," said the Center's Blake Kopcho. "Trump is delusional if he thinks we'll stand idly by and let him recklessly endanger wildlife and our communities with oil spills and toxic fracking chemicals."

Read more in Pacific Standard and find out how your California city can stand up for the ocean.

'Corporate Stooge' Now No. 2 at Trump's Interior Department

Guess who's now the No. 2 person in charge at Trump's Interior Department, the agency in charge of managing endangered species and public lands? David Bernhardt — who's spent his career lobbying for the oil and gas industry, trying to water down the Endangered Species Act and weaken water quality in California's Bay Delta.

Bernhardt, confirmed by the Senate this week, served as Interior's top lawyer during the Bush administration, authoring several policies that sharply limited protections for endangered species. One policy even precluded species like the polar bear from protections against greenhouse gases, the primary threat to the animal's survival.

"Trump promised to drain the swamp, but instead he's filling it with the worst cast of anti-environmental corporate stooges in history," said the Center's Noah Greenwald.

Get more from the Los Angeles Times.

Senate Committee Votes to Gut Protections for Wolves

In the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee this week, two Democratic senators — Maryland's Ben Cardin and Delaware's Tom Carper — voted with John Barrasso and other Republicans to approve a deceptively named bill, the HELP Wildlife Act, that would strip protection from thousands of endangered wolves in the Great Lakes region and Wyoming.

It would also prevent the EPA from addressing lead pollution's impacts on fish and other wildlife.

"Democrats need to solidify their conservation legacies, not help Trump and the Republican party destroy the environment," said the Center's Jamie Pang.

Read more in our press release.

Idahoans Protest Dangerous Cyanide Bombs

Across Idaho this week, people are protesting the use of M-44 cyanide traps to kill wildlife such as coyotes. In Boise and Lewiston — at "informational sessions" held by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services program — protesters told the program it must get rid of these cruel and inhumane extermination tools for good. An even bigger protest than Boise's is expected tonight in Pocatello.

Back in March a cyanide trap in a Pocatello neighborhood exploded, killing a family dog and injuring a 14-year-old boy. The Center and allies immediately petitioned for a ban on the deadly devices, which we won. Now it's time to make that temporary ban permanent.

Check out our media advisory and learn about tonight's protest from KPVI News 6.

Wild & Weird: Dance With a Saguaro

In honor of the National Park Service's centennial last year, a choreographed group of Arizonans — in collaboration with officials at the state's Saguaro National Park — donned formal dance attire and swayed, shimmied and mamboed with the park's giant saguaro cactuses.

The Wild West dancers gathered to celebrate 100 years of protecting public lands and the species that inhabit them.

How do you celebrate public lands?

Check out our new video of the Saguaro Ball on Facebook or YouTube.