1 Million Acres Saved for Sage Grouse

Good news for greater sage grouse, the West's dancing birds. Obeying a court order, the feds had to pull more than a million acres of grouse habitat from oil and gas lease auctions next month. The order followed a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity and allies.

The auctions were planned under a Trump policy curtailing public participation in leasing decisions on public lands. In September a judge halted use of that policy for future leases across sage grouse habitat in 11 western states. The iconic birds have lost about 95 percent of their population; oil and gas development threatens the species' existence.

"We're pleased the Bureau of Land Management's protecting large swaths of greater sage grouse habitat, at least temporarily," said the Center's Taylor McKinnon. "But Trump's people are doing all they can to put millions of acres of public lands into the fossil fuel industry's hands. This fight's far from over."

Read more in Deseret News.

Washington to Kill Two More Wolves

Wildlife officials in Washington state have issued a kill order for the last two members of Washington's Old Profanity Territory pack. The kill order was a reponse to a cattle predation on public lands. But the cattle were grazing there after a legal deadline to remove them.

"It's gut-wrenching that Washington's wildlife managers are wiping out an entire wolf pack on public lands to satisfy the livestock industry," said the Center's Amaroq Weiss. "Residents clearly support wolves' recovery, but state officials seem intent on gunning them down again and again. It's disgusting."

Since 2012 the state has killed 21 state-endangered wolves, 17 of whom were killed for the same livestock owner.

Read more and help stop the killing by donating to our Wolf Defense Fund.

Trump Administration OKs Oil Drilling in Arctic

Going down a dark path in the Far North, the Trump administration has greenlit the first Arctic oil-drilling development in federal waters: Hilcorp Alaska's Liberty project, an artificial drilling island and underwater pipeline that risks oil spills in the sensitive Beaufort Sea. This threatens polar bears and humans in Arctic communities.

The administration plans to drastically expand offshore oil leasing in all U.S. oceans and relax safety rules adopted after the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

"We'll keep fighting this project and any new ones that follow," said Kristen Monsell, legal director of the Center's Oceans program. "We won't passively watch the oil industry and this inept administration hurt Arctic wildlife and leave a legacy of climate chaos."

Read more in The Washington Post.

Ramping Up Our Fight Against California Sprawl

The Center and allies have filed three lawsuits in California to stop reckless, destructive sprawl.

In San Diego County we've sued to stop the Newland Sierra development. This project in a high-severity fire-hazard zone threatens the community and wildlife — and would release more than 1 million metric tons of greenhouse pollution over its lifetime.

In Napa County we're working to stop a vineyard project that would cut down more than 10 acres of precious forest.

And we're challenging the city of Desert Hot Springs' Mission Creek Trails development, which would bring nearly 2,000 new houses next to Sand to Snow National Monument.

Up and down California, we're fighting for wild spaces and creatures. Stay tuned for updates.

UNC's Dirty Coal-fired Power Plant

As students, activists and residents are urging North Carolina to issue a more stringent permit for a coal-fired power plant at its flagship university UNC-Chapel Hill, the Center has released a damning new study.

Our analysis reveals that the permit for the plant allows dangerous emissions far exceeding Clean Air Act limits. It also shows that most of the campus — and multiple Chapel Hill neighborhoods — are at risk from the pollution.

"UNC's obstinate refusal to move on from burning coal means that students, staff and faculty can face air pollution at levels that can trigger dangerous asthma attacks, inflame lung diseases and even kill people," said the Center's Asheville-based attorney Perrin de Jong.

Read more in our press release.

Wild & Weird: 4 Billion Birds Go By

Autumn in the United States is a season of massive bird migration. Four billion sets of wings flap southward over the country as winter advances; another 4.7 million depart for Mexico.

Check out this noisy and beautiful video of a huge flock of migrating snow geese at the Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge in Missouri on Facebook or YouTube.