Tag: Endangered Species Act

greater sage-grouse, Sagebrush Sea
Wildlife

Protecting the Sage-Grouse in a Sea of Natural Gas

While stopping short of full endangered species protections for the Greater Sage-Grouse, the Obama-era Fish and Wildlife Service implemented land use plans to restrict energy development and grazing in the expanse of northwestern U.S. desert called the Sagebrush Sea, depicted in a 2015 documentary. The Trump Interior Department attempted to amend that plan to open up more commercial activities. We feature here an essay on Wyoming’s core plan attempts to salvage the state’s last populations in a landscape dominated by energy development.

California Condor, documentary
Rituals and Traditions, Wildlife

California Condor: Overcoming Extinction, A Symbol of Renewal

The California Condor Recovery Program has defied the odds to rescue from oblivion the last of the prehistorics and icon of Native Californian cosmology. Threats such as lead ammunition, microtrash, and sprawling land development threaten these impressive gains of an endangered species. The film “The Condor’s Shadow” documents this struggle.

Grizzly Bears rarely pose dangers to humans in the wild
Wildlife

George Wuerthner: Habitat Conservation, Not Hunting, Saves Grizzly Bears

Wildlife Agencies advocate hunting helps grizzly recovery. The best available science, however, suggests predators including bears, wolves, mountain lion and coyotes have intricate social interactions that are disrupted or damaged by indiscriminate killing from hunters and trappers. Habitat protection is the main way to protect the fledgling population of grizzly bears as well as avoid human-bear conflicts.