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 In Canada's Manitoba province, clearcut logging, roadbuilding and industrial hydropower development have devastated the old-growth boreal forest habitat of the woodland caribou, cutting the provincial population of this majestic species in half in the span of just a few decades. Now numbering roughly 2,000 animals, Manitoba's last remaining woodland caribou survive hard winters by feeding on abundant lichens in our Heart of the Boreal Forest BioGem and other boreal woodlands. According to scientists, a dwindling caribou population serves as an alert that the health of other forest wildlife is in jeopardy as well. But despite warnings from federal and provincial endangered species committees about the impacts of habitat loss on woodland caribou, the Manitoba government still refuses to list woodland caribou as threatened under its Endangered Species Act. Please take action now to ensure the protection of this sensitive boreal species in Manitoba. » Urge Manitoba officials to protect the threatened woodland caribou. |
 NRDC HELPS BLOCK MASSIVE MINE IN MONTANA WILDERNESS Delivering a crucial reprieve to grizzly bears and other imperiled Rocky Mountain wildlife, a federal district court has rejected the Bush administration's approval of an enormous copper and silver mine that would have despoiled the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness in northwestern Montana. The outrageous proposal would have permitted the Revett Silver Company to tunnel beneath the wilderness area and pollute clear rivers with more than three million gallons of wastewater a day. Siding with a coalition of environmental groups including NRDC and Earthjustice, the court ruled that the mine would jeopardize the survival of one of the last five grizzly populations in the lower 48 states, as well as threatened bull trout. ARCTIC REFUGE DEBATE CONTINUES IN CONGRESS Last month, the Senate passed a budget resolution that would allow oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. While the House budget measure does not include specific language on this crucial issue, it leaves open the possibility for it to be added later. As members of both houses of Congress meet now in an attempt to agree on a single FY 2006 budget resolution, we must continue to press our lawmakers to ensure that pro-drilling language does not appear in a final bill. » If you have not done so already, tell Congress to protect this unspoiled sanctuary for polar bears, caribou and other Arctic wildlife.  BIOGEMS DEFENDERS TAKE SONAR BATTLE ABROAD Responding to the threat of high-intensity sonar to whales and other marine mammals throughout the world's oceans, BioGems Defenders have sent more than 78,800 messages so far urging NATO to stop using harmful sonar during military exercises. Scientists have tied the use of sonar to numerous whale strandings and deaths in recent years, and we are calling on NATO and its member countries to use simple, common-sense safety measures to help protect marine life. NRDC ACTION FUND BLOG WELCOMES T.A. BARRON Through April 15, best-selling author T.A. Barron will be the guest blogger at the new NRDC Action Fund Blog. Barron's award-wining novels -- including The Great Tree of Avalon, The Lost Years of Merlin and The Ancient One -- are read by children and adults alike. Barron will comment on exceptional wildlands and other topics that are certain to be of interest to BioGems Defenders. Visit the NRDC Action Fund Blog every weekday to read a new entry from T.A. Barron, and join the discussion by posting your own comments at http://blog.nrdcactionfund.org! |
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Through April 15
Join best-selling author T.A. Barron at the NRDC Action Fund Blog. » More
BioGems Defenders:
557,872
Action Messages Sent:
5,531,506
» See the timeline of victories we've won
Thirty-four marine mammal species inhabit the Gulf of California, making it one of the world's most important nursery and feeding areas for porpoises, dolphins and whales.
» Learn more from the Upper Gulf of California fast facts
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