Coyote Crossing

Lawmakers try to lift wolf protection despite deal

It’s always depressing when I get in an argument with Gang Green and then it turns out I’m right. There’s a big part of me that still really wants to respect those groups, and losing an argument in public would really be a small price to pay to

What I’ve been working on, among other things

This is the Desert Protective Council’s most recent Educational Bulletin, Ten California Desert Plants That Should Be Protected Under The Federal Endangered Species Act, by Jim Andre of the Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert Research Center and

Sometimes I hate being right

An article on the Mother Jones site takes Obama’s administration to task for failing to protect endangered species:

Obama is barely beating Bush at protecting new endangered species—and he’s far behind his Democratic predecessors. So far, his

Desert Tortoise Relocation is Desert Tortoise Eradication

A tortoise in Central Nevada. 2005. CC Photo.

During the Evidentiary Hearing on September 20 in which the California Energy Commission sought final comment on their plan to approve the gigantic solar sprawl at Calico, the following exchange took

Amargosa toad denied ESA protection

From the Center for Biological Diversity:

Amargosa Toad Denied Protections Under the Endangered Species Act

LAS VEGAS— In response to a February 2008 scientific petition submitted by the Center for Biological Diversity and Public Employees for

Obama administration grants ESA protection to front half of polar bear

Washington, DC April 1, 2010 — In what many Democratic strategists are hailing as a pragmatic political masterstroke, the Obama administration today announced that it would be granting full Endangered Species Act protections to the front half of

Regarding the Mexican Wolf

Taking a break from educating the public at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

I’ve been quiet here for a little bit. Some of the reason is that I’ve been busy with a couple of other projects, one of which I’ll be saying more about here in a few

Some happier jaguar news

A jaguar whiles away its life at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. FWS Photo.

From the Arizona Daily Star:

A federal judge overruled an agency’s decision today that had stopped preparation of a recovery plan and designation of prime protected

RIP Macho B

Sad news involving Macho B, the jaguar recently collared and re-released in southern Arizona. Unfortunately, the big cat had to be euthanized today after veterinarians determined that he was in severe and unrecoverable kidney failure, a common

Democrats and mice

GOP Talking Point: “The Stimulus Package includes ludicrous and wasteful porkbarrel spending such as 30 million dollars to help preserve the salt marsh harvest mouse in San Francisco Bay.”

Democratic Talking Point: “Actually, the stimulus package

Tortoise alert: letters needed

From the Center for Biological Diversity:

Last year, the Army moved more than 750 tortoises off of pristine desert lands in order to expand its Fort Irwin army base in California’s Mojave desert. Not all tortoises were monitored, but of those that

Using Google Earth, researchers find unmapped Mozambique wilderness

From Birdlife.Org:

...scientists who recently discovered a hidden forest in Mozambique show the uncharted can still be under our noses. BirdLife were part of a team of scientists who used Google Earth to identify a remote patch of pristine

… (continues)

Obama administration reprieves wolf protection

A bit of promising news from the Obama administration after its first full workday:

With a new administration in charge, federal regulators Wednesday promised a second look at a recent decision to drop gray wolves in the Great Lakes and Northern

Mexican Wolf

One of the last wild Mexican wolves, filmed only a short time before the species went extinct in the wild. Details by the videographer are below the … (continues)

Thylacine

In addition to a brief, wishful-thinking introductory clip of an alleged recent sighting, this video contains all known footage of Thylacinus cynocephalus, the largest predatory marsupial of modern times. The Thylacine, also known as the

Is a fish more important than a tortoise?

In Adam Hochschild’s book The Unquiet Ghost: Russians Remember Stalin, Hochschild describes a conversation with Alexander Vologodsky, a Russian physicist. Vologodsky had noticed an abandoned settlement as a youth in the extreme north of Siberia,

Ken Salazar: bad for endangered species?

More distressing information on Ken Salazar, Obama’s pick for Interior Secretary, from the Western Watersheds Project:

While Colorado’s Attorney General, in 1999, Salazar threatened a lawsuit against the Department of the Interior if the Service

“The fish are missing. They are gone.”

The coho run in Lagunitas Creek has crashed. From the San Francisco Chronicle:

The lack of rain this winter has contributed to what fisheries biologists say is, so far, the worst return of coho salmon in the recorded history of Marin County’s

Technically, the Arctic is a desert

This is very, very hard to watch.

Do it anyway.

Go to http://www.SaveThePolarBear.org. Sign the petition. Spread the … (continues)

Endangered Species Emergency

Bush has made his slimy little lame-duck attack on the Endangered Species Act, and it’s really, really bad. Please repost, re-tweet, email and spread this around.

From The Center for Biological Diversity:

Center Races to File Suit Challenging