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Let the Listings Begin the word from WildEarth Guardians No. 10, Summer 2011 Let the Listings Begin Historic Agreement Will Give Hundreds of Endangered Species a Chance at Protection restoring the vision John Horning obody likes to wait — especially in the emergency room at the hospital, when every minute counts. But that’s exactly what’s happened for N hundreds of America’s most endangered, but as yet unprotected, plants and Mission stateMent animals. More than 250 species are currently waiting for what they need most: WildEarth Guardians protects and restores the wildlife, wild places, and wild rivers formal protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). of the American West. Most of these candidates have been waiting for more than 20 years for listing. And now, thanks to a historic legal settlement between WildEarth Board of dirEctors Peter Schoenburg, PrEsidEnt Guardians and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the wait is over — or Robin Smith, VicE PrEsidEnt at least soon to be over, now that there is finally a legally enforceable agreement Shannon Larsen, trEasurEr that will require the FWS to make decisions that could move 253 of these Todd Ringler, sEcrEtary imperiled species onto the protective ark that is the ESA. Another 600-plus Jess Alford Mark Rickman Mike Brown Vanessa Scurci species will also receive some attention moving them through the ESA listing Doug Erwin Jon Spar process. It’s going to take a little while because the waiting line grew and grew Stephanie Forrest Bill Syme longer under past administrations that ignored the problem. staff For species such as the greater sage-grouse, lesser prairie-chicken, lynx, Whitney Bacon, it Guru and Sonoran desert tortoise, the end to the waiting is long overdue. Oil and gas Bryan Bird, MS, Wild PlacEs ProGram dirEctor drilling, sprawling human population growth and climate change continue to Rosie Brandenberger, PuBlications manaGEr fragment and degrade the wild habitats these animals need to survive. Lori Colt, communications dirEctor This historic agreement is in place thanks to the legal tactics, energy, Angelisa Espinoza, officE administrator Kevin Gaither-Banchoff, dEVEloPmEnt dirEctor brilliance, and negotiating skills of two WildEarth Guardians staff members: John Horning, ExEcutiVE dirEctor Jay Tutchton and Nicole Rosmarino. This duo has been working for more than Taylor Jones, EndanGErEd sPEciEs adVocatE a decade to secure protection for endangered species and this legal settlement Mona Kay, BookkEEPEr is a cornerstone of an edifice of accomplishments in the fight to protect Wendy Keefover, MA, carniVorE ProtEction imperiled biodiversity. dirEctor Jim Matison, rEstoration ProjEcts dirEctor There will be much more work to be done for certain, but for this Jeremy Nichols, climatE & EnErGy ProGram moment I am extremely proud of what WildEarth Guardians has dirEctor accomplished. Carol Norton, associatE dirEctor Visit our website: Top Priorities>Endangered Species Act Listing>Candidate Nicole Rosmarino, PhD, WildlifE ProGram Settlement Milestone dirEctor Samantha Ruscavage-Barz, staff attornEy Mark Salvo, JD, saGEBrush sEa camPaiGn dirEctor Jay Tutchton, GEnEral counsEl Ashley Wilmes, staff attornEy guardians giver WildEarth Guardians is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. santa fE officE: Con slobodchikoff 312 Montezuma Ave. Santa Fe, NM 87501 on Slobodchikoff is a prairie dog’s best friend and a tEl 505.988.9126 C true Guardian. The Professor Emeritus of Biology fax 505.989.8623 at Northern Arizona University says, “Prairie dogs are dEnver officE: an iconic image of the Old West. Lewis and Clark sent a 1536 Wynkoop St. prairie dog to Thomas Jefferson when our country was Ste. 301 young. In times past, they seemed to be everywhere. Denver, CO 80202 Now their numbers are greatly reduced due to human- tEl 303.573.4898 introduced disease, poisoning, shooting, and develop- officEs also in: Phoenix, Tucson, Boulder ment. They are heading the same way as the passenger pigeon; everyone said there were plenty of pigeons until Special thanks to Jean Martin for copy editing. the last one died. coVEr: WildEarth Guardians’ settlement agreement Prairie dogs are a keystone species in plains grassland ecosystems, holding with the US Fish & Wildlife Service requires the agency to either propose to list or issue a “not together the energetic food web and performing many ecosystem functions. warranted” finding for the Coral Pink Sand Dunes WildEarth Guardians is taking action to save prairie dogs so they don’t go tiger beetle by October 2012. PHOTO: chris Wirth. extinct, which would undermine the biodiversity of the plains grasslands. The 100 percent recycled, 50 percent PCW Guardians have been doing an excellent job of trying to save species such as prairie dogs so that our children and their children will be able to see some of the 2 same animals and plants that the settlers of the Old West routinely saw.” the rio grande: an eagle’s view John Horning y rom controversy emerged a desire for the heise F transcendent power of beauty. In late April 1996, after a winter drought whose grip adriel extended deep into spring, a spark ignited a blaze along the Rio Grande — but the flames that swept up and down SAve the DAteS the watershed that spring were flames not of fire, but of for these controversy about the fate of the river itself. That spring WildEarth Events more than 60 miles of the river went completely dry as irrigators diverted the entire flow of the river. As a result September 17 more than 10,000 endangered Rio Grande silvery Rio Grande book minnows perished. event at Bookworks, Albuquerque With the bones of the river exposed that spring, WildEarth Guardians emerged as a fierce voice for a September 21 new river ethic, one in which the river had rights to its Rio Grande book event own waters. at Collected Works, As the conflict over the river’s water intensified, both Santa Fe in court and in public forums up and down the river, Guardians realized we needed more than just winning September 30 legal strategies and compelling alternatives to the flawed WildEarth Guardians recently Guardians Gala, water management paradigm of the time. We also needed Santa Fe released a large format book featuring aerial to reconnect people to the Rio Grande and inspire them photographs by well-known photographer with its beauty and fragility. Adriel Heisey. The book’s goal is to reconnect OctOber 12 The Rio Grande: An Eagle’s View, WildEarth people to the great river and inspire them Rio Grande book event Guardians’ recently released large format book of aerial with its beauty and fragility. at Tattered Cover, photographs of the Rio Grande, seeks to do just that. Denver Begun in 2000 — in the midst of the controversy over the river’s future — the book features the work of well-known aerial photographer Adriel Heisey. NOvember 4 Heisey chronicles the river from its headwaters along the spine of the Rocky Mountains in Tree Hugger Bash, Colorado to its delta in the Gulf of Mexico in Texas. The book includes nearly 200 color Albuquerque photographs of the river’s wild canyons, lush wetlands, and riverside forests. All told, Heisey took more than 26,000 photographs of the river as part of this project. NOvember 17 Complementing Heisey’s exquisite images are brief essays by noted actor and conservationist Festival of the Robert Redford, Senator Tom Udall and Guardians Executive Director John Horning. Cranes book event, Anchoring the written narrative is a longer essay by Steve McDowell about the history and Socorro, NM evolution of a conservation ethic along the Rio Grande. With the long journey to produce the book now complete, our next goal is to get the book into as Keep an eye out for many hands as possible. All proceeds from book sales invitations to book will directly support our campaign to protect and events and other restore the Rio Grande. The book is available directly gatherings in Arizona, Colorado and Texas. THE RIO GRANDE from our website, wildearthguardians.org. AN EAGLE’S VIEW the riO GrANDe: AN eAGle’S view Photographs by Adriel Heisey Edited by Barbara McIntyre Photographs by Adriel Heisey Foreword by Robert Redford Essays by Robert Redford, Senator Tom Udall, Steve McDowell and John Horning Published by WildEarth Guardians, 2011 Hardcover, 240 pages, $75 www.theriograndeaneaglesview.com 3 Mega-Fires in the southwest the Perfect storm Bryan Bird Why Are YOU J ohn rizona and New Mexico have a Guardian? M C each reently set records for C A olgan the largest single fire in each state’s documented history. With the , USDA smoke still lingering, the public is asking: Why? The answer: Decades of resource mismanagement and severe drought resulting from climate change have created the perfect storm for mega-fires. In fact, these mega-fires “Growing up i saw have become predictable. the wild places i We must go back several decades roamed bulldozed for to understand how the current Decades of resource mismanagement and severe drought resulting housing developments. wildfire situation arose. During the from climate change have created conditions for this summer’s Eventually i saw the last hundred years or so the lower mega-fires throughout the West. wildlife species in elevation, dry forests in the West my neighborhood were severely logged, leaving a nearly uniform adversaries began developing forest restoration disappear. i see the mass of small trees. Domestic livestock grazing, projects that are environmentally sound and same thing happening which suppresses the grasses that typically carry effective in restoring forest health. In New today and am forest-cleansing, low intensity fire, fostered the Mexico alone, more than 30,000 acres have especially saddened proliferation of pine seedlings and aggravated been addressed and approximately 600 jobs by the toll it’s taking conditions.
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