Defenders of Wildlife ANNUA L R E P O RT 2 0 0 7 Celebrating 60 Years of Wildlife Conservation DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE Defenders of Wildlife is a national, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to the protection of all native wild animals and plants in their natural communities. ANNUAL REPORT STaff Mark Cheater: Editor Kate Davies: Publications Manager Krista Schlyer: Writer Jen Lee: Art Director/Photo Editor © 2008 Defenders of Wildlife 1130 17th Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036-4604 202.682.9400 www.defenders.org Cover photo: Alaska wolf © Nick Jans Bottlenose dolphins TABLE OF CONTENTS © FLIP NICKLIN/MINDEN PICTURES 2 12 20 Board of Directors Providing Solutions 60th Anniversary Celebration 3 16 22 Defenders in 2007 Planning for Wildlife Defenders on the Map 4 18 24 About Defenders of Wildlife Working Across Borders Financial Report 6 19 25 Responding to Threats Educating and Mobilizing Major Contributors the Public BOard OF DIrectOrs Victor M. Sher* Ed Asner Liberty Godshall Richard Pritzlaff Chair California California Maryland California Peter G. Brown, Ph.D. Adelaide P. Gomer* George B. Rabb, Ph.D. Terry C. Pelster* Quebec New York Illinois Vice Chair New York Jeff Corwin Reid Hughes Rodger Schlickeisen, Ph.D.* Massachusetts Florida Virginia Alan W. Steinberg* Treasurer Gloria E. Flora Winsome McIntosh Laura Turner Seydel Florida Montana Washington, D.C. Georgia Richard Kopcho* David H. Getches Ruth Musgrave* Karin Sheldon Secretary Colorado Washington Colorado California Eric R. Glitzenstein Barry Noon, Ph.D. Lee M. Talbot, Ph.D. Washington, D.C. Colorado Virginia *Executive committee member LITIGATION Matthew F. Pawa Dan Pletcher, Ph.D. Rosie Woodroffe, Ph.D. COMMITTEE Law Offices of Matthew F. University of Montana University of California, Davis Pawa, P.C. Eric R. Glitzenstein† H. Ronald Pulliam, Ph.D. Chair Daniel Rohlf University of Georgia NATIONAL ADVISORY Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal Lewis & Clark Law School BOARD George B. Rabb, Ph.D.† Victor M. Sher† Karin Sheldon† Chicago Zoological Society Strachan Donnelley Sher Leff LLP Western Resource Advocates New York Terry Root, Ph.D. Oliver Houck Stanford University Caroline Gabel Tulane Law School SCIENCE ADVISORS Maryland Mark Schwartz, Ph.D. Ruth Musgrave† Peter Brown, Ph.D. University of California, Davis Bryan G. Norton, Ph.D. Center for Wildlife Law McGill University Georgia University of New Mexico Lee M. Talbot, Ph.D.† Barry Noon, Ph.D.† George Mason University Gilman Ordway Barry Noon, Ph.D.† Colorado State University Wyoming Colorado State University David S. Wilcove, Ph.D. Reed F. Noss, Ph.D. Princeton University Alan Pilkington Brian B. O’Neill University of Central Florida Colorado Faegre & Benson LLP Edward O. Wilson, Ph.D. Charles Peterson, Ph.D. Harvard University University of North Carolina † Board member 2 ■ DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE paying bounties to people to kill wolves. Sadly, for now Defenders in 2007 aerial hunting in the state continues. Wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains may ixty years ago, Defenders of Wildlife got its start. face similar pressures in the aftermath of the U.S. Fish Looking back over those six decades, our accom- and Wildlife Service’s proposal this year to remove plishments are nothing short of extraordinary. this population from the endangered species list. Key From securing protections for whooping cranes, officials in Idaho and Wyoming are hostile to wolves, SFlorida panthers and other imperiled species with the and their plans for managing delisted wolves in their Endangered Species Act, to shielding dolphins from tuna states would undermine the ongoing recovery effort. nets, to restoring wolves in Yellowstone—together with One of their goals is to eliminate more than half of the our supporters, we have made an enormous difference. In wolves on the ground today. This would be a dangerous September we celebrated this milestone with a gala dinner step backward for wolves, and we plan to challenge a highlighting our delisting decision in court as a result. achievements and Defenders’ legal department argued the case for other © MARTY KATZ honoring conserva- wildlife on myriad fronts, including our nation’s highest tion heroes like court. For only the second time in Defenders’ history, Harvard professor we argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, this Edward O. Wilson one to protect endangered species in Arizona from and U.S. Representa- development. While a narrow majority of the court tive George Miller. ruled against us, our determination to protect pygmy Over the decades, owls and other endangered wildlife is undiminished. our fortunes have Our communications team worked to educate the ebbed and flowed on public on many critical issues from global warming Capitol Hill—and to national wildlife refuges, and received high acclaim 2007 began what for their work. Our series of global warming video will hopefully be a public-service announcements won an O’Dwyer award Victor Sher and turnaround for conservation. The shift in leadership in for excellence in public communications. Also in 2007, Rodger Schlickeisen Congress has allowed us to change our legislative strategy our quarterly magazine, Defenders, won an award as one from defense to offense. Where once we faced adversaries of the country’s best nonprofit publications. leading key conservation committees, today we have On the ground, in the courts and the halls of champions—legislators who believe that wild animals Congress, Defenders has made a difference for wildlife. such as wolves, wolverines and polar bears deserve a We can all take pride in what we have accomplished future on this planet. together these past 60 years. But we also have to look We capitalized on the new environment in Washing- to the future, toward environmental threats that surpass ton on a number of fronts. On what is the most pressing all that have come before and have the potential to seri- conservation challenge of our times, global warming, ously alter the landscape on which wildlife and humans we organized a symposium of leading experts on the depend. In a rapidly warming world, the significance impacts of global warming on wildlife. In addition, of our work has never been greater. With your help, we our staff scientists produced a series of monthly reports look forward to taking on this challenge and celebrating examining the threats to species in the Arctic, a region many more happy anniversaries. on the frontlines of global warming. And our staff worked closely with legislators to craft a bill—the Global Warming Wildlife Survival Act, which passed the House of Representatives—that would help wildlife cope with a warming planet by spurring research and Victor Sher the development of a national global warming strategy. Chair, Board of Directors We also worked with our allies on Capitol Hill to take the first steps to amend the federal Airborne Hunting Act of 1972, to clearly outlaw Alaska’s unjusti- fied and cruel practice of aerial wolf hunts. We secured Rodger Schlickeisen a restraining order in Alaska that blocked the state from President and Chief Executive Officer 2007 ANNUAL REPORT ■ 60 Years OF acHIEVemeNT n 2007, Defenders of Wildlife celebrated a major milestone: six decades of advocacy for wildlife. Looking back from our current vantage point as one of the country’s largest and most effective Iconservation groups, it’s hard to believe we started in 1947 with one full-time staff person and 1,500 members. Back then, we were Defenders of Furbearers, focusing our efforts on protecting coyotes and other predators from poisoning and trapping. Over the years, our mission expanded to include the conservation of all native animals and plants in their natural communities, and our name changed to reflect that broader focus. From one staffer, we’ve grown to more than 150 scientists, lawyers, policy experts, educators and economists in more than a dozen locations throughout North America. And our roster of supporters has passed the 1 million mark, putting us in the top tier of national environmental advocacy groups. In the 60 years since our founding, we’ve witnessed and participated in some of the most heart- wrenching and hopeful moments of wildlife advocacy. And with the help of our supporters, we have made About Defenders a lasting difference for the world’s wild animals and plants. Among the creatures we’ve helped protect: of Wildlife WOLVE S Defenders of Wildlife played a leading role in efforts to reintroduce this keystone species to Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho in 1995. Now, more than a decade later, wolves are thriving in the northern Rockies and the ecosystem is coming into a healthier balance. Defenders has also worked over the years to restore healthy populations of wolves in the Southeast, Southwest and Great Lakes region. Our pioneering work with local residents in these areas has helped reduce conflicts and ease the wolves’ return. G R I Z Z LY B EArs Grizzly bear numbers have tripled in the Yellowstone ecosystem during the past 30 years, a hopeful sign for these powerful and inspiring creatures. Defenders played a key role in this comeback through The Bailey Wildlife Foundation Grizzly Compensation Trust, created in 1997 to compensate ranchers for livestock losses to grizzlies. We have also provided bear-resistant garbage dumpsters and installed electric fences to curb conflicts between humans and bears. ■ DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE © TOM AND LEESON PAT With the help of our supporters, we have © PAUL MILES JR./BRUCECOLEMAN.COM (CAPTIVE) made a lasting difference for the world’s wild animals and plants. Opposite page: bald eagle Left: Mexican wolf DOLPHIN S Defenders led the fight in the 1980s and 1990s to legislation that Defenders helped enact in 1973—bald eagle ban large-scale driftnets on the high seas—nets that numbers have rebounded dramatically. In June, the bald had been killing dolphins and other species during eagle was officially removed from the endangered species tuna-fishing operations.