The Western Wildway is Wildlands Network’s vision of the world’s most extensive network of protected, connected lands. The 6,000-mile Western Wildway will provide wide-ranging wildlife like wolves, cougars, and other animals with room to roam, while also sustaining important ecological processes like pollination and carbon storage, and safeguarding our natural heritage for future generations.
On May 16, I stood at Bryce Canyon’s Yovimpa Point looking through my breath at a dusting of new snow covering the pink slopes. The weather was expected to get worse, with snow above 6,500 feet statewide. My initial plan was to follow the route of an individual deer from her winter range near the… Continue reading “Connectivity for Adapting to the Unexpected”…
Our Senior Carnivore Advocate, Kim Crumbo, wrote an op-ed for St. George News in Utah about the 1,000th condor chick born in Zion National Park. While the news of this chick is good to be sure, there’s still much work to be done to protect this imperiled species. Photo: Jenny Eberlein, NPS
The Trump Administration is proposing stripping Endangered Species Act protection for all gray wolves in the lower 48 United States, except for the separately listed Mexican gray wolf. Comments on this proposal from conservation groups point to substantial flaws and omissions in the USFWS’s analysis of the relevant science and their interpretation of various ESA mandates. Photo: William C. Gladish
Chief Scientist Dr. Ron Sutherland spoke with Nation Swell, a digital outlet focused on solutions to problems facing the U.S., about the critical importance of wildlife crossings and our work to establish and protect wildlife crossings through policy at the state and federal levels, with a shout out to the Wildlife Corridors Conservation Act that was introduced in May. Photo: Oxana / Adobe Stock
Marking the most significant step toward national wildlife conservation in decades, the Wildlife Corridors Conservation Act of 2019 was introduced today in both houses of Congress. Led by Sen. Tom Udall, the bill was co-sponsored in the Senate by Richard Blumenthal, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Jeff Merkley, Bernie Sanders, Jon Tester, Sheldon Whitehouse, and Ron Wyden. The bill was introduced in the House of Representatives by Congressmen Don Beyer and Vern Buchanan.
Our Borderlands Program Coordinator, Myles Traphagen, spoke with the Arizona Daily Star about the potentially devastating effects of a border wall on the Sonoran pronghorn, who ranges between both Mexico and the U.S. to find food, mates, shelter, and other resources. Photo: Tom Koerner, USFWS
Myles Traphagen, coordinator of our Borderlands Program, spoke with Arizona’s KTAR News about the disastrous ecological effects of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Photo: Brian Powell
On April 24, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released the final Jaguar Recovery Plan. Many of the recovery actions proposed in the plan reaffirm Wildlands Network’s key strategies for protecting and enhancing jaguar populations in Mexico and the U.S., while also demonstrating the need for continued robust advocacy with government officials to improve and strengthen the official recovery programs. Photo: © milosk50 / Adobe Stock
After a thrilling rafting trip down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, Rebecca Hunter wrote about her journey through one of America’s most prized national treasures. At Wildlands Network, large protected areas like Grand Canyon National Park and other public lands form the building blocks of our Wildways, and it’s imperative that we continue to protect such regions, now and into the future. Photo: Richard Forbes
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife (FWS) service reported earlier today that the Mexican gray wolf population had increased from 114 individuals in 2018 to 131 individuals in 2019. Kim Crumbo, Senior Carnivore Advocate for Wildlands Network, said that while the increase is good news, there is still much to be done to recover the endangered Mexican wolf to sustainable population levels. Wildlands Network encourages FWS to act upon the best available science for this species. Photo: Juan Carlos Bravo
Phil Carter, our wildlife policy coordinator, spoke with New Mexico’s local NPR outlet, KUNM, about the recent passage of New Mexico’s Wildlife Corridors Act, a first-of-its-kind law that will help protect wildlife traversing the state’s roads. Photo: Ann Hough, USFWS
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the Wildlife Corridors Act into law on Friday, making New Mexico the first state to adopt a comprehensive program to identify wildlife corridors and begin to address barriers to wildlife movement. Photo: William C. Gladish
KVOA, a local news station in Tucson, Arizona, interviewed our borderlands coordinator, Myles Traphagen, about the Pentagon’s recent transfer of $1 billion to build the border wall in Arizona, California, and New Mexico. If such a wall is built, it will facilitate an ecological disaster, cutting off iconic species who call both the U.S. and… Continue reading “Border Construction Concerns Conservation Groups, Wildlife Experts”…
On Tuesday, the Department of Defense, in response to a directive issued by President Trump, announced that it was transferring $1 billion U.S. dollars to build Trump’s unnecessary and destructive border wall.Wildlands Network strongly opposes the construction of a border wall. The building of such a structure in southern Arizona and New Mexico would be an ecological disaster with far reaching implications. Photo: Tom Koerner, USFWS
El mes pasado, unos 40 líderes de conservación de la vida silvestre de Estados Unidos y México formaron la Colaboración para la Conservación de los Estados Fronterizos, un grupo de trabajo informal dedicado a preservar la conectividad y la biodiversidad única de las tierras fronterizas. Foto: Cortesía Colaboración para la Conservación de los Estados Fronterizos