Public Comments: SNOW KING MOUNTAIN RESORT

Public comments due before MARCH 16, 2020. Submit public comments HERE. The space to enter your comments is small so we suggest composing your comments in another document and then copying and pasting them into the comment box.

TALKING POINTS:

- I write to object to the draft environmental impact statement as it lacks the "reasonable range of alternatives" required by NEPA. There should be a full and fair analysis of this project.

- The alterations to Snow King Mountain resort will have a great impact on local flora and fauna in the region. The increased development will further fragment habitat and decrease connectivity for our already imperiled wildlife.  Snow King Mountain is currently either home to or an important wildlife corridor for many native wildlife, which would be negatively impacted by construction and new development.

- The proposed development would bring in more noise to the area. The Zip-Line, for instance, would encourage participants to yell and whoop and such sounds would carry into surrounding habitat. Studies have repeatedly shown that animals area greatly impacted by the sounds of humans. Human voices cause anxiety in wildlife, make wildlife stop hunting or foraging and often go and hide. Thus, the noise of the Zip-Line and other attractions would have significant negative impacts on the surrounding wildlife.

Public Comments for Wolves - DUE MAY 14

Submit your personalized public comment HERE. Public comments are due May 14.

Talking Points suggested by Project Coyote:

Your comments can simply state: “I am in opposition to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s proposed rule to remove Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the lower 48 states. I urge you to reconsider this proposed rule and to instead develop a national wolf recovery plan for wolves that reflects their intrinsic value and the myriad ecological, aesthetic, and economic benefits the species provides to our communities and ecosystems.”

For maximum impact, however, we encourage you to personalize your comments. Here are some talking points you may consider incorporating:

●       Continuing Endangered Species Act protections for wolves is necessary for the species to fully recover. Federal protections saved gray wolves from extinction following decades of persecution – and the species is still recovering, currently occupying only a fraction of their historic range.

●       The proposed rule would transfer authority over wolves to state wildlife management agencies, which historically have shown little interest in preserving or restoring wolves.These state agencies have catered to special interest groups who seek to kill wolves for trophies or entertainment, or on the misguided belief that killing wolves protects livestock or increases deer and elk populations.

●       Wolves are vital to healthy ecosystems. Benefits wolves provide include increasing biodiversity by keeping large herbivores such as deer from overgrazing habitats and maintaining the health of prey animals such as deer by culling the sick members from the heard, including animals suffering from Chronic Wasting Disease.

●       The best available, peer-reviewed science demonstrates that killing wolves will not protect livestock or increase populations of game species like deer or elk. Wildlife management decisions should be based on ethics and sound science, not fear and misunderstandings.

●       The vast majority of Americans are wildlife watchers who prefer to view wolves in their natural habitat – preserved and treated with respect. Allowing wolves to return to their historic range and thrive will provide far more benefits to our economy than allowing a tiny minority of the population to extirpate these iconic animals from our landscape.


Talking Points Suggested by Oregon Wild:

• It would be premature to remove wolves from the endangered species list, as they are not recovered throughout a significant portion of their historic range.
• While some states have seen stable populations of wolves, this does not mean wolves are recovered throughout all suitable habitat. Hastily removing protections can make the species vulnerable to becoming imperiled again. 
• In Oregon, removing ESA protections would jeopardize the few wolves living in Western Oregon and make them susceptible to a low threshold for lethal removal.
• Federal ESA protections provide a necessary backstop. Removing them would shift decision-making to anti-wolf state agencies who have a vested interest in seeing wolves hunted and trapped. 

Wilderness Watch Public Comments:

• I strongly oppose removing Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for gray wolves in the contiguous United States. As with past delisting attempts, this action is premature and would undo gains that wolf populations have made under federal protection, which has saved them from the brink of extinction. 
• The 5,000-6,000 gray wolves that occupy the contiguous 48 states are a small fraction of the hundreds of thousands of wolves that once roamed this area. Currently, wolves occupy only about 10 percent of their historic range. To establish a reasonable, scientifically valid level of recovery for gray wolves, they must be given the opportunity to repopulate their remaining suitable habitat.
    
• Wildlife knows no boundaries and wolves that use designated Wilderness for part, or all, of their range could be killed.
    
• This proposed rule would cede management of the species to state agencies. In Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, states where wolves have lost ESA protections, thousands of wolves have been killed during state hunting seasons.
    
• Wolves that are no longer protected under the ESA have been cruelly (and legally) snared and caught in barbaric steel-jaw leghold traps, and Wyoming went even further—allowing people to run wolves over with snowmobiles and ATVs, poison them, incinerate them in their dens with gas or dynamite, and gun them down from aircraft.
    
• For these reasons, I urge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to keep gray wolves protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Western Watersheds Talking Points:

• Gray wolf recovery is not complete. Places like California, Colorado, and Utah could support healthy wolf populations if they are protected and allowed to recover in these states.
• Montana, Wyoming and Idaho — where wolves have already been delisted — are not managing wolves like other wildlife -- they're managing wolves back to extinction. 
• Wolves belong! These important predators are a beautiful part of the web of life, lending stability to ecosystems and keeping our landscapes wild.

PETITIONS:

Born Free USA
Center for Biological Diversity
Animal Welfare Institute
Friends of the Earth
Endangered Species Coalition
Humane Society
Sierra Club
Earth Justice
NRDC
Defenders of Wildlife
Western Environmental Law Center (added 4/26)
Environmental Action (added 5/5)
Sierra Club (added 5/13)

LINK TO PRINT SIGNS OR SHARE GRAPHICS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Please also send a copy of your comment as a letter to your state governor and to your Members of Congress.

Support the Animal Heroes of the California Wildfires

As wildfires rage throughout California, heroes are emerging to help those affected - two legged and four legged. This is a list of groups that are helping wildlife and domestic animals impacted by the California wildfires. These groups need monetary donations only at this point.

Please add any groups that you are aware of to the comments and we will add them to the original post:

WOOLSEY AND HILL FIRES IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Wildlife Care of So Cal: wildlife

California Wildlife Center: wildlife

Humane Society of Ventura County: pets and farm animals

Los Angeles SPCA: domestic animals

Best Friends Society: cats and dogs

Little Angels Project: cats and dogs

Los Angeles Animal Care Center Foundation: cats, dogs, domestic animals

CAMPFIRE IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

North Valley Animal Disaster Group: pets and farm animals

Butte Humane Society: pets

Camp Fire Pet Rescue and Reunification Team: Amazon Wishlist. Mail to: 499 Southbury Land, Chico CA 95973

UC Davis Veterinary School: pets and farm animals in need of specialized care

SF SPCA: pets with burns that are in need of specialized care

Sacramento SPCA:

Chico Cat Coalition: cats

CALL TO ACTION: Speak Out Against the Togo Wolf Shooting

On August 23rd, after a court order had been obtained preventing the killing of a member of the Togo wolf pack, a rancher, using GPS data from the collared male in the pack, went to the rendezvous point  where wolves keep their pups. The rancher saw the male wolf and his pups. When the male wolf barked at the rancher, the rancher shot the wolf - alleging "self defense." The wolf know has a broken leg and will have difficulty living, much less providing for his pups as one of only two adults in the pack.

We need to demand an a full investigation. Please write to Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), Director Kelly Susewind at this email address director@dfw.wa.gov and demand the following:

1) A full investigation by law enforcement into the rancher's actions

2) A full investigation by law enforcement into WDFW's communications with the rancher. Did they fail to tell the rancher to stay away from the rendezvous site? Did they instruct him as to typical wolf behavior if approached at a rendezvous site or den? The public needs to know what WDFW did and did not tell the rancher.

PUBLIC COMMENTS: Save the Endangered Species Act DUE SEPT 24

The Department of the Interior has proposed new regulations which would dramatically weaken the Endangered Species Act. Please leave a public comment opposing these regulations BEFORE MIDNIGHT ON SEPTEMBER 24. Leave your public comment HERE.


SAMPLE COMMENT FROM HSUS:

The proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act regulations by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service would weaken the ESA regulations by making it harder to secure and maintain federal protections for imperiled species. The FWS and NMFS should keep the existing ESA protections to save threatened and endangered animals from extinction.

SAMPLE COMMENT FROM XERCES SOCIETY:

 I strongly oppose the proposed rule changes to the Endangered Species Act proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). Despite the claim from politicians that only a minority of species have recovered after endangered species listing, the fact is the Endangered Species Act is our nation’s most effective law for protecting wildlife in danger of extinction, and has prevented 99 percent of listed species from going extinct. Weakening the Act with the proposed changes will have dramatic implications for species conservation at a time when the threats to all species are increasing, and an increasing number of species are imperiled.

I especially oppose that listing decisions would be coupled with a study on the economic impacts (not benefits) to listing the species. An economic impact analysis could easily influence listing decisions, not to mention be a waste of taxpayer funds.

The Endangered Species Act is a hallmark piece of legislation that has had tremendous benefits for this nation’s iconic wildlife. The proposed changes to the ESA would weaken the law, change the clearly stated and intended purpose of the law, and have negative lasting impacts on our environment for future generations. For these reasons, I strongly oppose the suggested changes.

SAMPLE COMMENT FROM HOWLING FOR WOLVES: 

1. Give economic impact over consideration in decisions about protecting wildlife. Species listing decisions are currently made based solely on scientific considerations–as it should be. The new rules will give veto power to specialist interests over protecting endangered animals.
2. Make it much more difficult to protect plants, fish, and wildlife impacted by the effects of climate change. Species such as wolverines or lynx that are now losing their fight against a warming world will continue to be denied protections;
3. Put enormous roadblocks in the way of protecting habitat needed by endangered and threatened species;
4. Weaken the longstanding requirement that federal agencies work with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to assure that projects do not hurt or kill endangered species;
5. Drastically weaken protections afforded to species designated as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Florida manatees, gray wolves in Minnesota, marbled murrelets, and hundreds of others could face new threats.
6. States can open hunting and trapping seasons to kill these animals if Zinke's plan is enacted.

PETITIONS: Please sign and share the following public comments from conservation groups. (updated Sept 10)

Center for Biological Diversity
Audubon Society
National Anti-Vivisection Society
Sierra Club
Animal Welfare Institute
Endangered Species Coalition
Greater Yellowstone Coalition
Oceana
Defenders of Wildlife
League of Conservation Voters
EarthJustice
National Wildlife Federation
Ocean Conservancy 
IFAW
Wilderness Watch
Environment California
Audubon Society 
WildEarth Guardians
Oregon Wild
Greater Yellowstone Coalition
Food and Water Action
NRDC

Public Comments: Save Red Wolves from Extinction DUE JULY 30

Photo from USFWS

Submit your public comments HERE. If you write them elsewhere and save them, they can also be sent as an email to your Members of Congress or as a letter to the editor of a local paper. Public comments are DUE JULY 30 before midnight.

Talking Points can be found HERE and HERE.

PETITIONS:
Please also sign and share the following petitions.

Animal Welfare Institute
Endangered Species Coalition
Friends of the Earth
Environmental Action
Defenders
Center for Biological Diversity

CLICK TO TWEET:

.@Interior @SecretaryZinke your plan to reduce endangered red wolf habitat is a surrender to extinction and a betrayal of his responsibilities under the Endangered Species Act is outrageous. #redwolfbetrayal pic.twitter.com/Bgwg4e5Rg7

.@USFWS announced their plan today to cut red wolf habitat by 90% and allow private landowners to kill wolves that wander onto their property. #disgraceful #stopextinction #firezinke #redwolfbetrayal pic.twitter.com/b6zNg0j2Qt

Tell the Senate to Pass a Clean Farm Bill

Last week, the House passed a disastrous Farm Bill. The bill is a massive giveaway to the pesticide industry and a blow to endangered species. Many say that it would be the final nail in the coffin for many species. The House version of the bill:

• Repeals the Clean Water Rule’s safeguards for critical water bodies, including streams that help supply one-third of Americans with drinking water.
• Exempts companies that spray dangerous pesticides into waterways from Clean Water Act permitting requirements.
• “Poisoned Pollinators Provision” exempts dangerous pesticides from protections to safeguard endangered or threatened species, including some species of bees.
• Exempts chemical makers from enforcement when pesticides harm or kill endangered species. (Read more here.)
• Prohibits local governments from adopting pesticide laws that are more protective than federal rules and gives state pesticide agencies a secret chance to block EPA protections. 
• Exempts public lands from important land, wildlife, and water conservation safeguards.
• Disallows states from enforcing their own laws against out of state products that are dangerous or unsanitary.

CONTACT YOUR SENATORS AND ASK THEM FOR A CLEAN FARM BILL without any poison pills or damaging environmental riders. Contact information can be found HERE.

SIGN AND SHARE THESE PETITIONS:

Sierra Club
Humane Society