Biodiversity: Is Florida a global hotspot for reptile extinction?

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
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Freshwater turtles, like this specimen in Butrint, Albania, are facing serious threats. Bob Berwyn photo.

Freshwater turtles among the most threatened species

By Summit Voice

A recent far-reaching study of the world’s amphibians and reptiles finds that Florida is hotspot for environmental threats, with one of the highest concentrations of threatened reptiles in the world.

The new report highlights the need to address the global reptile extinction crisis: One in five reptiles is facing extinction from threats like habitat loss, overharvest and climate change.

“Florida is blessed with a rich diversity of lizards, turtles and snakes,” said Collette Adkins Giese, reptile-and-amphibian specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Unfortunately, threats like habitat loss from rapid development are continuing to push many of these rare reptiles to the brink of extinction.”

More than 200 experts from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Species Survival Commission collaborated to study a random sample of 1,500 of the world’s reptile species. Globally, one in five reptiles is facing extinction. The study also flagged the rapidly deteriorating plight of freshwater turtles, estimating that 50 percent of these animals are at risk of extinction. (more…)

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Bat-killing disease spreads to Mammoth Cave NP

Posted on January 17, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

White-nose syndrome threatening new populations of bats, including endangered species

Visitors explore the Broadway section of Mammoth Cave. Photo courtesy National Park Service.

Visitors explore the Broadway section of Mammoth Cave. Photo courtesy National Park Service.

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — The news that white-nose syndrome has spread to a second cave in Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave National Park triggered renewed calls for action from conservation advocates.

“A northern long-eared bat, showing symptoms of white-nose syndrome, was found in Long Cave in the park,” said Mammoth Cave National Park Superintendent Sarah Craighead. “The bat was euthanized on January 4 and sent for laboratory testing. Those tests confirmed white-nose syndrome.”

Long Cave, an undeveloped cave 1.3 miles long, is the park’s largest bat hibernaculum and houses endangered Indiana bats and gray bats, along with other non-threatened species.  Long Cave is not connected to Mammoth Cave and has not been open to visitors for more than 80 years. (more…)

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Groups want critical habitat for loggerhead sea turtles

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
A loggerhead sea turtle off the coast of New England. Photo courtesy NOAA/Matthew Weeks.

A loggerhead sea turtle off the coast of New England. Photo courtesy NOAA/Matthew Weeks.

Lawsuit filed to speed up designation

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Gill net fishing in Mexico and coastal development in Florida is driving loggerhead sea turtles to the brink of extinction, according to conservation groups, who filed a lawsuit this week to try and get better protection for the turtles’s critical habitat.

The groups acknowledge that conservation efforts in Florida have helped populations recover, but insist that the overall long-term threats require greater protection. The number of loggerhead sea turtles nesting along Florida beaches has grown in recent years, but these numbers have varied significantly over the past two decades.

North Pacific loggerheads, which nest in Japan and cross the Pacific to feed along the coasts of Southern California and Mexico, have declined by at least 80 percent over the past decade and were recently reclassified from threatened to endangered. It has been estimated that more than 1,000 loggerheads die each year as a result of gillnet fishing in Mexico, with more than 400 washing ashore dead last summer. (more…)

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Water: BLM OKs massive Nevada pipeline project

Posted on January 1, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
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The BLM has approved a right-of-way for a 250-mile water pipeline in Nevada.

Conservation groups prepare for court battle

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Conservation advocates say they will challenge the Bureau of Land Management’s approval of a 250-mile pipeline project designed to drain central Nevada aquifers and deliver water to Las Vegas.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority’s groundwater development project would siphon more than 27.4 billion gallons of groundwater per year from at least four valleys in central Nevada. According to environmental groups, the project would imperil dozens of species dependent on precious surface and groundwater in the driest state in the U.S.

“The federal government’s own scientists are confirming this Las Vegas water project would be an epic environmental disaster,” said Rob Mrowka, a Nevada-based ecologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s really no exaggeration to say that the natural, cultural and social heritage of central Nevada is at grave risk from this project.” (more…)

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La Migra — for wolves

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Bob Berwyn
Mexican gray wolf, endangered species

Mexican gray wolf M968 in 2011 at Sevilleta Wolf Management Facility. Photo courtesy USFWS.

Lawsuit to challenge USFWS on ‘recovery permit’ for wolves released in Mexico

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — While the U.S. and Mexico are supposed to be cooperating on a recovery program for endangered Mexican gray wolves, things could get sticky in the desert Southwest, as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service claims authority to capture any wolves that are released in Mexico and cross the border.

Captured wolves would be placed into the captive-breeding program, returned to where they came from, or relocated into the Mexican wolf recovery area, but wildlife conservation advocates say the federal government failed to follow its own regulations in giving itself a “recovery permit.”

“It’s fantastic that Mexico’s working to restore wolves to its northern wilds,” said Michael Robinson, wolf recovery specialist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “And of course, these wolves in northern Mexico don’t recognize political boundaries. If they’re able to set up a home range that crosses the border, it would be tragic and wrong for Fish and Wildlife officials to then capture them and snatch them out of that home.” (more…)

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Global warming: Citing shrinking sea ice, feds list several Arctic seal species as threatened and endangered

Posted on December 24, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Listing decision underscores climate-change threats to Arctic ecosystems

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Bearded seals are vulnerable to shrinking sea ice, declining snow cover. Photo courtesy NOAA.

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Recognizing that the best available science suggests a significant loss of Arctic sea ice in the next few decades, federal biologists last week finalized Endangered Species Act protection for two species of ice-dependent seals.

NOAA will list as threatened the Beringia and Okhotsk populations of bearded seals, and the Arctic, Okhotsk, and Baltic subspecies of ringed seals. The Ladoga subspecies of ringed seals will be listed as endangered. The species that exist in U.S. waters (Arctic ringed seals and the Beringia population of bearded seals) are already protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

“Our scientists undertook an extensive review of the best scientific and commercial data. They concluded that a significant decrease in sea ice is probable later this century and that these changes will likely cause these seal populations to decline,” said Jon Kurland, protected resources director for NOAA Fisheries’ Alaska region. “We look forward to working with the State of Alaska, our Alaska Native co-management partners, and the public as we work toward designating critical habitat for these seals.” (more…)

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Biodiversity: Can the courts help save Mexican gray wolves?

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Lawsuit seeks to have Mexican gray wolves protected as a separate subspecies

Photo courtesy of the Mexican Wolf Interagency Field Team

A Mexican gray wolf in the wilds of the Blue Range wolf recovery area. Photo courtesy of the Mexican Wolf Interagency Field Team.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Wildlife conservation advocates are hoping to get some help from federal courts in their quest to prevent Mexican gray wolves from falling over the precipice of extinction.

The Center for Biological Diversity this week sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today over the agency’s rejection of a 2009 scientific petition from the center that sought classification of the Mexican gray wolf as an endangered subspecies or population of gray wolves.

Mexican wolves are currently protected as endangered along with all other wolves in the lower 48 states, with the exception of those in the northern Rocky Mountains and Great Lakes region. The lawsuit claims that protection as a subspecies will help ensure Mexican gray wolf recovery. (more…)

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Conservation groups challenge latest BLM oil shale plan

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Bob Berwyn
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Conservation groups have challenged a new BLM plan for oil shale leasing.

Groups say feds ignored climate impacts in environmental studies for plan

By Bob Berwyn

FRISCO — Framed in the context of growing concern about global warming, the Center for Biological Diversity this week formally protested the latest scaled-back plan for oil shale and tar sands research and development in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.

The Grand Canyon Trust, Living Rivers and the Sierra Club also joined in the protest, claiming  the plan could unleash intensive greenhouse gas emissions, hasten the dry-up of the Colorado River, threaten wildlife and increase local and regional air pollution.

The protest is part of the formal BLM review and approval process, similar to an appeal of a U.S. Forest Service decision. The conservation groups claim that the BLM violated numerous provisions of various federal environmental laws and planning rules.

The BLM plan released last month calls for careful leasing of about 806,000 acres of public land where energy companies can try to solve the puzzle of in-situ development of oil shale. The 2012 plan resulted from the settlement of a 2009 lawsuit that challenged a previous version approved under the Bush administration that was criticized by conservation groups as a give-away to the energy industry.

Some advocates of careful oil shale research say the 2012 plan cut too much land, making it more difficult for energy companies to pursue oil shale development.

“Putting restrictions on the land doesn’t make a lot of sense to me … it would be better to let the companies decided what the best place is to operate,” said Colorado School of Mines professor Jeremy Boak, who specializes in oil shale research. “The restrictions seem extreme. Ninety percent of the land that has oil shale was taken out of play,” he said. (more…)

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NAFTA commission to hear polar bear listing dispute

Posted on December 8, 2012 by Bob Berwyn
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Conservation groups are challenging Canada’s decision on polar bear conservation. Photo courtesy USFWS/Scott Schliebe.

Conservation status of polar bears in Canada challenged by petition to international trade group

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Endangered polar bears are at the center of an an unusual dispute that will be heard by an environmental commission established under NAFTA.

The Commission for Environmental Cooperation announced late last t month that it will consider a petition challenging Canada’s decision to list polar bears as a species of special concern instead of listing them as threatened or endangered. The commission announced the petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity provides sufficient documentation of Canada’s violations of its own laws to warrant an official response from the country’s government. (more…)

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Wildlife: Lawsuit filed to boost Mexican gray wolf recovery

Posted on November 29, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

A Mexican Gray wolf. Photo courtesy USFWS.

Conservation advocates say lack of releases is threatening genetic diversity

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Wildlife advocates are going to court to try and boost recovery efforts for the Mexican gray wolf in Arizona and New Mexico by forcing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to release more of the animals into the wild.

Specifically, the lawsuit challenges the agency’s failure to respond to a 2004 petition calling for implementation of sweeping reforms in the management of the Mexican gray wolf population, which has grown by a scant three animals over the past eight years, leaving only 58 wolves in the wild today.

In 2001, a panel of scientists called for an immediate reduction in the number of Mexican gray wolves removed from the wild, as well as an increase in the number released. But faced with intense local opposition to wolf restoration, the agency has failed to act on the recommendations. (more…)

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