On Wednesday, Aug. 12 in Cross River, N.Y., the Center for Biological Diversity is co-sponsoring a very special, free event along with the Wolf Conservation Center.

We hope you'll come.

WCC's third annual "Family Walk to Protect America's Wild Heritage" will celebrate acclaimed author, Newbery award winner and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service "Conservation Hero," Jean Craighead George, whose books have helped inspire children the world over to love and protect wildlife and wild places. This event will also highlight one of our nation's most important environmental laws, the Endangered Species Act, and some of the at-risk species which have been given a chance at recovery thanks to the Act.

At the event there'll be kids' activities, a nature walk and educational talks about conservation issues, as well as a chance to meet WCC's ambassador wolf, Atka.

Please consider coming to this free event to rewild your children's hearts and inspire the next generation of environmental stewards to protect the Act and the species it helps preserve.

What: Family Walk to Protect America's Wild Heritage (Free)
Where: Ward Pound Ridge Reservation (Shelter 5), 4 Reservation Rd., Cross River, NY 10576
When: Wednesday, Aug. 12 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Click here to RSVP and get more information.

A Win for America’s Biggest National Forest May Also Be a Win for Wolves. That goes too for taxpayers, who are subsidizing unprofitable clear-cutting of old-growth trees in Alaska.

A Wednesday court ruling may mean the clock is ticking down on the old-growth logging industry of southeastern Alaska.

That may be bad news for big timber, but it’s great news for a wolf population on the brink of extinction as well as for activities and businesses that thrive on healthy, intact forestland, said Malena Marvin, executive director of the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council.

On July 29, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court decision that would have allowed new road building on 9.5 million road-free acres of the 16.9-million-acre Tongass National Forest in Alaska.

The move effectively averted expansion of clear-cut logging on the Tongass, the nation’s largest federally owned forest.

Barring an appeal to the Supreme Court by the state of Alaska, the ruling resolves a court case that began seven years ago, when SEACC and several other organizations contested the Bush administration’s 2003 decision to exempt the Tongass from the Clinton-era “roadless rule” for national forests.

Clear-cutting in the Tongass has degraded habitat of Sitka black-tailed deer, said Marvin. This has contributed to a population crash among the wolves of Prince of Wales Island, whose numbers “are half of what they were last year, which is half of the year before,” said Marvin. In June, Alaska wildlife officials confirmed a steep drop in this wolf population.

The Prince of Wales Island population is part of a unique subspecies of gray wolf found only in Alaska called the Alexander Archipelago wolves. Wildlife advocates have petitioned the Obama administration to extend federal endangered species protections to these wolves.

Further clear-cutting might have also become problematic for thousands of Alaskans who hunt and gather food for their families. “The science shows that the habitat needed by wolves, and the biological interaction between wolves and their prey, involves humans—because we also hunt Sitka black-tailed deer,” said Marvin.

There are 75,000 residents of Alaska in the Tongass region, according to Marvin. Around 33,000 live in the city of Juneau, with “the rest in small communities in the islands,” she said, and “almost everyone harvests something here or relies upon something from that harvest—deer, moose, salmon, crab, shrimp, halibut—the list goes on and on.”

If clear-cutting were to continue, “we’re talking about sacrificing all of those things, and one of the last places in the United States where you can just go grab food out of the water and not harm anything,” she said. All “for this tiny, export-oriented, clear-cut timber industry that needs government subsidies for support.”

The group Taxpayers for Common Sense has found that the U.S. Forest Service loses more than $20 million a year managing logging sales on the Tongass National Forest, while the industry is worth only about $17 million a year.

Meanwhile, industries that depend on keeping the Tongass intact have become profitable economic mainstays in southeastern Alaska, Marvin said. “The salmon industry—commercial and sport fishing—is growing and is worth about $1 billion a year. The same with recreation and tourism, which are worth about $1 billion a year and growing.”

The streams and rivers flowing through the Tongass to the sea produce 25 percent of all wild salmon harvested in the northeastern Pacific Ocean, according to the U.S. Forest Service. “What other creature reflects how well we treat the land?” the forest’s fisheries manager recently told a Sitka business group, according to KCAW radio. “It’s salmon.”

According to a report from Southeast Conference, a pro-business group in southeastern Alaska, seafood and tourism were the second- and third-biggest economic sectors in the region, generating 11 percent and 8 percent, respectively, of southeastern Alaska’s employment earnings in 2013. Timber came in at less than 4 percent. (State and federal government led all other sectors at 35 percent.)

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, criticized the Tongass ruling on Wednesday, calling it “a disappointment and a severe setback for the economies of Southeast Alaska” in a statement.

“Sen. Murkowski is a commonsense politician,” Marvin said. “We still hope that she is going to work with people to help lead this transition away from the clear-cut-and-export model” of the timber industry. “There are all sorts of thriving industries that don’t have anything to do with cutting old growth that are sustaining the region. Those are the ones she needs to be protecting.”

What Will Stop the Killing?

In Salmon, Idaho, in the dead of winter—December 2014, killing contest participants slaughtered thirty coyotes. They came to gun down wolves as well, but, this time, were unsuccessful.

When do we put our feet down and say it is time for the killing to stop? Where do we draw the line?

We have an opportunity. Our country is talking about guns, aggression, and violence. We are talking about Cecil the lion. Let’s also talk about sanctioned killing contests.

coyote kills in wildlife killing contest

coyote kills in wildlife killing contest

In the western United States animal killing contests—multi-day, gun events that often celebrate the person who kills the most—are increasing in number and scope. This is due in part to the region’s vast public lands, the existence of varied iconic wildlife, and the efforts of gun manufacturers, gun shops, and big game hunters to sponsor these events.

I live in the state that hosts more killing contests than any other, New Mexico. But New Mexico is not alone. You can find killing contests in every state in the Rocky Mountain West.

Do you visit or live in Colorado? You will find killing contests there that target prairie dogs. Montana? It’s coyotes and sometimes wolves too.

In 2015, WildEarth Guardians launched a full-fledged campaign to end contest hunting on public lands.

We are leading litigation, along with coalition partners, against the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) over the December 2014 Salmon, Idaho killing contest. We will prepare additional targeted legal action on high-profile events in other states or wherever we can set a strong precedent for wildlife protection.

Soon, Guardians will be submitting a petition for rulemaking to the U.S. Forest Service. We will request that the agency establish new rules for ensuring wildlife killing contests on our public lands require permits and that the public be fully engaged in the permitting process. You and I, the public—we need the opportunity to say “no”.

In the coming weeks, we will be launching the petition along with a social and traditional media push to draw attention to the issue of contest killing. We will ask you, and your 100,000 peers who follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and email to spread the word.

Your support sends Guardians into courtrooms with credibility, experts, witnesses, experience, and a commitment to change the way wildlife are viewed and treated across the American West.

Your support also enables us to take this issue into the public arena, the appropriate place to formulate our public lands policy. We believe that Guardians like you are the majority, that most people believe coyotes, prairie dogs, and wolves have a right to survive and thrive. During a recent comment period, the BLM received just 10 comments in support of a hunting contest and 56,000 comments against it.

For over 25 years, Guardians has acted as a voice for wildlife, engaging in vital legal battles and fighting for the rights of the voiceless. Please support our work today and enable us to stay in the fight for the long haul.