Earth-Save

The U.S. House of Representatives rejected an amended omnibus package containing significant conservation projects and advancements.  This represents a major loss to the conservation movement in the United States. 

The bill would have established:

• More than 2 million acres of wilderness in nine states
• Three new national park units
• Three new national conservation areas
• Ten new national heritage areas
• A new national monument
• Four new national trails
• Enlarged boundaries for more than a dozen existing national parks
• More than 1,000 miles of national wild and scenic rivers

“This is the most important piece of conservation legislation we will likely consider this year and possibly in this entire Congress,” House Natural Resources Chairman Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) said on the House floor before the bill was rejected.

As usual, the Republicans were the major obstacle to the land conservation and killed the bill for procedural reasons.  There was also pressure by the National Rifle Association (NRA), which objected to items in the bill that would restrict hunting on some federal land.

Story at New York Times

President Obama continued his crusade of change by overturning a last-minute Bush administration regulation that weakened the Endangered Species Act.

The Bush rule basically put the fox in charge of the hen house.  The regulation stated there was no need to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Services on development projects if the project wouldn’t harm endangered species.  The problem is the federal agency responsible for the development would determine what "no harm" meant, instead of the scientists whose job it is to protect endangered species.

Obama stated he had restored "the scientific process to its rightful place at the heart of the Endangered Species Act, a process undermined by past administrations…  For more than three decades, the Endangered Species Act has successfully protected our nation’s most threatened wildlife, and we should be looking for ways to improve it, not weaken it."

Environmental groups praised Obama’s action.  "President Obama’s announcement will allow [the Endangered Species Act] to do what it was intended: protect our nation’s endangered plants and animals," said Andrew Wetzler, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Endangered Species Program.

Story at CNN

From a memo by the Land Trust Alliance:

The nearly $800 billion federal stimulus package passed by Congress last month includes over $15 billion for federal natural resource agencies:

• $145 million to the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) for the purchase of easements on and restoration of flood-prone farmland.
• $230 million to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, $1 billion to the Bureau of Reclamation, $5 billion to the Corps of Engineers and another $195 million to NRCS, for watershed restoration, including projects like dam removal, wetlands restoration and fish ladders on private lands.
• $250 million to the U.S. Forest Service for cooperative projects to benefit state and private lands, primarily hazardous fuels reduction and post-fire restoration.
• $290 million to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, $905 million to the National Park Service, $320 million to the Bureau of Land Management and another $950 million to the Forest Service, all nominally for projects on federal lands, but if your organization has properties adjacent to federal lands, there could be opportunities for partnerships on projects like habitat restoration and trail building.
• At least 3% of the $27.5 billion in state transportation funding will go to Transportation Enhancement projects which can include acquisition of scenic or historic easements, trail building and environmental mitigation.
• At least 20% of EPA’s $6 billion in Safe Drinking Water Act funding will be available for unconventional water quality projects which have included land conservation in the past.

Actress Ashley Judd says an aerial wolf hunting program backed by Alaska Governor and former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is “incredibly savage … it’s not right, it’s not appropriate, it makes no sense on any level.”

Aerial hunting is where hunters in planes and helicopters chase wolves until they are exhausted then shoot them in cold blood.  Hunting animals in a humane manner for food is acceptable; needlessly torturing them is not.

Judd recently appeared in a video for Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, which opposes the aerial hunting program.  Judd says that Palin is “championing the slaughter of wildlife…  When Sarah Palin came on the national scene last summer, few knew that she promotes the brutal aerial killing of wolves,” Judd says in the video.  “It is time to stop Sarah Palin and stop this senseless savagery.”

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Occasionally Congress actually does some good for our country.  Given that Congress so often provides us with bad news, I want to take this rare opportunity to highlight something truly good that Congress has done for us.

In a rare Sunday session, the Senate advanced legislation to set aside more than 2 million acres in nine states as wilderness.  Democrats gathered enough votes to overcome stalling tactics from Republicans, who complained that Democrats did not allow amendments on the massive bill. 

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