Polar Bear Breakthrough - SOS

Alaska's polar bears have moved one big step closer to receiving protection under the Endangered Species Act.

A federal judge just ordered the Bush Administration to stop dragging its feet and decide by May 15 whether it will safeguard America's polar bears from the threat of extinction due to rising temperatures and rapidly melting sea ice.

It took a lawsuit by NRDC, the Center for Biological Diversity and Greenpeace to force this latest breakthrough. The court ruled that the Bush Administration had violated the law by missing its January deadline and then proceeding to delay for months more.

While the Administration stalled for time, it rammed through oil and gas leases in some of the polar bear's most important Arctic habitat.

By ordering a May 15 deadline for this decision, the federal courts have thrown polar bears an important lifeline.

That's because the Endangered Species Act requires this momentous decision to be made solely on the best available science -- not politics -- and the science is absolutely clear that the polar bear urgently needs protection from the impacts of global warming.

With reports of polar bears starving and drowning...snowy dens collapsing on mother bears and their newborn cubs...and populations in decline, there is no longer any doubt that the climate crisis is taking a terrible toll on these magnificent creatures.

But despite the iron-clad evidence, there is no assurance that the Bush Administration will do the right thing on May 15. Given President Bush's pro-polluter agenda and relentless attacks on wildlife, it is still possible that the Interior Department will deny protection for the polar bear.

In that case, we'll be fully prepared to drag the Bush Administration back to court and fight in the legal arena until polar bears win the protection they so urgently need.

I’ll be sure to let you know as soon as we get word of the Administration’s decision. In the meantime, if you haven't done so already, please take a moment to tell your senators to stop oil development in Alaska's prime polar bear habitat.

With Alaska's polar bears under siege, I am so grateful to have you working by our side to help ensure their survival.

Sincerely,

Frances Beinecke
President
Natural Resources Defense Council

Help Save Polar Bears and Other Arctic Wildlife

The news for polar bears is bleak -- polar bears could disappear entirely from Alaska within 50 short years due to a drastic decline in Arctic sea ice.

But Big Oil and their allies in Congress are willing to sell out our vanishing polar bears for a few barrels of oil. Well, I'm doing something to protect Arctic wildlife and our polar bear's last stand -- and I hope you will, too.

It's easy to get involved -- Just take action online at the website below:

http://action.defenders.org/arcticwilderness

Polar bears and other Arctic wildlife are facing a double-barreled threat from Congress and the Bush/Cheney Administration.

President Bush is calling for Arctic National Wildlife Refuge drilling in his budget. And Sens. Ted Stevens and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have introduced legislation to link drilling plans to gas prices -- despite federal estimates that such drilling would do next to nothing to reduce gas prices.

Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would, however, threaten the most important land-based habitat that America's vanishing polar bears have left.

Please urge your Senators to reject the latest Arctic Refuge drilling plans and permanently safeguard this special place by designating portions of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as federally protected wilderness -- take action online now at:

http://action.defenders.org/arcticwilderness

Thanks for your help...

Wolf Opponent for McCain's Vice President?

With last week’s primary wins in Texas and Ohio, Senator John McCain is the last Republican presidential candidate standing.

Unfortunately, one name being circulated as a possible pick for his Vice President is someone who has made the slaughter of wolves a personal goal... first-term Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

Wildlife conservation is not a partisan issue. Tell Governor Palin that you believe that no one should support her in a bid for the Vice Presidency or any office until she cleans up her act.

This is the same Sarah Palin who…

-Introduced legislation that could deny more than 50,000 Alaskans the right to vote on aerial killing of wolves and bears.

-Has condoned a $400,000 state-funded propaganda campaign to convince Alaskans to support the state’s shooting of wolves and bears from airplanes -- even though wildlife biologists from around the world say that it is scientifically unfounded.

-Nominated her high school basketball coach a man with no wildlife management experience to sit on the state’s powerful Board of Game.

-Proposed a $150 bounty to spur wolf killing in specified management zones.

Sign our petition and help us turn the national spotlight on Governor Palin’s shameful record.

As the last eight years have demonstrated, leadership counts. Please sign our petition today and let Governor Palin know that dedicated conservationists across America expect better from our elected leaders.

For the Wildlife!
Rodger Schlickeisen
President
Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund

Bears of Alaska with Tom Mangelsen

Bears of Alaska with Tom Mangelsen
Dates: Aug 13 - 18, 2007

Thomas D. Mangelsen announces his inaugural photo workshop - an exciting opportunity to photograph wild brown bears, eagles, and puffins at one of the premier locations in Alaska. Intended for the experienced wildlife photographer, the workshop will be held at a remote lodge in Lake Clark National Park with access only by airplane or boat. Limited to no more than 10 participants, this workshop offers the opportunity to photograph brown bears fishing for salmon with the world's most successful wildlife photographer. Workshop participants will be the only photographic group at the lodge and have the facilities almost completely dedicated to their workshop. Offering excellent meals, guides, and a remote location, this rustic Alaskan lodge photo experience is an opportunity to spend 5 days and 4 nights learning composition, lighting, exposure and digital processing techniques from Tom and his staff.

The workshop begins in Anchorage on August 13 at dinner with Tom. The next morning you will be flown by bush plane for a landing on the shores of Cook Inlet, where the lodge staff will transport you a short distance to the lodge. Grab your gear and it's off to look for your first photo opportunity! You'll spend 5 days and 4 nights filling your viewfinder with images of the Alaskan coastal plains and Mt Illiamna rising 10,016 feet to the west in the Aleutian Range. The lodge location puts you at the mouth of two rivers on the western shores of Cook Inlet, where the bears gather to fish for salmon. There is a shallow lake behind the lodge, where you may find loons, beavers, Trumpeter swans, and possibly Sandhill cranes.

All proceeds from this workshop will benefit The Cougar Fund, a nonprofit organization based in Jackson, WY. The mission of The Cougar Fund is to protect the cougar throughout the Americas. The Cougar Fund educates the public on the value of cougars in nature and promotes the gathering and application of sound science in their management. By advocating thriving populations of cougars, The Cougar Fund ensures that these beautiful, legendary creatures may exist in ways that enjoy long-lasting public support. (www.cougarfund.org) Each participant will receive a statement for tax deduction purposes from The Cougar Fund.

Thomas D. Mangelsen operates 16 Images of Nature galleries across the western United States, showcasing his images from 40 years of photographing wildlife in North America, Africa, South America, India, and Antarctica. In 2005, Tom was named one of the 100 most important people in photography by American Photo Magazine as well as being honored with Nikon's Legend Behind the Lens recognition. He has received an Honorary Fellowship from The Royal Photographic Society in 2002, named North American Nature Photographer Association's (NANPA) Outstanding Nature Photographer of the Year in 2000 and in 1994, Mangelsen received the prestigious BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award. His work has also been published in leading magazines such as Audubon, Smithsonian, Nature's Best, National Geographic, Life, Wildlife Art, American Photo and National Wildlife. He has been featured on television programs from The Today Show and Good Morning America, to CNN's World News. He has published numerous books, including Images of Nature, Polar Dance, and his most recent - The Natural World.

Katmai Bears Caught in the Crossfire

Brown bears living in and near Katmai National Park & Preserveare threatened by overzealous hunting regulations adopted by thestate of Alaska.

I wrote a letter for NPCA to deliver to the Alaska Board of Game meeting in March asking that these bears beprotected. I hope you will take a minute to do the same.

These bears are some of the most photographed in the world--but all that could change with continued over-harvesting.

Take action today! http://ga1.org/campaign/katmai_bear?rk=p7M1DF11XzhsW

President Bush May Open Alaska's Bristol Bay to Offshore Drilling

Fishing groups, Native interests and Conservation groups send open letter urging the President to maintain protection for Bristol Bay.

The Wilderness Society

Anchorage (November 29, 2006) – A number of separate sources are confirming that President Bush plans to rescind the “Executive OCS Leasing Withdrawal” for Alaska’s Bristol Bay within the next few days. For years, the presidential withdrawal has prohibited offshore oil and gas development in this highly sensitive region of the nation’s Outer Continental Shelf.

In response, diverse organizations including fishing groups, conservation organizations and Native interests sent an open letter to the President today urging him to maintain protection for Bristol Bay. These groups are reflective of the many organizations representing millions of U.S. citizens that have recently voiced opposition to offshore oil and gas development in Bristol Bay via public comments to the federal Minerals Management Service.

As the letter states, “The presidential withdrawal, currently in effect until 2012, serves a vital role in protecting the world-class marine resources, sea life, fishing livelihoods, and resource-dependent coastal communities of the region from the potentially devastating ecological, economic, social, and cultural impacts of offshore oil and gas development.” (Copy of the letter pasted below end of release.)

The offshore area targeted for oil and gas development supports unparalleled fisheries including the world’s largest wild run of sockeye salmon. The area being considered also overlaps with critical habitat for the highly endangered North Pacific right whale. The region’s coastal wetlands, lagoons and sheltered bays serve as migratory hubs, staging areas and wintering grounds for huge numbers of waterfowl and shorebirds.

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