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Defenders News Flashes Spring 2003
Woodland caribou: Species on the Brink
Defenders of Wildlife and other conservation groups are petitioning the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to designate about a half-million acres of critical habitat in Washington and Idaho to save woodland caribou from extinction.
The latest census counted only 34 caribou in the Selkirk Mountains, the last population in the Lower 48. There are so few of these magnificent animals remaining that they have become known as "the ghosts of Selkirk."
"This is a species on the brink," says William Snape, Defenders' vice president and chief counsel. "Yet continual road building, logging and high-impact recreation within caribou recovery areas are still sanctioned by federal and state agencies. Critical habitat protection is long overdue."
Wolves Returning to Utah? Not this one, anyway!
There's evidence that endangered gray wolves have returned to Utah for the first time since they were exterminated there more than 70 years ago.
Near Logan, a coyote-trapper inadvertently caught a radio-collared wolf that had wandered into the state from Yellowstone National Park. Despite protests from Defenders of Wildlife, federal officials quickly returned that wolf to Wyoming.
"I don't want wolves exterminated," state Rep. Michael Styler explained to the Deseret News. "I just don't want them in Utah."
But there's still hope for conservationists who want to see wolves roaming freely over more of their historic range. The trapper spotted a second set of wolf paw prints nearby.
Utah wildlife officials say it's only a matter of time before more wolves arrive in Utah from Idaho, Wyoming or Montana.
Defenders fights challenges to conservation measures
Defenders of Wildlife went to court in February to try to help beat back challenges to two important marine conservation measures in California.
The first is central California's restrictions on set gillnets -- a fishing method used to catch shark and halibut that has resulted in the entanglement and deaths of thousands of common murres, sea otters and other marine animals. Fishermen are trying to overturn the restrictions in a lawsuit.
Defenders of Wildlife also is seeking to intervene against a lawsuit by the recreational fishing industry challenging the recent designation of part of Santa Barbara's Channel Islands as a protected zone for an abundance of marine life, including sea otters.
Defenders names new Canada and Mexico staff
Jim Pissot, the new manager of Defenders of Wildlife's Canada program, brings more than 20 years experience advocating western wild land and wildlife conservation.
Among other organizations, he co-founded the Utah Wilderness Association and worked for the National Audubon Society, the W. Alton Jones Foundation, and the National Parks and Conservation Association. Most recently, he was executive director of the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, working with Canadian and U.S. scientists and advocates to identify, protect and connect wildlife habitats in the Rocky Mountains.
Defenders also welcomed Juan Carlos Cantœ as the new face of Defenders' programs in Mexico. An expert on sea turtle conservation and illegal wildlife trade, he is a recognized leader in Mexico's growing environmental movement.
