Working on several fronts, the National Wildlife Federation is battling to reverse the severe
decline of salmon in the Pacific Northwest. For decades, the fish
have suffered losses as a result of
human activities in the region, and many populations of all five salmonid species in the Northwest
are now federally listed as endangered or threatened.
NWF is particularly concerned about the future of the two
surviving salmon species that spawn in the Snake
River: chinook and sockeye. Experts say that
these fish are likely to be extinct by 2017, unless the federal government agrees to bypass four
dams on the lower Snake River that block the salmon from reaching their spawning grounds. In
an effort to save the fish, NWF and two of its state affiliates, the Washington Wildlife Federation
and the Idaho Wildlife Federation, have filed suit in federal court seeking partial removal of the
dams.
Recently, a federal judge ruled that the government is not exempt from complying with
water-quality standards in its operation of the dams. The judge gave both sides 90 days to
demonstrate whether or not the dams are responsible for damage to the river and its fish.
Not long ago, NWF and its allies delivered to the White House written comments from 120,000
citizens asking for the administration´s support for removing the Snake River dams. NWF also
organized people to participate in 16 public hearings on dam removal, held throughout the Pacific
Northwest and Alaska. In addition, NWF helped convince Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber to
publicly announce his support for the plan to dismantle the dams.
To educate people about the issue, NWF has produced a video--Bringing Back the Salmon,
Bypassing Dams to Restore Snake River Salmon--which it will send to groups for a nominal
shipping charge.
It´s not too late to make your voice heard. To find out more about what you can do to help, check
NWF´s Web site at www.nwf.org/salmon, or contact Tim Stearns,
418 First Avenue West, Seattle, Washington 98119; phone: 206-285-8707; e-mail:
salmon@nwf.org.
Back to the beginning.
Unbelievably, there is no federal regulation of hazardous mercury emissions from coal-fired power
plants, the single greatest source of mercury pollution in the environment. But that free ride may
soon come to an end, and NWF is urging its members to help make sure it does.
NWF is calling on people both to let the Environmental Protection Agency and Congress know
they want the agency to impose controls on those emissions and, if possible, to attend a public
hearing on the issue to be held in Chicago on June 13. Congress has directed the agency to decide
by December 2000 whether to take action regarding mercury emissions from power plants.
Mercury emitted into the air falls to earth with precipitation and builds up in the food chain,
threatening people and wildlife. More than 40 states have issued fish consumption advisories
because of mercury contamination.
To find out more about this issue and what you can do to help, contact Andy Buchsbaum at
NWF´s Great Lakes Field Office, 506 E. Liberty,
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104.
Phone: 734-769-3351; e-mail: buchsbaum@nwf.org.
Back to the beginning.
In a weekend blitz of calls and e-mails, Tennessee sportsmen recently persuaded legislators to
shelve a bill that would have seriously weakened the independent state wildlife agency.
The victory was especially sweet for the Tennessee Conservation League, one of NWF´s affiliates,
which alerted the media and rallied sportsmen´s groups to protest the impending bill.
Under the proposed bill, the Wildlife Resources Agency, now controlled by sportsmen and funded
by hunting and fishing-permit fees and fines, would have become part of the Department of
Environment. Its director would have become a political appointee. Sportsmen´s dollars, instead
of funding wildlife conservation, would have gone into the state´s general fund. As a result, the
state also would have lost $6 to $8 million in federal matching money for conservation.
Back to the beginning.
Bryan Pritchett, a natural resources conservation coordinator for the city of Boulder, Colorado,
was elected to the office of chair-elect of NWF by the delegates to NWF´s 64th annual meeting
held recently in Seattle, Washington.
Next year, Pritchett will succeed Paula J. Del Giudice, current chair, for a two-year term as the
voluntary chair of the NWF board of directors. Pritchett is responsible for overseeing natural
resource management, agricultural practices and law enforcement activities on 25,000 acres of
open space in the Boulder area.
Newly elected board members include:
- Kenneth Driggers, founder and executive director of the Palmetto Conservation Foundation,
from Columbia, South Carolina.
- Faith Gemmill, program coordinator for the Gwich´in Steering Committee, a native rights and
environmental advocacy group, from Fairbanks, Alaska.
- Thea Levkovitz, who coordinates regional outreach efforts for The Wilderness Society and
lives in Issaquah, Washington.
- James Martin, conservation director of Pure Fishing, one of the world´s largest fishing tackle
companies, from Mulino, Orgeon.
- Rodolfo Ogarrio, cofounder and director general of the Environmental Education and
Training Institute of North America, from Mexico City, Mexico.
- Gail Seibel, a retired educator and avid outdoor enthusiast, from Jefferson City, Missouri.
- Craig Thompson, an engineering and environmental science professor at Western Wyoming
Community College, from Rock Springs, Wyoming.
Back to the beginning.
Among large environmental organizations, NWF does the best job of responsibly spending its
supporters´ money, according to SmartMoney magazine.
NWF was honored for spending nearly 90 cents of every dollar it receives directly on educating,
inspiring and assisting people to conserve and restore wildlife and wild places.
The magazine selected NWF as tops in the environmental category from among a pool of the 100
largest U.S. charities, based on 1998 revenue. Winners were those found to channel the highest
percentage of public donations directly into programs, spend the lowest amount of donated funds
on fund-raising and hold the fewest public donation dollars in savings.
"We understand that our 4.1 million members and supporters want their gifts to generate
real results for people and wildlife, and we do everything possible to make that happen,"
says Lawrence J. Amon, NWF´s chief financial officer.
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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has given its final approval to a plan that would give local
people day-to-day authority for managing grizzly bears reintroduced
into the Selway-Bitterroot
Wilderness Area of Idaho and Montana. The plan was written by NWF and Defenders of Wildlife
in cooperation with the Resource Organization on Timber Supply, which represents mill workers,
and the Intermountain Forest Association, an organization of foresters.
This is the first time since the Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973 that a plan negotiated
and written outside the agency has been selected as the preferred method for restoring a species.
To ensure that the Citizens Management Committee´s actions are based on sound science, two
scientific advisors will provide technical advice at all meetings. Another scientific team appointed
jointly by the Secretary of the Interior and the governors of Idaho and Montana will arbitrate any
disputes the committee cannot resolve.
NWF is now working to ensure that Congress provides funding to implement the unique plan.
Back to the beginning.
A recent remodeling project at the headquarters of the Vermont Natural Resources Council, an
NWF affiliate, is a stellar example of "practice what you preach."
The council made a point of choosing wood products certified by NWF through the SmartWood
program as coming from environmentally well-managed forests.
Lumber for the 2x4 framing came from Seven Islands, a
Maine firm that was one of the first and
largest companies to be certified as environmentally responsible. New office floors are made from
wood harvested by Vermont Family Forests, an association of small woodland owners who have
joined together to become SmartWood certified.
To learn more about the SmartWood Program, contact NWF´s Northeast Field Office, 58 State St., Montpelier, Vermont 05602. Phone: 802-229-0650.
Back to the beginning.
This summer, as many as 10,000 youngsters at more than 50 camps across the country will learn
to appreciate birds and how to create a bird-friendly backyard habitat through a special curriculum
developed by NWF, the American Camping Association and Wild Birds Unlimited.
Aimed primarily at middle-school children, the 10-hour
program covers basic bird biology and
what birds need in order to thrive. Campers will receive a take-home brochure urging families to
create a Backyard Wildlife HabitatTM site and get it certified
by NWF.
To find out if a camp in your area is offering the program, contact Alicia Craig-Lich through Wild
Birds Unlimited, 317-571-7100, ext. 121, or e-mail craiglicha@wbu.com.
Back to the beginning.
When Texas recently proposed to weaken water-quality standards for some of its major rivers,
lakes and coastal waters, NWF´s Gulf States Field Office and the Texas Committee
on Natural Resources, one of NWF´s affiliates, sprang into action.
Along with other conservation and sportsmen´s groups, they protested the proposal in detailed
comments to the state, placed articles in anglers´ and sportsmen´s magazines, circulated fact sheets
and press alerts, and distributed thousands of response postcards urging concerned citizens to
register their opposition.
The proposed new rules would allow more pollutants into key
bodies of water, including a
portion of one of the state´s premier bass-fishing lakes, and would scale back monitoring of
recreational waters, leaving people more at risk from harmful bacteria and other disease-causing
agents.
"With some 40 percent of the state´s monitored water bodies officially listed as polluted, this
is no time to relax either our standards or our vigilance about water quality," says Myron
Hess, attorney and water-quality specialist in NWF´s Gulf States office.
Besides opposing any weakening of the rules, NWF and the Texas group are urging regulators to
improve water-quality standards by making an explicit commitment to protecting aquatic
habitat.
The state will submit revised standards to the Environmental Protection Agency for approval this
summer. Unless the standards improve significantly by that time, says Hess, NWF and the Texas
group likely will urge that the state´s action be overturned.
Back to the beginning.
Stormwater runoff laden with dirt, litter, fertilizer, oil and heavy metals is a significant source of
pollution throughout New England´s Lake Champlain Basin. Yet, many local officials are
ill-equipped to deal with pressures to convert open land to roads, parking lots and other hard
surfaces that dramatically increase stormwater runoff.
To give those officials the tools they need to make sound land-use and transportation decisions,
NWF´s Northeast Field Office recently conducted
stormwater management
workshops in six Vermont communities.
The sessions focused on techniques for including water-quality protection in review of land-use
applications and provided model language that can be incorporated into town plans and land-use
regulations.
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According to the readers of Popular Science magazine, the 1999 "Best of What´s
New" was not an oven that cooks with light or the discovery of an entirely new element,
but rather the nation´s first removal of an operating dam to restore historic fisheries to a Maine
river.
The decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to remove the Edwards Dam on the
Kennebec River last year was a victory for a coalition of conservation organizations, including the
Natural Resources Council of Maine, one of NWF´s affiliates.
The coalition estimates that at least 10 species of migratory fish will return to the 17-mile stretch
of the river formerly blocked by the dam. State biologists report a significant improvement in
water quality just months after the dam was breached.
Each year Popular Science recognizes 100 "Best of What´s New" recipients,
and
readers then vote for the top winner. Previous winners have included the Mars Rover, the world´s
first cloned mammal and a 70-miles-per-gallon car.
"What´s neat about the dam winning is that it represents the only technological step
backward among all the new gewgaws and that makes for a big step forward for fish and water
habitat," says Don Hooper, regional organizer in NWF´s Northeast Natural Resource
Center.
Back to the beginning.
Along both coasts of the United States, the mighty humpback
whale is now making its annual
migration north to summer feeding grounds located off Newfoundland and Labrador in the
Atlantic and off Alaska in the Pacific.
Listed as endangered since 1970, the humpback now numbers
fewer than 12,000 worldwide.
Because it also illustrates the difficulties of protecting species that live outside the human concept
of national boundaries, the humpback is among the 25 endangered and threatened species
highlighted in NWF´s Keep the Wild AliveTM campaign.
Not only does the whale cross international waters, but its habitat and food fish also are subject to
pollution and overexploitation by other nations. Protected since 1986 by an international ban on
whaling, humpbacks are still targets in some countries that ignore the ban.
Other whales are killed or injured by collisions with ships and boats, and many face food
shortages because of overfishing and marine pollution. Noise from ships, aircraft, offshore oil rigs
and other human activities is thought to interfere with the whales´ ability to feed and breed.
While the nations of the world have made great strides in preventing direct killing of whales, they
now face the greater challenge of controlling ocean pollution and development on land and sea
that threaten the species´ food and habitat.
Back to the beginning.
