Wildlife Weekly Wrap-Up

Victory for Forests and Wildlife – The U.S. Supreme Court Denies Effort to Overturn Tongass National Forest Protections
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a last‐ditch effort by the State of Alaska to make the Tongass National Forest exempt from the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. The Roadless Rule protects the wildlands at the heart of the Tongass – the most expansive temperate rainforest in the world, and America’s largest national forest – from unnecessary and damaging road construction. The Supreme Court’s decision was also a victory for Alaskans – and all American – roadless areas and wildlife. Future generations will now have the opportunity to experience the majesty of this and other forested ecosystems and the salmon, bears, wolves, birds and all the myriad wildlife that depend on it. What a great way to start the week!

Backstory on Recent Elk and Wolf Conflicts in Wyoming
The news last week brought significant attention to a very rare event in which wolves killed 19 elk outside of Bondurant, Wyoming. The elk were in a “feedground,” an area where feed is placed out for elk during the winter. Despite evidence suggesting that artificially concentrating elk in this way can lead to disease, Wyoming continues with the program. While wolves do not hunt for sport, they rarely will kill more than they can eat in one sitting, and may return to these areas to feed later. When wolves do kill more than they can eat, it is called a “surplus kill” and although it is rare, it does occur among many predator species. Wolves are still protected in Wyoming under the federal Endangered Species Act and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has already stated it will not kill these wolves, a decision we fully support.

Coral Catastrophe Linked to Climate Change 
On the heels of a record warm 2015, 2016 has already given us the hottest January and February ever recorded. Now a new study shows that the Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is experiencing a catastrophic bleaching event, which happens when water temperatures around coral get too warm. Corals live and grow thanks to their symbiotic relationship with algae, which provide the coral with food through photosynthesis. But when temperatures rise, the algae departs, leaving the coral ghostly white and with no way to feed itself. The waters around Australia are at or near record warmth, due to a combination of El Niño conditions, and a very warm summer that just ended in the Southern Hemisphere. Scientists performed a flyover of the Great Barrier Reef (which is so large it can be seen from space) and said that 95% of the northern portion of the reef was undergoing moderate to severe bleaching. One reef expert has called it the “worst mass bleaching event in history.” It is possible for the algae to return and the coral to recover, but if the bleaching goes on for too long, the coral dies, and leaves the hundreds of species which depend on thriving reefs with nowhere to go. To learn more about climate change, its effects on wildlife and habitats, and what we can do to fight it, check out blogs from our resident climate expert Aimee Delach.

White Nose Syndrome on the West Coast Could Spell Disaster for Bats
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has confirmed that a bat found in North Bend, Washington has white nose syndrome, a disease that has killed more than six million insect-eating bats in the United States. The sick bat, a little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus), died two days after it was discovered by hikers. Later, tests confirmed the worst – that this bat was infected with the same fungal disease that has devastated bat populations from the East coast to Nebraska. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe urged people to focus on preventing the spread of the syndrome by following decontamination practices and staying out of caves where bats may live.

SB 1083 Passes California’s Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water
On Tuesday, California’s Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water passed SB 1083, the Lempert-Keene-Seastrand Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act. California Senator Ben Allen introduced this bill in mid-February as a response to the 2015 oil spill along the Southern California coast, when over 100,000 gallons of crude oil spilled onto the beach and into the ocean. The spill left hundreds of animals dead or injured, including 16 dolphins, 136 sea lions, and 67 brown pelicans according to the Oiled Wildlife Care Network. SB 1083 establishes a protocol in California’s Oil Contingency Plan to distribute information rapidly to communities that are affected. Defenders of Wildlife has actively supported this bill, which will not only ensure that local communities receive the rapid response they deserve in the wake of an oil spill, but will also ensure quicker response to wildlife devastation. SB 1083 is a great example of how we can implement communications into oil contingency plans for the benefit of local communities and wildlife in times of crisis. The bill will be heard next in California’s Senate Committee on Environmental Quality. Stayed tuned for further developments.

Sad News for Wolves in Oregon
In response to a series livestock-wolf conflicts in northeast Oregon, wildlife managers have lethally removed four wolves from the Imnaha wolf pack. These four wolves appear to have split from the rest of the Imnaha pack. Due to the elderly nature of two of these wolves, in addition to unrelated injuries, they were unable to hunt wild prey, staying close to livestock instead. The other members of the Imnaha pack were not implicated in these livestock-wolf conflicts and are still in the pack’s normal territory in the Willowa Whitman National Forest.

While Oregon’s managers did appear to follow the state’s wolf management plan when responding to this difficult and evolving situation, it is still a very sad day for us to see four wolves lost. Defenders provided a great deal of input to help state officials to create this plan, offering our expertise especially on nonlethal methods of keeping wolves away from livestock. The final plan is a compromise, but it is among the best of all the state plans in that it emphasizes the value of wolves on the landscape, and requires landowners to try nonlethal methods of deterring wolves before killing them is ever considered.

We have provided the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and area ranchers with new and tested nonlethal techniques to prevent wolves from preying on livestock. These successfully prevented the loss of the Mt Emily pack in 2015 and have helped other packs like the Imnaha pack since their establishment in 2008. We have distributed information about nonlethal measures to avoid livestock losses to wolves to thousands of livestock owners and wildlife managers across the region and have hosted training workshops to help them gain hands on experience with these tools and techniques. We remain committed to working with local agencies, communities and landowners to improve the guidelines to address livestock conflicts in Oregon, and to sharing our expertise on proven nonlethal tools and strategies to reduce potential conflicts moving forward and prevent additional killing.