jex

Faced with a dwindling grizzly population and warnings from its own bear experts, the government of Alberta, Canada, will decide soon whether to allow the province's spring grizzly hunt. The government's endangered species subcommittee and grizzly bear recovery team have both recommended suspending the hunt and designating the bear as a threatened species. A government report released last September showed that the number of grizzlies in Alberta falls well short of earlier estimates, which measured the population at about 1,000. According to the most recent data, fewer than 700 of these bears now survive in Alberta -- home of the Castle and Bighorn wildlands and other key migratory routes for Rocky Mountain grizzlies -- and the population may be declining. Last year, 18 grizzlies were killed in the hunt, which is only open to Albertans.

» Please urge Alberta's government to suspend the grizzly hunt

http://www.savebiogems.org/castle/takeaction.asp <---click here



TONGASS LOSES ROADLESS RULE PROTECTIONS
In a heartbreaking setback that jeopardizes America's largest temperate rainforest, the Bush administration has announced it will exempt Alaska's Tongass National Forest from the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. The U.S. Forest Service issued the landmark rule in early 2001 to shield roughly one-third of national forest lands, some 58 million acres, from virtually all roadbuilding and logging. The administration's decision to amend the measure, which it defended with false and misleading claims, came despite years of overwhelming public support for protecting Tongass roadless areas. The Forest Service has already begun signing leases with timber companies that will expose the forest's 2.5 million-acre heart -- habitat for salmon, wolves and bald eagles -- to aggressive logging and roadbuilding. In the coming year, we'll keep you posted on new ways you can fight to protect the Tongass, including using your influence as a consumer.

FEDERAL JUDGE BACKS YELLOWSTONE SNOWMOBILE BAN
On the eve of Yellowstone National Park's winter season, a federal judge ordered the Bush administration to revive a Clinton-era plan to phase out snowmobile use in the park. The Bush administration's counter-proposal, which would have increased the number of snowmobiles allowed in America's oldest national park to 950 a day, ignored the Park Service's own findings on the dangers of this activity to park visitors and wildlife. The reinstated plan calls for admitting just 490 snowmobiles per day this winter, and none the following season, and for expanding the use of environmentally friendly snow coaches. News of this victory will be particularly satisfying for BioGems Defenders, who sent tens of thousands of messages in support of a Yellowstone snowmobile ban last year. The Bush administration, though, still seeking to overturn the plan, has already filed its intent to appeal the judge's decision.

SEISMIC BLASTS TEAR THROUGH CAPE BRETON WATERS
Despite heavy opposition from scientists, environmentalists and the fishing community, a 300-foot vessel conducted several days of seismic tests to determine the location of oil and gas reserves off western Cape Breton Island in December. During the tests, air guns shot 220-decibel sound waves day and night through the delicate marine habitat of snow crabs, dolphins and pilot whales -- with unknown environmental consequences. If energy resources are discovered in these waters, an ominous network of wells and drilling platforms could sprout up closer to the Cape Breton shore than to any other coast in Canada.

» If you haven't already, press Canada's government to declare a moratorium on oil and gas exploration and drilling in the Gulf of St. Lawrence

http://www.savebiogems.org/watchlist/takeaction.asp?step=2&item=10103 <---click here.

Thanks,

J.