ConservationNEXT

Western Environmental Law Center

Website
http://www.westernlaw.org
Contact Name
Katie Laughlin
Contact Email
laughlin@antispamwesternlaw.org
Location
Eugene, OR
As a nonprofit public interest advocacy center, the Western Environmental Law Center works to protect and restore Western wildlands, and advocates for a healthy environment on behalf of communities throughout the West.

We envision a West with vibrant, sustainable, and healthy communities; clean and abundant water; a functioning, connected network of permanently protected ecosystems; the resilience to adapt to global warming; and the tools and willpower to minimize our region’s contributions to climate change.
Our two areas of in-depth focus are:

•    Permanent protection and healthy functioning of ecosystems, including wildlife corridors; and
•    Environmentally healthy, livable communities.

Our four regional offices are located in Eugene, OR; Taos, NM; Durango, CO; and Helena, MT.
 
For more information please visit www.westernlaw.org.

Project Update

For the last two years, WELC has prioritized the protection of wildlife corridors in order to address the catastrophic effects that climate change will have on the West's water and vegetation, in turn forcing wildlife to move in order to survive. At the heart of our work is fundamentally shifting how wildlife protection is viewed in decision-making processes to ensure that wildlife corridors are considered early in the process, before it is too late. 

With the support of the Conservation Alliance we have achieved much success and are working to advance protection of wildlife migration corridors at the federal, state, and local levels.

For example, with our partners, the Center for Large Landscape Conservation (the Center), WELC is working to administratively designate wildlife corridors on both Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands to increase protections and set the stage for federal administrative action by the Departments of Energy, Interior, and Agriculture.

Following the precedent set in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, where the "Path of the Pronghorn" wildlife migration corridor was officially designated to safeguard it from activities that would impede the successful migration of the pronghorn antelope, we are currently exploring protections in the HD Mountains Mule Deer Corridor in Southwest Colorado, Paunsaugunt-Kaibab Mule Deer Corridor in Utah and Arizona, Path of the Pronghorn in Wyoming, and Sheldon-Hart Wildlife Refuge in Nevada and Oregon.

In addition, with our partner the Wildlands Network, we are leading a strategically focused group of conservation organizations to identify federal priorities for habitat connectivity and wildlife corridors. This work includes the following efforts:

1) Legislative: Support and enact section 481 of H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, which creates a National Wildlife Habitat and Corridors Information Program;

2) Administrative: Issue a joint Secretarial Order requiring each agency of the United States with responsibilities or jurisdiction affecting natural or wildlife resources to identify and protect wildlife corridors and crucial habitat as part of their planning and decision making processes; and

3) Partnership with States: Fully implement the Memorandum of Understanding between the Western Governors' Association and federal agencies to coordinate on the development of state-based decision support systems that aid in the protection of wildlife corridors and crucial habitat.

Read the DC memo issued by these groups on June 22, 2009. 

As follow up and implementation of this memo, WELC and its partners submitted letters to Secretaries Vilsack and Salazar to provide thoughts on specifics actions the Department of Interior and Agriculture can take to incorporate habitat connectivity and wildlife corridors into the public lands management planning process.

To learn more about our work to protect wildlife corridors please visit our wildlife corridors webpage at www.westerlaw.org/our-work/wildlife-corridors. To learn more about the Western Environmental Law Center please visit our website at www.westernlaw.org.