November 2008

Write a Letter of Support for Wilderness

Just 3% of the million-acre Colville National Forest is today protected as wilderness. Yet the greater Columbia Highlands are home to some of Washington State's best wilderness trails in the Okanogan Highlands, Kettle River Range, and around Sullivan Lake in the Selkirk Mountains. These wild forests provide critical habitat for rare wildlife including grizzly bears, wolves, lynx, wolverine, and the only remaining woodland caribou in the lower 48 states. They deserve formal wilderness designation.

Wilderness protection provides a needed balance to a landscape that already experiences activities from logging and mining to motorized recreation. Now could be our best chance in nearly a quarter of a century to secure added protection for very special places in the Columbia Highlands. Please voice your support by Sunday, Nov. 30th, 2008, and share this alert with others. Use the "Forward to a Friend" link at the top of this message.

 

Take a Holiday from Economic Worries

We hear from members that providing lasting holiday memories and supporting our vital work for wildlife and wild places are both very important to you, even during these hard economic times. Does this mean you have to give up one for the other this season? Not at all!

You can give gift memberships that share our work with friends and family, and make donations to Conservation Northwest while doing your shopping with major retailers on iGive.com or GoodShop.com. You can even donate the proceeds of your post-holiday "re-gifting" through eBayGivingWorks.com. Or sign up as a Wildland Partner and become a monthly giver to stretch your conservation dollars. Happy holidays, from all of us!

 

 

Urge Protection for Northern Rockies Wolves

'Tis the season for last minute salvos by the Bush administration against America's wild heritage. Once again, the federal government is pushing to remove Northern Rockies populations of gray wolves from the Endangered Species list, leaving wolves vulnerable from northeastern Washington to Idaho to Montana. With resident wolves documented just this summer in Washington, delisting at this sensitive time has become a particularly poignant issue.

Endangered species protection continues to be critically important to gray wolves, whose populations in western states are only finally becoming healthy. By Friday, November 28, 2008, please send a comment to protect the gray wolf. Biologists tell us wolves still need our help. Urge the US Fish and Wildlife to keep gray wolves on the endangered species list.