Updates + News
Western Wolf Coalition Challenges Nationwide Wolf Delisting
January 14, 2021
Today, a coalition of Western wolf advocates challenged the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to prematurely strip wolves of federal protections in the contiguous 48 states, in violation of the Endangered Species Act. read more >>
USFWS Cuts Northern Spotted Owl Critical Habitat by 42% in Likely Death Sentence for Species
January 13, 2021
Today, with six days remaining in the Trump administration, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a final rule eliminating 3.4 million acres of critical habitat for the northern spotted owl in Washington state, Oregon, and California. This decision comes one month after the Service announced that the species should be uplisted from threatened to endangered, but the agency is too busy to provide these desperately needed protections. read more >>
2020: Looking Back On Victories and Moving Forward With Challenges
December 31, 2020
This past year has been a challenge. Given that we’ve had one of the least environmentally friendly administrations in history with the backdrop of a global pandemic, EPIC has overcome some major hurdles and secured important victories for old growth forests, native wildlife, and public lands. We are so thankful for our members to helping us achieve so much this year and we wanted to share with you what we've accomplished in 2020 and where we plan to go in 2021!read more >>
Santa’s Naughty and Nice List Sneak Peek: Environment Issue 2020
December 24, 2020
We here at EPIC are close with Kris Kringle. (He is an environmentalist after all, using reindeer to power his sleigh instead of fossil fuels.) We are so close that EPIC has an exclusive sneak preview at his naughty and nice list. To those on the nice list, we are incredibly grateful to all of those that work hard to protect our habitat, Earth. Thank you for your generosity, kindness, and inspiration this year. We look forward to a brighter future ahead. read more >>
Take Action For Richardson Grove!
December 14, 2020
We need your support at the Board of Supervisors weekly Zoom meeting on the morning of Tuesday, December 15th. Staff have provided the Board with an alternative statement expressing community opposition to the Richardson Grove Project and highlighting that the county takes no formal position on the project. This is BIG! Please let the Supervisors know that you support the alternative statement!read more >>
Are Toxic Tires Killing Salmon?
December 14, 2020
A new study published in the journal Science may help explain why California’s coho salmon runs continue to decline. The study examined “urban runoff mortality syndrome,” a disconcerting phenomenon where stormwater runoff produces large mortality events. EPIC’s podcast, the EcoNews Report, recently featured Warner Chabot from the San Francisco Estuary Institute to discuss the report. Read more and listen to the podcast in this article. read more >>
USFWS Acknowledges Yet Continues To Delay On Protections For Northern Spotted Owls
December 14, 2020This Monday, December 14th, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a finding on the northern spotted owl’s listing status, spurred by a lawsuit filed last week by EPIC and other wildlife advocates. The finding states “reclassification of the northern spotted owl from a threatened species to an endangered species is warranted but precluded by higher priority actions to amend the Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants. We will develop a proposed rule to reclassify the northern spotted owl as our priorities allow.”read more >>
ACTION ALERT: Tell CAL FIRE Not To Log The Western Jackson Demonstration State Forest
December 14, 2020
CAL FIRE intends to conduct extensive logging in the Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF). Second-growth forests like JDSF are exceedingly rare. Because they are so rare, second-growth forests provide critical habitat for a wide variety of threatened species, such as northern spotted owls. The JDSF also contains some of the last remaining coho salmon in California and any logging operation will threaten the spawning of these crucial salmonids. Let CAL FIRE know that California’s state lands are better used by wildlife, recreational users, and for carbon sequestration.read more >>
Richardson Grove: A Setback But Not A Loss
December 10, 2020
A setback but not a loss. That’s what I told my board and staff after we received news on Wednesday that the Ninth Circuit reversed our lower court victory. Don’t worry. Bulldozers are not set to start ripping into the roots of old-growth redwoods...yet. But this setback should inspire us to work harder to stop the project, something that will demand concentrated grassroots advocacy and political action. In other words, we need you.read more >>
Time’s Up: Feds Missed Deadlines For Years, Harming Imperiled Northern Spotted Owls
December 8, 2020
Today, a group of wildlife advocates filed a complaint in federal district court against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (the Service) for falling to take multiple actions required by the Endangered Species Act to protect the northern spotted owl from extinction. In 2015, wildlife advocates petitioned the Service to increase protections for the owl by “uplisting” the species from threatened to endangered due to declining habitat, effects of climate change, and competition from the invasive barred owl. read more >>
