WildEarth Guardians

A Force for Nature

Select Page

Current work in wildlife, rivers, public lands, and climate

Press Releases

New Report Highlights 10 Wildlife Conservation Priorities for the Trump Administration

Date
December 21, 2016
Contact
Taylor Jones, (720) 443-2615, tjones@wildearthguardians.org
In This Release
Climate + Energy, Wildlife   Chinook Salmon, Jaguar, Joshua tree
#KeepItInTheGround, #SafeguardTheSagebrushSea
Washington, D.C. – As the ObamaAdministration prepares to hand over the reins of the executive branch toPresident-elect Donald Trump, the DC-based Endangered Species Coalition released on Wednesday a “Top Ten” list of imperiled species in need of strong conservation measures. The report, “Removing the Walls to Recovery: Top 10 Species Priorities for a New Administration,” highlights some of the most significant threats to vanishing wildlife such as jaguars and elephants, and identifies important actions the next administration could take to slow their rates of extinction.

The report includes the Joshua tree, which is threatened by climate change. This icon of the southwestern desert grows in California, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. It needs specific climate conditions to reproduce and depends on one type of moth for pollination; the delicate balance which allows Joshua trees to survive may be upset by climate disruptions.

WildEarth Guardians and theNative Plant Conservation Campaign nominated the Joshua tree for the report because action on climate change is needed now to protect the Joshua tree into the future.

“Because these plants live so long and are so slow to reproduce, conservationists must think in terms of centuries, not years,” said Taylor Jones, endangered species advocate for WildEarth Guardians. “We need to halt climate change now for these iconic trees to have any hope of survival.”

“The Joshua tree has adapted over thousands of years to thrive in a very harsh desert environment, where other species could not even survive”, said Emily Roberson, Director of the Native PlantConservation Campaign. “It creates habitat and food that are essential to the ecosystem and also support a complex web of unique desert wildlife”.

Some of the species in the report, such as the Joshua tree and Elkhorn coral, are foundational species, which play a critical role as building blocks for their ecosystems, but are threatened by global climate change.

Other critically important species in the report are keystone species, such as Hawaii’s yellow-faced bee, the jaguar, and the Snake River salmon.All keystone species have a disproportionately large impact on other species and ecosystems, relative to their abundance. For instance, Hawaii’s yellow-faced bee is a pollinator impacted by habitat loss.

The jaguar of the southwest United States is a keystone predator. It is particularly threatened by habitat fragmentation caused, in part, due to impenetrable immigration barriers along the U.S. – Mexican border. The report urges Mr. Trump to abandon plans to further fortify the southern border, and to make existing barriers more wildlife-friendly.

Snake River Chinook salmon, meanwhile, are among the longest and highest-migrating salmon on the planet—often swimming 1,000 miles upstream and climbing more than 6,000 feet in elevation to reach their spawning grounds. More than 130 other species depend upon salmon, including orcas, bears and eagles.

The U.S. Fish and WildlifeService declined to list the greater sage grouse—an umbrella species—as endangered in 2014, citing an unprecedented region-wide habitat conservation effort, tied to state and federal conservation plans. However, several appropriations riders offered in Congress in 2016 would block implementation of these conservation plans, as well as any futureEndangered Species Act protections for the imperiled bird. Meanwhile, grouse numbers have declined by 90 percent from historic levels. Protecting umbrella species like sage grouse conserves habitats on which many other species rely.

“Our native fish, plants and wildlife are critically valuable and part of the legacy we leave for future generations of Americans,” said Leda Huta, executive director of the Endangered SpeciesCoalition. “We hope the next administration takes seriously its responsibility to protect endangered species and habitat. The fate of species is in their hands. Their actions could dictate whether species such as the vaquita, the redwolf, and others, become extinct in the wild.”

The remaining species featured in the Endangered Species Coalition’s report include the African elephant, Baldcy press tree, the wolf, and the vaquita—a small endangered Mexican porpoise.

Endangered Species Coalition member groups nominated plant and wildlife species for the report. A committee of distinguished scientists reviewed the nominations, and decided which species should be included in the final report. The full report, along with links to photos and additional species information can be viewed and downloaded from the website, http://removingthewallstorecovery.org.

The Endangered Species Coalition produces a “Top 10” report annually, focusing on a different theme each year. Previous years’ reports are also available on the Coalition’s website.

Other Contact
Emily Roberson, Native Plant Conservation Campaign, (415) 531-4439, emilyr@plantsocieties.org