Species conservation – protecting western wildlife
Wildlife
The American West is home to an incredible diversity of life, from delicate checkerspot butterflies in the mountains of New Mexico, to silvery minnows in the waters of the iconic Rio Grande, to majestic grizzly bears roaming the valleys in and around Yellowstone National Park. Each of these species belongs in, and to, the Western landscape. Each has an unalienable right to exist and thrive. We have a duty to protect that right.
And the wildlife of the West badly need protection. These species face a barrage of threats, most of them human-caused: disappearing habitat, climate change, traps, poisons, intolerance. We already have tools to conserve the West’s diversity and protect its life—the most powerful of these being the Endangered Species Act—yet many of these tools remain underused, and many are under threat, even as many species march toward extinction.
We must shift the paradigm of wildlife management from persecution to protection. For wildlife’s sake, we are relentless advocates, reformers, and voices for the vulnerable.
Wildlife Program Work
WildEarth Guardians’ Wildlife program is focusing our energy on seven key campaigns, ranging from protecting endangered species to fundamentally reforming the federal wildlife-killing agency Wildlife Services.
Endangered Species Act Defense
Endangered Species Act Protections
End the War on Wildlife
Fundamentally reforming the federal wildlife-killing agency, Wildlife Services, ending its use of cruel and indiscriminate weapons, and adopting a coexistence mandate
Defend Native Carnivores
End Cruel Trapping
Safeguard the Sagebrush Sea
Brave New Wild Blog
WildEarth Guardians shines at annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference
Our brilliant staff are leading the charge to protect wildlife, safeguard Western forests, and strengthen our movement
Get to know Hop Hopkins, Guardians’ new Executive Director
We’re excited to welcome Hop to Guardians—and think you will be too!
Report: Grizzly bears returning to the wild Bitterroot
This rugged and roadless country is key habitat for grizzly recovery in the Northern Rockies.
Wildlife Press
WildEarth Guardians announces Lindsay Larris as Conservation Director
Larris is a fierce advocate for wildlife, political and agency accountability, and upholding the laws that protect the natural world.
Read more >Manage public lands for flexibility — including wolves
I love the lands of my home state deeply, and I long for the day when we can manage those lands for more than just the interests of human populations.
Read more >The Yaak Valley Is Ground Zero for Montana’s Environmental Future
The controversy reached its boiling point in August when U.S. District Court Judge Donald W. Molloy ruled that the USFS failed to adequately account for the Black Ram’s negative consequences on the Yaak’s grizzly bear population and climate change more generally.
Read more >