Photo credit: Sam Parks

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.

Defend the Endangered Species Act

The Endangered Species Act is our country’s most essential environmental law protecting imperiled plants and animals, yet some members of Congress want to weaken the law. Tell Congress you value native wildlife and want to see all imperiled species protected.

ADD YOUR VOICE

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

Defending the Endangered Species Act, America’s most powerful environmental law

Endangered Species Act Protections

Ushering imperiled species onto the protections of the legal arc of the Endangered Species Act and using its full powers to ensure their survival and recovery

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

Fighting for bears, wolves, lynx, and other key ecosystem engineers of the West

End Cruel Trapping

Organizing against the vicious practice of trapping, which threatens native wildlife, humans, and companion animals

Safeguard the Sagebrush Sea

Protecting the sagebrush ecosystem between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada and its resident wildlife, including sage grouse

Protect Prairie Dog Empires

Ending the persecution and extermination of prairie dogs; engendering coexistence with these key ecosystem engineers

How You Can Help

Help protect the incredible, vulnerable wildlife of the West! Be a guardian for the wild by joining the conversation, learning about current issues, and making your voice heard. Together, we’re a powerful force for nature.

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Support Our Work

Wildlife Press

WildEarth Guardians scores groundbreaking legal win for the Joshua tree

Sep 22, 2021

Los Angeles, CA—A feder…

Federal Court Signals Hope for the Climate Threatened Joshua Tree

Counter Punch | Aug 26, 2021

After gearing up for the culmination of WildEarth Guardians’ nearly two-year long court battle to secure federal Endangered Species Act protections for the imperiled Joshua tree…

Nevada Bear Season Opens Despite Calls for Cancellation Due to Wildfires

Field and Stream | Sep 20, 2021

Nevada’s bear hunting season opened as scheduled on September 15, despite calls from some environmentalist and animal rights organizations to cancel most of the 2021 hunt due to drought and wildfires.

Contact

[email protected] 207-798-9788

Danielle Plourde

Data Management Administrator

Danielle joined Guardians in the summer of 2021. As part of the Guardians Resource Team, her role is largely focused on background support to keep the small and mighty engine that is WildEarth Guardians running smoothly. Danielle is no stranger to supportive roles, when she is not at Guardians she is supporting families during the wonderful, potent and awesome transition that is pregnancy, birth and postpartum. She has supported many families in New Mexico as a Doula. She also runs a small herbal company that focuses primarily on this transition. Danielle has a B.A. in philosophy and religious studies and sees her role as a birthworker and a Guardian deeply intertwined and interdependent in the realms of public health and environmentalism.

Nicholas Bascom

Wildlife Program Intern

Nick is a 3rd year law student at UCLA serving as a summer intern with WildEarth Guardians in the Wildlife Program. For Guardians, he concentrates mostly on protecting imperiled species via the Endangered Species Act. At UCLA, his focus is on environmental law and tribal legal development. Before law school, he taught for many years and wrote for Science News and Research Penn State. His first novel, Mordor, California, will be published in the fall. He lives with his wife Camrynn, his son Kyber, and his dogs K.C. and London.

Javier Gallegos

Photography Intern

Javier is the Summer 2021 photography intern for WildEarth Guardians. His work focuses on photographing the Rio Grande and its impact on ecology and human life. He became concerned with the drying of the river from his experience of growing up in El Paso, Texas, without water in the Rio Grande. Only in pictures of other parts of the country did he know what a river was supposed to be like. He is currently a senior at New Mexico State University with plans to graduate with a Bachelor's degree in Journalism & Professional Communication and a minor in History in the spring of 2022. Javier enjoys watching stand up comedy and video games in his free time.

Siera Schroeder

Intern

Siera is a rising 3L at the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law. Growing up in upstate New York she fell in love with the outdoors but it wasn’t until she moved to Denver, Colorado that she realized how deep her passion and love for the outdoors – especially trees and water – actually ran. She now takes every opportunity she can to row or raft down a river, or go and see some trees! One may even say she’s become a real tree hugger. Siera hopes to translate her love and passion for the outdoors and all its wonders into a successful legal career advocating for the protection of the natural environment so it might be preserved for future generations to love and enjoy.

Rachel Pemberton

Intern

Rachel is a rising 3L at Lewis & Clark Law School focusing on environmental and natural resources law. Combining her interests in the natural and social sciences, she received her Bachelor's degree in environmental studies from the University of Washington in 2018. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest exploring parks and forests has made her passionate about protecting public lands, wildlife, and clean air and water for present and future generations.

Reza Sadeghzadeh

Wild Rivers Program Intern

Reza is a rising 3-year law student at University of Oregon School of Law. He received his B.A. from Humboldt State University, where he quickly fell in love with the Pacific Northwest. As an intern for the Wild Rivers Program, Reza’s work is focused on protecting the western yellow-billed cuckoo and the Upper Willamette Chinook salmon and Winter Steelhead. In his free time, Reza is usually doing some outdoor activity like backpacking, cycling, or diving.

Contact

[email protected]

Simon Miller

Intern

Simon Miller is a 2021 summer intern for WildEarth Guardians. He is a rising Junior at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. Simon is a Political Science major that has a passion for examining, improving, and defending the laws and regulations that make our world a better place for people and wildlife. Simon grew up and still lives in Oak Park, the first suburb west of the Chicago city limits.

Contact

[email protected] 303-501-5815

Andrew Rothman

Wild Places Program Director

A native of Wisconsin, Andrew’s interest in wildlife started in his youth, thanks to his many trips to their family cabin in the Northwoods. Growing up in the 80’s, Andrew’s interests in native wildlife expanded to that of the rainforests of Latin America that he learned were rapidly being destroyed. A lifelong aspiration to help protect wildlife and their habitat ensued. Andrew’s professional career has led him toward fulfilling those aspirations. Andrew helped thousands of people increase their connection to nature as the Assistant Naturalist at the renowned Horicon Marsh with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Andrew founded his own non-profit organization, Rainforest Biodiversity Group, to help protect and restore habitat for the endangered Great Green Macaw in Costa Rica; helping private landowners establish private reserves and creating Latin America’s first Birding Trail along the way. Andrew spent over a decade working with American Bird Conservancy managing a portfolio of projects in nearly a dozen countries in Latin America leading to the protection and restoration of thousands of acres of grassland, forest and wetland habitat for migratory and highly endangered endemic birds. Here he also helped establish ABC’s Great Lakes Program, co-authored the Golden-winged Warbler Non-breeding Grounds Conservation Plan, the first plan of its type for a songbird, and helped establish ABC’s Impact Investing Program, which looks to find ways to demonstrate how non-philanthropic capital can be invested for conservation outputs. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, with degrees in Biology and Wildlife Management, Andrew continues to bring innovative solutions to complex conservation problems. Andrew enjoys international travel having visited 28 countries. He also enjoys rock climbing, skiing, yoga, hiking and fine dining. Andrew is the descendant of two WWII concentration camp escapees.

Contact

[email protected] 928-242-3292

Jack Meyer

Greater Gila Arizona Advocate

A local to Arizona's White Mountains, Jack Meyer brings to the Greater Gila campaign a reverence for the wildlife and wild places that shaped him. Jack has worked on social and environmental justice issues throughout his adult life and during his time as an Environmental Studies student at Northern Arizona University. In 2014 he began working with 350.org's fossil fuel divestment movement, and has founded chapters for Our Climate and the Sunrise Movement in Arizona to advocate for science based policy solutions to address climate change. After a year in Tennessee working with Appalachian Voices on their energy democracy campaign Jack is back in the West as WildEarth Guardians Greater Gila Advocate for Arizona. Feel free to send him an email to chat about the work he is doing to protect public lands across the Greater Gila Bioregion.

Zoe Camporaso

Wildlife Program Intern

Zoe is an intern in the Wildlife Program at WildEarth Guardians. She is majoring in Environmental Science at Lewis & Clark College, with a minor in History. She is passionate about soil science and the rights of land. Zoe enjoys vegetable gardening and one of her life goals is to swim in as many bodies of water as possible.

Species conservation – protecting western wildlife

Wildlife

Defend the Endangered Species Act

Wildlife Program Work

How You Can Help

Recent Stories From Wildlife

Wildlife Press

WildEarth Guardians protects and restores the wildlife, wild places, wild rivers, and health of the American West.

Contact

Danielle Plourde

Data Management Administrator

Nicholas Bascom

Wildlife Program Intern

Javier Gallegos

Photography Intern

Siera Schroeder

Intern

Rachel Pemberton

Intern

Reza Sadeghzadeh

Wild Rivers Program Intern

Contact

Simon Miller

Intern

Contact

Andrew Rothman

Wild Places Program Director

Contact

Jack Meyer

Greater Gila Arizona Advocate

Zoe Camporaso

Wildlife Program Intern