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Wild animal protection – defending wolves, coyotes, bears, and other native carnivores

Defend Native Carnivores

A grizzly bear foraging with her cubs in a lush meadow outside Yellowstone. The howling of gray wolves carrying across a darkened valley. A Canada lynx padding silently through deep powder in search of a snowshoe hare. Native carnivores are icons of our Western landscape, and they drive the health and stability of Western ecosystems.

Nevertheless, native carnivores continue to face misguided persecution at the hands (and guns) of humans. Many state wildlife agencies hold little regard for the best available science and ignore most people’s values, which strongly favor native carnivore conservation.

We watchdog federal and Western state agencies to ensure their policies and practices allow healthy populations of native carnivores to thrive. We believe there are ways to share our Western home with carnivores that do not include trapping or shooting them, and we aim to cultivate coexistence with these incredible creatures.

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

Western Native Carnivores in Peril

Find out more about the West’s native carnivores, the threats they face, and how we work to defend them.

Black Bear

Suburban and urban growth is encroaching into black bear habitat and increasing the chance of conflict with humans, with deadly consequences for the bears.

Grizzly Bear

Federal and state wildlife agencies are doing their utmost to remove grizzlies’ Endangered Species Act protections and open trophy hunting seasons, while bears remain threatened by habitat loss, conflict, reductions in key food sources and climate change.

Gray Wolf

The gray wolf is a victim of an ongoing war waged by livestock producers, the federal wildlife killing program, Wildlife Services, and state agencies unwilling to follow the best available science.

Mexican Gray Wolf

Despite a federal “recovery” program, populations of Mexican gray wolves (lobos) are barely hanging on. Federal protections are too weak and the livestock industry is a major threat.

Canada Lynx

Emblem of the West’s high mountain regions, lynx are threatened by trapping, logging, roads, motorized recreation, and the federal government’s efforts to remove key protections.

Wolverine

This “badass” carnivore can scale 9,000-plus-foot mountain peaks, but climate change, trapping and habitat loss could stop it in its tracks. We held the feds accountable for failing to provide Endangered Species Act protections.

Mountain Lion

Historically persecuted due to humans’ exaggerated fears, these big cats are still sport hunters’ and trappers’ targets.

Coyote

Barbaric killing contests across the West aim to slaughter as many of these “song dogs” as possible. Coyotes are key to ecosystem health, keeping rodent populations in check.

Recent Stories From Wildlife

Compassion, Wolves and America’s First Wilderness

October 16, 2020

Let us remind ourselves that we are members of a pack with room to grow

Biodiversity is an asset worth bending over backwards to protect

Oct 14, 2020

Cruel wildlife killing contests banned in Washington

Sep 23, 2020

After 8,500 Guardians took action, Gov. Inslee approved our appeal for better wolf rules

Sep 11, 2020

Stop a 4-lane highway through Utah’s Red Cliffs

Sep 4, 2020

rio grande sucker colorado dnr wildearth guardians

Citizen ESA Listing Petitions

Sep 4, 2020

Compassion, Wolves and America’s First Wilderness

October 16, 2020

Let us remind ourselves that we are members of a pack with room to grow

Biodiversity is an asset worth bending over backwards to protect

Oct 14, 2020

Cruel wildlife killing contests banned in Washington

Sep 23, 2020

Sorry Secretary Sonny, National Forests are not crops

Aug 20, 2020

Notes from the Field

Jul 10, 2020

The Trail and the Woods: On All the Paths that Connect Us

Jun 26, 2020

Beckoning the Beavers

October 30, 2019

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve thought beavers were worthy of my admiration. Sadly, beavers have been eradicated from literally tens of thousands of miles of streams and small rivers—the victims of both trapping and habitat degradation.

Grizzly Guardian

Aug 22, 2018

whitewater canyon gila wilderness tom blackwell flickr wildearth guardians

Equilibrium

Jul 16, 2018

guardians staff and storm washington dc wildearth guardians

Guardians goes to Washington

Jul 4, 2018

wolf prints madeleine carey wildearth guardians

Looking for lobos

Mar 17, 2018

bald eagle endangered species act mick thompson flickr WildEarth Guardians

Why the Endangered Species Act matters

January 1, 2018

The Endangered Species Act, passed nearly unanimously in 1973, is one of our nation’s most important and successful laws. Here are a few reasons why.

Wildlife Press

Historic agreement sets new model for managing national forests, path to recovery for threatened Mexican spotted owls

Oct 27, 2020

SANTE FE, NEW MEXICO—Wi…

All Wildlife Press Releases

Judge Rejects Challenge to Critical Habitat for New Mexico Meadow Jumping Mouse

Oct 13, 2020

Lawsuit filed over antiquated federal wildlife killing program in New Mexico

Oct 8, 2020

Feds Flout Science—Once Again—to Deny Wolverine Protections

Oct 8, 2020

National Forest Roads and Wildfire

Counter Punch | Oct 8, 2020

Earlier this year we released a report titled “The Environmental Consequences of Forest Roads and Achieving a Sustainable Road System,” which updated a previous literature review on this topic by adding fifty-nine new citations along with several new sections.

All Wildlife Op-Eds

NM needs a wildlife conservation agency

Albuquerque Journal | Oct 4, 2020

Earth at the “Crossroads:” Finding Our Way in a Time of Extirpation

Counter Punch | Sep 30, 2020

Wrecking Utah: No 4-Lane Highway Through the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area

Counter Punch | Sep 4, 2020

Lawsuit asks Wildlife Services to update its research on ‘outdated’ wildlife management program

NM Political Report | Oct 26, 2020

The conservation-focused WildEarth Guardians filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services agency, challenging the science behind what the group calls an “outdated wildlife-killing program.” The group filed the lawsuit in a federal district court.

All Wildlife In the News

Federal judge upholds habitat protections for endangered New Mexico meadow jumping mouse

Carlsbad Current Argus | Oct 19, 2020

A Cry for Critters

Santa Fe Reporter | Oct 13, 2020

Environmentalists Go After US Wildlife Services for the Killing of More Than 1.2 Million Animals

The Science Times | Oct 11, 2020

Betsy Gaines Quammen

Member, Board of Directors

Betsy Gaines Quammen is a historian and conservationist. She received a doctorate in Environmental History from Montana State University in 2017, her dissertation focusing on Mormon settlement and public land conflicts. She has studied various religious traditions over the years, with particular attention to how cultures view landscape and wildlife. The rural American West, pastoral communities of northern Mongolia, and the grasslands of East Africa have been her main areas of interest. After college in Colorado, caretaking for a bed and breakfast in Mosier, Oregon, and serving breakfasts at a cafe in Kanab, Utah, Betsy settled in Bozeman, Montana, where she now lives with her husband, writer David Quammen, two huge dogs, an overweight cat, and a pretty big python named Boots. She is the author of American Zion: Cliven Bundy, God, and Public Lands in the West.

Contact

[email protected]
406-396-0321

Matthew Koehler

Communications Manager

Matthew Koehler joined WildEarth Guardians as the Communications Manager in 2020, bringing 25 years of experience working to protect and defend public lands, wildlife, wilderness, and democracy. He grew up in the rural Wisconsin Village of Elkhart Lake, surrounded by the Kettle Moraine State Forest, where his family goes back six generations. His love for nature came from his parents, a housepainter and a nurse, and time the family spent hiking, canoeing, cross-country skiing, and camping on public lands. He moved to Missoula, Montana in 1995 after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside with a history degree and later obtained a secondary teaching certificate from the University of Montana, for history and English. Voted best activist by the Missoula Independent in 2007 and awarded the Fund for Wild Nature’s “grassroots activist of the year” in 2010, he enjoys gardening, cooking, and spending time in nature.

Julian Kanter

Legal Intern

Hi, I’m Julian Kanter. I am a rising 2L at Willamette University College of Law. I decided to attend law school to fight against social injustice and make a positive impact on the environment. Learning about industrial agriculture was the catalyst for my interest in environmental law. I am thrilled to be focusing on wildlife and giving a voice to the plants and animals of our natural world.

Erin Woolley

Legal Intern

Erin Woolley is a rising third-year law student at the University of Colorado Law School, pursuing certificates in both Energy, Environmental & Natural Resources Law and American Indian Law. Originally from Northern California, Erin misses the Pacific Ocean, but loves exploring Colorado’s beautiful outdoors, spending her free time hiking, camping, and learning about the native wildlife. Erin is excited to be working with WildEarth Guardians this summer and protecting wild rivers!

Maggie Flaherty

Wildlife Program Intern

Maggie Flaherty, originally from a small town in Northern California, is a rising senior at Dartmouth College. She is majoring in Environmental Studies and minoring in Spanish. At Dartmouth, she spends most of her time engaging in sexual violence prevention efforts as well as playing water polo. In her free time, she likes to hike and swim outdoors. Maggie is very excited to be working with WildEarth Guardians’ Wildlife and Wild Places Programs.

Grace Erispaha

Legal Coordinator

Grace Erispaha is a rising senior at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota pursuing an undergraduate degree in Economics and Environmental Studies. She is originally from Gilbert, Arizona and gets to experience the best of both worlds: brutal winters and scorching summers. Grace is excited to learn more about legal processes and hopes to apply to law school by her graduation.

Andrew Cliburn

Legal Intern

My life totally changed on December 4th, 2017 when the president came to Salt Lake City to reduce Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. Before that day, I had been a career hospitality worker—interested in wilderness to be sure—but living a selfish existence pursuing careerism and creature comforts. That selfishness went out the window when the president cruelly reduced two sacred and protected places that meant so much to so many. Since then I’ve completed two years of law school and get to work this summer with the most uncompromising organization in Earth advocacy—WildEarth Guardians.

Victoria Frankeny

Legal Intern

Victoria Frankeny is a rising third-year law student at Lewis & Clark Law School. She came to Portland, Oregon to pursue a career in environmental litigation and is currently working towards her Certificate in Environmental & Natural Resource Law. Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she has been enjoying everything the Pacific Northwest has to offer, such as Mount Hood, the Pacific Ocean, and the overabundance of ferns and evergreens. Victoria is thrilled to be working with the WildEarth Guardians’ attorneys this summer on Endangered Species Act and Public Lands issues.

Ryan Benson

Communications Intern

Ryan Benson is a senior at Yale majoring in English with a concentration in Creative Writing. Originally from Charlotte, NC, she now spends most of her time in New Haven, swimming, running, and making her way through vegetarian cookbooks. She is excited to be working on WildEarth Guardians’ newsletter this summer with Dave Levine.

Contact

[email protected]

Leia Barnett

Greater Gila Campaigner

Born and raised in the foothills and arroyos of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, Leia is thrilled to bring her love and deep reverence for the high desert country of the Southwest to the Greater Gila campaign. Leia graduated summa cum laude from the University of New Mexico’s cultural anthropology program, where she focused on the ways the more-than-human world can be reimagined through anthropological theory and practice. When she’s not endeavoring to understand the complexities of a successful conservation campaign, Leia can be found mountain-side or river-side, praising the feathered and four-legged ones, and planning her next epic snack.

Wild animal protection – defending wolves, coyotes, bears, and other native carnivores

Defend Native Carnivores

Defend the Endangered Species Act

Western Native Carnivores in Peril

Recent Stories From Wildlife

Wildlife Press

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

Betsy Gaines Quammen

Member, Board of Directors

Contact

Matthew Koehler

Communications Manager

Julian Kanter

Legal Intern

Erin Woolley

Legal Intern

Maggie Flaherty

Wildlife Program Intern

Grace Erispaha

Legal Coordinator

Andrew Cliburn

Legal Intern

Victoria Frankeny

Legal Intern

Ryan Benson

Communications Intern

Contact

Leia Barnett

Greater Gila Campaigner