Nov 17, 2008 -- Fight the Right-Wing Wackos Links of the Day.

** NRDC Action **
The Bush Administration is determined to ram through a new wolf-killing plan before leaving office. This dangerous scheme could allow the Northern Rockies states to kill nearly 1,000 gray wolves in the first year alone.

Please submit an Official Citizen Comment telling the Interior Department to maintain strong federal protection for wolves.

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** Earth Justice **
Following its recent failed attempt to remove the wolves from the endangered species list, the administration's Fish and Wildlife Service has issued a proposal allowing Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana to kill nearly 1,000 wolves -- at a time when the wolf population is already declining.

Please tell the Fish and Wildlife Service to keep the northern Rockies gray wolves on the endangered species list.

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** Food and Water Watch **
For the last three years, the USDA has been trying to open the border to Canadian cattle over the age of thirty months. This is significant because older cattle (those over thirty months of age) are considered to be at higher risk for having Mad Cow Disease and therefore pose a greater risk if they enter the food supply. Canada has had 13 cases of Mad Cow Disease, the most recent of which was discovered in June.

Tell USDA to put public health before meat industry profits and not to open the border to older Canadian cattle.

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** Center for Biological Diversity **
The Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge, located on 14,097 acres in southwestern Kern County, California, is a crucial wildlife linkage in the southern San Joaquin Valley. Purchased to protect declining California condor foraging and roosting habitat in 1985, the refuge is the place where the last wild female condor was trapped in 1986. It's now an integral part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's condor recovery activities, and supports condor reintroduction, foraging, and roosting opportunities. In addition to the condor, the refuge protects grasslands, oak woodlands, chaparral, pinyon/juniper/oak woodlands, and riparian and wetland habitats. These diverse communities in turn support numerous rare species, including the endangered San Joaquin kit fox, blunt-nosed leopard lizard, and giant kangaroo rat. Western spadefoot toad, western horned lizards, and the tricolored blackbird also call the refuge home.

While cattle have had unrestricted grazing on the refuge in the past, the Fish and Wildlife Service has recognized that an alteration in the grazing regime would benefit the 9,400 acres of grassland habitat and provide healthier habitat for the recovering condor population. The agency recently proposed a restoration program to enhance the ecological values of the site and includes a modified grazing schedule based on ecological principles to limit grazing during critical times for native plant establishment, especially native grasses.

This important step forward in refuge management is key to maintaining ecologically diverse and functioning habitats for condors. But the current grazing lessee opposes the change in grazing management, and significant efforts have been made to oppose these changes by cattle operators and local elected officials. Your help is needed.

Please send a letter of support for the grassland restoration project and limiting grazing. The Bitter Creek Wildlife Refuge was expressly created for condors, not for cows.