---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2005 11:28:29 -0500 (EST) From: WWF Conservation Action Network <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Stop a Major Endangered Species Threat SEND ACTION~a28746u30516
Action deadline: February 15, 2006 Dear Alan, The Endangered Species Act (ESA) is under serious attack and needs your help. A bill that would severely weaken the act was approved by the U.S. House in September. You can help prevent a similar measure from passing in the Senate. The bald eagle, California sea otter, American alligator, gray wolf, black-footed ferret, gray whale, and international species such as the African elephant are on their way back in large part due to the ESA. The House-passed bill, H.R. 3824, would undermine protections that these and other imperiled species have been afforded under the law for more than 30 years. The bill would reduce the prospects for restoring healthy populations of threatened and endangered plants and animals, repeal current provisions that protect species from the harmful impact of pesticides, weaken the scientific foundation for decision-making, and divert scarce resources away from effective conservation. TAKE ACTION: Learn more and urge your senators to oppose the House-passed bill that would undermine the ESA. * QUICK OPTION: Send the message below, as is, by simply replying to this email. (This option works only if you received this email directly from the Conservation Action Network.) * POWERFUL OPTION: Personalize your letter. Go to the address below and follow the instructions for adding your own thoughts to your message. Decision makers pay much more attention to personalized messages. http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/ctt.asp?u=30516&l=112520 If you have any questions or problems with taking action, contact us for help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] While the passage of H.R. 3824 in the House is a setback, there is good news. A substitute bill that would modernize and strengthen the ESA and help to bring the nation's landowners on board as full partners in wildlife conservation only narrowly missed approval in the House. Now, as the debate shifts to the Senate, that close vote gives us momentum to continue to push for a reasonable approach to updating the act. Protecting endangered species has been at the core of WWF's mission since our start in 1961. With your support, we can maintain strong protections for wildlife, while making some needed improvements to the act. Sincerely, Ginette Hemley Vice President, Species Conservation World Wildlife Fund Washington, DC DO MORE -- Forward this alert to your friends and colleagues. -- Call your senators via the capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and make the main points from the letter below. LEARN MORE Every species loss diminishes the diversity of life on Earth with untold consequences for the web of life. Sadly, at present rates of extinction, as much as 20 percent of the world's species could be gone in the next 30 years. The ESA is the most important tool our nation has for protecting imperiled wildlife and maintaining biological diversity. Enacted in 1973 by President Richard Nixon, the law is credited with pulling wildlife species back from the brink of extinction. It is used as a model by other countries struggling to protect their own endangered plants and animals. Read testimony submitted to the House Resources Committee on behalf of World Wildlife Fund, Defenders of Wildlife, and Environmental Defense: http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/ctt.asp?u=30516&l=112521 Read H.R. 3824, the Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act: http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/ctt.asp?u=30516&l=112522 ***************************LETTER TEXT************************** Dear (your senators' names will be inserted here): As your constituent and someone concerned about leaving a healthy environment for future generations, I urge you to oppose attempts to weaken the Endangered Species Act, particularly H.R. 3824, which passed the House and would seriously undermine the act. The Endangered Species Act has worked extremely well for more than 30 years. It is a strong, effective, and flexible science-based "safety net" for the many species hovering on the brink of extinction. It needs more funding and support to recover species, not a major overhaul that would weaken protection. H.R. 3824 would eliminate some of the act's most important and effective provisions, including the protection of critical habitat that species need to survive and recover and safeguards from federal projects that might harm endangered species. The bill will also lead to increased "take" or killing of endangered species because it gives the already overburdened U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service an unreasonably short deadline for responding to landowner inquiries as to whether a particular activity would harm or kill an endangered species. If the government doesn't respond quickly enough, the landowner can proceed. The measure would weaken the vital role of science in virtually every decision under the law. And, it would require the government to pay developers, possibly over and over again, for not violating the law: The bill requires the government to pay private property owners the fair market value of any proposed use of their property that would violate the prohibition against "taking" an endangered species. I urge you to endorse six principles for improving the law: * Make species recovery the central focus of the act * Protect habitat that is needed for species recovery * Enhance the science underlying species conservation * Promote greater partnerships with the states * Provide incentives for conservation on private lands and * Significantly increase funding for the act These principles were embodied in a bipartisan substitute bill that came close to passing in the House. Please do all you can to defend and strengthen the Endangered Species Act. Sincerely, (Your name and address will be inserted here) **************************END OF LETTER TEXT************************* _____________________________________________________________________ You received this message because [EMAIL PROTECTED] is an activist with the World Wildlife Fund Conservation Action Network. _____________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] from [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word REMOVE in the subject line or you can unsubscribe at http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/unsubscribe/index.asp. _____________________________________________________________________ Direct any questions about the WWF Conservation Action Network to [EMAIL PROTECTED] _____________________________________________________________________ The Conservation Action Network is sponsored by World Wildlife Fund-US. Known worldwide by its panda logo, WWF is dedicated to protecting the world's wildlife and the rich biological diversity that we all need to survive. The leading privately supported international conservation organization in the world, WWF has sponsored more than 2,000 projects in 116 countries and has more than 1 million members in the United States. WWF calls on everyone -- government, industry, and individuals -- to take responsibility by taking action to save our living planet. World Wildlife Fund 1250 Twenty-fourth Street, NW Washington, DC 20037 http://www.worldwildlife.org http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org
