California Enacts Crucial Ban on Shark Fins Shell Launches New Assault on the Arctic's Polar Bear Seas President Rejects Tar Sands Pipeline but Fight Goes On Energy Giant Targets Land of Spirit Bear Feds Push for Even Bigger Utah Coal Mine Wyoming Puts Wolves in the Crosshairs Local Voters Reject Pebble Mine in Favor of Salmon Protection Switchboard: Less Pollution, More Jobs Victory for Belugas . . . Yellowstone Grizzlies Spared This Green Life: Ethical Eggs, Dairy and Meat This Green Life's Nature Map: Share Your Favorite Places!

The genetically distinct population of beluga whales in Cook Inlet, Alaska, has plummeted over the past 30 years, and scientists estimate that only 340 of the animals remain. Yet in 2008 the state of Alaska challenged the federal government's decision to list the belugas as endangered. In November a federal judge, siding with NRDC and our allies, ruled against Alaska, declaring that the whales had been properly listed. The ruling was a major victory for tens of thousands of NRDC Members who petitioned the Obama Administration to grant the whales endangered species protection. Should the state of Alaska appeal, NRDC will go back to court to defend the belugas. Grizzly bears living in the Yellowstone ecosystem will keep their endangered species protections after a federal appeals court rejected the government's four-year effort to strip the bears of their safeguards. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's claim that the bear population had recovered was based on data that failed to take into account the significant decline of whitebark pine, a key food source for the bears that has been ravaged by mountain pine beetles. The court declared that argument "not rational." NRDC and the U.S. Forest Service have documented that more than 80 percent of whitebark pine in the Yellowstone area is dead or dying.

Contents | About Nature’s Voice | Contact Us © Natural Resources Defense Council Photo Credit: © Suzi Eszterhas/Minden Pictures