Whale sharks are quite literally the biggest fish in the sea and they live in tropical ocean waters around the world. My visit to see them took me to Isla Mujeres, a tiny island in the Gulf of Mexico, but they’ve been known to travel all throughout the Gulf. They make incredible migrations through sanctuaries like the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary off the Texas and Louisiana coasts.

Upon getting in the water with these incredible fish my mind was racing between thoughts like, “Wow, this is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen” to “Wait, they can’t actually swallow me…right?” The answer to the latter is no. Even though they have mouths reaching five feet wide their esophagus is only about the width of a quarter, so unless you are a tasty looking platter of zooplankton, you should be safe.

Watch the video below by Spencer Ozer to see this magnificent creature in its natural habitat

If you choose to swim with whale sharks, make sure you choose a responsible outfitter than has the proper protections in place to keep whale sharks wild. Swimmers should be accompanied by a guide at all times, only a small number of people should be allowed in the water at once, and swimmers should keep at least 2-3 meters away from the sharks. Use of lotions and sunscreen should be prohibited. Most importantly, don’t patronize any business that feeds whale sharks.

When done responsibly, whale shark tourism can connect people to the wonders of the ocean and inspire people to speak up for protecting the marine habitats whale sharks and other wildlife need.

In 2010, after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill whale sharks were documented swimming through oil“streamers.” Since whale sharks are filter feeders and skim the surface for food like zooplankton they are vulnerable to disasters like this. The oil clogs their gills, impeding their ability to absorb oxygen in the water and they eventually suffocate.

This is why national marine monuments and sanctuaries are so important. Imagine what would happen to animals like whale sharks if their waters were opened up for dredging, trawling or seabed mining?

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is currently considering rescinding or reducing protections for eleven national marine sanctuaries and monuments that safeguard millions of acres of ocean waters — including places like Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, and Marianas Trench Marine National Monument to name a few.

This is also your chance to do something about it!

Send a comment urging the administration not to revoke or weaken the designations or expansions of national marine sanctuaries and monuments

The National Marine Sanctuary System was created for the benefit of all Americans and future generations to conserve unique underwater places in our ocean, coasts, and Great Lakes.

Speak up for animals like whale sharks! Click below to send your comments.

Take Action Now 

Some 150 years ago the woods and waters of northern Maine captivated naturalist and philosopher Henry David Thoreau. Today, this pristine place still offers a chance to get lost in the thick of dense forests, to rest on the bank of a river with morning fog still sitting low, and if you are lucky, patient and still – perhaps you will hear the bugle of a moose or the cry of the loon.

This is a magical place, with a history as storied as the landscape.

In 2003 Roxanne Quimby, co-founder of Burt’s Bees, began buying former timber land in northern Maine. In the end Ms. Quimby purchased 87,500 acres of land, to donate to the American people in perpetuity. On August 24^th, 2016 President Obama created the Katahdin Maine Woods and Waters National Monument preserving this special place for future generations and safeguarding vital habitat for wildlife in northern Maine.

Moose, lynx & loon have protected habitat for now

Vulnerable isn’t the first word that comes to mind to describe a 1,300 pound bull moose. But Maine’s moose population is just that, vulnerable. Moose populations are decreasing at alarming levels. Loss of habitat and a warming climate are having devastating impacts on these massive majestic animals. New Hampshire moose biologist Kristine Rines says, “Moose are facing a triple threat in our changing climate. Increasing temperatures, changing forest species and increased mortality due to parasites.”  By protecting land and water from development we can help safeguard  species like moose from some of the harmful effects climate change. With a monument designation came vital habitat protections for moose in the Katahdin Maine Woods and Waters, and some welcome good news for a species at risk.

The haunting wail of a loon echoing through fog and forest may be the quintessential sound of northern Maine. The common loon – a name that hardly does this bird justice – is an iconic fixture in the state. These impressive swimmers are reliant on clean healthy waters, typically going to shore only to nest. Habitat loss, human disturbance, and pollution pose threats to the bird. From the East Branch of the Penoboscot River to Orrin Falls, loons have protected waters from which to share their calls.

Known as the “gray ghost of the north” the Canada lynx has slowly disappeared from the contiguous United States. The animal is listed as “threatened” by US Fish and Wildlife Service, with confirmation of lynx populations in only four states, one of which is Maine. Habitat destruction and fragmentation are the greatest threats to the cat’s survival, making the protections provided by this national monument vitally important for this elusive cat.

Will Wildlife Be Served an Eviction Notice?

In late April of this year the Trump Administration issued an Executive Order to “review” national monuments established in the last 21 years, including Katahdin, despite the President’s campaign promises to fulfill the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt. Removing habitat protections for these woods and waters puts at risk wildlife already in peril, opening the lands up to development, logging, and habitat destruction or fragmentation. For Maine’s moose, loons, and lynx the stakes are too high to allow this happen.

I haven’t yet had the opportunity to visit the Katahdin Maine Woods and Waters National Monument, but I hope to soon. And when I do, I want to get lost among those same haunting spruce and cedar trees Thoreau described, to see ducks “sailing here and there,” and to hear the call of a solitary loon. And when I return, I want to tell my children about a timeless place where they too can get lost in the woods and waters of northern Maine; and that it is there for them because we protected it.

The American people have until July 10th to tell Secretary Zinke our National Monuments are vital for wildlife.

Take action today for moose, loon, lynx and keeping these magical lands and waters just as they are.

Yet, human development has created uncertainty about their ability to endure the millennia, as development and pollution threaten their mating habitat. These remarkable, primitive creatures spawn each year in very particular places, under exacting conditions. Just off the southern elbow of Cape Cod, Massachusetts lies the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge, home to one of the largest horseshoe crab spawning sites on the Atlantic Seaboard. Its sandy, sheltered beaches are ideal for the horseshoe crab spawning event, but this protected sanctuary has an uncertain future.

Legislation in the works in the U.S. House of Representatives would transfer control over half of the refuge from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service management to the adjacent Town of Chatham. The transfer could lead to the loss of protections for the habitat of threatened and endangered species – including the horseshoe crab, piping plover, and other bird species – and hamper the public’s ability to witness these remarkable birds, fish, and other wildlife in their natural environment. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has managed this natural treasure with conservation in mind; it’s unclear what the priorities would be under different management.

Such a transfer would also set a troubling precedent for the transfer of national public lands to state or local governments, instead of resolving differences over how natural resources should be managed. Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge is but the latest example in a long line of recent efforts to wrest national public lands from public lands.

While Monomoy is one of the smaller National Wildlife Refuges, it is part of a vast and interconnected ecosystem. It sits at a critical location along the East Coast, and is a major migration stopover point for the threatened red knot, a medium-sized shorebird with a salmon-orange breast.

The red knot pauses at Monomoy on a journey more than nine thousand miles from its breeding grounds in the Arctic to the tip of South America. During their stop, the birds gorge themselves on thousands of horseshoe crab eggs along Monomoy’s beaches. That the eggs of these living fossils are laid in the sand just in time for the arrival of the red knots’ landing is a marker of what scientists call “historic synchronicity” – in layman’s terms, a remarkable, meaningful coincidence.

While the horseshoe crab is categorized as a near-threatened species, declining populations are not due to the red knots devouring its eggs. Horseshoe crab spawning grounds along other areas of the East Coast are being disrupted by development, climate change, and pollution. Where the horseshoe crab population has dwindled, so have the numbers of red knots passing through.

Horseshoe crabs have endured for millennia, but concern is growing about their ability to survive the centuries to come. Monomoy remains one of the last totally protected spawning grounds for horseshoe crabs on the eastern Atlantic coastline – the majority of the refuge is a federally designated wilderness area, the only such place in southern New England. Such protection provides safe haven for these unique and ancient creatures, as well as the endangered and threatened bird populations that feed upon them. Transferring management or ownership away from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service jurisdiction would lead to losses that these species, however resilient, could not endure.

The Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge, like so many of our other public lands, protects critical wildlife habitat, and gives all Americans the opportunity to see such incredible wildlife in their natural settings. For Monomoy, and for our millions of other acres of incredible national public lands, tell candidates seeking public office this November to keep our public lands in public hands.

Take Action

$12.6 billion of the total is tied to environmental penalties and damages, with the remaining $6 billion headed to the Gulf states for economic damages. Taken together, these fines amount to the largest environmental penalty in U.S. history–which is only fitting for an event of this magnitude.

More specifically,

• $7.1 billion will flow to the Gulf States to restore natural resources damaged by the spill, under the Oil Pollution Act. Some of this funding has also been set aside for region-wide and open ocean projects.
• $5.5 billion will resolve the Clean Water Act civil penalties, with 80% of that (or $4.4 billion) sent directly back to the five Gulf States for distribution under the RESTORE Act.
• $4.9 billion will be paid to resolve Gulf States’ economic claims.
• $1 billion to resolve economic claims of local governmental entities in the Gulf States.

This settlement comes at a critical time for wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico. The impacts of the spill on wildlife and habitats are complex, far-reaching and ongoing. Just a few months ago, NOAA released a study that conclusively identified elevated petroleum compounds from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill as a cause of disease in bottlenose dolphins that has contributed to a devastating ongoing unusual mortality event.

The legal wrangling may be over, but the National Wildlife Federation will continue to be on the ground making sure this money is spent on projects that benefit wildlife. With a large portion of these penalties reserved for ecosystem restoration, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a real difference for wildlife and coastal communities alike. We’ve laid out specific plans for the entire Gulf, with a focus on restoring the Mississippi River Delta.

Help us make sure this settlement is spent on projects to benefit wildlife in the Gulf!

The broad, austere sage steppe is home to more than 350 wildlife species. Sportsmen overwhelmingly agree that wildlife like the greater sage-grouse need to be protected, but the means to that end is all over the map.

The Bureau of Land Management, the agency in charge of most of the sagelands across the west, has the unenviable task of protecting the landscape that supports the sage-grouse in the face of a never-ending onslaught of development pressure, increased usage, and political winds that shift almost daily. Something must be done and the BLM has to do it. Otherwise, the ESA listing will come and we’ll all be scrambling to decipher what it all means and how we’ll ever get back to the west we know and love.

The BLM recently offered us a lifeline. We now have a blueprint for how to protect the bird, prevent an ESA listing, and perhaps bring this bird back to healthy, huntable levels. Their new plan protects the most critical areas such as leks which are sage grouse mating areas, and the plan lays out a strategy to prevent and mitigate damage from wildfires and invasive species.

Sportsmen and women should get behind this far-reaching plan. We have an obligation to ensure the future of this bird and the uniquely American landscape we call home. Together, let’s conserve the West for the future.

Support the Bureau of Land Management by advocating for the greater sage grouse and its habitat.

Such a sight would have been rare just years ago.  It told us of the progress we can achieve when people come together to protect wildlife.

Turning the Tide for Wildlife

In what may be remembered as a day the tide again turned in favor of wildlife, I was proud and humbled to march with over 5,000 people to demand a better future for wildlife at the Tar Sands Resistance March in St. Paul.  The message was simple: let’s build an energy future where wildlife and communities can thrive.  Let’s turn away from a risky future of extreme fossil fuels like tar sands that place our water, wildlife, communities and climate in peril.

As we close in on rejection of the controversial and dangerous Keystone XL pipeline, it appears the U.S. State Department still hasn’t fully gotten the message.  Last Spring, it approved a behind-the-scenes illegal scheme to approximately double the amount of tar sands entering the Great Lakes region.  This is despite having promised to conduct a public permitting and review process before allowing any additional tar sands into the region.

Delivering a Message: Wildlife Can’t Afford Tar Sands Oil

On Saturday, 5000 people delivered a message.  Tar sands oil is all risk and no reward for the Great Lakes region.  The additional tar sands oil illegally approved by the State Department will almost certainly pass by the at-capacity refineries in the Great Lakes and head to the Gulf Coast, where it will be exported.  The tar sands oil already entering the region is currently sickening nearby communities and rivers.

After marching over a mile to the State Capitol, speaker after speaker spoke of hope and of a better future for our children, where we don’t have energy sacrifice zones for energy, but instead gain our power from clean energy that doesn’t imperil people and wildlife.  It voice grew louder than the next.

All the while, a red tailed hawk perched on the State Capitol dome encircled the crowed, drawing the crowd’s attention, reminding us of what we were there to protect.

 Tell the State Department: Do not allow expansion of the Alberta Clipper tar sands pipeline!

With the U.S. State Department giving backroom approval for a near doubling of the amount of tar sands entering the region primarily along the Alberta Clipper line, it’s time for a clean energy future. People are demanding that no new tar sands enter the region until a transparent, public review process takes place, and cleaner solutions are considered and advanced.

Not Your Granddaddy’s Oil

Tar sands oil is not like regular oil.  It’s a heavy, thick substance that has to be mined by clearing forests, draining wetlands, and stripping away earth in the productive evergreen forests of Canada.

Almost 200 species of internationally protected migratory birds use the tar sands area of Alberta for seasonal habitat and breeding, including the endangered whooping crane and popular game birds like wood ducks and teal. In addition to direct habitat destruction and fragmentation, toxic tailings ponds needed to contain the waste pose an immense hazard for birds and other wildlife, with one incident resulting in about 1,600 duck fatalities.

Too Risky for Wildlife

When the substance spills, it has disastrous consequences for wildlife and habitat.  The diluent gases off into the air, producing a toxic cloud of benzene and other chemicals.  The sticky tar sands sinks to the bottom of wetlands, rivers, streams and other water bodies, attaching itself to the bottom.

Tar sands oil also produces much more carbon pollution than regular oil, and more tar sands oil is used as the pipelines’ capacity increases.  This fuels the climate change that is likely leading dramatic declines in moose populations in Minnesota and other northern states, as well as fueling toxic algae blooms that are increasingly threatening water quality, wildlife, and recreation in the Great Lakes.

Time for Wildlife-Friendly Clean Energy

Before more tar sands oil comes into our state and region, the State Department should follow the law and make good on its commitment to have a public review process that will look at all the impacts of the project and determine if the project is necessary.

Residents throughout the Great Lakes’ region deserve a chance to have some fundamental questions asked and answered before we put our resources at risk.

The facts are increasingly clear. We don’t need tar sands oil. The risks to wildlife are too high. And we can successfully move off of oil and onto cleaner, more sustainable forms of energy that don’t pose serious threats to wildlife.

The time is now to get work. The people of the Great Lakes are ready to lead the charge for a clean energy future for wildlife. They’re asking our decisions makers to lead with them.

Even if you can’t attend the event in St. Paul on June 6^th, support the cause by urging the U.S. State Department to stop more tar sands from entering the region and to protect wildlife!

As the 5^th anniversary of the BP spill highlights this incredible area, the damage done by the carelessness of BP and the massive conservation funding that will come from holding BP accountable, it’s important to note that other tools are available to us to restore the Gulf.

In the coming weeks the Sportsmen’s Act of 2015 will be moving through Congress. Within this great piece of legislature resides two habitat conservation items – the North American Wetlands Conservation Act Reauthorization (NAWCA) and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Reauthorization (NFWF).

• North American Wetlands Conservation Act Reauthorization – Reauthorizes NAWCA through 2019, providing matching grants to organizations, state/local governments, and private landowners for the acquisition, restoration and enhancement of wetlands critical to migratory birds. The program generates three additional dollars for every federal dollar and reduces the annual authorization level from $75 to $50 million.
• National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Reauthorization – Reauthorizes NFWF though 2019, directing conservation dollars to pressing environmental needs with matching private funds. NFWF supports conservation projects across the country and administers the Gulf Environmental Fund established to remedy harm from the Deepwater Horizon (BP) oil spill.
• NAWCA has helped protect or restore 25.6 million acres of wetlands during the last two decades while NFWF has leveraged nearly $576 million in federal funds into $2 billion worth of conservation projects.

How critical is the restoration of Gulf wetlands? A new report by the National Wildlife Federation, Five Years and Counting: Gulf Wildlife in the Aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon Disaster, exposes the risks to wildlife in the Gulf, including many species sportsmen hold dear:

• Exposure to oil has been shown to cause abnormal development in many species of fish, including mahi mahi, Gulf killifish and bluefin and yellowfin tuna.
• Spotted seatrout, also known as speckled trout, spawned less frequently in 2011 in both Louisiana and Mississippi than in previous years.
• 2010 and 2011 had the lowest numbers of juvenile red snapper seen in the eastern Gulf fishery since 1994.

A federal judge will soon decide the case against BP and the other companies for violations of the Clean Water Act. A law passed in 2012 known as the RESTORE Act will send this money back to the five Gulf states. A National Wildlife Federation report released in December 2014 describes 47 projects that would restore wetlands, rebuild oyster reefs, protect landscapes and re-create a more natural balance between fresh and salt water—activities that would enhance the health of the Gulf of Mexico.

What Can You Do?

It’s difficult to express the high value of Gulf wetlands to sportsmen. But it’s imperative that we do so. No stronger voice connects to wildlife and habitat than the sportsmen who spend countless hours plying the marshes for redfish or working blinds for ducks and geese. No stronger voices exist than the ones coming from endless days in the resource with family and friends. Protect it now, enjoy it now and rebuild it for future generations.

Tweet and ask your Senator to support the 2015 Sportsmen’s Act. Find a list of verified U.S. Senators’ Twitter accounts here.

In the West, conflict sometimes arise between livestock grazing on National Forests and bison. Domestic livestock graze on public lands that ranchers lease. Wildlife try to roam their natural habitat on many of those same public lands. It’s a formula for trouble.

NWF members are the solution. By making an incredible difference through the Adopt a Wildlife Acre program, members can give bison and other wildlife—including grizzlies, wolves and bighorn sheep—conflict-free land to roam freely.

Since our Adopt a Wildlife Acre program began, NWF members helped retire over 685,000 acres , allowing bison and other wildlife to freely roam on protected lands. Area adopted cover all sides of Yellowstone National Park. This incredible effort has left state decision makers with no other decision than to allow bison to roam on these adopted lands.

When bison graze as wildlife (not penned in like livestock), they naturally bring our ailing prairies back to life. Other wildlife and plant species come back, including some species haven’t been seen for decades. Wild bison, roaming in their natural habitat, are the key to restoring the healthy, resilient prairie ecosystems that thrived for hundreds of years.

In a positive step for wild bison, Governor Steve Bullock of Montana recently vetoed a bill that would have undermined restoration efforts by allowing counties to decide the fate of Montana bison. Wild bison are one step closer to being restored to prime habitat surrounding Yellowstone Park and elsewhere. But it will take the voices of supporters like you to ensure that the governor moves forward with bringing wild bison back to their historic lands across Montana.

Right now, we also have an important opportunity to give bison more room to roam. We’ve located four high-priority parcels of land to retire, amounting to 102,000 acres of crucial wildlife habitat. You can play an important role in this next step with your gift of conflict-free habitat for bison, bighorn sheep and more wildlife in the West.

It is crucial that policies regarding fossil fuel development align with the Administration’s carbon reduction policy goals.

Now the Department of Interior’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue is taking an important step to account for the costs of extracting dirty fossil fuels on our public lands by closing a loophole that allows coal mining companies to escape meaningful royalty payments.

Wildlife Habitat, Public Lands and Carbon Pollution

Scientists are telling us that in order to avoid runaway climate change, 33 percent of known oil reserves, 50% of gas reserves, and 80% of coal reserves must stay in the ground between 2010 and 2050.  For the United States, 92% of known U.S. coal reserves would need to be kept in place even if nascent technology to store carbon from coal is developed.

Yet, in the United States, a recent report shows that oil, gas and coal from federal lands and waters comprise more than 20% of all U.S. carbon pollution emissions, and America’s public lands account for 30% of the nation’s energy production. These are our same national parks and public landscapes that provide vast expanses of vital habitat for wildlife.

In 2012, federal lands and waters accounted for 24% of all U.S. energy-related greenhouse gas emissions – mostly from fossil fuels that are extracted and then burned.

To put that into perspective, carbon emissions from resulting fossil fuel development on public lands in 2012 amounted to the emissions equivalent of a whopping 280 million cars.  Public lands are generating 4.5 times more carbon pollution than they are sequestering or absorbing.

Coal is the biggest culprit of emissions, with coal combustion from federal lands accounting for more than 57% of all fossil fuel emissions from federal lands. 

Reigning in Coal Company Subsidies

Perhaps one of the best way to reduce carbon pollution from our public lands is to reform the leasing process itself.  Currently, leases are given away at basement prices: just over a $1 a ton when market prices are about 11 to 60 times that amount.  And this coal is now being sent overseas as domestic coal demand dries up.

Adjusting royalty rates to ensure that fossil fuel companies, and not the public, pay the costs associated with extraction and carbon pollution is an important step in making sure coal companies aren’t allowed to profit on coal at public expense.

A Reuters investigation estimated that this practice resulted in companies escaping $40 million in royalty payments on coal exports from Wyoming and Montana alone in 2011.

DOI’s proposed rule essentially changes the price at which a royalty would be paid to a middle-man.  The rule should be strengthened to ensure royalty is paid on the market price.  Using market price would make a tremendous difference in the amount of royalty collected.  For example, the average mine-mouth price of coal mined in the Powder River Basin is $11.55 per ton, but the market price is about $37 per ton.

This rule change is move in the right direction.  We can’t subsidize coal production for export and meet our carbon reduction targets.  The price of fossil fuels from public lands must more accurately reflect the costs.

Urge the Department of Interior to stop subsidizing the expansion of coal mines across the West and close the royalty loopholes!