Help the Louisiana Black Bear

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Background | Source Animal Connection, Save Our Environment

Have you heard of the Louisiana black bear? Very cute, right? And also very threatened.

There are only 300-400 left in the wild and 80% of their habitat has already been destroyed. And what’s left is repeatedly threatened by destructive and unnecessary Army Corps of Engineers projects.

It’s gotten bad enough that they’re officially listed as a threatened species.

Unfortunately, a bill that’s about to hit the Senate floor tomorrow threatens our ability to protect these little guys.

The Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) contains two provisions that would allow the Army Corps of Engineers to skimp on or bypass crucial environmental reviews when pushing for large scale structural projects that typically cause significant environmental damage.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that 80% of Louisiana black bears’ habitat has already been destroyed. The remaining bears live in wetlands along the Mississippi River, but even this last bit of habitat is at risk from potentially devastating Army Corps construction projects.

If the Army Corps of Engineers gets its way, the crucial protections (like environmental impact studies and adequate review time for proposed projects) will be steamrolled by two dangerous provisions in the Water Resources Development Act.

The WRDA bill is expected reach the Senate floor as early as tomorrow so please contact your Senators today with your request to remove the provisions rolling back critical environmental review

we are black bear,
in louisiana we live,
our world is being destroyed,
we want so much to live.
you have already destroyed
nearly all of our land.
please kind people,
give us a hand.

Karen Lyons Kalmenson