Organizing for Endangered and Threatened Species Habitat Draft

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0 ? ? ? ? promised scientific-sounding activities, such as "conservation," "research," "monitoring," and "stocking," were inadequate to insure survival of species (Wood 1998) (Sax 1999; Sax 2000). ? Collaboration was seen as risking the surrender of national interests to local interests, and would . allow resource users to retain too much control of what they have always had. Such voices held . that it would be better to stay remote, uncooperative, and force issues through courts. Such arguments have led to deep rifts between those more moderate representatives who favored ? negotiated solutions, and those deeply suspicious of both the process and the outcome. Environmental Organizations ? The Platte River Whooping Crane Habitat Maintenance Trust (the Trust), was funded with ? monies provided by the Wyoming Grayrocks settlement. Using litigious means, and the threat of ? such means, as a lever, the Trust was active in the thirteen year controversy over the FERC re- • licensing of Kingsley Dam and also strongly advanced environmental interests in the conflict • between Wyoming and Nebraska over division of North Platte river flows. It would become an important environmental player in the Platte river collaborative process. The National Audubon Society was originally incorporated in 1905 in New York to stop the slaughter of birds for millinery commerce. After that success, the Audubon Society continued to advocate for wild birds, and by the mid-1990's had a staff of 300 employees and 570,000 members. Audubon has had a long history of lobbying for state and federal protection of habitat and has developed its own system of about 100 bird sanctuaries. Audubon became interested in the status of the whooping crane on the central Platte in the 1940s. By the 1970s, the society became involved in a series of discussions about water diversion and storage proposals, and by taking legal action to protect riparian habitat. In 1973, the society purchased 782 acres of pristine crane habitat for a sanctuary along the Platte east of Kearney Nebraska. Additional acreage has been purchased since, and cooperative agreements have extended protections beyond the sanctuary. The society was active in the re-licensing of Kingsley Dam, and became an important force in Platte river recovery negotiations. ? Environmental Defense (up to 1999, the Environmental Defense Fund) was originally incorporated in 1967 by a group of Long Island conservationists to ban the use of the pesticide ? DDT. This organization, by 2001 had 300,000 members, a staff of 234, including scientists, • ecologists and attorneys, and an operating budget of nearly $43 million. The Environmental . Defense Fund has promoted the idea that a healthy economy and a viable natural environment are not mutually exclusive. Environmental Defense played an active and important role in ? negotiations up to early months of 2002 when the organization announced a reallocation of its ? assets, a review of its priorities, and withdrew its representative from the negotiations. After the • withdrawal of Environmental Defense from the process, the National Wildlife Federation would ? step forward to occupy a lead role. The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) has been one of the largest, oldest, and most active of environmental organizations. As the "General Motors" of the North American environmental movement (Shabecoff 2000), it has been a major force for environmental causes across the U.S. landscape. It had annual budgets, in the late 1990's, in the range of $100,000,000 and almost 2,000,000 members not to mention several more million supporters. The NWF has 54