Shailene Woodley Arrested Live on Video in Dakota Pipeline Protest

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October 10, 2016 by ARIANA ROMERO

Shailene Woodley doesn’t just play a rebel in the Divergent series.

The actress is one in real life too —she was arrested today, October 9, after peacefully protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Thousands of people watched as the 24-year-old was cuffed for criminal trespassing, since she was filming live on Facebook at the exact moment of her arrest.

Shailene even noted the similarities between her situation and her character’s, as she said into the camera, “Guys, not to make a bad cinema joke, but some Divergent s—t is about to happen.”

The movie star shows how serious her situation is as armed guards circle her motorhome. “I was just told that the cops are following me. Send some prayers,” she reveals.

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The Fault in Our Stars brunette repeatedly asks riot police to allow her to return to her vehicle, but she is instead “grabbed” by her jacket and stopped.

In the final four minutes of the video, Shailene is finally allowed to approach the RV. But instead of leaving the area, she’s met by police, who inform her she’s being arrested.

Shailene seems to have been the first person arrested from the protest, although 26 more individuals were reportedly charged afterwards.

When the former ABC Family beauty asks why she’s being taken into custody for peacefully protesting, the arresting officer simply replies,  “I’m not going to answer your questions right now.”

Shailene stays calm under pressure, telling the camera, “I’m being arrested. I was down there with everybody else.

“So everybody knows, we were going to our vehicle, which they had surrounded and waiting for me with giant guns in the giant truck behind them just so they could arrest me.”

As many on Twitter have pointed out, it seems as though no one read Shailene her Miranda rights as she was cuffed.

(Cross-posted from Wet Paint for educational purposes)

Rosario Dawson Among 100 Democracy Spring Protesters Arrested at U.S. Capitol

by John Zangas

Washington, DC — The number of arrests on the fifth day of civil disobedience protests known as Democracy Spring exceeded 800 on Friday. Youth and student was the fifth day of sit-ins outside the U.S. Capitol in a continuing series of the eight days of protests. Activists are confronting Congress over the influence of corporate lobbying and special interests in politics.

Actress Rosario Dawson joined the protesters at the sit-in, along with Harvard professor Dr. Lawrence Lessig and author Chris Hedges. All three were arrested.

“By being here and making history you are making yourself known,” Dawson told the protesters, before walking with them to the East side of the Capitol. She said that their actions were forcing Congressional leaders to step forward on getting money out of politics.

Photo by John Zangas

Photo by John Zangas

Dr. Lawrence Lessig also spoke to the youth explaining he chose this day to get arrested with them because he believed in what they were doing. “I’m gonna march around this Capitol and get arrested with you,” said Lessig.

Chris Hedges, author of Wages of Rebellion, said, “Any society that does not grasp that life has an intrinsic value beyond a monetary value kills itself.” He said that he was proud to be with youth organizing for change, but the movement for change must be sustained.

Lessig, Dawson, and Hedges were charged along with over 100 students and youth with “obstruction” of the driveway on the east side of the Capitol. They were later released and given fourteen days to pay a $50 fine.

Many traveled long distances, some from as far as Oregon and California, to join the Democracy Spring week of civil disobedience actions.

Activists are calling on Congress to set aside the influence of “dark money” from Super-PACs and the uber rich, which they say tilts legislation toward corporate agendas.

Other key issues included legislation pending for voting rights and fair elections, and a demand that the Senate act immediately to fill the Supreme Court vacancy. The Senate deferred holding a hearing to confirm the President’s nomination to the Supreme Court, despite the fact that Justice Antonin Scalia died ten months before Obama leaves office.

Dr. Lawrence Lessig speaks in front of the Capitol./Photo by John Zangas

Dr. Lawrence Lessig speaks in front of the Capitol./Photo by John Zangas

Democracy Spring messages managed to reach the halls of Congress. The protests were joined by several members of the House on Thursday, including Congressman Henry Johnson of Georgia, Keith Ellison of Minnesota, and Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California. They expressed support for Democracy Spring and urged the movement to keep fighting for rights for voters, workers, and families.

Representative Johnson told protesters on Thursday that Congressional members needed movements like Democracy Spring to help it pass legislation, and it was grassroots efforts that mobilized the people.

“We’re calling to the public the importance of civil disobedience and mass non-cooperation as the only way we’ve seen change happen in this country,” said Dylan Lazerow, National Field Organizer for Democracy Spring.

But the big issue relates to the impact of “dark money” on rights of the voters, noted Laserow. He said any effort to stem money influence flowing through Congress is going to take a sustained movement. “We know there is a super majority of people who believe there needs to be an end to big money corruption, but Congress is not responding to that,” said Lazerow.

James Cole, a member of Wolf PAC, a group working to pass an Amendment to get money out of politics, said he believes Democracy Spring is making an impact in the media. Cole has been arrested three times. “What we’re doing here is politically advantageous because in the future our message will keep growing,” he said.

“This is a call for people to come out,” said Lazerow.

Anti-fracking Protesters to Rally Outside BLM Auction in Reno Tuesday

Photo © Karen McLain Evening Light | Design by Anne Novak for ProtectMustangs.org

Photo © Karen McLain Evening Light | Design by Anne Novak for ProtectMustangs.org

Coalition Urges BLM to Cancel Lease Sales to Protect Water, Health and Environment

RENO, Nev.— Protesters wearing blue and carrying water jugs will rally outside the U.S. Bureau of Land Management office in Reno on Tuesday morning to protest the auction of fracking leases on public lands. The auction of over 150,000 acres in Lincoln and Nye counties in BLM’s Ely District will begin at 9 a.m. at the BLM Nevada State Headquarters building located at 1340 Financial Boulevard in Reno. Frack-Free Nevada and Nevadans Against Fracking, which is organizing the protest, is calling on the BLM to cancel the sale in order to protect water, people, wildlife and quality of life from the dangers of fracking.

The protest will be Tuesday, Dec. 9, from 7:45 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.

“Fracking is a big risk to Nevada’s water, and without adequate clean water, we have nothing,” said Dan Patterson, with the Center for Biological Diversity, a member of the coalition. “The fracking industry wants to get its hands on Nevada, but while they reap profits, our wildlife and water supplies will pay the price. Across the state, from Reno to Austin and Reese River Valley, to Ely, eastern Nevada and Las Vegas, Nevadans want to protect our water, quality of life, lands and wildlife from the fracking push.”

Fracking uses huge volumes of water, mixed with sand and dangerous chemicals, to blast open rock formations and release oil and gas. The controversial technique is being proposed on hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands managed by the BLM across Nevada.

A typical hydraulic fracturing process uses between 1.2 million and 3.5 million gallons of water per well, with large projects using up to 5 million gallons. This water often resurfaces as “flowback,” which is often highly polluted by fracking chemicals as well as radioactive materials from fractured shale.

Fracking has brought environmental and economic problems to rural communities across the country. Accidents and leaks have polluted rivers, streams and drinking water. Regions peppered with drilling rigs have high levels of smog, global warming gases, as well as other airborne pollutants, including potential carcinogens. Rural communities face an onslaught of heavy truck traffic — often laden with dangerous chemicals used in drilling — and declining property values. Wildlife habitat is also fragmented and degraded.

“Fracking is part of a larger problem, a problem where money trumps common sense and we jeopardize our precious water for a few dollars,” said Dawn Harris of Frack-Free Nevada and Nevadans Against Fracking. “Nevada state and local officials should ban fracking to protect our water, as people in places like Denton, Texas and San Benito County, California have done.”

“Nevada’s precious groundwater should not be sacrificed for short term profits of corporations. In our arid desert, groundwater should always trump oil,” said Bob Fulkerson of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada.

Communities directly affected by oil and gas fracking, as a result of these sales, were not alerted by BLM in advance of preparing lease sale.

“Nevada Tribes have a vested interest in protecting our ancestral homelands from being harmed by the oil & gas industry,” said Jennifer Eisele, of the Shoshone Paiute Tribes, Duck Valley Indian Reservation. “We have a spiritual relationship with Mother Earth and it is our duty to protect our natural resources for the future existence of ourselves and descendants. Exploitation of fossil fuels may harm our water quality and damage our agriculture, which is our primary means of economic support.”

“Water is precious in the desert. I’m afraid of fracking chemicals being injected into our groundwater,” said Jennifer Messina of Ely, a retired teacher. “People are working to promote eastern Nevada as a great place to live and visit. All our efforts are lost if fracking poisons our ground.”

“BLM has a mandate to protect the safety of the environment and human health, but both BLM and the oil and gas industry have poor records,” said Dr. Bonnie Eberhardt Bobb of Austin, Nevada, in southern Lander County. “Dangerous fracking fluids could seep in to our groundwater. Disposal of fracking waste by injection in to the ground has also been correlated with increased earthquake activity.”

This summer, Lander County Commissioners objected and filed administrative protests over BLM’s sale of oil and gas fracking leases in Big Smokey Valley. Earlier this fall, the Lander County Water Board unanimously passed a resolution opposing any drilling or fracking in the Middle Reese River Valley, near Austin, due to threats to town water sources.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 800,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Frack-Free Nevada and Nevadans Against Fracking seeks to protect Nevada’s precious water, maintain the health and quality of life of Nevada communities, guard our air quality, improve agriculture and ranching, and preserve wildlife.

Nevada ranchers suffer from self-deluded drought denial

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Data Backs BLM Manager’s Allotment Cuts in Face of “Cowboy Express” Protest

Washington, DC — A U.S. Bureau of Land Management District Manager from Nevada targeted by angry Nevada ranchers was more than justified in removing cattle from drought-stricken public rangeland, according to data released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Tomorrow, protesting ranchers start a “Cowboy Express” ride to Washington demanding removal of BLM Battle Mountain District Manager Douglas Furtado as an “abusive federal employee” even as conservation groups urge that Furtado be commended not condemned for his actions.

Like much of the West, Nevada has been in the grips of persistent drought, with nearly 90% of the state under “severe to exceptional” drought for three consecutive years. This, in turn, causes greater conflict over dwindling water and forage. Not surprisingly, Nevada has also become Ground Zero for rising tensions on range management as illustrated by this spring’s armed standoff with renegade rancher Cliven Bundy who has been illegally grazing his cattle in southern Nevada for more than a decade.

“We all know about climate deniers, but this is the first we’ve heard of drought deniers,” stated PEER Advocacy Director Kirsten Stade, pointing out that much of Furtado’s Battle Mountain District has been among the hardest hit by drought in Nevada. “If we are to believe the ranchers, an extreme, multiyear, regionwide drought has magically spared only their allotments.”

In July, Battle Mountain District Manager Furtado ordered livestock removed from parched range on the sprawling 332,000-acre Argenta allotment in northern Nevada after conditions fell below thresholds that ranchers and BLM had previously agreed would trigger removal. The ranchers contend that Furtado’s actions were arbitrary but an analysis of Geographic Information Systems and BLM data reveal range in terrible ecological shape:

Nearly every Battle Mountain allotment evaluated failed range health standards for wildlife and water quality, largely due to livestock grazing;

Half of the Argenta Allotment, and roughly 30% of the Battle Mountain District is habitat for sage grouse, a species being reviewed for listing under the Endangered Species Act. BLM has been directed to protect the species’ habitat but 90% of assessed sage grouse habitat was in Battle Mountain allotments failing standards due to livestock; and
Fence line contrasts visible in satellite imagery show that public lands in the checkerboarded allotment are far more heavily grazed than private lands, suggesting that ranchers are more protective of their own lands than they are of publicly-owned range.

“Doug Furtado should be praised, not pilloried, for doing his job,” Stade added, noting a letter of support sent today from PEER and Western Watersheds Project urging that BLM as an agency to do more to stand up for its employees when they attempt to protect public resources. “The Cowboy Express is actually a cynical attempt to use iconic imagery to mask selfish abuse of public lands. If ranchers will not be responsible stewards then conscientious land managers have to make hard decisions, as Doug Furtado has done.”

Western Watersheds Project intervened in the Argenta case when ranchers initially refused to remove their cattle despite their previous agreement. Even after an order from an Interior Department administrative law judge affirmed the BLM’s authority to remove the livestock, as many as 100 cattle remain on the Argenta allotment to this day.

“The rancher resistance to drought protections in Battle Mountain is aimed at preventing effective protection of public lands and sage-grouse habitats across the West,” said Katie Fite, Western Watersheds Project’s Biodiversity Director. “It is meant to intimidate other federal agency managers so that they turn a blind eye to habitat degradation.”

The records for all roughly 20,000 BLM allotments across the West, many of which show similar overgrazed conditions, will be displayed next month in a new PEER website documenting longstanding and serious ecological impacts caused by ongoing livestock overgrazing.

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See the data on Range Conditions in the Battle Mountain District

Read letter in support of Doug Furtado

View the denial of the permittees’ appeal of BLM’s decision

Look at heavy hoof-print of commercial grazing in the West

All content © 2014 Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
2000 P Street NW, Suite 240 Washington, DC 20036

BREAKING NEWS: Call for Wyoming boycott and protests against roundups to frack the land for oil and gas

Protect Mustangs.org (Photo © Cat Kindsfather)

Protect Mustangs.org (Photo © Cat Kindsfather)

 

for immediate release

BREAKING NEWS: Call for Wyoming boycott and protests against roundups to frack the land for oil and gas

Native wild horses are facing destruction in the face of climate change with no evidence of overpopulation to justify BLM roundups

Rock Springs, WY. (September 21, 2014)–-The public is outraged more indigenous wild horses are being rounded up and permanently removed from public land for the water and fracking land grab. Protect Mustangs is calling for protests to stand up for American wild horses and for a tourism boycott targeted at Wyoming who promotes “Roam Free” in their marketing yet ignores wild horses in their state. More than 800 Divide Basin, Adobe Town and Salt Wells wild horses are being rounded up from the public-private land known as the “Checkerboard” in southwest Wyoming. The Rock Springs Grazing Association (RSGA) took the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to court to push the roundup through. Wild horses are terrified by choppers, their families ripped apart, forced into inhumane captivity, be at-risk for going to slaughter and forever lose their freedom to roam and contribute to the ecosystem. Several wild horses have already died brutal deaths in the roundup–some victims were only a few months old.

“Fracking for oil and gas is polluting the environment and wiping out America’s wild horses,” states Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “The BLM must leave at least 150 wild horses in each herd to maintain genetic variability so they can adapt to the effects of climate change. It’s time for clean energy that can coexist with wildlife.”

BLM describes one large fracking project, Continental Divide-Creston, in saying, “The project is located on 1.1 million acres in the checkerboard pattern of mixed land ownership comprised of 59 percent federal, 37 percent private and 4 percent state-owned land. The eastern boundary of the project is approximately 25 miles west of Rawlins, Wyo. with the western boundary approximately 50 miles east of the city of Rock Springs.”

Field reports allege the BLM has inflated the population guesstimates to justify removals requested by the RSGA.

There is no evidence of overpopulation according to the National Academy of Sciences’ 2013 report.

On the other hand, internationally acclaimed wildlife biologist Craig Downer points out “much evidence exists for horse presence in the Americas, especially North America, during the post- Pleistocene and pre-Columbian period at dates scattered through the period beginning ca. 10,000 YBP and reaching very near to 1492 A.D. [Craig C. Downer, The Horse and Burro as Positively Contributing Returned Natives in North America, American Journal of Life Sciences. Vol. 2, No. 1, 2014, pp. 5-23. doi: 10.11648/j.ajls.20140201.12]

“Native wild horses are a vanishing natural resource,” states Novak. “People need to stand up for what’s right. Innocent foals are dying in this roundup and that’s wrong.”

Protect Mustangs is calling for an immediate moratorium on roundups and removals for scientific population studies and holistic management. Advocates want to see genetically viable herds on public land but the BLM prefers to cater to the extractive industry who wants number so low wild horses will die off.

“Tourists come to Wyoming to observe wild horse families in their native habitat, so why are they going to decimate these herds?” asks Novak. “The tag line at the Wyoming tourism office is ‘Roam Free‘ but they are taking away native wild horses’ freedom forever. The public is angry and wants to boycott Wyoming tourism.”

The Great Divide Basin, Adobe Town and Salt Wells Creek herd management areas (HMAs) total approximately 2,427,220 acres with approximately 1,2427,220 acres in the Checkerboard. The roundup held up in court recently due to the Rock Springs Grazing Association (RSGA) Consent Decree ordered by the U.S. District Court on April 3, 2013, to remove all wild horses from private lands within the checkerboard portion of the complex in 2013. The RSGA appears to be heavily involved with energy development.

Members of the public are encouraged to watch GASLAND 2, contact their elected officials, peacefully protest the roundup and join America’s growing anti-fracking movement to stop the devastation of native wild horse habitat.

Protect Mustangs is a grassroots conservation nonprofit devoted to protecting native wild horses. Their mission is to educate the public about the indigenous wild horse, protect and research American wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom.

# # #

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415-531-8454, Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Tami Hottes, 618-790-4339, Tami@ProtectMustangs.org

Photos, interviews and video available upon request

Links of interest™:

American Journal of Life Sciences: The Horse and Burro as Positively Contributing Returned Natives in North America http://bit.ly/1rV9tpr

Wild Free Roaming Horse & Burro Act http://1.usa.gov/1utVtmL

More foals die in Wyoming’s Checkerboard roundup: http://bit.ly/1wEU6Ua

NEPA: http://bit.ly/1B0e9Nd

GASLAND 2: http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/

BLM Oil & Gas leases: http://on.doi.gov/1sS8l3Z

National Academy of Sciences report on Wild Horses and Burros: http://bit.ly/1sT6agA

Protect Mustangs Calls for Fund for Wyoming Wild Horses (Horseback Magazine) http://bit.ly/1ylmS0s

Continental Divide-Creston: http://on.doi.gov/1uc04gX

Continental Divide-Creston expansion http://bit.ly/1pnSNmt

Defund the Roundups Petition: http://chn.ge/1sAAQHa

Petition for a 10 year moratorium on roundups for recovery and studies: http://chn.ge/1rdhXZ2

Don’t Frack Wild Horse Land Petition: http://chn.ge/1rdDzEV

Petition for shade and shelter for captive wild horses & burros: http://chn.ge/1DriOvN

PZP (birth control) sterilizes temp to perm and is a pesticide: http://bit.ly/1mzsP4Z

Link to BLM Wyoming Wild Horse and Burro Program: http://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/programs/Wild_Horses.html

Wyoming Tourism Office: http://www.wyomingtourism.org

Roundup footage & abuse: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF49csCB9qM

www.ProtectMustangs.org
Protect Mustangs is a national nonprofit organization who protects and preserves native and wild horses.

 

BLM roundup in Wyoming

 

 

 

 

Thank you for your comments they will be posted soon.

Protest against wiping out Wyoming wild horses August 12 in Rock Springs

ROCK SPRINGS, WYOMING – Horse lovers, motorcycle enthusiasts and concerned citizens will rally in protest of the wild horse roundups scheduled for the Wyoming checkerboard. Focusing on the checkerboard, the protest will also address wild horse and burro roundups scheduled in the western states.

The rally starts at 1:00 on Tuesday, August 12th at the BLM field office, 280 U.S. 191, Rock Springs and then travels 3.2 miles to the Rock Springs Grazing Association, 200 2nd Street, for a second rally. The purpose of the rally is to convey that U.S. taxpayers do not support the removal of our wild horses and burros, especially at taxpayer expense. The majority of U.S. citizens do not agree with the use of our taxpayer dollars to subsidize private livestock owners.

“We used to have over 2 million wild horses on our public lands, and now we’re down to about one percent left of what we once had on the range,” state the organizers of the rally. “In the checkerboard, some of the private lands ranchers have grazing permits so their livestock are on our public lands. Perhaps it’s time to re-think this policy of allowing privately-owned livestock on our public lands.”

Facts and figures can be found here:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/vickeryeckhoff/2014/04/25/federal-grazing-program-in-bundy-dispute-rips-off-taxpayers-wild-horses/

And here:

http://www.sagebrushsea.org/pdf/factsheet_Grazing_Fiscal_Costs.pdf

A press conference will be held at the BLM field office releasing the facts on the wild horse and burro and the subsidies the public lands ranchers have been receiving.

ROUNDUP SCHEDULE: http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/whbprogram/herd_management/tentative_gather_schedule.html

Donations are needed to help feed and care for rescued wild horses.

Info: www.ProtectMustangs.org

#Gratitude 2 @GASLANDmovie 4 exposing #FRACKING wipes out #WildHorses ~ Come 2 Sacramento Rally 3/15

“We’re so grateful  Josh Fox answered our call for help and included the American wild horse crisis in his awesome film GASLAND Part 2,” says Anne Novak, Executive Director of Protect Mustangs. “We won’t sell out. We will continue to fight for their right to live wild and free.” www.ProtectMustangs.org

HBO released GASLAND Part 2 in 2013 to an audience of more than 40 million people. Since then the film’s audience has grown around the world.

Please sign and share the Petition for a Moratorium on Roundups for Scientific Studies before wild horses are tampered with using risky fertility control that sterilizes, are euthanized or are slaughtered. http://www.change.org/petitions/sally-jewell-urgent-grant-a-10-year-moratorium-on-wild-horse-roundups-for-scientific-research

Today America’s wild horses are underpopulated. The Spin Dr.s have released a huge campaign to fool Congress and the public into believing there are too many when the truth is the feds are managing our native wild horses to extinction.

Why? Follow the money and it leads you to Big Oil & Gas that wants to FRACK their native land and needs tons of water for fracking.

Come to the Rally to Stop Fracking in California this Saturday March 15th in Sacramento! California wild horses need you! https://www.facebook.com/events/727804507253568/

What else can you do? Email, call and meet with your senators and representative to request a moratorium on roundups for scientific studies to ensure their survival. Fertility control is premature. http://www.contactingthecongress.org/

Read the fine print, ask questions and beware of vague pledges people are asking your senators and representative to sign. Certain wild horse groups aren’t fighting for the herds’ freedom any more but are pushing for fertility control experiments and sanctuary-style management with restricted use pesticides (PZP, etc.) branded as “birth control” and without scientific studies on population when wild horses are underpopulated and are being managed to extinction by the feds.

IN THE NEWS: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=218

INFORMATION:

Are wild horses going to be sterilized due to an advocacy campaign? http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6356

The Horse and Burro as Positively Contributing Returned Natives in North America: http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/journal/paperinfo.aspx?journalid=118&doi=10.11648/j.ajls.20140201.12

Press Release: No proof of overpopulation, no need for native wild horse fertility control http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4453

Bogus Science and Profiteering Stampeding Their Way into Wild Horse Country http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4475

Protect Mustangs speaks out against the Cloud Foundation’s PARTNERSHIP with BLM using risky PZP that could terminate natural selection: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4941

Wildlife Ecologist, Craig Downer, speaks out against using PZP in the Pryors: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4178

Report unveils wild horse underpopulation on 800,000 acre Twin Peaks range: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6278

GASLAND website: http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/

(Photo of Josh Fox & Anne Novak at the Oakland Preview of GASLAND Part 2. )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Citizen blocks road to Yellowstone bison trap

Foter / Public Domain Mark 1.0

Foter / Public Domain Mark 1.0

 

Citizen Sacrifices Self to Draw Attention to, and Stop Wild Bison Slaughter

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, GARDINER BASIN, MT:  This morning, Comfrey Jacobs, a twenty-year old citizen concerned for wild bison, placed life, limb and freedom on the line by blocking the access road to Yellowstone National Park’s Stephens Creek bison trap in hopes of preventing more of America’s last wild, migratory bison — the most important bison populations in the world — from being shipped to slaughter.

To date, approximately 450 wild buffalo have been captured in Yellowstone National Park’s Stephens Creek bison trap, located in the Gardiner Basin.  Most of the buffalo have been and will be shipped to slaughter, while some are going to government research facilities.  To date, more than 200 bison have been shipped to slaughter and 250 more have been killed by hunters.

Mr. Jacobs spent a number of week’s in the Gardiner Basin, where bison capture and slaughter operations and intense hunting have been taking place.

“During my time in Gardiner,” said Jacobs, “I was feeling helpless as I watched wild buffalo lured and trapped, fed hay like livestock, tortured with sorting and testing, and eventually crammed into livestock trailers headed for slaughter facilities, while simultaneously bison were being hunted just outside the Park boundary.”

Jacobs blocked the road to prevent livestock trailers from accessing the trap before more wild bison could be loaded onto trailers destined for slaughter facilities.  He handcuffed himself to a hunter orange 55-gallon barrel filled with concrete, and wire-mesh webbing spanning the entrance to the roadway, which is closed to public access.

“My goal is to stop these trailers from getting to the trap so they cannot load more bison and transport them to slaughter,” Jacobs said.  “My intent is to not unduly cause these buffalo any more stress or harm than they are currently being subjected to in the trap, and to ultimately get Yellowstone to set them free.”

This is the first time a citizen has exercised civil disobedience at Yellowstone’s Stephens Creek bison trap.  Yellowstone National Park initiates a 7-mile public access closure surrounding their Stephens Creek bison trap while highly controversial bison management activities are underway.

Jacobs state that, “Yellowstone National Park’s public access closure around the Stephens Creek facility is an obscene and blatantly unconstitutional limitation of public oversight and accountability of our government agencies during bison management actions.”

Mr. Jacobs, Buffalo Field Campaign, other organizations and media outlets have requested numerous times that Yellowstone conduct media tours of the facility, but these requests have been ignored.  Thousands of people have written and called Yellowstone urging them to cease capture and slaughter operations.  Yellowstone National Park has also been extremely secretive:  Superintendent Dan Wenk is the first Yellowstone superintendent to prevent his staff from disclosing information to the public.  Yellowstone has not issued a single press release during this year’s capture and slaughter operations, and they are refusing to tell the public how many wild bison they have captured so far, and are only giving delayed information on the number, age and sex of bison that have already been transported to slaughter.

Jacobs said he is aware of the repercussions of his actions, bur felt strongly that he needed to draw attention to what Yellowstone National Park is doing so that they are held accountable for their direct participation in bison mismanagement, which has lead to the decimation of America’s last wild bison populations.

“I have taken these drastic actions because I feel it is my civil duty as an American citizen to protect this national treasure,” Jacobs said.  “The National Park Service has neglected their duty as stewards, to respect public interests and preserve and protect the entirety of the Yellowstone ecosystem.  I’m giving up some of my freedoms in hopes of re-establishing a free-roaming heard of bufflo in their traditional habitat.”

Comfrey Jacobs’s blockade included banners with the messages “Hunters for Bison Habitat,” and “Road Closed.”  Jacobs also included a list of demands for Yellowstone National Park:
1.  The immediate halt to all current and future capture and slaughter management actions and the release of all currently captive buffalo.
2.  Yellowstone National Park’s withdrawal from the Interagency Bison Management Plan, due to its ineffectiveness in maintaining a wild, free-roaming bison population and not meeting the public’s, or the buffalo’s best interests.
3.  So long as the Stephens Creek facility continues to be used to capture, torture and ship wild bison to slaughter and research facilities, there needs to be public oversight and media access at all times, to keep the Park Service accountable for its actions.

Wild bison are currently managed under the highly controversial state, federal and tribal Interagency Bison Management Plan, which is heavily influenced by Montana’s livestock industry.  The IBMP allows for hazing (chasing) of bison out for their native Montana, a lengthy late-season harvest, and capture for slaughter and research.  American citizens and others world-wide have have largely opposed all the actions carried out under the IBMP.  IBMP-affiliated tribal partners, including the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes (CSKT), the InterTribal Buffalo Council (ITBC), and the Nez Perce tribe have signed slaughter agreements with Yellowstone.  The CKST and ITBC have been actively shipping wild bison from Yellowstone to tribal slaughter facilities.  USDA-Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service is taking wild bison from Yellowstone’s trap to research facilities to use them in experiments with the chemical pesticide birth control GonaCon.  Under the IBMP, more than 4,650 wild bison have been senselessly killed or otherwise eliminated from these last wild populations.

The wild bison of Yellowstone are the most significant bison populations in the world, the last continuously wild bison to exist in their native habitat since prehistoric times.  They are the direct descendants to the tens of millions that once thundered across North America.  Currently, wild, migratory bison are ecologically extinct throughout their historic range with fewer than 4,200 existing in and around Yellowstone and, temporarily, in Montana.  They are free of cattle genes and the only bison to hold their identity as a wildlife species.  North America’s largest land mammal, wild bison are a keystone species critical to the health and integrity of grasslands and prairie ecosystems.

The zero-tolerance bison politics of Montana’s livestock industry are driving the policies that are pushing these significant herds back to the brink of extinction.

Yellowstone and its IBMP partners have set an arbitrary population target of 3,000-3,500 bison, yet a Yellowstone bison carrying capacity study has determined that the Park can sustain upwards of 6,200 wild bison.  Additionally, there are tens of thousands of acres of public lands surrounding Yellowstone that could sustain thousands more.

“I belive year-round habitat in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and Montana is the solution for wild bison population management, not genetically damaging and limiting the herds through slaughter or constant harassment and abuse through hazing operations,” Jacobs said.

“We would like to thank Comfrey Jacobs for taking an action that our organization cannot,”  said Stephany Seay, a spokesperson for Buffalo Field Campaign.  “We have always strongly opposed the slaughter and abuse of wild buffalo and applaud non-violent civil disobedience when other means of public participation have been exhausted and ignored.  BFC shares Mr. Jacobs’ goals for wild, migratory buffalo populations that are respected and valued as native wildlife and free to roam and flourish beyond Yellowstone’s borders, in Montana, and beyond.  We hope his courageous actions inspire other patriotic Americans to stand up tor this iconic and important National Treasure.”

Video and still footage available upon request.

Buffalo Field Campaign is a non-profit public interest organization founded in 1997 to stop the slaughter of Yellowstone’s wild bison, protect the natural habitat of wild free-roaming bison and other native wildlife, and to work with people of all Nations to honor the sacredness of wild bison.  BFC has its headquarters in West Yellowstone, Montana, and is supported by volunteers and participants around the world who value America’s native wildlife and the ecosystems upon which they depend.

For more information visit Buffalo Field Campaign on the web http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org

Contacts:
Stephany Seay, Buffalo Field Campaign, 406-646-0071
Mike Mease, Buffalo Field Campaign, 406-640-0109

 

9 Arrested at State Department Building During Youth-Led Protest of Keystone XL Pipeline

 

© Steve Rhodes, all rights reserved

© Steve Rhodes, all rights reserved

 

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – At 9:00 a.m. this morning, Bay Area students and grassroots activists staged a sit-in at Spear Tower, protesting the pending approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline–a pipeline that, if approved, would mean “game over for the planet,” according to leading NASA climatologist, James Hansen.

As of 10:00am, 9 young people and supporters were arrested for trespassing, and released from jail at 850 Bryant Street at around noon. Dozens of others were prepared to risk arrest, but were unable to enter the building, as it went on lockdown when supporters began to march toward it. Thus, the 9 arrestees staged a sit-in at the Mission Street doors of Spear Tower, while hundreds of protesters rallied just outside. The building remained on complete lockdown for about 2 hours.

In coordination with the 398 students who were arrested yesterday at the White House for XL Dissent, students, young people and supporters engaged in civil disobedience to make the message to Obama reverberate across the nation: he must reject the Keystone XL Pipeline, a project that would transport 850,000 barrels of tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada, down to Texas ports for foreign export. To highlight the ethically-questionable pipeline review process conducted by the State Department and dues-paying American Petroleum Institute member, Environmental Resources Management, protesters planned to satirically “buy back their future,” dressing in business casual to “speak with the State Department in the only language” it “responds to: the language of money.” But “instead of making record profits by poisoning people and decimating the very ecosystems upon which we depend,” action organizers said, “we’ll cultivate a society based on collaboration, sustainability, and justice.”

Students and grassroots activists also conveyed that Obama needs to keep his climate promise to the generation that elected him. “We’ve heard so much climate rhetoric over the years,” said action organizer and UC Berkeley student, Haley Broder. “But actions speak louder than words; if Obama approves this pipeline, it demonstrates just how meaningless his pro-climate statements have been. But we intend to ensure he keeps his promise.”
“We’re escalating tactics to showcase our categorical opposition to the pending approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline,” stated action organizer Ashlyn Ruga. “If approved, the KXL would have far-reaching and pernicious impacts, not only on First Nations living at tar sands extraction sites, but also on the stability of our climate. Those are things we simply cannot allow.”
“The youth are the ones who will be dealing with a radically altered climate if Keystone XL is approved,” said action organizer Shoshanna Howard. “We are, therefore, determined to prevent the approval by all means necessary.”
The action participants’ message is clear: “We will not stay silent while communities on the front lines of tar sands operations are continually poisoned; we will not allow business as usual to intoxicate our water, contaminate our air, and threaten the very survival of our species. Our voices are loud and uncompromising in defense of our futures.”

 

 

Keystone XL does NOT work for US

 

Wild horses and burros are being pushed off the land for toxic drilling. They need a healthy environment to survive.

America’s students from 80 colleges protested against the Keystone XL Pipeline today. See raw footage (below) from the march in DC and the 398 brave ones who got arrested outside the White House to make a point.

We need climate justice for all creatures including indigenous wild horses and burros!

Monday 8:30 AM in San Francisco is the West Coast March and Rally! Info is here: http://xldissent.org/xl-dissent-west-coast/

Comment against the KXL here>>> http://www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=DOS-2014-0003-5966 Due March 7th!

Wild horses are getting pushed off the land for fracking! Watch GASLAND part II http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/