WASHINGTON - August 5 - The Wilderness Society and 19 other environmental organizations notched a huge victory today when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco affirmed protection for almost 40 million acres of wild national forests and grasslands from new road building, logging, and development. The decision puts an end to the Bush administration's efforts to open these last great natural areas to development.

WASHINGTON - July 20 - "Amid ever-increasing threats to the beauty and wildlife of the Grand Canyon, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced today that he would be placing a two-year hold on new mining leases on more than one million acres of public lands around the Grand Canyon. During this time, the Department of Interior plans to study the environmental impacts of hardrock mining in the area and has reserved the ability to extend this moratorium for up to 20 years.

PORTLAND, Ore. - July 16 - People throughout the West are celebrating an Obama administration decision to cancel a Bush-era plan that would have nearly quadrupled current logging on public lands in western Oregon. The Bush plan, called the Western Oregon Plan Revision, rezoned 2.6 million acres of federal public forests in Oregon managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The announcement came in response to a lawsuit filed by 13 conservation and fisheries-protection organizations challenging the Bush logging plan.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - July 14 - An assessment released today by the nation's leading voice for the national parks, the nonpartisan National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), finds that Lake Clark National Park & Preserve's ecosystem is in excellent condition, receiving one of the highest scores among parks assessed throughout the nation, largely because of the park's remoteness, lack of major road systems, and distance from sources of pollution.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - July 8 - Today the Center for Biological Diversity notified the Environmental Protection Agency of its intent to file suit against the agency for failing to consider impacts to the polar bear and its Arctic habitat from toxic contamination resulting from pesticide use in the United States.

LOS ANGELES - July 8 - A group of esteemed condor biologists, including former leaders and members of the Fish and Wildlife Service's condor research team and federal condor recovery team, has weighed in on the controversial plan to develop Tejon Ranch, broadly condemning Tejon's development proposal and its associated proposed Habitat Conservation Plan.