WHAT’S NEW • Foundation hires executive director • Federal decisions affect Arctic • Museum exhibit features polar bears • Read more.

Photo/©Amy Gulick

What's New

Lisa Jaguzny is new executive director at Campion Foundation
Lisa Jaguzny, former deputy director of People for Puget Sound, will join the Campion Foundation as executive director. Jaguzny has extensive experience in managing nonprofit organizations, including 11 years at People for Puget Sound. During this time, she directed the organization’s successful strategic growth through long-range planning, program and budget development, financial management and fund development. She was also responsible for leading a 10-year partnership with The Nature Conservancy and The Trust for Public Land, a collaboration that resulted in the protection of more than 1,000 miles of Puget Sound shoreline.

Polar Bear listed as threatened species 
On May 14, secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne listed the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The decision was based on strong scientific evidence, which shows that loss of sea ice from global warming is a threat to the polar bear.

Polar bears are dependent on sea ice and the loss of this habitat puts the species at risk of becoming endangered in the future. Polar bears are currently suffering the effects of sea-ice loss including starvation and drowning, which has led to population declines. The U.S. Department of the Interior’s decision included exemptions that will reduce the protection of the ESA, leaving the polar bear at continued peril. For more information, go to www.alaskawild.org/

National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska wetlands gain protection
On May 16, the secretary of the Interior announced that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) would defer oil-and-gas leasing around Teshekpuk Lake in the Northeast National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPRA) for at least 10 years.

The decision follows the release of a revised environmental statement and activity plan for Northeast NPRA, after a lawsuit blocked a controversial September 2006 lease sale in that area. The decision recognizes the international importance of the Teshekpuk wetlands to migratory waterfowl and other species in the area. For more information, go to www.audubonalaska.org/

Photo exhibit from Braided River's The Last Polar Bear at Burke Museum
The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle is featuring an exhibit of photography by Steven Kazlowski from his new book, The Last Polar Bear. The exhibit, which lasts until the end of 2008, documents changes to the Arctic ecosystem from global warming and its devastating effects on polar bears. Braided River is the new conservation imprint from The Mountaineers Books, created to use photography and essays to bring a fresh perspective to some of the key environmental issues facing western North America’s wildest places. To find out more about the book, go to The Mountaineers Books.