Email Address:   Hello, Activists! Read on to see the victories you're helping to achieve Robert Redford and the Beautiful West NRDC Trustee Robert Redford shares his favorite photos of western landscapes. » View the slideshow BioGems Update A big thank you to BioGems Defenders who recently sent more than 27,000 messages to oppose new oil drilling on western lands. BioGems Defenders: 602,817 Action Messages Sent: 11,540,757 » See the timeline of victories we've won To Do Even More You can support NRDC's BioGems campaign to save these and other threatened wild places. » Donate Get Your BioGems Widget Have action alerts delivered to Facebook, MySpace, iGoogle, and lots of other sites. Grizzly Bears Help protect grizzly bears from a deadly mining scheme In the lush forests and meadows of the Cabinet-Yaak wilderness in northwest Montana, a small population of 20 to 30 grizzly bears hovers on the brink of extinction. This isolated group of grizzlies is already threatened by increased development, habitat loss and high levels of grizzly mortality. Now, officials in the Kootenai National Forest are considering a proposal for a mine that would drill thousands of feet directly beneath the grizzlies' habitat. The Mines Management Corporation wants to drill for 120 million tons of ore-bearing rock over the course of the next 16 years, even though environmental studies have shown that the project would displace grizzlies from their critical habitat, destroy at least five streams and increase road development as well as the potential for poaching. The approval of this mine would likely have devastating effects on the grizzly population. » Tell forest officials to reject a mine proposal. In the News   NRDC PROTESTS BUFFALO HAZING ON HORSE BUTTE When buffalo from Yellowstone National Park made their seasonal migration to the Horse Butte peninsula in Montana this spring, the Montana Department of Livestock needlessly hazed them back into the park using a helicopter and ATVs. These cruel hazing practices endanger pregnant buffalo and young calves, supposedly out of concern that wild buffalo may spread the disease brucellosis to domestic cattle in Montana. But Horse Butte is cattle-free year-round and there has never been a documented case of transmission of brucellosis from buffalo to cattle in the wild. NRDC challenged the hazing and generated more than 65,000 letters of protest from BioGems Defenders, and we will continue to pressure Montana officials to stop this dangerous and unnecessary hazing in the future. NRDC SUES TO PREVENT MASS KILLING OF WOLVES On June 2nd, NRDC and 12 other conservation organizations filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, challenging its March decision to strip Endangered Species protection from the gray wolf population in Montana and Idaho. The decision leaves those two states free to conduct public hunts that could lead to the killing of hundreds of wolves. Officials in Montana and Idaho have already begun planning hunts for the fall. While we fight in federal court, we will be calling on activists in Montana and Idaho to oppose the hunt and voice their opposition at state meetings. Action Insider   ROBERT REDFORD SHARES HIS FAVORITE IMAGES OF THE WEST NRDC Trustee Robert Redford has picked his favorite photos of Western landscapes -- including Utah's redrock canyons and New Mexico's Otero Mesa, both places that the BioGems campaign has fought for years to protect. View the stunning slideshow here. Photo credits: Grizzly Bear - © Florian Schulz; Buffalo and calf- © Art Wolfe.