Every year, NRDC names 12 BioGems -- unspoiled wildlands in the Americas threatened by development -- and mobilizes citizens to take direct action to protect them.
In 2006, we named Florida's Emerald Coast to our BioGems list to protect one of the last remaining unspoiled areas in the state. This vast network of longleaf pine forests, cypress swamps and wetlands offers natural protection against Gulf Coast hurricanes and provides a spectacular habitat for sea turtles, American alligators, red cockaded woodpeckers, Florida black bears and other imperiled wildlife.
The Everglades, another natural treasure in Florida, moves to the BioGems watchlist this year. NRDC will continue our legal action to fight a giant rock mine and other threats to this remarkable wetland ecosystem.
Joining our watchlist, along with the Everglades, are: Bahía de los Angeles in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez, where a planned series of marinas and infrastructure projects for large-scale tourism threatens marine life and coastal wildlife habitat; Laguna San Ignacio in Baja California, Mexico, where the gray whale's only unspoiled birthing ground has not received permanent protection; and La Amistad Reserve in the Talamanca mountain range of Costa Rica and Panama, where a proposed series of dams jeopardizes habitat for jaguars, giant anteaters, monkeys and more than 400 bird species.
NRDC removed Chile's Olivillo Coastal Forest, named to the BioGems list in 2001, from the BioGems watchlist this year after BioGems Defenders and other activists helped defeat a planned wood-chip mill and sent tens of thousands of messages opposing a proposed coastal highway. NRDC also removed the Hawaiian Islands Whale Sanctuary from the watchlist but we have intensified our campaign to protect whales around the world from deadly underwater sonar. Two other locations, Alaska's Copper River and Mexico’s Alacran Reef, have moved off the watchlist because potential threats failed to advance.
BioGems 2006: Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (U.S.); Castle-Bighorn (Canada); Cumberland Plateau (U.S.); Florida’s Emerald Coast (U.S.); Heart of the Boreal Forest (Canada); Patagonia Coast (Chile); Redrock Wilderness (U.S.); Tahuamanú Rainforest (Peru); Tongass National Forest (U.S.); Upper Gulf of California (Mexico); Western Arctic Reserve (U.S.); Yellowstone/Greater Rockies (U.S.).
BioGems Watchlist 2006: Amazon Frontier (Brazil); Bahía de los Angeles (Mexico); Catskill Forest Preserve (U.S.); Forest of the Rock (Canada); Great Bear Rainforest (Canada); Greater Everglades (U.S.); Great North Woods (U.S.); La Amistad Reserve (Costa Rica/Panama); Laguna San Ignacio (Mexico); Northwest Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Reserve (U.S.)
