In the bottomland swamps of Louisiana, black bears roam. Catching small fish, eating berries and digging up roots, the black bear loves the wetlands it calls home. However, while its brother and sister may be seen as “conservation success” stories in other states of our country, the Louisiana black bear is barely getting by: 80% of its natural range and population has been fractured. Current population numbers are down as low as 500.
The black bear’s very existence is threatened in Louisiana. WE MUST PROTECT THE BLACK BEAR’S FORESTS.
Image Source: Nature Conservancy
Black bears all over the Southeastern United States are threatened by an ever-increasing and destructive biomass industry that is converting whole forests into pellets for European electricity. Humans have yet again allowed their greed for profit and cheap fuel to trump species’ need for protected habitat.
TAKE A STAND AGAINST BIOMASS AND JOIN OUR NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION.
Biomass companies are clearcutting the forests of the black bear, processing those trees into pellets and shipping them to Europe to be burned for electricity because policymakers have mistakenly dubbed biomass “renewable, green” energy.
The industry claims they are using “waste wood” such as hollowed out cypress trees, crooked trees or other trees that are “unmerchantable.” Unfortunately for the black bear, those nooks, crannies, and cavities are some of the best dens for the winter.
The cost of this false green energy is sky-high: species are being driven out due to the destruction of their forests.
We know that Our Forests Aren’t Fuel, and that’s why we are sending aN SOS to EU policymakers. HELP US REACH OUR GOAL OF 50,000 MESSAGES AND SAVE THE BLACK BEAR. Save Our Southern forests!
Our SOS asks the president of the EU and the secretary of energy to reject dirty biomass that comes from precious Southern forests. Wood pellets threaten the lives of animals like the black bear, threaten our communities, hurt our economy and destabilize our climate. Take action with us!
Forests in the Southeast are hotbeds for diversity and vitality. Forests bolster our communities. They’re where we recreate, they protect us from storms, regulate rainfall patterns, clean our air and our water, and provide flood and erosion control. Preserving intact forest ecosystems is the simplest action we can take to sequester carbon and mitigate climate change. There is no time to trade the benefits of forests for large profits for a few companies.