We prefer to inform you about advances in wild land conservation, but this week that opportunity has been denied for Idaho’s magnificent backcountry forests.

At the end of January, a federal district court upheld a dangerous federal rule that eliminates protection for 400,000 acres of Idaho’s wild backcountry and exposes more than 5 million acres in the state to greater threat of development.

No matter which way you look at it greater sage-grouse are in trouble. With population declines of over 90% from a century ago, and with remaining habitats under continued pressure from threats such as oil and gas development, the greater sage-grouse is teetering on the brink.

A tiny Northwestern seabird got some great news on Jan 20. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service declared that the marbled murrelet is still in need of federal protection and declined petitions to remove the bird from the list of threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

The Fish and Wildlife Service cited declining populations in Oregon, Washington, and California as proof that the marbled murrelet was not ready to be removed from the protective measures that have been in place since the early 1990s.

Just six months into Obama’s presidency, we’re already beginning to see just how much we can get done with an administration that values strong scientific evidence. Last week, after years of foot-dragging by the Bush Administration, the White House released a landmark multi-agency government report on the effects of climate change on the U.S. Just a day later, a scientific report from the U.S.