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by Deanna Meyer, Deep Green Resistance Colorado When we visited the Crowfoot site to confirm the mass annihilation of the last large colony of prairie dogs in the Castle Rock area, we found that all the burrows were packed hard as concrete. I tried to shovel out the burrows but could not because they were packed so tight. Fumitoxin was most likely the poison used to kill this amazing colony. I think it is very difficult, but extremely important, for all of us to understand what fumitoxin does to these prairie dogs. I kept imagining the thousands upon thousands of prairie dogs trapped in their burrows suffering excruciatingly from the horror that John Waggoner and his hired hands brought to these sentient beings. ...

By DGR Colorado Deep Green Resistance understands that Green Technology, Renewable Energy and other similar terms/approaches are a false promise. They will not, and can not, deliver us from the devastation that industrial civilization is wreaking on the planet. We’ve posted that before on this forum (see The Deep Green Resistance Perspective). Stories of Creative Ecology has posted its own list of “Ten things environmentalists need to know about renewable energy” which we re-post below. As you read the list, you may be convinced that such magical thinking as relying on technology to save us from ecological collapse is whistling past the graveyard. We hope you do! Of course, such a conclusion begs the question, “So then what the hell do we do?” ...

Editor’s Note: This originally appeared on High Country News. Deep Green Resistance chapters across the Southwest have declared water protection and justice our primary focus. Join us in dismantling the systems that would leave our planet dry and lifeless. If water curtailments go into effect, which states are most vulnerable, and why? Sarah Tory, June 17, 2015 Record rain across much of the West in May has provided Lake Mead with a much-needed boost – alleviating concerns about possible cutbacks in water deliveries from the nation’s largest reservoir. But a month of rain does not solve Mead’s falling water levels. For nearly two decades, the reservoir, which straddles the Arizona-Nevada border, has been shrinking due to prolonged drought and over-allocation. Mead hasn’t been full since 1998 at 1,221 feet above sea level and in the past 15 years alone, it has dropped 135 feet. Now it’s 37 percent full and just six inches away from reaching the 1,075-foot threshold that triggers cutbacks in deliveries for the three lower basin states – Arizona, Nevada and California – all of which depend heavily on Colorado River water stored in Lake Mead. (The trigger point doesn’t apply to the Upper Basin states of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico.) ...

Deanna Meyer of Deep Green Resistance Colorado and Brian Ertz of Wildlands Defense teamed up to organize a 2015 campaign to delay construction of a Castle Rock, Colorado, mega-mall to save threatened prairie dogs. They discuss the campaign and some broader lessons for activists. &feature=em-subs_digest

Action Alert! Please let Channel 7 news know that their coverage of the following story lacked factual information and was unacceptable. With prairie dogs disappearing across the landscape with populations at less than 1% of their historic numbers, it is more important now than ever that the truth is told and that prairie dogs are not associated with vile rumors built on insubstantial lies. Phone: 303-832-7777 email: 7NEWS@thedenverchannel.com In the Channel 7 news clip, channel 7 news inadvertently tries to blame the plague on prairie dogs. There is no evidence that this is the case, and if it were, the prairie dogs involved would be dead as the colonies “plague out” and die within 3 days to a week if they have plague carrying fleas. There is absolutely no evidence that any of the prairie dogs in Larimar County were infected with plague carrying fleas or that the teen in this story contracted the plague from prairie dogs. Any “rodent” can have the fleas and dogs and cats actually carry the plague. ...

Editor’s note: This first appeared on Great Basin Water Network’s Water Gab newsletter. Read Deep Green Resistance Southwest Coalition’s analysis of the proposed SNWA groundwater pipeline project here. Nevada’s Great Basin consists of pinion and juniper covered mountain ranges that run North/ South like wooly worms with long, wide, mostly arid valleys in between. However, Spring Valley is an exception. Traveling East/West on Hwy 50, one will notice that the floor of Spring Valley is tree covered. These trees, Rocky Mountain Junipers, were pushed there by Ice Age conditions. Their root system is very shallow. Consequently the trees are in extreme danger from groundwater drawdown from the Southern Nevada Water Authority groundwater pipeline and exportation project. ...

Editor’s Note: this first appeared on Denver Freedom Riders It is difficult to be radical in Denver. We are so privileged here. There’s a Starbucks and a Whole Foods on every corner; and dog parks and community gardens and it’s all so…seductive. It has an almost soporific effect. One can be lulled right to sleep by the idyllic snow-capped mountains and trendy cafes that suggest there is no crisis here. Our hoods aren’t like hoods in Chicago, Detroit, Jersey, parts of New York, New Orleans, St. Louis…Baltimore. No gritty crime drama about the drug trade and the alarmingly high homicide rates in the inner city could ever be filmed here. We are a little too deft with our trash pickups and our gentrification. Let me start near the beginning. ...

By Cole Mellino, for Ecowatch California gets most of the attention in drought news coverage because so much of the state is in exceptional drought—the highest level—but 72 percent of the Western U.S. is experiencing drought conditions, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor data. 72 percent of the West is experiencing drought conditions and 25 percent is in extreme or exceptional drought. Photo credit: U.S. Drought MonitorWhen California’s snowpack assessment showed that the state’s snowpack levels were 6 percent of normal—the lowest ever recorded—it spurred Gov. Brown’s administration to order the first-ever mandatory water restrictions. California’s snowpack levels might be the lowest, but the Golden State is not the only one setting records. A new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) finds that nine states reported record low snowpack. The report states: ...

[vimeo 120753081 w=500 h=281] Editor’s Note: This video, PROTECT OAK FLAT: SAVING APACHE SACRED GROUNDS, was produced by Paper Rocket Productions on Vimeo. This is the accompanying text, also by Paper Rocket Productions: For nearly a decade, Resolution Copper Mining, a subsidiary of British-Australian mining conglomerate Rio Tinto, had unsuccessfully sought ownership of Oak Flat Campground. Yet, on December 19, 2014, with the help of Senator John McCain, the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act of 2013 resurfaced within the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and was successfully passed by the Senate and signed off by President Obama . The new legislation will open up Oak Flat for copper mining. ...

By Deep Green Resistance Great Basin Tubape Numu: Pine-nut People Members of the Paiute nation living in northeastern Nevada are angry after the Forest Service clearcut more than 70 acres of pine nuts trees that have been used by the tribe for thousands of years, until the modern day. According to the Forest Service, the trees were cut “by mistake” as part of a federal plan to improve habitat for the Sage Grouse ( a story that Deep Green Resistance Great Basin has previously covered). Tribal members disagree, stating that clearcutting these forests will not help the Sage Grouse and should not be done without consultation and approval from the native people. ...