When the American buffalo rebounded from near-extinction and gray wolves returned to the wild, they found their refuge in the tawny grasslands and pine-covered ridges of Yellowstone National Park. When grizzly bears lost most of their habitat to logging and development, the northern Rockies provided them with the thousands of square miles of wild forests and meadows they needed to survive. Without the vast stretches of Rockies wilderness, where will the next species go to be replenished?

Despite these questions, the Bush administration is set on sacrificing more of the country's most cherished wild places to satisfy energy corporations. These wildlands include vital habitat for many of our nation's most beloved wildlife species: threatened grizzly bears, wolves and thriving herds of pronghorn, elk and bison. And the area's superb recreational resources are contributing to new and burgeoning economies across the region.

But even as oil and gas drilling takes a mounting toll on local communities and wildlife, the Bush administration is seeking to expand this destructive activity in ways that could forever transform the area into a vast industrialized zone, stripped of its iconic wildlife, open spaces and clean water.

Tell the Bush administration to protect the outstanding wildlands of the Rocky Mountain West.

Photo credits: Bear grass and moon at twilight, © Randy Beacham. Bison with calf, © Laura Romin & Larry Dalton, Wildlife Reflections Photography.