Update on the Farallon Islands and a very important FOIA request: As many of you know, I have partnered with Animal Legal Defense Fund and retired USFWS biologist Sonce DeVries in the submission of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to USFWS. We are seeking information and answers into all previous and currently planned island eradication projects, and the process behind the administering of grants, federal contracts and how our tax dollars are spent on these projects. Our request was received in May and since then, we have been involved in two conference calls with USFWS, and the word back is that our request is “extensive and complex” and will take some time to gather and sort through the requested information. Our FOIA request was sent to Washington DC, in addition to all the USFWS regions across the US. We will be receiving this information in a “staggered” fashion, and anticipate that process beginning mid-August. This process parallels my efforts to stop the proposed carpet bombing of the southeast Farallon Islands, which runs the risk of being bombarded by helicopters dispersing 1.3 metric tons of d-CON this winter. San Francisco’s Dept of the Environment recently sent a no-nonsense letter of opposition, and I am working with other jurisdictions and municipalities that will be dovetailing on the letter written by San Francisco. With a seabird population of over 250,000 birds, the risks of innocent and protected wildlife dying very public, gruesome deaths all across the SF Bay area is very possible.