Our Favorite Wildlife Cams

Your summer vacation might not include a trip to Alaska or South Africa, but that doesn't mean you can't check out the wildlife there. Last year, we covered the summer's five best wildlife cams, and we're doing the same thing this season.

Keep Our National Forests Wild Three national forests in California—the Inyo, Sierra, and Sequoia—are among the first in the nation to go through a new national forest planning process. While the Forest Service's draft plans would protect some key lands in these forests, it's clear they don't go far enough to protect wilderness, safeguard wildlife, or stop destructive salvage logging.������ The stakes are high; what happens in these three forests will set the precedent—for better or worse—for how all our national forests are managed for decades to come. The Forest Service is soliciting input from the public, but the comment period closes August 25. Take action now to help keep our national forests wild. Fantastic Idea The U.S. National Park Service turns 100 years old this month. For the past century, America's national parks have provided opportunities for visitors to explore nature, access solitude, pursue outdoor recreation, and enjoy adventure, camaraderie, and quiet reflection. In a new video, actor and Captain Fantastic star Viggo Mortensen teams up with the Sierra Club to celebrate the National Park Service Centennial and look forward to its next 100 years. Hear what Captain Fantastic has to say about our national parks. Yellowstone Desert National Park? This past February, writer Jake Abrahamson traveled to Yellowstone National Park, where he was struck by the unexpected aridity of the landscape. "Yellowstone, like the rest of the world, is warming," Abrahamson says. Last year, the journal Yellowstone Science examined how climate change would affect the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. "Through a series of articles, the journal pieced together a picture of what may happen as the climate continues to warm," Abrahamson says, and concluded that "the changes are coming much sooner than previously thought." Read about Abrahamson's winter journey through our nation's first national park, and what scientists predict for its climate future. Photo by Ian Shive Your Backyard Beckons The Sierra Club conducted its first official outing in 1901, when William Colby led 96 participants on a trip to Yosemite. It was Club founder John Muir's belief that if people were exposed to wild places, they would be moved to protect them. Today, the Sierra Club takes more than a quarter-million people into the great outdoors every year. Roughly 4,000 participate in one of the 350+ trips offered by the National Outings program. But the vast majority of Club outings—more than 10,000 a year—are led by an estimated 6,000 local volunteer leaders, who take over 200,000 people into nature each and every year. Find a local outing near you. Foldable Gear for Your Outdoor Adventures Even the most practical outdoor gear is a pain to store or carry if it's bulky. These days, light is right and compact is cool. So we researched collapsible outdoor adventure accoutrements—from seating to lighting, kayaks to kitchens (!)—and recommend the following four foldables for their usefulness, elegant design, and sheer wow factor. Check 'em out. Places Worth Protecting The United States originated the concept of preserving natural wonders for all people to enjoy, and protecting the breadth of biodiversity of wild nature found within the nation's borders. But a scant 3.4 percent of the lower 48 states falls within National Park Service jurisdiction (by contrast, more than 25 percent of Costa Rica is protected in that country's national park system), and many ecosystems are underrepresented. In keeping with the National Park Service's original vision, here are five areas in the U.S. that deserve to be protected as national parks. Illustration by Steve Stankiewicz Stop Toxic Trade Deals The movement to protect our communities and climate and keep dirty fossil fuels in the ground has won many important victories lately. But that progress is threatened by two massive trade deals: the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, both of which would empower big polluters to challenge climate safeguards in unaccountable trade tribunals. We've joined with actress Evangeline Lilly (Lost, Ant-Man, The Hobbit) in our new video to explain why we must stand up to corporate polluters and stop toxic trade deals like the TPP. Read more, watch the video, and send a message. 5 Best Wildlife Cams Your summer vacation might not include a trip to Alaska or South Africa, but that doesn't mean you can't check out the wildlife there. Last year, we covered the summer's five best wildlife cams, and we're doing the same thing this season. Whether you want to observe grizzlies, elephants, sharks, sea otters, or puffins, these livestream cams let you "drop in" and watch the action. Here are our top 5 wildlife webcams for watching animals live, 24/7. Apocalypse Now Hieronymus Beach. That's what popped into Sierra editor-in-chief Jason Mark's mind when he saw Rob Dionne's unnerving photograph, captured in late July from the Santa Monica Pier. "The sky choked with a cloud of brown smoke, the babel-like crowds in the foreground, the broodiness of the whole scene—all of it recalled the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch, the 16th-century Dutch artist who is best remembered for the dark allegories he created on canvas," Mark says of the ominous, gargantuan smoke cloud that shrouded Los Angeles after the outbreak of the so-called Sand Fire 30 miles to the north. View the photo. Photo courtesy of Rob Dionne Stop Overgrazing Our Public Land Federal grazing fees have consistently been less than one-tenth the cost of grazing livestock on private land in the American West, providing an incentive for overgrazing and costing the government at least $120 million every year since 2002. Among the other costs of overgrazing are native plant loss, soil erosion, excessive animal waste leading to degraded water quality, increased wildfire danger, and creeping desertification that makes the land ever-less habitable for wildlife. A bill now in Congress would allow over-stressed habitat to recover while saving taxpayers money. Tell your members of Congress to pass the Rural Economic Vitalization Act. Desert Dynamo In the mid-'70s, San Francisco native Joan Taylor dropped out of college, moved to the California desert, and became an environmental activist. A longtime Sierra Club volunteer leader and currently vice chair of the Club's California/Nevada Desert Conservation Committee, she has been fighting for over 45 years to protect desert ecosystems and wildlife, promote clean energy, combat sprawl, and preserve desert wildlands. Sierra magazine talked with Taylor about her work and what drew her to the desert. "I didn't have any special education in biology," she says. "The Sierra Club gave me the opportunity to learn what I needed to learn." Read the interview. Photo by Rodrigo Peña Watershed Moment for the Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon watershed is home to a unique array of native wildlife, hundreds of creeks and springs feeding into a river that millions of people rely on for drinking water, and thousands of acres of ancient forest-including the Southwest's largest unprotected old-growth ponderosa pine forest. Native American tribes in the area have come together to support the designation of a national monument that would protect the region's natural and cultural treasures, which face threats from unsafe uranium mining, destructive logging, and inappropriate, out-of-scale development. Urge President Obama to protect these important lands and designate the Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument. Photo by Kristen M. Caldon