Where We Work

Some of America’s most iconic wildlife including hundreds of rare and endangered species find haven in the wildlife refuges, national parks, national forests and state land that are designated across Alaska.

California has more native species than any other state in the U.S. and has the greatest number of endemic species that don’t occur anywhere else in the world.

Encompassing Washington, Oregon and Idaho, the Northwest region’s diverse landscapes extend from the marine waters and old growth forests of the Pacific Coast to the Cascade Mountains to the arid high desert of the interior basins and its plateaus.

The Rocky Mountains are home to some of North America’s most iconic species, such as grizzly bears, gray wolves, elk, mule deer, lynx, and wolverines. The adjacent Great Plains were once America’s Serengeti: an endless sea of grass supporting abundant wildlife.

The Southeast is home to an incredible array of wildlife, and the variety of landscapes it encompasses – from the Florida Everglades to the forests of North Carolina – makes for an equally awe-inspiring variety of habitats.

Defenders’ Southwest region – Arizona, New Mexico and Texas – includes the Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts of the borderlands, the conifer forests of the Sky Islands, Mogollon Rim and Southern Rocky Mountains, the rugged oak-juniper woodlands of the Edwards Plateau, the subtropical Tamaulipan thorn scrub of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, and the bays and estuaries of the Gulf Coast. Flowing through these landscapes are the iconic Gila, Colorado and Rio Grande rivers. 

Unrelenting pressure from some commercial and political interests continue to threaten landmark conservation laws and imperiled wildlife across the country.