Washington, DC

The Trump administration is poised to finalize a rule tomorrow that would make it easier to pursue the administration’s goal to ramp up logging and other harmful extractive activities within America’s treasured national forests. The final U.S. Forest Service National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations limit public engagement and environmental review of Forest Service land management decisions and roll back longstanding protocols that the administration considers as barriers to accelerated timber production on national forests.

One of many controversial changes would allow the Forest Service to log large blocks of national forest land – up to 4.3 square miles – without substantive public input or environmental review, using what the agency calls a “categorical exclusion.” Authorizing large logging projects without significant environmental review could have devastating implications for imperiled wildlife; for example, the average home range of the federally threatened Mexican spotted owl is less than 4 square miles, meaning that under this rule, entire core habitat areas could be degraded without critical review.

Statement by Jamie Rappaport Clark, former president and CEO, Defenders of Wildlife:

“The final Forest Service NEPA rule epitomizes the Trump administration’s disastrous approach to the environment – it shuts out the public, ignores the science, and delivers favors to special interests, regardless of the harm to forests, water, wildlife and the climate. Our national forests are a national treasure and act as strongholds for endangered species conservation. Defenders of Wildlife will not sit idly by and witness the willful degradation of forest lands.”
 

For over 75 years, Defenders of Wildlife has remained dedicated to protecting all native animals and plants in their natural communities. With a nationwide network of nearly 2.1 million members and activists, Defenders of Wildlife is a leading advocate for innovative solutions to safeguard our wildlife for generations to come. To learn more, please visit https://defenders.org/newsroom or follow us on X @Defenders.

  

News

Image
2018.10.21 - Mexican Gray Wolf Pups - Watson.jpg
ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO

Defenders Signs onto Letter Demanding Release of Female Mexican Gray Wolf

Thirty-six conservation groups representing millions of members and supporters from across the United States today sent a formal letter to the U.S. Department of the
Image
Two orcas swimming in a body of water. The orca on the left is jumping out of the water and the one on the right is breaching, just poking its dorsal fin and tops of head out. There are faint mountains in the background.
Washington, DC

New Bill Would Gut Marine Mammal Protections

Rep. Nicholas Begich (R-AK) introduced a draft bill today that would eviscerate the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the sole federal law protecting marine mammals in