Image
NPS Land Swaps and Visitor Plan Open the Door to Devastating Impacts at Cumberland Island
In advance of a public hearing on proposed land exchanges on Cumberland Island National Seashore, Defenders of Wildlife called on the National Park Service to remedy a host of management issues facing one of the largest undeveloped barrier islands on the East Coast.
Image
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Memo Underscores Trump Administration’s All-Fronts War on Wildlife
Brian Nesvik, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, issued a memorandum explaining to FWS staff that the Endangered Species Act’s prohibition on unauthorized “take” applies only to affirmative acts intentionally and purposefully directed at a particular animal. This follows the Trump administration’s rescission of the regulatory definitions of “harm” under the ESA, which took effect this week.
Image
Court Rules Habitat Must Be Protected After FWS Attempts to Waive Protections for Less Than 40 Sierra Nevada Red Fox
Defenders of Wildlife earned a significant victory for the Endangered Species Act today when a federal district court found that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to not designate critical habitat for the endangered Sierra Nevada red fox was a violation of the law.
Press Releases
Image
To Prevent Pandemics We Need Stronger Wildlife Laws
As nations worldwide struggle to protect human health during the COVID-19 pandemic, wildlife experts are calling for lawmakers to address the link between human and wildlife health. In a paper published last month in Trends in Ecology and Evolution, scientists make the case that addressing the human-wildlife relationship is critical to keeping all communities and ecosystems safe from disease.
Image
Court Rules State of California Lacks Authority to Protect Imperiled Bumble Bee Species Under the California Endangered Species Act
This week, in a blow to imperiled bee and insect populations, the Sacramento County Superior Court issued a ruling in Almond Alliance v. California Fish and Game Commission (the Commission), deeming the State of California lacks authority to list four threatened bumble bee species as Endangered under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA).
Image
Trump Administration Finalizes Dangerous Amendments to Sage-Grouse Plans
The Bureau of Land Management has released its final greater sage-grouse supplemental environmental impact statements for Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada/northeastern California and Oregon.
Image
Lawmakers in China Urged to Reduce Demand for Vulnerable Wildlife
Defenders of Wildlife and more than 25 nonprofit organizations from India, Vietnam, United States, United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and Germany this week published an open letter to lawmakers in China urging them to act to reduce demand for wild animal species threatened with extinction.
Image
Trump Administration Announces Finalization of Destructive National Forest Rule
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.
jcovey@defenders.org
