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Defenders of Wildlife Submits Technical Comments and Over 8,400 Public Comments in Efforts to Stop Harmful ESA Proposals
Defenders of Wildlife today submitted its technical comments opposing the Trump administration’s proposals to weaken the Endangered Species Act’s implementing regulations.
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Defenders Slams SPEED Act as it Speeds Toward Habitat Destruction
Defenders of Wildlife condemns Rep. Bruce Westerman’s (R-AR) SPEED ACT, H.R. 4776 the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development Act, ahead of Thursday’s expected floor vote in the U.S. House of Representatives.
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ESA Amendments Act Poses a Historic Threat to America’s Wildlife
Defenders of Wildlife remains on high alert as it braces for the House Natural Resources Committee’s full markup of Rep. Bruce Westerman’s (R-AR) Endangered Species Amendments Act of 2025. More aptly labeled the Extinction Act, the bill seeks to eviscerate the Endangered Species Act, stripping away decades of crucial protections for America’s wildlife and their habitats.
Press Releases
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Conservation Groups Urge Congress to Protect Greater Sage-grouse
In a letter addressed to top House and Senate appropriators, Defenders of Wildlife along with 79 other groups are asking for the removal of an appropriations rider leftover from previous years prohibiting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) from considering greater sage-grouse for protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
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Lawsuit Filed to Protect Imperiled Gulf and Mississippi River Species from Bonnet Carré Spillway Impacts
Defenders of Wildlife and Healthy Gulf (formerly Gulf Restoration Network) filed a federal lawsuit in the Southern District of Mississippi against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Mississippi River Commission for violating the Endangered Species Act by failing to consult with federal wildlife agencies on the consequences of opening the Bonnet Carré Spillway on numerous endangered and threatened species.
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Alexander Archipelago Wolves Need Urgent Help Following Record Killings in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest
Conservation groups today called on the U.S. Forest Service to take immediate steps to protect Alexander Archipelago wolves on Prince of Wales Island in the Tongass National Forest following word that 165 wolves – representing 97% of the most recent population estimate – were killed this past trapping season.
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Lawsuit Launched to Overturn Trump Administration’s Denial of Protection for California Spotted Owl
Today, conservation groups filed a formal notice of intent to sue the Trump administration over its failure to protect the California spotted owl under the Endangered Species Act.
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Trump Administration Issues 28th Border Wall Waiver
As reported in the Federal Register today, the Trump administration has issued another waiver of environmental and public safety laws to expedite border wall construction in Texas. This marks the 28th such waiver issued by this administration and will cover two tracts of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, one of the most biologically diverse landscapes in the continental United States.
jcovey@defenders.org
