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Salt Marsh - Cumberland Island
ST. MARYS, GEORGIA

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.
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2019.08.07 - Florida Panther looking straight at camera - MS 45 - fStop Foundation
WASHINGTON, D.C.

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.
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A close up of the face of a Sierra Nevada Red Fox at the edge of a forest in Deschutes County, Oregon.
Washington, D.C.

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

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Border wall comparison Matt Clark/Defenders
Washington, DC

House Rejects President’s Demands to Fund Needless, Damaging Border Wall

The House of Representatives passed a bill today that would end a government shutdown over President Trump’s demand that Americans pay for his ill-conceived wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
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Yosemite National Park
Anchorage, AK

Defenders of Wildlife Formally Objects to Largest Timber Sale in Decades

Defenders of Wildlife filed a formal objection today opposing the largest old-growth logging project in the nation in decades. The proposal would log up to 235 million board feet (MMBF) of old-growth forest, or the equivalent of over 45,000 loaded logging trucks, over 15 years.
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Bald eagle
Washington, DC

Proposed Trump Shutdown Sacrifices Federal Workers and Their Families During the Holidays

President Trump’s threat to shut down the federal government rather than sign a spending bill that did not include full funding of his ill-conceived border wall puts federal workers and their families at economic risk during the holidays, and deprives all Americans of the services and protection afforded by the federal government.
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Polar Bear
Washington, DC

Trump Administration Advances Plan to Sell Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to Big Oil

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has issued a draft plan to lease the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to the oil and gas industry. The agency’s environmentally destructive, legally inadequate plan would sell off one of America’s last great wildlands to the highest bidder.
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Paul Sanchez-Navarro
Austin, TX

Defenders of Wildlife Announces new Senior Texas Representative, Paul Sanchez-Navarro

In an effort to expand wildlife and wild lands conservation in Texas, Defenders of Wildlife is pleased to announce that Paul Sanchez-Navarro has joined the organization as the new senior Texas representative, based in Austin.
Senior Vice President, External Affairs
lsheehan@defenders.org
(202) 772-3244
Communications Director
mdewane@defenders.org
(202) 772-0217
Communications Specialist
jcovey@defenders.org
Communications Specialist
kirby@defenders.org
(202) 772-3268
Communications Specialist
estern@defenders.org
202-772-0243