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Defenders Joins Recreation, Conservation Groups to Unite Against Forest Service Travel Rule Rollback
The U.S. Department of Agriculture launched a process to significantly revise its Travel Management Rule, which guides where motorized vehicles are and are not allowed on almost 200 million acres of national forests and grasslands
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BLM Proposal Puts Wildlife and Public Lands at Risk, Sends Taxpayers the Bill
Defenders of Wildlife and coalition partners oppose BLM's proposed Oil & Gas Rule that will harm wildlife, weaken bonding requirements and limit public input.
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Administration Continues Assault on National Forests, Moves to Gut Rule Managing Off-Road Vehicles
The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced its intention to revise the Travel Management Rule governing motorized vehicle use on almost 200 million acres of federal lands.
Press Releases
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Vessel Strike Killed Critically Endangered North Atlantic Right Whale
A North Atlantic right whale that washed up dead Sunday was killed by a vessel collision, NOAA Fisheries confirmed today. The results of a necropsy determined the cause of death to be “catastrophic blunt force trauma,” and injuries included multiple vertebral fractures and separations that would have resulted in death shortly after the injury.
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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Announces Endangered Species Act Permitting Changes to Protect Species
Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed new regulations impacting voluntary species conservation under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) on private lands. The administration has stated the proposed rules will offer greater clarity on the criteria by which certain permits are issued.
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Gulf of Maine Lobster Fishery Abandons Bid for Sustainable Certification
In a move welcomed by the conservation community, the Gulf of Maine lobster fishery will no longer seek recertification under the “blue fish tick” ecolabel, a program of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) that purportedly assures consumers that products carrying the label come from “sustainable” fisheries.
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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Announces Status Review of Grizzly Bears
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced that it will begin a comprehensive Endangered Species Act (ESA) status review of the grizzly bear in two specific regions of the lower 48 states. The announcement, in today’s Federal Register, follows the agency’s review of three petitions to delist the bear, two of which they say presented “substantial, credible information” that may warrant action.
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Biden Administration Can Still Uphold Climate Promises by Rejecting ConocoPhillips’ Proposed Massive Oil and Gas Expansion in the Western Arctic
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released a disappointing final supplemental environmental impact statement for the proposed Willow Master Development Plan oil and gas project today, relying again on hasty and deficient analysis to assess the impacts that the massive ConocoPhillips’ proposal would have on local communities, Arctic wilderness, water and animals and the global climate. If approved, this project would be the largest on public lands and would set back our national climate goals tremendously.
jcovey@defenders.org
