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2024.05.15 - Stream running through forest in Pisgah National Forest - NC - WS - Ben Prater-Defenders of Wildlife.JPG

USDA Moves to Repeal Roadless Rule, Reigniting Fight for Public Lands

The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced its formal repeal of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, a rule that for 25 years has protected millions
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gray wolf
Denver, CO

Colorado Senator Attempts to Block Wolf Reintroduction in Special Session

Colorado State Senator Dylan Roberts introduced legislation today in an attempt to halt the state’s historic gray wolf reintroduction program, which has already seen remarkable
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Miles Ritter
Salem, OR

Oregon Approves Conservation Plans for Orcas

The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission voted today to approve three Endangered Species Management Plans for Southern Resident Orcas, completing the listing process initiated by

Press Releases

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Alligator Okefenokee NWR
Washington, DC

Okefenokee Swamp and St. Marys River named Among America’s Most Endangered Rivers of 2020

American Rivers today named the Okefenokee Swamp and St. Marys River among America’s Most Endangered Rivers®, citing the threat titanium mining would pose to the waterways’ clean water, wetlands and wildlife habitat. American Rivers and its partners called on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other permitting agencies to deny any proposals that risk the long-term protection of the Okefenokee Swamp and St. Marys River.
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Florida_Manatee
Washington, DC

Ocklawaha River named among America’s Most Endangered Rivers of 2020

American Rivers today named the Ocklawaha River among America’s Most Endangered Rivers®, citing the Rodman Dam as a threat to clean water, wildlife habitat, and recreation.
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Right Whale
Washington, DC

Court: Feds Failing to Protect North Atlantic Right Whales From Lobster Gear Entanglements

A federal judge ruled yesterday that the National Marine Fisheries Service’s authorization and management of the American lobster fishery violates the federal Endangered Species Act. The court held that the agency failed to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales and that its biological opinion on the fishery violated “straightforward” requirements of the Act, putting the whales at greater risk of entanglement.
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Mexican Gray Wolf
Albuquerque

FWS Orders Four Lobos Killed During Lobo Week

Following on the heels of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) recent news of a record annual increase in the wild population of endangered Mexican gray wolves, the agency issued kill orders which created a deadly month in lobo management.
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Manatee resting at Three Sisters Springs
Ocala, FL

Freeing the Ocklawaha River

Between November 2019 and the end of February 2020, those looking over the edge of the Rodman Dam could glimpse a ghostly forest of long-dead cypress trees normally deep beneath the water of the Rodman Reservoir. This haunting sight is a rarity, coming once every few years as the Florida Department of Environmental Protection draws down the reservoir, exposing the historic path of the once-mighty Ocklawaha River.
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