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Six groups filed a lawsuit today in U.S. District Court charging the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Interior Department with illegally and prematurely authorizing the massive Willow oil and gas project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

On behalf of Red Wolf Coalition, Defenders of Wildlife, and Animal Welfare Institute, the Southern Environmental Law Center today sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina for violations of the Endangered Species Act caused by new, illegal agency policies that bar the use of proven management measures to save wild Red Wolves.

Today, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission voted to reject a petition that would have initiated a rulemaking to increase protections for beavers throughout the state. Defenders of Wildlife, along with nine other conservation groups and private citizens, submitted this petition in September, calling for a permanent ban on all commercial and recreational beaver hunting and trapping on federally-owned lands in the state.

Today, the Trump administration moved one step closer to approving a highway project that would cut through critical habitat for the Agassiz's desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) as well as the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area and Desert Reserve, which was designated for the conservation of the federally threatened desert tortoise.

Defenders of Wildlife presented its Wildlife Conservation Agenda to President-elect Biden’s transition team today, calling on the next administration to address biodiversity loss and climate change, protect public health and prevent pandemics, rebuild the nation’s economy, rebuild the federal government and promote racial justice and equity.