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Colorado Releases Wolverine Reintroduction Plan, Defenders Stands Ready to Support
Colorado Parks and Wildlife today released a landmark plan to reintroduce wolverines to the state’s high country regions, some of the best remaining habitat in
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Court Urged to Uphold Ship Strike Protections for North Atlantic Right Whales
Conservation groups today filed a friend of the court brief expressing support for a federal vessel speed limit rule to protect critically endangered North Atlantic
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Fish and Wildlife Service Misguided in Rescinding Vital Strategic Growth Policy for the National Wildlife Refuge System
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service quietly rescinded its Refuge System Strategic Growth Policy in December, bypassing the legally required public comment period for such a change, despite having issued the policy with an accompanying public comment period in 2014.
Press Releases
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Trump Administration Attempt to Sell Out the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Flops
Today’s lease sale for the coastal plain of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge continues the Trump administration’s destructive attack on our nation’s public lands and wildlife. Today, three entities were identified as the successful bidders on 11 tracts, yielding a paltry $7 million to the federal treasury because the state of Alaska receives half of the sale price of $14 million. The failed lease sale underscores a lack of interest in developing the Arctic refuge and sets up an incoming Biden administration to reverse course to permanently protect the refuge.
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Trump Administration Pulls Protections for Migratory Birds
Despite nearly 200,000 public comments defending the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) and a decisive loss in the federal courts, the administration is still trying to cement into law its (now illegal) plan to strip protections from migratory birds.
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Bureau of Land Management Finalizes Western Arctic Drilling Plan
Today, the Bureau of Land Management released the Record of Decision for a revised Integrated Activity Plan for the 22 million-acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (Reserve), located in the state’s Western Arctic region.
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Groups rush to court to stop ConocoPhillips’ Willow project winter road construction and gravel mining
Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic and five allied groups filed a motion in the U.S. District Court today requesting a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order to stop ConocoPhillips from starting winter road construction and gravel mining for its Willow project.
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Lawsuit Takes Aim at Trump Administration Decision to Gut Tongass National Forest Protections
Alaska’s 17-million-acre Tongass National Forest, sometimes called America’s Amazon, has faced a grave threat since the Trump administration stripped away critical safeguards against logging by exempting it from the federal Roadless Rule just before the election. Today, a wide-ranging coalition of Indigenous Tribes from Southeast Alaska, businesses, and conservation organizations filed a lawsuit targeting the Trump administration rollback.
jcovey@defenders.org
