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Defenders of Wildlife Applauds Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for Tightening Protections for Listed Species
Defenders of Wildlife welcomes today’s action by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to end open permitting for the capture of ESA-threatened marine species in Florida waters for public display and exhibition purposes.
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Legal Intervention Aims to Protect North Atlantic Right Whales From Deadly Ship Strikes
Conservation groups today filed a motion to intervene to help fight a lawsuit aimed at overturning a seasonal speed rule protecting North Atlantic right whales from deadly vessel strikes. The groups want to defend the rule against a lawsuit brought by a New York vessel owner fined for violating seasonal speed limits. The suit alleges that NOAA Fisheries lacked the statutory authority to issue the rule.
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Final Rescission of Public Lands Rule Reverses Modern Land Management, Threatens Wildlife Habitat
The Bureau of Land Management today announced a decision to roll back the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, commonly referred to as the Public Lands Rule. The policy modernized how BLM manages our national public lands and represented the critical incorporation of ecological resilience into management alongside traditional resource extraction.
Press Releases
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Border Communities Oppose Trump Visit, Fear Repeat of Racist Anti-Democratic Violence
President Trump will reportedly visit the Lower Rio Grande Valley this week to promote the border wall, in the middle of congressional action to impeach him for his role inciting insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last week. Border communities rightly see his trip as an immediate threat to community safety and security.
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Politically-Motivated Manatee Harassment is ‘Beyond Cruel and Inhumane’
Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reported they are opening an investigation after a manatee was discovered with severe scarring spelling “TRUMP” on its back in the Homosassa River in Citrus County, Florida. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed manatees as “threatened,” having been previously classified as “endangered” until 2017.
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Feds to Be Sued for Weakening Sea Turtle Protections
Conservation groups issued a formal notice today of their intent to sue the National Marine Fisheries Service for drastically weakening rules that prevent sea turtles from dying in shrimp trawl nets.
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Lawsuit: Stop Trump administration’s parting shot at national forests
A lawsuit filed today seeks to reverse the Trump administration’s elimination of critical safeguards that have protected national forests from unneeded, ill-conceived and destructive logging, road building, and utility right-of-way projects.
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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.
jcovey@defenders.org
