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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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Members of Congress Urge Negotiators to Keep Sage-Grouse Rider out of FY21 Bill
Congress has continuously passed annual appropriations riders blocking FWS from carrying out its responsibilities under the ESA to assure the viability of the greater sage-grouse since 2014. If the rider is included in this year’s final language, it would mean FWS would not be able to act on protecting the grouse until October 2021.
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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Strips Federal Protections from Gray Wolves
Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced its final plan to delist the gray wolf from federal Endangered Species Act protections in the Lower
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McEachin Letter Urges FWS to Take Action to Save Critically Endangered American Red Wolf
Congressman A. Donald McEachin (VA-04) today announced his letter to U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Aurelia Skipwith, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast Regional Director Leopoldo Miranda urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to immediately take the action necessary to conserve the wild population of the critically endangered American Red Wolf.
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M-CORES Task Force Meetings End as Questions Loom for Wildlife
Last week, three Florida task forces established to consider the environmental and economic impacts of three massive new highway proposals —known as the Multi-use Corridors of Regional Economic Significance (M-CORES)—completed their final meetings. These proposed projects represent the largest highway expansion in Florida since the 1950s.
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U.S. Forest Service Takes an Ax to Roadless Rule Protections in Alaska
The U.S. Forest Service has released the record of decision for a regulation that will eliminate the national Roadless Area Conservation Rule on the Tongass
jcovey@defenders.org
