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Running brown bear, Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA

Judge Vacates Land Exchange, Halts Road Through Izembek National Wildlife Refuge

A federal judge today vacated an illegal closed-door deal between the U.S. Department of the Interior and a for-profit Alaska Native corporation, King Cove Corp., that exchanged a 10.5-mile corridor of Izembek National Wildlife Refuge and Wilderness lands to enable a road connecting King Cove and Cold Bay.
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Ashley National Forest
WASHINGTON, D.C.

Defenders Strongly Opposes USDA Proposal to Dismantle Long-Standing Protections for National Forests

The United States Department of Agriculture today announced that the U.S. Forest Service has filed a proposed rule to fully rescind the national 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule — a bedrock conservation policy that has protected nearly 45 million acres of undeveloped backcountry forests for over two decades.
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Bull Trout
WASHINGTON, D.C.

Defenders Joins Conservationists In Blasting Federal Proposal to Bulldoze Forestlands

Conservation groups today called a plan by the Trump administration to rescind the U.S. Forest Service’s Roadless Area Conversation Rule an alarming threat to national forests that are overwhelmingly loved by Americans.

Press Releases

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Guadalupe Canyon, Arizona

Footage shows Further Border Destruction in Arizona Wilderness

As border wall construction continues along the U.S.-Mexico border, more and more landscapes are being bulldozed and blasted to create even ground for building, including last week near Guadalupe Canyon in the Peloncillo Mountains of Arizona.
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Black bears on rocks above Anan Creek Tongass NF
Juneau, AK

U.S. Forest Service Moves to Eliminate Roadless Rule Protections in Alaska

The U.S. Forest Service has released the final environmental impact statement for a regulation that will eliminate the national Roadless Area Conservation Rule on the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska.
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Swift foxes
Harlem, MT

Tribes Begin Five-Year Swift Fox Reintroduction at Fort Belknap

After an absence of more than 50 years, the swift fox has returned to the grasslands of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Montana. From September 12 to 20, the Assiniboine (Nakoda) and Gros Ventre (Aaniiih) Tribes of Fort Belknap released 27 swift foxes in collaboration with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Defenders of Wildlife and World Wildlife Fund (WWF), kickstarting a five-year swift fox reintroduction program.
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Howling gray wolf yellowstone
Washington, DC

Senate Hearing to Examine Amendments to Endangered Species Act

Jamie Rappaport Clark, Former president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife, will testify before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works today at
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Aspen Fire in the Sierra National Forest
Washington, DC

Wyden, Manchin, Cantwell Introduce Legislation to Help Prevent Catastrophic Wildfires

U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., today introduced legislation to help prevent the blistering and destructive infernos destroying homes, businesses and livelihoods and becoming all too common as the climate crisis grows.
Senior Vice President, External Affairs
lsheehan@defenders.org
(202) 772-3244
Communications Director
mdewane@defenders.org
(202) 772-0217
Communications Specialist
jcovey@defenders.org
Communications Specialist
kirby@defenders.org
(202) 772-3268
Communications Specialist
estern@defenders.org
202-772-0243