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Trump Administration Opens Door to Bear Baiting, Den Hunting in Alaska Preserves
The National Park Service finalized a regulation that abdicates the agency's responsibility to manage wildlife in Alaska's national preserves, deferring instead to state regulations. Defenders of Wildlife condemns the rule, which mirrors a 2020 regulation promulgated by the first Trump administration that was later withdrawn and replaced in 2024.
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BLM Prepares Illegal Move to Open Ouray National Wildlife Refuge to Oil & Gas, a Dangerous Precedent for Wildlife
Defenders of Wildlife is calling on BLM to withdrawal an unprecedented proposal to open Ouray National Wildlife Refuge in Utah to new oil and gas leasing.
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A Much-Needed Win for Wildlife: Senate Introduces Bill to Improve Endangered Species Act Implementation
Senators Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Pete Rickets (R-NE) today introduced the Improving Species Recovery Act, an important bipartisan bill that would improve implementation of the Endangered Species Act.
Press Releases
Defenders Sues to Protect Alaska’s Bears and Wolves
A lawsuit filed today in federal District Court in Alaska charges the Interior Department and National Park Service with violating multiple laws when adopting a rule that would open up national preserves in Alaska to hunting practices like baiting brown bears and killing wolves during the denning season.
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New Senate Climate Plan Takes Aim at Fossil Fuel Industry
Today, the Senate Democrats’ Special Committee on the Climate Crisis released its 200-page plan for addressing climate change by accelerating the transition to a clean
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Groups sue Trump agency for illegal plan to expand leasing, drilling in the Reserve
Six groups filed a lawsuit Monday, August 24 in U.S. District Court charging the U.S. Bureau of Land Management with breaking the law by advancing a new management plan for Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve that would give the vast majority of the nation’s largest unit of public land to oil companies. This effort to expand fossil fuel exploitation in the western Arctic would increase harmful climate impacts, diminish public health, degrade land, water and air, and encroach on long-protected areas vital to wildlife and people.
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California Fish and Game Commission Accepts Recommendation to Strengthen Protections for Desert Tortoise
Today, the California Fish and Game Commission voted unanimously to accept a report from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) that recommends strengthening protections for the Agassiz’s desert tortoise.
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Judge orders deadline for new North Atlantic right whale protections
As a result of a successful lawsuit by several environmental and animal organizations, a federal judge today ordered federal fishery managers to issue a new rule for critically endangered North Atlantic right whales no later than May 31, 2021.
jcovey@defenders.org
