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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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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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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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Conservationists Challenge Weak Government Response to Urgent Wildlife Disease Threat at National Elk Refuge
A conservation coalition filed a lawsuit against the FWS challenging the agency's weak plan that leaves elk vulnerable to chronic wasting disease.
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Petition Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Overturn Border-wall Waiver Decisions
Defenders, and three other conservation groups, asked the U.S. Supreme Court today to review federal court rulings that have allowed the Trump administration to waive dozens of environmental, health and safety laws to speed construction of border walls.
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Trump Administration Seeks to Cripple Landmark Bird Law
The Trump administration is proposing formal regulations to cement into law a hotly-disputed legal opinion declaring that the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) does not protect migratory birds from harms caused by industrial activities, dramatically undercutting the law’s ability to conserve birds.
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Five Bills Securing Critical Environmental Protections Pass House Committee
The House Natural Resource Committee worked to pass five pieces of legislation (H.R. 4348, H.R. 2748, H.R. 2795, H.R. 5179 and H.R. 2956) that aim to address climate change, protect our nation’s precious wildlife and lands as well as establish a new National Wildlife Refuge.
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Court: Northern Long-eared Bat Was Unlawfully Denied Endangered Species Protection
A federal judge on Tuesday overturned a decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect northern long-eared bats as threatened rather than endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
jcovey@defenders.org
