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manta rays swimming in the shallow ocean with coral
Fort Myers, FL

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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NARW
WASHINGTON, D.C.

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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sage grouse in snow at Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge
Washington, D.C.

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 wall comparison Matt Clark/Defenders
Washington, DC

House Rejects President’s Demands to Fund Needless, Damaging Border Wall

The House of Representatives passed a bill today that would end a government shutdown over President Trump’s demand that Americans pay for his ill-conceived wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
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Yosemite National Park
Anchorage, AK

Defenders of Wildlife Formally Objects to Largest Timber Sale in Decades

Defenders of Wildlife filed a formal objection today opposing the largest old-growth logging project in the nation in decades. The proposal would log up to 235 million board feet (MMBF) of old-growth forest, or the equivalent of over 45,000 loaded logging trucks, over 15 years.
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Bald eagle
Washington, DC

Proposed Trump Shutdown Sacrifices Federal Workers and Their Families During the Holidays

President Trump’s threat to shut down the federal government rather than sign a spending bill that did not include full funding of his ill-conceived border wall puts federal workers and their families at economic risk during the holidays, and deprives all Americans of the services and protection afforded by the federal government.
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Polar Bear
Washington, DC

Trump Administration Advances Plan to Sell Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to Big Oil

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has issued a draft plan to lease the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to the oil and gas industry. The agency’s environmentally destructive, legally inadequate plan would sell off one of America’s last great wildlands to the highest bidder.
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Paul Sanchez-Navarro
Austin, TX

Defenders of Wildlife Announces new Senior Texas Representative, Paul Sanchez-Navarro

In an effort to expand wildlife and wild lands conservation in Texas, Defenders of Wildlife is pleased to announce that Paul Sanchez-Navarro has joined the organization as the new senior Texas representative, based in Austin.
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