Publications

As efforts to restore wolves to their historical ranges succeed, conflict with ranchers invariably arises. To protect wolves and livestock, ranchers can adopt nonlethal practices, and consumers can insist on purchasing meat from ranchers who do.

The Bureau of Land Management and other states should avoid adopting Wyoming’s strategy for conserving sage-grouse and instead adopt science-based measures that are more likely to protect and recover the species.

With the amount of geospatial data now available online, Defenders is looking into ways to put this wealth of information to use to improve recovery programs for endangered species.

Testimony of Defenders' Vice President for Landscape Conservation and Climate Adaptation before the House Natural Resources Committee at am oversight hearing entitled "Oil and Gas Activities within Our Nation's National Wildlife Refuge System" held May 20th, 2014.

On April 30, 2014, the Natural Resources Committee approved four bills pulled directly from a slanted and biased anti-Endangered Species Act report. These bills would severely curtail the ESA’s ability to protect the nation’s most imperiled species.

This report provides an overview of the 2014 conservation programs and reviews their changes, challenges and opportunities within the context of the 2014 Farm Bill. Defenders of Wildlife provides recommendations on how to best address conservation needs through these programs.

This paper evaluates the potential conservation impacts of the 2014 Farm Bill and gives recommendations on the best ways to target agricultural programs to yield the best wildlife outcomes.

The available funding to recover threatened and endangered species will likely continue to be limited. Given this harsh reality, explicit prioritization of recovery actions is increasingly necessary. FWS, BLM and other federal agencies can begin making smarter decisions about their funding through modest forms of prioritization. This paper describes three recent examples of programs that use explicit criteria to decide which competing conservation actions to fund. The paper concludes with recommendations on how agencies can improve and expand on these systems.

Guiding principles to encourage interdisciplinary approaches to assessing the social, ecological, and economic benefits of ecosystems and biodiversity, and their interdependent relationships. Reports developed at a workshop held in July 2013 at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon.