Press Releases
Use the dropdown boxes below to find press releases related to specific animals, conservation issues, and regions.
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July 12, 2011
BOZEMAN, Mont.— The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that it will determine whether wolverines deserve full protection of the Endangered Species Act by 2013. Wolverines in the contiguous U.S. were added to the Candidate species list last December because of their low numbers and the threats posed to their habitat by global warming, but continue to await federal protection. The best data available suggests there are fewer than 300 animals across the entire western U.S., with only 35 individuals--just a tenth of the population--successfully breeding.
July 12, 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 12, 2011) – The House Appropriations Committee advanced legislation today containing dozens of anti-environmental riders and slashing funds for protecting America’s public lands, imperiled wildlife and natural resources.
July 8, 2011
WASHINGTON (July 8, 2011) – Conservation groups welcomed the news that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has decided to speed up the initiation of the process to formally add the highly imperiled rufa subspecies of red knot to the list of threatened and endangered species.
July 8, 2011
BOISE, Idaho (July 8, 2011) – Idaho Fish and Game released today its proposed guidelines and quota for hunting wolves this fall. The proposal includes no quotas across most of the state, allowing an indefinite number of wolves to be killed with valid hunting permits. According to proposal, the state would only enforce a hunting quota along certain parts of the Idaho-Montana border, and trapping will be allowed to further reduce wolf numbers.
July 7, 2011
BOISE, Idaho (July 7, 2011) – U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar tentatively agreed today to a wolf management plan for Wyoming that will allow wolves to be shot on sight across most of the state. In a joint press conference with Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe, Sec. Salazar said the Interior Department “agrees in principle” to allowing wolves to be killed without a permit for most of the year across most of state.
July 6, 2011
WASHINGTON (July 6, 2011) – The following is a statement from Defenders of Wildlife President Rodger Schlickeisen on the bill to fund the Department of the Interior just released by the Chairman of the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Mike Simpson (R-ID).
July 6, 2011
Conservation groups scored a victory in court Tuesday in their effort to protect imperiled sea turtles from death and injury from the Gulf of Mexico bottom longline fishery. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida ruled that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) violated the law when it failed to consider a reasonable range of fishery management alternatives to protect loggerhead sea turtles and refused to take a fresh look at the fishery’s impact on sea turtles after last year’s massive Gulf oil disaster.
July 6, 2011
Conservation groups scored a victory in court Tuesday in their effort to protect imperiled sea turtles from death and injury from the Gulf of Mexico bottom longline fishery. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida ruled that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) violated the law when it failed to consider a reasonable range of fishery management alternatives to protect loggerhead sea turtles and refused to take a fresh look at the fishery’s impact on sea turtles after last year’s massive Gulf oil disaster.
June 30, 2011
A federal judge today upheld the Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision that the polar bear be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and continue to receive the protections afforded by the law.
June 30, 2011
The Western Governors Association today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in support of improving the development and delivery of climate science and services to Western states. This agreement will increase collaboration and boost existing efforts to ensure Western states and the U.S. Pacific islands are better able to plan for droughts, floods, wildfires and other climate-related disasters.