Center for Biological Diversity
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Endangered Earth
No. 1202, July 20, 2023
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Protection Restored to Tiny Southwest Owls

Thanks to multiple petitions and lawsuits by the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has again protected cactus ferruginous pygmy owls under the Endangered Species Act, 17 years after illegally stripping away their safeguards.
Threatened by habitat destruction and fragmentation, climate change, and invasive species, the owls first won protection five years after a 1992 Center petition. But when developers sued, the owls lost that protection in 2006. We’ve been fighting to restore it ever since.
Cactus ferruginous pygmy owls live in Arizona, Texas and Mexico and are named for the saguaro cacti they live in, their rusty-colored stripes, and their small stature — usually under 7 inches. They’re small, but they’re bold, preying on birds twice their size and feeding lizards to their chicks.
“These fierce little owls need our care and protection,” said the Center’s Endangered Species Director Noah Greenwald. “After a long fight, they finally got it.”

Legal Agreement Will Help Save Pacific Humpbacks

The Center has just secured an agreement from NOAA Fisheries to establish a team to reduce Pacific humpback whale entanglements off the West Coast by October 2025. It follows a lawsuit we won in March challenging the agency’s failure to protect the whales from deadly entanglements.
“I’m relieved this agreement will give endangered humpbacks much-needed protections from entanglements, but the agency shouldn’t have been ignoring the whales to begin with,” said Kristen Monsell, our oceans legal director. “Entanglements are truly horrific for humpback whales, causing starvation, severe injuries and usually death. This commitment from the agency will put fewer lethal obstacles in humpbacks’ way.”
Help our fight for humpbacks with a gift to our Saving Life on Earth Fund.

Green Sea Turtles to Get Habitat Protection

Under a legal agreement with the Center and allies, the U.S. government has proposed to protect almost 9,000 acres of beaches and more than 400,000 square miles of coastal waters as critical habitat for six populations of green sea turtles. Protected areas will range from Hawai‘i and American Samoa in the Pacific to Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Atlantic.
Before the agreement, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries had recognized these turtles were threatened by climate change and sea-level rise but failed to protect their habitat under the Endangered Species Act. So the Center and turtle-protection groups filed suit back in 2020 and just now secured the new proposal.
But habitat protections are only as good as the rules used on the ground. Tell the Biden administration to revoke terrible changes made under Trump and strengthen critical habitat.

17 Oil and Gas Wells Blocked in California

We just halted more than a dozen new California oil and gas wells.
Thanks to an agreement secured by a Center lawsuit, state regulators have nixed permits allowing 17 new wells without proper environmental review — nine wells near Santa Clarita neighborhoods and eight outside Bakersfield.
State regulators approved the wells after the Center and allies — including supporters like you — spurred lawmakers to pass a 3,200-foot buffer between drilling and sensitive places like homes and schools. The oil industry put the law on hold using a deceptive referendum campaign, but we’ll keep fighting neighborhood drilling to protect frontline communities and the climate.

Biodiversity Briefing: Endangered Species Act at 50

All year we’re celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, the most extraordinary law ever passed to protect animals and plants from extinction. At our June quarterly “Biodiversity Briefing” presentation , Saving Life on Earth Campaign Director Tierra Curry discussed the history of the Act and how the Center has leveraged this law to protect imperiled wildlife for more than three decades.
These live briefings, which each include an in-depth Q&A session, are available to all members of the Center’s Leadership Circle and Owls Club.

Revelator : Saving Buck Bog Moths

Known from just a handful of sites around the North American Great Lakes, buck bog moths just gained Endangered Species Act protection. Sadly their boggy peatlands habitat is still disappearing.
Head to The Revelator to learn more about buck bog moths from a biologist working to save them.
And if you haven’t yet, subscribe to the free weekly e-newsletter giving you the latest conservation news every week.

That’s Wild: A Glamorous New Newt

You wouldn’t think a species with a splendid orange polka-dot pattern would be hard to spot in an evergreen forest, but it’s true: Researchers just discovered Ngoc Linh crocodile newts on a mountain in Vietnam.
Their range is likely small, and they’re so gorgeous they’ll draw the interest of collectors, say the researchers; in fact, they say, these flashy newts should be protected as endangered right away.

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