Center for Biological Diversity

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Endangered Earth

No. 1,277, Dec. 26, 2024



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Strength at Our Core in 2024
This year has been a powerful one for saving life on Earth — and for the Center for Biological Diversity, because we’re powerful, especially with you by our side.
Thanks to our strength and nimbleness, we can boast a long list of exciting wins this year. We wrote groundbreaking petitions, like one we filed with labor allies, representing 50 million workers, that forced the Federal Emergency Management Agency to recognize extreme heat and wildfire smoke as major disasters. We scored crucial settlements, like one securing nearly $8 million to protect sage grouse after a court victory halted a phosphate mine in Idaho that would’ve produced toxic glyphosate.
But that's only scratching the surface. Read on to learn about other major milestones of 2024, plus opportunities for you to join us in ongoing fights — and a sneak preview of our plans for 2025.

Saving Endangered Species
First things first. The Center’s core mission is preventing the extinction of imperiled species. In 2024 we met our mission by securing new Endangered Species Act protections for 37 species — like marvelous hellbenders, monarch butterflies [[link removed]] , giraffes, and Peñasco least chipmunks. We scored nearly 6 million acres of protected habitat, including 1.4 million acres for Humboldt martens and 1.5 million for Florida bonneted bats.
Among many other wins this year, we forced the Grand Wailea Resort on Maui to fix its lights to avoid “fallout” of endangered Hawaiian petrels. To save horseshoe crabs from being drained of blood for use by the pharmaceutical industry, we helped launch a scorecard [[link removed]] tracking the adoption of synthetic alternatives to horseshoe crab blood by the 50 largest drug companies. And we led a coalition in fighting for the future of the Great Salt Lake ecosystem and species that depend on it, like Wilson’s phalaropes [[link removed]] — tiny shorebirds who make epic migrations.
Join the fight: Help protect habitat for rusty patched bumblebees. [[link removed]]

Wolves From Coast to Coast
We continued to work at all levels to save and recover gray and red wolves where they live and bring them back to the wild across the United States. After years of effort by the Center and allies, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finally agreed to develop a national wolf recovery plan. But it excludes northern Rockies wolves, so when the agency denied our petition to restore their lifesaving Endangered Species Act protection this year, we filed a landmark lawsuit [[link removed]] to reverse the decision.
We rose to wolves’ defense again and again in states cruelly targeting them. This year we won a partial ban on wolf-trapping in Idaho and, after a Wyoming man ran his snowmobile over a young female wolf, filed letters from more than 60 groups urging federal agencies to outlaw the abhorrent practice.
We launched a lightning-fast campaign to save North Carolina’s critically endangered red wolves from fatal vehicle strikes, raising $4 million to build wildlife crossings for them. Those funds were essential to winning a $25 million grant, just announced by the Federal Highway Administration.
Take action for the vulnerable wolves of the northern Rockies. [[link removed]]

Wins Against the Wildlife Trade
Millions of imperiled animals are plucked from the wild annually for the wildlife trade — which obliterates ecosystems, fuels pandemic risk, and drives the extinction crisis. We stand against this devastating, disgusting trade every year, but 2024 was an especially good one in our work to defeat it.
We helped bring about trade restrictions [[link removed]] on imports of African elephant hunting trophies. With the support of ally groups and you supporters, we convinced major online retailers to halt sales of imperiled painted bats — whom we also petitioned to protect under the Endangered Species Act this year — and totoaba fish products, which threaten the last few vaquita porpoises. And we won a proposal to protect giraffes [[link removed]] under the Act, which among other benefits will curb U.S. imports of giraffe skins and other body parts.
Help us finalize protections for these amazing long-legged mammals. [[link removed]]

Defending the Deep
Open oceans cover three-quarters of the globe — and are barely regulated or policed, making them a free-for-all for industry and illegal activities. The Center made pivotal gains defending these vast habitats in 2024.
We helped protect beluga whales [[link removed]] , sea otters, and other species in Alaska’s Cook Inlet when a court ruled in our favor and overturned oil and gas Lease Sale 258. We won a key victory [[link removed]] for Rice’s whales, sea turtles, giant manta rays, and other Gulf of Mexico species when a court struck down a flawed agency assessment governing how endangered marine species should be protected from offshore oil and gas drilling. And after we threatened to sue, NOAA Fisheries proposed federal protection for 10 giant clam species living in the Red Sea and Indo-Pacific.
You can help: Tell the feds to clinch protection for giant clams. [[link removed]]

Standing Up for Old-Growth Forests
Emulating the ancient trees themselves, this year the Center stood tall for mature and old-growth forests across the country. We made big strides for these big trees, which fight climate change by storing huge amounts of carbon and keeping it out of the atmosphere. They also provide habitat for all kinds of species, from northern spotted owls to Pacific fishers.
With help from you and our allies, in June we secured the first-ever draft policy to protect old-growth forests and trees across the 193-million-acre national forest system. Then we urged the U.S. Forest Service to strengthen the plan — and in all, you backed us and our partners with 1 million public comments [[link removed]] calling on the agency to finalize meaningful protections for old growth.
Logging isn’t the only threat to old trees. Speak up against a highway-widening plan that could harm a 1,000-year-old redwood grove in Northern California. [[link removed]]

Carborro vs. Climate Change
After the first Trump administration made change at the federal level more difficult, we’ve doubled down on state-level fights. One example: This year we advised the town of Carborro, North Carolina — small but mighty, especially with our help — to sue Duke Energy [[link removed]] , a Goliath of the fossil electricity industry and the country’s third-largest corporate polluter. The lawsuit challenges Duke for actively participating in a far-reaching, decades-long campaign to deceive the public and decision-makers about the dangers of climate change.
This is one of the first climate slingshots taken from a state level, as well as the nation’s first-ever climate deception lawsuit against an electric utility.
Back our fight: Demand that Duke Energy ditch fossil fuels and invest in renewable energy now. [[link removed]]

Changing the Future of Food
Good food makes us strong, and 2024 was an especially strong year for the Center’s work on food justice and sustainability.
We co-led a groundbreaking white paper and roadmap [[link removed]] to build a global movement for a just transition from industrial animal agriculture to equitable, humane, and sustainable food systems. We launched a new blog, Rooted in Policy [[link removed]] , that makes the connections between food, agriculture, and biodiversity more digestible. Our fifth annual Food Justice Film Festival showcased films about the fight for food justice, plus interviews with filmmakers and activists — including the legendary Dolores Huerta. And we put out 12 thoughtful, action-packed issues of Food X , our monthly sustainable-food newsletter [[link removed] /?utm_source=eeo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=eeo1277&utm_term=Food] (make sure you’re signed up!).
Stand strong with us on food: Tell grocery stores to adopt avocado-sourcing policies protecting human rights and monarch butterflies. [[link removed]]

Leading in California
California is the world’s fifth-largest economy and a U.S. environmental leader — so what happens there can reverberate well beyond state borders.
This year we doubled down in our California work by spearheading and helping pass groundbreaking state laws that tighten rat-poison restrictions [[link removed]] , [[link removed]] [[link removed]] promote connectivity for wildlife l [[link removed]] ike mountain lions, affirm local governments’ authority to ban oil drilling, and make companies clean up dirty oil wells faster. We joined coalition forces to secure major food-purchasing commitments in Los Angeles County and West Hollywood to reduce their emissions and shift to plant-rich menus. With allies, we won a statewide fracking ban [[link removed]] and defeated a massive, polluting forest biomass energy facility threatening California forests.
All these 2024 California accomplishments — and others we don’t have room to share here — will have lasting benefits for the climate, people, and wildlife.

Building Our Power for 2025
As 2025 approaches, we're ramping up our efforts to fight the battles ahead using science, advocacy, creative media, and the law. And we're hiring new attorneys to help bolster our defense of wildlife and wild places.
With you by our side, we'll be ready.
If you have money to give, turn it into power and hope for next year by contributing to our Future for the Wild Fund . [[link removed]] Do it by Dec. 31 and you can still get your donation doubled.
Or use your social capital on social media: Spread the word about the Center by sharing our amazing Arizona wildlife video on Facebook [[link removed]] or Instagram [[link removed]] . (Obviously you’re already following us — right?)
Thank you for being by our side for the past 35 years and the next four and beyond.

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Center for Biological Diversity
P.O. Box 710
Tucson, AZ 85702
United States

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