Win for Tongass National Forest

In a big win for the climate, wildlife and Indigenous peoples, the Biden administration has ended large-scale old-growth logging in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest.

The Tongass is one of the world’s largest intact temperate old-growth rainforests and the crown jewel of our national forest system. It’s the ancestral home of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian peoples. And it’s one of Earth’s major carbon sinks, key for countering the climate crisis that threatens us all.

In 2020 the Trump administration stripped the forest of protections that had been in place for almost two decades, opening millions of acres of pristine wilderness to road building and logging. Biden’s order restores those protections and adds new ones. 

Thank you for speaking up for the Tongass through our action alerts and supporting our court battle. There’s more to do to protect this precious natural resource, but we’re breathing easier knowing that centuries-old trees, sparkling rivers and rare wildlife — from salmon to bald eagles to grizzlies — are a lot safer.

Suit Launched Over Idaho Wolf-Hunting Laws

On Monday the Center and allies filed a notice of intent to sue Idaho to challenge the state’s new wolf-hunting laws — which also pose a serious risk to federally protected species like lynxes and grizzly bears.

The laws, which call for the killing of up to 90% of the current gray wolf population, allow for year-round hunting, trapping and snaring. And they let hunters and trappers kill an unlimited number of wolves on a single “tag,” or permit.

Idaho is waging war on its wolves and the wild — but we’re doing everything we can to stop the madness. You can help us save wolves by giving to our Predator Defense Fund now.

Win for Whales in the Perilous Pacific 

Responding to a notice of intent to sue by the Center, the U.S. Navy just announced it will rethink how its testing and training exercises could hurt endangered whales off Southern California and Hawaiʻi. We filed our notice in May, after a mother and baby fin whale were found dead on a military destroyer’s hull in San Diego. 

“Military activities can wreak havoc on these mighty but vulnerable creatures through explosions, sonar and ship strikes,” said the Center’s Oceans Legal Director Kristen Monsell. “We hope this leads to new measures like slowing ships down in important whale habitat.”

Suit Filed to Save 23 Micronesian Species

The Center just sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to protect critical habitat for 23 endangered species in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. These nine animals and 14 plants — including the delicate Mariana eight-spot butterfly and the tiny, cave-roosting Pacific sheath-tailed bat — are harmed by sprawl, military activities, sea-level rise, climate change and more.

“These beautiful, dwindling Pacific Island species desperately need protected habitat or they won’t survive,” said the Center’s Maxx Phillips. “Since government officials won’t take action as the Endangered Species Act requires, we’re asking the court to force them to.”

Florida Faces a Red Tide Emergency 

The Center and allies this week called on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to declare a state of emergency due to Tampa Bay’s red tide, which has killed a horrific number of marine animals, including at least six protected manatees. The red tide has been worsening since it appeared in March, after Florida regulators OK’ed the discharge of up to 480 million gallons of wastewater from a phosphogypsum stack — a mountain of toxic waste topped by hundreds of millions of gallons of wastewater. 

“Red tide’s carnage is horrific and infuriating,” said the Center’s Jaclyn Lopez. “Tampa Bay desperately needs help cleaning up this mess, and Florida needs to get its act together and start holding polluters accountable or this will continue to be a significant threat to our way of life.” 

Suit Challenges OK of Dangerous Herbicide

The Center for Biological Diversity and Center for Food Safety just sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for approving one of the world’s most potent pesticides. Tifludimoxazin, the active ingredient in the herbicide Tirexor, kills weeds in corn, soy and other crops — while its spray drift and runoff kills animals and plants on land and in water. It’s especially devastating for fish, including threatened and endangered species like bull trout and Atlantic salmon.

Said the Center’s Brett Hartl, “The EPA must stop recklessly approving pesticides that are slowly wiping out one of the world’s most diverse collections of freshwater species just to placate the pesticide industry.”

Revelator: The Straw-Headed Bulbul’s Song 

The straw-headed bulbul is a large, yellow-cheeked songbird with a bubbling, lyrical call. Sadly, relentless trapping for the cage-bird trade could silence its evolutionarily marvelous melody across its dwindling range in the lowlands and forests of southeast Asia. 

Read more in The Revelator and sign up for the free weekly e-newsletter if you haven’t already. 

That’s Wild: Wombat Wonders

Wombats have armored butt cheeks.

Butt that's not the only fascinating fact about them. Take a minute to marvel at this magnificent marsupial in a new comic at The Oatmeal.

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Photo credits: Grizzly bear in Tongass National Forest courtesy USFS; wolf pup by Joachim S. Müller/Flickr; fin whale breaching by gillfoto/Flickr; Pacific sheath-tailed bat courtesy USFWS; Florida manatees courtesy NOAA; bull trout courtesy USFWS; straw-headed bulbul by Michael MK Khor; wombat butt by Stitch0718/Wikimedia.

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