No. 1284, February 13, 2025

Help Us Urge the EPA to Ban Atrazine

The herbicide atrazine is a lethal threat to frogs: Concentrations in thousands of U.S. rivers, ponds, and streams can get high enough to cause the death of amphibians, including imperiled dusky gopher frogs and Illinois chorus frogs. And in people atrazine exposure is linked to birth defects, elevated cancer risk, and other health problems.

The Center sent a comprehensive analysis to President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency showing how a Biden-era plan would allow extremely harmful levels of atrazine pollution in 99% of the nation’s 11,249 contaminated watersheds. Trump says he wants to make America healthy again, so now’s the moment to reject this outrageously weak plan and ban the poison — as 60 other countries already have.

“President Trump has an early opportunity to make good on his pledge to clean up the nation’s water with a ban on atrazine,” said Center biologist Nathan Donley. “A 99% failure rate is unacceptable in any context but horrific when we’re talking about an extraordinarily toxic pesticide killing wildlife and contaminating the drinking water of millions of Americans.”

Back our fight: Tell the EPA to ban atrazine once and for all.

God Squad to Decide Which Species Disappear

In Trump’s first hours back in office, he signed an executive order declaring an “energy emergency” and illegally convening a special committee that can decide any federally protected species' fate. Nicknamed the God Squad, the Endangered Species Act Committee is made up of cabinet-level officials authorized to let energy projects fly through the approval process — even when those projects may drive species extinct.

“This executive order is a death warrant for polar bears, lesser prairie chickens, whooping cranes and so many more species on the brink of extinction,” said the Center’s Endangered Species Director Noah Greenwald.

Help us fight back with a gift to the Future for the Wild Fund.

Giant Clams Need Your Help

Giant clams live in coastal areas next to coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific and Red Sea. They weigh around 500 pounds — as much as an average male grizzly bear — and can grow to more than 4 feet long.

But because they're prized for their beautiful shells, overharvesting and international trade have decimated their populations. Climate change has hurt them too.

The good news: Following a notice of intent to sue by the Center, NOAA Fisheries has proposed protecting 10 giant clam species under the Endangered Species Act. But in the current political landscape, there's no time to waste in finalizing safeguards.

Tell NOAA Fisheries to protect all 10 species pronto.

Good News for Idaho Grizzlies — and Wolves

In a win for grizzly bears, as well as embattled Rocky Mountains wolves, last week a federal judge in Idaho upheld her prior decision to prohibit recreational wolf trapping and snaring in grizzly bear habitat during the bears’ nondenning season. The state of Idaho had asked her to reconsider.

“The judge made the right call again,” the Center’s Collette Adkins told The Coeur D’Alene Press. “Grizzly bears already face so many threats to their survival and recovery. They shouldn’t have to risk getting hurt or killed by indiscriminate and cruel wolf traps.”

Win: Gila Wilderness vs. Feral Cows

In good news for species like Mexican spotted owls and Chiricahua leopard frogs, a federal judge has upheld a U.S. Forest Service plan to remove feral cattle from the majestic Gila Wilderness, where the cows have been destroying habitat for decades.

After the livestock industry sued to block the removals, the Center intervened to support the plan.

“This ruling validates the Forest Service’s efforts to protect this area and its remarkable biodiversity,” said the Center’s Taylor McKinnon. “It’s a victory for America’s first wilderness and the beautiful Gila River.”

Revelator: Lost Species of 2024

Slender-billed curlews, Key Largo tree cactuses, and obliterated whitefish are just a few of the species scientists declared extinct in 2024.

Head to The Revelator to read their stories — many of which haven’t been previously reported — and use their memory to help prevent future extinctions.

And if you don’t already, subscribe to the free weekly e-newsletter for more wildlife and conservation news.

That’s Wild: Mussels Monitor Polish Water Quality

More than 50 water-treatment plants in Poland have used a novel technique for checking water quality: teams of freshwater mussels equipped with sensors that feed data into computers.

Recruited from nearby lakes and streams, these worker mussels have an exceptional ability to detect a wide variety of contaminants. If the water stays clean, they’re as happy as clams — but if it gets dirty, they simply close their shells. When more than four of them clam up at a time, well, the supply gets shut off too.

After three months the mussels get burnout and stop reacting as precisely — at which point they’re sent into retirement in their home waters.

Watch a short documentary starring mussels at the Gruba Kaśka (“Fat Kathy”) plant.

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Photo credits: Illinois chorus frog by Jacob Cackowski/USFWS; lesse prairie chicken by Dan Wundrock/USGS; giant clam courtesy NPS; grizzly cub via Pixabay; Chiricahua leopard frog by Jim Rorabaugh/USFWS; slender-billed curlew illustration courtesy Biodiversity Heritage Library; mussel illustration (inspired by Fat Kathy documentary) courtesy Center for Biological Diversity.

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