Feds Will Rethink Montana Logging’s Harm to Grizzlies

Following a legal challenge by the Center for Biological Diversity and allies, the U.S. Forest Service has agreed to reassess how a massive Montana logging project may harm grizzly bears.

Besides logging 135,000 acres of the Bitterroot National Forest, the proposed Bitterroot Front project would wreak havoc with roads, prescribed burning, herbicide use, and other industrial activities. But the Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service didn’t fully evaluate how all that could affect the sensitive grizzlies who live there — so we warned we’d sue.

“The Endangered Species Act requires agencies to consider new information before moving forward with projects that threaten imperiled wildlife,” said the Center’s Northern Rockies Director Kristine Akland. “Our legal challenge forced the agency to go back and address its failure.”

Suit Launched to Protect Imperiled Gray Whales

The Center and partners just sent a notice of intent to sue NOAA Fisheries for its failure to decide about Endangered Species Act protection for eastern North Pacific gray whales, who are dying at catastrophic rates along the West Coast. A year after being petitioned, the Trump administration still hasn’t made its required 90-day finding.

This population of gray whales was previously protected under the Act but then declared recovered and delisted in 1994. Unfortunately that recovery was short-lived.

“We’ve lost half these Pacific gray whales in just a decade,” said Miyoko Sakashita, the Center’s oceans director. “These majestic creatures are washing up dead all along the West Coast, and if federal officials keep dragging their feet it could be too late.”

Help defend whales with a donation to our Future for the Wild Fund.

Saving Yellowstone's Oldest Wolf Pack

Mollie’s pack is the last remaining pack from Yellowstone National Park’s historic wolf reintroduction. Its matriarch, 1090F, is Yellowstone’s oldest living wolf.

Recently this exceptional wolf family established a den outside the park’s boundary. Having unknowingly drifted from federal to state jurisdiction, they may be legally killed when Wyoming’s hunting season opens this fall.

You can help: Check out our new website devoted to saving Mollie’s pack, where you can tell Wyoming to protect these wolves from hunting.

Then head to YouTube or Instagram to watch and share our video of Senior Carnivore Campaigner Samantha Miller, who’s on the ground in Yellowstone, explaining what’s at stake.

Defending Safeguards for Dunes Sagebrush Lizards

The Center just appealed a federal court’s decision that let the Trump administration and Texas strip Endangered Species Act protection from dunes sagebrush lizards. These small, dune-diving reptiles live in a tiny area of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico that includes part of the Permian Basin, one of the world’s fastest-growing oil and gas fields.

After decades of Center work, in 2024 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service protected dunes sagebrush lizards as endangered. But after Texas sued to overturn the listing, the Service claimed it had made an “error” and asked a court to strip protection — which it immediately did.

“We’re tired of the Trump administration putting politics and polluters over science at the expense of struggling wildlife like dunes sagebrush lizards,” said Senior Attorney Jason Rylander.

California Commission Says No to Offshore Fracking

In response to pressure from the Center, our allies, and many of you, the California Coastal Commission voted unanimously against an oil company’s proposal to frack 16 offshore wells at Platform Gilda in the Santa Barbara Channel.

Under the Coastal Zone Management Act, the coastal commission has the authority to weigh in on whether federal proposals are consistent with the state’s policies. Earlier this month the federal government started a review of that authority that could revoke it.

“Californians are lucky to have such a strong champion standing up for the health of our coast,” said Brady Bradshaw, a senior oceans campaigner at the Center. “Offshore fracking would raise the risk of an oil spill off California’s coast, and that threat to our marine wildlife and beautiful ocean environment just isn’t worth it.”

Thanks to all of you who spoke up.

Insiders’ Update: Saving Red Wolves

Don’t miss our upcoming webinar showcasing the Center’s work to give endangered red wolves a chance at survival and recovery in the wild. You’ll hear directly from the Center’s Southeast Director Will Harlan about our vision for these wolves’ future and our ongoing efforts to bring wildlife crossings to the last wild red wolves. These wolves in eastern North Carolina are the only hope for their species, which once roamed across the southeastern United States, from Texas to Virginia.

Register now to join us on Thursday, Sept. 3, at 1 p.m. PST / 4 p.m. EST.

This event — including a Q&A opportunity — is your opportunity to dive deeper into our critical work, see how your support is helping save red wolves, and find out how you can help drive the next phase of this lifesaving campaign.

The Revelator: Green Humor

In this end-of-summer Revelator editorial, editor John R. Platt wraps up his funniest takes on planetary threats — articles and commentaries that use humor and satire to underscore tragedy or release overwhelming tension.

And if you haven’t yet, subscribe to The Revelator’s free weekly newsletter for more wildlife and conservation news.

That’s Wild: The Methuselah Fish

Scientists estimate the age of individual fish using structures like ear bones or fin spines, which bear growth markings akin to tree rings — fish, unlike people, keep growing throughout their lives. Guessing their age is more difficult with lake sturgeon, large fish who coexisted with dinosaurs, because the rings can be so many and so close together.

Until recently, these sturgeon were believed to live to a whopping 150 years; new science on the sturgeon of the Great Lakes, though, suggests a different lifespan. A 44-year study measured the fish over time and ended up at a shocking number: Males appear to live 90 to 279 years, females 99 to 427.

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Photo credits: Grizzly bear by Neal Herbert/NPS; eastern North Pacific gray whale courtesy NOAA; Mollie's pack matriarch by Sylvia Borgonovo (used with permission); dunes sagebrush lizard courtesy USFWS; sea otter by Lilian Carswell/USFWS; red wolf by Jennifer Hadley/USFWS; northern hawk owl by Brian Gratwicke (CC BY 2.0); lake sturgeon courtesy USFWS.

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