Photo by Mike Dunn
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THE CRISIS AT HAND From his first moments in office in January 2025, President Donald Trump rescinded many of America's environmental and natural resources protection programs and funding. He declared a national energy emergency, unleashed oil and gas drilling, closed national monuments, targeted climate enforcement, excised environmental justice protections and embarked upon mass layoffs at the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture agencies and more. Some in the environmental community called it a “shock and awe” approach. Many public interest and environmental and conservation organizations are mounting defenses, chronicling the rollbacks, the cutbacks, the policy revisions and, the gathering climate crisis. WE THANK THOSE WHO VOTE AND COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES AS IF THE FUTURE LIVES AND HEALTH OF OUR LOVED ONES, COMMUNITY, COUNTRY, AND THE EARTH DEPENDED ON IT ! We are deeply concerned about erosion of safeguards for our nation's public lands and waters. While Americans are divided on many issues, we believe our mutual love for our nation's wild lands and natural places is a common cause that unites us. Protecting our public lands and natural heritage assets is not a "blue" or "red" issue. We think the vast majority of Americans support the conservation of America's environmental resources and natural heritage. We firmly believe that the twin crises of Climate Change and Destruction of Natural Resources must be addressed for the sake of humanity, all of nature, and the continued health of our nation and planet. |
All who are concerned for environmental protection and survival of our natural and cultural heritage must stand to defend the integrity of our legal system and the bedrock environmental laws that protect our communities and environmental assets. |
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CODE RED FOR HUMANITY! Changing Climate Realities and Threats Demand Urgent Response and Mitigation Attempts
Extreme heat, droughts, wildfires, melting ice caps, sea level rise, species extinction and potential collapse of ecosystems and ocean currents are all real threats and are worsening due to human-caused heating of the global climate. Urgent and immediate mitigating action is demanded to counter these threats and to reduce emissions of carbon, methane, and other fossil-fuels causing catastrophic climate changes. Steadily rising heat is inevitable for Earth’s lands and seas. If remediation actions are not taken NOW, our civilizations, human health and welfare, and natural ecosystems are all in immediate jeopardy. This Washington Post article about potential action pathways for Climate Change--"We looked at 1,200 possibilities for the planet’s future. These options are our best hope"--is troubling, in that the world has probably run out of easy options to stay under 1.5 degrees C — or have a low overshoot. The extremity of the situation is further articulated in a 2022 article from Earth.org, which analyzed findings from the UN’s Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES):
Promising News for Endangered Red Wolves The Center for Biological Diversity reported in late December 2024 that funds have been successfully raised to leverage $25 million from the Federal Highway Administration to construct thirteen wildlife highway crossings across US highway 64 which bisects the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in the Dare County peninsula in coastal North Carolina, where the last beleaguered population of the critically endangered Red Wolf survives. A dozen wolves have been struck and killed by vehicles while attempting to cross the highway in recent months. In just a few months, the Center and partners raised $2 million in matching funds for a total of $4 million to build wildlife crossings in red wolves' only remaining wild home in North Carolina. These funds were essential to winning a $25 million federal grant that was just announced by the Federal Highway Administration. Stay involved in the Center's work to save red wolves in the wild on the Center's SaveRedWolves.org website. Congressional Legislation Supporting Migratory Birds in 2024 Became Law In April 2024 by a rare demonstration of bipartisan Congressional action, both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House passed and President Biden signed into law the Migratory Birds of the Americas Conservation Enhancements Act. The legislation reauthorizes funding and enhances accessibility for partners to participate in the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act program, which has funded more than 700 projects in 43 countries, conserving 350 species that nest in the U.S. and Canada, and winter in Latin America and the Caribbean. By passing the America’s Conservation Enhancement (ACE) Act, Congress reauthorized vital funding for the health of wetlands and other habitats across North America, places that millions of birds call home and that millions of Americans enjoy. Read more and More info here. But Congress needs to fully fund this program. Read more. US Supreme Court Majority Maimed Wetlands Protection The U.S. Supreme Court in 2023 handed down a 5-4 vote outrageous decision that puts our clean water and communities at risk. Ignoring scientific consensus and decades of established law defining the scope of the Clean Water Act. That decision drastically limits the law’s protections for wetlands. The Supreme Court’s majority ruling on the Sackett v US EPA case restricts the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act. This ruling jeopardizes drinking water supplies for millions of people and threatens the health of our nation’s streams and wetlands. For more than 50 years, federal law has been the backbone of wetland protections in our states. The Supreme Court majority's ruling drastically reduces the scope of the Clean Water Act and discards protection of wetlands (on its 50th year anniversary) at a time when they are desperately needed. The Court's ruling puts nearly half of America's remaining wetlands in peril of destruction. "At least half of the nation's wetlands could lose protection under this ruling, which provides an even narrower definition of 'protected waters' than the Trump administration had sought" (New York Times). In the South, we know the value of wetlands. From salt marshes to Carolina bays to mountain bogs, wetlands provide essential habitat for wildlife, filter pollution, and absorb floodwaters that threaten our communities with increasing frequency. Wetlands are essential to healthy streams, rivers, and fisheries. This decision is a gift to big polluters and industry interests to strip the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to protect our health and our waters. The decision will allow more pollution to flow into our streams and rivers and for developers to destroy wetlands’ ability to absorb floodwaters. “For 50 years the Clean Water Act has been instrumental in revitalizing and safeguarding drinking water sources for people and wildlife, wetlands for flood control, and habitats that sustain our wildlife heritage,” said Jim Murphy, director of legal advocacy for the National Wildlife Federation. “Federal protections that don’t depend on local politics or regional polluter influence are essential to vulnerable and disadvantaged communities nationwide. The court’s ruling removes these vital protections from important streams and wetlands in every state.” And even worse, Republican-majority controlled state legislatures --including in North Carolina -- immediately passed legislation reducing the scope of wetlands protection within states. With the Court’s ruling as a major blow, the fight to defend clean water and protect vital wetlands has never been more urgent. Although the Supreme Court’s decision is significant and disappointing, it will not stop defenders of the environment from fighting to protect wetland ecosystems, clean water and applying place-based knowledge and expertise. We must not stop efforts to protect wetlands in the South and the communities that depend on them. Too much is at stake. We have to continue to work at the local, state, and federal level to build protections for wetlands and to defend our natural communities from rampant wetland destruction. We will have to fight in our courts, state legislatures, in Congress, and in local governments to protect our waterways and wetlands. |
Photo by Mike Dunn
Defenders of natural resource conservation and environmental protection programs must be vigilant and register their concerns with their congressional representatives if we are to ensure continuation of federal funding for important environmental protection and natural resource conservation programs. 
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MANY PERILS DEMAND RESPONSESouthern Environmental Law Center leads efforts to defend the environment SELC continues to serve as a lead defender of environmental resources and health in our region. A recording of SELC legal action updates, "Power Plants to Public Lands: Key Decisions Shaping Our Future" is now available to stream. LAUNCH WEBINAR Expand the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, in Georgia, is home to one of the world's largest pristine freshwater swamps. More than 700,000 people visit every year to see the swamp’s tea-colored waters, towering cypress trees, longleaf pine forests, and abundant wildlife. The SELC, Center for Biological Diversity, and other allies have long worked to stop titanium mining from destroying nearly 8,000 acres right next to the Okefenokee. Now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed adding 22,000 acres to the refuge as refuge additions become available from willing sellers — a lifeline that could help safeguard this precious place from titanium mining, reduce wildfire risk, preserve regional wildlife corridors, and conserve habitat for imperiled species like red-cockaded woodpeckers, eastern indigo snakes, and gopher tortoises. Responsible Offshore Wind Can Benefit Birds and Communities The National Audubon Society's new report, Offshore Wind and Birds: Developing the Offshore Wind that Birds Need, highlights the potential of offshore wind to combat climate change while benefiting both wildlife and communities. The report advocates for rapidly adopting offshore wind to combat the climate crisis while protecting birds, supporting coastal communities, and addressing the growing demand from manufacturing and technologies. Keep reading to learn how this clean energy source can be a win for wildlife, climate, and the U.S. economy. Everyone deserves access to the outdoors where they live. Many Americans, particularly those living in urban and low-income areas, lack access to outdoor green spaces that give them the ability to experience the beauty of nature close to home. The newly enacted (January 4, 2025) federal legislation: Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences (EXPLORE) Act serves to raise the profile and quality of outdoor recreation in the nation. On December 19, 2024, after a decade of work from the outdoor recreation community, the EXPLORE Act passed the U.S. Senate and was signed into law by the President on January 4, 2025. This bipartisan recreation policy package takes important steps to expand and improve outdoor recreation opportunities. This is a big win for outdoor recreation. The EXPLORE Act includes several pieces of legislation including the Outdoors for All Act which expands outdoor recreational opportunities in low-income communities across the nation. TRUMP 2X Administration Reversing & Rescinding Federal Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Conservation Programs and Funding President Donald Trump since taking office on Jan. 20, 2025, has issued an unprecedented number of executive orders and other administrative actions that touch on almost every part of the federal government. These directives will also impact state and local governments, companies, nonprofit organizations and individuals across the country, though in what ways and to what degree is not yet clear. Among other consequences, his administration's actions have created real and potentially long-lasting uncertainty and challenges for natural resources conservation, public and environmental health.
Photo by Mike Dunn
Photo by Brenda Stein
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DEFENSE
ONE MILLION OF EARTH'S SPECIES HURTLING TOWARD EXTINCTION
At least 1 million of the Earth's species will be extinct within the next few decades without immediate human intervention, according to the United Nations report released in 2019, which was authored and researched by an international panel of over 450 premiere conservation biologists who composed the Intergovernmental Science-Polity Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). This horrendous rate of extinction is due to a combination of human-caused land uses, pollution, climate change, population growth, and overfishing. The scientific assessment concludes that to slow this loss of the Earth's biodiversity and ecosystems, "transformational change" to the way society operates is demanded to put us back on course to meet global sustainable development targets. Species loss is accelerating to a rate tens or hundreds of times faster than in the past--all due to humans. But it’s not too late to fix the problem, the report said. Accelerating losses of Earth’s biodiversity is well documented. The Nature Conservancy states that from 1970 to 2016 there was a nearly 70% average decline in populations of birds, amphibians, mammals, fish, and reptiles. Research suggests that by 2070, the Earth could lose another third or more of its species if immediate steps are not to taken to stop the extinctions. Human survival too is dependent on such action. The United Nations report relied heavily on research by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which is composed of biologists who maintain a list of threatened species. The IUCN calculated in 2019 that 27,159 species are threatened, endangered, or extinct in the wild out of nearly 100,000 species biologists examined in depth. That includes 1,223 mammal species, 1,492 bird species and 2,341 fish species. Nearly half the threatened species are plants. But scientists have only examined a small fraction of the estimated 8 million species on Earth. The big picture: The IPBES findings are a first-ever global report on the state of nature, and is aimed at getting policy-makers, activists and others to understand that biodiversity must be a high global priority.
 Photo by Mike Dunn
Thousands of Species Depend on the Endangered Species Act for Survival (from Center for Biological Diversity) The Endangered Species Act has been severely underfunded for decades and desperately needs more funding to combat the climate crisis, habitat loss, wildlife exploitation and pollution, which are pushing more animal and plant species to the brink. We call on Congress to double its funding for endangered species conservation to $592 million per year. We can't curb the extinction crisis without giving every species what it needs. One million animal and plant species face extinction in the coming decades — and there simply isn't enough budgeted for their survival. The Endangered Species Act saves 99% of the species that are granted its powerful protection. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, hundreds of endangered animals and plants receive less than $1,000 a year for their recovery. Many species receive no funding at all. Our proposal calls for every species listed under the Act to receive a minimum of $50,000 per year for recovery. Humanity Will Wipe Out More Than A Quarter Of Earth’s Biodiversity Scientists predict what species will likely disappear in the next century due to humanity's impact on the planet. Read in Forbes. Over the past 50 years the Earth has lost an extraordinary number of its wildlife species and their populations, including loss of an estimated 3 billion birds in North America alone since 1970. It is critically urgent to take action to combat dual crises of biodiversity and habitat losses and the deleterious effects of climate change. 
Photo by Walker Golder
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