US Fish and Wildlife Service

Press Release: Lawsuit Launched to Protect Oregon’s Red Tree Voles

August 1, 2025June 20, 2024 by kaley

Red tree vole (photo by Northwest Ecosystem Survey Team, NEST).

June 20, 2024 — Conservation groups informed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today that they intend to sue over the agency’s denial of Endangered Species Act protections to the imperiled North Oregon Coast population of red tree voles. The Service’s decision to deny protections in February echoes a 2019 Trump administration denial, which was made despite several previous findings that protection was warranted. North Coast voles are threatened by logging and climate change-fueled wildfires.

Press Release: Wolverines listed as “threatened” under Endangered Species Act after 20-year conservation effort

August 1, 2025November 29, 2023 by kaley

November 29, 2023 — Today, after more than 20 years of advocacy by wildlife conservation groups, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (the Service) found that wolverines warrant federal protections as a threatened species. Numbering only about 300 in the contiguous U.S., snow-dependent wolverine populations have suffered from climate change, habitat loss, trapping, and other anthropogenic pressures.

Press Release: Court Rules Logging Project Violates Endangered Species Act

August 1, 2025October 4, 2022 by kaley

October 4, 2022 — Late Friday, a judge in the District Court for the District of Oregon ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) justification for Bureau of Land Management (Bureau) timber sales totaling nearly 18,000 acres including in old growth forest violated the Endangered Species Act. The judge ruled against the Service’s claim that old-growth logging in the Poor Windy and Evans Creek timber sales on 15,848 acres of threatened northern spotted owl habitat would not harm the imperiled bird species.

Press Release: Endangered Species Protection Sought for California, Oregon Salamander Threatened by Logging

March 12, 2018 by Josh

March 12, 2018 — Conservation groups filed a federal petition for Endangered Species Act protection today for the Siskiyou Mountains salamander, a rare terrestrial salamander that lives in old-growth forests in the Klamath-Siskiyou region of southern Oregon and Northern California.

Lawsuit Launched to Protect Northwest Prairie Bird Species

August 5, 2015 by nsc425

August 5, 2015 — Four conservation groups filed a formal notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today seeking to strengthen protections for the streaked horned lark, which has lost 98 percent its grassland habitat. The lawsuit will challenge an October 2013 decision by the agency to protect the lark as “threatened” rather than the more protective “endangered” status and to exempt all agriculture, chemical spraying, and airport activities from the prohibitions of the Endangered Species Act regardless of whether they harm the lark.

Conservationists Challenge Insufficient Lynx Protection

November 17, 2014 by bob

November 17, 2014 — Today, the Western Environmental Law Center (WELC) filed suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in federal court under the Endangered Species Act for inadequately protecting Canada lynx habitat, a
threatened species, on behalf of WildEarth Guardians, Cascadia Wildlands, Oregon Wild, and Conservation Northwest.

Fish and Wildlife Service Plays Politics With Wolverine Survival

August 12, 2014 by bob

August 12, 2014 — Bowing to political pressure, today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) formally withdrew its proposal to list wolverines under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), despite the species’ small
population and serious threats to its continued existence. Only 250 to 300 wolverines call the contiguous U.S. home, living in small populations scattered across the West. Scientists unanimously acknowledge the greatest threat to the species’ survival in the U.S. is habitat loss resulting from climate change.

BREAKING NEWS: Peer Reviewers Find Fault with USFWS Science on Wolf Delisting–comment period reopens

February 7, 2014 by bob

The US Fish and Wildlife Service just release the following press statement about the independent Peer review (see link at bottom of page): Service Reopens Comment Period on Wolf Proposal Independent scientific peer review report available for public review Following receipt of an independent scientific peer review, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service … Read more

Press Release: Over 100,000 in Northwest Oppose Gray Wolf Delisting

August 1, 2025December 17, 2013 by Josh

December 17, 2013 — Demonstrating Americans’ broad opposition to the Obama administration’s plan to strip Endangered Species Act protections from gray wolves, members of the Pacific Wolf Coalition submitted 101,416 comments to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today favoring continued wolf protections. The comments on behalf of the coalition’s members and supporters in the Pacific West join 1 million comments collected nationwide expressing Americans’ strong disapproval of the Fish and Wildlife Service proposal to remove federal protections from gray wolves across most of
the continental United States.

Press Release: Conservation Groups Call for Additional Hearings on Gray Wolf Delisting

August 1, 2025September 26, 2013 by Josh

September 26, 2013 — The Pacific Wolf Coalition today called on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to hold multiple public hearings in the three West Coast states on the agency’s proposal to remove gray wolves (Canis lupus) from the endangered species list. Combined, the coalition represents more than 1 million members and supporters in Washington, Oregon and California. The coalition’s appeal comes in response to Fish and Wildlife Service’s announcement earlier this month that it would hold only three public hearings nationwide, including just one in the West Coast (in Sacramento, Oct. 2).

Cascadia Wildlands Files 60 Day Notice on Behalf of Threatened Bull Trout

August 1, 2025September 5, 2013 by bob

September 5, 2013 — Cascadia Wildlands filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management over their failure to consult and consider the impacts of projects and actions on the critical habitat of federally threatened Bull Trout (Salvelinus confluentus) throughout its range in the Pacific Northwest.

Press Release: 52 Members of Congress Urge Continued Federal Protections for Wolves in Lower 48 States

August 1, 2025March 5, 2013 by Josh

March 5, 2013 — In an effort championed by Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), 52 House members sent a letter today to the director of the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service urging an about-face on the agency’s anticipated proposal to remove federal protections for wolves across most of the lower 48 United States.

Join Cascadia