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Maps suggest the ocean has been getting a lot more protection lately. But satellites offer a much less encouraging view.

On paper, the size of so-called marine protected areas (MPAs), designed to shield ecosystems from harm by humans, has grown from less than 5 million square kilometers at the start of the century to over 25 million today. That’s more than 9% of the world’s oceans.

However, scientists with access to the unblinking eyes of satellites have found that many of these supposed protected areas are still being targeted by industrial fishing fleets. The new research shows the pitfalls of relying on simply declaring new reserves as a way to meet numerical targets, like the widely-touted goal of protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030.

But it’s not all bad news. There are hints that strict, enforced protections might help ensure these places live up to their promises. And some of the same high-tech tools used by these scientists could help.

“Fisheries monitoring must be strengthened and made more transparent,” wrote Raphael Seguin, an ecologist at the University of Montpelier in France, and lead author of one of two studies on the issue that appeared last week in Science.

Seguin and colleagues scrutinized more than 6,000 protected areas along the world’s coastlines. These spots represented just 17% of the area covered by such reserves, because many of the largest ones are far from shore. But the spots closer to land often encounter the heaviest fishing pressure. And they also fall under the gaze of the European Union’s Sentinel-1 satellites, equipped with radar that can detect larger boats.

When the scientists checked these satellite images, supplemented with tracking information from beacons required on most large vessels, they found industrial fishing vessels inside nearly half of these reserves between 2022 and 2024. Around two-thirds of those visits were “invisible” to people monitoring the beacons, either because a boat didn’t have one, it’s transmission wasn’t being picked up, or someone had turned it off to avoid detection. But they couldn’t dodge the satellites.

While there is debate about whether all kinds of fishing need to be banned for a healthy reserve, there is widespread agreement among conservation researchers that industrial-scale fishing isn’t compatible with robust protected areas. For instance, guidelines set by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) excludes such fishing from any of six types of marine reserves.

 

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In the new study, scientists estimated that vessels spent an eye-popping 24 million hours fishing in these coastal reserves, based on observations paired with a computer model. And that doesn’t account for smaller boats that wouldn’t use beacons or be seen by the satellites. The biggest hotspots tended to occur in wealthier countries which have both active fishing fleets and more of the ocean inside protected reserves, including Japan, the United Kingdom and Spain. Likewise, the places where fishing boats were most crowded together inside protected areas was offshore of Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as China.

At first glance, it might appear that the reserves with the most restrictions did a better job of keeping out fishing. Places that fell in the IUCN’s toughest categories, I and II, tended to have fewer fishing boats. But those places also tended to be harder to reach. When the scientists took into account the size and remoteness of each of the reserves—factors that affect how attractive they are to fishers—the places with tougher rules performed no better. For Seguin, this suggests that policymakers are imposing strict regulations where it’s easy to score “points” for conservation, rather than where fishing pressures are highest.

“This reveals an opportunistic strategy for locating MPAs, often placed in little-fished areas in order to more easily achieve international objectives,” he wrote in a commentary for The Conversation (translated from French).

The findings suggest the results from a companion study published in the same issue of Science might not be as encouraging as they appear. A different group of scientists used similar methods to scrutinize how much fishing was happening inside the most tightly regulated marine reserves.

They found these patches of ocean were largely devoid of fishing boats. In 455 protected areas spanning 3.2 million square kilometers, satellite images revealed just one fishing boat for every 20,000 square kilometers—9 times fewer boats per square kilometer than in unprotected coastal waters.

The overall message, is “that proper investment in protected areas will pay off and that satellite technology can be one of the key tools to help ensure that such investments are kept safe,” wrote Boris Worm, a biologist at Canada’s Dalhousie University who was not involved in either study.

The scientists behind this more upbeat paper wrote that the seemingly contradictory findings compared with the other study might be the result of their use of a more comprehensive rating system, created by the organization ProtectedSeas, to find the most highly regulated reserves.

But part of their analysis suggests the results could also be shaped by the same factors Seguin’s group identified—that these spots weren’t popular fishing spots to begin with. When the group looked at 72 places where there were satellite or beacon observations before and after strict reserves were created, 61 of them had little to no fishing activity before. The results “suggest that many MPAs may have been placed in areas with little prior fishing,” the scientists wrote.

The main exception was the Palau National Marine Sanctuary, where fishing activity fell from 51,000 hours per year to just 215 once the sanctuary was created, the researchers found.

While the work by the two groups takes different views of the current state of marine reserves, they both agree on one thing: tools such as satellites could be powerful ways to watch for illegal fishing inside reserves in the future, and to make sure these aren’t just “paper parks” created for show.

Seguin, et. al. “Global patterns and drivers of untracked industrial fishing incoastal marine protected areas.” Science. July 24, 2025.

Raynor, et. al. “Little-to-no industrial fishing occurs in fully and highly protected marine areas.” Science. July 24, 2025.

Worm, B. “A catch in ocean conservation.” Science. July 24, 2025.

Photo:© Athanassios Lazarides | Dreamstime.com

Melissa Parke, the Executive Director of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, ICAN, attended the 80th Hiroshima Peace Memorial Commemoration today alongside survivors of the first ever nuclear attack that killed more than 140,000 people, including 38,000 children.

The survivors, or hibakusha as they are known in Japan, whose average age is now 86, were almost all children in 1945 and have campaigned for decades to alert the world to the continuing existential threat that nuclear weapons pose and, 80 years on from the trauma they suffered, have renewed their demand for their abolition.

Following the ceremony, Ms Parke, who came to Hiroshima to pay tribute both to those who died and those who survived, said: “It is not possible to come to Hiroshima and attend these solemn commemorations without being moved as well as convinced of the urgent need for nuclear weapons to be eliminated. The hibakusha, who were awarded last year’s Nobel Peace Prize for their tenacious campaigning for the elimination of nuclear weapons deserve to see their work vindicated and to witness the end of these inhumane, indiscriminate weapons of total destruction in their lifetime. That means the nine nuclear-armed countries, most of which were represented here today, must heed their call to join the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and get rid of their arsenals.”

The TPNW, which came into force in 2021, bans nuclear weapons and all weapons-related activities. It is a clear solution to ending the nuclear threat as it provides a pathway under international law to fair and verifiable disarmament. Already, 98 countries have signed, ratified or acceded to it and more have indicated they will join soon.

A recent poll for Kyodo reported that 70% of hibakusha are worried nuclear weapons could be used again because of current geopolitical tensions. 70% were also critical of the Japanese government's disarmament policies, particularly its refusal to join the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the TPNW.

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Our 30th Anniversary Festival starts this Friday!

Aug. 8th, 9th & 10th — in Brandon, VT

We’re celebrating with great live music, incredibly informative workshops, and fun arts & activities for the whole family.

Check out the the performers at Solarfest.org, from folk to jazz and reggae to rock, the lineup features 3 days of live music from top-quality local, national, and up & coming talent.

Don’t miss dozens of workshops with hands-on, valuable knowledge you can use.

From affordable housing to food, energy, and sustainable living, there’s personal and business information from experts and practitioners about ways to save money and live better, while adapting to our changing world.

Tickets and Camping Reservations are On-Sale Now with a few openings for volunteers to attend free!

Activities include favorites like art displays from Bread & Puppet, our large exhibitor pavilion, the latest electric vehicles, tours of the juice bar, and free admission for kid’s 12 & under. But we’ve also added some new fun with a free community dinner and movie screening on Friday.

Note: Sunday is a full-day Sustainability Expo, with free admission for all.

Don’t miss the fun — See you there!

WEAVING ALTERNATIVES #15: A periodical of the Global Tapestry of Alternatives The Energy Issue: from colonial modernity to decolonising alternativesDecember 2024 Editorial Note For too long, discussions about energy have been confined to the realms of technicians and engineers. The energy we consume and the infrastructures sustaining its seemingly endless supply—whether fossil fuels or electricity—have largely remained out of sight and out of mind for much of modern history. As anthropologi…

Civil society organisations and coastal communities have launched a formal appeal against the government’s controversial decision to green-light Shell’s Northern […]

Yerba Madre, a yerba mate beverage company, and Guyra Paraguay, a conservation nonprofit, are promoting shade-grown yerba mate to help restore South America’s Atlantic Forest and support rural communities. Drawing on traditional cultivation methods, they encourage growing yerba mate beneath the forest canopy rather than in industrial monocultures. The two organizations first partnered in 2007, and Guayakí’s model helped inspire Guyra’s now-independent initiative in Paraguay.

Yerba Madre is a certified B Corporation and 100 percent of their yerba mate is Regenerative Organic Certified. “Our mission has always been rooted in the visionary idea that yerba mate can regenerate both people and planet,” Rocio Bermudez-Pose, a Senior Manager of Impact at Yerba Madre tells Food Tank.

The yerba mate tree is native to the Atlantic Forest, which covers swaths of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. Tea made from the yerba mate leaves is a cultural and economic staple of the region, and Indigenous communities have long cultivated the plant in the shade of the forest ecosystem. Today, it is often grown under the sun in intensive monocultures sprayed with agrochemicals, according to Guyra.

Inspired by their work with Yerba Madre, Guyra launched their own shade-grown yerba mate initiative in 2016. Their work, which is supported by funding from the Darwin Initiative, focuses on the San Rafael region of Paraguay.

Both organizations help producers transition to shade-grown methods by providing tools, training, and fair-trade market access. They also support producers who are already growing yerba mate under shade.

“By cultivating shade-grown mate—either in remnant forests or within agroforestry systems—we’re helping to conserve what’s left of this fragile biome and actively restore what’s been lost,” Bermudez-Pose tells Food Tank. According to the World Wildlife Fund, more than 88 percent of the Atlantic Forest’s original area has been deforested, largely to make way for intensive agricultural production of soy, timber, and cattle.

One of Yerba Madre’s longest running partnerships is with the Aché Kue Tuvy Indigenous community in Paraguay.

Fabiana Pose, Vice President of South America at Yerba Madre describes the “powerful transformation” they have witnessed over their 20 years of partnership with the Aché Kue Tuvy. “Producing an export-quality product brings a deep sense of pride and has allowed the community to reinvest in local projects and initiatives,” she says.

With the profits, the community invested in a new well and water filtration system to secure a safe water supply. Additional financing from Yerba Madre, the World Bank, and the Paraguay Ministry of Agriculture also allowed the community to install a new yerba mate processing facility that increased their efficiency twelve-fold.

Pose says that the project has become self-sustaining thanks to the community’s own plant nursery, which produces 40,000 yerba mate seedlings annually.

The company lifts up what it calls Market Driven Regeneration, which refers to “reversing the flow of capital from philanthropy and donations to truly integrating impact into the business model by providing sustainable sources of income for the people behind our yerba mate and other ingredients,” says Bermudez-Pose. This aspirational business model aims to apply “the principles of regeneration across the company’s entire operation and supply web.”

Guyra concentrates its efforts in the second largest remaining fragment of the Paraguayan Atlantic Forest. They partner with 137 rural families and two Mbya Guaraní Indigenous communities—around 500 people—to plant yerba mate trees in degraded forest areas alongside other native tree and plant species.

“One of the very important things has been the dignification of the work of the peasant producer to improve working conditions. It is not the same to be working in a monoculture field with agrochemicals as to be working in a forest with shade free of poisonous chemicals,” Rodrigo Zárate, Head of Conservation at Guyra, tells Food Tank.

According to the U.N. International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), 63 percent of Indigenous children were living in extreme poverty in 2022, compared to 8.5 percent of children overall. Zárate says that poverty has forced some farmers to resort to illegal activities—namely the cultivation of marijuana.

As an alternative, Guyra helps producers earn an income not only through yerba mate cultivation, but through cultivation of other products like petitgrain (an essential oil) and medicinal herbs. They provide seedlings and technical and financial support, strengthening the capacity of farmers to organize and negotiate with buyers for the best fair price. With the support of Guyra, at least 45 farms have diversified their incomes with these products.

Zárate says that while Guyra has helped organic producer associations get on their feet, “[the producers] have walked and built it on their own.” Today, Zárate says, the children of the producers are managing the finances.

Both Guyra and Yerba Madre are working to scale up their impact. “We’re committed to advancing conservation and restoration efforts beyond our own supply chain, helping bring more global attention to the Atlantic Forest—one of the most threatened yet overlooked ecosystems on Earth,” Bermudez-Pose tells Food Tank. Guyra aims to scale their reach from 137 families to 500 by 2050.

“At the heart of this vision are thriving, prosperous, and empowered communities—especially family farmers and Indigenous and other historically marginalized or underrepresented peoples,” says Bermudez-Pose. “When more people have the power to steward their land, protect their culture, and build generational livelihoods, we all benefit.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Yerba Madre

The post Under the Canopy: Shade‑Grown Yerba Mate Heals Lives and Land appeared first on Food Tank.

In this episode of Spring Radio, Spring members Samuel Tetelepta and Alex Hunsberger unpack why Canada and other countries across the world are pivoting to an arms economy, and the danger that this trend poses to the international working class.

The post Spring Radio: Canada’s increased military spending and why we must oppose it (feat. Samuel Tetelepta & Alex Hunsberger) first appeared on Spring.

Headline News:

• “BYD Electric Bus Sales Grow 128.5%” • We should take a look at the stunning growth coming from BYD’s commercial vehicle divisions. In July, BYD’s fully electric bus sales rose 128.5% year over year, from 267 in July 2024 to 610 in July 2025. Other commercial vehicle sales rose from 776 in July 2023 to 1,317 in July 2024 to 2,656 in July 2025. [CleanTechnica]

BYD B12 (S5A-0043, CC BY 4.0)

• “Wind And Solar Droughts Have More Impact On Prices Than Reliability” • Long duration droughts of variable renewable energy are really neither that long nor that severe. Nevertheless, electricity spot prices are very elastic, and fewer than 0.5% of days have wind and solar output below 66% of normal for four days or longer in a row. [RenewEconomy] 
• “Change For The Baltic Sea As Poland Bets On Offshore Wind Energy” • Poland is one of the largest CO₂ emitters in the EU, but its first offshore turbines are already standing in the Baltic Sea. Construction by the Baltic Power consortium aims to create a 1,200-MW farm, and Poland’s goal is 6,000 MW of offshore wind farms by 2030. [Euronews]
• “EU Approves €11 Billion French Offshore CFD” • A  French State aid scheme worth €11 billion, backing three floating wind farms with a total of 1.5 GW, has been approved by the European Commission. Each of the three planned wind farms – one in the waters off southern Brittany and two in the Mediterranean – will have a capacity of about 500 MW. [reNews]
• “Germany Urges EU To Cut China Magnet Reliance” • At this time, over 90% of permanent magnets containing rare earth elements are produced in China. They are vital components for wind turbine generators. The German wind industry proposed that Europe target sourcing 30% of all permanent magnets from suppliers outside China by 2030. [reNews]

For more news, please visit geoharvey – Daily News about Energy and Climate Change.

National Nurses United has named Puneet Maharaj as the new executive director to lead the union.

August 5, 2025

We can all see that Palestinians are starving. We can all see that Israel’s intention is to kill, displace, or detain every Palestinian and annex their remaining lands. And we can see that the United States’ continued denial of this cruelty is rooted, in part, in our investment in the military-industrial complex and allegiance to corporate interests. 

UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Francesca Albanese just released a new report detailing how arms manufacturers, tech firms, construction companies, banks, pension funds, insurers, universities and more “underpin the Israeli settler-colonial twofold logic of displacement and replacement aimed at dispossessing and erasing Palestinians from their lands.” As a result of this report, Albanese was sanctioned by the United States.

We cannot rely on the U.S. government to take action to stop these war crimes. Instead we aim to follow the example of brave workers and labor organizations taking a stand, including, most recently:    

Amazon Labor Union co-founder Chris Smalls sailing with the Gaza Freedom Flotilla to deliver much-needed aid blocked by Israel. Smalls was briefly detained and beaten by Israeli forces, reporting: “[they] attacked me out of the 21 volunteers because of the color of my skin.” 

Dock workers and activists in Greece refusing to unload a cargo ship with steel destined for military use in Israel. 

The largest teachers’ union in the U.S. voting to end its partnership with the Anti-Defamation League, citing concerns over the ADL’s stance on Israel and their definition of antisemitism, which includes any criticism of the Israeli state. 

Dock workers in Marseille blocking a shipment of military material bound for Israel, and their union stating that they refuse to participate in the ongoing genocide.  

CALL TO ACTION:
We will continue to call on our representatives to stop selling arms to Israel, to take a strong stance against Israel’s war crimes, and to deliver aid to Gaza by any means necessary. But we can take action by organizing in our workplaces to stymie the war supply chain, by joining the anti-genocide pledge, by boycotting companies that benefit from the Israeli occupation, by donating to organizations that provide direct aid, and by joining the global labor groups standing up for Palestinians.

The post U.S. Government Will Not Stop Genocide appeared first on Food Chain Workers Alliance.

A federal judge in Montana ruled today that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service broke the law last year when it denied a petition to protect gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains under the Endangered Species Act. The agency must now reconsider whether to grant protections to wolves living in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, along with portions of Washington, Oregon and Utah.

The ruling comes in response to a lawsuit filed last year by the four conservation and animal protection groups who authored and submitted the petition in 2021: the Center for Biological Diversity, Humane World for Animals (formerly called the Humane Society of the United States), Humane World Action Fund (formerly called Humane Society Legislative Fund) and the Sierra Club.

“With this court ruling comes the hope of true recovery for wolves across the West,” said Collette Adkins, carnivore conservation director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The judge rightly found that the Fish and Wildlife Service’s unambitious view of recovery violates the Endangered Species Act. Recovery requires that wolves return to places like the vast southern Rockies, where they once lived. They can thrive there if they have the lifesaving protections of the Endangered Species Act.”

Today’s ruling from U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy faulted the government for disregarding the potential for wolf recovery across Colorado and the rest of the southern Rocky Mountains including most of Utah, northern New Mexico and northern Arizona.

Molloy found that the Endangered Species Act requires the Service to consider the southern Rocky Mountains region and other portions of the wolves’ historic range. He also concluded that the agency unlawfully disregarded the potential importance of the wolf’s fledgling return to Colorado, through natural dispersal and historic reintroductions, when the agency denied the petition.

“Wolves are deeply intelligent, social animals who play an irreplaceable role in the ecosystems they call home,” said Kitty Block, president and CEO of Humane World for Animals. “Today’s ruling offers hope that we can restore protections to wolves in the northern Rockies, but only if the federal government fulfills its duty under the Endangered Species Act. These animals deserve protection, not abandonment, as they fight to return to the landscapes they once roamed freely.”

“Gray wolf recovery is at a crossroads in the western United States, so they should not be relegated to the crosshairs of the killing campaigns that pushed them to the brink of extinction," said Sara Amundson, president of Humane World Action Fund. “The Fish and Wildlife Service’s attempts to deny these animals much-needed federal protection betrays not only the letter of the law, but countless Americans who want to see wolves protected."

The Endangered Species Act petition submitted by the conservation groups was filed amid escalating hostility toward wolves in several northern Rockies states.

In Idaho, recent changes to state law allows the state to hire private contractors to kill wolves, lets hunters purchase unlimited wolf-killing tags and allows them to kill wolves by chasing them with hounds or all-terrain vehicles. Idaho and Montana allow bounties to be paid as “reimbursements” for dead wolves.

In Montana, state law allows wolves to be killed by bait and strangulation snares and recently proposed regulations, if finalized, would allow a single hunter to kill 15 wolves and trap an additional 15.

In Wyoming wolves are designated as “predatory animals” and can be killed without a license in nearly any manner at any time. Hunters in Wyoming have killed several wolves just a few miles from the border with Colorado, where wolves are finally returning to the state through dispersals and restoration efforts.

“Wolf recovery is dependent on responsible management by the states, and Idaho, Montana and Wyoming have shown that they’re grossly unsuited to manage the species,” said Nick Gevock, Sierra Club northern Rockies campaign strategist. “Judge Molloy’s ruling means now the Fish and Wildlife Service must go back to the drawing board to determine whether federal management is needed to ensure wolves survive and play their vital role in the ecosystem.”

Today’s ruling vacates the Service’s denial of the petition, and the agency must now reconsider its response. The agency has 60 days to appeal the decision.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are represented by attorneys at the Center for Biological Diversity and Humane World for Animals’ Animal Protection Law department.

Historic negotiations for a United Nations treaty to address the plastic pollution crisis (INC-5.2) have just kicked off in Geneva, Switzerland. Hoped to be the final round, this week will determine whether we finally have a just, people and planet-centred international agreement to end plastic pollution. Friends of the Earth International and other civil society groups are demanding a strong treaty that reflects the serious impacts of plastics on health, the need to reduce production, end the waste trade and provide public finance for the Global South to implement action on the ground.

As day one comes to a close, it is clear that the Plastics Treaty negotiators have a mountain to climb to reach an agreement by August 14th. While there was some agreement reached within ‘contact groups’ on two minor articles, there remain substantive differences between the vast majority of states that want action and the few blockers looking to prolong the era of plastics. INC-5.2 is set for long days of gruelling negotiations to reach the summit. Key areas to watch throughout are:

• Article 3 - Products/chemicals of concern
• Article 5 - Product design
• Article 6 - Supply
• Article 11- Financial mechanism
• Article 20 - Conference of Parties decision-making

“We can’t take a breath without inhaling plastics because corporations value their profits more than our health and that of the environment. At INC-5.2, it is time to kick out the polluters and finalise an ambitious treaty to reduce plastic production and end plastic pollution."

Sam Cossar-Gilbert

Friends of the Earth International

“Coastlines across the Global South are drowning in plastic waste that isn’t ours. Shipped in from wealthy nations under the guise of ‘recycling,’ the plastic waste trade forces marginalised communities to absorb the consequences of someone else’s convenience. This is not just environmental degradation — it’s environmental injustice. We refuse to accept false solutions that sacrifice frontline communities and the environment.”

Mageswari Sangaralingam

Sahabat Alam Malaysia / Friends of the Earth Malaysia

“Without drastic action, generations to come could be born with plastics already inside their bodies. They’ll then grow up inhaling it from the air they breathe and consuming it through their food. This is a health crisis, and the UN Plastics Treaty needs to treat it as such.”

Kim Pratt

Friends of the Earth Scotland

“Plastics are now the focus of attention for the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries. These transnational corporations don't care about sacrificing public health, communities, the environment and climate stability for the sake of economic profit. Their lobbyists are approaching the Plastics Treaty negotiations with the same determination they bring to UN climate negotiations, determined to push false solutions and continue their role as the architects of multiple crises.”

Ana Maria Vasquez

CESTA / Friends of the Earth El Salvador

“We’re well beyond a waste problem. Pollution is happening at every stage of the plastics lifecycle. The fossil fuel and petrochemical industries are intent on denying this reality so that they can go on producing and raking in profits, but we’re intent on protecting people and planet. That means securing a Plastics Treaty that cuts the problem off at the source. We need to turn the tap off on plastics.”

Kokou Amegadze

Friends of the Earth Togo

Today, a federal district court in Missoula ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) when it determined that gray wolves in the western U.S. do not warrant federal protections. Today’s ruling means that the Service’s finding that gray wolves in the West do not qualify for listing is vacated and sent back to the agency for a new decision, consistent with the ESA and best available science.

In January, 10 conservation groups challenged the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s denial of their petitions to list a western U.S. distinct population segment (DPS) of gray wolves under the ESA, or alternatively, to relist the northern Rocky Mountain DPS, which Congress “delisted” in 2011. A species is delisted when it is removed from the list of threatened and endangered species. Despite denying that the petitioned protections were warranted, the agency also concluded that laws and regulations in Montana and Idaho “designed to substantially reduce” wolf populations are “at odds with modern professional wildlife management.”

The court ordered the agency to go back to the drawing board and re-analyze threats to the gray wolf population in the West in accordance with the requirements of the Endangered Species Act, including the requirement to use the best available science. Specifically, the court noted the agency failed to consider the species’ lost historic range throughout the West in its assessment, neglected to properly evaluate whether wolves in Colorado qualify as a significant portion of its range, failed to properly evaluate threats to wolves on the West Coast, failed to apply the best available science on population estimates and genetic threat from small population size, incorrectly assumed connectivity amongst wolves in the West would continue (despite high levels of mortality in the Northern Rockies), arbitrarily relied on state commitments to stop killing wolves at certain thresholds (without considering what would happen if they were breached), failed to account for unlawful take, and relied on inadequate state and federal regulatory mechanisms.

Despite today’s win, wolves remain in the political crosshairs. In January, Rep. Lauren Boebert introduced H.R. 845 to strip ESA protections from gray wolves across the lower 48. If passed, this bill would congressionally delist all gray wolves in the lower 48 the same way wolves in the Northern Rockies were congressionally delisted in 2011, handing management authority over to states. Regulations in Montana, for example, allow hunters and trappers to kill several hundred wolves per year—with another 500-wolf quota proposed this year—with bait, traps, snares, night hunting, infrared and thermal imagery scopes, and artificial light.

The conservation organizations that filed the case are Western Watersheds Project, WildEarth Guardians, International Wildlife Coexistence Network, Predator Defense, Protect the Wolves, Trap Free Montana, Wilderness Watch, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Friends of the Clearwater, and Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment. They are represented by the Western Environmental Law Center. Two other groups of conservation organizations also sued the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for its decision to deny the petitions to protect wolves across the West. The three cases were consolidated and heard together on June 18 in Missoula, Montana.

“The Endangered Species Act requires the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to consider the best available science, and that requirement is what won the day for wolves in this case,” said Matthew Bishop, senior attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center. “Wolves have yet to recover across the West, and allowing a few states to undertake aggressive wolf-killing regimes is inconsistent with the law. We hope this decision will encourage the Service to undertake a holistic approach to wolf recovery in the West.”

“We feel vindicated by today’s ruling. Anti-wildlife politicians in the Northern Rockies are managing wolves back to the brink of extinction, and it has to stop,” said Lizzy Pennock, carnivore coexistence attorney at WildEarth Guardians. “Today’s ruling is a huge step in the right direction, finally putting us back on the path to protecting this imperiled and iconic native species.”

“Today’s ruling represents a hopeful step towards giving wolves in the Northern Rockies the federal protections they so desperately need,” said Patrick Kelly, Montana director for Western Watersheds Project. “These native carnivores have been subject to years of brutal, unscientific anti-wolf hysteria that has swept legislatures and wildlife agencies in states like Montana and Idaho. With Montana set to approve a 500 wolf kill quota at the end of August, this decision could not have come at a better time. Wolves may now have a real shot at meaningful recovery.”

“This ruling could not have come soon enough, as the wolf populations in Idaho and Montana face extermination again. Without any scientifically sound means for counting wolves and open season, including bounties on their young, their fate hangs by a thread,” said Suzanne Asha Stone, a wolf and livestock conflict specialist who served on the Yellowstone and Idaho wolf reintroduction team in the 1990s. “Only the Endangered Species Act can save them now.”

“We’re hoping that this ruling is an important step toward finally ending the horrific and brutal war on wolves that the states of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming have waged in recent years—including allowing and encouraging the wanton slaughter of wolves deep within Wilderness areas,” said George Nickas, executive director of Wilderness Watch.

“Today’s ruling is an incredible victory for wolves. At a time where their numbers are being driven down to near extinction levels, this decision is a vital lifeline,” said Brooks Fahy, executive director of Predator Defense.

On Monday, 16 leading press freedom groups, civil liberties organizations and labor unions urged the Federal Communications Commission not to move forward with plans to loosen media ownership limits before it fully assesses the negative impacts media consolidation has had and will have on local news and information in the United States.

Earlier this summer, the FCC asked for public comments on changing or eliminating a longstanding rule that limits the size and national reach of giant broadcasters — like Sinclair, Nexstar and Fox Corporation — which already own hundreds of local stations across the country.

“Our chief concern regards the impact further consolidation of media ownership will have on the independence of the nation’s press and the vitality of its local journalism,” wrote the groups, including the NewsGuild CWA, Free Press, Open Markets Institute, Reporters Without Borders-USA, the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Coalition Against Censorship, Project Censored, Writers Guild of America East and Writers Guild of America West, among others.

The letter to the FCC looks at the past 30 years of media consolidation following the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which radically changed the radio and television broadcasting marketplace, causing rapid consolidation of station ownership. This consolidation spurred further waves of consolidation across all media sectors, they write, “the full harms of which are being felt by local newsrooms and the communities they serve.”

The groups document the widespread and sizable newsroom job losses that have occurred following media-company mergers and acquisitions, and the related impact on people’s ability to access trustworthy news and information throughout the country.

Rather than pursue a path of further industry consolidation the groups urged the FCC to uphold its obligation to promote competition, localism and diversity in the U.S. media. “Allowing for even more media consolidation poses too great a risk to our democracy, and to the free press on which it depends.”

The full letter is available here.

Secretary Doug Burgum rescinded designated offshore wind energy areas and directed the department to prioritize capacity density when permitting energy projects on federal lands.

A new executive order accelerates the timeline for beyond visual line of sight regulations for commercial drone operations, which will give utilities improved inspection capabilities.

In California and New Mexico, environmental groups are ramping up their efforts to slash the strong carbon intensity scores that farm biogas receives through clean fuels programs. Nevertheless, the biogas industry continues to grow.

“I'm still hard-pressed to find an example where a vertically-integrated utility has delivered a new generating project on time and under budget and had any accountability in the way that wholesale power generators do,” said the Electric Power Supply Association’s CEO.

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