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No. 1,342, March 26, 2026 |
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Suit Seeks Protection for Illinois Chorus Frogs |
The Center for Biological Diversity just took the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to court for withholding Endangered Species Act protection from Illinois chorus frogs.
Named for their synchronized, trilling mating calls, these small but chubby frogs survive only in scattered and isolated populations in Arkansas, Missouri, and Illinois. They need sandy soil for burrowing and temporary wetlands for their tadpoles — but agriculture and development have almost completely obliterated their native habitat. In response to our petition, in 2015 the Service found that federal protection might be warranted; it then reversed course with a denial in 2023.
“The Fish and Wildlife Service needs to go back and do its homework about the threats these frogs face before their chorus fades forever,” said Lindsay Reeves, a senior attorney at the Center. |
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Mourning Two More Mountain Lion Cubs |
Last fall we reported the death of a mother mountain lion on Highway 74 (aka Ortega Highway) in Orange County. We worried about her two orphaned cubs, a brother and sister just 14-15 months old — a little young to be on their own but too old for a rescue center.
Now we have more tragic news: In December the brother cub was struck on the same highway and later died; this month a six-month-old cub met the same fate. We’re pulling for the sister cub, who’s still alive and well.
Thanks to the work of the Center and supporters like you, Southern California mountain lions like these young cats finally have state protection — but they’re still being killed on the roads. We’ll keep pushing hard for better wildlife connectivity to save them. Help our fight with a gift to the Future for the Wild Fund. |
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Lumber-Industry Lawsuit Dismissed for the Tongass |
A meaningful win for one of the world’s largest intact temperate rainforests: A court has dismissed a timber company’s lawsuit pushing to revive industrial old-growth logging in the Tongass National Forest of southeast Alaska — home to beloved wildlife like Alaskan black bears and Alexander Archipelago wolves.
“This lawsuit had no legal basis, and the court was right to dismiss the case outright,” said the Center’s Alaska Attorney Marlee Goska.
The fight’s not over: This timber company is bound to challenge the ruling — even as the Trump administration works on a plan to allow more logging in the Tongass.
Stay tuned for updates on our next move. For now, watch an Alaskan black bear family fishing on Instagram and YouTube. |
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Migrating Eastern Monarchs Remain at Risk |
The number of migratory monarchs who live east of the Rockies and spend the winter in Mexico went up slightly this year. Their population size is determined by measuring the area of fir forest in the Mexican mountains where the trees are turned vivid orange by butterfly clusters — in this case, 7.24 acres.
That’s more than last year, but scientists say the monarchs need at least 15 acres to stave off extinction.
“Monarchs need our help, and we need monarchs because they’re spectacular and irreplaceable,” said the Center’s Tierra Curry.
Migratory monarchs have declined by more than 80% since the 1990s, and the Center has been working to save them for more than a decade. We’re now in court to nail down a final date for their Endangered Species Act protection. |
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Big Bend National Park Threatened by Border Wall |
A month ago U.S. Customs and Border Patrol posted a map on its website, reports Public Domain, which Center staff saved — a good thing, since CBP later took the map down. That map appeared to call for a brutal, towering wall cutting through Texas’s Big Bend National Park, 800,000 acres of desert wilderness along the Mexican border.
After outcry from conservationists, locals, and others, the plan seems to have been scaled back, but the Department of Homeland Security has made no promises. So more than 130 conservation groups and businesses, including the Center, are urging Congress to block funding for wall construction in Big Bend. “We won't let them wall off the Rio Grande, block animals from their drinking water, and pave over our beloved campsites, swimming holes, and trailheads,” said the Center’s Laiken Jordahl. |
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The Revelator: Oil Barons |
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That's Wild: Couples Who Bond by Eating Each Other |
Taiwanese wood-feeding cockroaches, a new study reveals, build nests and raise offspring together over many years — and some stay coupled up long term without reproducing. But one thing that does tend to bring them closer is eating each other’s wings off. After the wing-eating, possibly to cement their union and reduce the temptation to stray, pairs are more aggressive in fending off interlopers, too. |
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Center for Biological Diversity
P.O. Box 710
Tucson, AZ 85702
United States
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