Advocates are calling for action to save the North Atlantic right whale, a critically endangered species.

The Biden administration has appropriated $10 million to support right whale protections in the Inflation Reduction Act.

Jane Davenport senior attorney for Defenders of Wildlife, said the species is facing a rapid decline largely due to human causes like vessels strikes and entanglement in fishing gear. There are now only 360 right whales left in the world.

"The critical number to keep in mind is not 360, it's 70," Davenport emphasized. "There are only 70 reproductively active females surviving. And currently, human activities are killing right whales far faster than those 70 females can produce calves."

Davenport pointed out the waters off coastal Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina serve as the sole calving grounds for right whales. She wants the Biden administration to more create rules to promote the coexistence of right whales and boating traffic, such as imposing and enforcing lower speed limits during the whale's busiest seasons.

Davenport explained currently, vessels 65 feet or longer are required to slow down to 10 knots or less along the east coast during specific times of the year. She argued to keep right whales swimming this North Atlantic Right Whale Vessel Strike Reduction Rule needs to be expanded to include smaller vessels.

"That proposed rule, if the agency finalizes it, will apply those seasonal speed limits to vessels 35 feet and longer," Davenport explained. "It redraws the seasonal speed limit zones to be more accurate, given that we know much more now about where the right whales are."

She stressed current conditions not only risk right whale extinction, but pose negative impacts to the marine ecosystem and climate, as well.

"It's important to save the right whales also because right whales are drivers of the ocean ecosystem," Davenport asserted. "They feed at depth and then they eliminate at the surface and those nutrients fertilize the plankton that produces oxygen."

Davenport added they are calling on lawmakers to do more and for the rule to be updated. She said in 2023, the Biden Administration rejected a request from Defenders and its partners to establish speed limits. However, she stressed they plan to continue advocating for marine life by appealing to NOAA Fisheries and lobbying Congress for funding and research into innovative fishing gear to reduce potential to harm endangered species.

Groups that fight to recover endangered species are praising the California Fish and Game Commission's decision to change the Mojave Desert tortoise from threatened to endangered under state law.

One study estimates the normally long-lived species has declined quickly in recent years, losing around 155,000 adult animals from 2004 to 2014.

Jeff Aardahl, senior representative for Defenders of Wildlife in California, predicts the official state reptile is on a fast track to extinction.

"There are so few left that tortoises are going to start experiencing very difficult situations in trying to find mates," Aardahl said. "And because of that, the trend is going to keep going down until ultimately, there's no longer any tortoises left."

The biggest threats are development, military base expansion and training, livestock grazing and off-highway vehicle use. Wildlife managers have recorded dozens of animals crushed by OHVs in recent years, especially in critical habitat from Ridgecrest down to Barstow, north up to Fort Irwin and east to the state line.

California draws 2 million off-road vehicle enthusiasts each year.

Aardahl pointed out that a coalition of groups, including Defenders of Wildlife, sued in 2021 to force the Bureau of Land Management to redo its management plan and better protect the Mojave Desert Tortoise.

"There should be some closures during the spring period when most tortoises are above-ground foraging and mating," he stressed. "And then, greatly reducing the miles of routes that intersect with critical habitat."

Land managers fenced off one especially sensitive area around 1980. Since then, the Mojave Desert tortoise population there rose to be six times higher than neighboring areas that are used for off-roading.

The State of Washington is proposing to downgrade gray wolves from "endangered" to "sensitive" status as a species.

At last count, there were 260 gray wolves in Washington, a population which has steadily grown at an average rate of 23% since 2008, according to the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Colin Reynolds, senior adviser for the Northwest program at Defenders of Wildlife, contended changing the gray wolf status could jeopardize the progress. He said in the western two-thirds of the state, gray wolves are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act but in the eastern third, there are no federal protections and wolves are managed by the state.

"Right now in the eastern third of Washington, there are penalties for the illegal killing of gray wolves, and there's also penalties ascribed to that," Reynolds explained. "If the classification goes from 'endangered' to 'sensitive,' as the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife would like, those penalties are a little bit less, in a number of circumstances."

Reynolds pointed out the gray wolf recovery efforts are guided by the state's Wolf Conservation and Management Plan, adopted in 2011. Since then, wolves have met recovery standards in certain parts of the state but not all, so he argued it is no time to change the rules.

The state countered reclassification is warranted, as gray wolves have seen 15 years of consecutive population growth, data models project it is likely to continue and there are enough state-level protections already in place to keep the population sustainable. Reynolds disagreed.

"We totally recognize and celebrate that the population has grown," Reynolds acknowledged. "But a population growth isn't the same as the recovery standards in the Wolf Plan. We haven't met that geographical distribution."

Reynolds also noted recent instances of gray wolf killings across the West. The deaths of three gray wolves in Oregon prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to issue a $50,000 reward for information about the case.

Conservation groups say the Hawaiian Islands are on the leading edge of the fight to preserve endangered birds, since climate change and habitat loss are making it difficult for many indigenous species to survive.

A coalition of conservation organizations will hold the annual Manu o Ku Festival this weekend to celebrate the islands' myriad species.

John Kantor, a wildlife biologist with the National Wildlife Federation, said the U.S. Migratory Bird Treaty Act has helped preserve many exotic Hawaiian species.

"The federal Endangered Species Act, and the funds that are raised for migratory birds under the various programs there, are funding the frontline researchers and conservationists and folks that are trying to solve this multitude of issues that threaten Hawaii's birds," he explained.

The festival, sponsored by the Conservation Council for Hawaii and the National Wildlife Federation, will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Coronation Pavilion of the Iolani Palace in Honolulu.

Kanter said the Migratory Bird Treaty was created in 1918 and updated in 1936. In conjunction with Canada, Mexico and other nations, it limits the taking of certain species for commercial products or as game. He cited the wood duck as one example, which is now plentiful but was almost wiped out a century ago.

"That species was almost extinct," he said, "and it is a hunted species - but there's strict regulations that are developed between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the states every year, based on the number of birds, that then are applied to the following season."

This year's festival celebrates the manu o ku, or white fairy tern, as an ambassador for other native Hawaiian species. Organizers have said conservation groups, educators and others are invited to share games and activities for people of all ages in learning about the manu o ku.