Project Report
| Jul 22, 2025
Red Wolf Update
By Scott Gilman | Membership Director
The Center for Biological Diversity is stepping up efforts to support red wolf protection and recovery.
This month the Center is presenting oral arguments in our red wolf essentiality lawsuit, where we are challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to deny our petition to classify the last and only wild red wolf population as "essential."
We argue that the last 16 red wolves in the wild are absolutely essential to their species' survival, and they deserve the additional protections that an 'essential' designation provides. Because North Carolina’s red wolf experimental population is the only wild population of the species, its loss would eliminate the species from the wild.
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Mar 12, 2025
Federal Grant Awarded for Red Wolf Crossings
By Scott Gilman | Membership Director
The Federal Highway Administration announced a $25 million grant for North Carolina to build wildlife crossings that will help save critically endangered red wolves. Only 16 red wolves remain in the wild, and vehicle collisions have become their leading cause of mortality.
The grant will fund 13 wildlife underpasses beneath U.S. 64, a highway that runs through the heart of the last red wolf refuges. Construction will also be supported by $4 million in private donations raised by the Center for Biological Diversity, Wildlands Network, and an anonymous donor’s matching grant.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation submitted the grant application in partnership with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina also supported the red wolf wildlife crossings project.
In addition to endangered red wolves, wildlife crossings will also protect dozens of other species frequently killed along Highway 64, including river otters, bobcats, white-tailed deer, spotted turtles and black bears. The project area is home to highest density of black bears in the country.
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Nov 13, 2024
Red Wolf Wildlife Crossing Update
By Scott Gilman | Membership Director
The Center for Biological Diversity has been working with the North Carolina Department of Transportation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on a federal grant application to the Wildlife Crossings Program, and our campaign has been essential in demonstrating the strong public support for this project. More than 12,000 people have stepped up to support red wolf wildlife crossings.
The Center has also been selected to be a key voice and representative in upcoming red wolf stakeholder meetings with agencies and local communities. Our red wolf wildlife crossings campaign has provided common ground for stakeholders. It is building good will and trust, and it is enabling folks to work together on a project that benefits the health and safety of red wolves and local communities.
In addition, the Center is organizing screenings of a red wolf documentary produced by the Cherokee Nation that highlights the importance of wildlife crossings for red wolves' survival. The Center will be leading and organizing events and panel discussions around the documentary to raise more awareness for red wolf wildlife crossings.
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