Wildlife & land conservation

This archive brings together 265 stories about wildlife recovery, protected lands, habitat restoration, and the communities driving conservation forward. From endangered species rebounds to new national parks and Indigenous-led stewardship, these articles document real, verifiable progress happening around the world. If you want evidence that protecting nature is working, this is where to look.

Salmon run, for article on Klamath dam removal, for article on Klamath River dam removal

Salmon return to Klamath River for first time in 112 years

By / / Good News For Humankind

Wild Chinook salmon have returned to the upper Klamath River for the first time since 1912, with biologists confirming the fish about 230 miles inland from the Pacific. The sighting came just months after the last of four dams was removed in summer 2024, completing the largest dam removal project in U.S. history. Klamath tribal members, who fought for decades to free the river, describe the salmon’s return as the homecoming of relatives. Biologists hope steelhead, coho, Pacific lamprey, and bull trout will follow. For rivers everywhere still bound by aging dams, one fish swimming home is a reminder that ecosystems can begin healing the moment we let them.

Morning fog over the brazilian rainforest in Brazil, for article on uncontacted Indigenous territory

Brazil upgrades park to protect South America’s tallest tree

By / / Good news links

South America’s tallest tree, a 400-year-old red angelim in the northern tip of the Brazilian Amazon, is the star of a newly created conservation area called the Giant Trees of the Amazon State Park. The area was officially sectioned off from the larger Paru State Forest for stronger protection. Now, the 1.38-million-acre Giant Trees of the Amazon State Park has been upgraded to the “full protection” category. This means that activities like logging, permitted under the “sustainable use” category when it was previously part of Paru State Park, can no longer be proposed in its bounds.

Good news for wildlife conservation

Republic of Congo to catalyze investment in high-integrity forests

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Conservation authorities in the Republic of Congo have launched a plan to invest in the protection of “high-integrity forests” in Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, treating these ecosystems as an asset class. The new initiative aims to fill a funding gap to protect the ROC’s forests by selling high-integrity forest (HIFOR) units, defined as representing “one hectare of healthy, high integrity tropical forest actively conserved within a large landscape for decades.”

Greater one-horned rhino in grassland

India’s state of Assam sees 86% drop in poaching and five-fold increase in rhinos since 2016

By / / Good news links

By expanding protected areas and bolstering ranger patrols, the steady growth in the number of rhinos, seen since the late 60s, has now accelerated to the point where 3,000 horns grace the Assam savannah. “Rhinos are synonymous with the identity of Assam. They are our pride and the crown jewel of our biodiversity. Ever since we assumed office, we have taken various initiatives to protect the prized species, expand its habitat and ensure its safety,” Assam state’s Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma wrote.

A loggerhead sea turtle crawling on a sandy beach for an article about loggerhead sea turtle nests in Greece, for article on loggerhead sea turtle nests

Greece records more than 10,000 loggerhead sea turtle nests in a single year

By / / Good News For Humankind

Loggerhead sea turtle nests in Greece have surpassed 10,000 in a single year for the first time in recorded history, nearly doubling the previous annual average of 5,000 to 7,000. The milestone reflects decades of sustained conservation work by organizations like Archelon and Medasset, whose efforts to protect nesting beaches, regulate tourism, and deploy monitoring technology are now yielding measurable results. Greece hosts roughly 60% of all Mediterranean loggerhead nests, making this recovery regionally significant. Conservationists warn, however, that mounting tourism pressure and climate change mean the gains remain fragile and enforcement of protective measures must continue.

Guam Kingfisher

‘Extinct’ Guam kingfisher takes flight again after nearly 40 years

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Six Guam kingfishers, known locally as sihek, have been released into the wild, marking their return from nearly four decades of being extinct in the wild. Sihek became extinct in the wild from their native Guam in 1986 due to the introduction of the brown tree snake, but a captive-breeding program has kept the species alive since then. This release, on the predator-free Palmyra Atoll, about 3,700 miles east of Guam, is part of a larger plan to establish a breeding population there, with the ultimate goal of returning the sihek to Guam once the threat from brown tree snakes is addressed.

Nervous Swans in the Rice Fields

California tears down levee in ‘largest tidal habitat restoration in state history’

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A backhoe loader has dug into a levee in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, breaking down a portion of the earthen embankment and allowing tidal waters to flow across 3,400 acres of land for the first time in 100 years, officials said. The plot of land, located in Solano County and just upriver from Rio Vista, is being called Lookout Slough, and it will provide new habitat for fish and wildlife and increase flood protection for the greater Sacramento area by boosting water storage capacity in the Yolo Bypass.

Amazon River Rainforest, for article on Amazon deforestation

Malaysian court shuts down hydroelectric dam project on Indigenous land

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A Malaysian court ruled this week that hydropower companies building a dam on land belonging to the Indigenous Semai people of Malaysia’s Perak state had failed to secure proper consent and must halt operations immediately. The court also ruled that the state and federal governments, and the federal agency tasked with overseeing Indigenous affairs, had failed in their duty to protect Indigenous land from encroachment. Activists expressed relief and elation at the verdict, which marks a major milestone for land rights for Malaysia’s Indigenous peoples, known collectively as Orang Asal.
The verdict can still be appealed.

Gray wolf population growing fast in California — up sixfold in the past five years

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The first wolf returned to the state after an 87-year absence in 2011, when a young male walked across the border from Oregon. By 2015, the first new wolf pack had re-established, in Siskiyou County. By 2019, there were seven gray wolves in California. Now there are 44 — a sixfold increase over the past five years, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Wolves are now found in nine of California’s 58 counties, in seven packs from the Oregon border to the mountains around Lake Tahoe, and in the Southern Sierra near Bakersfield.

Salmon run

Salmon will soon swim freely in the Klamath River for first time in a century once dams are removed

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The largest dam removal project in U.S. history is nearing completion. Crews will use excavators this week to breach rock dams that have been diverting water upstream of two dams that were already almost completely removed, Iron Gate and Copco No. 1. The work will allow the river to flow freely in its historic channel, giving salmon a passageway to key swaths of habitat just in time for the fall Chinook, or king salmon, spawning season.