Two New Sentinel Landscapes Designated in Mississippi and Colorado

6/29/26

The Department of the Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service helps ensure that wildlife habitat remains healthy and resilient in two newly designated Sentinel Landscapes in Mississippi and Colorado. 

NFWF Awards $20 Million in Grants to Restore Longleaf Pine Habitat across the Southeast

6/17/26

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) announced $20 million in grants for 25 projects through the Longleaf Landscape Stewardship Fund aimed at restoring and protecting longleaf pine forests across nine Southeastern states, including Texas. Combined with matching funds, the effort will generate $38.6 million in total conservation investment. The projects will restore more than 380,000 acres of habitat, including planting longleaf pine seedlings, expanding prescribed burns, and helping private landowners manage their forests.

Army Reserve, Conservation Partners Safeguard Endangered Gopher Tortoise During Operation Sentinel Justice

6/15/26

A unique partnership between the U.S. Army Reserve, The Nature Conservancy, and the Camp Shelby Environmental Office is ensuring that military readiness and environmental stewardship advance side by side. Their collaborative efforts focus on protecting one of the Southeast’s keystone species, the Gopher Tortoise, through strategic planning, habitat management, scientific conservation initiatives, and soldier education.

Announcing the 2026 Sentinel Landscape Designations and Release of the 2025 Accomplishments Report

6/8/26

The Sentinel Landscapes Partnership announced the 2026 Sentinel Landscape designations, the East Mississippi Sentinel Landscape and the Pikes Peak Sentinel Landscape in Colorado, as well as the release of its 2025 Accomplishments Report. Together, these milestones reaffirm the Partnership’s commitment to strengthening national defense, enhancing installation resilience, and advancing coordinated action among Federal, State, Local, Tribal, and private partners.

Comprised of the Department of War (DoW), the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Partnership integrates conservation and working-lands stewardship with national security priorities and the operational needs of defense installations. With the addition of Pikes Peak and East Mississippi, the network now includes 21 designated landscapes, marking over a decade of collaboration to safeguard critical training areas, promote compatible land use, and strengthen the resilience of defense communities. To learn more about Sentinel Landscapes, visit: https://sentinellandscapes.org/. 

Anchored by Naval Air Station Meridian and home to Columbus Air Force Base, the East Mississippi Sentinel Landscape supports a critical portion of the nation’s pilot training enterprise through its extensive training routes, special-use airspace, and compatible rural lands. The East Mississippi Sentinel Landscape joins five other Sentinel Landscapes within the SERPPAS six-state region.

The 2025 Accomplishments Report underscores substantial progress in FY 2024, highlighting more than $1.75 billion in combined federal, state, local, and private investment to date, including $368 million secured in FY 2024 alone. These strategic investments play a critical role in supporting military readiness by protecting vital training corridors, mitigating encroachment pressures, and enhancing landscape resilience around priority installations. For more information on the 2025 Accomplishment Report, visit here. 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Threatened Species Status With Section 4(d) Rule for Southern Hognose Snake

6/8/26

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reopening the public comment period on its August 29, 2025, proposal to list the southern hognose snake as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. This reopening allows for a public hearing and gives stakeholders another opportunity to provide input, with all previously submitted comments still being considered in the final decision. 

42 Eastern indigo snakes released across Florida and Alabama in continued species recovery effort

6/4/26

The Central Florida Zoo’s Orianne Center for Indigo Conservation recently released 42 juvenile eastern indigo snakes, 21 in Florida’s Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve and 21 in Alabama’s Conecuh National Forest, as part of an ongoing effort to restore the federally threatened species to its historic range. 

New EPA Wildfires Resources Website

6/1/26

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has launched a new website that provides essential tools and research to help communities prepare for, respond to, and recover from the increasing frequency and intensity of wildland fires.