Advocacy · Washington, DC
National Parks Conservation Association
Plaintiff in the challenge to the Gulf-wide endangered species exemption, naming Gulf Islands among the parks at risk
217 staff + 900 volunteers78¢ to the workFounded 1919
Stand · Find your defenders
Who’s defending the Gulf Islands?
3 groups have it in their care
National park in Mississippi / Florida, 139,175 acres, managed by the National Park Service, designated in 1971.
The defenders
The groups doing the most work here
3 groups are on the record for Gulf Islands, each tied to it by a source our editors read, in the order they carry the weight. Give directly; nothing routes through us.
On the ground
Also in the fight
Legal · Charlottesville, VA
Southern Environmental Law Center
Filed the lawsuit for the coalition challenging the Gulf-wide exemption
267 staff + 43 volunteers83¢ to the workFounded 1986
Advocacy · Reston, VA
National Wildlife Federation
Co-plaintiff defending Gulf park wildlife, from sea turtles to the Rice’s whale, in the God Squad suit
505 staff + 4,000 volunteers86¢ to the workFounded 1936
4 more work nearby but are not tied to Gulf Islands on the record
On the ground in Mississippi and Florida
The situation
What’s happening to Gulf Islands
Barrier islands stretching from Mississippi to Florida, over 80 percent open water, visited by more than seven million people a year. Home waters for the Rice’s whale, the only whale species found nowhere else on Earth, with approximately 50 individuals left. The God Squad’s March 31 vote to exempt all Gulf oil and gas operations from ESA compliance means new drilling can proceed without accounting for vessel strikes, acoustic disturbance, or oil spills in the only habitat this species has.
- 1971Established as national seashore
- 2026Endangered Species Committee exempts Gulf drilling from ESANPCA · March 31, 2026
No public comment window is open on Gulf Islands right now. A call script is ready on the Public Lands Action Network, and the groups above are how the fight gets funded and argued in the meantime.
Your move
How to stand for the Gulf Islands
GiveGive to National Parks Conservation Association
Straight to their own donation page. Your dollar never passes through us.
Their donation page ↗SpeakCall your representativesA ready call script on Gulf Islands, plus any comment window as it opens.
Public Lands Action NetworkFollowWatch the mapEvery threatened place in the country, tracked, with who stands for each.
Threatened Lands MapBuild my lineup around Gulf Islands: the leading group here opens it, and the other seats fill from this record.
Gulf Islands has defenders. It needs more.
3 groups on the record, National Parks Conservation Association with 217 staff + 900 volunteers. That is who is holding it. Find your way in.