A Little Good News for a Hard Week

A quick note: if you noticed a couple of duplicate posts or emails from us this week, sorry about that — we were syncing subscribers and the blog and a few things went out twice.

It’s been a hard week — a lot going on in the world, in the country, close to home. The kind of week where it’s easy to feel worn down. So today, just for a minute, we wanted to bring you something good.

Life has to keep going. So does the work of protecting it. There’s still a lot worth fighting for, and we’re not giving up — we never will.

Good news from the region

Cougar kittens, confirmed. Researchers documented cougar kittens near Voyageurs National Park this spring — the first evidence of cougars breeding in that region in over a century. DNA later showed the father traveled more than 500 miles to get there. Wildlife finds a way, even now.

Piping plovers, ten years home. 2026 marks ten years since Great Lakes piping plovers returned to nest on Green Bay’s Cat Island — the first successful nesting there in more than 75 years. Wisconsin just posted one of its strongest nesting totals yet.

Bald eagles, still soaring. Once nearly wiped out, bald eagles remain one of Wisconsin’s great conservation comeback stories — proof of what’s possible when people fight hard enough, for long enough.

Want more stories like these? Chip in $25 →

We know we send you a lot of hard news — because there’s a lot of hard news in this work. But here’s the thing: we’re also the ones who make the good news happen. Those piping plovers on Cat Island, the bald eagles soaring over Wisconsin again — those aren’t accidents. They’re what happens when people refuse to look away and keep showing up, year after year. You did that. Every letter you signed, every dollar you gave, every hour you spent — that’s the reason wildlife gets to come back.

This week, we made real institutional concessions happen

Not incremental change. Actual ground gained.

• Helped stop the ESA Amendments Act — twice, which almost never happens
• Signed onto more than 20 letters this year, from protecting right whales to endangered species listings to EPA pollution standards
• Kept fighting to protect the Boundary Waters
• Took a major step forward on banning wildlife killing contests
• Pushed back on cruelty toward wolves, bears, and other wildlife — and on trespassing that puts them at risk

That’s not luck. That’s what happens when people like you back this work. And this week alone, you all put in $825 — which is genuinely amazing.

Something to do with your weekend

Free educational handouts. We’ve built a library of wildlife fact sheets you can download, print, and share — and we’re adding more all the time. Take a look if you’ve got a quiet minute: speakforwildlife.org/handouts

Walk on the Wild Side — Minocqua Winter Park. A free Northwoods speaker series at the Chalet (7543 Squirrel Hill Rd). No registration required for most, seating is limited. As they put it: come curious, leave a little wilder.

• Sunday, July 26 — Lead Free for Life: how lead tackle and ammunition poison loons, eagles, and other wildlife
• August 16 — Wolves in Wisconsin: ecology, pack behavior, and separating myth from fact
• August 22 — Deer Behavior: a look at a Northwoods icon
• September 5 — A Remarkable Return: sandhill cranes and citizen science

Full series details and registration →

You’re incredible. Your donation is literally saving wild animals’ lives.

Before you head into your weekend — because you deserve one too — thank you. To everyone who’s given: thank you.

Get Us to $175

Want to make it count all year? Give monthly — even $10 a month keeps this work steady between the emergencies.

And if you ever just want to talk — about any of this — you can schedule a one-on-one with me over at speakforwildlife.org. I mean it.

A group of concerned citizens — no matter how small — with willpower, smarts, and endless pressure, endlessly applied, can move mountains. We still have wildlife. We’re still winning. And we still have each other.

— Melissa