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WASHINGTON—Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued in 2008 that would once again block the environmentally destructive Yazoo Pumps project from draining wetlands that provide habitat for more than 28 million migratory birds annually. Recognizing the hemispheric significance of this area, the Լ����Ƶ, through its regional Լ����Ƶ Delta office, along with hundreds of other conservation and social justice organizations, science professionals, and members of the public have long opposed the Yazoo Pumps proposal.  In January, filed a lawsuit challenging the agency’s abrupt and baseless revocation of the veto in the waning days of the Trump administration. EPA’s announcement today was made in response to this legal challenge.

“The Yazoo Pumps project has always been nothing more than an environmentally destructive boondoggle. By restoring the Yazoo Pumps veto, the EPA has delivered a win-win for the people and birds of the Mississippi Delta,” said Marshall Johnson, acting chief conservation officer of the Լ����Ƶ. “Thanks to the tens of thousands of Լ����Ƶ members who submitted public comments in support of science-based conservation, and to our incredible Լ����Ƶ Delta office for exploring alternative approaches to flood control in the region that will protect both people and birds, today and tomorrow.”

Լ����Ƶ Delta and the other conservation groups opposing the Yazoo Pumps have provided the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) with a resilience strategy that outlines for vulnerable communities in the Yazoo Backwater Area.

As part of the joint effort to inform the EPA and other federal agencies, as well as the public, about the serious risks posed by the Yazoo Pumps project, Լ����Ƶ and fellow conservation organizations submitted technical comments that showed the Yazoo Backwater Area’s hemispheric importance to birds. Scientists from Լ����Ƶ’s  and quantitative ecology team generated weekly population estimates using freely available data from from the and from . Լ����Ƶ’s analysis found that the Yazoo Backwater Area supports an estimated 29 million migratory birds every year, including up to 30 percent of the world’s population of Pectoral Sandpipers.

About Լ����Ƶ
The Լ����Ƶ protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow. Լ����Ƶ works throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education, and on-the-ground conservation. State programs, nature centers, chapters, and partners give Լ����Ƶ an unparalleled wingspan that reaches millions of people each year to inform, inspire, and unite diverse communities in conservation action. A nonprofit conservation organization since 1905, Լ����Ƶ believes in a world in which people and wildlife thrive. Learn more at and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @audubonsociety.

Media Contact: Jill Mastrototaro, jill.mastrototaro@audubon.org