Suit Scores $32.6 Million for North Carolina Species
A Wildlife Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM Center for Biological Diversity
January 2022

Neuse River waterdog - Marc Hall, NCWRC

Thanks to a Center lawsuit against a highway construction project, North Carolina’s Department of Transportation has spent $21.35 million in the past two years to protect habitat for imperiled aquatic species and fund a new captive-breeding facility for endangered freshwater mussels and magnificent ramshorn snails.

By 2022’s end, the department will put $11.3 million more toward freshwater mussel conservation research and restoring endangered mussels and salamanders to habitats where they’ve disappeared.

“This $32.6 million will be lifesaving for Neuse River waterdogs, Atlantic pigtoe mussels and the other unique, fascinating imperiled critters that help support North Carolina’s sensitive freshwater ecosystems,” said Center lawyer Perrin de Jong.

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