Standing up for wetlands
October 3, 2025
Riverkeeper Team
Riverkeeper and our partners in the Save NYS Wetlands Coalition filed a legal brief defending New York’s new landmark wetland protections. Earlier this year, corporations, industry groups, and municipalities filed several lawsuits challenging the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s regulations that allow the state to regulate more than 1 million acres of wetlands. These updated regulations are especially urgent now that the U.S. Supreme Court has sharply limited federal protections for freshwater wetlands, leaving many wetlands, including seasonal vernal pools, largely unprotected.
New York’s protections are not a blanket prohibition on development; they ensure that when development happens, it respects and protects the most ecologically important wetlands. Riverkeeper joined leading environmental groups to make the case that the NYS DEC’s science-based, common-sense rules are essential to safeguarding clean water, wildlife, and community safety now and for generations to come.
New York’s protections are not a blanket prohibition on development; they ensure that when development happens, it respects and protects the most ecologically important wetlands. Riverkeeper joined leading environmental groups to make the case that the NYS DEC’s science-based, common-sense rules are essential to safeguarding clean water, wildlife, and community safety now and for generations to come.
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