(EnviroNews Nature) — Washington D.C. — On August 4, 2017, Department of Interior (DOI) Secretary Ryan Zinke published a memorandum calling for the immediate revision of the 2015 Greater Sage-Grouse Conservation Plan. This memo follows up on his June Secretarial Order to review sage grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) protections…
(EnviroNews DC News Bureau) — Whitefish, Montana — On June 28, 2017, the Western Governors’ Association (WGA) released its 2017 recommendations to alter the Endangered Species Act (ESA) after its annual meeting in Montana. The resolution arrived at calls for an increase in state power over ESA implementation…
(EnviroNews Nature) — On May 10, 2017, Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW), led a committee oversight hearing called, “Conservation, Consultation and Capacity: State Views on the Need to Modernize the Endangered Species Act.” Green groups decry Barrasso’s desire…
(EnviroNews Nature) — Denver, Colorado — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) can continue to release Mexican gray wolves (Canis lupus baileyi) from captivity into the wild after the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned an injunction halting the program on April 25, 2017, which conservationists say…
(EnviroNews Alaska) — Washington D.C. — On April 3, 2017, President Donald Trump signed House Joint Resolution 69 (HJR 69) into law. The legislation rescinds the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) 2016 Alaska National Wildlife Refuges Rule (Refuge Rule). The Refuge Rule was enacted to protect native…
(EnviroNews Nature) — Washington D.C. — Nearly 14,000 documents related to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) have been preserved and made available for improved conservation efforts under a new initiative launched March 30, 2017, by Defenders of Wildlife (Defenders). “The Endangered Species Act is the strongest conservation law…
(EnviroNews Alaska) — Washington D.C. — On March 21, 2017, in a 52-47 vote, the Senate passed House Joint Resolution 69 (HJR 69), a Congressional Review Act resolution to rescind the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) Alaska National Wildlife Refuges Rule (Refuge Rule), which has been in…
(EnviroNews DC News Bureau) — Washington D.C. — Thirty-three senators, all of them Republican, voted against conservation 100 percent of the time, according to the 2016 Congressional Report Card, released by Defenders of Wildlife (Defenders) on March 23, 2017. The report card reviewed 13 Senate votes and 20…
(EnviroNews Nature) — Two migrants from Mexico, known as “Macho B” and “El Jefe,” were seen slinking through the dense mountain forests of southern Arizona numerous times over the past decade. They lived off the land, hunting white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and javelinas (Tayassuidae). Remote motion-sensing cameras snapped…
(EnviroNews Wyoming) — Gray wolves (Canis lupus) will no longer be protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in the state of Wyoming. That was the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, on March 3, 2017, which also happened to be…
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