Wildlife

"The Trump administration is set to reverse a sweeping conservation rule for public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the latest in a series of actions to reverse Biden-era environmental protections. Announced without much public fanfare in early April, the sudden reversal of the rule, which sought to put conservation on an equal playing field with industrial activities, is a blow to conservation efforts, said environmental groups."

"For more than 50 years, the Endangered Species Act has helped scores of species — from whooping cranes to red wolves to California condors — claw their way back from the edge of extinction. Its success has made it supremely popular with the American public — far more popular, for instance, than Congress. But now, like all those species it helps protect, the law itself is in grave peril. The Trump administration, Congress, and their allies have launched a barrage of legislation, litigation and regulatory maneuvers in recent months that together could tear the teeth out of our most powerful wildlife conservation statute."

"The Trump administration has moved to end federal protections for the lesser prairie chicken, a showy grouse with the misfortune of inhabiting southern and central grasslands long sought-after for agriculture and energy development."

"House Republicans added a provision to their sweeping tax cut package authorizing sales of hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands in Nevada and Utah, prompting outrage from Democrats and environmentalists who called it a betrayal that could lead to drilling, mining and logging in sensitive areas."

"Dozens of programs, many linked to climate change and diversity, have been designated for elimination by DOGE, according to people with knowledge of the plan."

"The idea of moving endangered species work done by NOAA Fisheries to the Fish and Wildlife Service has been considered several times."

"Amid the vast forests carpeting the corrugated slopes of the Appalachians sit some of the country’s only remaining mountain bogs and a rare, threatened species of turtle living in them."

"Lawmakers are preparing for a tense markup in the House Natural Resources Committee on legislation to expand mining and drilling." "One committee is moving ahead swiftly to advance its piece of the Republicans’ sprawling budget package, while other panels with power over energy and environment policy get bogged down."