Wildlife

"The White House’s nominee to head a top US conservation agency lacks her predecessors’ experience, while her political connections raise potential conflicts of interest, a Guardian analysis has found. Aurelia Skipwith, who started her career at the agrochemical giant Monsanto, has been nominated to lead the interior department’s Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees endangered species and wildlife refuges."

"Japan is to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and resume commercial whaling next year, a report claimed on Thursday, in a move that drew condemnation from Australia, with other anti-whaling nations expected to follow suit."

"A Trump administration proposal to roll back protections for some marshes and streams could affect more than 30,000 acres of wetlands in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, according to a new report."

"Congress has agreed to make it easier to kill sea lions threatening fragile runs of salmon in the Northwest."

"Scientists’ plan to track deadly Marburg virus is literally held together with glue".

"More than two dozen futurists, environmental scientists and others from around the world recently put their heads together to do a “horizon scan” of emerging trends that are getting relatively little attention but have the potential to have substantial impact on biodiversity conservation in the future."

"With scientists warning that the Northwest’s beloved killer whales are on the brink of extinction, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced dramatic plans Thursday to help the population recover — including $1.1 billion in spending and a partial whale-watching ban."

"On 5,000 hectares of unploughed prairie in north-eastern Montana, hundreds of wild bison roam once again. But this herd is not in a national park or a protected sanctuary – they are on tribal lands."

"MISSION, Texas -- More than 200 species make their homes at America’s most diverse sanctuary, but construction through the reserve could begin in February".

"The Trump administration says it doesn't know how many streams it is proposing to exclude from Clean Water Act jurisdiction today. But a 2017 slideshow prepared by EPA and Army Corps of Engineers staff shows that at least 18 percent of streams and 51 percent of wetlands nationwide would not be protected under the new definition of "waters of the United States," or WOTUS, announced today."