Wildlife

"A U.S. judge on Friday approved a deal between conservationists and Montana officials to restrict road-building and logging in roughly 22,000 acres (8,900 hectares) of state forest lands that make up core habitat for federally protected grizzlies."

"Stain repellent and fire retardant chemicals that scientists know little about are increasingly showing up in herring gull eggs around the Great Lakes, spurring concern for potential health impacts."

"A federal appeals court in New York ordered the government to rewrite its rules regulating the discharge of ballast water by ships, in a victory for environmental groups that said the rules were too lenient and threatened the nation's waterways."

"A recent report gave the federal program that helps control predatory wildlife around the country a generally clean bill of health, finding 'no systemic problems' with vital parts of its operation – a finding that animal rights groups found preposterous."

"Herbicides and insecticides are key tools in managing invasive species — but managers are working to find more environmentally friendly substitutes".

"While differences on cyber security and talk of sanctions dominated the headlines for Chinese president Xi Jinping’s visit to the US, the two countries also signed up to a major agreement to end the global trade in ivory."

"More than two dozen walruses were found shot dead on the Alaskan shoreline, ringing alarm bells for a species already increasingly threatened by climate change.""

"The greater sage grouse, a bird whose habitat is spread across 11 Western states, has been saved by collaborative conservation effort and won't be listed as endangered or threatened, the Interior Department announced Tuesday."

"A long-simmering debate in the American West over an imperiled ground-dwelling bird was headed for climax on Tuesday with the Obama administration expected to unveil a conservation plan lacking Endangered Species Act protections."