Biodiversity & Species
Bush administration forest planning rules struck down — again
For much of the past decade, the Department of Agriculture regulations governing land and resource management planning in the national forests have been a kind of political ping-pong ball, bounced back and forth between administrations, and between the executive branch and the courts. Now the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has …
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CONTINUE READINGHabitat loss still the key conservation concern
Some time ago, I noted this essay in Slate by environmental journalist Brendan Borrell, arguing that our current obsession with climate change is inhibiting more important conservation work. A new report from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature provides some support for Borrell’s position. The IUCN periodically updates its Red List of Threatened …
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CONTINUE READINGKilling rats kills eagles in Alaska
There really is no free lunch in the world of environmental restoration, and often the consequences are difficult to predict. Last month, Scientific American reported that 41 bald eagles were found dead on Rat Island in the western Aleutians after an aggressive rat extermination effort. Rat Island was so named because it had been overrun …
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CONTINUE READINGBiodiversity-friendly seawalls
Seawalls as typically constructed are smooth, vertical structures, beautiful to an engineer’s eye but unappealing to tidal creatures looking for the more complex physical structure typical of a rocky shore. A new paper (Oecologia, subscription required) out of the University of Sydney shows that engineering and ecology need not be at odds, however. The authors …
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CONTINUE READINGPreble’s mouse jumps back into the courtroom
Five environmental groups — NRDC, Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, Center for Native Ecosystems, and Biodiversity Conservation Alliance — have filed a lawsuit challenging FWS’s decision last year to list the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse (pictured) as threatened only in Colorado, leaving it off the protected list in Wyoming. FWS justified that distinction …
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CONTINUE READINGEndangered species news round-up
It’s been a busy late spring in the endangered species world. Some recent developments: Gray wolf: Environmental groups have filed a lawsuit challenging the delisting of the gray wolf in the northern Rockies. The EarthJustice press release is here, complaint here. The gist of the complaint is that the state management plans do not provide …
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CONTINUE READINGSave the Tuna!
Amid concerns about the possible exhaustion of tuna stocks, Science reports on a positive step: Representatives of Western Pacific island nations last week put the finishing touches on a series of bold new measures aimed at saving the world’s last great tuna stocks. Last May, the group decided to bar fishing in two huge pockets …
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CONTINUE READINGEnvironmental Hubris: Another Proposed “Fix” for the California Delta
Recently, California state water officials announced with considerable fanfare their latest technological “fix” for the environmental ills that have in recent years befallen the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas, the Delta is in serious environmental decline–as scientists have carefully documented and which no one disputes at this …
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CONTINUE READINGGood news of the day: Leatherback turtles
In a paper published in Biological Conservation (subscription required for full access), Matthew Witt et al. have found that Gabon hosts the largest known nesting population of leatherback sea turtles. Using aerial surveying techniques, instead of the usual on-the-ground work, over several years, the group estimated that between 15,000 and 40,000 female leatherbacks use the …
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CONTINUE READINGRelist Yellowstone’s grizzlies?
Grizzly bears in the Yellowstone region were removed from the ESA list in 2007 on the grounds that they had recovered to the point that they no longer needed protection. Now Doug Peacock argues in Environment 360 that Yellowstone’s bears should be returned to the ESA’s protected list. His piece highlights three key challenges for …
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