The Trump administration announced earlier this week its proposal to make changes to the Endangered Species Act (ESA), limiting protections given to plants and animals and boosting the influence of economic factors in decision-making. This isn’t the first time alterations have been made to the ESA; the previous Trump administration made changes to the act […]
Tag: Trump Administration
Trump officials reveal plan to roll back regulations in Endangered Species Act
The Trump administration presented a new plan to roll back regulations in the Endangered Species Act (ESA) on Wednesday, a move experts fear will accelerate the extinction crisis if adopted. The proposed changes would allow the federal government more power to weigh economic impact against habitat designations, remove safeguards against future events – including the […]
Senate declines to halt plan to kill off half-million barred owls by Fish and Wildlife Service
The US Senate rejected an effort on Wednesday to halt a contentious US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) plan to kill nearly half a million barred owls in order to save their cousin, the northern spotted owl. John Kennedy, the Republican senator from Louisiana, had hoped to block the proposal by bringing the matter to […]
‘Erasure of years of work’: outcry as White House moves to open Arctic reserve to oil and gas drilling
The Trump administration‘s plan to expand oil and gas drilling in a 23m acre reserve on the Arctic Ocean is sparking an impassioned response, amid fears it threatens Arctic wildlife, undermines the subsistence rights of Alaska Natives and imperils one of the fastest-warming ecosystems on Earth. More than a quarter of a million people have […]
‘The Trump Administration’s Disdain for Nature Knows No Bounds’: USDA Proposes Axing ‘Roadless Rule’ Protections for 58.5 Million Acres of National Forest Lands
The Trump administration on Monday announced a plan to open 58.5 million acres of undeveloped lands within the National Forest System to road development and construction by repealing the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, known as the “Roadless Rule.” The rule was established in 2001 to protect roadless areas from road construction and timber harvesting, as […]
Trump pulls US from plan to recover salmon population, calling it ‘radical’
Donald Trump has pulled the US federal government from a historic agreement to recover the salmon population in the Pacific north-west, calling the plan “radical environmentalism”. A presidential memorandum issued by Trump on Thursday removes the US from a deal brokered by Joe Biden with Washington, Oregon and four Native American tribes to work to […]
Trump officials plan to destroy a critical government program they probably know nothing about
Nearly two decades ago, scientists made an alarming discovery in upstate New York: Bats, the world’s only flying mammal, were becoming infected with a new, deadly fungal disease that, in some cases, could wipe out an entire colony in a matter of months. Since then, the disease — later called white-nose syndrome — has spread […]
Wildlife crime crackdown in jeopardy worldwide after US funding cuts
In 2019, Malawi registered a massive win in the fight against the illegal wildlife trade. Intelligence-driven operations culminated in the arrest of more than a dozen members of the Chinese-led “Lin-Zhang gang,” one of Southern Africa’s most prolific trafficking syndicates. Found to be in possession of hundreds of pieces of elephant ivory, rhino horn, pangolin […]