Endangered Species

 

AP | 6 Wolves At Risk Of Starvation Relocated To Isle Royale. According to E&E News, “A U.S.-Canadian team has successfully relocated about half a dozen gray wolves to Isle Royale National Park in Michigan. One of two private organizations helping to fund the effort reported yesterday on its Facebook page that the relocation involved six wolves from a second Lake Superior Island in Canadian territory and one from the Ontario mainland. The National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation said yesterday that the animals were captured, vet checked and transported over the past couple of days. The half-dozen wolves from Michipicoten Island were in danger of starvation after gobbling up a caribou herd. The National Park Service is winding up the first phase of a multi-year effort to rebuild wolf numbers at Isle Royale, which have plummeted in the past decade. The latest arrivals join eight existing wolves.” [E&E News, 3/25/19 (=)]

 

Op-Ed: What Senators Should Ask Interior Nominee David Bernhardt. According to The Hill, “Monarch butterflies are at serious risk of extinction, and protection under the Endangered Species Act, the country’s most important wildlife-conservation law, remains the best way to save them. In just the past year, their wintering population in California crashed by 86 percent. Monarchs now number fewer than 30,000 individuals, compared with several million in the 1980s. U.S. Geological Survey research has concluded that the larger, eastern monarch butterfly population is likely to go extinct within 20 years. In the past year and a half, Bernhardt has spearheaded an effort to gut the regulations that implement the act. The result of Bernhardt’s changes will be to make listing under the act as toothless as possible. Even if monarch butterflies are ultimately protected under the act, after the changes that Bernhardt has pushed are finalized, this bedrock law may not be able to save these incredible migrating creatures from extinction.” [The Hill, 3/25/19 (=)]

 

Wildlife & Conservation

 

Public Invited To View Waterfowl Migration With Expert. According to Associated Press, “The Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife is inviting the public to view the spring migration of waterfowl at the Little Otter Creek Wildlife Management Area in Ferrisburgh with one of the department’s experts. On April 11, waterfowl biologist David Sausville will be leading a bird watching tour. The management area, a naturally productive wild rice marsh, attracts numerous species of waterfowl. Sausville will lead participants on a brief walk along the shoreline to look for birds with binoculars. The group will also use a spotting scope to look at a nearby eagle nest. Sausville says viewers could easily see six to 12 different species of waterfowl, numerous wading birds, osprey, eagles, and possibly several wetland mammals including muskrat, beaver, otter, and mink.” [Associated Press, 3/25/19 (=)]

 

New Mexico Game Commissioners Asked To Resign. According to Associated Press, “Members of an influential commission that governs hunting, fishing and other wildlife management activities across New Mexico have been asked to resign, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office said Monday. The seven-member game commission serves at the pleasure of the governor, and last week she requested they submit their resignations. They have until Wednesday to respond. Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, took office in January and has been working to install her own appointees on a number of boards and commissions. As for the wildlife board, more than 80 candidates have expressed interest. A game commission meeting scheduled for this week was postponed indefinitely as the governor’s office has not set a firm timeline for seating a new board. Lujan Grisham spokesman Tripp Stelnicki said the effort would be as expeditious as possible. The cancellation without an explanation and rumors of the requests for resignations spurred concerns over the weekend among sportsmen groups and others who work closely with the commission and the state game and fish department.” [Associated Press, 3/25/19 (=)]

 

 

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