Wildlife & Conservation

 

Mining Waste Contaminants Suspected In Montana Fish Kill. According to Associated Press, “A fish kill in Montana has been blamed on mining waste washed into a river during recent heavy rains. The Montana Standard reported Tuesday that a state Fish, Wildlife and Parks department biologist says whitefish, trout and suckers have died in the Clark Fork River between Warm Springs and Galen. The region received extensive rainfall starting Friday and culminating Sunday. Biologist Nathan Cook has observed 32 dead fish and suspects many more may have died and been carried downstream or consumed by birds. Cook says areas called ‘slickens’ are a known source of metal contaminants. He says berms installed in the 1980s to keep water away from slickens have failed in recent years. Cook says the involvement of multiple species indicates an external contaminant as opposed to a disease.” [Associated Press, 9/11/19 (=)]

 

Scientists Succeed In Creating Northern White Rhino Embryos. According to Associated Press, “Scientists announced Wednesday they have succeeded in creating two embryos of the near-extinct northern white rhino as part of an international effort to save the species, which is down to just two animals worldwide, both of them female. The embryos, created in the lab with eggs taken from the females and frozen sperm from dead males, are now stored in liquid nitrogen, to be transferred into a surrogate mother — a southern white rhino — in the near future. ‘Today we achieved an important milestone on a rocky road which allows us to plan the future steps in the rescue program of the northern white rhino,’ said Thomas Hildebrandt of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Germany. The institute is part of an international consortium of scientists and conservationists that has been planning and developing the procedure for years. The ultimate goal is to create a herd of at least five animals that could be returned to their natural habitat in Africa. That could take decades. Decades of poaching have taken a heavy toll on the northern white rhino and other rhino species. The animals are killed for their horns, which have long been used as carving material and prized in traditional Chinese medicine for their supposed healing properties.” [Associated Press, 9/11/19 (=)]

 

Fleeing Dorian, Manatees Stuck Behind Wall In Florida River. According to Associated Press, “A mother and baby manatee have been trapped behind an underwater wall in a Florida river for the past week after seeking shelter there from Hurricane Dorian. State wildlife officials have been working to free the manatees trapped in the Halifax River in Daytona Beach. Wildlife officials say the manatees likely swam into the area when storm surge and high tides raised the water level, and became stuck when the water receded. Daytona Beach spokeswoman Susan Cerbone says engineers have been studying whether it’s possible to move part of the wall, built to catch sediment so it doesn’t get in the river. The Daytona Beach News Journal reports that the support piles in the metal wall are driven more than 26 feet below the riverbed’s surface.” [Associated Press, 9/11/19 (=)]

 

Louisiana's Dove Season: 62 Ticketed In 1st Weekend. According to Associated Press, “The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says agents ticketed 62 people in 17 parishes for a total of 78 alleged hunting violations during the first weekend of dove hunting. A news release Wednesday said agents cited 11 people in Concordia Parish for 15 alleged violations — putting out bait, hunting doves over a baited area, helping others to do so, taking more than the limit, hunting without a license and using an unplugged shotgun. Nine people were cited in East Baton Rouge Parish, seven in West Feliciana, six in Sabine and five in St. James Parish. People also were cited in East Feliciana, Caddo, Bossier, Terrebonne, Pointe Coupee, Vermilion, Morehouse, Madison, St. Martin, East Carroll, Richland and Rapides parishes. The dove season’s first weekend was Saturday and Sunday.” [Associated Press, 9/11/19 (=)]

 

Fish and Wildlife Nomination

 

Fish And Wildlife Nominee Won't Commit To Give More Disclosure On Conflicts Of Interest. According to Politico, “President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Fish and Wildlife Service told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee today that she could not commit to supplying more information about her possible conflicts of interest. Committee ranking member Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) told Aurelia Skipwith, who is currently Interior’s deputy assistant secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks, that her response to a request about how she would avoid potential conflicts of interest with her former employers was delivered the night before the hearing and incomplete. Skipwith had worked at agriculture supply chain firm AVC Global and at Monsanto before she was tapped by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to join the department in April 2017. ‘I will have to work with the Department of the Interior to do a deeper dive,’ Skipwith said in response to Carper’s request for more information. She declined to commit to provide more information within a week. Skipwith also denied Democrats’ suggestion that a $5,600 contribution she made to the Trump campaign — the only political contribution she is recorded as having ever in the past 10 years, according to Whitehouse — was related to her nomination. Her donation was made two days after the administration nominated Skipwith in July 2019, Whitehouse said. ‘I made a contribution to the administration and support what this administration is doing,’ Skipwith said, noting that she had originally been nominated last year, prior to the donation. ‘There was no contact.’ ‘Nobody asked, nobody suggested, nobody pointed out that you had not contributed?’ Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) asked at the hearing. ‘You just a spontaneously made that contribution?’ ‘I did,’ Skipwith replied.” [Politico, 9/11/19 (=)]

 

Committee Gives Fish And Wildlife Nominee The Once-Over. According to E&E News, “Aurelia Skipwith fielded questions yesterday about her ethics and responsiveness, but appeared to hold her own during a potentially history-making confirmation hearing to serve as Fish and Wildlife Service director. Skipwith would be the first African-American to head the agency. ‘I love biology and science, and I learned a lot from being in the lab and being in the field,’ Skipwith said, adding that ‘one may have the best intentions and the best available science, but without fair and balanced regulations and laws, one’s future can still be stifled.’ The hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee mostly skated over the surfaces of the Endangered Species Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and other statutes and policies crucial to the Fish and Wildlife Service. On what’s often the hottest topic around, Skipwith appeared to satisfy senators with a brief, unelaborated-on declaration that ‘yes, I believe in climate change, and humans have an impact.’ However, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) told Skipwith he was ‘disappointed’ with her allegedly last-minute and ‘incomplete’ responses to his pre-hearing written questions asked two weeks ago about how she’ll handle potential conflicts of interest. ‘That’s just not acceptable,’ Carper said, ‘and I sincerely hope that it’s not an indication how you respond to future legitimate inquiries.’ Skipwith said she ‘will have to work with the Department of Interior to provide a deeper dive’ on the conflict-of-interest questions, which did not seem to fully satisfy Carper.” [E&E News, 9/12/19 (=)]

 

 

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