Wildlife

 

This Map Shows Where Biodiversity Is Most At Risk In America. According to The New York Times, “It’s the most detailed map of its kind so far. Animals like the black-footed ferret and California condor are represented, but so are groups often left out of such analyses: species of bees, butterflies, fish, mussels, crayfish and flowering plants. Not included are gray wolves, grizzly bears and other wildlife not at risk of global extinction. Maps like these offer a valuable tool to officials and conservationists who are scrambling to protect biodiversity. That work is critical, because scientists say humans are speeding extinction at a disastrous pace. ‘There are hundreds of species known to be globally critically imperiled or imperiled in this country that have no protection under federal law and often no protection under state law,’ said Healy Hamilton, chief scientist at NatureServe, a nonprofit conservation research group that led the analysis behind the map. By highlighting areas where land is permanently protected for biodiversity, in green below, you can see where the habitats of imperiled species are outside of conservation zones. Right now, about 13 percent of the United States is permanently protected and managed primarily for biodiversity, according to the United States Geological Survey. The Biden administration wants to increase that to 30 percent. It’s part of a larger global push, known as 30x30, to safeguard at least 30 percent of the planet’s land and waters by 2030. The analysis found that the habitats of hundreds of imperiled species were entirely outside of the green areas above.” [The New York Times, 3/3/22 (+)]

 

Mont. Governor Bags Criticism Along With A Mountain Lion. According to Politico, “Montana’s Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte is again drawing fire in some circles for a hunting trip, this time involving a perfectly legal outing that resulted in the death of a collared mountain lion outside Yellowstone National Park. Citing in part anonymous sources, The Washington Post first reported that Gianforte shot and killed the mountain lion that was being monitored by National Park Service staff, after hunting dogs had chased it up a tree. Last year, Gianforte trapped and killed a gray wolf that was wearing a radio collar and being monitored by Yellowstone scientists. The mountain lion hunt occurred Dec. 28 on Forest Service land southwest of Emigrant, Mont., the Post reported. A spokesperson for Gianforte, whose relationship with reporters has occasionally been combative, denounced the Post’s implicitly critical account. ‘The Washington Post did what The Washington Post does: run with unsubstantiated rumors from unnamed sources who weren’t a part of the governor’s hunting party,’ Gianforte’s press secretary Brooke Stroyke told E&E News in a statement. ‘Montanans are all too familiar with that approach.’ The latest hunting episode resonates, though, as it comes in the context of Gianforte and Montana state legislators loosening hunting restrictions and on the governor’s own track record.” [Politico, 3/2/22 (=)]

 

Two U.S. Freshwater Mussels Could Gain Big Critical Habitat. According to Politico, “The Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed designating several hundred river miles from Arkansas to Kansas as critical habitat, along with providing federal protections to two freshwater mussel species. The agency says the western fanshell and the Ouachita fanshell both merit Endangered Species Act protection as threatened species. The proposed critical habitat designation for the western fanshell totals about 360 river miles in Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri, and for the Ouachita fanshell it totals about 294 river miles in Arkansas. ‘We identified water quality degradation, altered flow, landscape changes, and habitat fragmentation, all of which are exacerbated by the effects of climate change, as the primary threats affecting the western fanshell and ‘Ouachita’ fanshell,’ the Fish and Wildlife Service said. The proposed ESA designations, though themselves relatively low profile, mark the latest fallout from a major event in the history of Endangered Species Act implementation. In April 2010, FWS received a petition from groups including the Center for Biological Diversity, Alabama Rivers Alliance, Clinch Coalition, Dogwood Alliance, Gulf Restoration Network and West Virginia Highlands Conservancy to list 404 aquatic, riparian and wetland species (Greenwire, Sept. 26, 2011).” [Politico, 3/2/22 (=)]

 

 

Responses to this email are not monitored.

 

Please email any questions or comments to mitch@beehivedc.com