441184
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Biden admin is taking steps to eliminate protections for gray wolves
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The Biden administration is taking steps to eliminate protections for gray wolves BY MATTHEW BROWN September 13, 2024 BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Biden administration on Friday asked an appeals court to revive a Trump-era rule that lifted remaining Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the U.S. If successful, the move would put the predators under state oversight nationwide and open the door for hunting to resume in the Great Lakes region after it was halted two years ago under court order. Environmentalists had successfully sued when protections for wolves were lifted in former President Donald Trump’s final days in office. Friday’s filing with the 9th U.S. District Court of Appeals was President Joe Biden administration’s first explicit step to revive that rule. Protections will remain in place pending the court’s decision. The court filing follows years of political acrimony as wolves have repopulated some areas of the western U.S., sometimes attacking livestock and eating deer, elk and other big game. Environmental groups want that expansion to continue since wolves still occupy only a fraction of their historic range. Attempts to lift or reduce protections for wolves date to the first term of former President George W. Bush more than two decades ago and have continued with each subsequent administration. They once roamed most of North America but were widely decimated by the mid-1900s in government-sponsored trapping and poisoning campaigns. Gray wolves were granted federal protections in 1974. Each time the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declares them recovered, the agency is challenged in court. Wolves in different parts of the U.S. lost and regained protections multiple times in recent years. “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is focused on a concept of recovery that allows wolves to thrive on the landscape while respecting those who work and live in places that support them,” agency spokesperson Vanessa Kauffman said. The administration is on the same side in the case as livestock and hunting groups, the National Rifle Association and Republican-led Utah. opposed by the Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, Humane Society of the United States and other groups. “While wolves are protected, they do very well, and when they lose protections, that recovery backslides,” said Collette Adkins with the Center for Biological Diversity. “We won for good reason at the district court.” She said she was “saddened” officials were trying to reinstate the Trump administration’s rule. Efforts to restore wolves to date have been limited to a handful of regions. Federal officials earlier this year agreed to develop a first-ever national recovery plan, by December 2025, under a settlement in a separate lawsuit. Kauffman declined to say whether that national plan would still be pursued if the government prevails in the 9th Circuit case. But attorneys suggested in Friday’s court filing that the government is ready to move on from gray wolf recovery, now that the species is no longer in danger of extinction. “The ESA (Endangered Species Act) is clear: its goal is to prevent extinction, not to restore species to their pre-western settlement numbers and range,” U.S. Department of Justice attorneys wrote. The 2022 ruling that restored protections said wildlife officials had failed to show wolf populations could be sustained in the Midwest and portions of the West. Officials also didn’t adequately consider threats to wolves outside those core areas, said U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in California. The Great Lakes region has more than 4,000 wolves. More than 2,000 wolves occupy states in the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest. Congress circumvented the courts in 2011 and stripped federal safeguards in the northern U.S. Rocky Mountains. Thousands of wolves have since been killed in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. Lawmakers have continued to press for state control in the western Great Lakes region. When those states gained jurisdiction over wolves briefly under the Trump rule, trappers and hunters using hounds blew past harvest goals in Wisconsin and killed almost twice as many as planned. Michigan and Minnesota have previously held hunts but not in recent years. Wolves are present but no public hunting is allowed in states including Washington, Oregon, California and Colorado. They’ve never been protected in Alaska, where tens of thousands of the animals live. The Biden administration last year rejected requests from conservation groups to restore protections for gray wolves across the northern Rockies. That decision, too, has been challenged. State lawmakers in that region, which includes Yellowstone National Park and vast areas of wilderness, are intent on culling more wolf packs. But federal officials determined the predators were not in danger of being wiped out entirely under the states’ loosened hunting rules. The U.S. also is home to small, struggling populations of red wolves in the mid- Atlantic region and Mexican wolves in the Southwest. Those populations are both protected as endangered. by Taboola |
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[441191] [441188] [441193] [441206] [441239] [441241] [441190]
441191
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: How Biden's politics are failing endangered species in Delaware
URL: https://www.yahoo.com/news/biden-administrations-politics-failing-endangered-080510135.html
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Opinion This is how the Biden administration's politics are failing endangered species in Delaware Stephanie Kurose July 20, 2023 "Extinction isn’t inevitable, it’s a political choice. Fifty years ago, a near-unanimous Congress, including then-Sen. Joe Biden, and President Richard Nixon enacted the Endangered Species Act, the most comprehensive effort by any nation to stop and reverse the extinction trend ravaging so many of our country’s wild animals and plants. This law’s extraordinary track record — 99% of the species in its care are still with us today — has been due in large part to the suite of regulations enacted in the 1970s and 1980s that implement every aspect of the law. While not perfect, they worked extremely well for decades. But in 2019 the Trump administration took a wrecking ball to the law, enacting sweeping rollbacks of the most important regulations. The Trump administration proudly acknowledged that the changes were designed to make it easier for special interests to harm endangered species. The rollbacks made it more difficult to list species and address the most important challenge of our time: climate change. The Biden administration’s latest proposal, released in June, shows it plans to stand by the anti-conservation, pro-fossil fuel and pro-industry changes that Trump used to weaken the Endangered Species Act. New turtle hatchlings head for the water during a field tour celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act Friday, July 7, 2023. The tour was hosted by NOAA and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Craig Bailey/FLORIDA TODAY via USA TODAY NETWORK Of the 38 Trump-era changes to the Act’s regulations, the Biden administration only proposes to fix seven. Many of the worst Trump rollbacks will remain on the books, continuing to wreak havoc on our most imperiled animals and plants and the places they depend on to survive. For example, the Biden administration kept a provision of the Trump regulations that puts critical habitat for threatened and endangered species at grave risk. It severely limits federal agencies’ implementation of habitat protections, putting protections in play only if an action jeopardizes a plant or animal’s habitat “as a whole.” This is particularly harmful for wide-ranging species like the red knot, shorebirds whose migration path includes Delaware beaches, and the Atlantic sturgeon, who spawns in the Delaware River and lives in Delaware Bay. These habitat protection limits mean sea turtles, piping plovers and other imperiled wildlife will be subjected to death by a thousand cuts. More: U.S. states with the most and least endangered species Biden also wants to keep a Trump-era provision making it easier to deny protecting a species’ habitat in the first place, even though struggling plants and animals with designated critical habitat are more than twice as likely to start recovering than species without it. This would significantly set back recovery efforts for animals like the northern long-eared bat. The bats are being decimated by white-nose syndrome, but also suffer from ongoing threats of habitat loss and conversion. But perhaps one of the most insidious provisions the Biden administration wants to keep — though in a slightly modified form — is a vague definition of “foreseeable future.” This will make it harder to protect species threatened by climate change by allowing the administration to ignore the best available climate science when deciding whether to list plants and animals under the Act. It also allows the administration to claim alleged scientific uncertainty to deny protections for climate-impacted species. The president should know better. He voted for the Endangered Species Act in 1973 and has seen how well it has worked over the last 50 years. Thanks to the act, he has seen the recovery of the Delmarva fox squirrel in Maryland and Delaware. There’s still time for Biden to change course. And there’s still time to weigh in during a public comment period that ends Aug. 21. Confronting the dual crises of climate change and extinction, stemming the loss of biodiversity and restoring natural ecosystems require the Biden administration to be bolder and more visionary than past administrations. Biden needs to completely reverse the harmful acts of the Trump administration and reform the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, implementing new, ambitious regulatory safeguards that strengthen the Endangered Species Act. He must make the right political choice to save life on Earth. Stephanie Kurose is a senior endangered species policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity. This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Joe Biden's policies fail endangered species in Delaware, U.S. |
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441188
From: ryan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Biden admin is taking steps to eliminate protections for gray...
URL: https://www.npr.org/2024/03/28/1241467876/threatened-species-protections-restored
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hmmm...that article, even though more recent, doesn't align with this one...need more info... Biden administration restores threatened species protections dropped by Trump March 28, 20244:16 PM ET By The Associated Press BILLINGS, Mont. — The Biden administration on Thursday restored rules to protect imperiled plants and animals that had been rolled back under former President Donald Trump. Among the changes, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will reinstate a decades-old regulation that mandates blanket protections for species newly classified as threatened. That means officials won't have to craft time-intensive plans to shield each individual species while protections are pending, as has been done recently with North American wolverines in the Rocky Mountains, alligator snapping turtles in the southeastern U.S. and spotted owls in California. The restoration of more protective regulations rankled Republicans who said the Endangered Species Act was being wielded too broadly and to the detriment of economic growth. Meanwhile, wildlife advocates were only partially satisfied, saying some potentially harmful changes under Trump were untouched. The blanket protections rule had been dropped in 2019 as part of a suite of changes to the application of the species law under Trump that were encouraged by industry. Those changes came as extinctions accelerate globally due to habitat loss and other pressures. Another rule Thursday said officials will not consider economic impacts when deciding if animals and plants need protection. The rules from the wildlife service and National Marine Fisheries Service make it easier to designate areas as critical for a species' survival, even if it is no longer found in those locations. Species that could benefit from the rules include imperiled fish and freshwater mussels in the Southeast, where the aquatic animals in many cases are absent from portions of their historical range, officials have said. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams said in a statement that the rule changes underscored the agency's commitment to using the best available science to halt population declines as "climate change, degraded and fragmented habitat, invasive species, and wildlife disease" threaten many species. Details on the rules were obtained by The Associated Press in advance of their public release. Officials said almost a half-million public comments were submitted on the three rules. Environmentalists see a "marginal win" Environmentalists expressed frustration that it took years for Democratic President Joe Biden to act on some of the Trump-era rollbacks. Stoking their urgency is the prospect of a new Republican administration following the 2024 election that could yet again ease protections. Jamie Rappaport Clark, a former Fish and Wildlife Service director and now president at Defenders of Wildlife, characterized Thursday's announcement as a "marginal win" that restores essential protections for wildlife, but leaves in place some of the changes made in 2019 under Trump. The environmental group said the retained provisions would open the door to the destruction of habitat critical for some species to survive. The rules have gotten strong pushback from Republican lawmakers, who say Biden's Democratic administration has hampered oil, gas and coal development, and favors conservation over development. Republican lawmakers call the Endangered Species Act outdated "We know the Endangered Species Act is an outdated piece of legislation that has repeatedly failed its primary goal of recovering listed species, yet Biden is now undoing crucial reforms and issuing new regulations that will not benefit listed species," said House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman, a Republican from Arkansas. Many energy companies, ranchers, developers and representatives of other industries have long viewed the 1973 Endangered Species Act as an impediment. Under Trump, they successfully lobbied to weaken the law's regulations as part of a broad dismantling of environmental safeguards. Trump officials also rolled back endangered species rules and protections for the northern spotted owl, gray wolves and other species. The spotted owl decision was reversed in 2021 after officials said Trump's political appointees used faulty science to justify opening millions of acres of West Coast forest to potential logging. Protections for wolves across most of the U.S. were restored by a federal court in 2021. The Endangered Species Act is credited with helping save the bald eagle, California condor and scores more animals and plants from extinction since President Richard Nixon signed it into law. It currently protects more than 1,600 species in the United States and its territories. |
441193
From: Jeff/Lake Almanor,CA, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Biden admin is taking steps to eliminate protections for gray...
| Found this in the Sierra Daily News, a few days ago. |
441206
From: ryan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Biden admin is taking steps to eliminate protections for gray...
| just seems strange that a few months ago they restored what rump took away, and now they are taking the protections away again... |
441239
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Biden admin is taking steps to eliminate protections for gray...
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yeah, it's so weird for Biden to have fucked up policies. To do the opposite of what he claims he passionately supports. |
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[441241]
441241
From: shadow, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Biden admin is taking steps to eliminate protections for gray...
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Yeah...right...what an entirely unredeemablly nasty fucked- up scoundrel he is, eh? Not fit for a bird to shit on. It'd be such a shock to find something, you know, positive that he ever did, right? *eyeroll* That's quite the Pile of Ghastly Bad you've tenderly gathered there, akira... What'll you do with it all? |
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441190
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Biden admin is taking steps to eliminate protections for gray...
URL: https://www.npr.org/2021/08/20/1029854797/biden-gray-wolves-endangered-species-protections-hunting
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easy enough. But you'll find a way to rationalize it, as that seems to be your nature now. NPR, AUGUST 20, 2021 By The Associated Press Biden Backs The End Of Protections For Wolves. But Worries About Hunting Grow FARIBAULT, Minn. — President Joe Biden's administration is sticking by the decision under former President Donald Trump to lift protections for gray wolves across most of the U.S. But a top federal wildlife official on Friday told The Associated Press there is growing concern over aggressive wolf hunting seasons adopted for the predators in the western Great Lakes and northern Rocky Mountains." ddgo search: https://apnews.com › article › gray-wolves-protections-biden-trump- 81084b1bba499d444950f8294880c524 The Biden administration is taking steps to eliminate protections for ... 1 day agoBILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Biden administration on Friday asked an appeals court to revive a Trump-era rule that lifted remaining Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the U.S.. If successful, the move would put the predators under state oversight nationwide and open the door for hunting to resume in the Great Lakes region after it was halted two years ago under court order. https://abcnews.go.com › US › wireStory › biden-administration-taking-steps- eliminate-protections-gray-wolves-113677965 The Biden administration is taking steps to eliminate protections for ... 1 day agoThe Biden administration has asked an appeals court to revive a Trump-era rule that lifted remaining Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the U.S. If successful, the move would ... Videos for Biden administration wants to life endangered species act protections for gray wolves 1:56 Trump administration lifts endangered species protection for wolves 1.3K views YouTube3yr 3:53 Gray wolves taken off U.S. endangered species list in controversial move National Geographic 3yr 1:14 Lawsuits pile up over endangered species decisions made by Trump administration ABC News 3yr Trump administration removes gray wolves from federal Endangered Species… statesmanjournal.com 15yr Biden administration moves to restore endangered species protections droppe… pbs.org 1yr 1:46 By the Numbers: Judge restores protections for gray wolves in US ABC News 2yr 1:49 Biden to sign executive order protecting old-growth forests on federal lands ABC News 2yr This is how the Biden administration's politics are failing endangered species in Delaware delawareonline.com 1yr 0:22 Biden signs executive order to create Office of Environmental Justice Microsoft News 1yr 2:53 Most U.S. wolves are listed as endangered—again. Here's why. National Geographic 2yr More Videos More Videos Are these links helpful?YesNo https://ktvz.com › news › wildlife › 2024 › 09 › 13 › the-biden-administration- is-taking-steps-to-eliminate-protections-for-gray-wolves The Biden administration is taking steps to eliminate protections for ... 1 day agoAssociated Press BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Biden administration on Friday asked an appeals court to revive a Trump-era rule that lifted remaining Endangered Species Act protections for gray ... https://www.ctvnews.ca › climate-and-environment › the-biden- administration-is-taking-steps-to-eliminate-protections-for-gray-wolves- 1.7037813 Biden administration to eliminate protections for gray wolves - CTV News 1 day agoThe Biden administration on Friday asked an appeals court to revive a Trump-era rule that lifted remaining Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the U.S. https://www.npr.org › 2021 › 08 › 20 › 1029854797 › biden-gray-wolves- endangered-species-protections-hunting Biden Stands By Decision To Lift Protections For Gray Wolves : NPR Aug 20, 2021President Biden is standing by a Trump decision to lift endangered species protections for gray wolves across most of the U.S. But aggressive, partisan state policies on hunting are concerning many. https://www.npr.org › 2021 › 09 › 15 › 1037347160 › hunting-wolves- endangered-tribes-us-protection Biden Administration Says Wolves May Need Protections After States ... Sep 15, 2021Groups representing dozens of U.S. tribes are among those to ask the U.S. to place wolves back on the endangered species list. Here, a gray wolf is shown at the Wildlife Science Center in Forest ... https://www.smithsonianmag.com › smart-news › gray-wolves-headed-back- to-the-endangered-species-list-180979575 Judge Restores Federal Protections for Gray Wolves in 44 States In late 2020, the Trump administration removed gray wolves from the endangered list and stripped their legal protections, citing "the successful recovery of the gray wolf.". The decision was ... https://www.wpr.org › news › u-s-house-passes-bill-to-remove-gray-wolves- from-endangered-species-list US House passes bill to remove gray wolves from endangered species list May 1, 2024Dawn Villella/AP Photo. Lawmakers in the U.S. House have passed a Republican bill that would remove gray wolves from the endangered species list across most of the country despite opposition from the Biden administration. The House voted 209-205 to pass the bill introduced by Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert and co-sponsored by Wisconsin ... https://fox11online.com › news › state › court-asked-to-lift-protections-for- gray-wolves-allowing-hunting-in-great-lakes-region-biden-administration- trump-endangered-species-act-environmentalists-sierra-club-wisconsin- minnesota-michigan-trappers-hunters Court asked to lift protections for gray wolves, allowing hunting in ... 1 day agoBILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - The Biden administration on Friday asked an appeals court to revive a Trump-era rule that lifted remaining Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the U.S. https://www.boston25news.com › news › national › biden-administration › WZGUGTGJ6VGAHBMF4ESGQK4PAU The Biden administration is taking steps to eliminate protections for ... 1 day agoThe Biden administration has asked an appeals court to revive a Trump-era rule that lifted remaining Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the U.S. If successful, the move would put the predators under states' oversight and would allow hunting in the Great Lakes region, which had been suspended by a court order |
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