Short Takes

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) has introduced legislation to protect the nation's most threatened wildlife in response to a recent U.N. report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). The report drew attention to the million species of plants and animals worldwide facing extinction within the next few decades. Representative Grijalva said the bill is intended to respond to the report's call for immediate action to protect sensitive species and their habitats. The "Extinction Prevention Act of 2019" would provide $5 million annually for conservation projects for each of the threatened species groups in the bill, namely North American butterflies, Pacific island plants, freshwater mussels, and Southwest desert fish.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has extended the comment period for a proposal to delist gray wolves from the Endangered Species Act list of protected plants and animals after receiving a record number of comments opposing the proposal. The proposed rule to remove federal protections for gray wolves was published in the Federal Register by USFWS on March 15 citing success in reviving the species first listed as endangered decades ago.

Source: Public Policy Reports - May 28, 2019 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news