"The dusky gopher frog's long legal journey isn't over yet. The Supreme Court today remanded a closely watched dispute over the federal government's power to designate certain critical habitat for the rare Southern amphibian."
Insects are disappearing. "What does it mean for the rest of life on Earth?"
"A leafy little tunnel runs through the undergrowth along the Black River in the Seattle suburb of Renton: an otter trail. It’s in hidey-holes like this that river otters leave detailed evidence of human misdeeds. Just downstream, in the Duwamish River, droppings left by river otters reveal toxic PCBs and other industrial waste."
A freelancer’s coverage of the international wildlife trade won one of the Society of Environmental Journalists’ top journalism awards this year for its combination of “fearless reporting and graceful writing.” SEJournal Online talks with award-winner Rachel Nuwer about the series, the benefits of field reporting and the project’s challenges, such as securing funding, all in the latest Inside Story Q&A. And good news for Inside Story fans — the quarterly feature is now upping its frequency to bi-monthly!
"Rapidly growing numbers of cases of chronic wasting disease are appearing on deer and elk farms and hunting ranches in Wisconsin at the same time the state has pulled back on rules and procedures designed to limit the spread of the fatal brain disease among its captive and wild deer."
"Many hunters are ditching traditional ammunition amid mounting evidence that it harms scavengers and pollutes the food people eat."
"Central African mountain gorillas came off the “critically endangered” species list on Thursday following a rare and dramatic recovery in numbers in the past decade."
Bears, particularly the plentiful black bears that are the source of much human-bear conflict, can serve as a opening to larger environmental stories, such as habitat destruction and the challenges of the “wildland-urban interface.” This week’s TipSheet has some of the good news/bad news on bears, with story ideas and resources for your reporting.
"The Bureau of Land Management is moving forward with plans to work around a federal court order and offer tens of thousands of acres of greater sage grouse habitat in planned oil and gas lease sales early next year."
"The Republican-controlled House passed a bill Friday to drop legal protections for gray wolves across the lower 48 states, reopening a lengthy battle over the predator species."
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