Latest Biodiversity News
Vegas water agency asks lawmakers to ban ornamental grass
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Las Vegas water officials want state lawmakers to require the removal of thirsty grass landscaping that isn’t used for recreation. Southern Nevada Water Authority lobbyist Andy Belanger told lawmakers Monday that climate change and growth in...
Judge rejects agency's pullback of effort to protect minnow
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to consider anew whether a type of minnow that lives in the lower Colorado River's watershed should receive federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. The ruling Wednesday by...
Advocates sue to protect monarchs, Northern spotted owls
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Wildlife advocates sued federal officials Thursday in a bid for greater protections for monarch butterflies, northern spotted owls and eight other species inching toward possible extinction. The move comes after federal officials have said the...
Groups urge pressure on Mexico to save tiny vaquita porpoise
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Environmental groups called Thursday for an international ban on trade in a range of Mexican seafood and wildlife, seeking to force Mexico to do more to save the vaquita marina porpoise, the world’s most endangered marine mammal. The United States...
Judge: US agency illegally paid for Colorado predator hunt
DENVER (AP) — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service illegally helped pay for a Colorado program to kill dozens of mountain lions and black bears in an experiment to determine if the predators were partly responsible for declining mule deer populations, a federal judge has ruled. ...
Scientists: Grizzlies expand turf but still need protection
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Grizzly bears are slowly expanding the turf where they roam in parts of the northern Rocky Mountains but need continued protections, according to government scientists who concluded that no other areas of the country would be suitable for reintroducing the fearsome...
Arizona university scientists propose lunar Earth repository
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Natural underground caverns on the moon could be used to store frozen samples of Earth’s species in order to protect biodiversity in the event of global catastrophe, according to a University of Arizona scientist and his students. Jekan Thanga, a...
Washington state hatchery to rely on native steelhead trout
INDEX, Wash. (AP) — A fish hatchery in Washington state has said it will stop importing steelhead trout from the Columbia River and instead rely on native fish. State Department of Fish and Wildlife project coordinator Jim Scott said using fish from the region helps...
Volunteers mobilize to clean Israel's tar-coated beaches
PALMACHIM BEACH, Israel (AP) — A small Israeli task force scoured the sands of a nature reserve along Israel's Mediterranean coast Monday, taking part in a widening effort to clean up a disastrous oil spill that has blackened most of the country's shoreline and reached beaches of...
1st clone of US endangered species, a ferret, announced
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Scientists have cloned the first U.S. endangered species, a black-footed ferret duplicated from the genes of an animal that died over 30 years ago. The slinky predator named Elizabeth Ann, born Dec. 10 and announced Thursday, is cute as a button....
