Wildlife

BLM Lets Ranchers Renew Grazing Permits With Little Environmental Scrutiny

"With dwindling oversight, cattle are grazing where they’re not supposed to and in greater numbers or for longer periods than permitted. This can spread invasive plants, pushing out native species and worsening wildfire risk."

Source: ProPublica/HCN, 12/02/2025

Orphans and Zombies — Reporting on Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells Across the Country

For more than a century, oil and gas companies have been drilling — and abandoning — wells across the country, leaving hundreds of thousands to potentially leak pollutants into the air, water and soil. Climate and environment reporter Martha Pskowski looks at how funding and regulatory issues are impacting efforts to identify and plug these wells, and offers resources for drilling into their story.

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"We Can Now Track Individual Monarch Butterflies. It’s a Revelation."

"For the first time, scientists are tracking the migration of monarch butterflies across much of North America, actively monitoring individual insects on journeys from as far away as Ontario all the way to their overwintering colonies in central Mexico."

Source: NYTimes, 11/25/2025

Texas ‘Ghost Deer’ Suspect Facility Tests Positive For Wasting Disease

"Two captive whitetails tied to the Texas “ghost deer” investigation tested positive for chronic wasting disease at a Tom Green County facility owned by breeder Ken Schlaudt, according to records obtained by Public Domain."

Source: Public Domain, 11/25/2025

"Bird Flu Patient Dies, Marking Second U.S. Fatality In 2025"

"A Washington resident who was the first human case of bird flu in the U.S. since February died on Friday, state health officials said. The person was an older adult with underlying conditions and had been hospitalized since early November with a strain that was previously reported in animals but never before in humans."

Source: Washington Post, 11/24/2025

Makah Tribe’s Treaty-Protected Whaling Rights Remain Blocked 2+ Decades Later

"Despite the Makah Tribe’s success in getting a waiver to carry out their exclusive treaty right for whaling, the permitting process that had dragged on for over 20 years has now been effectively delayed  another year and a half – because of bogged-down federal bureaucracy. The Makah Tribe is the only one in the Lower 48 that has an exclusive treaty right to whaling."

Source: ICT, 11/21/2025

Trump FWS Seeks To Roll Back Protections For Imperiled Species And Habitat

"President Donald Trump’s administration moved Wednesday to roll back protections for imperiled species and the places they live, reviving a suite of changes to Endangered Species Act regulations from the Republican’s first term that were blocked under former Democratic President Joe Biden."

Source: AP, 11/20/2025

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