conservation
Congressional farm leaders split over work requirements for food aid, climate funds
WASHINGTON — Three of the four top agricultural leaders in Congress are emphasizing writing a farm bill that meets the needs of all rural Americans, but they diverge sharply over food assistance work requirements pushed by U.S. House Republicans as well as uses of Inflation Reduction Act conservation funds. Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, […]
Clash over climate change funding emerging in farm bill debate
WASHINGTON — As lawmakers begin envisioning the next farm bill, some U.S. House Republicans are wary of making climate change a priority for farmers and ranchers. The pushback from Republicans at a Tuesday hearing came as the Biden administration has tried to make significant new investments in climate change mitigation on farmland, last week […]
Bipartisan bill would invest in the future of America’s great wildlife legacy
Congress is on the verge of passing a bipartisan bill called the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, which would transform conservation funding by sending an additional $1.4 billion a year to state and tribal wildlife-habitat conservation programs to shore up the 12,000 mostly non-game species that states have already identified as being at risk. First introduced […]
Farm bill season arrives: What’s the outlook for 2023?
WASHINGTON — Over the course of the next year, lawmakers on the U.S. House and Senate Agriculture committees will draft a new federal farm bill that will shape food, farm, conservation and nutrition programs across the country for the next five years. The omnibus law that began 90 years ago as crop supports now has an impact far beyond the farm, with programs to create wildlife habitat, address climate change and run the nation’s largest federal nutrition program.
Is cutting down a tree for Christmas bad for the environment?
Christmas is a time for celebrating the season and a time for cutting down trees – and that holiday tradition sometimes leads to discussions about what’s best for the environment: Is it greener to buy a real tree or a fake tree, or abstain altogether? University of New Hampshire forest resources specialist Steven Roberge explained […]
Billions targeted to state wildlife conservation under bipartisan push in Congress
A bipartisan pair of senators on Wednesday called for Congress to approve billions in new funding for states to manage wildlife recovery work. At a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Sens. Martin Heinrich, (D-N.M.), and Roy Blunt, (R-Mo.), said a bill they introduced this year would help protect 1,600 threatened species, […]
U.S. Senate to vote on GOP-opposed conservation advocate as public lands chief
The U.S. Senate is set to vote as soon as Thursday on the nomination of Tracy Stone-Manning, a conservation advocate and former top aide to Montana Democrats, to lead the Bureau of Land Management, putting the end to her contentious confirmation process in sight. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer filed cloture on Stone-Manning’s nomination, setting […]
Climate crisis is front and center as U.S. House panel debates how to better conserve public lands
In a preview of the arguments likely to be repeated as the Biden administration and Congress work toward conservation goals, Democrats on a U.S. House panel Tuesday outlined what they say is a need for aggressive action on climate. But Republicans worried increased federal involvement would be counterproductive to conservation goals while hurting rural economies. […]
Editorial: Save Hofmann Forest
This morning’s lead editorial in Raleigh’s News & Observer gets it right in critiquing N.C. State’s proposal to sell tens of thousands of acres of forest in eastern North Carolina to developers. While crediting the university with scaling back its original plan to sell of the whole thing for bulldozing purposes, the editorial rightfully notes […]
NC’s environment: Great 2013/’14 round-up; Clean water at risk
This morning’s NC League of Conservation Voters news update contains a link to a very helpful and informative blog post on environmental policy by a former DENR official, who’s now out on her own. The post is entitled “Environmental Policy in N.C. : Looking back at 2013 and forward to 2014.” The League’s update also […]
Conservation Network blasts assault on state’s environment
Lest you think the ongoing conversion of Jordan Lake into a sewer was the only environmental disaster in the works as the result of the 2013 legislative session, check out this sobering statement from N.C. Conservation Network E.D. Brian Buzby: “A new crowd of extreme lawmakers in Raleigh is betraying North Carolina’s natural heritage and jeopardizing our future. In […]
Conservation advocates: “We will hold lawmakers accountable”
Dan Crawford of the N.C. League of Conservation Voters distributed the following statement this morning: RALEIGH, N.C. – In anticipation of the NC General Assembly’s return on January 30, an analysis of the 2012 Conservation Legislative Scorecard reveals a disturbing trend in regard to the new leadership and the environment. The scorecard published by NC League of […]