Conservation News ~ May 13 2018

• Center for Biological Diversity sues to protect the San Joaquin Valley giant flower-loving fly: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2018/san-joaquin-valley-giant-flower-loving-fly-05-11-2018.php
• Black Rhinos roam Chad for the first time in 46 years: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/11/science/rhinos-africa-extinction.html
• California is turning farms into carbon-sucking factories: https://grist.org/article/california-is-turning-farms-into-carbon-sucking-factories/
• King County, Wa sues big oil companies for downplaying global warming: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/king-county-sues-big-oil-companies-for-downplaying-global-warming/
• Male and female wolverines documented in the Wind River Range for the first time in more than 100 years: http://trib.com/lifestyles/recreation/male-and-female-wolverines-documented-in-the-wind-river-range/article_2e2cf7e2-a347-5fc0-a0e1-8b731be02514.html
• Bats have hung around for 33 million years: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-belgium-fossils-bats/bats-have-hung-around-for-33-million-years-fossil-shows-idUSKBN1IA2JB
• Origin of Chytrid plague causing ongoing ‘amphibian extinction crisis’ discovered: https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/amphibian-extinction-plague-frog-crisis-origin-discovered-a8345731.html
• ICCN Ranger Rachel Katumwa is first female ranger of Virunga National Park to be slain in duty: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/12/wildlife-ranger-killed-trying-protect-kidnapped-britons/
• Colombia’s supreme court order government to stop Amazon deforestation: https://news.mongabay.com/2018/05/colombias-supreme-court-orders-government-to-stop-amazon-deforestation/
• One-third of Australia’s threatened species are not monitored: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/04/one-third-of-australias-threatened-species-are-not-monitored
• 490,000 pounds of toxic pesticides sprayed on National Wildlife Refuges: https://www.ecowatch.com/toxic-pesticides-national-wildlife-refuges-2567651475.html
• Costa Rica is planning to abolish all fossil fuels: https://www.ecowatch.com/toxic-pesticides-national-wildlife-refuges-2567651475.html
• Rare whooping cranes hatch at Florida wildlife refuge: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article210719714.html
• To native birds’ benefit, conservationists declare South Georgia clear of invasive rodents for first time: https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2018/05/11/to-native-birds-benefit-conservationists-declare-south-georgia-clear-of-invasive-rodents-for-first-time-in-more-than-200-years/
• Six new peeping frogs discovered in western Mexico: https://news.mongabay.com/2018/05/six-new-peeping-frogs-discovered-in-western-mexico/
• New species of shrew discovered on a single mountaintop in Philippines: https://news.mongabay.com/2018/05/new-species-of-shrew-discovered-on-a-single-mountaintop-in-the-philippines/
• California’s Governor Brown issues Executive Order to protect communities from wildfires: https://www.gov.ca.gov/2018/05/10/governor-brown-issues-executive-order-to-protect-communities-from-wildfire-climate-impacts/
• Banff National Park snail remains threatened: https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/banff-bather-accused-of-threatening-endangered-snail-1.2143489
• White House cancels NASA program on greenhouse gas: https://www.afp.com/en/news/23/white-house-cancels-nasa-program-greenhouse-gas-report-doc-14r7ar3
• Whale shark makes record-setting swim: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05018-y
• In victory for Standing Rock Sioux tribe, court finds that approval of Dakota Access Pipeline violates law: https://hoax-alert.leadstories.com/3469365-fake-news-in-victory-for-standing-rock-sioux-tribe-court-finds-that-approval-of-dakota-access-pipeli.html
• Marine Protected Areas offer no protection from climate change: https://www.newsdeeply.com/oceans/articles/2018/05/07/report-marine-protected-areas-offer-no-protection-from-climate-change
• Record number of killer whales sighted in Monterey Bay: https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/05/07/record-number-of-killer-whales-sighted-on-monterey-bay/
• Wolves in northern California aren’t just loping around, they’re there to stay: https://www.sfchronicle.com/science/article/Wolves-in-Northern-California-aren-t-just-12898718.php
• In blow to Monsanto, India’s top court upholds decision that seeds cannot be patented: https://www.ecowatch.com/monsanto-india-cotton-patent-2566752905.html
• Anti-pipeline activists in Virginia face fines for protesting on their own land: https://thinkprogress.org/virginia-pipeline-protest-fines-doctors-91819308e26e/
• Melbourne’s water supply at risk due to collapse of forests caused by logging: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/01/melbournes-water-supply-at-risk-due-to-collapse-of-forests-caused-by-logging
• Conservation deal preserves one of SLO County’s most scenic ranches: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/environment/article210664689.html
• Alberta naturalist Charlie Russell dies at 76: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/charlie-russell-alberta-bear-expert-dies-1.4653404
• Weedkiller products more toxic than their active ingredient, tests show: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/may/08/weedkiller-tests-monsanto-health-dangers-active-ingredient
• Pangolins on the brink as African-China trafficking persists unabashed: https://news.mongabay.com/2018/05/pangolins-on-the-brink-as-africa-china-trafficking-persists-unabated/
• Deep sea explorers stumble upon a creature they can hardly believe is real: http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/deep-sea-explorers-stumble-upon-creature-they-can-hardly-believe-real/
• Hawaii becomes first state in the US to ban the pesticide Chlorpyrifos: https://www.ecowatch.com/hawaii-ban-pesticides-chlorpyrifos-2565244742.html
• Fourth aide leaves EPA: http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/386295-overnight-energy-fourth-aide-departs-epa-interior-prohibits-staff
• New Interior guidance prohibits telling developers ESA permits aren’t mandatory: http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/386278-interior-guidance-disallows-employees-from-telling-builders-they
• Clemson’s Dr. Patrick McMillan discover three new fern species: http://www.phytoneuron.net/2018Phytoneuron/21PhytoN-SCFerns.pdf
• EPA will now classify burning wood as carbon neutral, baffling scientists: https://mashable.com/2018/04/24/pruitt-approves-bioenergy-carbon-neutral-fuel-but-its-not/
• People who understand evolution are more likely to accept it: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/people-who-understand-evolution-are-more-likely-to-accept-it1/
• Left alone toddler is eaten by leopard in Uganda’s national park: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/05/08/leopard-grabs-kills-toddler-uganda-national-park/590022002/
• Skade’s slug is a new species of jumping slug discovered in Idaho’s mountains: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2018/may/02/skades-slug-new-species-named-for-wildlife-biologi/
• California to become first US state mandating solar on new houses: https://www.ocregister.com/2018/05/04/california-to-become-first-u-s-state-mandating-solar-on-new-homes/
• WHO: 7 million people a year die from air pollution: http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/385781-who-7-million-people-a-year-die-from-air-pollution
• Mexico City officially bans dolphinariums: https://www.peta.org/blog/mexico-city-officially-bans-dolphinariums/
• Actors were paid to attend New Orleans city council meetings supporting power plant: https://thinkprogress.org/actors-new-orleans-energy-plant-43dd430035e7/
• The Bering Sea’s ice has never melted this early before: https://grist.org/article/the-bering-seas-ice-has-never-melted-this-early-before/
• Large oil spill reported on Montana Reservation, contaminating pond: https://www.ecowatch.com/oil-spill-montana-reservation-2565496283.html
• California’s economy, with the strictest environmental regs, passes UK’s to become world’s fifth biggest: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/may/04/california-economy-uk-fifth-largest
• Congo wants to open oil exploration in protected parks which are home to endangered mountain gorillas: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/drc-congo-oil-national-parks-gorillas-virunga-salonga-endangered-special-mountain-a8336286.html
• Long Beach bans Styrofoam: https://www.presstelegram.com/2018/04/18/long-beach-bans-single-use-foam-containers-for-restaurants-food-providers/
• Feds to remove Mountain Goats from Olympic Peninsula: https://www.fseee.org/2018/05/04/feds-to-remove-mountain-goats-from-olympic-peninsula/
• Landowner aims to bring wolves back to Scotland: https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/05/03/607700542/landowner-aims-to-bring-wolves-back-to-scotland-centuries-after-they-were-wiped
• It was 122.4  this week in Pakistan, probably a world record for April: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/04/world/asia/pakistan-heat-record.html​