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united states fish and wildlife service

Biden-era lizard threat to Permian Basin nixed under Trump

(The Center Square) – Another Biden administration attempt to halt oil and gas development in Texas has failed, this time U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Endangered Species Act designation of the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard. The USFWS listed the lizard as endangered in May 2024 despite Texas and New Mexico

House approves 2026 Farm Bill, which would bypass 2015 'Cottonwood Decision'

WASHINGTON D.C., – The U.S. House of Representatives voted 224-200 to pass the Farm, Food and National Security Act of 2026, known as the Farm Bill. Included in the bill is an act reducing oversight of the U.S. Forest Service by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Reforming recovery: PERC leader urges ESA update as rare bipartisan consensus emerges in Senate hearing

Brian Yablonski, the CEO of Bozeman-based conservation group Property and Environment Research Center, served as the majority witness in a March Senate hearing on ways to update the Endangered Species Act. The Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife hearing marked an increasingly rare moment

Record low number of threatened species get new protections under Trump, zero in second term

President Donald Trump’s administration listed fewer vulnerable species for protection than any other presidential administration since Congress passed the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Trump’s first term added 22 species to the 1,700-species list. So far in his second term,

As fire season bears down, fractured federal wildland fire service complicates efforts

As fire season bears down, fractured federal wildland fire service complicates efforts

This story originally appeared in Mountain Journal. Last week, a panel of Montana state officials asked their federal colleagues how plans for this summer’s wildfire season are shaping up. The responses they got left many in the room frustrated. “Everybody has lots of serious questions about this new Wildland

Humbug Spires: Butte's climbing and hiking destination

South of Butte in the western reaches of the Highland Mountain range, the Humbug Spires rise to a height of more than 600 feet above the landscape’s trees and boulders. These rock formations are part of an igneous or granitic intrusion. Magma rose from the depths, intruding into the

Raptor survey takes flight in the Bridgers

Raptor survey takes flight in the Bridgers

Every morning for the next two months, Isabel Masi, Oskar Robinson and Emily Quillen will hike to a concrete helipad perched high on the ridge of the Bridger Mountains to clock in for work. Their job? Counting migrating raptors as part of a decades-long effort to monitor their populations.