Road access through Izembek wilderness

Tom Oates
1 February 2018
Front Ecol Environ, 16 (1): 6

The Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska's smallest refuge, is once again facing pressure from local road advocates. King Cove, a city situated in Alaska's Aleutian archipelago and known for its deep‐water harbor, is home to 1000 people and Peter Pan Seafood, the state's largest salmon cannery, employing 500. The refuge isolates them from the nearby, all‐weather airport at Cold Bay. Both maritime and air travel through King Cove can be delayed by harsh conditions, sometimes for days, and there is no connecting road.
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Invasive species: Senate-passed bill advances bipartisan agenda

Tom Oates
1 September 2017
Front Ecol Environ, 15 (7): 352

The Wildlife Innovation and Longevity Driver (WILD) Act passed the Senate on June 8, by unanimous consent – a notable benchmark. Introduced by Senator John Barrasso (R–WY), chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, the Act would reauthorize the domestic Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program and several multinational species conservation funds. Importantly, it would also address management of invasive species on federal lands. Invasive species can alter habitat and imperil more than four in ten US endangered species through competition and other threats.
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Tribal conservation plans upended

Tom Oates
1 August 2017
Front Ecol Environ, 15 (6): 284

In the last year of the Obama administration, Native American tribes took on unprecedented new roles in developing and implementing management plans for resources and species on lands beyond their direct control. Beginning with the adoption of a proposed sage‐grouse management plan in September 2015, and continuing through the proclamation for the establishment of Bears Ears National Monument and the executive order on Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience in December 2016, regional‐ and ecosystem‐level federal management plans were being shaped in consultation with tribal nations and communities.
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New climate policy vs endangerment finding

Tom Oates
1 June 2017
Front Ecol Environ, 15 (5): 228

President Trump's executive order of March 28, “Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth”, was anticipated as a major statement of the administration's climate‐change policies. Indeed, it directly and immediately revoked Obama administration executive orders and memoranda on national security and climate‐change preparedness and spells out a sharply pro‐fossil‐fuel energy policy. Yet the order leaves aside the status of the “endangerment finding”.
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New House rule eases transfer of federal lands

Tom Oates
2 May 2017
Front Ecol Environ, 15 (4): 176

On the first day of the 115th Congress, the US House of Representatives adopted a package of rules that will help guide its actions for the coming 2‐year term. This is the normal order of business. The US Constitution directs that the House and Senate will each adopt its own rules independently, without review by the other.
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