"The cactus ferruginous pygmy-owls that inhabit Arizona are sticking the Fish and Wildlife Service with a pretty big problem."

"On Oct. 4, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that 25 animals were not warranted for listing under the Endangered Species Act. Nineteen of those species — ranging from a sooty-colored woodpecker that hunts beetles in burned forests, to tiny snails found only in a few isolated springs in the Great Basin desert — live in the West."

"It took extreme measures to save the zoo’s last survivors from one of the world’s most dangerous war zones."

"A federal agency faces a deadline this week to decide whether the iconic Pacific walrus will join the polar bear on the threatened species list."

"The Interior Department said Thursday it is withdrawing protections for 10 million acres of federal lands used by the threatened sage grouse to open it up for energy development."

"The plan — tied into the Republican tax overhaul — assumes $1 billion in revenue, likely to come from oil leases in the pristine Alaska wilderness area."

"The Trump administration will seek to reconsider an Obama-era blueprint for protecting the greater sage grouse, a move that could lead to new mineral leasing, grazing and other commercial activities across the quirky bird’s Western habitat."

"The Trump administration has proposed a $10 million reduction to the government’s wild horse management program, a cut that advocates fear will place the horses in jeopardy of wholesale destruction."

"According to a CDC study, up to 75 percent of the contiguous United States may provide suitable conditions for several species of disease-spreading mosquitoes."

"Environmentalists won a major battle this week in a long legal war over the Clinton administration rule that limited road construction and logging in national forests."