"The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will close its flagship, but deteriorating research site in Maryland as part of a major reorganization aiming to shift 2600 employees away from the nation’s capital area, the agency announced this week. At the same time, USDA said it plans to shutter most of its forest research stations around the country. "

"The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is opening crucial gorilla habitats and pristine forests to bids for oil and gas drilling, with plans to carve up more than half the country into fossil fuel blocks."

"Federal wildlife officials approved a plan last year to protect northern spotted owls by shooting other owls, but it has faced pushback from animal rights advocates and lawmakers — including conservatives. Now lawmakers could kill the plan."

"More than 170 countries have gathered to save critical ecosystems. But the U.S. is a no-show and Russia said it will withdraw from the wetlands treaty." 

"Tyler Hassen, a former Texas oil executive from Elon Musk’s government efficiency team who was given sweeping powers to overhaul the Department of the Interior, is leaving the agency, he confirmed on Friday."

"The Interior Department is expanding its targets for layoffs to include more than 1,400 “competitive areas” — an increase of hundreds of categories since its first notice this spring — including new units within the Bureau of Reclamation, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, and Office of the Secretary, according to an internal document."

"Endangered aquatic species remain vulnerable nearly a year after the storm moved through Appalachia and the lower Midwest."

"The restoration of gray wolves in Yellowstone National Park has helped revive an aspen tree population unique to the region, a new study has found."

"If you were a miner in California during the Gold Rush, you might have dined on a California red-legged frog."

"Decades of work that has steered grizzly bears away from extinction in the Greater Yellowstone region could be lost if House Republicans succeed in weakening the powerful law that protects them. Progress by the iconic bruins under the Endangered Species Act is not yet enough to keep them safe, in the eyes of environmental advocates."