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Former Monsanto Executive Picked by Trump to Lead Wildlife Agency

President Donald Trump said he will nominate a former Monsanto executive to head the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

Aurelia Skipwith, who Western Values Project Executive Director Chris Saeger called "a darling of corporate special interests," worked at the agribusiness giant for more than six years. She has since worked at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of the Interior (DOI).

A biologist and lawyer by training, Skipwith has been at the DOI since April 2017 overseeing policy and regulations at FWS and the National Park Service.

She said she shared Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's goals to "protect our species, increase public access and ensure science is at the forefront of our decisions" in a statement reported by the Associated Press.

If she is confirmed by the Senate, she would be the first African American woman to run FWS.

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Aurelia Skipwith

DOI

During her time at Monsanto, Skipwith spent six years as a research team leader developing new agricultural products and then did a stint in corporate affairs, The Guardian reported. Monsanto polled as one of the 20 most hated companies in American in 2018, though its infamous name will soon die as part of a merger with Bayer this year.

FWS has been without an official head since Trump took office. Greg Sheehan, who served as deputy director for 14 months before stepping down in August, could not serve as acting director because he lacked a science degree, the Associated Press reported.

Under his lead, FWS has moved forward with policies that have worried environmentalists and animal lovers, including:

Weakening the Endangered Species Act: A massive DOI proposal included a provision removing the "blanket rule" giving threatened species the same protections as endangered species.

Reversing the ban on imported elephant trophies: Last November, FWS undid an Obama-era ban on importing the remains of elephants killed legally in Zambia and Zimbabwe back into the U.S.

Allowing bee-killing pesticides in national wildlife refuges: In August, FWS lifted another Obama-era ban on the use of genetically modified crops and certain pesticides in national wildlife refuges. Some of the newly-allowed pesticides are made by Monsanto, The Guardian pointed out.

The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) told The Guardian it was unlikely that Skipwith would improve the situation, calling her "utterly unqualified" because she had no training in either wildlife management or fisheries.

"Aurelia Skipwith has been working in the Trump administration all along to end protections for billions of migratory birds, gut endangered species safeguards and eviscerate national monuments," CBD government affairs director Brett Hartl said.

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<div><a href="https://departmentofinfluence.org/person/greg-sheehan/">https://departmentofinfluence.org/person/greg-sheehan/</a></div>

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<h4 style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: 31.2px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Deputy Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service</h4>

Greg Sheehan is serving in the “newly created position” of “deputy director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,” and will “serve as acting head of the agency until a director is named and confirmed.” Sheehan is “primarily… responsible for protecting imperiled species and enforcing hunting and fishing regulations.”<span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; font-weight: bolder;">

Greg Sheehan “grew up in Utah,” and went to Utah State University where he got his undergraduate degree in business administration and finance. After college, Sheehan “worked with the Air Force as a civilian” for six years where he “correct[ed] inefficiencies in cost and pricing between the Air Force and major Defense Department contractors.” Sheehan then served in “Utah’s wildlife division for more than two decades,” most recently serving as the director of Utah’s Division of Wildlife Resources. Sheehan is also “a lifelong hunter, angler, and aspiring wildlife photographer.”

Sources: [Corbin Hiar, “<a href="https://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2017/06/05/stories/1060055563" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Zinke picks Utah official to be FWS deputy director</a>,” Energy & Environment, 06/05/17, “<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/wireStory/utah-official-named-acting-head-us-fish-wildlife-47850884" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Utah official named acting head of US Fish and Wildlife</a>,” Associated Press, 06/05/17, JaNae Francis, “Layton man new Utah DWR director,” Standard-Examiner, 11/25/12, and Department of the Interior, <a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/secretary-ryan-zinke-appoints-utahs-greg-sheehan-deputy-director-us-fish-and-wildlife" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Press Release</a>, 06/05/17]

Background Information

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<a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/secretary-ryan-zinke-appoints-utahs-greg-sheehan-deputy-director-us-fish-and-wildlife" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">U.S. Air Force</a>

Greg Sheehan opposed the reintroduction of Mexican wolves into Utah when he was Director of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR)<span style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; font-weight: bolder; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">.

While he was Director of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR), Greg Sheehan opposed reintroduction of Mexican wolves, “one of the most critically endangered mammals on Earth,” into their historic range in Utah. Sheehan said that bringing Mexican wolves into Utah was “‘just not really a very sound approach to recovery planning on a highly endangered species'” because Utah was a “‘new region where they didn’t evolve in the first place.'” Wildlife advocates said that “refusing the Mexican wolf’s entry” in Utah was “taking a ‘selfish’ approach” and that there were only “a few swaths of public land large enough for management of a long-ranging species like wolves are left.”

[House Natural Resources Democrats, <a href="https://democrats-naturalresources.house.gov/media/press-releases/grijalva-on-trumps-mexican-wolf-announcement-this-decision-and-building-the-border-wall-ensure-mexican-wolves-extinction" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Press Release</a>, 06/29/17, Brian Maffly, “<a href="http://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=5458639&itype=CMSID" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Conservationists blast long-awaited recovery plan for Mexican wolves, which excludes Utah, Colorado from lobos’ range</a>,” Salt Lake Tribune, 06/29/17, Morgan Jacobsen, “<a href="https://www.ksl.com/?sid=38127954&nid=148&title=wildlife-advocates-hold-rally-in-utah-to-save-mexican-gray-wolf&s_cid=queue-8" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Wildlife Advocates Hold Rally in Utah to Save Mexican Gray Wolf</a>,” KSL, 01/14/16, and “<a href="http://www.standard.net/Environment/2016/01/14/Conservationists-howl-for-Mexican-wolf-protection-in-Utah" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Conservationists howl for Mexican wolf protection in Utah</a>,” Standard-Examiner, 01/14/16]

When Greg Sheehan was Director of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, DWR was criticized for accepting a $1 million check from Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife (SFW) and for giving SFW preference over other groups as a permit distributor.

Although on their website Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife (SFW) brags that they are “dedicated to the perpetuation of wildlife,” that that they are “passionate about hunting,” SFW has “ties to energy interests.” Founded by Don Peay, “one of former President George W. Bush’s top fundraisers,” SFW has defied “mainstream sportsmen groups by not opposing the Bush administration’s oil and gas policies on public lands.”

[“<a href="https://sfw.net/about/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">About SFW</a>,” Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, accessed 08/10/17 and Matt Lee-Ashley, “<a href="https://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/IndustryInfluenceReport.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Oil and Gas Industry Investments in the National Rifle Association and Safari Club International: Reshaping American Energy, Land, and Wildlife Policy</a>,” Center for American Progress, 04/14]

In 2012, while Sheehan was Director of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, the Executive Board of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife “presented the Utah DWR Director, Greg Sheehan, and the Utah Wildlife Board a check for $1,071,284.58.” After the December 2012 donation, some observed that “money and political clout often give the impression that SFW and not the DWR is in charge of wildlife in Utah.”

[“<a href="http://sfw.net/2012/12/05/sfw-donates-1-million-dollars-to-the-dwr/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">SFW Donates $1 Million Dollars to the DWR</a>,” Sportsmen for Fish & Wildlife, 12/05/12, and and Tom Wharton, “<a href="http://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=56012807&itype=CMSID" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Wharton: Sportsmen for Fish & Wildlife about wrong kind of bucks</a>,” Salt Lake Tribune, 03/21/13]

Also under Greg Sheehan’s leadership as Director of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, the DWR came “under fire” for a December 2015 decision when they “approved a wildlife conservation group, Sportsman for Fish and Wildlife, as a permit distributor for a hunting expo that [took] place in Salt Lake City every year.” DWR had the option to choose the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, which pledged to donate “100 percent of the proceeds from the hunting tags, back to Utah Conservation Efforts,” as the permit distributor, but instead they chose SFW, even though SFW “only designated 30% of the tag proceeds to conservation efforts. The decision created a firestorm amongst Utah outdoorsmen” who “accus[ed] the DWR… of corruption, catering to special interests and accepting bribes from Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife.”

[Chris Miller, “<a href="http://kutv.com/news/local/allegations-of-corruption-surround-utah-hungtin-and-conservation-expo" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Allegations of corruption surround Utah Hunting and Conservation Expo</a>,” KUTV, 02/26/16]

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Greg Sheehan is a member of Safari Club International, an anti-environmental hunting group that has contributed “to the killing of lions, African elephants and other endangered species.”

Greg Sheehan is a member of Safari Club International, an organization that claims it is “the leader in protecting the freedom to hunt and in promoting wildlife conservation worldwide,” but that animal protection advocates have said is “behind the killings of tens of thousands of animals, ‘including those on the brink of extinction.’” Competitions run by SCI “contribute to the killing of lions, African elephants and other endangered species.” SCI has also had “strategic partnerships” with the oil and gas industry and has supported a variety of anti-environmental legislation.

[<a href="https://www.safariclub.org/what-we-do/freedom-to-hunt/first-for-hunters-blog/first-for-hunters/2017/06/08/gregory-sheehan-appointed-deputy-director-of-the-u.s.-fish-and-wildlife-service" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Press Release</a>, Safari Club International, 06/08/17; “<a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sci-foundation-in-major-setback-for-anti-hunting-efforts-fws-rejects-attempts-to-stop-lion-hunting-711588233.html" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">SCI Foundation: In Major Setback for Anti-Hunting Efforts; FWS Rejects Attempts to Stop Lion Hunting</a>,” PR Newswire, 10/27/14; Kate Gibson, “<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/safari-club-attacked-for-incentives-to-kill-rare-animals/" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Safari Club attacked for incentives to kill rare animals</a>,” CBS; 09/30/15, Matt Lee-Ashley, “<a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/reports/2014/04/29/88712/oil-and-gas-industry-investments-in-the-national-rifle-association-and-safari-club-international/" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Oil and Gas Industry Investments in the National Rifle Association and Safari Club International: Reshaping American Energy, Land, and Wildlife Policy</a>,” Center for American Progress, 04/14; Ben Long, “Beware of Wolves,” Tucson Weekly, 09/29/11, Dale Sunderlin, “Young hunters score big,” Star Beacon, 11/28/11, Elizabeth Miller, “Hunting for conservation: Legislation aims for hunting access, but would destroy wildlife populations,” Boulder Weekly, 10/11/12, and Talasi Brooks and Kevin Proescholdt, “<a href="https://www.hcn.org/wotr/safari-club-and-the-nra-aim-to-gut-wilderness" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Safari Club and the NRA aim to gut wilderness</a>,” High Country News, 06/21/12]

In November 2017, Greg Sheehan, at a Safari Club International event, announced that the elephant trophy import ban had been lifted, a decision that SCI applauded. President Trump quickly reversed the lifting of the ban. Then, on March 1, 2018, just weeks after he attended the 2018 Safari Club International Convention, Sheehan issued a memo saying that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would assess elephant trophy imports “on a ‘case-by-case basis.'”

In November 2017, Greg Sheehan announced the reversal of an Obama-era policy, saying that now “the remains of elephants legally hunted in Zimbabwe and Zambia can now be imported to the United States as trophies.” Sheehan announced the lifting of the ban during the African Wildlife Consultative Forum in Tanzania, which was co-hosted by the Safari Club International Foundation. Safari Club International “broke the news of the rule change a day ahead of Fish and Wildlife.” While Safari Club International applauded the decision, the lifting of the ban “faced backlash from both conservatives and liberals.”

[Darryl Fears and Juliet Eilperin, “<a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-trump-elephant-hunt-trophies-20171116-story.html" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Trump administration reverses ban on importing trophies from elephant hunts in two African nations</a>,” Washington Post, 11/16/17; Chris D’Angelo, “<a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ryan-zinke-safari-club_us_5a15c2dee4b025f8e93338bb" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Group Lobbying To End Trophy Hunting Ban Is Alarmingly Close With Ryan Zinke</a>,” Huffington Post, 11/23/17; <a href="https://www.safariclub.org/detail/news/2017/11/14/u.s.-now-allows-elephants-from-zimbabwe-zambia-to-be-imported" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Press Release</a>, Safari Club International, 11/14/17; Emily Cochrane, “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/17/us/politics/trump-elephant-trophy-ban.html" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">For Now, Trump to Keep Ban on Importing Elephant Trophies</a>,” New York Times, 11/17/17]

However, President Trump reversed Sheehan’s the lifting of the ban shortly after in a tweet, announcing that he was putting the decision “on hold,” and “called elephant hunting a ‘horror show.'”

[Emily Cochrane, “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/17/us/politics/trump-elephant-trophy-ban.html" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">For Now, Trump to Keep Ban on Importing Elephant Trophies</a>,” New York Times, 11/17/17; Anne Gearan, “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/11/19/trump-calls-elephant-hunting-a-horror-show-and-suggests-hell-enforce-a-ban-on-trophy-imports/?utm_term=.a42c2d39b7f5" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Trump calls elephant hunting a ‘horror show’ and suggests he’ll enforce a ban on trophy imports</a>,” Washington Post,  11/19/17]

On March 1, 2018, Greg Sheehan issued a memo withdrawing “previous rulings on trophy hunting” that said that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service “would allow sport hunters to receive permits for the trophy items on a ‘case-by-case basis.'”

[Eli Rosenberg, “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2018/03/06/trump-called-elephant-hunts-a-horror-show-his-administration-just-lifted-a-trophy-hunting-ban/?utm_term=.b5a8ddf54b84" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Trump administration quietly makes it legal to bring elephant parts to the U.S. as trophies</a>,” Washington Post, 03/06/18]

Sheehan’s March 1st memo came just weeks after he attended the Safari Club International Convention in Las Vegas in February 2018. At the convention, he met “with delegates from Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia and South Africa.”

[Miranda Green and Timothy Cama, “<a href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/372166-high-ranking-trump-official-attends-trophy-hunting-convention" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">High-ranking Trump official attends hunting convention</a>,” The Hill, 02/03/18]

Greg Sheehan is currently working with Secretary Ryan Zinke’s International Wildlife Conservation Council, which is supposed to advise Secretary Zinke “on the benefits that international recreational hunting has on foreign wildlife and habitat conservation, anti-poaching and illegal wildlife trafficking programs.” Of the 16 members on the International Wildlife Conservation Council, “at least 10 have an affiliation with Safari Club International.”

On November 8, 2017, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced the creation of “the International Wildlife Conservation Council,” which will “focus on increased public awareness domestically regarding conservation, wildlife law enforcement, and economic benefits that result from U.S. citizens traveling abroad to hunt” and will “advise the Secretary of the Interior on the benefits that international recreational hunting has on foreign wildlife and habitat conservation, anti-poaching and illegal wildlife trafficking programs, and other ways in which international hunting benefits human populations in these areas.” The panel will be “stocked with up to 18 unpaid members” and “will examine issues from ‘recommending removal of barriers to the importation’ of legally hunted wildlife to reviewing the Endangered Species Act’s foreign listed species and streamlining import permits.”

[Department of Interior, <a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/secretary-zinke-announces-creation-international-wildlife-conservation-council" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Press Release</a>, 11/08/17 and Michael Doyle, “<a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060066017" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Zinke launches panel to promote international hunting</a>,” Greenwire, 11/08/17]

Greg Sheehan, in the Federal Register on March 2, 2018, announced the first public meeting of the International Wildlife Conservation Council, scheduled to take place on March 16, 2018. Greg Sheehan also spoke to the group at its first meeting.

[<a href="https://departmentofinfluence.org/person/greg-sheehan/International%20Wildlife%20Conservation%20Council%3B%20Public%20Meeting" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">International Wildlife Conservation Council; Public Meeting</a>, Federal Register, 03/03/18; Miranda C. Green, “<a href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/378859-controversial-trump-hunting-group-meets-for-first-time" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Controversial Trump hunting group meets for first time</a>,” The Hill, 03/16/18]

Of the 16 members on the International Wildlife Conservation Council, “at least 10 have an affiliation with Safari Club International,” including Paul Babaz, President of Safari Club International and Peter Horn, ex-Vice President of Safari Club International, and Bill Brewster, a lobbyist who served on Safari Club International’s board.

[Stephanie Mencimer, “<a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/03/reality-stars-trophy-hunters-and-gun-boosters-meet-the-trump-administrations-wildlife-conservation-council/" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Reality Stars, Trophy Hunters, and Gun Boosters: Meet the Trump Administration’s Wildlife Conservation Council</a>,” Mother Jones, 03/16/18; Michael Biesecker, Jake Pearson, and Jeff Horwitz, “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/trump-wildlife-protection-board-has-many-trophy-hunters/2018/03/16/596f7e86-2929-11e8-a227-fd2b009466bc_story.html?utm_term=.6e8f7c792e6e" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Trump wildlife protection board has many trophy hunters</a>,” Washington Post, 03/16/18]

Greg Sheehan also helped the Independent Petroleum Association of America delay an Endangered Species listing for the Texas hornshell mussel.

On July 11 and 12, 2017, IPAA Director of Government Relations Samantha McDonald emailed Counselor for Energy Policy Vincent DeVito and Deputy Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Greg Sheehan, saying that IPAA “strongly oppose[d] the listing” of the Texas hornshell mussel “under the ESA as endangered, or threatened.” The Fish and Wildlife Service had been scheduled to issue an Endangered Species Act listing decision for the Texas hornshell mussel in August 2017. McDonald told DeVito that IPAA was “really hoping” he could “intervene” before the species was listed. On July 25 and August 1, McDonald sent emails to Sheehan thanking him for “looking into” the Hornshell issue. On August 10, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service delayed “a listing decision on the Texas hornshell for six months.” On August 17, McDonald emailed DeVito and Sheehan, thanking them for the “good call” to delay the decision, and saying that IPAA members were “most grateful.”

[<a href="https://westernvaluesproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/OS-2017-001063-Sage-Grouse-Comms-from-Industry.pdf" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">OS-2017-001063 (Sage Grouse Comms from Industry)</a>, Pages 83-84, 104, 170, 205, 274, Daniel J. Chacón, “<a href="http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/feds-put-off-decision-on-texas-hornshell-s-status/article_de9177a4-284e-5bae-85d7-e3c692f9259d.html" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Feds put off decision on Texas hornshell’s status</a>,” The New Mexican, 08/10/17; Adrian Hedden, “<a href="https://www.currentargus.com/story/news/local/2017/11/26/saving-rare-mussel-could-restore-black-river/876694001/" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Blight on the banks: Officials hope saving a rare mussel could restore the Black River</a>,” Carlsbad Current-Argus, 11/26/17]

Since he began serving in the Trump administration, Greg Sheehan has supported efforts to reform the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Greg Sheehan, in June 2017, said that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sought “‘to improve implementation of the [Endangered Species Act],'” and the Trump “‘administration [was] committed to making the ESA work for the American people.'”

When asked about “five bills targeting portions” of the Endangered Species Act, Sheehan said that “‘in general the administration supports them.'”

In particular, Sheehan supported part of a bill “that would remove current 90-day and 12-month deadlines for making decisions on species listing decisions” and part of another bill “that would require the Fish and Wildlife Service to consider all data submitted by state, local and tribal governments.”

[Chris D’Angelo, “<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/endangered-species-act-republican-attacks_us_596ec8e3e4b0000eb196c579" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Fish And Wildlife Service Backs GOP-Led Bills To Chip Away At Endangered Species Act</a>,” Huffington Post, 07/19/17, and Michael Doyle, “<a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060057613/print" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">FWS backs contentious Republican reform package</a>,” Greenwire, 07/19/17]

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<h4 style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: 31.2px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Financials</h4>

<a href="https://departmentofinfluence.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Gregory-John-Sheehan-Financial-Disclosure.pdf" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Financial Disclosure</a>

Department of the Interior salary: $162,000

[<a href="https://projects.propublica.org/trump-town/staffers/gregory-john-sheehan" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Gregory John Sheehan</a>, ProPublica’s Trump Town, accessed 03/15/18]

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Greg Sheehan belongs to several sportsmen’s and conservation groups, including the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the Intermountain West Joint Venture, and the Council to Advance Hunting and Shooting Sports.

Sportsmen’s group the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation “counts Sheehan as a longtime member.” RMEF “permanently protects crucial elk winter and summer ranges, migration corridors, calving grounds and other vital areas, while focusing on securing and improving hunter access throughout elk country” and conserves land through “acquisitions, access agreements and easements, conservation easements, land and real estate donations, land exchanges and associated acres.”

[Corbin Hiar, “<a href="https://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2017/06/05/stories/1060055563" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Zinke picks Utah official to be FWS deputy director</a>,” Energy & Environment, 06/05/17, and “<a href="http://www.rmef.org/Conservation/HowWeConserve.aspx" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">How We Conserve</a>,” Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, accessed 08/10/17]

Greg Sheehan is on the management board of the “Intermountain West Joint Venture,” a “partnership is comprised of federal agencies, state fish and wildlife agencies, non-governmental organizations, tribes, universities, policymakers, corporations, foundations, and private landowners” that “conduct[s] activities in support of bird conservation goals developed by the partnership.”

[“<a href="https://iwjv.org/management-board" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Management Board</a>,” Intermountain West Joint Venture, accessed 08/10/17, “<a href="https://iwjv.org/who-we-are" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Who We Are</a>,” Intermountain West Joint Venture, accessed 08/10/17, and “<a href="https://iwjv.org/what-we-do" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">What We Do</a>,” Intermountain West Joint Venture, accessed 08/10/17]

Greg Sheehan is a Board Member of the “Council to Advance Hunting and Shooting Sports.” The mission of the Council is the “promotion and growth of hunting and the shooting sports and the education of the public on the contributions that hunters and shooters make towards wildlife conservation.”

[Rich Landers, “<a href="http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/outdoors/2017/jun/05/zinke-taps-utah-wildlife-director-head-us-fish-and-wildlife-service/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Zinke taps Utah wildlife director to head U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service</a>,” Spokesman-Review, 06/05/17, and “<a href="http://www.cahss.org/our-mission/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=" box-sizing: inherit; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; font-style: italic;">Council Mission and Values</a>,” Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports, accessed 08/10/17]

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<div><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bee-killing-pesticides-in-national-wildlife-refuges-2593236939.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/bee-killing-pesticides-in-national-wildlife-refuges-2593236939.html</a></div>

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<div>trump Admin Reverses Ban on 'Bee-Killing' Pesticides in National Wildlife Refuges</div>

The <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="self" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">Trump</a> administration has lifted an Obama-era ban on the use of genetically modified crops and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pesticides" target="self" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">pesticides</a> linked to <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/bees" target="self" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">bee</a> decline in certain national wildlife refuges where farming is allowed, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-wildlife-pesticides/trump-administration-lifts-gmo-crop-ban-for-us-wildlife-refuges-idUSKBN1KP01K" target="blank" style=" text-decoration-line: none;">Reuters reported Saturday</a>.

In a <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/pesticides_reduction/pdfs/2018-8-2-FWS-memo-GMO-Neonics-on-wildlife-refuges.pdf" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration-line: none;">memo</a> signed Aug. 2, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Principal Deputy Director Gregory J. Sheehan said the move was necessary to provide adequate food for waterfowl.

"There may be situations, however, where use of GMO crop seeds is essential to best fulfill the purposes of the refuge and the needs of birds and other <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self" style=" text-decoration-line: none;">wildlife</a>," Sheehan wrote.

Boosting waterfowl populations dovetails with the interests of sportspeople who hunt ducks and other birds, and Interior Secretary <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/ryan-zinke" target="_self" style=" text-decoration-line: none;">Ryan Zinke</a> has made expanding hunting on national lands a priority, Reuters reported.

But environmental groups argue the decision comes at the expense of other species.

"Industrial agriculture has no place on public lands dedicated to conservation of biological diversity and the protection of our most vulnerable species, including pollinators like bumble bees and monarch butterflies. The Trump administration's approval to use toxic pesticides and genetically modified crops is an insult to our national wildlife refuges and the wildlife that rely on them," President and CEO of <a href="https://defenders.org/" target="blank" style=" text-decoration-line: none;">Defenders of Wildlife</a> <a href="https://defenders.org/staff/jamie-rappaport-clark" target="blank" style=" text-decoration-line: none;">J</a>amie Rappaport Clark said in a <a href="https://newsroom.defenders.org/trump-administration-opens-national-wildlife-refuges-to-pollinator-poisons-and-harmful-gmos/" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration-line: none;">statement</a>.

The pesticides in question, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/neonicotinoids" target="self" style=" text-decoration-line: none;">neonicotinoids</a>, have been <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bees-neonicotinoids-ban-europe-2563782231.html" target="self" style=" text-decoration-line: none;">banned in the EU</a> after research linked them to the decline in the populations of bees and other pollinators.

Jim Kurth, head of the refuge system under Obama, announced the ban in 2014, arguing that the use of neonicotinoids led to plants whose tissues harmed "non-target" species. Moreover, he said that "refuges throughout the country successfully meet wildlife management objectives without" genetically modified crops or the pesticides they are engineered to withstand, Reuters reported.

Defenders of Wildlife further noted that the populations of game birds like geese and ducks are currently doing fine without the help of genetically modified crops.

Sheehan, however, has reversed the blanket ban and said that the use of genetically modified crops and neonicotinoids would be considered in the more than 50 farming-friendly refuges on a case-by-case basis.

The move came a day after California's Department of Pesticide Regulation released a <a href="https://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/registration/reevaluation/chemicals/neonicotinoid_risk_determination.pdf" target="blank" style=" text-decoration-line: none;">risk assessment</a> finding that the use of four neonicotinoids on certain crops, including the corn and sorghum often grown in refuges, could cause more harm to pollinators than previously thought, <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2018/pesticides-gmos-national-wildlife-refuges-08-04-2018.php" target="blank" style=" text-decoration-line: none;">The Center for Biological Diversity reported</a>.

"Agricultural pesticides, especially bee-killing neonics, have no place on our national wildlife refuges," senior <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration-line: none;">Center for Biological Diversity</a> attorney Hannah Connor said. "This huge backward step will harm bees and other pollinators already in steep decline simply to appease pesticide-makers and promote mono-culture farming techniques that trigger increased pesticide use. It's senseless and shameful."

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<p lnum="lnum" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" lining-nums="lining-nums" important="important" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-feature-settings: ;"> <a href="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2015/07/cecil-lion-killed-by-trophy-hunter.html?credit=blog_post_051118_idhome-page" target="blank" data-stamped="true" style=" box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color, 0.2s; background-size: 1px 1em; box-shadow: rgb(0, 158, 208) 0px -0.125em inset;">killing of Cecil the Lion </a>gave the world a vivid example of the pain and misery left behind by globe-trotting elites whose primary hobby is killing prized specimens of the most beloved and threatened wild animals on the planet. Today we are turning up the wattage in our campaign against trophy killing by releasing a new report, <a href="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Trophy-Madness-Report.pdf" style=" box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color, 0.2s; background-size: 1px 1em; box-shadow: rgb(0, 158, 208) 0px -0.125em inset;">Trophy Madness</a>, that takes a look at the doings of <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/safari-club-attacked-for-incentives-to-kill-rare-animals/" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color, 0.2s; background-size: 1px 1em; box-shadow: rgb(0, 158, 208) 0px -0.125em inset;">Safari Club International</a>, the Arizona-based group whose awards program drives deplorable, destructive global wildlife-killing activities. In conducting this research, we used SCI’s own record books, in which members record their kills, often accompanied by photographs of them smiling over the animals whose hearts they’ve stopped.

SCI offers its members the opportunity to compete with one another to win nearly 50 awards such as the “Grand Slam Cats of the World” (requiring a hunter to kill four among the African lion, African leopard, African cheetah, wildcat, jaguar, cougar, lynx, and other cat species). There are award categories like this for bears, ringed-horn antelopes of Africa, wild sheep of the world, ibex of the world, moose of the world, and the sorry list just goes on. The contests include everything from killing a certain number of animals on a given continent to using “alternative methods,” such as a handgun or bow and arrow.

To secure a place on the list of individuals who’ve attained the African Big Five Grand Slam, hunters must kill an elephant, rhino, lion, leopard, and Cape buffalo. Over 3,100 of these animals were killed and imported into the United States by trophy hunters in 2014 alone, including 741 lions, 311 leopards, 1,412 Cape buffalo, 671 elephants, and 32 rhinos. Think about these numbers over a 10-year period, or over a 50-year period, and it’s a staggering body count. The top SCI recognition is the World Hunting Award, which requires the hunter to have achieved awards in 30 lower award categories – requiring a dedicated focus to kill animals of particular types across vast portions of the globe.

Trophy Madness takes a look at some of SCI’s most obsessed and driven hunters, the “one percent” of its members who have earned the most heralded prize—the World Hunting Award, commemorated with a ring that looks like a Super Bowl ring, featuring gold, diamond, and onyx. These prolific killers have spent decades and often millions of dollars acquiring their “collections” of body parts. One filed a federal lawsuit against his African hunting safari guide when that individual failed to get “adequate” video footage of his kills. Another ring-wearer has personally killed at least 18 lions. Examining just some of the World Hunting Award winners—and their hunting exploits—offers a telling glimpse into the depths of the “trophy madness” fostered by SCI.

So many trophy hunters go to extraordinary lengths in their mania to secure the awards, or to get the biggest lion or elephant. They will lure animals out of the protected confines of a national park, as Walter Palmer did with Cecil. And they will even kill captive, tame lions. That is the subject of a new documentary, <a href="http://www.bloodlions.org/" style=" box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color, 0.2s; background-size: 1px 1em; box-shadow: rgb(0, 158, 208) 0px -0.125em inset;">Blood Lions</a>, airing on October 7th on MSNBC. This film exposes the greedy and seedy businesses in South Africa that breed lions in captivity only to offer them as trophies for thousands of dollars. This horrendous industry is booming with the help of American hunters: of the 5,647 lions whose parts were imported to the United States as trophies over the past ten years, 1,558 were captive lions. The documentary is not to be missed.

The killing of Cecil gave the world an inkling of the depravity and selfishness of this subculture that threatens to drive wildlife into extinction. Our report throws back the curtain and exposes the whole damn enterprise. They can try to dress up their kills in the language of tradition or sport, and claim that their license fees pay for conservation, but it’s all a smokescreen and a series of self-serving rationalizations. These people leave a trail of innocent victims, rob African nations of wildlife that good-hearted people are happy to capture with a camera or merely get a glimpse of in the wild, and embarrass themselves by this gross misuse of their wealth. Their slaughter of polar bears, lions, elephants, and other rare animals must end.

<a href="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Trophy-Madness-Report.pdf" style=" box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color, 0.2s; background-size: 1px 1em; box-shadow: rgb(0, 158, 208) 0px -0.125em inset;">Read the full report, Trophy Madness »</a>

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<a href="https://www.alternet.org/animal-rights/trump-administration-erodes-protections-endangered-animals-developers-new-attack">https://www.alternet.org/animal-rights/trump-administration-erodes-protections-endangered-animals-developers-new-attack</a>

kitty bock HSUSA

...Now, a new action by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agency puts at further peril endangered and threatened animals in the United States.

The FWS has issued a memorandum prohibiting agency staff from even telling developers when they are required to file for a permit before they begin development projects on properties that could degrade the habitats of endangered and threatened species. According to the <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/interior-warns-staffers-to-keep-mum-about-mandatory-endangered-species-protections_us_5aecee82e4b0ab5c3d65b4f7" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration-line: none;">Huffington Post</a>, the memo, issued last month by the agency's principal deputy director Greg Sheehan, says it's "not appropriate" for staff to tell developers when they need to obtain such a permit—even though it may be required by law in many circumstances.

The situation is pretty simple to understand: the survival of wildlife depends on biologically healthy and intact ecosystems and habitats, and our government should be giving the benefit of the doubt to imperiled species, not to commercial interests. Notification of the requirement to secure a permit is not onerous red tape; it’s a sign of a functional and effective government.

I have written before about Sheehan, who is closely associated with <a data-stamped="true" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/2015/09/report-exposes-safari-club-international-trophy-madness.html?credit=blog_post_051118_idhome-page" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration-line: none;">Safari Club International</a>, a membership club for American trophy hunters. In March, Sheehan greenlighted the lifting of existing bans on the import of elephant and lion trophies from certain African countries and signaled that FWS will approve such imports on a case-by-case basis—a decision that the Humane Society of the United States is challenging in federal court.

Last year the FWS prematurely and unlawfully <a data-stamped="true" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/2018/04/alert-help-us-stop-wyoming-idaho-opening-trophy-hunts-yellowstone-grizzlies.html?credit=blog_post_051118_idhome-page" target="_blank" style=" text-decoration-line: none;">removed ESA protections for grizzly bears</a> in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, leading states in the region to move to open up a trophy hunting season for these great bears.

Pandering to commercial interests and reducing transparency has become an alarming tendency for this administration, especially at the Department of the Interior. These furtive and reckless actions put at risk the beautiful wildlife that we all, as Americans, enjoy, cherish and wish to protect. We’ve got to stand up for wildlife, by standing strong against misguided moves by federal agencies charged with the protection of wild animal species.The FWS has also established an "advisory board" stocked with trophy hunters, giving them a platform to destroy any and all barriers to international trophy hunting and the import of trophy heads and parts by U.S. citizens.

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kitty bock HSUSA

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https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/interior-warns-staffers-to-keep-mum-about-mandatory-endangered-species-protections_us_5aecee82e4b0ab5c3d65b4f7

New guidelines issued by the U.S. Department of the Interior now prohibit staff members from informing private interests when they must obtain a permit before they can develop properties where activities may affect habitats of endangered species.

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A <a href="https://www.fws.gov/endangered/esa-library/pdf/Guidance-on-When-to-Seek-an-Incidental-Take-Permit.pdf" target="_blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:2;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="1" data-v9y="1" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">memorandum issued last month</a> by the Fish and Wildlife Service principal deputy director, Greg Sheehan, declared that it’s “not appropriate” for staff to tell developers when they need to obtain such a permit — even though it may be required by law in many circumstances.

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Under a section of the 1973 <a href="https://www.fws.gov/endangered/laws-policies/" target="_blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:3;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="2" data-v9y="1" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Endangered Species Act</a>, businesses and individuals must request what’s called an “incidental take permit” if they believe their developments could interfere with the habitats of endangered species.

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Sheehan insists in his memo that it’s the “decision of the applicant” whether or not to apply for such a permit. Staff members should not use “mandatory language (e.g., a permit is ‘required’),” the memo warns.

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“The biological, legal, and economic risk assessment regarding whether to seek a permit belongs with the private party determining how to proceed,” Sheehan said.

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Staffers will still be able to provide “critical technical assistance” when it’s requested, according to the memo.

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The memo also appears to sharply limit situations where such permits may be required. That includes only cases “where a non-federal project is likely to result in a ‘take’ of a listed species of fish or wildlife ... habitat modification, in and of itself, does not necessarily constitute take,” according to the memo. That would seem to imply such a decision would rely on the judgment of a private interest with a commercial business at stake.

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Sheehan was the official who announced to trophy hunting lobby group Safari Club International in Tanzania last year that the <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/topic/trump-administration/" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:8;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="4" data-v9y="1" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Trump administration</a> was <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-lift-ban-elephant-trophies_us_5a0cb765e4b0c0b2f2f78878" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:8;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="5" data-v9y="1" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">lifting an Obama-era ban on elephant trophies</a> from two African nations, Zimbabwe and Zambia.  <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/topic/donald-trump" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:8;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="6" data-v9y="1" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Donald Trump</a> later held off on the action, but the ban was officially lifted again on a <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-administration-elephant-trophies_us_5a9e218ee4b0a0ba4ad7376b" target="_blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:8;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="7" data-v9y="1" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">“case-by-case basis”</a> in March.

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He’s considered among the Interior officials “behind the curtain who are really, really changing our public lands and setting a future direction that may or <a href="http://therevelator.org/zinke-aides-under-radar/" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:9;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="8" data-v9y="1" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">may not be consistent with what the law requires</a>,” <a href="http://environment.yale.edu/profile/lyons" target="blank" rel="noopener" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:9;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="9" data-v9y="1" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Jim Lyons</a>, a research scholar at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, told The Revelator.

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Environmental advocates have criticized Sheehan’s newest edict as a way to weaken regulations with the kind of single-handed action that has been a hallmark of the Trump administration. Noah Greenwald of the environmental nonprofit <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:10;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="10" data-v9y="1" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Center for Biological Diversity</a> told The Hill that he believes it will be harder to enforce requirements protecting habitats of endangered species because there will <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/386278-interior-guidance-disallows-employees-from-telling-builders-they" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:10;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="11" data-v9y="1" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">no longer be a record of permit recommendations</a>.

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The memo is the latest erosion of wildlife protections by the Trump administration.

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The administration is also battling blanket safeguards when a species is declared threatened. Under the Endangered Species Act, once a species is listed as threatened, a series of protections <a href="https://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/factsheets/ESA%20SpecialRules%20Factsheet_020714.pdf" target="_blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:12;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="12" data-v9y="1" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">automatically go into effect</a>. Under a proposed new rule, specific protections would be decided on a case by case basis.

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An <a href="https://www.fws.gov/midwest/wolf/esastatus/e-vs-t.htm" target="blank" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:13;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid_p="13" data-v9y="1" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">endangered species</a> is at risk of extinction, while a threatened species is likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future. <a href="https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp0/reports/ad-hoc-species-report?kingdom=V&kingdom=I&status=E&status=T&status=EmE&status=EmT&status=EXPE&status=EXPN&status=SAE&status=SAT&mapstatus=3&fcrithab=on&fstatus=on&fspecrule=on&finvpop=on&fgroup=on&header=Listed+Animals" target="blank" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:13;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid_p="14" data-v9y="1" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Threatened species</a> include such animals as manatees, sea otters, the Guadalupe fur seal, wood bison, the gray wolf, the grizzly, the polar bear and the northern spotted owl. There are more than 300 threatened animal and plant species in the U.S. More than 500 animal species are endangered in the U.S.

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Last month, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke tapped Susan Combs — a rancher and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/04/04/a-fierce-opponent-of-the-endangered-species-act-is-picked-to-oversee-interiors-wildlife-policy/?_twitter_impression=true&utm_term=.3747be3d08d4" target="blank" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:14;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid_p="15" data-v9y="1" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">fierce opponent of the Endangered Species Act</a> with strong ties to the oil industry — to serve as acting secretary for fish, wildlife and parks.

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