Aerial Image
A aerial image from 2011 at top with arrow indicating area in the enlarged middle image. The Middle image reveals likely dry vernal pool habitat. The bottom right image shows the same area with vegetation grown after water collected in the depression around 2005. Ranchers have faced worries about being prosecuted if misbehaving cattle step […]
Horrendous California Fires Probably Great for ‘Endangered’ Braunton’s Milkvetch
The California fires highlighted the bizarre imbalance of the ESA, where infinite value is assigned to protected organisms and infinitesimal value assigned to the life and well-being of millions of people. Too often, these animals and plants are not really ‘endangered’ or ‘threatened’ with extinction. One plant, Braunton’s milk vetch (Astragalus brauntonii), is a nearly […]
Lost forever?
‘Lost forever?’ Rob Gordon Federal regulatory agencies and their allies typically portray themselves as the thin green line guarding against the loss of a particularly unique and imperiled natural resource. Unfortunately, their bar for what is unique and imperiled is so low that just about any bit of habit can usually make the cut and […]
Have you seen this deer?
The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) provides hunters some online images to help in distinguishing endangered deer from deer that may be hunted.
Scientific Integrity and the “recovered” Ute Ladies’- Tresses
By Rob Gordon and David Kreutzer, PhD. The declaration of a successful recovery of an endangered species and the call for its removal from the List of Endangered and Threatened Species should be the occasion for a celebration. On January 6, right before the Trump administration took over, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) proposed just that for […]
Fairy Shrimp Part 1 of 4: Bugs in Billion Dollar Puddles
Disclaimer first: technically, fairy and tadpole shrimp are not ‘true bugs’ – insects belonging to the order Hemiptera, and some of the puddles are known in the business as vernal pools, a seasonal wetlands that fills and dries within the year. Whatever you call these small freshwater crustaceans and their habitat, federal and state government expenditures […]