by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow As appearing in the Daily Sentinel I couldn’t help thinking about my friend, the late Harry Talbott, this week when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) designated nearly 300,000 acres as critical habitat for the yellow-billed cuckoo. Harry was a conservation icon, not only because of [...]
by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow As appearing in the Daily Sentinel The interior least tern almost disappeared from the landscape by the time it was added to the federal endangered species list in 1985. One reason was that they don’t hide their nests, but foolishly build them right out on open beaches, [...]
by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow As appearing in the Daily Sentinel When is natural evolution acceptable? Should we generally let nature take its course, or stage an intervention? Apparently, one’s answer depends on one’s political agenda. When Northern gray wolves migrate into Rocky Mountain wolves’ turf, that’s OK, nature taking its course. [...]
by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow As appearing in the Daily Sentinel In 1998 the government added “Preble’s Meadow Jumping Mouse” to the endangered species list, a decision that has cost Front Range communities millions. The state argued that this “subspecies” is no different than ordinary field mice everywhere. A respected geneticist at [...]
by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow As appearing in the Daily Sentinel One of the great objectives of conservation is to restore a more natural condition to our environment, to erase the ravages of mankind’s mistakes, and put things back the way they were. I am a strong advocate for environmental restoration, and [...]
by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow As appearing in the Daily Sentinel When the U.S. Supreme Court decided the case of the dusky gopher frog in 2018, it attracted press coverage around the world, because of two details that fascinated observers everywhere. One was the frog itself, a cute little thing smaller than [...]
by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow As appearing in the Daily Sentinel Most of us grew up in a time when a person’s word was his bond, and deal was a deal. That’s still mostly true today, but not always. Some situations are more complicated, but shouldn’t be. In our “modern” era, a [...]
by E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow Greg Walcher As appearing in The Daily Sentinel In the 1957 Dr. Seuss classic, when the Grinch steals everything needed for the Who-ville Christmas celebration, the final insult is the tree. "And he stuffed all the food up the chimney with glee, and now, grinned the Grinch, I'll stuff [...]
by Greg Walcher, Senior Policy Fellow As Appearing in The Daily Sentinel Consensus on natural resources issues is elusive, often because the real agenda is not agreed upon. For me, there have been a number of "ah-ha moments," a realization that there are hidden agendas in play. Many of those moments have come during debates [...]
by Greg Walcher, Senior Policy Fellow As Appearing in The Daily Sentinel Folks who worry about the loss of threatened and endangered species should be relieved to know that Congress is finally considering an entirely new approach — creating a new federal fund, and a new committee. A bipartisan group led by Reps. Debbie Dingell [...]
