Environmental Lawyer Second in Charge at BLM
Tuesday Mar 2nd, 2021 The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently announced that Nada Wolff Culver, a Colorado environmental attorney, was appointed as deputy director of policy and programs, a position previously held by William Pendley Perry.
The deputy director of policy and programs is the second position in the line of succession behind the BLM director and leads the bureau in the director’s absence.
Culver most recently served as the vice president of public lands and senior policy counsel at the National Audubon Society in Denver. Before joining Audubon, Culver was the senior counsel and senior director for policy and planning at The Wilderness Society.
For Immediate Release, February 22, 2021
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Court Upholds Protection for California’s Western Joshua Trees
Judge Rejects Effort to Strip State Endangered Species Act Safeguards
FRESNO,
Calif. A Fresno County Superior Court judge has rejected an effort by construction and real estate interests, along with the city of Hesperia, to strip away legal protections that currently apply to the imperiled western Joshua tree.
“This is a critical victory for these beautiful trees and their fragile desert ecosystem,” said Brendan Cummings, the Center for Biological Diversity’s conservation director and a Joshua Tree resident. “If Joshua trees are to survive the inhospitable climate we’re giving them, the most important thing we must do is protect their habitat, and this decision ensures recent protections will remain in place.”
California may have reached its breaking point when it comes to the amount of money it has had to spend in fighting wildfires.
Especially when it comes to the lack of funding to prevent those wildfires â leading to that much costlier scenario of fighting the wildfires in the long run.
The state realized its worst wildfire year ever in 2020 with estimates that as much as $3 billion was spent to fight wildfires in the state. It s also estimated the negative economic impact on the state when it comes to the wildfires will be as much as $10 billion.
So it s expected when the State Legislature begins the new year on January 11 it and Governor Gavin Newsom will finally take serious action when it comes to wildfire prevention and mitigation. A coalition representing numerous organizations recently took action to make sure that happens.
Billions of dollars spent on fighting California wildfires, but little on prevention [Los Angeles Times :: BC-CALIF-WILDFIRES-PREVENTION:LA]
LOS ANGELES When COVID-19 blew a hole in California’s spending plans last spring, one of the things state budget-cutters took an ax to was wildfire prevention.
A $100 million pilot project to outfit older homes with fire-resistant materials was dropped. Another $165 million earmarked for community protection and wildland fuel-reduction fell to less than $10 million.
A few months later, the August siege of dry lightning turned 2020 into a record-shattering wildfire year. The state’s emergency firefighting costs are expected to hit $1.3 billion, pushing the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s total spending this fiscal year to more than $3 billion.
Gene Lyons: No easy answers for fire-weary western ranchers havasunews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from havasunews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.