On June 19, 2018, ESA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) held a Capitol Hill roundtable discussion hosted by Congressmen Rob Wittman (R-VA) and John Sarbanes (D-MD) highlighting science used to inform Chesapeake Bay restoration and management. Bipartisan staffers and policymakers crowded into a conference room on Capitol Hill to hear scientists talk about the USGS’s role in providing and…

ESA Policy News In This Issue: Proposed Alaskan Pebble Mine Could Threaten World’s Largest Salmon Fishery and Wetlands Army Corps of Engineers seeks public comments by June 29. EPA’s Science Advisory Board Holds First Meeting of 2018, Congress Signals Its Support SAB voted to review the EPA’s ‘secret science’ proposed rule. Congress House Appropriations Committee passed Interior spending bill, hear…

ESA Policy News In This Issue: Appropriations Bills Include Increased Funding for NSF, DOE and USDA, Cuts to NOAA The House and Senate Appropriations Committees begin to roll-out FY 2019 budget bills. Interior Actions: Migratory Bird Treaty Act Enforcement Undermined by Recent Opinion Interior Department reinterprets the century-old Migratory Bird Treaty Act so that only intentional killing of birds is…

ESA Policy News In This Issue: Proposed EPA Scientific Integrity Rule Will Undermine Scientific Integrity Scientific community opposes effort to limit the EPA’s use of science in decision-making. Congress Appropriations subcommittees release funding bills, House passes hydropower bill to reverse salmon and steelhead protections and legislative updates. Executive Branch White House proposes budget recissions, National Science Board meeting, changes to how…

By Ellen Stuart-Haëntjens, Ph.D. candidate, Virginia Commonwealth University Federally funded scientific research stimulates the economy, improves human health, bolsters national security and builds an educated workforce. In the United States the bulk of this funding comes through agencies like the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Health (NIH); however, since the 1980s, the percentage of US gross…

Wednesday April 25, 2018 For Immediate Release The Ecological Society of America is concerned with reports that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a rule that would require all data from scientific studies be made public and be reproducible. Over the past 50 years the EPA has worked to protect public health and welfare by enforcing the Clean Air…

ESA Policy News In This Issue: 2018 Graduate Student Policy Award Hill Day Ten graduate students visit Washington, DC to meet with their members of Congress and advocate for science funding. Farm Bill Advances Farm bill moves out of House Committee. Ballast Discharge Bill Fails Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell attempted to include a provision on ballast water in unrelated…

ESA Policy News In This Issue: UN-administered IPBES Identifies Impact of Land Degradation on Climate Change Concludes that land degradation, caused by human activities, is a significant driver of climate change and biodiversity loss. EPA Talking Points Memo to Staff Downplays Climate Change Coordinated strategy to discredit climate science. Quick Reads USGS director confirmed, National Park Service removes mentions of human’s…

ESAFrontiers study reviews the global importance of vertebrate pollinators for plant reproduction Bees are not the only animals that carry pollen from flower to flower. Species with backbones, among them bats, birds, mice, and even lizards, also serve as pollinators. Although less familiar as flower visitors than insect pollinators, vertebrate pollinators are more likely to have co-evolved tight relationships of…

ESA Policy News In This Issue: ESA Selects Graduate Student Policy Award Winners Ten students receive the 2018 Katherine S. McCarter Graduate Student Policy Award Congress Completes FY 2018 Appropriations with Passage of Massive Spending Bill Omnibus rejects the president’s proposed cuts to science, provides largest increase to research spending in almost a decade EPA Administrator Pruitt Raises HONEST Act…

  The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is pleased to announce the winners of this year’s Katherine S. McCarter Graduate Student Policy Award (GSPA). This award provides graduate students with the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C. for policy experience and training. Ten recipients were selected for this year’s award: Aaron W. Baumgardner (California State University, Bakersfield), Stephen R. Elser…

Action Alert: Ask your Members of Congress to restore funding for science Dear ESA Member: As you may know, President Trump’s Fiscal Year 2019 (FY19) budget request sent to Congress would flat-fund or cut research accounts at several federal agencies for America’s scientific enterprise. There is a realistic opportunity to achieve budget increases for scientific research because Congress came to a…