January 31, 2017 President Donald J. Trump The White House United States of America   Dear President Trump: The January 27, 2017, White House Executive Order on visas and immigration has profound implications for diplomatic, humanitarian, and national security interests, in part because of the negative impact on US science and engineering capacity. The undersigned organizations — representing a broad spectrum…

Our Society is only as strong as our members. Have you renewed for 2017? We are keeping you up-to-date with a Federal Agency Transition Tracker. Read ESA’s letter to President Trump asking him to protect scientific integrity and independence. In This Issue: “Expedited Environmental Reviews and Approvals” An executive order directs the Council on Environmental Quality to speed review of…

January 25, 2017 President Donald Trump The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, DC 20500   Dear President Trump: I am writing on behalf of the Ecological Society of America (ESA), the nation’s largest society of professional ecologists. As a representative of over 10,000 ecological scientists, we ask you to protect the scientific integrity and independence of federal scientists….

h4 a{color:blue;} .entry-content h4{margin:0; margin-top:6px !important;} Transition Update Senate Confirmation Hearings Wednesday will have a crowded schedule and Trump press conference Jared Kushner Named Senior Advisor Trump son-in-law will have unpaid White House position Congressional Update Public Lands Rules change would designate federal land transfers as cost-free. National Monuments Senate bill would restrict presidential authority to designate national monuments Congressional…

The Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF) is an alliance of professional organizations, scientific societies, universities, and businesses that advocate for NSF. ESA is a member of this coalition. In December, CNSF sent a letter and transition statement to President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect Pence, calling on themto make federal investment in fundamental scientific research a national priority. The transition…

Guest post  by Jess Rudnick , a PhD student in Ecology at UC Davis, and Katy Dynarski, a PhD candidate in Soils and Biogeochemistry at UC Davis, are both founding members of the Science Informed Leadership effort. Shortly after the start of this New Year, our country will transition to a new presidential administration. Along with a change in the…

By Gary Lovett, Senior Scientist and Forest Ecologist, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY Tis the season when many Americans welcome trees into their homes. For millions of us, fresh-cut evergreens are at the heart of Christmas celebrations – a symbol of hope and joy. Sadly, the situation facing America’s trees is neither hopeful nor joyous. The Fraser fir, one…

Margaret Kosmala, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, shares this Frontiers Focus on assessing data quality in citizen science. Have you ever wanted to do scientific research, even though you have never trained as a scientist? Citizen science gives people with no science background the chance to get involved in…

We are keeping you up-to-date with a new Federal Agency Transition Tracker. In This Issue ESA 2017 Graduate Student Policy Awards Application period is open. Read More President-elect Transition Update Trump appointees at odds with basic mission of appointed agencies. Read More COMPETES Reauthorization COMPETES fails, but may provide template for new Congress. Read More Legislative Update Continuing Resolution –…

Kaitlyn M Gaynor, a PhD candidate in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at the University of California–Berkeley (Berkeley, CA), shares this Frontiers Focus on the effects of war on wildlife. When people make war, wildlife often becomes a casualty. Explosives and war materials kill living things that are not their targets. Valuable wildlife products, like ivory, finance…

Koenraad Van Meerbeek, a researcher in the Departement Aard- en Omgevingswetenschappen (Earth and Environmental Sciences) at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, shares this Frontiers Focus on the potential of Natura 2000 preserves to contribute biomass for bioenergy, without losing  biodiversity. Renewable energy from biomass, i.e. “bioenergy,” holds promise for climate change mitigation, but converting big tracts of land to bioenergy crops…

ESA Joins with Science Societies and Urge Trump to Name a Science Advisor ESA joined with 29 leading scientific societies and sent a letter requesting that President-elect Trump appoint a science advisor with the title of Assistant to the President for Science and Technology who is a nationally respected leader with the appropriate engineering, scientific, management and policy skills necessary…