The Trump administration sabotages a major conservation effort by challenging the Congress | Environment

Scientists and US officials told the Guardian that the Trump administration had withdrawn funding for a large, effective conservation program, in direct conflict with congressional instructions.

This program, of a unique scale and ambition, includes 22 research centers that tackle major problems affecting large areas of the United States, such as climate change, floods and the extinction of species. They are known as landscape conservation co-operatives – or were, because 16 of them are now indefinitely interrupted or have dissolved.

"I have not seen anything like this for nearly 30 years that I work in the federal government," said a Fish and Wildlife Service scientist, who worked for one of the LCCs and wanted to remain anonymous because Federal employees were advised not to speak with the guardian for this story. "There is this lack of responsibility."

"Congress has approved $ 12.5 million for the 22 existing landscape conservation co-ops," said Betty McCollum, chair of the House's Subcommittee on Housekeeping Credits, at the conference. a recent audition with a head of the department of the interior. "[But] we hear disturbing reports from outside groups and concerned citizens that the CCL program is being modified and may not receive any funding from the federal government. "

McCollum asked for a full account of the situation so that his committee could investigate.

The LCCs were created under the Obama administration in 2010 and run by the Fish and Wildlife Service, and seem to achieve their goals. In Hawaii, a center discovered that many native Hawaiian forest birds would no longer have suitable habitat by the end of the century, which allowed one of the birds to be classified. threatened "under the federal Endangered Species Act. In areas of the Gulf Coast exposed to flooding, the work of a CCL has allowed more residents to have access to discounts for flood insurance. Another created "California Climate Commons", a website that brings together studies, data visualizations and maps on how climate change will affect the state.

"No other federal program is designed to meet landscape conservation needs nationwide," according to a 2016 report from the National Academy of Sciences.

Donald Trump made it clear from the start that LCCs – and science funding in general – were not a priority for his administration. His first budget proposal as president eliminated funds for the LCCs and for other applied research programs run by the Department of the Interior. The following budget requests followed the same pattern.

But Congress decides on the federal budget and can ignore the president's proposals. He always rejected those cuts. In 2017, a consortium of NGOs, state agencies responsible for fisheries and wildlife and tribal groups came together to convince Congress that the CCLs were crucial. The Congress of Native Americans passed a resolution in favor of the LCC Network, stating that "they have played an important role in advancing Western science and traditional knowledge with our local communities who are continually striving to adapt to more and more unpredictable and dangerous environments because of the climate. change."

These petitions have been successful and since then Congress has continued to fund the CCLs at the same level – about $ 12 million.

Nevertheless, in 2017, the country's low-cost countries began to receive news that they would no longer receive support from the federal government.

"With this administration, very little comes out by email or paper. There are very few traces of paper. That's right, that's how it's going to be, "said another Fish and Wildlife Service scientist who worked for one of the coastal centers.

The scientist said federal support for the LCC program seemed to have run out of steam after the start of an unprecedented political review of scientific research in the Department of the Interior, which includes the Fish and Wildlife Service. It was headed by Steve Howke, a high school friend of former Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke. When this review began, said the Fish and Wildlife Service scientist, "it was known that nothing associated with the LCCs would be funded," and they "basically had to ruin everything."

Several scientists associated with the LCC also expressed their opposition to the centers of the Department of the Interior, some officials have not appreciated the loss of control induced by their collaborative approach.

"For most of us in the program, it was pretty disappointing. We put a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get where we were, "said Greg Wathen, former coordinator of Gulf Coastal Plains and Ozark LCC. "I always felt that we were about to make very good progress."

Gary Tabor, a member of the Least Developed Countries Network (LDC) Council, which leads the 22 centers, said the least developed countries had created a framework for the country to face existential challenges, such as disasters. natural.

"This type of architecture is now lost and takes time to put in place, we need to train people and position resources," he said. "We lost time, money and dynamism."

According to information collected by the FWS and shared confidentially with the Guardian, six LCCs are on hiatus and ten have officially been dissolved. Six others continue to operate thanks to support from other sources. The California LCC is now hosted and funded by the state, for example, and the LCC of the Aleutian Islands Sea and Bering Islands, Alaska, is now managed by the Alaska Conservation Foundation.

A Fish and Wildlife Service representative conceded that he "no longer provides dedicated staff, administrative functions, or funding for landscape conservation cooperatives (LCCs)."

The first anonymous scientist is in despair. "I would say that it could be five to six years [of work] in the sink. "