Short Takes

The Senate has confirmed Ms. Aurelia Skipwith to be the next Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Ms. Skipwith has served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks in the Department of the Interior since April 2017. She worked for Monsanto Co. for about six years, after which she briefly worked as a research and legal intern at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She has also worked as Assistant Corporate Counsel at Alltech, Inc. and co-founded agricultural consulting firm AVC Global. Ms. Skipworth has a B.S. in biology from Howard University, M.A. in molecular genetics from Purdue University, and J.D. from the University of Kentucky College of Law. The USFWS Director position has been vacant since the beginning of the Trump Administration. This was the Senate's second attempt to confirm Ms. Skipwith after they failed to take action on her nomination in the previous Congress. Legislation addressing wildlife conservation in the U.S., entitled "Recovering America's Wildlife Act," (H.R. 3742) has been approved by the House Committee on Natural Resources. The legislation, which has gained 162 co-sponsors, including 121 Democrats and 41 Republicans, will now be considered by the full chamber. The bill would provide $1.4 billion annually to fund conservation and restoration efforts for more than 12,000 wildlife and plant species "of greatest conservation need," including species listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Sp...
Source: Public Policy Reports - Category: Biology Authors: Source Type: news