Climate Resilient Seeds

The Trump administration is building a national citizenship data system The Department of Homeland Security, with help from DOGE, has rolled out a tool that purports to be able to check the citizenship status of almost all Americans.

www.npr.org/2025/06/29/n...

In 2023, in the United States, the outdoor recreation economy outpaced every other sector in growth. It accounts for a total of 2.3% of total US Gross Domestic Product (GDP), ($639.5 billion.)
#protectpubliclands
#BigBeautifulBill

Credit: US Bureau of Economic Analysis

A map showing what BLM and USFS lands would be up for sale in the western CONUS.

An image taken of Colorado's Maroon Bells from the still lake before it. In the foreground is the glass lake mirroring the landscape and sky above. A long log on the water reaches out from the left of the frame toward its center. On the other end of the lake is a lush green forest, with the forest stretching up the steep hills that bracket the image. Sitting right in the center of those hills are the Marron Bells - mountain peaks - partially coated in snow, and bathed in the saturated orange glow of the just-rising Sun. Overhead are blue skies with numerous puffy white clouds, some of which are still in the shadow of other mountains.

Millions of acres of public lands are eligible for sale in the Senate budget reconciliation package (as of 6-14). This would be the largest public lands sell-off in US history, and would bypass traditional safeguards such as public hearings & environmental reviews. 1/x
map: tinyurl.com/Lands4SaleMap

Congress is trying to force the largest sell-off of public lands in US history.

The mega-bill mandates government agencies sell between 2.2 million and 3.3 million acres of public land. It would also make ~250 million acres of public lands available for sale.

Call your Senator.

Trump’s new ‘gold standard’ rule will destroy American science as we know it | Colette Delawalla The new executive order allows political appointees to undermine research they oppose, paving the way for state-controlled science

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

‘Devastating.’ NIH cancels future funding plans for HIV vaccine consortia Researchers decry agency’s decision just as new leads reinvigorate search for long-sought vaccine

‘Devastating.’ NIH cancels future funding plans for HIV vaccine consortia | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

Scientific conferences are leaving the US amid border fears Some meetings have been put on hold in response to foreign researchers’ travel concerns.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

How to watch: Scientists are hosting a 100-hour livestream to protest Trump cuts — Fast Company During the Weather and Climate Livestream, climate scientists and meteorologists will highlight the importance of their work and how Trump’s cuts endanger Americans. The Trump administration has decim...

apple.news/AEjVIZE0WQpe...

Congress moves to loosen toxic air pollution rules The House and Senate both voted to loosen regulations on air pollutants like dioxin and mercury, which are associated with higher cancer risk.

By @alejandrabee.bsky.social

The House and Senate both voted to loosen regulations on air pollutants like dioxin and mercury, which are associated with higher cancer risk.

The hidden provision in the Big Ugly Bill that makes Trump king Don’t let this happen

A provision hidden inside the BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL that passed the House this morning isn’t being reported on my the media. It’s simply too important to overlook!! robertreich.substack.com/p/the-hidden...

Trump Administration Decommissions Sea Ice Data That Sounded an Alarm on Arctic Climate Change - Inside Climate News Cuts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are now degrading the datasets used to monitor the most rapidly warming parts of the planet. More such moves are coming, NOAA has warned.

Trump just gutted Arctic sea ice data tracking *again*.

Ignoring the fastest-warming region on Earth means ignoring the future of climate change, from rising seas to extreme weather.
insideclimatenews.org/news/0705202...

Grizzly 1058, member of 399's four-cub litter, hit, killed by car in Teton park Grizzly 1058, one of Grizzly 399's iconic four-cub litter, is dead after it was apparently hit and killed by a motorist in Grand Teton National Park.

Male Offspring of Grizzly 399—the 'World's Most Famous Bear'—Killed by Vehicle in Grand Teton National Park - Smithsonian Magazine www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/environ...

It’s so hard to lose such a special companion. I hope the universe gives you a tremendous hug soon

Thousands rally in D.C. as Trump protesters gather across U.S. In Washington and across the country, demonstrators rallied in opposition of the president’s agenda

Thousands of people crowded in front of the Washington Monument on Saturday afternoon to protest President Donald Trump and top adviser Elon Musk’s dismantling of federal agencies, alleged circumventing of due process and introduction of tariffs.

Endangered Corpse Flowers in Botanical Collections Could Be Inbred to Extinction Due to Shoddy Recordkeeping: Study Newly published research suggests that despite all the pampering corpse flower plants receive from their curators, conservation efforts have fallen short in one key area that threatens the species’ su...

Well that stinks!
Research coming out of Chicago Botanic Garden and Northwestern U gets to root of corpse flower’s biodiversity problem.

news.wttw.com/2025/04/04/e...

Massive, Unarchivable Datasets of Cancer, Covid, and Alzheimer's Research Could Be Lost Forever Days before Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that 10,000 HHS staffers would lose their jobs, a message appeared on NIH research repository sites saying they were "under review."

Petabytes of critical government research that is marked for possible deletion cannot be archived because of technical and legal restrictions, meaning it is very likely to be lost forever:

www.404media.co/nih-archives...

A faded drawing of a woodpecker on an old plank of wood

The now extinct ivory-billed woodpecker, as drawn on wood by an Indigenous person in Florida around the year 650 CE.

New preprint from our lab: Within-species variability in seed longevity in storage is nearly as large as variability between species. A study across 41 species, 188 seed accessions, 5640 replicates and 169 200 seeds. Lead by @leaklepka.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

‘The risk of extinction is accelerating’: world’s botanic gardens raise alarm with space to protect endangered plants running out University of Cambridge research suggests living collections have collectively reached peak capacity

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Review of: Plant Cell Walls – Research Milestones and Conceptual Insights This outstanding collection consists of 25 chapters (totalling >500 pages), each an informative, self-contained review by a group of one or more experts

🔥ADVANCE ACCESS🔥: Review of: Plant Cell Walls – Research Milestones and Conceptual Insights

France in political crisis after no-confidence vote topples government Minority coalition of PM Michel Barnier falls after three months, the shortest of any administration of France’s Fifth Republic France has been plunged into political crisis after a no-confidence vote brought down the government, ending the beleaguered…

France in political crisis after no-confidence vote topples government

Grassland restorations must better foster forbs to facilitate high biodiversity Grassland restoration efforts typically aim to recover lost biodiversity, guided by biologically diverse old-growth grasslands as a benchmark. In most old-growth grasslands, forbs greatly outnumber g...

Grassland restorations must better foster forbs to facilitate high biodiversity

Check out @ashishnerlekar.bsky.social's recent call for "forb-centric" grassland restoration

Message if you lack access and would like to a copy

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

ecoevojobs.net 2024-25

Pinning the EcoEvo job board so I’ll no longer have a reason to revisit the blue bird website.

🚨📌
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Inconsistent scientific methods hamper the management of drone use near birds | doi.org/10.1002/jwmg... | Journal of Wildlife Management | #ornithology 🪶

Cop29: ‘We’re here for life and death reasons,’ says ex-climate minister of Pakistan Sherry Rehman says rich nations should pay ‘internationally determined contributions’ to help poorer and worst-affected countries Amid the endless politicking and inscrutable arguments at the UN climate negotiations in Baku, Azerbaijan, this month, it…

Cop29: ‘We’re here for life and death reasons,’ says ex-climate minister of Pakistan

I just joined this place AND we are hiring a climate scientist in my department at Penn: apply.interfolio.com/153721
Please share and apply! We start reviewing November 20, and we are open minded about what constitutes "climate science".

Regional Seed Networks may be the best answer to seed deficient restoration projects

Chicago Wilderness Alliance Congress 2024 has some amazing sessions today!

Extreme Heat, Floods, Fire: Was Summer 2023 the New Normal? Climate scientists say a warming planet is contributing to, and worsening, weather events

"Heat, Floods, Fire: Was Summer 2023 the New Normal? Climate scientists say a warming planet is contributing to, and worsening, extreme weather events" | Great piece by Joseph Pisani & Jen Calfas in the #WallStreetJournal: www.wsj.com/us-news/clim...