Strategy outlined for growing bioenergy while protecting wildlife

October 11th, 2009 Senate GOP leader says he would back troop requestWASHINGTON — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell says that if President Obama asks for more troops in Afghanistan to fulfill a request by commanders there, he expects Republicans to support the action. McConnell says the strategy in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan is about protecting the United States.

September 23rd, 2009 SYDNEY - BBC wildlife presenter and conservationist Chris Packham has stirred controversy after calling on wildlife groups to let giant pandas go extinct because of their inability to effectively evolve. According to a report in www.news.com.au, the leading conservationist has called on wildlife groups to leave giant pandas alone and let them die out "with a degree of dignity".

September 22nd, 2009 Dem to White House: Keep focus on AfghanistanWASHINGTON — The top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee is urging the White House to send more troops to Afghanistan and stick with a military strategy that was outlined six months ago. A letter sent Tuesday to the White House from Rep.

September 21st, 2009 LONDON - Archaeological excavations at the planned 1.5 billion pounds port at Coryton, England, have revealed a 2,000-year-old Roman salthouse. According to the Echo, the site where the mine was found is due to become a wildlife area, protecting a range of birds, animals and plants to offset any disruption caused during the construction of the port.

September 14th, 2009 Interior Dept. gets ready for global warmingWASHINGTON — Interior Secretary Ken Salazar moved Monday to prepare the nation's parks, refuges and endangered species for the onslaught of global warming.

September 6th, 2009 Wildlife officials capture cougar in Seattle parkSEATTLE — A cougar that prowled through Seattle for about a week and forced the closure of the city's largest park was captured early Sunday, wildlife officials said. The cougar was immobilized with a tranquilizer in Discovery Park at about 2:30 a.m., Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesman Darren Friedel said.

August 3rd, 2009 1 in 5 Americans is a birdwatcher, report saysWASHINGTON — One in every five Americans watches birds, according to a new report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service called "Birding in the United States: A Demographic and Economic Analysis." The report claims that 48 million people birdwatch, remaining at a steady 20 percent of the U.S.

July 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new technique developed by scientists is able to fast-track better ionic liquids for biomass pre-treatments. The technique has been developed by researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), a US Department of Energy Bioenergy Research Center, led by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).

July 8th, 2009 Senate hearing focuses on threats to wildlifeWASHINGTON — From a mysterious fungus attacking bats in the Northeast to the emergence of Burmese pythons in Florida, native wildlife is facing new threats throughout the country. Protecting wildlife from new diseases and invasive species is a top challenge facing state and federal officials.

July 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has indicated that long-term declines of elephants, giraffe, impala and other animals in Kenya are occurring at the same rates within the country's national parks as outside of these protected areas. "This is the first time we've taken a good look at a national park system in one country, relative to all of the wildlife populations across the whole country, and we found that wildlife populations inside and outside of the parks are declining at much the same rate," said David Western, an adjunct professor of biology at UC San Diego, who headed the study.

June 18th, 2009 Dodd: Protecting consumers is top priorityWASHINGTON — The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee says protecting consumers should be a top priority when overhauling the regulatory framework that governs banks and other financial institutions. Sen. Christopher Dodd says people are hurting and angry from the economic downturn and that "someone should have their backs." The Connecticut Democrat also says that regulators must be empowered and that gaps in oversight should be eliminated.

May 17th, 2009 WASHINGTON - An endangered bird found only on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, has been provided an exclusive stretch of sand as a protected nesting area, where it can lay eggs. The bird in question is the maleo, a chicken-sized bird that lays its eggs in sand heated by either the sun or volcanism that occurs in its habitat on the island of Sulawesi.

April 22nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has shown widespread and substantial declines in wildlife in Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve in only 15 years. The study was analyzed by researchers at the Nairobi-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and led and funded by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

March 27th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama outlined his administration's new strategy in Afghanistan Friday, saying a major goal will be to shut down the Al Qaeda terrorist network in Afghanistan and Pakistan through a bolstered troop presence. 'We have a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat Al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future,' Obama said.

March 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The Wildlife Conservation Society's India Program (WCS - India) has released a unique training video on You Tube that showcases the latest scientific methods for estimating the numbers of wild tigers and their prey. Wildlife filmmaker Shekar Dattatri, in collaboration with Wildlife Conservation Society tiger scientist Dr.