RYAN ZINKE

Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee have asked the Justice Department to investigate whether a Trump administration interior secretary engaged in possible criminal conduct while helping an Arizona developer get a crucial permit for a housing project.

Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee asked the Justice Departmen t on Wednesday to investigate whether a Trump administration interior secretary engaged in possible criminal conduct while helping an Arizona developer get a crucial permit for a housing project. The criminal referral says David Bernhardt pushed for approval of the project by developer Michael Ingram, a Republican donor and supporter of former President Donald Trump, despite a federal wildlife official's finding that it would threaten habitats for imperiled species.

The former Trump Cabinet member failed to disclose details of his involvement in a Montana development project when questioned by ethics officials, an Inspector General's investigation has found.

Government investigators say former U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke misused his position to advance a Montana development project and lied to an agency ethics official about his involvement.

Former California Gov. Jerry Brown has reentered the public policy arena in California with a call to action to prevent wildfires.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is moving the headquarters of the Bureau of Land Management back to the nation’s capital after two years in Colorado.

A U.S. judge has rejected the Biden administration’s attempt to delay a lawsuit from several states and environmental groups that would end sales for coal mining leases on federal lands.

Former congressman and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke says he's running for Montana's newly awarded U.S. House seat.

Former congressman and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Friday that he’s running for Montana’s newly awarded U.S. House seat. Zinke told The Associated Press that he was running, a day after filing paperwork to organize a campaign committee. Zinke, who said he maintains a friendship with former President Donald Trump, told AP that political division is the biggest problem facing the nation.

Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke formed a committee with the Federal Election Commission Thursday, launching a bid for Congress six years after leaving the House to join the Trump administration.

Former Montana congressman and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has filed election paperwork indicating he is interested in running for the second U.S. House seat awarded to the state.

Former Interior Secretary and Montana congressman Ryan Zinke filed paperwork Thursday signaling his interest in running for the second U.S. House seat that was awarded to the state earlier this week. Zinke filed documents with the Federal Election Commission to organize the “Zinke for Congress” campaign committee. Montana on Monday was awarded a second U.S. House seat starting in 2023, based on the state's population in the recent U.S. Census results.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has revoked a series of Trump administration orders that promoted fossil fuel development on public lands and waters.

They watch as big game animals in the West chase emerging spring greenery to ever-higher elevations, then return to lowlands to avoid the worst of winter's cold and snow. Roads, such as Interstate 80 from Wyoming to California, also hold up and kill migrating big game animals. Reintroduced populations of Western big game animals need decades to rediscover migration routes, research suggests. Mark Gordon in February designated three mule deer migration corridors with plans for others where state officials would encourage but not force help from landowners. And we now have a whole toolbox full of tools that we can use to maintain these migration corridors,” Kauffman said.

SPOKANE, Wash. The forested mountains in and around North Cascades National Park in north central Washington state have long been considered prime habitat for threatened grizzly bears, so environmental groups are upset the Trump administration scrapped plans to reintroduce the apex predators there. Grizzly bears only occupy less than 5% of their historic range, and the North Cascades presents prime habitat for grizzly bears,'' said Andrea Zaccardi, an attorney with the group. "Their recovery there is critical to the overall recovery of grizzly bears in the U.S.The center contends the North Cascades could support more than 700 grizzly bears over 9,000 square miles of habitat. Federal grizzly bear recovery plans are mandated by the Endangered Species Act and require grizzly recovery in the North Cascades, Gunnell said. Now the largest concentration of grizzlies, numbering less than 1,800, are around Montana's Glacier National Park and around Yellowstone National Park.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Trump administration has quietly abandoned a wildlife advisory board that animal rights groups said was illegally stacked with politically connected donors and hunting enthusiasts, and designed to promote trophy hunting. REUTERS/Lucas JacksonIn a Friday night court filing, the U.S. Department of Justice said the International Wildlife Conservation Council ceased to exist on Dec. 21, 2019, when its two-year charter expired. It also said the board made no recommendations during its existence, and there were no plans to establish another board with a similar mission or scope. Last Sept. 23, U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan refused to dismiss the lawsuit, saying the White House had not shown that the board served the public interest. The case is Natural Resources Defense Council et al v Bernhardt et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge has rejected the Trump administrations bid to dismiss a lawsuit by animal rights groups seeking to dissolve a wildlife advisory board they said was stacked with politically connected donors and pro-hunting enthusiasts. These groups said the wildlife board created in November 2017 by then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke was slanted to promote trophy hunting and the importing of body parts from imperiled species such as African elephants, lions and rhinos. The Trump administration has provided no reason for creating a trophy hunting council, stacking it with big game profiteers and operating it behind closed doors, the groups lawyers from Democracy Forward said. He had said the wildlife board would advise on the benefits of recreational hunting, including boosting economies and creating hundreds of jobs to enhancing wildlife conservation.U.S. President Donald Trumps adult sons are trophy hunters. The case is Natural Resources Defense Council et al v Zinke et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No.

iStock/skibreck(CNN) - The US government might reintroduce the grizzly bear to the North Cascades area in northwest Washington and has re-opened the proposal for public comment. "There were some members of the public and elected officials that requested additional opportunity to comment on it," National Park Service spokeswoman Denise Shultz said. The proposal seeks to restore the grizzly population in the ecosystem to 200. The last time a grizzly bear was spotted on the US side of the North Cascade was in 1996, Shultz said. In the US, grizzly bears are active in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Washington.

August will mark the 400th anniversary of the first documented arrival to America by Africans, who came by way of Point Comfort, Virginia, and were enslaved, in 1619. Last November, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke appointed the 14 members of the commission who will organize the commemoration of the anniversary. The commission will plan and carry out programs and activities throughout the country to highlight 400 years of contributions by African-Americans. Others are using the anniversary as a way to highlight what they believe is 400 years of inequality. The website 400yearsofinequality.org is encouraging people to tell their stories of oppression and resistance and ultimately unite to eliminate inequality going forward.

Montana Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke has criticized the GOP platform as "more divisive than unifying." He joins CBSN from the RNC in Cleveland to discuss why.