National Mixed Bag: TRCP honors two U.S. Reps and onX at annual awards banquet

Washington D.C. — At its 18th annual Capital Conservation Awards Dinner in April, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership honored a Republican and Democratic congressman, and a technology company.

Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., and Eric Siegfried and Laura Orvidas of onX were recognized for conservation achievements that reflect the breadth and durability of TRCP’s mission to guarantee all Americans places to hunt and fish.

Thompson was recognized for his work on the federal Farm Bill and CWD issues. TRCP said Vasquez has emerged as a leading champion for public lands conservation and access. He introduced the bipartisan Public Lands in Public Hands Act, Habitat Connectivity on Working Lands Act, and co-founded the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus.

Eric Siegfried, founder of onX, helped catalyze groundbreaking work with TRCP to identify 16.43 million acres of landlocked public lands across 22 states.

CEO Orvidas has built on that foundation by advancing passage of the MAPLand and MAPWaters Acts, championing walk-in access programs including the Farm Bill’s Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program, and mobilizing the onX community to defend access to public lands.

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CALIFORNIA

Coyote Swam Two Miles to Alcatraz Island

San Francisco (AP) — A lone coyote stunned biologists and others when it paddled its way to remote Alcatraz Island earlier this year, a former federal prison in the San Francisco Bay surrounded by swift, choppy waters.

At the time, biologists guessed the coyote swam from San Francisco, which is a little over 1 mile from the fortress. But it turns out the male coyote actually made an even longer swim from nearby Angel Island, 2 miles away.

“We couldn’t help being impressed by his accomplishment in making it to Alcatraz,” said National Park Service wildlife ecologist Bill Merkle.

Camilla Fox, founder and executive director of nonprofit Project Coyote, said the coyote likely departed its home base in search of a mate or new territory.

“We have never, ever heard such a story of a coyote making such a long journey in a pretty challenging ocean current,” she said.

NEW JERSEY

Rabid Beaver Bites 8-Year-Old Boy

Bergen County, N.J. — The Mahwah Health Department last week reported that on Sunday, May 3 a beaver at Lake Henry had contact with several people, including an 8-year-old boy who has since tested positive for rabies.

Mahwah lies near the New York border about 30 miles from Newark. Local police Capt. Michael Blondin said the child was fishing from the shoreline when the beaver “exited the lake and charged him,” according to northjersey.com. The animal bit the boy’s leg, and emergency officials transported him to the Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, N.Y, according to USA Today.

Animal control later responded and captured the beaver after determining it showed signs of illness. The animal was sent off for testing, which is how officials determined it carried rabies.

Video footage on social media last week showed the family and a small dog trying fight off the animal.

MAINE

Endangered Whale Protections Likely Delayed to 2035 Under Plan

Portland, Maine (AP) — For roughly 380 right whales left in the North Atlantic, the Trump administration said this month it wants to delay new protections by almost a decade in favor of commercial fishing interests.

The whales are critically endangered and their numbers have declined sharply in recent decades. Environmental groups say reducing deaths and injuries caused by people is essential to their recovery.

The whales give birth off Florida and Georgia before migrating north to feed off New England and Canada. Protected areas of ocean aid them on their journey, but scientists have said they have strayed from those zones in recent years in search of food as the oceans have warmed.

A proposal by U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Maine Democrat, would push back new federal protections for right whales to 2035, and allow time to craft regulations that are less burdensome to the fishing industry. The White House released a memo on May 1 saying it “strongly supports” the plan and that President Donald Trump’s senior advisors would recommend he sign it into law if it passes Congress.