Thread by @BBuchman_CNS

Thread:
Story coming up on 2 wildlife conservation bills up for debate in a House Natural Resources subcommittee. During the hearing, @RepDebDingell revealed she and @RashidaTlaib recently kayaked Michigan's Rouge River.

50 years ago (last week actually) the river caught fire because it was so polluted and utterly neglected.

But the river looks a lot different today, Dingell said, thanks to a collaborative effort to protect and preserve local natural resources there.

"We passed the Ford River Rouge plant, DTE Energy, a total industrial area, yet we saw bald eagles... @RashidaTlaib got the most beautiful picture of a turtle. We saw sturgeon, woodpeckers, butterflies, even a fox snake, which is endangered." - @RepDebDingell

"It shows what happens when we pull together. It was the most incredible experience I’ve ever had," she said.

I was curious so I reached out to @RashidaTlaib and voila! Here's that great turtle the reps spotted:

Both bills up for discussion today are enjoying bipartisan support.
They are:
- H.R. 2795, the National Wildlife Corridors Act, which creates wildlife migratory corridors on federal lands and provides $ for states/tribes to protect wildlife
documentcloud.org/documents/6491…

and...

- H.R. 3742, the Recovering America's Wildlife Act of 2019
aka RAWA.
If passed, lawmakers say it will help address the rapid biodiversity decline and as an added benefit, it works around the endangered species reg reversals doled out by the Trump admin.
documentcloud.org/documents/6491…

RAWA commits $1.4B for state conservation + $97M to tribes for recovery of fish/wildlife populations. It is also guided by state-by-state wildlife action plans.

More to come in my story for @CourthouseNews.
In the meantime, can anyone identify what type of turtle that is?

@CourthouseNews STORY: Democrats seeking an end-run around the Trump administration’s efforts to undo endangered-species protections debated two bills Thursday they say could stem hemorrhaging biodiversity loss and empower states to more meaningfully conserve wildlife.
courthousenews.com/house-democrat…