More groups allowed to join lawsuits over Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante NMon boundaries

The number of litigants involved in a battle over the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments has swelled with the addition of a number of conservation organizations opposed to any changes.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Kohler last week agreed to allow The Wilderness Society, Grand Canyon Trust, WildEarth Guardians, Western Watersheds Project, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, National Parks Conservation Association, and Great Old Broads for Wilderness intervene in the matter. December the Hopi, Navajo, Zuni, and Ute Mountain Ute Tribes were granted a separate motion to intervene.

https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2023/03/number-litigants-bears-ears-grand-staircase-lawsuit-swells

Facing population plunge, sunflower starfish set to receive ESA protections

Sunflower sea stars, huge starfish that until recently thrived in waters up and down the west coast of North America, are threatened with extinction and should be protected under the Endangered Species Act, federal officials said Wednesday.

The starfish have been devastated by a wasting syndrome that has been linked to the effects of climate change. It killed more than 90 percent of sunflower sea stars from 2013 to 2017, in what officials described as the largest marine wildlife disease outbreak on record. The sickness starts with lethargy and lesions followed by tissue decay. Starfish’s limbs drop off and they die within days, leaving a gooey pile.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/15/climate/sunflower-sea-star-endangered.html

One of last free-flowing rivers in Europe declared a NP by Albania

One of the last wild rivers in Europe, home to more than 1,000 animal and plant species, has been declared a national park by the Albanian government, making the Vjosa the first of its kind on the continent.

The Vjosa River flows 168 miles (270kms) from the Pindus mountains in Greece through narrow canyons, plains and forests in Albania to the Adriatic coast. Free from dams or other artificial barriers, it is rich in aquatic species and supports myriad wildlife, including otters, the endangered Egyptian vulture and the critically endangered Balkan lynx, of which only 15 are estimated to remain in Albania.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/15/albania-vjosa-wild-river-national-park-europe-first-aoe