Tag: habitat

D.C. Legislative Update: November 15-19, 2021

Check here for the 2021 Senate Calendar
Check here for the 2021 House Calendar

Upcoming Congressional Hearings 

  • Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
    • Tuesday, November 16 at 10am EST: Business meeting to consider pending nominations, including Laura Daniel-Davis to be an Assistant Secretary of the Interior (Land and Minerals Management) and Sara Bronin to be Chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic
    • Tuesday, November 16 at 10am EST: “Hearing On Domestic And International Energy Price ”
    • Thursday, November 18 at 10am EST: “Business Meeting To Consider Pending Legislation,” including a number of public lands and forestry bills. See here for the full list.
  • House Foreign Affair Committee
    • Tuesday, November 16 at 10am EST: Subcommittee: Europe, Energy, the Environment and Cyber hearing on “National Security Implications of Climate Change in the Arctic.”
  • House Natural Resources Committee
    • Tuesday, November 16 at 10am EST: Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources hearing on “Oversight: Plugging in Public Lands: Transmission Infrastructure for Renewable Energy.”
  • House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
  • House Agriculture Committee
  • Senate Finance Committee
    • Tuesday, November 16 at 10:15am EST: ”Hearing to Consider the Nominations of The Honorable Maria Louise Lago, of New York, to be Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade and Lisa Wang, of the District of Columbia, to be an Assistant Secretary of Commerce.”
  • House Energy and Commerce Committee
    • Tuesday, November 16 at 10:30am EST: Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change and the Subcommittee on Energy hearing on “Securing America’s Future: Supply Chain Solutions for a Clean Energy “
  • Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
  • Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee
  • House Science, Space, and Technology Committee
  • Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee
    • Wednesday, November 17 at 10:30am EST: “To consider the following nominations: Chavonda J. Jacobs-Young to be Under Secretary of Agriculture for Research, Education, and Economics, USDA and Margo Schlanger to be an Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, ”
  • House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis
  • Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
    • Thursday, November 18 at 10:15am EST: “Nominations of Erik Hooks to be Deputy Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; the Honorable Michael Kubayanda to be a Commissioner, Postal Regulatory Commission; Laurel A. Blatchford to be Controller, Office of Federal Financial Management, Office of Management and Budget; and Ebony M. Scott and Donald W. Tunnage to be Associate Judges, Superior Court of the District of Columbia.”

Congressional News 

  • 2372, the Recovering Americas Wildlife Act, now has 33 Senate cosponsors. NWF will continue pushing for more cosponsors and advocating for this critical wildlife conservation bill.
  • In recent weeks, the Senate Appropriations Committee released the remainder of its appropriations bills for the fiscal year See the Committee’s website here for the full text of each bill.

Administrative News  

  • In previous weeks, the EPA issued its proposed rule strengthening, and expanding, methane limits on new oil and gas sector See here for NWF’s press release in support.
  • See here for White House resources, including a comprehensive list of Executive orders to address COVID, the climate crisis, and environmental justice, among other topics.

What’s Happening This Week 

  • The House and Senate are both in session this week.
  • The House is expected to consider, and vote on, the Build Back Better Act this week.
  • The Senate is expected to take up the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 this
  • NWF continues to work to advance our priorities on Capitol Hill, so please feel free to share NWF’s 117th Congress National Policy Agenda.

National Wildlife Federation Logo

PARTNER EVENT: Indiana Native Plant Society Auction Events

Speakers

Leading up to the live auction on May 22 will be virtual talks by two excellent speakers, live on Zoom.

11:00 a.m.  Top 5 Reasons to Grow Native  Emily Wood, Executive Director of the Indiana Wildlife Federation. A lifelong Hoosier originally from Terre Haute, Emily studied wildlife biology at Ball State University. She loves hiking, birdwatching, photography, and gardening and is working on restoring a 1986 Chevy Truck.

11:30 a.m.  Plant Tips and Live Auction Preview  Sue Nord Peiffer, a veteran of INPS auctions, knows just about everything there is to know about native plants and will clue us in to the fine points of plants offered in the live auction. She oversees the Madeline Elder Greenhouse at Newfields.

Registration

To participate in all that’s planned, you will need to register on two sites:

Givergy at https://givergy.us/indiananativeplants/ Register here to view and bid on auction items. New items are being added weekly! When you place your first bid, you will be asked to enter credit card information.

Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMtfuCprzotGtU9iwbT1S-CcNBxEeIZRvH2 This will get you a link to the live event on Saturday, May 22, that includes speakers and the live auction.

If you have questions about the auction, address them to plantsale@indiananativeplants.org.

Auction Bidding

Bidding competition begins with an online silent auction opening at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 15, and continues through the week. The bidding fun will be capped by a virtual live auction at noon the following Saturday, May 22, followed by the close of silent auction bidding at 2:00 p.m.

Up for bid will be premium native plant specimens from from nurseries and garden centers in the Grow Indiana Natives program, along with select curated items and services specially chosen to entice bidders. A professional auctioneer will encourage bidding on six to ten choice or rare items that will be available only during the live auction.

All auction bidding will be conducted by means of your smartphone or laptop. We are using Givergy as our app to display auction items and track bids.

The pick-up location of each plant or plant package will be clearly designated in item descriptions, and bidders will retrieve their winnings at the donor nurseries.

Keep Indianapolis Beautiful Spring Weed Wrangle

WANTED: Honeysuckle and the Gang. Wanted for invading our waterways, gardens and parks all over Indianapolis. Wanted for strangling out important native species, not contributing to the surrounding ecosystem, and breaking chainsaws (and backs).

Join KIB for a roundup of these scoundrels and a large-scale removal of invasives from Martin Park this spring! There is no need to bring anything other than a mask. All tools and supplies are provided by KIB, and no experience is needed. Let’s get to work on restoring this park’s ecosystem back to one that is beautiful and functional for all native plant and animal species. Urban landscapes free of invasive species provide native plants and wildlife the space they need to grow and thrive.

 

**Register to Volunteer on the KIB website

Mapping Climate & Environmental Justice: Lessons Learned from Local & Regional Tools

PARTNER EVENT: National Wildlife Federation – Federal policymakers are giving increasing focus to environmental justice mapping tools, recognizing their potential in furthering environmental and climate justice. These tools can reveal what kinds of communities are (and aren’t) at risk from environmental hazards, and the compounded pollution and climate burdens some communities face. These tools can also help policymakers understand where environmental justice communities are located, and where climate impacts are being felt first and worst—information that should help inform the ambitious climate priorities of the Biden-Harris administration.

This webinar will highlight lessons learned from existing local and regional mapping tools and efforts to inform these current national discussions.

Wetland Protection in Indiana: The Way Forward

The second event will be hosted by the Hoosier Environmental Council, White River Alliance, and the Indiana Land Protection Alliance. Speakers from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, Army Corps of Engineers, and environmental consulting will use a case study project to illustrate how federal and state laws work to protect isolated wetland functions and conclude with possible changes to these policies being discussed in the current Indiana legislative session.

Please see the attached announcement or this website for the list of speakers and details, as well as a link to register.