Lucindo Bunny

The American chestnut was the dominant tree of the eastern US forest for thousands of years. One in every four trees in the Appalachians was a chestnut. Then, between 1904 and 1940, a fungal blight from Asia killed roughly four billion of them. The species nearly went extinct as a forest tree within a single human lifetime. The recovery effort is now in its fourth decade. The American Chestnut Foundation breeds disease-resistant hybrids by crossing American chestnuts with blight-resistant Chinese chestnuts, then backcrossing for generations to recover the American tree's form. Other researchers have used gene editing to insert a wheat gene that detoxifies the blight. The first restoration plantings are alive and growing in the Appalachians. They won't be mature for another 50 years. None of the people who started this work will see it finished, but we should all be glad they're doing it.

What kind of government brings back cyanide bombs onto public land after years of documented deaths and outrage? The devices are called M-44s. They’re baited with scented lures designed to attract coyotes and other animals. But they don’t know the difference between wildlife, pets, or children. One tug releases sodium cyanide into the victim’s face. Moisture turns it into deadly hydrogen cyanide gas. The result is often convulsions, paralysis, and a horrifying death. These are the same devices that killed a 14-year-old Idaho boy’s dog in front of him in 2017 and sent him to the hospital. The Biden administration banned them from Bureau of Land Management lands in 2023. But in 2026, Trump’s agencies quietly reversed course, reopening roughly 245 million acres of public land to their use. Then House Republicans pushed language to fully restore the program through the USDA. Wildlife Services’ own records show thousands of animals killed with M-44s in a single year, including accidental deaths of protected species and non-target animals. Family dogs, wolves, grizzlies, even condors have been caught in these traps. This isn’t conservation. It’s poison hidden across public lands for the benefit of livestock interests. Americans should not have to worry about cyanide devices near hiking trails, campsites, or places where children and pets roam. They brought them back quietly because they knew the public would be horrified.

African Rainforests will suffer from a totally new climate of unprecedented heat from 2025 onwards with staggering consequences for all life on Earth.