Trump canceled a landmark nature report. Scientists are publishing it anyway

NINA MOINI: Scientists are taking feedback on a report about the health of nature across the country. It's the first of its kind. It started as a federal government project under the Biden administration. And when President Donald Trump took office and cancelled the report last year, its authors decided to finish it anyway.

University of Minnesota Associate Professor of Forest Resources Danielle Ignace is a lead author of a chapter about the human causes of environmental change. She joins me now. Thanks so much for your time, Danielle.

DANIELLE IGNACE: Hi, Nina. Thank you so much for having me.

NINA MOINI: When this was cancelled-- when this effort was cancelled, why did you decide to continue on anyway, and how did you make that happen?

DANIELLE IGNACE: That's a great question. I think, as a group, we had anticipated this outcome, yet it was still incredibly shocking to hear the news. And I think we just felt, collectively, that grieving process of losing that status. But on the other hand, it didn't take long to really shift gears in the mindset and realize that we are volunteering our time anyway as authors and that, well, what was stopping us from doing this as an independent assessment anyway? We just felt it was too important to not do this.

NINA MOINI: And when you hear about the health of nature, it seems pretty broad. Can you start by talking about the goals of the chapter that you led on human causes of environmental change?

DANIELLE IGNACE: Yeah, so we know that since the time of Earth, essentially, that there have been many, many forces that have shaped distribution of life across Earth that were not driven by humans. And, of course, we know that over the past couple of centuries that the most devastation or perhaps the most impact we've seen has been due to these human drivers.

And what we sought out to do as a chapter was to answer the questions of, What are the existing status and trends of drivers of change that affect species and ecosystems in the US? as well as, what are the future projections for the drivers of change to nature in the US? So very big and broad questions here.

NINA MOINI: So when you all decided to continue the work, did everybody decide to volunteer their time? Did you have to raise money? How did you decide who and what to continue to include?

DANIELLE IGNACE: Yeah, that's a good question. So initially when we get these invitations to serve as an author or, as myself, lead a chapter, this is volunteer work, not getting paid for it. And I would say most of the authors-- vastly most of the authors, really, decided to continue this work. Some were federal employees and weren't able to continue, and so that affected some other chapters perhaps more than mine. But, for the most part, the authors are academics. They're from nonprofits and the private sector. And so as volunteers, there really wasn't anything stopping us.

But that funding component-- so I suppose the leaders of the assessment didn't need to worry about funding us. It's that there were administrative staff that were involved, federal employees that were involved, and technical support, and that takes money. And so in addition to that, the gold star of reviewing these types of assessments comes from the National Academy of Sciences and Engineering and Medicine, and that takes money to fund that as well. And so those were the big hurdles to overcome. How do we fund those big components of the assessment, even though the vast majority, those of us authors that stuck around, are volunteers?

NINA MOINI: And I mentioned at the top, it's like a first of its kind, or it was meant to be a first of its kind. Why is it so important to collect all of this information in one place? And then what do you hope to do with that information? Where do you hope it has an impact?

DANIELLE IGNACE: Yeah, it's kind of shocking to realize that, oh, this hasn't been done before. Haven't we had an assessment like this before? Of course, the answer is no. And it's kind of strange. We've had all these other kinds of assessments, and people think about these questions a lot. But to have one, the first of its kind-- and it really takes a holistic picture of what's happening in the US for the US lands, waters, and wildlife, and all the benefits that people get from that. We don't have that. It was really sitting to think about it and realizing that we need this. We need this to happen.

NINA MOINI: How is it broken down, if you don't mind explaining? So you had a chapter on human impact, but how is it broken up?

DANIELLE IGNACE: Yeah, there's 15 chapters in total. I would say that they are all interconnected. And so ours is, of course, the drivers of change for short, as we have kind of a longer title going in terms of thinking about the status and trends and drivers. We have those chapters on ecosystems. What is actually happening with the different ecosystems? There are frameworks and the approaches to assessing nature.

Of course, there's bright spots, and it kind of leads-- earlier chapter leads off with the bright spots. It can't all be doom and gloom, and I would say our chapter also highlights positives in additions to negatives.

NINA MOINI: What are the bright spots? I just want to know. What are a couple of the bright spots from your chapter?

DANIELLE IGNACE: Yes, from our chapter, I would say even though we've had things like the Industrial Revolution and that perhaps maybe we didn't realize just the ramifications of the Industrial Revolution for a long time afterwards-- which, of course, included everything-- biodiversity; affected habitat loss; pollution, especially; and climate change. We look back, and we see that regulations such as the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts did have an incredible positive, a good impact on many pollutants since the 1970s.

Of course, we have new ones. We have some bad ones too. We still have problems with nutrients. And, of course, plastics remain a huge problem. But I would say one of the biggest bright spots for us-- and this is highlighted in other chapters as well-- is that we are starting to see a turnaround in that recovery and efforts of restoration. And in particular, some good examples would be the Klamath River and seeing the strong-- just a year out from that with dam removal, how quickly these systems can restore themselves to be healthier systems.

On the other hand, we see, in the Pacific Northwest, tribal communities working together and working on salmon restoration and seeing success from that, even with dams in place. And we're seeing a revitalization of cultural burning as well.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, I think what you're getting at, it sounds like, is that when people put their heads together and do make an effort, there is an impact that can be measured over time if people commit to that.

So just lastly, Danielle, the nature report you're working on is now going through, I understand, a public comment period and a scientific review before it can publish. What are the next steps, and how can the public bring their input forward?

DANIELLE IGNACE: Yeah, I would say this is the most important piece. We've worked really hard to get to this point of having a draft chapter, and now it's really the public's turn. I think all this attention that we've had from the shift from becoming part of the government's document to an independent document is that we really want to think creatively about how we use the assessment, and that really requires public comment. We want to know, what did we miss? What did we get right? What are some perspectives that we're missing? How are the ways this assessment can be used for everyone, whether it's local, state, and federal levels?

And so those public comments are really important. We have a series happening now through webinars and public and in-person public engagements. And this public comment period goes until May 30. And we also will receive back our review from the gold standard, which is the National Academy of Sciences and Engineering and Medicine. And so throughout the summer, we'll be working really hard on collating all that information and feedback and improving to get us to a final publication in the late fall.

NINA MOINI: You're wanting to make it as holistic as possible, it sounds like. Danielle, thank you so much for sharing about your work and sharing your time. I appreciate it.

DANIELLE IGNACE: Thank you for having me.

NINA MOINI: Danielle Ignace is an associate professor of forest resources at the University of Minnesota.