West
Cutting the 'green tape': Conservation group offers top 10 ways for Dept of Interior to streamline
EXCLUSIVE: A leading conservation group that champions collaboration over regulation is releasing its top 10 recommendations for the Department of the Interior to cut so-called “green tape” – as opposed to “red tape” – which seeks to streamline the agency’s work.
The Montana-based Property and Environment Research Center (PERC), a nonpartisan leader in “market solutions” for conservation, will seek to triple the rate of endangered species’ recovery, double fee revenues for national parks without putting all the onus on visitors and eliminate regulations for Americans who voluntarily want to provide assistance in managing habitat restoration.
PERC CEO Brian Yablonski told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that there is a $23 billion backlog in national parks’ infrastructure needs, conservation projects and wastewater management.
As parks grow and visitor numbers hit record levels, the Interior Department needs a responsible way to fund the increased needs without burdening U.S. taxpayers or implementing restrictions, Yablonski said.
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A view of Delicate Arch as seen through Frame Arch in Arches National Park near Moab, Utah. (Photo by Robert Alexander/Archive Photos/Getty Images)
“One way to address the needs of our national parks directly is to connect funding with demand,” Yablonski said.
Doubling fee revenue does not mean doubling fees, he said, noting that in other countries, American visitors often pay a surcharge to that park system because they do not contribute any of the baseline taxes to park conservation.
In that way, a visitor to Skyline Drive who hails from abroad should be charged a little more than a local Virginian going from Staunton to Front Royal who already pays into park coffers through taxation, he said.
However, Yablonski underlined that the national park system is unique in that 80% of fee revenue collected at any particular park stays to support that park specifically. The other 20% goes elsewhere, including supporting parks that do not charge fees. It would also “depoliticize” park funding because fees are collected independently of Congress.
Record increases in park visitors – according to the National Park Service (NPS) – have shown that people are willing to pay to enjoy America’s parkland. Therefore, an increase in the $80 America the Beautiful pass would be one area where there may not be much pain for eager park visitors. NPS reported nearly 332 million visits to parks in 2024, an increase of 6.3 million.
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The pass gets Americans into many national parks for free, allows entrance to Skyline Drive and also gives the bearer free parking at other park-owned properties, such as the Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, Amtrak station.
Reducing obstacles to voluntary conservation is one of the best ways to cut ‘green tape’,” Yablonski said. Landowners seeking to aid voluntary conservation must currently go through an at-times costly and/or strung-out chronological process before they can formally assist the agency.
“It can take up to a year to get those kind of agreements approved,” Yablonski said. “We just think there’s a way to streamline that and get those agreements approved sooner, especially if a landowner is taking measures to do voluntary conservation on his or her land,” he said.
That “green tape” cut leads into PERC’s recommendations regarding the Endangered Species Act, Yablonski added.
While the act has been effective in preventing extinction, it has not helped recover species listed as endangered.
Only 3% of endangered species have recovered and been taken off the list, while 99% remain extant.
“That’s because the tools needed for both are different. A tool to prevent extinction might be a more regulatory-oriented tool. To actually recover something and proactively improve, it is going to be more of a market-based incentive,” he said.
“The problem is we’re using the regulatory tool when we should be using the incentive-based tool. And so the idea of cutting green tape is actually what are some of the new tools to take in endangered species recovery from a number like 3% and get it to 10%. And I think it’s important to set goals because there are folks that seem to be okay with 3% recovery in the environmental community, which to me is shocking. We should want to try something different, try new things, bring new tools to bear to increase endangered species recovery.”
The full report will be available on PERC’s website on Wednesday.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Interior Department for comment on its communications with PERC thus far.
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Josh’s Monday Night Forecast
Cloudier skies have moved into New Mexico today along with warmer temperatures. A few spotty to isolated showers have also developed this afternoon across western parts of New Mexico. Overnight, upper level moisture will increase across the region. This will bring more scattered to widespread shower and storm chances starting Tuesday.
Showers, storms and high elevation snowfall will move throughout much of the region with southeast New Mexico remaining quiet through Wednesday. Drier air moves in statewide by Thursday. This will bring fewer rain chances through the end of the week along with warming temperatures into the weekend.
PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) – A major fundraiser to support local shelter animals is coming up this weekend. Oregon Humane’s Doggie Dash 2026 helps pet families across the state.
Despite the name, this year’s event is going to the cats.
“Doggie Dash is one our biggest fundraisers we do,” said Dr. Steve Kochis, chief medical officer at Oregon Humane. “Sometimes we do see some cats at the event that are on a harness in a carrier or in a backpack. While we do have Doggie Dash as the name, we are Oregon Humane and still raise money for all the pets we help.”
Access to veterinary care
With Portland’s Doggie Dash right around the corner, Kochis wants people to be aware of some of the bigger issues Oregon Humane is trying to tackle.
“It’s been an ongoing struggle with access to services, access to veterinary care, and with that comes lack of access to spay and neuter services,” Kochis said. “And then it doesn’t take long for cats to reproduce and overpopulate.”
Kelly Bremken, a veterinary social worker at Oregon Humane, said a recent case in Marion County illustrates the problem.
“Recently in Marion County there was a family who had cats they loved very much, but without access to affordable spay and neuter in their area they became overrun with cats,” Bremken said.
Oregon Humane took in 35 cats from that home, including one named Snotty Pippins after the veterinary team had to clean out his sinuses.
Connecting people and pets to resources
Bremken’s job as veterinary social worker is to find the intersection between the help people need and their pets on cases like this one.
“We really think improving the life of the person can improve the life of the pet,” Bremken said. “We want that for everybody.”
Events like Doggie Dash make sure Bremken can continue to connect community members to the resources they need for their pets.
“We want folks to know they can call on us, get assistance, and we are there for the long haul,” Bremken said.
Oregon Humane’s Doggie Dash is one of the largest gatherings of pets and people on the West Coast. Registration is $25. Doggie Dash Portland takes place Saturday, May 9, at Tom McCall Waterfront Park. A Salem event is scheduled for Saturday, June 6.
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SALT LAKE CITY — Insurance fraud costs Americans over $300 billion every year — and it’s growing.
In Utah, state investigators said half of their insurance fraud cases involve automobiles. These scams not only slow down legitimate claims, but they also jack up the premiums we pay for insurance.
“We’ve seen a steady increase over the years,” said Armand Glick, who oversees the Utah Insurance Department’s Fraud Division. “Since 2022, we’ve had an 80% increase in our referrals to our division for investigation.”
While staged accidents where criminals crash into unsuspecting drivers to make false claims do happen in Utah, Glick said most of the fraud is staged on paper in the form of false reports.
“They swerved to avoid a deer or an animal and struck a guard rail, or a hit and run in a grocery store parking lot,” Glick said of two common schemes his investigators hear.
But the biggest scheme they see, he says, is “crash and buy.” That’s where uninsured drivers buy a policy just after a crash.
“They’ll file the claim and they’ll represent that they were involved in the accident after they were insured,” said Glick.
Another common scheme involves drivers trying to lower their rates by lying about where the car is located, whether it’s used for ridesharing, or who regularly drives it. And one of the biggest increases they’ve seen lately is windshield fraud. That’s where people get insurance to cover a windshield that was already broken.
“Windshields no longer cost $300,” he said, “but they’re closer to $1,200 to $1,500.”
Whether it’s windshield fraud, a “crash and buy” or a staged collision, gaming the system causes everyone’s rates to go up.
“We pay $700 to $1,000 a year due to insurance fraud,” said Glick.
While staged accidents aren’t as common in Utah as others, it’s still possible to get caught up in one. Glick says if the other driver doesn’t want police called and insists on settling in cash that is a huge red flag.
Call police, take pics of everything. That includes photos of passengers of the car. Fraudsters like to add passengers in their claim.
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