Forest Resources Associate Professor Danielle Ignace is one of a select group of scientists behind a first-of-its-kind assessment of the health of nature across the US. The report's federal funding was cancelled shortly before it was due last year, so participating scientists figured out how to publish it independently. Now, that report (renamed the Nature Record) is open for peer review.
The report is receiving national attention due to its novelty and importance, including in the New York Times and on MPR News.
"It's kind of shocking to realize that, oh, this [report] hasn't been done before," Danielle told MPR News reporter Nina Moini in an interview. "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."
Together with Maureen Kearney, senior research scientist at the Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes at Arizona State University, Danielle co-led the Drivers of Change chapter, which examines how and why Earth system processes and human activities, technologies, and governmental policies drive changes in nature.
Learn more about the value of the report and the process of publishing it independently, or read the full report online:
- Read “Nature Report, Killed by Trump, Is Released Independently” in the New York Times.
- Read or listen to “Trump canceled a landmark nature report. Scientists are publishing it anyway” on MPR
- Read the full report online: the Nature Record