Trump administration sabotages major conservation effort, defying Congress

Revealed: federal support to research centers cut off as scientists fear years of successful work will go 'down the drain'

Scientists and officials around the US have told the Guardian that the Trump administration has withdrawn funding for a large, successful conservation program - in direct contradiction of instructions from Congress.

Unique in scale and ambition, the program comprises 22 research centers that tackle big-picture issues affecting huge swaths of the US, such as climate change, flooding and species extinction. They are known as Landscape Conservation Cooperatives - or were, because 16 of them are now on indefinite hiatus or have dissolved.