Trump canceled the ‘National Nature Assessment.’ Scientists want to publish it anyway

Kim Malcolm and John O’Brien · KUOW · February 11, 2025

Featuring Howard Frumkin, Nature and Health co-founder and Steering Committee member

After months of work, a group of scientists were close to publishing a U.S. government study called the National Nature Assessment. Experts in various fields had measured the relative health of lands, water and wildlife. One of the goals was to gauge what changes in the natural world might mean for humans. Then, President Trump took office for a second time. Within days, the first draft of the study was shelved.

Howard Frumkin is a professor emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington School of Public Health. He told KUOW’s Kim Malcolm about his work on the study.