Aurelia Skipwith, who worked as a lawyer and in research at Monsanto, will be nominated to run the Fish and Wildlife Service

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Donald Trump is nominating a former executive of agrochemical company Monsanto to run the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Aurelia Skipwith has been the deputy assistant secretary of fish, wildlife and parks for the interior department since April 2017. She is a lawyer and was in research for six years at Monsanto, where she led a team that brought new agricultural products to market, and then was in corporate affairs, according to her self-reported work history.

Monsanto trial: judge rejects bid to overturn landmark cancer verdict Read more

Skipwith later interned with the US Department of Agriculture and was briefly a consultant for the US Agency for International Development’s food security bureau before working again in agribusiness.

The agency Skipwith would lead has not had a confirmed director since Trump took office but has moved to ease protections for at-risk species and rescinded a ban on farms within national wildlife refuges using bee-harming pesticides and genetically modified crops that can withstand them.

Sign up for the new US morning briefing

Monsanto makes those pesticides and has come under fire for its weedkiller harming honeybees that are critical for pollinating crops, and posing health risks to humans.

The interior department has also moved to shrink national monuments during Skipwith’s tenure.

The Center for Biological Diversity charged that Skipwith is “utterly unqualified” and has no education or experience in fisheries and wildlife management.

“Aurelia Skipwith has been working in the Trump administration all along to end protections for billions of migratory birds, gut endangered species safeguards and eviscerate national monuments,” said the group’s government affairs director, Brett Hartl.