Nominee to oversee USDA conservation programs and Forest Service withdraws his name

Homer Wilkes of Mississippi, President Obama's nominee for undersecretary of agriculture for natural resources and the environment, a job that oversees the Forest Service and conservation programs in the Department of Agriculture, has withdrawn his name, citing personal reasons.

"Lobbyists who follow USDA said the withdrawal came after a bump in the road came up in Wilkes' background investigation," Noelle Straub and Allison Winter report on The New York Times' Greenwire blog. "Wilkes was unknown to many forestry, environmental and farmland conservation groups in Washington. Conservation advocates were pleased with his nomination." For more background, click here.