Biodiversity

"From a distance, it is hard to tell whether the three figures walking the salt playa are human, bird or some other animal. Through binoculars, I see they are pelicans, juveniles, gaunt and emaciated without water or food. In feathered robes, they walk with the focus of fasting monks toward enlightenment or death."

"Scientists for the federal government say documents that Georgia state regulators relied upon to conclude a proposed mine won’t harm the nearby Okefenokee Swamp and its vast wildlife refuge contain technical errors and “critical shortcomings” that render them unreliable."

"While Interior Secretary Deb Haaland wants to restore more bison across the country, Yellowstone’s famous herd suffered through one of the deadliest winters on record, with the animals easy prey for hunters as they sauntered across the park’s northern border in search of food."

"An unusually virulent type of toxoplasmosis is killing California sea otters — and may pose an eventual public health threat to other marine animals and to humans, a new study has found."

"A deadly fungus spreading at an alarming rate in U.S. health facilities has exposed the broader problem of how patient safety is jeopardized by underfunded and understaffed infection-prevention efforts, experts say."

"President Joe Biden on Tuesday will designate two landscapes — Nevada’s Spirit Mountain, an area that is sacred to a dozen Native American tribes, and Castner Range, a former military weapon testing facility in West Texas — as America’s newest national monuments."

"Tickborne disease has been on the rise in the US, with the number of cases growing 25% from 2011 to 2019. Among them is babesiosis, which has become significantly more prevalent in the Northeast in recent years."

"Alarmed by plummeting stocks of commercial fisheries in the Chesapeake Bay, officials in Maryland and Virginia are scrambling to control invasive fish species that are causing at least part of the problem."

"A study from the U.S. Geological Survey called the state’s python problem “one of the most intractable invasive-species management issues across the globe.”"