"A more than five-year moratorium on leasing land in California for oil and gas development will be coming to an end with a May 9 Interior Department plan to open up about 725,000 acres across the state’s Central Coast and the Bay Area for drilling."
"Steelhead trout numbers are growing on the Carmel River, a potential model for other dam removal projects nationwide".
"Australia’s ban on super-sized industrial fishing boats is far too narrow and places local fisheries under threat, environmentalists have said."
"A salmon-farming company with net pens in Rich Passage has agreed to pay $332,000 in fines after one of its floating pens collapsed in 2017, releasing a quarter-million nonnative Atlantic salmon into Puget Sound near Cypress Island, about 10 miles southwest of Bellingham."
As a battle brews over which U.S. waters are protected, environmental journalists can use an invaluable national database to pinpoint vulnerable wetlands. This week’s TipSheet has more on the National Wetlands Inventory, the backstory on wetlands protection, why it matters, and reporting resources and story ideas.
"Sea creatures, especially those that live in shallower water near the coasts, are much more vulnerable to global warming than land animals, new research shows. The scientists found that local populations of marine animals are disappearing at double the rate of land-based species."
"The Lummi Nation is dropping live salmon into the sea in a last-ditch rescue effort: ‘We don’t have much time’"
The latest release of the annual endangered rivers list provides boatloads of environmental reporting angles, including climate change-related threats like flooding and drought. This week’s TipSheet has the backstory and the new top-10 list, plus 10 suggested starting points for stories and a half-dozen key reporting resources.
