Natural Resources

"An unconventional gathering helped spur ideas to speed the pace and scale of river restoration projects across the West."

"Alaska and Nebraska are the only states that say they’re actively pursuing taking over the EPA’s dredge-and-fill permitting program for waters and wetlands as the agency prepares to update its rule governing such takeovers."

"Ever since the first offshore platforms went up off Louisiana 85 years ago, the Gulf of Mexico has been an oil and gas juggernaut. But decades of drilling has left behind more than 14,000 old, unplugged wells at risk of springing dangerous leaks and spills that may cost more than $30 billion to plug, a new study has found."

"The land near Yosemite National Park had been tended by Irene Vasquez’s family for decades. They took care of their seven acres by setting small fires to thin vegetation and help some plants to grow. But the steep, chaparral-studded slopes surrounding the property hadn’t seen fire since Vasquez and fellow members of the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation were barred from practicing cultural burning on a wider scale some 100 years before."

"A change in weather conditions has helped firefighters fight the wildfires that have forced thousands of Albertans to flee their homes this past week, officials from the Alberta Emergency Management Agency and Alberta Wildfire said Sunday."

"The sucker-mouthed marine lamprey has been dismissed as grotesque and a threat to sport fish. But fisheries managers in New England and the Pacific Northwest are recognizing the ecological importance of lampreys in their native waters and are stepping up efforts to help them recover."

"Whales seem to find food by sniffing for a chemical cue. Scientists are hoping to turn this into an early warning system to help save the imperiled species."

"Two companies named in a B.C. Supreme Court case have made claims to Ehattesaht land — while the First Nation argues the province should stop automatically giving away mineral rights to its territory".

"The chance of an El Niño weather phenomenon developing in the coming months has risen, the United Nations has said, warning that it could fuel higher global temperatures and possibly new heat records."

"Hawaii lawmakers failed to pass a bill that would have made tourists help pay for the protection of the state’s forests and wildlife even though the idea has widespread public and political support."