Water & Oceans

"As a youngster, Barry McCovey Jr. would sneak through metal gates and hide from security guards just to catch a steelhead trout in Blue Creek amid northwestern California redwoods. Since time immemorial, his ancestors from the Yurok Tribe had fished, hunted and gathered in this watershed flanked by coastal forests. But for more than 100 years, these lands were owned and managed by timber companies, severing the tribe’s access to its homelands."

"A federal judge last week sided with environmental groups and US regulators in a dispute with an Iowa landowner over a Farm Bill provision that protects wetlands."

"Recent fixes to long-standing problems at the Federal Emergency Management Agency are in jeopardy as the Trump administration slashes programs and cuts staff, emergency experts warn."

"Before the remnants of Hurricane Helene swamped this town, the Super 8 Motel, wedged between a highway and the Swannanoa River, provided affordable short and long-term housing for dozens of people who couldn't find affordable housing elsewhere."

"The biggest source of salty freshwater in D.C. and other major northern inland cities is an overapplication of road salt to thaw winter ice, which runs off into rivers or the ground." 

"Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told a congressional committee that the US National Hurricane Center was fully staffed even though key positions are going unfilled as hurricane season begins."

"“Sunny day” flooding is now a thing down the shore, where the tides have risen at twice the global average. Sooner or later, “we’re not going to be able to protect everything everywhere,” one state official says." 

"An environmental group filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue over staffing concerns at the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge, established specifically to protect the sea cows." 

"A massive cloud of dust from the Sahara Desert blanketed most of the Caribbean on Monday in the biggest event of its kind this year as it heads toward the United States."

"With predictions for a busy hurricane season beginning Sunday, experts in storms and disasters are worried about something potentially as chaotic as the swirling winds: Massive cuts to the federal system that forecasts, tracks and responds to hurricanes."