Trouble on the Elwha: Trump’s Budget Cuts Undermine Salmon Restoration
"A staffing exodus at Olympic National Park has put salmon recovery efforts in jeopardy."

EJToday is a daily weekday digest of top environment/energy news and information of interest to environmental journalists, independently curated by Editor Joseph A. Davis. Sign up below to receive in your inbox. For queries, email EJToday@SEJ.org. For more info, read an EJToday FAQ. Plus, follow EJToday on social media at @EJTodayNews, and flag stories of note by including the @EJTodayNews handle on your posts. And tell us how to make EJToday even better by taking this brief survey.
Want to join the EJToday team? Volunteer time commitments can vary from just an hour a month up to a daily contribution, and would involve helping to curate content of interest. To learn more, reach out to the director of publications, Adam Glenn, at sejournaleditor@sej.org.
Note: Members have additional options to choose from (you'll need your log-in info).
"A staffing exodus at Olympic National Park has put salmon recovery efforts in jeopardy."
"The Trump administration tried to end the government's Energy Star program last year, but now Congress has passed — and President Trump has signed into law — bipartisan budget legislation that has the potential to strengthen the energy efficiency program by giving it dedicated funding."
"The sun has set and the clouds are washed in purple as Mauricio Contreras and his daughter Eunices head out to fish in the Gulf of Mexico. Eunices casts the heavy net for snapper, pollock or cabrilla while her father pilots their small boat."
"The Florida Reef, heralded in tourist come-ons as a “world-class natural wonderland waiting to be discovered,” is a vast and vibrant underwater world, extending from Atlantic Ocean waters north of Biscayne National Park, arcing south around the bottom of Florida, and swinging into the Gulf of Mexico where Dry Tortugas National Park is mostly submerged."
"Even as China’s expansion of solar and wind power raced ahead in 2025, the Asian giant opened many more coal power plants than it had in recent years — raising concern about whether the world’s largest emitter will reduce carbon emissions enough to limit climate change."
"Amid one of the driest winters on record, representatives from seven Western states have less than two weeks to meet an already-delayed federal deadline to find a new way to share the dwindling Colorado River—one that recognizes the megadrought and overconsumption plaguing the basin."
"The Trump administration has turned to an unusual weapon in its attempt to resurrect coal mining – a cartoon lump of coal, complete with giant eyes and yellow mining garb, called “Coalie”."
"A new study published Monday in the Lancet puts a number on the potential human toll as the global humanitarian system cracks apart, projecting an extra 9.4 million deaths by 2030 if the current trends persist." "The Lancet study examines how the dismantling of international aid by the U.S. and other countries could undo decades of health gains."
"A House hearing exposed sharp divisions over whether loosening environmental laws and expanding logging will protect communities from catastrophic fires. Scientists urged a shift toward investing in fire-resilient homes and landscapes."
"One year after President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, at least a third of the lawyers on staff at the Justice Department’s environment division have walked out the door, gutting the government’s capacity to defend its own energy and climate policies and kneecapping its power to keep polluters in check."
"President Donald Trump has gone beyond policy overhauls to fundamentally alter the way the government talks about climate change and the environment, limiting or outright deleting countervailing language and evidence during the first year of his second term in office."
"While record snowfall and single-digit temperatures pummel much of the United States, an extreme snow drought and unusually warm weather are keeping skiers off the mountains, snowmobilers off the trails and water out of the rivers across much of the West."
"Facing staunch local opposition and federal roadblocks, a new wind project in Iowa is teetering on the brink, despite growing power demand."
"Tri-State and Platte River become the first utilities to challenge Trump’s emergency stay-open orders for coal plants, citing the cost to customers."
"A budget bill moving through Congress this week would defund a 5-year-old program designed to expand electric-vehicle charging stations."