"After a record-breaking week of public voting, Katmai national park and preserve in Alaska has announced the winner of its “biggest Fat Bear Week yet”."

"A growing number of scientists are backing laws recognizing that nature has inherent rights and intrinsic value. A group of wetlands scientists wants the critical ecosystems they study to be next."

"On March 1, under a clear sky, hundreds of people flocked to Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park—not to picnic but to protest. Two weeks earlier, the National Park Service had fired roughly 1,000 employees."

"Jane Goodall, a scientist whose studies of wild chimpanzees made her a household name, has died at the age of 91, according to an announcement posted by the Jane Goodall Institute."

"With sizzling temperatures and a parched climate, it can be hard to survive in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. But some species have evolved to thrive in this extreme environment, including the iconic saguaro cactus. Part of the reason for this prickly plant’s success is its intimate relationship with a smaller—but similarly mighty—desert player: fungi."

"Even as scientists rush to identify the migratory paths of some endangered shark species to help better protect them, climate change and other threats shift this behavior, adding urgency to the research."

"Meet the researchers restoring these unique wetlands high in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains."

"The International Crane Foundation announced Monday that Ducky, an endangered female whooping crane the foundation planned to release into the wilds of Wisconsin this fall, died on Thursday after becoming infected with Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, a strain of avian flu."

"An Indonesian archipelago that’s home to three-fourths of Earth’s coral species, a stretch of Icelandic coast with 70% of the country’s plant life and an area along Angola’s Atlantic coast featuring savannahs, forests and estuaries are among 26 new UNESCO-designated biosphere reserves. The United Nations cultural agency says the reserves — 785 sites in 142 countries, designated since 1971 — are home to some of the planet’s richest and most fragile ecosystems."

"The Interior Department says it’s on track to meet a federal goal to increase logging on federal lands, even as timber industry analysts warn low prices, scarce sawmills, and litigation will likely threaten progress."