"The birds are up with the sunrise — warblers, flycatchers, sparrows and towhees calling across the treetops. Deer browse on tender buds emerging from dense shrubs. Black bears scrounge for roots, insects and other edibles." "But it’s what’s underground that has drawn scientists and investors to this 23-square-mile (60-square-kilometer) tract: spongy, dense peat up to 15 feet (5 meters) deep."
"In recent years, public discourse on air quality in Utah has rightly focused on the dangers of wildfire smoke. Wildfire events across the Western United States have degraded air quality for days and weeks at a time. Yet, while headlines chase each new plume of smoke, a slower and arguably more dangerous crisis has been allowed to develop with remarkably little urgency: the drying of the Great Salt Lake and the toxic dust it is now releasing into the air that Utahns breathe every single day."
"As Australia prepares for the H5 bird flu to potentially rip through hundreds of species, residents of the Limestone Coast are already seeing the impacts"
"If you build a house in the United States today, there's a good chance you'll be living under the dictates of a neighborhood homeowners association—roughly two out of every three new homes are in an HOA, as are a third of existing homes."
"It was a glorious spring here on the lower Potomac River in 2023 for ospreys and for the townsfolk like Joanie and Barry Millward who applaud their annual return from the tropics and thrill to watch them dive for fish." "Then, a sudden and mysterious population crash: Only five chicks reached adulthood in 2024, eight in 2025."
"The Trump administration has green-lighted plans for a road through 10 miles of wilderness lands in Alaska, despite pending litigation from environmentalists who say it would destroy sensitive wetlands and prime migratory bird habitat." "Residents of a remote coastal community have long sought the gravel road, which is opposed by environmentalists who say it will destroy important migratory bird habitat."
"The BLM and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said no Mexican spotted owls lived near a proposed mine site in Arizona’s Sky Islands when it permitted mineral exploration. Photo evidence shows otherwise."
"The Department of Health and Human Services had canceled hundreds of millions of dollars in funding previously committed to help develop mRNA vaccines."
"Moderna is launching a large-scale clinical trial of a shot to combat bird flu in humans after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s department had canceled hundreds of millions of dollars in funding previously committed to aid in vaccine development.
"Since last summer, developers are no longer allowed to use a government website that helps with a basic preliminary task for projects: identifying what endangered species are found in a particular area."
"The U.S. Bureau of Land Management opened a seven-day public comment period on March 31 as part of its proposal to open 336,425 acres of public lands in the Greater Chaco Region in New Mexico to oil and gas drilling. If the proposal moves forward, new oil and gas leasing and development on federal lands will be allowed within 10 miles of Chaco Culture National Historical Park, even on lands directly bordering the park."
