Alaska and Hawaii

"After a summer spent packing away sockeye salmon, Alaska’s heftiest brown bears are ready to throw their weight around."

"The Interior Department will soon publish a “categorical exclusion” that will rubber stamp oil and gas development in Alaska’s remote National Petroleum Reserve."

"A federal judge in Alaska this week struck down the Trump administration’s decision to green-light a land exchange that had paved the way for a 10.5-mile road to be blazed through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge."

"The Trump administration plans to remove restrictions on logging across more than 40 million acres of national forest, the Agriculture Department said."

"Hurricane Lala skirted Hawaii’s Big Island Saturday without making landfall and is expected to gradually weaken after lashing the region with strong winds and drenching rain that flooded roads and turned rivers into raging torrents."

"Tropical Storm Lala formed Thursday in the Pacific Ocean and a hurricane watch has been issued for the Big Island of Hawaii, where it could bring heavy rain and flooding this weekend, forecasters said."

"The moon’s shadow will descend upon Earth on Wednesday, and some will bear witness to a total solar eclipse. But the universe won’t stop there: At night, nature’s fireworks will accent the sky as the Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak."

"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."

"Zombie fires are not a new phenomenon, but researchers in Alaska and the Northwest Territories of Canada have found that with hotter summers and blazing wildfires, fire has the potential to lie dormant in dry undergrowth, even under snow. When the next summer rolls around, with dry conditions, those fires can reemerge."

"The Trump administration struck down prohibitions on commercial fishing Thursday across more than 500,000 square miles of marine national monuments in the Pacific Ocean, as environmental groups vowed to challenge the action in federal court." "The president has now signed orders to eliminate commercial fishing bans in all five national marine monuments."