wetlands

20 Stories

Why Some Cranberry Farmers Are Giving Up Their Bogs

In Massachusetts, a push to give some a second life as wetlands

(Newser) - About this time of the year, Jarrod Rhodes should be checking on the vines of cranberries that have grown on his bog for decades in southeastern Massachusetts. Instead, he is watching a backhoe tear up the cranberry bog, exposing the dark peat underneath that will eventually become a meandering stream...

Beavers Save Czech Taxpayers $1.2M
Beavers Save Czech
Taxpayers $1.2M
Feb 13, 2025 11:40 AM CST

Beavers Save Czech Taxpayers $1.2M

They get a dam without ever breaking ground

(Newser) - Moving slowly through the red tape of bureaucracy sometimes pays off, as in the Czech Republic, where officials planned to build a $1.2 million dam to help protect the river habitat of critically endangered crayfish. The project, first proposed in 2018, was long delayed by negotiations over the protected...

This Lake Just Saw Its Worst Botulism Outbreak

More than 94K birds have died at Tule Lake, with outbreak tied to climate change, per officials

(Newser) - California's Tule Lake has seen its fair share of disasters in recent years. In 2020, a botulism outbreak at the national wildlife refuge killed an estimated 60,000 birds. The following year, birds vanished as the lake, which has existed for hundreds of thousands of years, dried up for...

The Venus Flytrap Is in Danger. This Woman Is on a Mission

'Mother Jones' reports on the plant's shrinking habitat in the Carolinas

(Newser) - You can go to a run-of-the-mill garden shop and buy a Venus flytrap. Try to find one in the wild, though, and it's a different story. As Jackie Flynn Mogensen writes at Mother Jones , the plant grows naturally in only one place on Earth—the Carolinas. Specifically, in the...

Biden Administration Weakens Wetlands Protections

Feds say SCOTUS ruling left them with no choice

(Newser) - The Biden administration weakened regulations protecting millions of acres of wetlands Tuesday, saying it had no choice after the Supreme Court sharply limited the federal government's jurisdiction over them. A new rule requires that wetlands be more clearly connected to other waters like oceans and rivers, a policy shift...

Jackson Has Day 1 Questions
Jackson Has Day 1 Questions
Oct 3, 2022 4:20 PM CDT

Jackson Has Day 1 Questions

Newest justice follows line of thought similar to Kagan and Sotomayor in wetlands case

(Newser) - Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was not just seated on the Supreme Court on Monday, she was a full participant in the business at hand. Jackson asked several questions during almost two hours of arguments on Monday, at the beginning of her first day on the job as an associate justice,...

Bodies of Water Are Suing the State of Florida

Orange County lakes, streams file suit against state, housing developer under 'right of nature' law

(Newser) - Late last year, voters in Orange County, Fla., pushed through a "rights of nature" law, making it the largest US municipality to do so, per a November release from the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights. The legislation basically gives rights to rivers, streams, marshes, and lakes throughout the...

Keystone's 2nd Big Spill in 2 Years: 'What's Going On?'

Nearly 400K gallons of crude oil leaked onto half-acre in North Dakota on Tuesday

(Newser) - "Two cracks on a fairly new pipeline—geez, what’s going on?" That's a legitimate question to ask about the Keystone XL pipeline, a safety expert tells the Star Tribune , considering that an apparent rupture in the controversial pipeline Tuesday in North Dakota is the second major one...

Farmer Faces $2.8M Fine for Plowing Field
Farmer Faces $2.8M Fine
for Plowing Field
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
May 28, 2017 12:27 PM CDT

Farmer Faces $2.8M Fine for Plowing Field

John Duarte is accused of disturbing California wetlands

(Newser) - California farmer John Duarte could be facing a $2.8 million fine—and may be ordered to pay millions more in wetlands mitigation—for an offense he describes thusly: "Planting wheat in a wheat field," something he says had been done many times previously. Duarte has been fighting...

Iraq's 'Garden of Eden' Added to Prestigious List

Wetlands of southern Iraq are one of 12 new UNESCO world heritage sites

(Newser) - Fed by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, vast and remote wetlands along the border with Iran in southern Iraq that are considered to be the biblical "Garden of Eden" have just been named a UNESCO world heritage site, the United Nations reports. Among the 12 new sites added to...

How Louisiana Crippled a Vast Environmental Lawsuit

Historian John Barry is still fighting to restore state wetlands

(Newser) - A Louisiana historian wants oil and gas companies to help restore state wetlands that are vanishing by the day—but politicians are fighting him tooth and nail, the New York Times Magazine reports. John Barry, a gritty ex-weightlifter who writes US history books, watches in horror as Louisiana wetlands recede...

Scientists Revolt in Perry Climate Change Clash

Authors of Texas report want their names deleted

(Newser) - Officials appointed by Rick Perry have sparked a new firestorm in Texas over climate change science, the Guardian reports. Every scientist behind a recent 200-page environmental report is demanding to have his name stricken from the document after state officials deleted references to climate change. "This is simply antithetical...

Wolves Rescue Wetlands of Yellowstone Park

Their return sets off chain of events for ecosystem

(Newser) - After wolves were exterminated in Yellowstone National Park in the early 1900s, a domino of effects from their loss led to an almost complete collapse of the wetlands ecosystem. Now the wolves are back—after 66 were introduced between 1995-1996, the population has reached 200 packs with 1,700 members—...

Cajuns Wonder If Gulf Spill Is Last Straw
 Cajuns Wonder If 
 Gulf Spill Is Last Straw 
PARADISE LOST?
Jul 19, 2010 2:40 PM CDT

Cajuns Wonder If Gulf Spill Is Last Straw

Many plan to stay till the bitter end, if need be

(Newser) - The sultry, salty soul of Louisiana's Cajun culture is inextricably bound to the rhythm of the waters of the Gulf: The sea provides plentiful food, work, and a lifestyle that has endured since the Cajuns settled there in the 1700s. But the sea has also been quick to punish, and...

Scientists: Flood the Mississippi to Save Coast

This 'gentle flushing' could protect wetlands from oil

(Newser) - In order to prevent the Gulf oil spill reaching Louisiana's wetlands, scientists propose a unique idea: flood the Mississippi River. This Popular Mechanics article explains how the Mississippi water flow acts as a natural counter-force against the current-driven oil plume's course toward land.

Should We Torch the Wetlands?
 Should We Torch the Wetlands? 
May 25, 2010 4:00 AM CDT

Should We Torch the Wetlands?

Controlled burn may be 'least bad' option

(Newser) - There are no good options for dealing with the oil soaking Louisiana wetlands but setting it on fire may be the best of the bad options available, scientists say. A controlled burn in a marsh area soaked in oil during Hurricane Katrina removed around 90% of the oil and allowed...

In Alaska, Melting Glaciers Cause Land to Rise

Glaciers receding 30 feet each year

(Newser) - Around Juneau, Alaska, climate change is causing an unexpected problem, the New York Times reports: As glaciers melt, the land is rising away from the sea. The change—10 feet in about 200 years—is enough to dry up local streams and wetland habitats, and is the result of land...

Ike Pounded Fragile Ecosystems
 Ike Pounded Fragile Ecosystems
Sep 18, 2008 3:43 AM CDT

Ike Pounded Fragile Ecosystems

Coastal damage from development intensified storm's impact

(Newser) - Hurricane Ike caused massive damage to fragile coastal ecosystems already clobbered by development, the Dallas Morning News reports. Damage to wetlands vital to a vast range of life could take a generation to heal, scientists warn. As with Hurricane Katrina, human development had already destroyed marshes and other natural defenses,...

EPA's New Rules Allow Wetlands Trade-Offs

Developers can destroy if they create others elsewhere; environmentalists dismayed

(Newser) - The Environmental Protection Agency today issued new wetlands-protection rules with a focus on “mitigation banking”— creating marshes elsewhere in compensation for those destroyed by development, the AP reports. The EPA argues that mitigation banking ensures the most overall wetlands protection because wetlands are often irrevocably damaged by construction,...

5 Last-Ditch Plans to Save Earth
5 Last-Ditch Plans to Save Earth
Aug 22, 2007 2:25 PM CDT

5 Last-Ditch Plans to Save Earth

Crank up your ingenuity and combat climate change the MacGyver way

(Newser) - If reducing emissions was Plan A to save the earth from global warming, these plans from Popular Science would be more like Plan ... Z:
  1. Make more Arctic ice—out of saltwater.
  2. Cool the oceans, which feed storms with warm water, by sucking up cold water from the ocean floor with
...

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