Biodiversity

"As the Colorado River and its once massive reservoirs shrink from overuse and climate change, officials are faced with a decision that pits conservation against ratepayer costs for electricity."

"Democrats said Tuesday they intend to fight the Trump administration’s plan to eradicate a deep-ocean observation system critical to understanding climate change and marine ecosystems."

"Fewer than 100 Rice’s whales remain on Earth. Here’s what they sound like when they communicate. They live only in the Gulf of Mexico, where air guns firing sonic blasts are used to survey the ocean floor for oil and gas. The low frequency of the blasts overlaps with the frequency of the calls of the whales."

"Lax regulations and mismanaged applications in the US are to blame for the tons of nitrogen fertilizer that runs off into waterways each year and contributes to water and air pollution, cancer and environmental damage, according to a report released Monday."

"National Park Service officials repeatedly raised legal and environmental concerns over the Trump administration’s plan to lease public parkland, including the site of a professional tennis tournament, to a private operator widely expected to be the tournament’s operator, according to records reviewed by The Washington Post."

"In 1782, when the United States adopted the bald eagle as its national symbol, anecdotal accounts stated that the country may have had as many as 100,000 nesting eagles. By the mid-1900s, habitat destruction, illegal shooting, and DDT contamination had driven bald eagles near extinction."

"Executive orders limiting off-road vehicle access to federal lands signed decades ago by Presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter have been revoked by President Donald Trump, drawing concerns over possible impacts to Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service lands and perhaps some in the National Park System."

"Trackers that ping satellites every time a whale surfaces for air. Thermal cameras that can detect the animals day and night. Acoustic devices that monitor their calls." "Innovative systems to keep ships from hitting North Atlantic right whales are coming into use. The Trump administration is weighing whether they can replace a bedrock protection."

"Brazil’s government announced Wednesday that it will invest $75 million in the BR-319 highway cutting through the Amazon rainforest, a project environmentalists say could accelerate deforestation and worsen climate change."