Forests

"Political gridlock has allowed the situation to worsen for decades"

"Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee on Friday released text for the farm bill and announced they will mark up the bill on Feb. 23 — with the framework drawing immediate criticism from the top Democrat on the panel who accused Republicans of filling the package with poison pills."

"Across the calm waters behind a pumping station near Lake Borgne, hundreds of saplings stand out in the mist, wrapped in white plastic cylinders. To get there and to other sites like it, organizers have ferried dozens of volunteers week after week in airboats. They have a trailer equipped with supplies. Rubber boots in all different sizes. Bins full of snacks for the end of a hard day’s work."

"Brought to the United States as an ornamental porch decoration, the kudzu vine has reshaped itself into ladder fuel for wildfires."

"Billions of American chestnut trees once covered the eastern United States. ... But by the 1950s, this venerable tree went functionally extinct, culled by a deadly airborne fungal blight and lethal root rot. A new study out Thursday in the journal Science provides hope for its revitalization, finding that the genetic testing of individual trees can reveal which are most likely to resist disease and grow tall, thus shortening how long it takes to plant the next, more robust, generation."

"President Donald Trump has nominated a hotel and food management executive to be director of the National Park Service."

"Even after legalization, illicit cannabis grows continue to pollute California’s public lands. And the contamination, new research shows, lingers."

"Chronic exposure to pollution from wildfires has been linked to tens of thousands of deaths annually in the United States, according to a new study."

"A House hearing exposed sharp divisions over whether loosening environmental laws and expanding logging will protect communities from catastrophic fires. Scientists urged a shift toward investing in fire-resilient homes and landscapes."