Forests

"Good news hasn’t been easy to come by at Alberta’s emergency management centre. ... Finally, on Sunday, there was some relief."

"A catastrophic wildfire that has forced all 88,000 residents to flee Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada exploded tenfold in size on Thursday, cutting off evacuees in camps and shelters north of the city."

"Healthy forests are especially important at a time of climate change — they’re an incredible tool to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Dead forests, on the other hand, can light the spark for wildfires, which are already showing a long-predicted uptick in activity."

"With a few neighborhoods already in ruins, worsening fire conditions Wednesday pushed walls of flames toward thousands of more homes in the northeastern Alberta town, in the heart of Canada's oil sands region."

"Fort McMurray fire officials are prepared for another challenging day Wednesday as firefighters try to save the oilsands city from a massive wildfire that has destroyed homes and businesses, and forced the largest wildfire evacuation in Alberta’s history."

"Hawaii, Alaska and the Southwest face an above-average threat of wildfires this summer, but most of the country should see normal or below-normal problems, forecasters said Sunday."

"Government says 330 million people are suffering from water shortages after monsoons fail".

"The massive wildfire tearing through the southern portion of Shenandoah National Park grew substantially Thursday and crossed over to the eastern side of Skyline Drive in several spots, a development that firefighters had been hoping to prevent. And smoke from the fire has drifted as far north as Washington’s southwestern suburbs, prompting concern from residents there."

"Right now, and in the coming weeks, from Northern California to Alaska, commercial and amateur mushroom hunters will be scouring hills that were ravaged by fires last summer and fall. Their prey? Morel mushrooms."

"Shenandoah National Park is on fire and the blaze is growing. The National Park Service said that 3,000 acres have been charred since the fire started on Saturday. Officials don’t know what sparked the fire, but they think it was likely human-caused."