Forests

"The Major oak, one of Europe’s oldest, largest and most celebrated ancient trees, has died."

"Katherine Levy remembers a childhood deeply rooted in the natural offerings of Lake Tahoe – water skiing in the summer and working as ski instructor on the surrounding snow-covered mountains during winter months." "A US government plan to spray multiple types of herbicides – including the cancer-linked glyphosate weed killer – within national forest property that abuts the community’s cherished lake."

"In the days after Hurricane Helene devastated the southern Appalachians in late September 2024, Blue Ridge Parkway Superintendent Tracy Swartout went up in a helicopter to survey the damage. What she saw was deeply troubling. 'When Helene happened, we ended up with 58 landslides spread across 200 linear miles of the parkway,' Swartout says."

"Few public universities get more federal research funding than the University of Washington."

"A hidden circulatory system pulses just beneath the planet’s surface. There, embedded in the soil, are dense networks of microorganisms known as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. These fungi attach themselves to the roots of plants, sending long, thin filaments out through the soil. These ferry water and nutrients to plants and whisk away carbon, helping to keep vast quantities of it out of the atmosphere."

“As the West enters a high-risk wildfire season, Nevada’s largest utility is asking state regulators to OK a $500 million insurance policy funded by its ratepayers."

“Extreme drought and rising temperatures in the US are poised to overwhelm the Trump administration’s plans to control wildfire by logging federal forests, scientists say."

"With a puny snowpack in the Western mountains and a widespread drought, the nation is a tinderbox. A reorganization of federal firefighting efforts and the departure of many staff qualified to join the fight are heightening concern."

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

First, the good news: A new analysis of global wildfire activity in 2025 shows that the year had the second-lowest area burned since 2002. 

But at the same time, the study also revealed that the world experienced some of the most destructive and deadly fire events in recent history, including the catastrophic Los Angeles fires of January 2025 that killed dozens and burned over 12,000 homes.

"The Interior Department unveiled Thursday the first iteration of a new public tool for mapping federal lands and waters, rolling out a unified “national map” with boundaries used by five agencies."