wetlands

Methane 101: Understanding the Second Most Important Greenhouse Gas

Methane 101: Understanding the Second Most Important Greenhouse Gas

By Olivia Rosane and Cristen Hemingway Jaynes Quick Key Facts What Is Methane? What has no color or smell and is found in wetlands, cow burps and your basement furnace? The answer is methane — a powerful greenhouse gas that is the second most important contributor to the climate crisis after carbon dioxide (CO2). It […]

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    Wetlands 101: Everything You Need to Know

    Wetlands 101: Everything You Need to Know

    Quick Key Facts What Are ‘Wetlands’? A wetland is exactly what it sounds like: ground that is covered by or saturated with water for all or part of the year. The water that makes a wetland can come from a variety of different sources, including ocean tides; freshwater sources like lakes, rivers, or ponds; underground […]

    Beavers to Be Reintroduced to English Wetlands After 400 Years

    Beavers to Be Reintroduced to English Wetlands After 400 Years

    Native to England, Wales and Scotland, the Eurasian beaver was hunted to extinction in the 16th century, according to The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. But they have been slowly returning to England and conservationists say they are now being reintroduced to the Nene Wetlands nature reserve in Northamptonshire, England, for the first […]

    Supreme Court Ruling Against EPA ‘Undoes a Half-Century of Progress’ in Protecting Waters of the United States

    Supreme Court Ruling Against EPA ‘Undoes a Half-Century of Progress’ in Protecting Waters of the United States

    A U.S. Supreme Court decision on Thursday will further limit the regulatory reach of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by implementing a strict new test for the declaration of wetlands protected under the Clean Water Act (CWA). The case involved a couple, Chantell and Michael Sacket, who had purchased property in Idaho with plans […]

    ‘We Have No Other Home’: Alaska Tribes Sue to Stop Largest Pure Gold Mine

    ‘We Have No Other Home’: Alaska Tribes Sue to Stop Largest Pure Gold Mine

    If the Donlin Gold Mine is built as planned in Southwest Alaska, it would be the largest pure gold mine in the world. It would also lead to the filling of thousands of acres of wetlands, harm salmon and rainbow smelt and risk a catastrophic spill of 20 to 40 percent of the up to 568 million tons of toxic waste that could end up stored behind a 471-foot tailings dam.

    1,500 Square Miles of Coastal Wetlands Have Vanished in Two Decades, Study Finds

    1,500 Square Miles of Coastal Wetlands Have Vanished in Two Decades, Study Finds

    Coastal wetlands are vitally important ecosystems. They store carbon dioxide, protect seaside communities from storms and provide habitats for marine life. Yet in the past two decades, Earth has lost 4,000 square kilometers (approximately 1,544 square miles) of tidal flats, tidal marshes and mangroves, a new study published in Science Thursday found. That’s a loss […]