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Washington watersheds deserve better data

Water-typing is the name for a process of identifying and cateorizing streams, lakes, and wetlands in terms of their importance for biodiversity and human use. It's a pretty basic inventory developed by the Washington Department of Natural Resources in the 1970s, and it works, but only when it's done right.

The accompanying image shows what happens when it's done wrong. In January, this important habitat for fish was logged without any protection simply because the map was in error: it failed to show that this stream supported fish. Normally, this sort of waterway would have at least received a 58 foot buffer. An important regional group, the Wild Fish Conservancy (the author of the photo), has demonstrated that the original maps underestimate the actual miles of fish-bearing streams statewide by up to 50 percent!

Buffalo and Behold

Herds of migrating wildlife survive and thrive in southern Sudan Wildlife populations are thriving in, of all places, war-wracked southern Sudan. The first aerial wildlife survey of the country taken in 25 years found herds of more than a million gazelle and antelope, migrating in formations up to 30 miles across and 50 miles long. […]

OK, We’re Moving to Iceland

World Health Organization ranks countries’ environmental health To those who think environmentalism is all about prioritizing starfish over humans, read on: Cleaning up the globe’s air and water could save 13 million lives every year, according to the World Health Organization. Yesterday, WHO released a country-by-country analysis of health issues in 192 nations, factoring in […]

Don’t Count Your Hatchery Salmon Before They Hatch, or Even After

Judge rules hatchery fish don’t count when determining ESA status A federal judge in Washington state has overturned a contentious Bush administration policy that had tallied hatchery-raised fish as well as wild populations when determining the species’ status under the Endangered Species Act. Under that policy, that a collection of green groups sued to overturn, […]

Bad to the Roan

BLM OKs drilling on Colorado’s Roan Plateau, new grazing rules blocked Steamrolling the opinions of various Colorado politicians, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has OK’d oil and gas drilling on 73,602 acres of the Roan Plateau, known to be rich in both underground fossil fuels and aboveground wildlife. Two of Colorado’s Democratic representatives had […]

Authenticity

I’m sitting in a coffee shop just off Dupont Circle, blogging using the free wi-fi. At last I feel like a real blogger!

U.S. Army dumps 64 million pounds of chemical weapons into the ocean

What to do with 64 million pounds of leftover nerve and mustard gas? Eh, just dump it off the coast of Jersey. Thanks, U.S. Army! (h/t: Think Progress)

Progress Doesn’t Pay

North Carolina fines driver for not paying taxes on vegetable-oil fuel A kerfuffle in North Carolina shows what might be in store for users of DIY fuel: the state fined a veggie-oil-burning driver $1,000 for not paying fuel taxes, told him to expect a $1,000 fine from the feds, and informed him that he’d have […]

Phosphorus Is Bad Phor Us

Gulf of Mexico “dead zone” still large and in charge As happens every spring, billions of pounds of nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural fertilizer have made their way down the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico, invigorating massive algae blooms that suck up oxygen and create a massive “dead zone.” In 2001, a task […]

Water You Waiting For?

Donate to Grist, win a chance at splash-tastic prizes You know how two-thirds of the planet is covered in water? Funny thing: we still need to raise two-thirds of our fundraising goal, and today we’re featuring water-related prizes. See the connection there? See it? Ahem. To show just how grateful we are to those of […]