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The burning question: How do wildfires impact watersheds?

The burning question: How do wildfires impact watersheds?

Photo: Site of the Brian Head wildfire in Utah still showing clear impacts more than a year after the fire Image Credit: arbyreed (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). Article: Maina, F. Z., & Siirila‐Woodburn, E. R. (2020). Watersheds dynamics following wildfires: Nonlinear feedbacks and implications on hydrologic responses. Hydrological Processes , 34 (1), 33-50. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.13568

For people in the western United States, images of devastating wildfires have become a terrifyingly familiar … [more…]

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Study finds pharmaceuticals, other chemicals in remote Minnesota lakes

Study finds pharmaceuticals, other chemicals in remote Minnesota lakes

Photo: A remote lake in Cook County, Minn. A three-year study by the University of Minnesota, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa found pharmaceuticals and other chemicals in 28 lakes in northeastern Minnesota, including some with little or no human development. Courtesy Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa

A study has found pharmaceuticals and other chemicals in remote lakes in and

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What’s being done to restore wetlands?

What’s being done to restore wetlands?

Photo: As part of wetland restoration in New Jersey, teams intentionally added sediment. These additions to a degraded coastal marsh improved conditions for plant growth. Credit: Tim Welp/Christine VanZomeren

Wetlands are fun places to get muddy, enjoy the outdoors, and listen for birdsongs. They provide important habitat for wildlife, and for recreation. You’ve likely seen wetlands on the fringes of lakes, on river floodplains, along the coast, and anywhere else … [more…]

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Feds say Tule groundwater could continue to sink

photo: canal in California's Central Valley

Despite groundwater sustainability plans, Bureau of Reclamation says capacity of Friant-Kern Canal could fall by another 10% in the coming years; impact could be felt by rural communities as well

TULARE COUNTY – Without the construction of the 152-mile Friant-Kern Canal in 1951 at the cost of $61 million, many of the best producing ag areas along the east side of the San Joaquin Valley would be out of business. … [more…]

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Judge Refuses to Divert Water for Endangered Salmon on Klamath River

Judge Refuses to Divert Water for Endangered Salmon on Klamath River

Photo: The Klamath River near its mouth on the Pacific Ocean in Klamath, California. (By Daniel Wade – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)

By SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — Despite claims the federal government is pushing threatened Coho salmon closer to the brink of extinction by cutting off extra water flows to the Klamath River, a federal judge on Friday refused to intervene in the long-running water dispute.

U.S. District Judge … [more…]