Tippets: Florida’s Red Tide Declared State of Emergency, Beavers as Ecosystem Engineers

August 22, 2018 By: Erin Block

  • Florida Gov. Rick Scott has declared a state of emergency in seven Florida counties due to the toxic algae bloom that continues to kill marine life in the state. While occasional fish die-offs are a natural phenomenon, there’s a more disturbing aspect to the severity and length of this particular event. “Florida’s landscape and the flow of water have been radically altered by agriculture, canals, ditches, dikes, levees and the sprawling housing developments that have sprouted as the state’s population has boomed,” writes Joel Achenbach in The Washington Post.
  • From creating pools that sustain salmon populations to helping mediate effects of climate change, beavers are the “ultimate ecosystem engineers,” writes Ben Goldfarb. Read more about how beavers are an integral part of healthy watersheds via The Sierra Club.