Conservation

The federal government is taking another round of public comment on which streams and wetlands the Clean Water Act protects. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Army announced the supplemental proposal on September 4, adding new options to their rewrite of "waters of the United States", or WOTUS, the definition that draws that...

Fishing closed on the upper Beaverhead River Sept. 1 as Clark Canyon Dam operators began cutting outflows to winter levels about a month early, and three conservation groups have asked a state judge to require Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks to explain why it is not using its senior instream flow right on the river. The Beaverhead River. Photo courtesy...

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife closed the spit fishery at the mouth of the Klamath River at 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, September 2, after projections showed anglers meeting the area's adult fall-run chinook quota. The spit is the water within 100 yards of the channel through the sand spit at the river mouth, downstream of the Highway 10...

The Government of Belize has permanently protected roughly 17,000 acres at Turneffe Atoll, signing the Turneffe Conservation Land Trust Deed of Mutual Release, Compromise, and Settlement on August 19 in Belize City. Under the settlement, the acreage remains national land under public ownership, held by the government in an irrevocable conservation trust...

The Denver Board of Water Commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to end the lawn watering season a month early, banning grass watering for the utility's 1.5 million customers after Sept. 30. The amendment to Denver Water's Stage 1 drought resolution carries no end date, and sprinklers are expected to stay off well into spring 2027 unless the board acts...

Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum signed the 2027–2028 Operating Guidelines and Record of Decision for Colorado River operations on Friday, August 21, with the combined contents of Lake Powell and Lake Mead lower than at any point since before Powell began filling in 1963. The Colorado River. Photo: Alexander Stephens/Bureau of Reclamation The...

A 190-page order finds that not one of North Carolina's 13 state-managed coastal stocks exhibits long-term viability, southern flounder and estuarine striped bass among them, and sends the case to a remedy phase with a joint report due in 45 days. Roanoke River National Wildlife Refuge. Photo: Jean Richter A Wake County Superior Court judge has ruled that...

Google announced Thursday that it will donate $600,000 to Trout Unlimited for a culvert-replacement project on a tributary of the Salt River in Apache County, Arizona, aimed at restoring streamflow and reconnecting habitat for Apache trout. Apache Trout. Photo courtesy USFWS The money will replace three undersized culverts with larger structures in the...

Trout Unlimited and Backcountry Hunters & Anglers came out the same day against the USDA's proposal, joined by national environmental groups, while the administration pressed its wildfire case. The rule stays in effect while comments run through Sept. 21. Thorne Bay, Tongass National Forest. Photo: Forest Service Alaska Region, USDA The U.S. Forest...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture filed a proposed rule and draft environmental impact statement in the Federal Register today to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule in its entirety. The public comment period is open through midnight Sept. 21. The rule currently limits road construction and timber harvest across more than 44 million acres of...