Environment

Budget Cuts Force Colorado National Forest To Rely On Volunteer Labor

6:32pm July 07, 2015

by Marci Krivonen

Uniformed volunteers are working visitors centers and monitoring trails in the busiest national forest in the country. The White River National Forest in Colorado is increasingly relying on free labor as federal budget cuts continue. The volunteers are doing what forest service staff used to do, including maintaining trails and educating visitors about bear safety.

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This is a calculated flood map for the city of St. Louis. Water depth goes from deep (dark blue) to shallow (white, light blue). Floodwater can come from the Illinois, Upper Mississippi and Missouri rivers, as well as from heavy local precipitation.

Flood Maps Can Get Much Sharper With A Little Supercomputing Oomph

2:36pm July 06, 2015

by Joe Palca

Entrepreneurs are turning to Oak Ridge National Lab's supercomputer to make all sorts of things, including maps that are much more accurate in predicting how a neighborhood will fare in a flood.

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How A Historical Blunder Helped Create The Water Crisis In The West

2:28pm July 06, 2015

In 1922, seven states drew up a plan for dividing the waters of the Colorado River. But they overestimated how much water the river could provide — and now 40 million Americans face a water crisis.

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Graze the Roof is a community-produced garden that grows vegetables on the rooftop of a church in San Francisco.

How Newbie Gardeners Can Safely Grow Food On Urban Land

1:22pm July 06, 2015

by Maanvi Singh

More and more city dwellers are trying their hand at urban gardening. Most know to be wary of lead in their soil, but fewer are aware of how to avoid other types of contaminants.

Darlene Arviso is known as the water lady in Smith Lake, N.M., on the Navajo Nation. She delivers water to 250 people each month. Here, she fills buckets from her water truck.

For Many Navajo, A Visit From The 'Water Lady' Is A Refreshing Sight

1:10pm July 06, 2015

by Laurel Morales

For decades, residents of the Navajo Nation's Smith Lake community have had to make their water stretch; a mission trucks it in monthly from 50 miles away. But soon, they'll be getting their own well.

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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Forensics Lab Director Ken Goddard holds a wood sample used in the lab's forensic work in Ashland, Ore.

Wildlife Forensics Lab Uses Tech To Sniff, Identify Illegal Wood

11:04am July 04, 2015

by Jes Burns

International timber trafficking is an estimated $100 billion business. A lab that usually focuses on endangered animal cases is using a sophisticated machine to identify contraband wood shipments.

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Panthers roam in rural Collier County, in southwest Florida. As the Florida state animal's population has grown, wildlife officials may seek to take the panther off the endangered species list.

On The Rebound, Panthers Prowl Expanding Swath Of Land In Florida

6:31pm July 03, 2015

by Greg Allen

From a low of about 20, the population of Florida's state animal has grown to about 200 — enough, wildlife officials say, to warrant taking them off the endangered species list. Not everyone agrees.

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A woman in Yatta, Kenya, explains how to make clean water using a car battery and just the right mixture of salt and water.

How Salt + Car Battery = Clean Water

7:27pm July 02, 2015

by Jessie Rack

A clever device uses technology developed by the military to make chlorine quickly and cheaply. The goal is to give schools and hospitals around the world an easy way to purify water.

BP To Pay $18.7 Billion In Landmark Settlement Over 2010 Gulf Oil Spill

6:35pm July 02, 2015

by Jeff Brady

Oil giant BP agreed to pay $18.7 billion in a settlement announced on Friday by Gulf Coast states and the federal government. The deal pays for the harm from BP's 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which was the worst in U.S. history. The accident killed 11 rig workers.

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BP Settlement To Address Ecosystem Damage Caused By Oil Spill

6:35pm July 02, 2015

NPR's Rachel Martin talks with Bethany Kraft, director of the Gulf Restoration Program at Ocean Conservancy, about the BP spill's impact on the environment to date.

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