Apple CEO Tim Cook announced during a White House summit on cybersecurity that Apple Pay is partnering with the federal government for some financial transactions. While reaffirming that Apple does not track Apple Pay data, Cook said the service will be available for many government-related transactions starting in September. This includes paying for admission into...
Learn MoreThe Genetically Modified (GM) farming system has made exposure to Roundup herbicide a daily fact of our existence, and according to the latest US Geological Survey study its probably in the air you are breathing. It reveals that Roundup herbicide (aka glyphosate) and its still-toxic degradation byproduct AMPA were found in over 75% of the air and rain samples tested from...
Learn MoreThis spring, work crews will suit up and go to the rescue of eastern and Carolina Hemlock trees infested by the woolly adelgid, a tiny invasive insect striking down these majestic trees. Late last year, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation received a grant from the Hemlock Restoration Initiative to collaborate with the National Park Service to help save these disappearing...
Learn MoreIn 2010 Wyoming became the first state to require oil and gas companies to disclose chemicals used in fracking operations. Home to the petroleum-rich Powder River Basin, proponents saw the rule as a model for other drilling-dependent states to follow. The message they hoped the regulation would convey: We can be energy-friendly and environmentally friendly too. But the...
Learn MoreCongress, which in December passed legislation that created a number of new national park units, is now being asked to expand by 75,000 acres the Mojave National Preserve as well as Death Valley and Joshua Tree national parks, while also being called upon to create two new national monuments. U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer are working to build upon a...
Learn MoreA community close to the proposed Maine North Woods National Park has drafted a letter that outlines the requirements it would like to see met before it could support such a park. The letter drafted by the Town Manager of Millinocket to U.S. Sen. Angus King, Maine’s former governor, touches on a number of issues, from air quality and the eventual size of such a...
Learn MoreAs morning light painted the far-reaching buttes of the Grand Canyon gold, Renae Yellowhorse stood at the edge of the canyon’s rim, looked out toward where the rivers met below her, and smiled. “It is my church, it is where I say my prayers. It is where I give my offerings. It’s where I commune with the holy ones, the gods that walk along the...
Learn MoreSkiers and snowboarders often overlook that most of the thrills and spills they have at a Colorado resort take place with publicly owned lands underfoot. So as tens of thousands of spectators converge on the White River National Forest for the 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships at Vail and Beaver Creek, the U.S. Forest Service thinks it’s a great time to raise the...
Learn MoreThe U.S Forest Service wants to hit the reset button on its planning process for Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests in North Carolina. The agency is planning a new series of public meetings, tentatively scheduled for April, regarding its ongoing forest plan revision, which will guide management of the two forests for at least a decade, said Kristin Bail, supervisor of...
Learn MoreIn 2014 there was an agreement between the U.S. and Mexico that allowed for the release of water into the Colorado River Delta. Known as a pulse flow, it lasted from late March to mid-May last year. Scientists have now returned to the path of the historic pulse flow, a release of water designed to rejuvenate the delta that has been totally dry for decades. By all...
Learn MorePresident Obama’s budget request for fiscal year 2016 — the centennial year of the National Park Service — includes $3 billion for the bureau’s critical conservation, preservation, and recreation mission. The budget boosts the National Park Service’s essential programs and operational needs by $432.9 million. The president’s budget highlights the importance of investing...
Learn MoreBP will support a shareholder resolution calling on the company to release information about how climate change could affect its business. It’s the second big win for climate-conscious investors this year: Shell agreed to support a similar resolution last week. Both the Shell and BP resolutions were submitted by a coalition of activist investor groups representing more...
Learn MoreThe North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission has publicly denounced the red wolf reintroduction in coastal counties, calling for the red wolves to be rounded up — despite being the only wild population of red wolves on the planet. Last week, the Commission adopted two resolutions: one requesting that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service end the red wolf reintroduction,...
Learn MoreThe Experience Your Smokies program is looking for applicants who want to get an insider’s look at park operations while getting some exploration into their lives as well. Participants will attend five full-day sessions in locations throughout the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. They’ll accompany park employees in activites ranging from wetland restoration to fish...
Learn MoreCarbon accumulation levels in the southeastern U.S. may be slowing due to forest dynamics and land use changes, according to findings of U.S. Forest Service researchers published in the journal Scientific Reports in January. The study is the first to isolate the impacts of forest disturbances, such as fire, disease, and cutting, as well as the impacts of land use change...
Learn MoreAfter more than a decade of hydropower relicensing negotiations and years more of permitting and construction, Duke Energy is finishing a slate of river accesses that will make the Tuckasegee one of the most accessible rivers in the Southeast. At the same time, a collective effort to create an interactive map showing where and how to recreate on Western North Carolina...
Learn MoreAn historic homesteader’s cabin at Grand Teton National Park that had been vandalized by someone armed with cans of spray paint has had the image removed, though more work needs to be done to restore the weathered patina nearly 100 years of exposure had created. Park officials say that back in September a black and blue spray-painted depiction of a devilish...
Learn MoreOne hundred years ago today, President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation that created Rocky Mountain National Park, which promoters called “America’s Switzerland,” a massive parcel of pristine wilderness that now includes more than 260,000 acres of panoramic vistas and alpine majesty. It’s one of the most popular attractions in Colorado, receiving...
Learn MoreWASHINGTON, DC – President Obama’s Administration moved to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, widely considered one of the most spectacular and remote areas in the world. The Department of the Interior is releasing a conservation plan for the Refuge that for the first time recommends additional protections, and President Obama announced he will make...
Learn MoreIt won’t happen overnight, but the National Park Service is starting the process to integrate Valles Caldera National Preserve in New Mexico into the National Park System. The national preserve was moved to the National Park Service from the U.S. Forest Service when President Obama signed into law the massive Defense authorization bill passed by Congress in late...
Learn MoreGreat Smoky Mountains National Park geographic information system specialists and scientists in collaboration with scientists from Tennessee, North Carolina, and the United States Geological Survey (USGS), have completed a three-year stream mapping project. Park scientists used a combination of aircraft-mounted scanners and a Global Positioning System verification...
Learn MoreUnited States Senators stood up for what they believed in finally—and it wasn’t pretty. During a debate over construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, intended to carry oil from Canada to the United States, the Senate voted on an amendment—just for show, really—on whether climate change “is real and not a hoax.” Easy question—everyone said yes, it’s real. (Well, not...
Learn MoreThe U.S. Forest Service plans to conduct a 255-acre prescribed burn in the Grandfather Ranger District, Pisgah National Forest, by Friday, Jan. 23, 2015. The agency will conduct the one-day burn near the Avery County-Caldwell County line, northwest of the Globe area near Anthony Creek. The Forest Service is conducting the burn as part of the Grandfather Restoration...
Learn MoreA Duke Energy contractor is seeking permission from North Carolina regulators to move millions of tons of coal ash from existing dumpsites at the utility giant’s power plants and place it in abandoned clay mines in Lee and Chatham counties. But should the plan win state approval over the objections of local governments, environmental advocates worry that it could...
Learn MoreBeth Moon, a photographer based in San Francisco, has been searching for the world’s oldest trees for the past 14 years. She has traveled all around the globe to capture the most magnificent trees that grow in remote locations and look as old as the world itself. “Standing as the earth’s largest and oldest living monuments, I believe these symbolic trees will take on a...
Learn MoreWith one quick drop in the price of oil, the shale oil boom is officially bust. In less than a week, 61 oil rigs across the United States closed up shop, according to the most recent rig count from Baker Hughes. The U.S. has 1,750 oil rigs still pumping, but that number is expected to fall by another 400 rigs by the time spring rolls around. The whole episode is a...
Learn MoreThis morning the White House announced a new plan to crack down on the oil and gas industry’s emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. The move is the last major piece of President Obama’s domestic climate agenda, following in the footsteps of tougher standards for vehicle emissions and a sweeping plan to curb carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. Like the...
Learn MoreSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said this week he will allow the Senate to vote on an amendment asking if they agree that climate change is impacting the planet. At his weekly press briefing, McConnell said “nobody is blocking any amendments” to legislation that would approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. The GOP leader had promised...
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