Skip to main content

Water — Page 2

ESA Policy News, January 31, 2014: farm bill conservation wins, record CA drought, comment on the prairie chicken

Here are some highlights from the latest ESA Policy News by Policy Analyst Terence Houston.  Read the full Policy News here. STATE OF THE UNION: OBAMA HAILS 2014 AS ‘YEAR OF ACTION After a year of very few real legislative achievements in Congress outside of averting a politically self-inflicted federal government shutdown, President Obama cautioned that continued gridlock and inaction from…

Read More

ESA Policy News, January 17, 2014: budget relief, enviro-ed grants, and a toxic spill in WV

APPROPRIATIONS: congress passes FY 2014 spending bill
TOXIC SUBSTANCES: West Virginia spill sparks chemical safety policies review
WHITE HOUSE: OSTP director Holdren explains ‘polar vortex’ via Youtube
USGS: Kimball nominated as new director
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS: ESA weighs in on federal employee conference attenance
EPA: environmental education grant applications accepted
POLICY ENGAGEMENT: ESA announces 2014 GSPA recipients
FWS: wildlife refuges to offer free days in 2014

Read More
Lisa Schulte Moore's Leopold-style message box

Why I did a Science Cafe – a guest post by Lisa Schulte Moore

“Being a native of Wisconsin – land of beer, brats, and polkas – I’ve always dreamed of delivering a science presentation with a drink in my hand.” — Lisa Schulte Moore writes about her new adventures in public outreach at the Science Cafe, and as a fellow in the Leopold Leadership program.

Read More
usda conservation buffers Chesapeake Bay

Bridging the public-private land divide for conservation

For much of the world, high-intensity industrial farming produces food with high efficiency, but puts the squeeze on other plant and animal life. Wildlife is mostly sequestered on preserves. But is this the best way to maximize food and biodiversity? Or are there other configurations that might improve mobility of wildlife and benefit other ecosystem services without cost (and possibly with benefit) to private land owners?

Read More

ESA Policy News: June 28

Here are some highlights from the latest ESA Policy News by Science Policy Analyst Terence Houston.  Read the full Policy News here.   CLIMATE CHANGE: OBAMA OUTLINES PLAN TO REGULATE GREENHOUSE GASES On June 25, President Obama announced his plan to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. The plan seeks to implement federal action on addressing climate change in lieu of  Congress that…

Read More

In defense of federally-funded research

A continued drive towards fiscal belt-tightening by lawmakers in Congress has spurred unprecedented attempts to curb federal investment in scientific research. With a continued unwillingness by members of both major parties in Congress to tackle a comprehensive bipartisan plan to reduce the national debt that includes mandatory spending reform and tax reform, non-defense discretionary spending programs are continuing to be…

Read More
The 2001-2002 drought in the Southern Rocky Mountains turned a bark beetle outbreak into an epidemic, withering the lodgepole pines, according to a University of Colorado study published in the October 2012 issue of Ecology

Water for the trees

Saving forests from drought as the climate warms.

Drought complicates the big problems afflicting modern forests. Gordon Grant, Christina Tague, and Craig Allen think that mitigating drought stress should be an active priority for management of US public forests – in keeping with the US Forest Service mission to “improve and protect the forest” and “secure favorable conditions of water flows”.

Read More

ESA Policy News: April 5

Here are some highlights from the latest ESA Policy News by Science Policy Analyst Terence Houston.  Read the full Policy News here. BUDGET: SEQUESTRATION IMPLEMENTATION HAS AGENCIES PLANNING FURLOUGHS With policymakers seemingly adapting to the implementation of the sequester budget cuts as a fact of life for the time being, many federal agencies are now faced with furloughs to compensate for…

Read More
baltimore urban density. landsat image with aproximate location of ws263

Baltimore’s Watershed 263 experiment in socioecology

Ecological restoration makes city dwellers happier and healthier. by Liza Lester, ESA communications officer IN the first summer after my move from the cool green climes of western Washington State to Washington, DC, I gained a primal, physical understanding the urban heat island effect. Summer in the District of Columbia is a hot, humid shock for a native northwesterner, and…

Read More

UNEP stakeholders’ conference prioritizes sustainability issues

This post contributed by Terence Houston, Science Policy Analyst  Last week’s  United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) North American Major Groups and Stakeholders Consultation in Washington, DC focused on how to implement sustainable development goals (SDGs) outlined during the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil this past June.  It was noted during the meeting…

Read More
Sentry being prepared for a mission to map the underwater oil plume near the Deepwater Horizon well head. (Courtesy of Rich Camilli, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution )

Oceanographers testify in Deepwater Horizon civil suit

by Liza Lester, ESA communications officer This fall has seen the endgame of the US Justice Department’s civil case against British Petroleum and eight partners in the matter of the Deepwater Horizon oil well blowout, likely to be settled soon, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Justice Department is suing under the Clean Water Act for damages from the…

Read More

ESA Policy News: October 26

Here are some highlights from the latest ESA Policy News by Science Policy Analyst Terence Houston.  Read the full Policy News here. BUDGET: REPORT FINDS SPENDING CUTS POSE THREATS TO PUBLIC SAFETY, CONSERVATION EFFORTS ON PUBLIC LANDS A recent report from several conservation organizations concludes that the automatic spending cuts, set to take place in January 2013 under the Budget Control…

Read More