Natural Resources

"Black Butte is an inactive volcano that rises from the high desert in eastern Oregon. In May 2022, a turboprop plane approached its pine-blanketed slopes, carrying about 10 men wearing bulky Kevlar outfits. They were smokejumpers with the United States Forest Service, the agency that directs the majority of the nation’s efforts to manage wildfires."

"The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively with Grist."

"The legislation aimed to reformulate how Oregon funds the rising costs of fighting wildfires. It sparked debate within the Democratic-controlled Legislature about who should pay: taxpayers or big timber owners, who won steep tax cuts in the 1990s."

"Trust is in short supply that the EPA will follow through on promises to clean up uranium mine contamination that has sickened generations of Navajo people, tribal members told agency officials visiting a contaminated mining area on Friday in Arizona."

"President Joe Biden’s administration has conditionally agreed to loan more than $2 billion to the company building a controversial lithium mine in Nevada with the largest known U.S. deposit of the metal critical to making batteries for electric vehicles key to his renewable energy agenda."

"The company behind the giant Pebble copper and gold mine project in Southwest Alaska filed suit against the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday to overturn its decision last year to halt the mine."

"It's a big, inspiring vision of wildlife connectivity. But could it work?"

"The Biden administration released its proposal Thursday to protect the greater sage grouse across the West, incorporating tough restrictions on oil and gas drilling and other land uses near the bird’s habitat."

"Giant redwoods - the world's largest trees - are flourishing in the UK and now even outnumber those found in their native range in California."