A campaign this month is challenging Pennsylvanians to learn about the health of their soil and neighborhood microbes by planting underwear in their farms or gardens. The Soil Your Undies campaign invites residents to bury a pair of 100% cotton underwear, which can help visualize soil quality over time. Kelly O Neill, Pennsylvania agriculture policy analyst for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which is helping organize the event, said residents can dig up the underwear after 60 days and report their findings. .
June is National Rivers Month, and in Montana, a push to protect more rivers is swelling. The Montana Headwaters Legacy Act in Congress would nearly double the amount of river miles protected as Wild and Scenic in the state. After being reintroduced in 2021, it s finally scheduled for a hearing next Tuesday in the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. .
Conservationists in the Northern Appalachian-Acadian region are changing how they think about forest protection and management, by bringing together mainstream ecological knowledge with Indigenous ecology and culture. Five regional partners including the Wildlands Network and Two Countries One Forest held a conference outlining a shared vision, called "Future Forests Reimagined," and now they are working to apply it. Megan de Graaf, forest program director for Forests International, stressed the importance of working across state and national boundaries. .
By Bryce Oates for The Daily Yonder. Broadcast version by Chance Dorland for North Carolina News Service, reporting for The Daily Yonder-Public News Service Collaboration. In Western North Carolina s Nantahala-Pisgah National Forest, a committed group of outdoor recreation enthusiasts, conservationists, hunting and fishing groups, forest product businesses and forest ecology advocates has been working closely with the U.S. .
A newly created map reveals more Americans are being exposed to health threats from proximity to oil-and-gas production facilities. The map s release Tuesday comes ahead of new industry safeguards expected from the Environmental Protection Agency. Map co-creator Alan Septoff with the group Earthworks said more than 144,000 New Mexicans live within a "threat radius" of an oil or gas facility - defined as being a half-mile. .