The western United States is facing extreme weather, including long-lasting droughts, heat and an above-average wildfire season. For Montanans, the wildfire season has yet to kick into full gear, but is expected to in the coming month. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, the year-to-date acres burned in the U.S. .
Preliminary research shows less fresh water and higher sea levels could be changing the forage fish in Florida s famed Apalachicola Bay and the fisheries that depend on them. University of Central Florida biology graduate student Kira Allen won a $15,000 fellowship from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to research food web models. Allen looked at how drought and reduced river flow affects prey fish, such as anchovies, pinfish and menhaden. .
Connecticut is celebrating its first estuary reserve, which will help identify environmental threats to waterways and natural resources. Connecticut s first National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) designates more than 50,000 acres of Long Island Sound, adjacent marshes and upland areas for research on climate resiliency, water quality and fish and wildlife habitats. Patrick Comins, executive director of the Connecticut Audubon Society, has been a strong advocate for the reserve and said it can be a catalyst for critical conservation activity. .
A totem pole from Washington state promoting a free-flowing Snake River has nearly completed its 2,500-mile journey around the Northwest. The Spirit of the Waters Totem Pole Journey started in early May in Bellingham, near the Lummi Indian Reservation where it was carved. Since then, it s traveled through Oregon, Idaho and back to Seattle on Thursday. .
This afternoon, members of the public will get to have a say on the management plan for the first new aquatic preserve created in Florida in 32 years. In 2020, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation to create the Nature Coast Aquatic Preserve, which will protect some 400,000 acres of seagrass spanning more than 700 square miles along Citrus, Hernando, and Pasco counties. .