Land (Page 3)

The science—and practice—of safeguarding wildlands and helping developed areas return to nature.

Latest in Land

A multiple-exposure photograph of insects circling an artificial light at night. The light can mess with a moth’s sense of what direction is up and which way is down.

Why artificial light—and evolution—trap moths

By Laura Baisas

A large rat stands on a tree trunk at night. The Vangunu giant rat is the first new species of rodent described from Solomon Islands in over 80 years.

A legendary Vangunu giant rat was finally caught on camera

By Laura Baisas

Attenborough's long-beaked echidna, photographed by a camera trap.

Elusive egg-laying mammal caught on camera for the first time

By Laura Baisas

An endangered Texas ocelot in the vicinity of the highway.

Wildlife exits on Texas roads could help endangered ocelots

By Laura Baisas

Green fir trees in neat rows as seen from the air.

Tree plantations try to offset our carbon pollution. Here’s the problem.

Grizzly bear mom and cubs crossing road in Yellowstone National Park

Grizzlies are getting killed by roads, but the risks are bigger than roadkill

Rafflesia kemumu in the rainforest of Sumatra.

Earth’s stinkiest flower is threatened with extinction

By Laura Baisas

Giant African land snail, an invasive species in Florida, on a red bucket

Invasive snails are chomping through Florida, and no one can stop them

By Maddi Langweil

An orca whale swims around an ice flow with a crabeater seal and penguin on the ice.

New series offers an intimate look into how climate change impacts the lives of wildlife

By Laura Baisas

The Grand Prismatic Spring at Yellowstone National Park, with steam rising and mountains in the distance. Temperatures at Yellowstone’s famous hot springs can reach 198 degrees Fahrenheit.

Don’t lick the toads and other things to avoid at national parks

By Laura Baisas

Maya Tilousi, member of the Hopi Tribe, Havasupai Tribe of Grand Canyon, and the Cheyanne and Arapaho Tribes, shakes hands with President Joe Biden at Red Butte Airfield, 25 miles south of Tusayan, Arizona, on August 8, 2023. Biden announced he is putting the brakes on uranium mining around the Grand Canyon and willl give an area of nearly one million acres national monument status.

Nearly 1 million acres of land near the Grand Canyon is now a national monument

By Laura Baisas

Tourists visit the Solfatara crater, part of the Campi Flegrei Volcano, the biggest caldera of Italy.

Up the coast from Pompeii, another city grows on top of an underground volcano

By Agostino Petroni/Undark

Two penguins and a seal on the Antarctic Peninsula.

Antarctica is in the climate change crosshairs

By Laura Baisas

A flower of a Nasa humboldtiana subspecies called humboldtiana that was rediscovered by a team of botanists and citizen scientists for the first time in 162 years. The flower has four white petals, leading down to a center of pink petals.

These unusual plants had disappeared—until citizen scientists helped hunt them down

By Laura Baisas

A kākāpō chick. The birds are are large flightless parrots from New Zealand who are masters of camouflage and known for a booming call.

A flightless parrot is returning to mainland New Zealand after a 40-year absence

By Laura Baisas

The giant Douglas firs in British Columbia forests are examples of so-called mother trees

Are ‘mother trees’ real?

hiking in the mountains

Human noises make animals in the woods nervous

By Christine Peterson/High Country News

Young longleaf pines growing healthily in a burnt landscape

Longleaf pine forests in Alabama are making a comeback—thanks to fire

By Jamie Helmick

An elk grazing in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

The role of people in preserving nature, according to America’s National Parks docuseries

By Laura Baisas

This ancient farming practice could get a boost from the US farm bill

This ancient farming practice could get a boost from the US farm bill

By Ashley Stimpson/Nexus Media

Amazonian dark earth (ADE) is a nutrient rich dark soil that could play a role in reforestation.

How 2,000-year-old soil could be a lifeline for the Amazon rainforest

By Laura Baisas

Protecting wildlife starts with securing land for animals to roam

Protecting wildlife starts with securing land for animals to roam

By David Jachowski/The Conversation

A mushroom called coprophilous grows in woods.

What prehistoric poop reveals about extinct giant animals

By Laura Baisas

A new robotic seed can wriggle into soil to harvest climate data

A new robotic seed can wriggle into soil to harvest climate data

By Sara Kiley Watson

Dog’s are a human’s best friend—and a shorebird’s worst enemy

Dog’s are a human’s best friend—and a shorebird’s worst enemy

By Ben Goldfarb/Hakai Magazine

Icebergs over the ocean in Greenland.

Antarctic ice can melt 20 times faster than we thought

By Laura Baisas

Ilinizas Volcanoes under the Quilotoa lagoon in the Andes Mountains in Ecuador. Scientists recently discovered two new carnivorous plant species in the rugged high Andes.

Two newly discovered Andes Mountain plant species have an appetite for insects

By Laura Baisas

A white-tailed jackrabbit in it's winter white fur.

Jackrabbit’s color-changing fur may prepare them for climate change

By Laura Baisas

President Joe Biden standing at a podium, addressing the White House Conservation in Action Summit.

The US inches closer to protecting 30 percent of all its lands and oceans

By Laura Baisas

Close up of a newly discovered orchid species named Spiranthes hachijoensis with pink petals,

This new species of pink orchid looks like delicate glasswork

By Laura Baisas

The US government wants to round up the West’s feral cattle

The US government wants to round up the West’s feral cattle

By Jonathan Thompson / High Country News

Ecologists have declared war on this popular decorative tree

Ecologists have declared war on this popular decorative tree

By Ryan W. McEwan / The Conversation

A moniker fairy lantern plant detonates, with its petals unfurling.

Scientists just rediscovered a rare, fungi-eating ‘fairy lantern’

By Laura Baisas

A pine tree in Clark County, Washington damaged by the 2021 heat wave. The trees in the background are scorched Douglas-fir.

Even the cool forests of the Pacific Northwest face the danger of extreme heat

By Sarah Trent / High Country News

Several European spruce bark beetles on a dry piece of wood.

These beetles sniff out fungus-infected trees to find their next target

By Laura Baisas

How thinning could help prevent wildfires

How thinning could help prevent wildfires

By Emily Shepherd / High Country News

A beefsteak fungus growing in a forest.

Bacteria and fungi are the first to start rebuilding charred forests

By Laura Baisas

The last thread of hope to revive California’s trees is vanishing

The last thread of hope to revive California’s trees is vanishing

By Maya L. Kapoor / High Country News

Many popular carbon offsets don’t actually counteract emissions, study says

Many popular carbon offsets don’t actually counteract emissions, study says

a grizzly bear crosses the road in yellowstone national park. cars are stopped in the background

Connecting national parks could help generations of wildlife thrive

Red and white lighthouses being submerged by sea level rise. Illustration.

Humans and nature will handle rising tides, together

By Philip Kiefer

World governments strike historic deal to protect planet’s biodiversity

World governments strike historic deal to protect planet’s biodiversity

By Laura Baisas

Sediment running into a river in Alabama from a solar farm construction site. Aerial view.

The hard truth of building clean solar farms

a cross cut of a tree revealing its rings. little labels are on some of the rings

What Indigenous fire practices can teach us about saving Southwestern lands

What successful forest restoration looks like

What successful forest restoration looks like

By Carla Delgado

Three nations pledge to reverse decades of destruction in the rainforest

By Laura Baisas

Wildland firefighters face another danger—an increased risk of long COVID

Wildland firefighters face another danger—an increased risk of long COVID

By Miles W. Griffis / High Country News

a beautiful desert canyon landscape basked in the glow of the setting sun

How tribal co-managing movements are transforming the conservation of public lands

Biofuel is a ‘renewable’ resource, but climate change could soon limit its potential

Biofuel is a ‘renewable’ resource, but climate change could soon limit its potential

By Carla Delgado

Full-grown bison standing in a prairie full of yellow goldenrod wildflowers

Bison are bringing biodiversity back to Kansas prairie land

Forest with mountain and sunset in background.

Why you can’t put a price on biodiversity

By Sara Kiley Watson

Compostable plastic cups found in garbage.

Single-use plastic is on its way out of national parks. But why is the pace so glacial?

By Bridget Reed Morawski

Starfish spawning in water

8 award-winning photos of nature’s stranger things

By Stephanie Stone

Activists in Indigenous clothing and with no pipeline signs protesting Line 3 on a bridge in Minnesota

States and tribes could soon regain the power to fight against projects that pollute

By Kristine Liao

Jars containing various materials from battery recycling.

The race to close the EV battery recycling loop

Carmakers are pouring billions into producing EV batteries

Carmakers are pouring billions into producing EV batteries

By Bradley Brownell

firefighter in a field

A network of 1,000 cameras is watching for Western wildfires—and you can, too

By Colleen Hagerty

A photo of algae in a lake in Central Park.

A climate adaptation experiment is taking place in one of NYC’s biggest parks

By Danielle Renwick / Nexus Media News

Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota at dusk with a crowd of visitors

Why national parks are cracking down on fireworks, ebikes, and other harmful fun

By Kristine Liao

Amazon rainforest trees and river in Brazil

The Amazon is on the brink of a climate change tipping point

By Sara Kiley Watson

rendering of human shaping of amazon rainforest

This wild grassland in the Amazon isn’t as untouched as it seems

By Philip Kiefer

African rainforests are stronger carbon sinks than the Amazon

African rainforests are stronger carbon sinks than the Amazon

By Angely Mercado

Over Half Of All Amazonian Tree Species Are In Danger

By Grennan Milliken

wisconsin wolf hunt

Wisconsin hunters have already killed more gray wolves than allowed

By Alan Clemons/ Outdoor Life