Environment

1238 Stories

New culverts in Washington state cost $20 million each. The DOT needs to replace 400 of them by 2030

The Washington State Department of Transportation has a lot of very expensive projects it has to manage in order to keep people moving around, and legislators recently got some pretty massive sticker shock for a different project — one that’s aimed at improving the way salmon move around.
Libby Denkmann

Noel Gasca

November 27, 2023 / 4:33 pm
A beaver dam blocked spawning salmon at Carkeek Park. Now humans are giving nature a nudge

Typically, a major construction project in Seattle requires a city permit. Changes to a park would have you wading into the political process – maybe lobbying your city council member or the mayor. But beavers can’t be bothered with land use applications.
Libby Denkmann

Jason Burrows

November 23, 2023 / 9:04 am
Seattle got dark and rainy again. Do we still need to conserve water?

Seattle-area officials are still asking the public to use less water, even as autumn storms have been refilling the city’s reservoirs.
John Ryan

November 22, 2023 / 6:07 pm
NASA satellites could be a new tool to help estimate snowpack, manage water resources

Scientists in Washington recently used NASA satellites to learn more about snow in the mountains.
Courtney Flatt

November 20, 2023 / 3:41 pm
Western gray squirrels now considered ‘endangered’ in Washington

It’s hard to know exactly how many Western gray squirrels are in Washington – but the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife says it’s safe to say there aren’t many. Most are isolated in Okanogan and Klickitat counties and in the South Sound area.
Courtney Flatt

November 17, 2023 / 3:02 pm
'Good bones' from old homes help build Seattle's future

When homes are demolished, that wood usually ends up in the dump. But now, an investment by the Environmental Protection Agency aims to get that old wood into new Seattle houses.
Joshua McNichols

November 17, 2023 / 1:38 pm
Volunteers helping sagebrush, wildflowers grow where fires burned

After wildfires, it can be hard for native plants to come back. That’s why volunteers are planting them and spreading seeds this fall in southeastern Washington, helping sagebrush and wildflowers take root again.
Courtney Flatt

November 16, 2023 / 1:14 pm
What the new federal climate report says about the Northwest
Rachel Cohen

November 16, 2023 / 11:19 am
Invasive mussels inching closer to the Columbia Basin, federal report says more could be done to sto

Fast-spreading invasive aquatic mussels are hitching rides on boats, kayaks and jet skis. So, people are working to keep them out of the Columbia River Basin, the only major river basin in the U.S. without an established quagga mussel population.
Courtney Flatt

November 15, 2023 / 5:32 pm
The love story that grew Seattle's 'secret garden'

Since 1972, the Streissguth Gardens have become one of Seattle’s most unique landmarks. The gardens take up a full acre of hillside just west of Capitol Hill’s Volunteer Park. If you’ve spent a morning running up the long Blaine Street Stairs, you’ve passed right by the gardens. But the story of how this unorthodox public garden came to be is one of coincidence, love, and perhaps a bit of magic.
Diana Opong

Alec Cowan

November 13, 2023 / 4:27 pm

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