Environment

3561 Stories

Military providing water to Yakima Valley homes after tests show it contaminated area's wells

Over the years, the chemicals leached into drinking water near military bases around the United States, including on Whidbey Island and in the Yakima Valley.
- Eilís O'Neill
Coast Guard postpones effort to remove sunken fishing boat after lifting it to surface

Salvage crews have been unable to remove enough fuel and seawater from the Aleutian Isle to lift it onto a barge and transport it away from the critical orca habitat where it sank five weeks ago.
- John Ryan
Sunken fishing boat ready to resurface after 5 weeks on sea floor

Coast Guard officials say a salvage team is ready to lift the Aleutian Isle off the sea floor near San Juan Island on Saturday.
- John Ryan
Seattle's urban forest is shrinking. How can it grow?

In 2007, Seattle's urban forest management plan set a goal for 30% of the city to be canopied, meaning covered with urban trees. However, a recent report from the city showed that Seattle's canopy actually decreased by 1.7% over the last five years -- an area roughly the size of Green Lake.
- Libby Denkmann
Female hummingbirds are mimicking males to avoid aggression

Male Humming birds are not as sweet as they seem. Female hummingbirds are disguising themselves to look like males to avoid aggression. But, male hummingbirds are "willing to mate with pretty much anything", so the undercover females are still finding a mate!
- Natalie Akane Newcomb
Explosive demolition of coal plant underscores end of coal-fired electric generation in Oregon

A demolition contractor on Thursday imploded the towering smokestack and 19-story boiler building at Portland General Electric’s shuttered coal-fired power plant near Boardman, bringing a symbolic close to the era of coal-fired power generation in Oregon. Imported electricity generated from coal still flows through transmission wires across the Pacific Northwest, but that looks to be winding down soon, too.
- Tom Banse
Lawsuit aims to protect a rare West Coast carnivore, the fisher

You can tell that the fisher is a tough customer by its diet: It eats porcupines.
- John Ryan
Washington is starting new prescribed burns. Will they prevent bigger wildfires?

It's been close to two decades since Washington state last did a "broadcast burn," a kind of prescribed burn that sweeps forest floors of potential fire fuel. Prescribed burns are gaining in use throughout fire-prone states as land managers look to imitate natural cycles and move away from a "no-burn" standard of management.
- Libby Denkmann
Tackling the 2035 electric vehicle conundrum

Soundside producer Jason Burrows sits down with host Libby Denkmann to discuss the pros and cons of moving away from gas powered vehicles by 2035.
- Libby Denkmann
This map can tell you when fall foliage is peaking in 2022

Aspen, maple and other trees are about to turn vivid shades of gold, orange and crimson — but when? It depends on a range of factors, from drought to local temperatures.
- Bill Chappell

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Environment

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