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• CO: Little orphan easement?

  A look at what happens when a land trust dissolves.
  High Country News, 21 December 2009

• ID: Family uses easement to preserve prime shoreline acreage

  A sprawling piece of private forest on Lake Coeur d'Alene's eastern shore will be forever off-limits to development.
  Associated Press via Fox 12 Idaho, 21 December 2009

• MA: MassWildlife protected 10,000-plus acres

  The state Dept of Fish and Game and the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife Key have protected key habitat wildlife and the public in 42 towns in the past year.
  New Bedford Standard-Times, 20 December 2009

• WA: Fish recovery projects to get $800,000

  The state Salmon Recovery Funding Board has authorized significant improvements for fish recovery projects in Benton and Walla Walla counties.
  Tacoma News Tribune, 20 December 2009

• MT: Frenchtown-area rancher donates $2 million in value toward conservation easement

  The preservation of some 750 acres of a working cattle ranch will protect critical bird habitat as well as a family's long farming legacy.
  Helena Independent Record, 18 December 2009

• WI - $2.5 million farm donated to Mississippi Valley Conservancy

  A family with historic roots in the state?s dairy industry has added a gift of Kickapoo Valley land to its Wisconsin legacy.
  Winona Post 16 December 2009

• CO: Town to wade into VF annexation

  The town of Telluride could experience a 570-acre growth spurt this year, as the municipality looks to annex a swath of conserved river bottoms and meadows on the Valley Floor.
  Telluride Daily Planet 16 December 2009

• MI: Land donated to ag preservation

  The St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners has approved agricultural conservation easement donations totaling 953 acres to the County Farmland Preservation Program.
  WLKM-FM, 16 December 2009

• CA: Metallica frontman donates land for open space in Marin

  Rocker James Hetfield has placed an agricultural conservation easement on his 330-acre Luiz Ranch overlooking Lucas Valley.
  Marin Independent Journal, 16 December 2009

• GA: Easements protect 21,000 acres along critical state waterways

  Key drinking water sources and habitat for high-priority wildlife received protection from 13 private conservation easements to the state's Georgia Land Conservation Program.
  Gwinnett County Weekly, 15 December 2009

• US: In raw oyster trade, FDA's safety proposal is tough to swallow

  Federal officials say sanitizing oysters is a simple way to improve food safety. But oystermen, state officials, and representatives think the effort is overreaching and could destroy a gastronomical delight.
  Washington Post, 10 November 2009

• GA: As seas rise, planning starts

  Sea level rise could put as much as 50 to 100 square miles of currently dry land under water in Georgia this century.
  Savannah Morning News, 9 November 2009

• NY: Land Trust adds land in Ellis Hollow

  The purchase of 39 acres near the Ellis Hollow Nature Preserve along with an easement on 11 adjacent acres will protect creekside woodlands and bird habitat.
  Ithaca Journal, 9 November 2009

• MO: Popular land preservation method not catching on

  The transfer of development rights has yet to catch on in the state, partly because there are no established state or local governmental programs to promote the permanent conservation of open space.
  Springfield News-Leader, 8 November 2009

• MI: Work under way on Muskegon Lake shoreline restoration

  One of the area's largest federal stimulus grants is being targeted at its greatest asset -- the waterfront.
  Muskegon Chronicle, 8 November 2009

• VA: County's commitment to land preservation must be kept

  What is the point of a comprehensive plan if county representatives dismember what they spent so much time and trouble to come up with?
  Augusta News-Leader, 7 November 2009

• NY: Parks and local board trade jabs on Lows Lake wilderness

  Dispute focuses on increasing recreational access opportunities on Adirondack Forest Preserve.
  Adirondack Daily Enterprise, 7 November 2009

• CO - Plan to fill budget gap caps easement credits

  Governor proposes plan that, among other things, limits the state's conservation easement credits for three years.
  Associated Press via New York Times, 7 November 2009

• WA: Four-way land deal is designed to protect habitat around Mud Lake

  The transfer of 118 acres of state timberland marks the first stage of a broader land swap involving the state, the county, a local family, and the Vancouver-based Columbia Land Trust.
  Clark County Columbian, 7 November 2009

• MI: Dow agrees to address pollution at Midwest site

  After three decades of promises to force the region's major employer to clean up decades of contamination, the administration is stepping in with a new plan.
  Los Angeles Times, 6 November 2009

• CO: Nitrogen pollution worsens in Rockies lakes

  Airborne nitrogen pollution from vehicle exhaust and farm fertilizer is turning algae in the alpine lakes of Rocky Mountain National Park into junk food for fish.
  Associated Press via ABC News, 5 November 2009

• MD: States warned about bay cleanup

  The states that drain into the Chesapeake Bay must detail plans for reducing pollution that plagues the estuary or face development shutdowns or other as-yet unstated consequences.
  Baltimore Sun, 5 November 2009

• OR: Easements will preserve Mid-Valley habitat

  The Bonneville Power Administration has funded conservation easements on almost 300 acres of critical habitat near Salem.
  Salem Statesman-Journal, 5 November 2009

• US: 3 million acres taken out of conservation program

  Acres formerly part of the Conservation Reserve Program are being plowed again after the 2008 Farm Bill capped the program at 32 million acres.
  Associated Press via Washington Post, 4 November 2009

• WEST: Forest's death brings higher temps, researchers suspect

  Forests of dead beetle-kill could be speeding regional climate change, increasing temperatures and decreasing rainfalls across the American West.
  The Daily Climate, 21 October 2009

• CO+UT: Oil shale inquiry opens

  Interior Department expands its probe of an 11th-hour move by Bush officials to lock in royalty rates.
  Los Angeles Times, 21 October 2009

• PA: Delaware River impacts from natural gas drilling

  The Delaware River Basin Commission indicated that it will likely approve a massive withdrawal request for a million gallons of water per day from the Upper Delaware River.
  Philadelphia Weekly Press, 21 October 2009

• MA: Town Meeting votes to preserve Maplecroft Farm

  A special Town Meeting authorized tapping a $2.2-million open-space bond to help preserve 247 acres of Maplecroft Farm.
  Ipswich Chronicle, 20 October 2009

• OR: Willamette Basin's stream health in jeopardy, study finds

  The diagnosis isn't entirely grim, but the Willamette River basin's miles of arteries and capillaries have some serious health issues.
  The Oregonian, 19 October 2009

• US: When Is a Species Endangered?

  Current measures to establish preserves and prohibit hunting are designed to protect species from extinction. But a new paper suggests we may not be trying hard enough.
  Time, 19 October 2009

• TN: Conservation easement to protect bat species roosting in former restaurant

  Buffalo Cove's caves aren't the only bat habitat around Beggar's Castle, "the most unlikely eating establishment ever to do business on the Cumberland Plateau."
  Knoxville News Sentinel, 19 October 2009

• OR: Bronson Creek update

  Attendees at a recent conference of zoos and aquariums had the unique option to offset their carbon footprint through ecosystem service credits.
  The Conservation Registry, 19 October 2009

• CA: Developers' bust proves a boon for land trusts

  As tough times force investors and developers to abandon deals, conservation groups and land trusts are moving in to buy land, often at bargain basement prices.
  San Francisco Chronicle, 19 October 2009

• VA: Colonial Beach rejects gift of waterfront land

  Town rejects gift of a 1.2-acre waterfront lot to use as a park.
  Fredericksburg Freelance-Star, 19 October 2009

• CA: S.F. Bay's slide in mud worries scientists

  Millions of tons of Gold Rush-era sand and clay have finally flushed out to sea, but scientists are worried about the implications for San Francisco Bay's fish and wetlands.
  San Francisco Chronicle, 5 October 2009

• AZ+NV: Condor advocates ask hunters to ditch lead bullets

  Hunters' deer and elk carrion contains fragments of lead bullets so toxic that at least 12 rare California condors have died in recent years from lead poisoning.
  Salt Lake Tribune, 5 October 2009

• WA: Fundraiser saves Guemes Mountain from development

  People seeking to preserve Guemes Mountain have succeeded in raising $2.2 million to purchase 70 mountaintop acres.
  Tacoma News Tribune, 5 October 2009

• CA: Water exec is leaving legacy of teamwork

  Retiring agency exec crafted a unified vision and attracted funding for restoration of the Tijuana River watershed.
  San Diego Times-Union, 4 October 2009

• DE: Christina River's future murky yet improving

  It took a long time for all the pollution to accumulate in the state's first river, and real improvements could take a long time, too.
  Wilmington News Journal, 4 October 2009

• SC: Arsenic draining into Wateree River

  Streams of a poisonous, potentially cancer-causing substance were recently found draining from SCE&G's coal-fired power plant in lower Richland County.
  The State, 4 October 2009

• PA: With natural gas drilling boom, state faces an onslaught of wastewater

  Workers at a steel mill and a power plant were the first to notice something strange about the Monongahela River last summer.
  ProPublica, 3 October 2009

• CA: After a devastating fire, an intense study of its effects

  Now that the Station Fire that threatened Los Angeles is just about out, scientists are beginning to research the damaging effects of the fire on fragile wildlife.
  New York Times, 2 October 2009

• US: Gas execs call for disclosure of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing

  Two prominent industry executives have directly addressed one of the key environmental concerns surrounding the expansion of natural gas development.
  ProPublica, 2 October 2009

• CA: Before the Station fire, a cost-cutting memo

  Three weeks ahead of the Station blaze, the Forest Service sought to limit the use of local firefighting resources.
  Los Angeles Times, 3 October 2009

• AK: Scarcity of king salmon hurt fishermen

  Until recently, king salmon was a major source of income and food in villages along the Yukon River. What has led to its scarcity is not well understood.
  New York Times, 2 October 2009

• WV: The Coalfield Uprising

  Coalfield residents are not waiting for the Obama administration to come to their rescue.
  The Nation, 17 October 2009

• NY: Groups laud land protection grants

  Four agencies in Washington and Saratoga counties are among 47 recipients of state Conservation Partnership Program grants.
  Glens Falls Post Star, 2 October 2009

• US: Mountaintop mining impact is reined in

  The Obama administration has moved to curtail the practice of mountaintop mining to extract coal.
  Wall Street Journal, 1 October 2009

• SC: Upstate Forever announces protection of Rose Hill Farms

  Family, land trust, and the South Carolina Conservation Bank have protected 336 acres bordering Oconee Station State Park and Sumter National Forest.
  Greenville News, 1 October 2009

• US: Water worries threaten push for natural gas

  Aggressive energy development is drawing new scrutiny from residents who live near gas fields, even in energy-intensive states.
  Reuters, 1 October 2009

• CA+OR: Landmark agreement to remove 4 Klamath River dams

  29 parties signed a draft agreement to destroy four dams on the Klamath River to restore salmon and steelhead runs that have been partially blocked for the better part of the past century.
  Greenwire via New York Times, 30 September 2009

• Club seeks amendment to Headwaters easement

  A northern ATV club has proposed adding ATV travel as a permitted use of the land in the Connecticut Lakes Headwaters Tract.
  Coos County Democrat, 30 September 2009

• Center Harbor moves forward with major conservation purchase

  Town officials and two local conservation groups proceeding toward the purchase of an undeveloped 245-acre parcel.
  Meredith News, 30 September 2009

• CT: West Hartford developer donates acreage to land trust

  A 5.5-acre donation has nearly doubled the amount of open space the conservation group owns.
  Hartford Courant, 29 September 2009

• WI: Prognosis appears good for Fox River

  As the cleanup of toxic chemicals along the Fox River prepares to pause for winter, the project is ahead of schedule -- but the price tag has grown.
  Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel , 29 September 2009

• WA: Laundry waste water harming Puget Sound, study says

  Dirty water from residential washing machines is a significant source of a toxin polluting Puget Sound.
  Tacoma News Tribune, 29 September 2009

• Solano Land Trust secures 488 acres

  Five years in the making, an easement will now protect nearly 500 acres of prime agricultural land in the Dixon Ridge area.
  Contra Costa Times, 28 September 2009

• WV: DEP attempted to suspend water standards in Dunkard Creek

  Agency approved two orders to suspend water quality standards for Dunkard Creek and other waterways being polluted by Consol Energy.
  West Virginia Public Broadcasting, 28 September 2009

• FL: High levels of mercury found in 9 types of Santa Fe fish

  A new study may have local fishermen thinking twice before they fry up dinner they caught for their family.
  North Florida Herald, 27 September 2009

• CT: Officials knew for decades that Scofieldtown park was contaminated

  Despite repeated tests showing carcinogens in the soil, surface water, and residential wells, no one has taken action to clean up the site.
  Stamford Advocate, 27 September 2009

• CA: Fall River Ranch protected from development

  An agreement sealed by the Shasta Land Trust protects an eastern Shasta County cattle ranch that for decades has been a bucolic retreat for a dozen families.
  Redding Record-Searchlight, 27 September 2009

• TN: Caring for resources key to Smokies' future

  For the Smokies to remain one of the country's natural jewels, the people who made it the nation's most-visited national park will need to play an even more important role.
  Knoxville News Sentinel, 27 September 2009

• NY: Concern over Great Lakes fish will remain even after current toxins fade

  If current trends continue, advisories based on legacy pollutants may soon be moderated, but that doesn't mean that Lake Ontario fish will be deemed entirely safe to eat.
  Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 27 September 2009

• CA: For San Joaquin River, a historic reawakening

  A massive, unprecedented and unpredictable river restoration project will reawaken miles of dried riverbed and salmon runs that have been extinct for six decades.
  Fresno Bee, 27 September 2009

• VA+MD+DE: Months ahead may determine Chesapeake Bay?s fate

  Longtime observers say decisions made during the next few months could determine whether the beautiful bay recovers or wastes away.
  Richmond Times-Dispatch, 27 September 2009

• WI: Funding sought to turn Melanec's Wheelhouse site into riverfront park

  A Milwaukee-based land trust intends to raise funds to demolish a former restaurant and create a park with public river access.
  Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 27 September 2009

• WV: 30-mile fish kill at Dunkard Creek

  With the DEP delaying action on pollution problems over the last decade, Dunkard Creek had problems long before fish started going belly up three weeks ago.
  Charleston Gazette, September 25, 2009

• WY: Land Wars - Two Cases Shape Future of Land-Use in Wyoming

  Who gets to do what with the land, and what is the public?s stake in the fight?
  New West, 25 September 2009

• WV: EPA announces major science review of mountaintop removal

  A call for nominations for a science panel reveals plans for a new environmental impact review and assessment.
  Charleston Gazette, September 25, 2009

• FL: Advisory board sends Farmton plan to Volusia County Council with thumbs-up

  More than 40,000 acres of a large-scale planned development will be protected through a perpetual conservation easement.
  West Volusia Beacon, 24 September 2009

• NC: A Conservation Sensation

  The Morton family's stewardship efforts and critical role in creating the newest state park at Grandfather Mountain earn recognition.
  Boone Mountain Times, 24 September 2009

• MN: Conservation effort on North Shore is for the birds - and all of us

  The Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation rewards an effort to save 115 acres of critical North Shore habitat.
  Lake County News-Chronicle, 24 September 2009

• NY: 304-acre Beekman farm protected from development

  A town makes its first land acquisition to protect its rural character from further subdivision and development.
  Poughkeepsie Journal, 24 September 2009

• VA: Orange Walmart dispute heads to court

  Preservationists and residents filed a legal challenge to block big-box construction near the Wilderness Battlefield.
  Associated Press via Charlottesville Daily Progress, 24 September 2009

• FL: Polluted Lake Okeechobee getting dirtier

  While water managers, environmental agencies and conservation groups have spent decades talking about cleaning up Lake Okeechobee, the water quality has only gotten worse.
  Miami Herald, 23 September 2009

• WV: Farmland Protection Board preserves acres in Greenbrier

  Group has worked with county landowners to preserve more than 2,000 agricultural acres in perpetuity.
  Beckley Register-Herald , 23 September 2009

• TX: More than 2,900 acres may be protected in Smith County

  The Texas A&M University Board of Regents will consider authorizing a working forest easement to protect private forest land from future development.
  Tyler Morning Telegraph, 23 September 2009

• US: Farmland protection efforts slowed in 2008

  Record high land values may have slowed local farmland protection efforts, but the impact of budget cuts on funding may make next year's news even worse.
  Drovers, 23 September 2009

• ME: Plum Creek approval sparks scramble for land conservation funds

  Approval of a massive development and conservation framework sets into motion an ambitious timetable for several environmental groups.
  Maine Public Broadcasting Network, 23 September 2009

• WY: AG, landowners negotiate in easement suit

  The outcome of a lawsuit challenging a county's vote to extinguish a conservation easement could offer insight on the difficulty of unraveling such agreements.
  Associated Pressvia CBS4-Denver, 23 September 2009

• PA: Frack fluid spill in Dimock contaminates stream, killing fish

  Environment officials race to clean up to 8,000 gallons of dangerous drilling fluids after a series of spills at a natural gas production site.
  ProPublica, 21 September 2009

• WY: Beetle attack will change our world

  Brown cadavers of lodgepoles past stand among smaller, greener pines, testifying to the unavoidable truth that change -- big change -- is coming.
  Wyoming News, 20 September 2009

• WORLD: Farm-fresh fish -- with a catch

  By the end of this year, half of the fish and shellfish we consume will be raised by humans, rather than caught in the wild.
  Washington Post, 20 September 2009

• ID: Farmers regroup after pesticide mishap

  When a federal agency sprayed a powerful herbicide that wiped out crops worth millions of dollars for 118 local farmers, some of them lost more than money.
  The Olympian, 19 September 2009

• IL: Two Adams County floodplain projects win federal funding

  Corn growing in Mississippi bottomland fields will be ready for harvest soon, but it could be one of the last crops on part of the acreage.
  Quincy Herald-Whig, 19 September 2009

• WY: Fracking contamination case eerily similar to Colorado?s Divide Creek accident

  A landowner says he witnessed shoddy hydraulic fracturing practices on his ranch and asks EPA regulators to step in because states seem incapable of proper oversight.
  Colorado Independent, 18 September 2009

• AK: Scores of walrus carcasses found on Arctic coast

  Up to 200 dead walruses have been spotted on the shore of Chukchi Sea on Alaska's northwest coast.
  Anchorage Daily News, 17 September 2009

• VA: Love of the land led to founding of conservancy

  Moved a growing sentiment that Northern Neck lands needed to be protected from development, a Lancaster woman joined others to build five years of conservation success.
  Fredericksburg Freelance-Star, 17 September 2009

• NH: Easement protects 113-year-old Stratham barn

  The community connections of a barn older than most local houses will now be preserved in perpetuity.
  Exeter News-Letter, 15 September 2009

• VA: Family farm saved from development

  Placement of an easement on a 436-acre waterfront farm will protect a half-mile of Rappahannock River shoreline near Warsaw.
  Fredericksburg Freelance-Star, 15 September 2009

• CA: After 12 years, McCrea Ranch trail deal approved

  The battle over a Sonoma Mountain ridgetop trail ended in applause when supervisors approved a deal allowing limited development in exchange for public access to most of a 240-acre ranch.
  Santa Rosa Press Democrat, 15 September 2009

• VA: Officials tour Crow's Nest

  When complete, the Crow's Nest preserve in eastern Stafford County will let the public explore a quiet, undisturbed space unlike anything else in Northern Virginia.
  Fredericksburg Freelance-Star, 15 September 2009

• MT: A gift of permanent sanctuary

  The Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust acquired an easement on 240 acres in the Centennial Valley at the highest point in the Missouri-Mississippi River drainage.
  A Humane Nation, 14 September 2009

• VA: Kaine announces easement, grant

  The City of Roanoke's donation completes a two-part easement protecting 11,363 acres of open space, making it the largest publicly-held easement in the state.
  Washington Continent, 14 September 2009

• KS: Welcome to Our Town. Wish We Weren?t Here.

  Officials are pushing for federal buyouts for the residents of Treece, which is on land contaminated from mining, after buyouts emptied a nearby town.
  New York Times, 13 September 2009

• WY: EPA's study of gas drilling could impact local operations

  Evidence of caustic chemicals associated with natural gas production in 11 private water supplies in the state have intensified battle lines over proposed drilling regulations.
  Gannett News, 13 September 2009

• PA: Upper Dublin purchases conservation easement for Lulu Country Club

  Commissioners have authorized the purchase of conservation easements on a 115-acre golf course to limit its future development and subdivision.
  North Penn Reporter, 13 September 2009

• FL: For EEL buys, deal's in eye of beholder

  Conservationists say deals to protect environmentally endangered lands yield valuable benefits, but a recent purchase in Malabar has rekindled concerns among critics.
  Florida Today, 13 September 2009

• OR: What is Obama's plan for the Northwest's imperiled salmon?

  Many hope the administration will hasten a productive change in the nation's most expensive species recovery conundrum.
  The Oregonian, 13 September 2009

• GA: Group protects Broad River watershed health

  Preservation and conservation efforts of the Madison County-based Broad River Watershed Association have paid public dividends through the years.
  Athens Banner-Herald, 12 September 2009

• CO: Commissioners approve land transfer, easements pact

  Boulder County commissioners have turned the title of 156 acres of county-owned open space over to private owners who promise to keep it in agricultural use.
  Longmont Times-Call, 11 September 2009

• ME: Plum Creek gets LURC staff approval

  The Land Use Regulation Commission has recommended giving final approval to Plum Creek Timber Co.'s controversial development proposal for the Moosehead Lake region.
  Maine Biz, 10 September 2009

• AK: Walruses congregate on Alaska shore as ice melts

  Thousands of walruses are congregating on Alaska's northwest coast, a sign that their Arctic sea ice environment has been altered by climate change.
  Associated Press via Buffalo News, 9 September 2009

• VT: Conservation group to open new mountain trail

  The Nature Conservancy will unveil a public trail with direct access to almost 200 acres on Mount Equinox later this month.
  Rutland Herald, 10 September 2009

• OK: City council agrees to purchase conservation easement

  Norman representatives agreed to purchase a conservation easement on a 50-acre dairy farm tract.
  Norman Transcript, 9 September 2009

• TX: Family places 208-acre easement with Guadalupe-Blanco River Trust

  Property situated in the eastern Edwards Plateau and boarded by Rocky Creek in Comal County is being preserved.
  Hill Country Times, 9 September 2009

• SC: More County land chosen for conservation

  The South Carolina Conservation Bank has approved $250,000 to purchase a conservation easement for 349 acres adjacent to the 1,500-acre Gopher Tortoise Heritage Preserve.
  Aiken Standard, 8 September 2009

• CA: Post-wildfire worries: floods, damaged ecosystem

  Chief among the concerns about the 246-square-mile Station Fire is its impact on the watersheds of the Angeles National Forest.
  Associated Press via Kansas City Star, 7 September 2009

• MD: Dumping coal ash at Hawkins Point opposed

  A power company seeking a new repository for waste from its coal-burning power plants targets an industrial landfill in Southeast Baltimore.
  Baltimore Sun, 7 September 2009

• CA: Drought-stricken streams threaten salmon

  As coastal creeks used for spawning dwindle into disconnected pools where fish get trapped and die, the dire outlook for endangered coho salmon worsens.
  Associated Press, 6 September 2009

• WY: Community blames fracking for water woes

  Residents of a small farming community blame their water woes -- and what they perceive to be the unusual health problems in their midst -- on a common technique used in drilling new oil and gas wells.
  Associated Press, 6 September 2009

• NC: What was in Marines' water?

  144,000 people nationwide are participating in a study on the health effects of drinking water at Camp Lejeune between the mid-1950s and the mid-1980s.
  Detroit Free-Press, 6 September 2009

• NY: A wooded prairie springs from a site once piled high with garbage

  33,000 trees and shrubs and a variety of grasses take root across 400 acres of former landfills in Brooklyn.
  New York Times, 6 September 2009

• MT: Some landowners coming around on Upper Clark Fork repairs

  The toxic legacy of copper mining brings together some of the 80 landowners who control the river shorelines of the country's largest Superfund cleanup project.
  The Missoulian, 6 September 2009

• CT: Small steps on long road to cleaning up GE property

  An environmental assessment of a hulking red brick-and-cement plant in Bridgeport is just the first hurdle to remediation and redevelopment.
  Connecticut Post, 5 September 2009

• IL: Long-abandoned mines can be a threat to homes, schools, businesses and roads in coal country

  Floors and walls in a farming town's elementary school suddenly started cracking and buckling after the pillars in long-abandoned mine hundreds of feet gave way.
  Associated Press via Los Angeles Times, 5 September 2009

• KY: Former Appalachian surface mines become bee habitat

  Four projects in Perry and Leslie counties seek to create honeybee habitat on reclaimed mine land.
  Charleston Gazette, 5 September 2009

• CA: Feds to Schwarzenegger - Water woes not caused by environmental rules

  Two cabinet secretaries reject governor's plea for relief from environmental protection laws.
  Contra Costa Times, 4 September 2009

• SD: Easements aim to raise water quality in the Big Sioux

  Renner couple become the first to grant an easement on their shoreline lands in Minnehaha County.
  Sioux Falls Argus Leader, 4 September 2009

• PA: Many miles to go

  The long effort to clean up tiny Lititz Run in Lancaster County shows how huge the task of saving the Chesapeake bay will be.
  Philadelphia Inquirer, 4 September 2009

• MA: Power struggle looms in plans to regulate wind turbines at sea

  Island planning and conservation leaders find themselves at a historic crossroad between embracing renewable energy technologies and protecting the Vineyard.
  Martha's Vineyard Gazette, 4 September 2009

• MI: State report says wind turbines would spin in Saginaw Bay

  The middle of Saginaw Bay and the northern shoreline of Michigan's Upper Peninsula offer promising locations for offshore wind farms in Lake Michigan.
  Bay City Times, 3 September 2009

• CO: Greens, new-energy backers at odds over use of desert

  By showcasing the use of public lands to shift toward renewable energy, big solar projects proposed for the Mojave have run into environmental opposition.
  Denver Post, 3 September 2009

• WA: Unspoiled nature in shadow of a nuclear site

  The Hanford Reach National Monument, 195,000 acres of natural beauty in south-central Washington, surrounds one of the world?s largest environmental clean-up projects.
  New York Times, 4 September 2009

• NV: Feds consider taking lead on mercury emissions

  State wants to keep policing mines? mercury emissions, but pending EPA regulations leave the effort in question.
  Las Vegas Sun, 3 September 2009

• WEST: Los Angeles wildfire sends pollution to Denver

  The smoggiest city in the U.S. is exporting additional contaminants as far away as Denver as wildfires send smoke almost 1,000 miles east.
  Bloomberg, 4 September 2009

• NY: Town, city face off in a land squabble

  The city of Glens Falls is suing the town of Queensbury over zoning restrictions on city-owned watershed property in the town.
  Glens Falls Post Star, 3 September 2009

• OK: Norman farmland deal gets considered

  The city goverment and a local land trust discuss a collaborative deal to conserve open space by purchasing development rights to a former dairy farm.
  The Oklahoman, 2 September 2009

• VT: Money match for Hogback group

  The effort to conserve the Hogback Mountain property received a boost from the Pew Charitable Trusts and its Northeast Land Trust Consortium project.
  Brattleboro Reformer, 2 September 2009

• NH: Easement will be up to voters

  A special town meeting will decide whether to put the 413-acre Bohanan farm under easement.
  Concord Monitor, 1 September 2009

• TN: City to allow permitted guns in park

  With a new state law going into effect today, most communities rushed to institute local gun bans for their parks -- but not the City of Fairview.
  The Tennessean, 1 September 2009

• WA: The dark side of dairies

  A broken system leaves immigrant workers invisible -- and in danger.
  High Country News, 31 August 2009

• Coast Guard aims to halt spread of invasive aquatic species

  Long-awaited standards are intended to address the impact of invasive aquatic species transported via ballast water in ships.
  Washington Post, 30 August 2009

• CO: Boulder County panel endorses open space proposal

  A $2.75 million deal will yield conservation easements restricting future development on 272 acres of property northeast of Longmont.
  Longmont Times Call, 29 August 2009

• AK: Encroaching river set clock ticking on Newtok

  The swelling Ninglick River is gobbling more than 70 feet of coast a year, and a changing climate may have accelerated the creep.
  Anchorage Daily News, 29 August 2009

• VA: Lawsuit claims Dominion saw golf course as "coal ash dump"

  A former construction manager says Dominion Virginia Power built a golf course in southern Chesapeake with 1.5 million tons of fly ash while disguise the project's true purpose as a coal waste dump.
  Virginian-Pilot, 27 August 2009

• NJ: Scientists fish for answers on the Passaic

  Scientists are capturing and dissecting fish, crabs and eels from the lower Passaic River to determine how they have been affected by cancer-causing dioxin, PCBs and other toxic chemicals.
  Bergen Record, 27 August 2009

• VA: Montpelier land being saved

  Private groups and the State of Virginia are permanently protecting more than a square mile of historic property around the historic home of James and Dolley Madison.
  Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star, 27 August 2009

• TN: Fairview leaders learn gun law trumps Bowie Park restrictions

  Activities in the county's largest park are jeopardized by a conflict between a local law banning firearms from schools and school activities and a new state law allowing guns in parks.
  The Tennesseean, 27 August 2009

• VA: Historic farm in Pulaski Co. now permanently protected

  The Ingles Ferry Farm is now fully protected, after three direct descendants of pioneer heroine Mary Draper Ingles donated the land under a permanent conservation easement.
  WSLS-TV, 27 August 2009

• CT: Newtown Forest Association adds 68 acres to its protected land

  A family's donation of a 68-acre conservation easement more than doubles preserved land in critical watershed that feeds the Pootatuck Aquifer.
  Danbury News Times, 26 August 2009

• US: Scientists discover virus that could explain drop in bee population

  Scientists have discovered a characteristic pattern of cell damage in bees affected by colony collapse disorder.
  London Times, 25 August 2009

• CO: PDR program helps county conserve 645 acres with $400,000

  Routt County?s Purchase of Development Rights program broke new ground with the approval of an easement on an Elkhead Valley ranch.
  Steamboat Pilot and Today, 26 August 2009

• NJ: Bernards votes to spend $5 million of open-space tax funds on a conservation easement

  A divided township committee voted to fund an easement that allows public access to almost 60 acres of wooded land off Allen Road.
  Somerville Courier News, 26 August 2009

• CA: Bear River land preserve effort swings into action

  An important puzzle piece in Bear River shoreline preservation between Nevada and Placer counties is moving into place.
  Auburn Journal, 25 August 2009

• WY: EPA - Chemicals found drinking water might be from fracking

  Federal environment officials investigating drinking water contamination near the ranching town of Pavillion have found a chemical used in natural gas drilling in at least three water wells.
  ProPublica, 25 August 2009

• LA+MS: Corps of Engineers will not lead new coastal panel

  A new interagency working group tackling coastal restoration planning is likely to be led by either the White House Council on Environmental Quality or NOAA.
  New Orleans Times-Picayune, 25 August 2009

• MI: Polluted industrial past threatens Mancelona

  Cedar River watershed is at risk from underground plume of industrial waste.
  Detroit News, 24 August 2009

• MS: After Obama campaign visit, Delta community waits

  Restive African American municipal officials in Southern states have complained that not enough stimulus money is reaching communities like those in the chronically impoverished Delta.
  Washington Post, 24 August 2009

• MO: State bans wrong plastic from rivers

  A law that takes effect this week could make criminals out of those who bring Tupperware onto many of Missouri's rivers.
  Associated Press, 23 August 2009

• WI: Toxins in Lake Michigan fish linked to diabetes

  A 15-year study of Great Lakes boat captains found a correlation between diabetes and DDE, a chemical found in small bottom-feeding fish that ingest the pesticide DDT.
  Chicago Tribune, 22 August 2009

• TX: The state of the bay

  Nearly one year after Hurricane Ike wreaked havoc across Galveston Bay, the ecosystem is slowly recovering. But will it ever be the same?
  Houston Chronicle, 22 August 2009

• UT: Great Salt Lake stands out -- for mercury pollution

  The U.S. Geological Survey's most extensive nationwide report on mercury pollution in the country's freshwater streams, lakes and wetlands identifies Great Salt Lake as the hottest of hot spots.
  Salt Lake Tribune, 21 August 2009

• TN: TVA says ash spill cleanup could take 3 years

  The nation's largest public utility says a massive coal ash spill in Kingston could take three years to clean up, followed by potentially years of environmental monitoring,
  Associated Press via Vancouver Columbian, 21 August 2009

• WV: DEP biologist criticizes Secretary's testimony to Congress

  An internal memo from a stream assessment biologist warns that DEP Secretary Randy Huffman misled Congress about the damage being done by mountaintop-removal coal mining.
  Charleston Gazette, 21 August 2009

• FL: EPA sets legal limits for water pollution

  A long-awaited action sets legal limits for the farm and urban runoff polluting Florida's waterways -- limits that could serve as a model for other states.
  Associated Press via KVOA Tucson, 21 August 2009

• NY: EPA plans dig for site of old fort beams

  Archaeologists plan to excavate a Hudson River site where crews dredging PCB-contaminated sediment last week mistakenly ripped out the remains of what was once Britain's largest fort in colonial America.
  Newsday, 20 August 2009

• CA: Audubon California teams to protect bird habitat in Surprise Valley

  A second easement on a ranch in extreme northeastern California will protect important wet meadows, grassland, and riparian habitats that support a variety of bird species,
  Audublog, 20 August 2009

• NY: Easement preserves 145 acres in Caroline

  The parcel located close to both Danby and Shindagin Hollow State Forests will helps establish a wildlife corridor and a green link between the two public lands.
  Ithaca Journal, 19 August 2009

• FL: Brevard buys bird habitat

  - In an unusual preservation partnership, Brevard County and the U.S. Air Force will together spend $2.05 million to protect scrub jay habitat within Malabar.
  Florida Today, 19 August 2009

• MI: 120 acres preserved near Baldwin

  An easement now protects the important wildlife habitat and preserves the natural and scenic beauty of a parcel surrounded by the Pere Marquette State Forest.
  Ludington Daily News, 19 August 2009

• EAST: Protection plan deep-sea coral reefs considered

  A 23,000-square-mile coral reef tract stretching from North Carolina to Florida -- believed to be the world's largest -- is being proposed for protection from deep-sea commercial fishing and energy exploration.
  Associated Press via San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 August 2009

• UT: Governor likely to save ancient Indian site from train station project

  Gov. Herbert is poised to sign a conservation easement that will protect 252 acres -- the site of an ancient Indian village -- from a train station and commercial project along the Jordan River in Draper.
  Salt Lake Tribune, 18 August 2009

• CO: A slow-moving disaster

  In Grand County's haven of mountains, rivers, lakes and evergreen forests in north-central Colorado, the impacts of the pine beetle epidemic are as much a fact of daily life as snow in winter.
  High Country News, 17 August 2009

• GA: River basin fight pits Atlanta against neighbors

  A court defeat over water supply has left Atlanta howling that other states are trying to choke off its prosperity.
  New York Times, 16 August 2009

• KY: The plan -- plant 125 million trees

  Leaders of the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative are seeking federal stimulus money to plant 125 million trees on mountains that were cleared or leveled for surface mining.
  Lexington Herald-Leader, 16 August 2009

• CO: Ranchers give Mesa Land Trust largest easement yet

  The Aubert family will still run sheep and cattle high atop Pinyon Mesa overlooking the Grand Valley, but now under the auspices of the land trust?s largest-ever conservation easement.
  Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, 16 August 2009

• TX: Climate change has some animals fleeing the Texas heat

  As hot days get even hotter, it may just be too much for some birds and fish. Their search for relief may lead them to migrate out of the state if the Texas climate continues to warm, as predicted.
  Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 15 August 2009

• SC: Dillon resident raises questions about safety of Little Pee Dee

  The Little Pee Dee River ? a river belonging to ?the people,? including the Pee Dee tribe ? is under threat of being ruined by pollution from nearby hog farm operations.
  Florence Morning News, 15 August 2009

• CT: Naugatuck board set to block Gunntown Road conservation easement

  Local officials will likely block a plan to give the Naugatuck Land Trust a conservation easement on a 39-acre town-owned parcel next month.
  Waterbury Republican-American, 15 August 2009

• CA: Will there finally be a trail?

  At last, resolution of a disputed 1997 open space easement over the McCrea Ranch in Glen Ellen is close at hand. Well, maybe.
  Santa Rosa Press Democrat, 15 August 2009

• US: Birds vs. environmentalists?

  A growing number of species are at the epicenter of a battle being waged by environmentalists and developers. What's new is that the encroacher is the environmentally friendly wind-energy industry.
  Newsweek, 13 August 2009

• VA: Science program wants to use federal grant to buy marshy island property

  The Virginia Institute of Marine Science is poised to buy 455 acres of marshy York River islands from a developer in a $1.45 million deal that could safeguard years of ongoing research.
  Daily Progress, 15 August 2009

• OK: Attorney general risks political career in taking on poultry industry to save watershed

  If Drew Edmondson wins a court order to stop the large-scale disposal of chicken waste on farmland, it could yield the greatest impact of any decision during his 15 year-tenure as state attorney general.
  Associated Press via Hartford Courant, 13 August 2009

• VA: Comprehensive plan gets mixed reactions in Henrico

  Last-minute changes to the 2026 Comprehensive Plan delighted conservationists in eastern Henrico County and left some large landowners feeling that their rights had been trampled.
  Richmond Times-Dispatch, 13 August 2009

• MT: Steward extraordinaire -- Jim Cusker's long commitment to Missoula farmland

  Conservationist, farmer, teacher, public servant, historian: Five Valleys Land Trust President Jim Cusker wears a lot of hats. Future generations will thank him for it.
  New West, 13 August 2009

• WA: Deal protects vast tract of land near Kitsap-Mason line from development

  With the help of funding from from the federal Forest Legacy Program, more than 2,100 acres of forestland adjacent to both two state forests gain permanent protection from development.
  Kitsap Sun, 12 August 2009

• NC: Family shields Army from urban sprawl

  A local pilot had a bird's-eye view for several decades as development gobbled up the Hoke County forest around Fort Bragg. Five years ago, he saved 540 acres from that fate.
  Fayetteville Observer, 11 August 2009

• WV: Obama EPA approves another mountaintop removal mine

  Without announcing the move publicly, the administration late last week approved one of six major mountaintop removal permits that were said to be undergoing close EPA scrutiny.
  Charleston Gazette, 11 August 2009

• VA: Woman finally protects her land

  After finding that holding conservation easements presented no obvious problems, Richmond county supervisors voted unanimously to become the fifth county in the Commonwealth to accept them.
  Fredericksburg Freelance-Star, 10 August 2009

• OR: Island treasure

  A recently inked pact to protect Duncan Island Ranch in the Siuslaw River estuary from grazing and development forever is the culmination of an arduous 10-year negotiation.
  Eugene Register-Guard, 10 August 2009

• WV: Enviro groups tread lightly with Endangered Species Act in Appalachia

  The few national groups that have tried to use ESA have run up against a special species review process for coal mining.
  Greenwire via New York Times, 10 August 2009

• WA: Pollution, noise and loss of salmon leave the future of Puget Sound orcas uncertain

  Real orcas are much scarcer in Western Washington's waters than figurative ones on land. About four years after the Sound's orcas were declared endangered, the prospects for their recovery remain unclear.
  Everett Herald, 9 August 2009

• IA: New land program protects environment with simpler rules

  Farm programs have long rewarded farmers for growing certain types of crops such as corn and soybeans. Now Congress wants to pay farmers according to how they farm, not just what they grow.
  Des Moines Register, 9 August 2009

• CA: Spotlight on delta in coming state water fight

  Perhaps never before in its history has it been clearer that the state's water system is profoundly broken and at risk of outright collapse. This may be the year the leaders finally dole out much-needed fixes.
  San Francisco Chronicle, 9 August 2009

• CA: Amid drought, Sacramento water use climbed

  An investigation of water use in Sacramento, based on an examination of three years of metering records, reveals city government itself as the top water scofflaw.
  Sacramento Bee, 9 August 2009

• LA: Recent incidents raise issues on drilling, environment

  The Haynesville Shale has brought prosperity to many northwest Louisiana property owners and governments, but residents and the DEQ are reviewing several incidents in the area.
  Shreveport Times, 9 August 2009

• VA: Of 339,000 acres protected, only about 5,000 in Hampton Roads

  Despite a flurry of conservation activity during the past three years, Virginia likely will fall far short of meeting a goal to protect 20 percent of all lands within the Chesapeake Bay watershed by 2010.
  Virginian-Pilot, 8 August 2009

• OR: Blurring the urban-rural line in Damascus

  Larry Thompson has always been ahead of everybody else, but not even he has grown a city before. His ideas this time would turn Oregon's heralded land-use system on its head.
  The Oregonian, 8 August 2009

• ID: Monsanto rounds up support, dissent for Idaho mine

  As Monsanto races to replenish phosphate supplies for its weed-killing cash machine Roundup, the company insists its history of polluting the high country shouldn?t prevent it from digging fresh open pits.
  Associated Press via Belleville News-Democrat, 5 August 2009

• VA: A passion for land preservation

  Paul Ziluca was surprised to be appointed to the board of the Virginia Outdoors Foundation in 1994. 15 years later, he sees it as a decision that changed his life.
  Loudoun Times-Mirror, 6 August 2009

• CO: Telluride town council passes Valley Floor management plan

  Intended to establish the town?s policies and guidelines for management of the land, the management plan is more flexible than the recently passed binding conservation easement and deals in specifics policies.
  Telluride News, 5 August 2009

• NC: Buncombe County helps preserve farms, views

  Alma Spicer wanted her grandchildren to see the family farm the way she remembered it growing up in Fairview. By funding an easement on 170 acres, the Buncombe County Commissioners are seeing to that.
  Asheville Citizen-Times, 5 August 2009

• MD: Governor announces Forest Legacy easement in Harford County

  Governor O?Malley announced the approval of a federally funded Forest Legacy Conservation Easement to preserve 376 acres within the Broad Creek Memorial Scout Reservation in Harford County.
  The Dagger, 5 August 2009

• WA: New strategy to save forests: logging

  Environmentalists look to loggers to fend off development of nearly 1 million acres of lush, low-elevation privately owned forest ? some of the last places holding the Puget Sound ecosystem together.
  Seattle Times, 3 August 2009

• CO: Land trusts struggle to preserve open space in tough economic times

  Land trusts around the state are being squeezed by the recession, bad publicity, and the perception that conservation easements use public funds to deny public access to private lands.
  Colorado Independent, 3 August 2009

• CA: Company donates 185-acre conservation easement

  The city of Arcata recently gained one of the largest land donations in its history, ensuring more public access in a protected conservation easement on the north side of the Arcata Community Forest.
  Eureka Times-Standard, 3 August 2009

• WA: Wilcox Family Farms - Sound-friendly farming

  Environment-friendly practices work out for egg producer as it marks its 100th anniversary.
  Tacoma News Tribune, 10 August 2009

• CT: Scientists, fishermen work to preserve Long Island Sound oysters

  It now seems inconceivable that some scientists and fishermen were ready a decade ago to write off what arguably is the world's richest oyster ground.
  Hartford Courant, 2 August 2009

• AZ: Unabated use of groundwater threatens Arizona's future

  Thirty years after Arizon tried to stop cities and towns from using up their groundwater, the state still can't shake its thirst for one of its most finite resources.
  Arizona Republic, 3 August 2009

• MI: Easement saves 37 acres of duneland

  A parcel of threatened dune habitat featuring beech-maple forest and wetlands has been permanently protected from development.
  Southwest Michigan Herald-Palladium, 2 August 2009

• CO: Embattled land trusts evaluate viability

  Land trusts across the state are assessing their vitality at a time when many feel threatened by flagging donations, a tarnished image and a troubled economy.
  Fort Collins Coloradan, 2 August 2009

• PA: Gas drilling company applies to withdraw Delaware River waters

  The nation's largest natural-gas corporation has applied to withdraw 1 million gallons of water per day from the Delaware River in pristine and protected regions of Wayne County.
  Middletown Times Herald-Record, 7 July 2009

• EAST: Chesapeake Bay is a threat to humans, too

  The health of people who fish, boat and swim in Chesapeake Bay face threats from the same high levels of mercury, neon-colored algae blooms, and voracious bacteria that afflict the estuary's fish and crabs.
  Washington Post, 6 July 2009

• CA: Despair flows as fields go dry and unemployment rises

  Water built the semi-arid San Joaquin Valley into an agricultural powerhouse. But the region's farms are now laying off workers and letting fields lie fallow as their water ration falls.
  Los Angeles Times, 6 July 2009

• MD: Agency approves preservation of 255 acres

  The Board of Public Works approved a perpetual conservation easement on 255 acres of scenic and historic open space, agricultural and forestland, known as Holly Hill, located in southern Anne Arundel County.
  AmmoLand.com, 6 July 2009

• NY: Fishing for danger

  Poorer New Yorkers are ignoring health warnings not to fish for their meals in polluted local waters, where the catch of the day comes laced with cancer-causing PCBs and mercury.
  New York Daily News, 6 July 2009

• MT: Agency aims to buy 70 acres along Flathead Lake

  The Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks is looking to buy 70 untamed acres along the northern shore of Flathead Lake, in a move designed to protect fish and wildlife habitat.
  The Missoulian, 5 July 2009

• WA: California water plan could help Puget Sound orcas survive

  A plan to restore salmon runs on California's Sacramento River could help revive killer whale populations 700 miles to the north in Puget Sound.
  Bellingham Herald, 5 July 2009

• CA: EPA tentatively restricts pesticide use near Bay Area endangered species habitat

  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a tentative agreement to temporarily ban in eight Bay Area counties the use of 74 pesticides in habitat set aside for 11 imperiled species.
  Contra Costa Times, 4 July 2009

• VT: Leduc Farm legacy secured

  The cheese factory on South Burlington's Cheesefactory Road disappeared years ago, but an easement now ensures that the 143-acre Leduc Farm will remain a farm forever.
  Burlington Free-Press, 4 July 2009

• US: Panel urges huge increase in outdoor spending

  Despite the recession, a blue-ribbon panel says the federal government should increase by tenfold its spending on recreation and conservation to protect the nation's outdoor heritage.
  Associated Press, 7 July 2009

• CO: Loveland pursues easement along Big Thompson River

  City officials have applied for $800,000 in grants in hopes of preserving a 110-acre piece of rich habitat along the Big Thompson River.
  Loveland Reporter-Herald, 4 July 2009

• NC: Now 17 veterans with rare cancer or tumors with Camp Lejeune ties

  Scientists studying drinking water contamination at Camp Lejeune were startled to identify 11 men with breast cancer and ties to the North Carolina base over the last two years. Six more have been found in one week.
  St. Petersburg Times, 4 July 2009

• TN-AL: EPA allows TVA to dump spilled coal ash in Alabama

  Federal regulators will allow the nation's largest utility to dump millions of tons of coal ash from a Tennessee spill into an Alabama landfill, despite criticism that the plan is unfair to one of Alabama's poorest counties.
  Associated Press via INO, 3 July 2009

• VA: 1,442-acre Wintergreen donation to be preserved

  Nelson County lands surrounding Crawford Knob, which rises more than 3,000 feet above sea level, will be preserved as wilderness after Wintergreen Resort officials donated an easement on the property.
  Waynesboro News-Virginian, 1 July 2009 Address :

• AZ: 1,000 acres of Diamond C Ranch protected

  The Arizona Military Installation Fund has funded an easement protecting a 1,000-acre pasture that abuts the Coronado National Forest and protects Fort Huachuca from encroachment.
  Wilcox Range News, 1 July 2009

• WI: Protecting a bend in the Wisconsin River

  When a resident found out that a property with 870 feet of entirely natural Wisconsin River frontage was coming up for sale, he knew he wanted to buy it to protect it.
  News of the North, 1 July 2009

• VA: Nearly 90 acres of open space saved

  Open-space protection in Frederick County has gotten a boost as Marlboro Angus Farm is put into a permanent easement against development.
  Northern Virginia Daily, 1 July 2009

• CO: Eagle County ranch deal in danger?

  County commissioners say they're willing to spend $3 million to help preserve a 1000-acre ranch north of Dotsero -- but not the $4.7 million that was being asked of them.
  Vail Daily News, 29 June 2009

• NJ: North Jersey's alarming bat die-off

  Up to 90 percent of North Jersey's bat population was killed off over the winter by an unusual and mysterious fungus associated with the deaths of more than a million bats in nine states.
  Bergen County Record, 29 June 2009

• CO: It's now legal to catch a raindrop in Colorado

  Ownership of precipitation was once assigned from the moment it fell in many Western states. Two new laws in Colorado will allow many people to collect rainwater legally.
  New York Times, 28 June 2009

• WA: King County Council nears vote on protecting 95 green spaces

  Council is debating an amendment to the county charter -- effectively the county's constitution -- that would create an extra level of protection for 150,000 acres of county-owned lands.
  Sammamish Review, 28 June 2009

• KS: Contaminated Treece could soon be ghost town

  The century of mining that brought decades of prosperity to a southeast Kansas town is long since over, leaving a legacy of heavy-metal-tainted water and soil and a lunarlike landscape of gray mine waste.
  Wichita Eagle, 28 June 2009

• WEST: Beetles add new dynamic to forest fire control efforts

  More than seven million acres of U.S. forests have been declared all but dead, victims of tiny bark beetles. Forestry officials admit they do not yet know the impact on fire prediction or assessment.
  New York Times, 27 June 2009

• CA: Activists hot over senator's stance on oyster farm

  A powerful Senate Democrat is backing an oyster farmer over the National Park Service in a northern California controversy that has environmentalists seething.
  Associated Press, 27 June 2009

• NORTHEAST: St. Lawrence Seaway's 50th anniversary soiled by invaders

  Opening the once-isolated freshwaters of the Great Lakes lakes to the rest of the world brought more than dollars and foreign cargo: invasive species have wrought ecological and economic chaos.
  Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 26 June 2009

• TN: Acreage on Bluff Mountain now shielded from development

  510 acres of beautiful Sevier County land -- which on clear days features a 2000-square-mile view -- will now stay that way forever through a conservation easement.
  WBIR-TV, 26 June 2009

• US: House Democrats limit amendments to Interior-EPA spending bill

  The decision to allow votes on 13 of the 105 amendments submitted for the spending bill that funds environmental agencies prompt cries of foul play from Republicans.
  Greenwire for New York Times, 25 June 2009

• WV: Mountaintop removal damage "irreversible," U.S. Senate hears

  Experts and regulators told members of a U.S. Senate subcommittee that mountaintop removal coal mining is causing "immense and irreversible" damage to Appalachian hills, streams, and forests.
  Charleston Gazette, 25 June 2009

• NY: State updates its open space plan

  The state has outlined its priorities for land conservation with an update of the Open Space Conservation Plan, which happens every three years.
  Watertown Daily Times, 25 June 2009

• MT: Out to pasture

  Gallatin County Commissioners have added protection for more than 1,000 acres of prime agricultural land, ensuring that two local farms continue growing food.
  Bozeman Daily Chronicle, 24 June 2009

• CO: Valley floor preservation nearly complete

  The Telluride town council unanimously approved the first reading of an ordinance that authorizes the execution of an easement protecting a 572-acre parcel from development in perpetuity.
  Telluride Watch, 24 June 2009

• CA: Deep in bedrock, clean energy and quake fears

  A new project north of San Francisco hopes to tap geothermal energy by fracturing hard rock more than two miles deep to extract its heat. Will it rupture the area's fault lines, too?
  New York Times, 23 June 2009

• WI: DNR spends nearly $9 million to preserve land

  State board has approved acquisitions ranging from the last piece of spending on a historic large land deals to protecting property along the northern reaches of the Milwaukee River.
  Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 23 June 2009

• AK: Court allows gold mine to dump waste in lake

  Environmentalists hope the U.S. Supreme Court's decision allowing a gold mine near Juneau to discharge its waste into a fish-bearing lake isn't the final word in the long-running dispute.
  Anchorage Daily News, 23 June 2009

• MT: $11.75 million approved for easements

  The House Appropriations Committee has approved nearly $15 million in Montana projects, including $11.75 million for five conservation easement projects.
  Great Falls Tribune, 23 June 2009

• CO: Open-space tax repeal emerges in Vail Valley

  Michael Gross voted in favor of creating a Vail Valley open space tax in 2002. Now he's ready to repeal it.
  Vail Daily, 22 June 2009

• US: Large "dead zone" predicted for Gulf Of Mexico this summer

  Scientists forecast that the low-oxygen "dead zone" off the coast of Louisiana and Texas in the Gulf of Mexico this summer could be one of the largest on record.
  Terra Daily, 23 June 2009

• CO: Vail Valley spends for space

  Since voting in an open-space tax in 2002 by a mere 51 votes, Eagle County has generated over $20 million to protect 4,106 acres. And every decision has created some sort of political ruckus.
  Vail Daily, 21 June 2009

• OH: From the Ashes of ?69, a River Reborn

  A galvanizing symbol for environmentalists 40 years ago, the Cuyahoga River is home today to more than 60 species of fish and hosts long sections clean enough to no longer require aggressive monitoring.
  New York Times, 20 June 2009

• CA: Desert icon Joshua trees are vanishing, scientists say

  The ancient plants of the national park named for them are dying, and experts expect Joshuas to vanish entirely from the southern half of the state within a century.
  Riverside Press-Enterprise, 20 June 2009

• CO: Mountain residents worried about beetle spray

  Another outbreak of pine beetles has some Boulder county residents concerned that foresters will realize too late that a new beetle-killing pesticide may be hurting people. Again.
  Colorado Daily, 20 June 2009

• SC: The politics of rivers

  37 rivers and creeks in Beaufort and Jasper counties are affected by 85 separate problems, which could mean trouble in places where retirement and tourism industries depend at least in part on pristine water.
  The Island Packet, 20 June 2009

• NC: US pulls report that minimized cancer risk from toxic water at Marine base

  In an about-face, the government has disavowed a 12-year-old federal report that found little or no cancer risk from contaminated drinking water for adults who lived at Camp Lejeune.
  Associated Press via San Francisco Examiner, 20 June 2009

• LA: Destroying levees in a state usually clamoring for them

  Two brothers plan to return a muddy river in northern Louisiana to its ancient floodplain by removing miles of levees.
  New York Times, 20 June 2009

• FL: Study says Apalachicola River flow could affect Gulf fisheries

  Reduced water flowing from Georgia and Alabama in Florida's Apalachicola River could have wider effects than have been traditionally studied or understood.
  Florida Environments, 19 June 2009

• TN: Allen Dairy movin' on up

  One farming family has broken new ground by granting Marshall County's first easement, which will preserve Duck River frontage and make their own environmental protection measures more affordable.
  Marshall County Tribune, 19 June 2009

• WA: Whidby Island easement secures 176-acre "incredible forest"

  Landowners are finalizing completion of a conservation easement that will permanently protect the Incredible Forest, permit selective timber harvests, and surrender multi-million dollar development rights.
  Ecozome Journal, 18 June 2009

• OR: Good data on water runs dry in Oregon

  As water challenges mount, the tiny agency that picks who gets it has lost employees and suspended research. An agency that lives off data -- how much, how deep, how fast -- is starved for information.
  The Oregonian, 17 June 2009

• FL: Wildlife underpass skewered; Founder fires back

  Supporters of a proposed wildlife underpass received unwelcome national attention when a Republican senator identified their project as wasteful spending, misrepresenting a 10-year effort.
  Florida Environments, 17 June 2009

• NJ: When nature gets a second chance

  Once urban planners, scientists, and city dwellers began recognizing the high cost of neglecting land stewardship, one professor's team seized opportunities to restore wide-ranging sites.
  Christian Science Monitor, 17 June 2009

• NH: Humble lives leave vast legacy

  Thirty-seven years after their parents failed to convince city officials to accept an easement, one family's children complete the donation and protection of farm and forest.
  Concord Monitor, 17 June 2009

• Green to keep it green

  A record 25 farmers in Fairfield County applied for a statewide program that pays them to keep their lands permanently agricultural and not to sell them to developers.
  Columbus Dispatch, 17 June 2009

• MI: County vows to preserve easement along river

  Macomb County and the Six Rivers Regional Land Conservancy dedicated a nature center and 33-acre floodplain easement that includes a series of trails along one mile of the Clinton River shore.
  Macomb Chronicle, 17 June 2009

• WV: EPA takeover sought for state's water program

  An environmental coalition says West Virginia regulators have allowed a "complete breakdown" of their water pollution control program and called for federal officials to seize permitting and enforcement duties.
  West Virginia Gazette, 17 June 2009

• CO: New suspension bridge provides public access, protection

  A new 35-foot-high suspension bridge over the churning white waters of the San Miguel River represents a final step in an important local conservation effort.
  Telluride Watch, 17 June 2009

• CO-WY: Water supplies at risk from fires in dead forests

  Water supplies for 33 million people could be endangered if millions of acres of beetle-ravaged Rocky Mountains forests around the headwaters of the Colorado River catch fire.
  Associated Press via Miami Herald, 16 June 2009

• FL: Experts warn of drilling risks in eastern Gulf of Mexico

  While Congress considers opening the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil-and-gas drilling, experts on ocean currents warn of a potential environmental nightmare that could reach the coast of South Florida.
  Associated Press via St. Louis Today, 16 June 2009

• NY: Neighbors sad over future subdivision of Lily Pond field

  Lost views were the main preoccupation of the four neighbors who spoke at a hearing on a subdivision proposed for one of East Hampton Village?s last parcels of cherished open space,
  East Hampton Press, 16 June 2009

• MD: Once slated for houses, 355-acre farm now protected forever

  A conservation easement for the Browning Creek Farm was funded using Federal transportation funds earmarked for the protection of the view along Chesapeake Country National Scenic Byway.
  Cecil Observer, 15 June 2009

• CO: Pitkin County commissioners wading into controversial river restoration

  Officials prepare to review a proposal to dredge part of the Roaring Fork River's channel and stabilize eroding banks, which initially pitted some environmental organizations against others.
  Aspen Times, 15 June 2009

• VA: Activists gird for fight over coal plant in Surry County

  "No Coal Plant": the placards visible in a quiet farm belt up and down Rolfe Highway refer to a brewing public debate over a proposed power plant that would be the second-largest of its kind in Virginia. The Virginian-Pilot, 14 June 2009

• MI: Lake Superior fish meet contamination risk

  The largest, deepest and coldest Great Lake holds another distinction: the highest levels of the contaminant toxaphene in the Great Lakes region, if not the world.
  South Bend Tribune, 14 June 2009

• LA: State says dredged mud can save coast

  The DNR is demanding that the Army Corps of Engineers use the 63 million tons of mud it dredges each year to rebuild the dying wetlands and marshes that once were the main defense from coastal hurricanes.
  New Orleans Times-Picayune, 13 June 2009

• WEST: Some oil- and gas-drilling leases may be reinstated

  The leases, auctioned near the end of the Bush administration, were blocked by Obama's Interior Department. Now a report opens the door to 30 of them being reissued.
  Los Angeles Times, 12 June 2009

• CA: Superfund money to clean "mouth of the beast"

  The gaping wound near Redding known to everybody else as the Iron Mountain Mine that turned a once-majestic mountain into a breeding ground for bacterial slime that helps create the "world's worst water."
  San Francisco Chronicle, 12 June 2009

• MD: State OKs protection of 228 acres of waterfront land

  Officials announced approval of an easement on a tract on Chincoteague Bay considered a lynchpin property that connects a much larger area of permanently protected land in Worcester County.
  Maryland Coast Dispatch, 12 June 2009

• WA: Knocking out a noxious invasion

  Members of the Bainbridge Island Land Trust and Weed Warriors joined forces to attack the large swath of Scotch broom.
  Bainbridge Review, 8 June 2009

• CA: Big Sur Land Trust acquires Carmel River lands

  The acquisition includes an easement protecting 10 acres of important river habitat, the purchase of a 3-acre property for future use as a river education center, and an approximately 2-mile long public trail.
  The Californian, 11 June 2009

• IA: USDA spends $20 million on in-state floodplain easements

  The U.S.D.A. is paying farmers to idle over 4240 acres land in 42 easements along streams and rivers in an effort to ease future flooding.
  Radio Iowa, 11 June 2009

• NC: Grandfather Mountain deal with state closes

  The Division of Parks and Recreation announced the closing of the deal in which the purchase of 2,456 acres formed the newest state park.
  Mountain Times, 11 June 2009

• CA: A wake-up call on water use

  Move over, carbon, the next shoe to drop in the popular awareness of eco-issues is the ?water footprint."
  Christian Science Monitor, 10 June 2009

• CA: Rebooting urban watersheds

  Most city residents give little thought to culverted creeks running along their town's scraggy margins. But Bay Area restorationists see these neglected waterways as key indicators for urban sustainability.
  High Country News, 1 June 2009

• VA: Fort A.P. Hill added 3,000 buffer acres in 2008

  With help from landowners, conservation agencies and state and federal officials, Fort A.P. Hill fared well last year in a mission to discourage incompatible development outside its gates.
  Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, 9 June 2009

• US: Experts tell Congress bat fungus could spread and lead to die-off

  White-nose syndrome, a mysterious fungus attacking America's bats, could spread nationwide within years and represents the most serious threat to wildlife in a century.
  Associated Press via Los Angeles Times, 9 June 2009

• WA: Jefferson County approves Conservation Futures funding

  Commissioners allocated funding for three local preservation projects: Brown Dairy property in Chimacum, Quimper Wildlife Corridor in Port Townsend and Tarboo Wildlife Preserve near Dabob Bay.
  Peninsula Daily News, 9 June 2009

• UT: Open space in Salt Lake could get gas pipeline running through it

  A 29-mile pipeline extension is drawing battle lines between a natural-gas transmission company and Salt Lake City over a large parcel of undeveloped open space along the Bonneville Shoreline trail.
  KSL-TV, 8 June 2009

• SC: Air station reaches deal on boundary development

  Partners have placed 262 acres near a Marine air station into a conservation easement that strictly limits future development.
  Beaufort Gazette, 8 June 2009

• NY: Who contaminated Rockland?s reservoir?

  Some Rockland County residents believe state transportation officials polluted a major public water source then forced taxpayers to pay for the cleanup while environmental officials turned their heads.
  North Country News, 7 June 2009

• CO: Easement deal helps hunters, anglers

  A unique partnership to protect 3,400 acres of private land in the Arkansas River Valley could serve as a prototype for future statewide accords.
  Denver Post, 7 June 2009

• MI-WI: S.S. Badger coal ash dumping surprises many

  Revelations that a car ferry dumps hundreds of tons of coal ash waste into Lake Michigan each sailing season have caught many people by surprise. As has the practice's legality.
  Muskegon News, 6 June 2009

• Stream projects get federal funds

  Summit Metro Parks has received funding to reduce stream-bank erosion on Furnace Run and to add natural channel features and in-stream habitats to a small unnamed tributary near Hudson.
  Akron Beacon Journal, 5 June 2009

• VA: Frozen programs, poor economy hindering progress on rural-protection strategies

  Albemarle County will fall short of many of its rural protection goals, including the placement of additional acres into conservation easement programs by mid-2010, due to a lack of funding.
  Charlottesville Tomorrow, 5 June 2009

• CO: Drilling method's exemption challenged by bill

  U.S. representative plans proposes to regulate a widespread drilling technology that uses benzene and other toxic chemicals but also has been a main driver of the West's natural-gas boom.
  Denver Post, 5 June 2009

• US: Experts say bat fungus causing historic decline

  A mysterious fungus attacking America's bats could spread nationwide within years and represents the most serious threat to wildlife in a century.
  Associated Press, 5 June 2009

• FL: Costly catch - runoff

  State regulators plan to limit the nitrogen and phosphorus that flows from lawns, septic tanks and sewer plants into the Indian River Lagoon.
  Florida Today, 5 June 2009

• NC: State closes on purchase of Grandfather Mountain property

  The creation of North Carolina?s newest state park on Grandfather Mountain was finalized with the purchase of 2,456 acres along the crest of the famous landmark.
  Asheville Citizen-Times, 4 June 2009

• WA: Mud fight on the Skagit

  State law directs local governments to preserve wetlands and farmlands. These directives collide against each other in a soggy little Skagit Valley creek drainage east of Mt. Vernon.
  Crosscut, 4 June 2009

• TN: Creek's crayfish get bit of TLC

  Subdivision builder partners with the Tennessee Stream Mitigation Program to give the endangered Nashville crayfish a cleaner place to live.
  The Tennessean, 4 June 2009

• RI: Newport council OKs easement

  City council approves a purchase and sale agreement with Aquidneck Land Trust that places an easement on a city-owned park, and also nets funds to help finance local environmental projects.
  Newport This Week, 4 June 2009

• FL: Questions cause Naples leaders to delay accepting settlement land

  Questions about just what the city would get derails a planned vote to accept a deed for 1-1/2 miles of mangrove shoreline and 103 acres of neighboring wetlands and uplands.
  Naples Daily News, 4 June 2009

• VT: Upper West Bolton Cliff preserved for public recreation

  Purchase in one of Vermont?s most historic climbing areas features four-season hiking, scenic views and botanical specimens.
  Burlington Free Press, 4 June 2009

• WI: Obama names overseer for Great Lakes

  A prominent regional conservationist is appointed the first-ever Great Lakes czar, making good on President Obama's campaign promise to elevate the health of the Great Lakes as a national issue.
  Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 4 June 2009

• CA: U.S. tells state to cut water use to save fish

  A federal agency ruled that Californians' thirst for water has pushed salmon and other fish to the brink of extinction and directed officials to cut water supplies to cities and farms.
  Reuters, 4 June 2009

• ME: State regulators tweak Plum Creek plan

  Revisions would obligate timber REIT to honor aspects of North Woods conservation deal for up to five years should it decide to walk away from its Moosehead Lake development plan.
  Bangor Daily News, 3 June 2009

• TX: SMU prof was right about Barnett Shale pollution

  Although state officials agree that gas drilling and traffic contribute equally to DFW's air pollution, they won't act on chemicals released during gas drilling because they occur in rural areas.
  Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 3 June 2009

• NY: Village's most iconic open space to become five house lots

  The expiration of a 30-year conservation easement in 2007 leads to a proposal to subdivide a 20.8-acre swath of open space, one of the last remaining in East Hampton Village.
  East Hampton Press, 2 June 2009

• NM: Deadly water in Black Falls

  The Navajo Nation has weathered severe drought conditions for about the last 20 years, so when a water source presents itself, the last thing usually considered is whether it might be contaminated.
  Gallup Independent, 1 June 2009

• CA: State's forests hold one answer to climate change

  The state shows leadership in setting up a program to offset heat-trapping emissions by investing in woodlands.
  Los Angeles Times, 1 June 2009

• CO: Water wars out west: Keep what you catch

  A legal change that allows some homeowners to capture raindrops and snowflakes that fall on their roofs may seem minor, but it could signal the beginning of a water-law revolution.
  National Public Radio, 1 June 2009