The Trump administration wants to take an ax to the East’s last great forests
The fight over the roadless rule has long focused on the West, but its repeal could fragment some of the last pristine forests in the eastern United States.
When most people think about national forests, they imagine vast Western landscapes: Alaska, the Rockies, the Pacific Northwest. But millions of acres of federal woodlands dot the eastern half of the country, too. These great swaths of vibrant ecosystems have long been free of roads, protected by a policy called, appropriately enough, the “roadless rule.”
That may soon change.
How a retired cranberry bog helped change the game for wetland restoration
Glorianna Davenport looks out at hundreds of acres of protected wetlands that were once her family’s cranberry farms. In her hands are laminated pictures of striking red cranberry bogs fed by razor-straight water channels. It’s hard to believe the land where she stands — full of sinuous streams, wildlife, moss and tall trees — once looked so different.
The land’s transformation, documented through a network of cameras and sensors, offers a playbook for wetland restoration as cranberry farms see slimmer profits from New England to Wisconsin because of climate change and other factors. The crop requires cold winters and plenty of water, but warmer temperatures and longer droughts are challenging harvest seasons.
The return of river herring
Every spring, river herring migrate from the ocean to freshwater rivers to spawn. Before Europeans arrived in this region, millions of fish could be seen in herring runs. But pollution, dams, and overfishing drastically reduced the number.
Over the past two decades, conservation groups, local towns, the state and Mashpee Tribal leaders have worked to restore river habitat. The herring are making a slow comeback. So much so that for the first time, people who are not members of a tribe are allowed to take herring from a run in Harwich.
Chaotic March weather has a surprising secret
Seemingly unrelated weather systems illustrate how connected we are by larger patterns that move around in our atmosphere. Meanwhile, “weather whiplash” could be evidence of the warming climate.
As its final days wind down, weather in March 2026 has been one for the record books. It showed why old sayings endure and rivaled college basketball for “March Madness.”
True to the proverb, the month came “in like a lion,” and later echoed Shakespeare’s warning to “beware the ides of March.”
Relentless, record-breaking heat persisted in the West. Powerful storms and bouts of polar air blew through the Central and Eastern U.S., bringing extreme swings in temperature within hours. Hawaii endured flooding rains in a string of kona lows.
It may come as a surprise, but these weather systems also illustrate how connected we are by larger patterns that move around in our atmosphere.
Continue reading on USA Today.
Beneath the frozen surface: How AI is uncovering the secrets of permafrost
Beneath the surface of the Arctic, frozen ground holds clues about our planet’s past and its critical information about its future. Known as permafrost, this ground remains below 0°C for at least two years at a time and stores massive amounts of ice, organic carbon, and environmental history accumulated over thousands of years. But understanding how permafrost is changing throughout the Arctic landscape is no small task.
These regions span millions of square kilometers, and the datasets used to study them (from satellite imagery to high-resolution terrain maps) are often too large for most researchers to access or explore. Now, researchers working with the Permafrost Discovery Gateway, a platform hosted by the Arctic Data Center at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), are using artificial intelligence to change that. In collaboration with Google.org, the gateway combines satellite imagery, high-performance computing, and machine learning, opening a new window into Arctic change. One that anyone with an internet browser can explore!
Statement on public availability of scientific information and scientific evidence on climate change
The American Meteorological Society and the scientific societies listed below are surprised and concerned with the decision by the Federal Judiciary Center (FJC) to remove the climate science chapter from the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, Fourth Edition and the subsequent letter of February 19, 2026 from 21 attorneys general to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM).
Read more on the American Meteorological Society.
Twelve women carrying the flame for climate action despite the headwinds
It’s been a tough year for anyone working on the climate agenda. The Trump Administration’s repeal of the endangerment finding, the legal underpinning of U.S. climate regulation, was a coup de grace, after a litany of regulatory cuts and other moves to remove any impediment to unfettered fossil fuel development in the world’s largest economy.
Where the U.S. has led, much of the world has followed, with action on the nature and climate crises losing steam as corporate and government leaders have been forced to respond to a new U.S. administration determined to up-end the collaborative, rules-based international order.
What changes for climate targets when permafrost emissions are included?
Permafrost and temperature targets
Permafrost, the permanently frozen ground found in large parts of the Arctic and boreal regions, holds enormous amounts of carbon, roughly twice as much as is currently in the atmosphere. As permafrost thaws, it releases carbon dioxide and methane to the atmosphere and adds significantly to further warming. Permafrost thaw is happening faster and faster and is no longer an issue of the distant future. The potential magnitude of permafrost carbon emissions means they directly affect estimates of remaining carbon budgets needed to keep Earth’s temperature increase below the 1.5° and 2° Celsius thresholds established by the Paris Agreement.
