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Was 2015 a record wildfire year?
Posted by Washington Post: Darryl Fears on January 24th, 2016
Washington Post: Wildfires scorched a vast swath of the American wilderness last year. But whether the 10 million acres that burned is a record, as the Obama administration recently announced, or an exaggeration, as some environmentalists claim, is a source of heated debate in a long-running fight over how to manage the nation’s forests.
A network of about 30 small environmental groups that view wildfires as a natural part of the ecology – and think more should be allowed to burn – consider the U.S. Forest Service’s...
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U.S. wildfires just set an amazing and troubling new record
Posted by Washington Post: Darryl Fears on January 7th, 2016
Washington Post: Last year’s wildfire season set a record with more than 10 million acres burned. That’s more land than Maryland, the District and Delaware combined.
More than half the total was the result of mega-fires in Alaska, where dryness due to historically low mountain snowpack and a freak lightning storm created perfect conditions for a huge blaze. The nation’s overall toll was about 4 million acres more than the yearly average, scorching a record set in 2006.
The record was anticipated by the U.S....
Scientists worry that the Chesapeake’s natural shoreline is turning into a wall
Posted by Washington Post: Darryl Fears on December 26th, 2015
Washington Post: On the banks of the Potomac River, construction cranes that look like metal dinosaurs tower over Southwest Washington. They swivel in all directions, delivering concrete and other heavy material to workers building a large development behind a steel-and-concrete wall that holds back the water.
Within two years, the Wharf will begin emerging as a playground of trendy apartments, shops and entertainment venues. But below the river’s surface, animals that depend on vegetation in the water may continue...
West Coast wildfires remain untamed
Posted by Washington Post: Darryl Fears on September 12th, 2015
Washington Post: When the emergency sirens wailed, Christine Perry muttered, "Oh, Lord, not again," then scampered outdoors.
For a second straight year, a monster fire lurked outside her tiny town of Pateros, Washington. She strained to see whether thick smoke was rolling her way. A year ago, she barely escaped her house before it was destroyed by wildfire. After rebuilding, she feared it would happen again.
"Last year they told us we were safe. The next thing I knew, I was running out of the house in my flip-flops...
Study: Housing developments near drying forests a deadly combination in the West
Posted by Washington Post: Darryl Fears on March 8th, 2014
Washington Post: As the climate warms, forest fires in the West increasingly will feast on acres of dry brush, growing into giants. In a cycle that will become routine, homeowners will flee, while firefighters will rush toward their houses -- and away from areas where they could be putting out wildfires.
Bigger, unwiedly burns -- megafires -- are becoming the new normal, according to a new report, which points to several reasons: States such as California are getting parched more frequently by drought; housing...
Study links warmer water temperatures to greater levels of mercury in fish
Posted by Washington Post: Darryl Fears on October 14th, 2013
Washington Post: Under the watchful eyes of scientists, a little forage fish that lives off the southern coast of Maine developed a strangely large appetite. Killifish are not usually big eaters. But in warmer waters, at temperatures projected for the future by climate scientists, their metabolism — and their appetites — go up, which is not a good thing if there are toxins in their food. In a lab experiment, researchers adjusted temperatures in tanks, tainted the killifish’s food with traces of methylmercury and...
Bats and snakes are the latest victims of mass killers in the wild
Posted by Washington Post: Darryl Fears on September 15th, 2013
Washington Post: Jeremy Coleman was on the trail of a ruthless serial killer, recently studying its behavior, patterns and moves at a Massachusetts lab. The more he saw, the more it confirmed a hunch. He had seen it all before. He was looking at a copycat.
The mass killer of bats under Coleman's microscope, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, has a lot in common with Chytridiomycosis, a mass killer of frogs and other amphibians. The culprits resemble a third killer, Ophidiomyces, which kills and disfigures snakes. ...
U.S. Forest Service set to decide on fracking in George Washington National Forest
Posted by Washington Post: Darryl Fears on September 7th, 2013
Washington Post: George Washington National Forest is more than just one of the largest expanses of pristine land in the East. It's the leafy cradle of the Shenandoah, James and Potomac rivers, a source of drinking water for millions of people in greater Washington.
The forest -- nearly 2 million acres of natural splendor straddling Virginia and West Virginia -- might also hold another treasure: natural gas trapped under a deep layer of rock called the Marcellus Shale.
By the end of the month, the U.S. Forest...
Vulnerable Maryland weighs threat of sea-level rise
Posted by Washington Post: Darryl Fears on July 22nd, 2013
Washington Post: It was scary enough that a team of experts on sea-level rise projected that Maryland's coastal waters could rise to six feet in this century. But to hammer home the findings of a new report, they included a link to a Web tool that allows readers to make like a god, sliding a scale over pictures of state landmarks until a creeping tide washes them away.
Maryland, with 3,100 miles of tidal shore along the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay, is one of several states, including Virginia, Delaware,...
Severe drought adds 76 counties to list of U.S. disaster areas
Posted by Washington Post: Darryl Fears on July 26th, 2012
Washington Post: The nation's worst drought in a half-century has spread, and 76 counties in six Midwestern states were declared disaster areas Wednesday as the Obama administration added them to the more than 1,300 counties already on the list.
At least two-thirds of the area of the contiguous United States is experiencing moderate to exceptional drought, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Drought Monitor. Hot, dry conditions have caused significant damage to corn, soybeans, pastures and rangeland...