News & Commentary

Drinking In the Heavy Metal

February 8, 2016 DispatchFlint, MichiganSusan Cosier

Thanks to the Flint water crisis, the city’s kids could experience terrible, long-lasting consequences from lead exposure.

Spring Break

February 4, 2016 DispatchMontanaAlisa Opar

Bison go from seasonal outlaws to year-round residents in a large swath of Montana.

The Woman Who Loves Orcas

January 20, 2016 DispatchAlaska, WestTed Genoways

Scientist, poet, and cancer survivor Eva Saulitis says that orcas saved her life. If only she could return the favor.

Il Primo Piatto

January 14, 2016 DispatchAfricaClara Chaisson

As the bushmeat trade drives the Bioko drill monkey toward extinction, some West Africans are realizing these animals are worth more in the woods than on the plate.

Frog vs. Fish

December 8, 2015 DispatchCaliforniaAlisa Opar

How cutting-edge technology may save endangered amphibians from hungry trout in Yosemite’s alpine lakes.

Bird Men

October 6, 2015 DispatchMidwestSusan Cosier

Thanks to falconers, endangered peregrines are flourishing in Midwestern cities.

No Island Is an Island

September 2, 2015 DispatchInternationalDoug Struck

As an old embargo lifts, a new vacation spot emerges—but can Cuba’s ecosystems weather a flood of Americans?

Not-So-Vacant Lots

August 28, 2015 DispatchNew Orleans, LouisianaAlisa Opar

From birds to trees to rats, post-Katrina New Orleans is a study in “disaster ecology.”

The Great Oyster Crash

August 26, 2015 DispatchOregon, WestEric Scigliano

Ocean acidification hits the Pacific shellfish industry.

The Algae That (Almost) Ate Toledo

July 27, 2015 DispatchToledo, OhioBarry Yeoman

Summertime in Toledo: Lakeside barbecues, Mud Hens double-headers, and toxic algae blooms.

Remember the Kalamazoo

July 21, 2015 DispatchMichiganBrian Palmer

Five years ago, a pipeline spilled a million gallons of tar sands crude into a Michigan river—and we’re still cleaning it up.

Plight of the Panther

June 30, 2015 DispatchFloridaKim Tingley

What happens when preserving a species makes it unpopular?

Roam, Roam on the Range

June 24, 2015 DispatchMontanaAlisa Opar

This Montana cattle ranch is trying to ensure its operations benefit wildlife—and yes, that means wolves, too.

Spreading Their Wings

June 24, 2015 DispatchChicagoSusan Cosier

Butterflies bred in a Chicago lab are fluttering their way back to Illinois swamps.

Flexing Their Mussel

June 3, 2015 DispatchOhio, MidwestSusan Cosier

The bivalves that ate the Great Lakes are fueling toxic algal blooms, too. Can’t we get rid of them already?

Rat Pack

April 6, 2015 DispatchNew York CityAlisa Opar

New York is the city that never sleeps—and neither do its rat researchers.

Fish Out of Water

April 3, 2015 DispatchCaliforniaAlisa Opar

Scary-low snowpack may spell disaster for some California wildlife and ecosystems.

The Call of the Bugle

March 12, 2015 DispatchKentucky, WisconsinSusan Cosier

This spring elk from Kentucky will be migrating (by truck) to Wisconsin.

If You Build It, Will They Come?

January 14, 2015 DispatchNorth CarolinaClara Chaisson

A huge chimney in Raleigh is a hotel, for birds.

Bison Back East

December 29, 2014 DispatchIllinois, MississippiSusan Cosier

Wild buffalo now roam east of the Mississippi for the first time since the 1830s, playing a crucial role in restoring Illinois grasslands.