The Angry Optimist: Nature

🌱 Galápagos plant that was down to six individuals is recovering

WALL-Y — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 08:34:10 GMT

Paúl Mayorga and Patricia Jaramillo Díaz.

In 2007, only six Galápagos snapdragon plants remained. Today, 28 adult plants grow at two sites on Isabela island.
Between 2017 and 2024, researchers outplanted 94 nursery-grown shrubs. With one of the water-saving methods, 100 percent of the transplants tested survived.
In 2024, the plant returned to Caleta Tagus, where the only known specimen was collected in 1962.

The Galápagos snapdragon is a shrub on the Galápagos Islands that came very close to extinction. Now the species is recovering. This is the result of a long-term partnership between the Charles Darwin Foundation and the Galápagos National Park Directorate. The work is described in a peer-reviewed article.

A single specimen in an archive

The story begins with a single pressed herbarium specimen. It was collected in 1962 near Caleta Tagus. For decades, it was the only evidence that the plant existed at all.

Patricia Jaramillo Díaz is a senior researcher at the Charles Darwin Research Station and lead author of the study. She recalls returning to the cabinet holding the specimen again and again, wondering whether the plant still existed.

That question led to a 1998 investigation of the remote lava fields of northern Isabela. By 2007, only six plants were left. They grew in narrow cracks in the young volcanic flows of Darwin Volcano. The species had suffered from historical grazing by introduced herbivores.

According to Jaramillo Díaz, standing beside the plants made it clear that this was about more than a rare shrub. Losing them would mean losing an irreplaceable part of the botanical heritage of the Galápagos.

94 shrubs outplanted

To save the species, the Galápagos Verde 2050 (GV2050) program used two approaches. Researchers propagated plants in a nursery and then reintroduced them into the wild. Between 2017 and 2024, 94 nursery-grown shrubs were outplanted into the volcanic landscape of Isabela.

The environment is very dry. The team therefore tested different ways to conserve water for the plants. One of the methods was the Groasis Waterboxx. With it, 100 percent of the transplants tested survived.

The researchers also found that young plants first invest their energy in developing strong roots. Only after that do they show much growth above ground. This knowledge helped the team determine when a plant was ready to leave the nursery and be planted in the wild. It gave the plants a better chance of survival.

New plants on their own

In 2021, researchers made a discovery at Playa Tortuga Negra, where the reintroduced shrubs grow. Four seedlings had emerged naturally in cracks in the lava rock. This showed that the restored plants were flowering, producing viable seeds and generating new seedlings in the wild without human help.

According to Jaramillo Díaz, true restoration begins when nature no longer depends on people.

Back after more than 60 years

In 2024, the project reached its most important milestone so far. The Galápagos snapdragon was reintroduced to Caleta Tagus, the same site where the herbarium specimen was collected in 1962. More than 60 years after that specimen was pressed and filed away, the species grows there again. Today, eight plants are found at the site.

In total, 28 adult plants are now established across the two sites. Twenty of them grow at Playa Tortuga Negra and eight at Caleta Tagus.

Many people behind the work

When Jaramillo Díaz looks back, she does not think first about the number of seedlings or the many kilometers walked across the lava fields. She thinks about the people. Park rangers protected the restoration sites. Field assistants carried plants across difficult terrain. Nursery staff cared for thousands of seedlings. Researchers designed experiments. Students and volunteers kept the project going over the years.

She sums it up by saying that conservation begins with curiosity, advances through science and succeeds through collaboration.

A model for other islands

The researchers present the project as a scalable blueprint for restoring endangered island endemics in other similar environments. It shows how historical botanical archives and modern adaptive management can work together to pull a species back from the edge of extinction.

After years of research, the knowledge and practical tools now exist to propagate, establish and care for the species. The methods are collected in the guide Flora Nativa y Endémica de las Islas Galápagos: Guía de propagación, published in 2025.

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🐟 20,000 salmon return to the Klamath after the dams came down

WALL-Y — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 08:08:23 GMT

In August 2024, excavation crews breached the last of four dams on the Klamath River in far northern California.
For the first time in over a century, salmon could swim past the sites where the dams had stood.
Chinook have recolonized close to 90 percent of their former range in the river system.

In August 2024, excavation crews breached the last of four dams on the Klamath River in far northern California. For the first time in over a century, salmon could swim past the sites where the dams had stood. New research shows what has happened since. More than 20,000 chinook salmon have migrated up the river, many of them past the former dam sites and into the spawning grounds the species used historically.

Damon Goodman is the lead author of the study and Mount Shasta-Klamath regional director for Cal Trout. He says the biological response has been much faster than he and most others expected. Researchers anticipated that salmon would eventually recolonize habitat above the dams. Instead, within two years, thousands of chinook have moved into the upper basin and spawned across a large portion of their historic range.

The water got colder and cleaner

The four dams were built by the utility PacifiCorp in the early and mid-20th century to generate electricity. They blocked passage for migrating fish and altered the river's natural hydrology. Water temperatures rose and naturally cold springs were flooded.

Once the dams were gone, water quality improved. The reservoirs, which ran hot and were prone to algae blooms, gave way to natural flows. Chinook salmon have since repopulated close to 90 percent of their previous range. Coho salmon, steelhead and Pacific lamprey returned within the first year.

The removal was the result of a years-long, tribally led effort. The salmon runs on the Klamath hold ceremonial, spiritual and nutritional significance for the region's tribes, and were once among the most productive in the western United States.

More fish are passing the remaining dams

Two dams with fish passage still regulate flows on the river. The Link River and Keno dams are managed by the federal Bureau of Reclamation as part of the Klamath Project, which allocates water among farmers, fish and tribes.

In 2024, no fall-run salmon were confirmed passing through the Keno dam. In 2025, a new motion-sensor camera operating in the daytime recorded 2,497 fish swimming through the dam. At Link River, 210 salmon passed into Upper Klamath Lake. The Bureau of Reclamation is working with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and NOAA Fisheries to improve fish passage at both dams.

Court affirmed that fish come first

In June, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that the bureau has discretion to release water for imperiled salmon and sucker fish ahead of long-standing agricultural contracts. An obligation to meet those contracts does not supersede compliance with the Endangered Species Act.

Amy Cordalis is executive director of the Ridges to Riffles Indigenous Conservation Group and an attorney for the Yurok Tribe. She compares the minimum water levels to life support for humans. Maintaining those flows will allow the river to heal and let everyone in the basin benefit from the recovery.

Salmon are finding new routes

In 2025, irrigation managers spotted the dorsal fin of a chinook salmon in the Ady Canal, one of the key agricultural diversions in the area. Work is underway to screen salmon from places where they could get trapped. At the same time, some managers see opportunity in the existing canals.

Toz Soto is a fisheries biologist and senior research and policy advisor with the Karuk Tribe. He notes that the irrigation project sits in the middle of a natural wetland, and that some of the canals could serve as good rearing habitat for juvenile salmon if the fish can get in and out. Work on designing the Ady Canal for salmon passage is in its early stages.

The Klamath Project was established in 1906 and supplies water to hundreds of farms in California and Oregon through canals and diversions. It serves over 240,000 acres of farmland. Dam removal has also reconnected cold tributaries where salmon and other species can survive.

📉 Emissions from deforestation and land use have fallen 32 percent since the 2000s

WALL-Y — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 08:02:24 GMT

Until 1999, emissions held steady at around 6.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. Between 2015 and 2024 they averaged 5 billion tonnes, and in 2025 they fell to 4.1 billion tonnes.
The main reasons are that permanent deforestation has decreased, mostly thanks to forest protection in Brazil, and that new forest absorbs carbon dioxide equal to two-thirds of the emissions from deforestation.
Indonesia has rewetted more peatland since 2017 than Europe has in its entire history, and China now absorbs more carbon dioxide through its land than the country emits from it.

Emissions from deforestation, loss of peatlands and damage to forests have been falling throughout the 21st century. This is shown in the latest Global Carbon Budget report, published in the journal Earth System Science Data in May. The report is produced by dozens of scientists and finds a statistically significant decrease since the late 1990s.

A steep drop after 2015

In the four decades up to 1999, global emissions from land use stayed fairly stable at around 6.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. Since then, they have fallen. Between 2015 and 2024, emissions averaged 5 billion tonnes per year. That is 23 percent lower than the average for 1995 to 2004 and 19 percent lower than for 2005 to 2014.

Preliminary figures for 2025 show that emissions fell further, to 4.1 billion tonnes. According to climate scientists Zeke Hausfather and Pierre Friedlingstein, that is around 32 percent lower than the average in the 2000s.

The report describes a steep drop after 2015. This is due to emissions from peat fires peaking that year and then decreasing, combined with a long-term decline in deforestation in many countries during the 2010s.

Friedlingstein, who leads the Global Carbon Budget at the University of Exeter, says the trend over the 21st century is going in the right direction. He expects deforestation to keep declining under the land policies in place around the world today.

Forests are growing back

The main reason for the decline is that permanent deforestation has decreased. Permanent deforestation means that forest is removed completely so the land can be used for agriculture, mining or cities.

At the same time, new forest is absorbing more and more carbon dioxide. Between 2015 and 2024, deforestation caused emissions of 6.96 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year on average. During the same period, growing forests absorbed 4.76 billion tonnes per year. That equals two-thirds of the emissions from deforestation.

Almost half of the uptake, 2.2 billion tonnes per year, came from newly planted and replanted forest. The rest, 2.56 billion tonnes, came from forest growing back on land that was farmed for a short time and then abandoned.

Brazil turned the trend

Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Indonesia together accounted for 57 percent of the world's land-use emissions between 2015 and 2024. Two of them have reduced their emissions.

According to Friedlingstein, the decline since the 2000s is mainly the result of reduced deforestation in Brazil. Deforestation in the country rose during the 1990s and peaked in the 2000s. Since then it has fallen thanks to policies that protect forests. These include a 2004 action plan against deforestation in the Amazon, a 2006 ban on buying and financing soy grown on deforested land in the Amazon, and an expansion of protected areas during the second half of the 2000s.

Julia Pongratz, a professor at the University of Munich and a co-author of the report, says Brazil is the single most important country behind both the peak in the early 2000s and the decline that followed.

Indonesia is rewetting its peatlands

Over the past decade, Indonesia has contributed the most to the acceleration of the decline, according to Pongratz. Since 2017, the country has rewetted more peatland than Europe has in its entire history.

Peatlands are often drained for agriculture or to extract peat for horticulture and fuel. Rewetting means restoring the water level so the ground becomes waterlogged again. New peat can then form and carbon is stored in the ground.

Indonesia has also had fewer spikes in emissions from fires linked to land use over the past decade.

China absorbs the most carbon dioxide through new forest

China, the EU and the US account for the largest uptake of carbon dioxide through planting and replanting forests. Together they absorbed 1.1 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year between 2015 and 2024. The report also highlights that new forest absorbs large amounts of carbon dioxide in Brazil, Russia and Indonesia.

China introduced a range of reforestation and land management programs in the 1990s. They have led to the restoration of tens of millions of hectares of forest. Research shows the programs have significantly increased the country's uptake of carbon dioxide and turned its land from a carbon source into a carbon sink. China now absorbs more carbon dioxide through its land than the country emits from it.

🌳 Amazon deforestation lowest in 13 years

WALL-Y — Sun, 06 Sep 2026 08:46:58 GMT

Deforestation fell 36 percent from the previous year and was 55.6 percent below the average of the past ten years.
If the figures are confirmed by Brazil's official monitoring system, it will be the lowest deforestation since measurements began in 1988.
Deforestation also fell in the Cerrado, Caatinga, Atlantic Forest and Pampa.

1,110 square miles in one year

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen to its lowest level in 13 years. That is according to new satellite data from Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, INPE. The decline has continued since 2023.

INPE's alert system DETER recorded 1,110 square miles of deforestation in the Amazon between August 1, 2025 and July 31, 2026. That is 36 percent less than during the previous twelve months. It is also 55.6 percent below the average for the ten years before that.

The figure is the lowest since the current DETER system was introduced in 2015. Including data from the earlier system, alerts were last lower in the 2012/13 deforestation year, when 1,068 square miles were recorded.

Could be the lowest since 1988

DETER is built for rapid response. The system uses satellite images to detect new forest clearing quickly enough for authorities to investigate and intervene. Brazil's official deforestation figures instead come from PRODES, a higher-resolution system that measures once a year. Preliminary PRODES figures for the year ending July 31 are expected in October or November.

PRODES data for the year ending July 2025 already showed the lowest forest loss in the Amazon in eleven years. The new DETER figures indicate that clearing fell further during the following year. If PRODES shows a similar decline, Brazil could record its lowest official Amazon deforestation since the monitoring series began in 1988.

Independent monitoring points in the same direction. The Brazilian nonprofit Imazon runs its own satellite-based alert system and has also reported declining clearing in recent years.

Tougher enforcement under Lula

The decline has coincided with stronger environmental enforcement under Lula. The government has increased the number of enforcement operations, strengthened monitoring, resumed efforts to protect Indigenous territories and reached agreements with municipalities where deforestation is concentrated. Brazil has pledged to end all illegal deforestation by 2030.

Declines in other biomes as well

Alerts also fell in the Cerrado, a tropical savanna where large areas have been converted to farmland. DETER recorded 1,976 square miles of alerts during the latest period. That is 7.8 percent less than the year before and the lowest figure in five years.

INPE also presented consolidated PRODES data for three other biomes, covering August 2024 to July 2025. Deforestation fell 34.3 percent in the Caatinga, to 884 square miles. In the Atlantic Forest it fell 15.3 percent, to 155 square miles. In the Pampa it fell 41.7 percent, to 118 square miles.

🌊 After decades of drought, groundwater south of the Sahara has risen by 13 feet

WALL-Y — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 08:06:57 GMT

Water tables across much of Niger have risen by some 13 feet, indicating a 15 percent increase in aquifer reserves.
Lake Chad swelled in 2024 to more than 9,000 square miles, almost as big as in the 1960s and 10 times its size in the mid-1980s.
Farmers in southern Niger have nurtured the regrowth of some 200 million trees on formerly treeless fields, and the oryx is back in the wild.

Richard Taylor, a hydrogeologist at University College London, says researchers have evidence of increased terrestrial water storage across the Sahel, from Ethiopia to Senegal. The process began in the 1990s and has accelerated in the past five years. Wells are refilling. Dried riverbeds, known as wadis, are getting their water back. New ponds are forming on formerly arid land.

The monsoon has grown stronger

Rainfall in the Sahel is governed by the West African monsoon, which sweeps in from the Gulf of Guinea between June and September. During the drought years the monsoon rarely reached far enough north. Now it has grown stronger.

According to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the change is the result of warming in the North Atlantic. One cause is global heating. Another is that Europe and North America have reduced emissions of sulphate aerosols from coal burning. The particles once created a thin haze that cooled the ocean and kept the monsoon out of the Sahel. As the air became cleaner, the ocean warmed and the monsoon was pulled north again.

The rain often falls in heavy downpours. The frequency of extreme storms has tripled since the 1980s. When rain hits the compacted ground, it rushes into rivers and wadis, which in turn speed the water into the aquifers. Taylor says that in some locations rainfall intensity matters more for groundwater than the total annual rainfall. Since most water in the Sahel drains inland to depressions and lakes rather than to the ocean, it stays in the region.

Satellite data confirms the picture. NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment mission measures subtle changes in the Earth's gravitational force and has found a sharp increase across the Sahel in the past two decades. Hydrologists attribute this to growing terrestrial water storage.

Lake Chad is growing again

Lake Chad lies on the border between Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. The lake's shrinkage became a symbol of the drought in the Sahel. Now it is growing. Hydrogeologists at the University of N'Djamena report that in 2024 the lake swelled to more than 9,000 square miles. That is almost as big as in the 1960s. At the same time, the aquifer beneath the lake is refilling.

Part of the explanation is that less water is being extracted upstream. The SEMRY irrigation project in Cameroon, which once largely emptied the River Logone, now diverts much less water. That means more water reaches the lake.

Farmers are growing more and planting trees

Supported by the World Bank's regional recovery program PROLAC, farmers in Chad, Niger, and Cameroon are re-establishing small-scale irrigation around oases that have regained their water. Achta, a farmer in Chad, said last year that she can now plant on four times as much land as before and has doubled her onion crop.

In southern Niger, farmers have nurtured the natural regrowth of some 200 million trees on formerly treeless fields, according to geographer Chris Reij. This has boosted crop yields. Crops such as millet and sorghum have shallow roots and transpire less moisture than the deeper-rooted grasses they replace, leaving more water in the soil.

The Great Green Wall project has evolved from a planned barrier of trees into grassroots efforts to capture rainfall. Farmers place stones along hill contours, dig small holes known as zai pits amid crops, and form crescent-shaped mounds around trees. The techniques improve soil moisture and help water infiltrate underground.

Nigeria is now looking to restore the 165,000-acre South Chad Irrigation Project on the shores of Lake Chad. The project was abandoned for want of water.

Wildlife is recovering

In Chad's Ouadi Rimé-Ouadi Achim nature reserve, the wadis have regained their water. Conservationists are documenting resurgent numbers of aardvarks, porcupines, badgers, and foxes. The scimitar-horned oryx, once declared extinct in the wild, has been reintroduced and now numbers more than 600 individuals. West African giraffes are browsing in areas from which they had disappeared.

🔥 The world has never burned this little since measurements began

WALL-Y — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 08:45:57 GMT

Emissions from fires in the first half of 2026 are the lowest since satellite measurements began in 2003.
Emissions are about half of what they were in the early 2000s.
The decrease is due to less burning on the savanna in Africa.

Wildfires in Europe and North America are more extensive than before. At the same time, the global figures show a different picture. During the first half of 2026, global emissions from fires were the lowest ever measured, according to the European climate center Copernicus. The data series is based on satellite observations of active fires and runs from 2003 to the present.

Through the end of June, fires around the world had emitted just under 400 megatonnes of carbon. That is the lowest figure in 24 years. According to Copernicus, this continues a downward trend driven by less burning during the dry season in tropical Africa.

Fire scientist Mike Flannigan of Thompson Rivers University in Canada says it may seem like a paradox. Fires are increasing in some places, but the global numbers have been going down and down. Both things are true at the same time.

Africa determines the global numbers

Africa and Asia accounted for the largest emissions during the first half of the year, with approximately 154 and 113 megatonnes of carbon respectively. On average, more than three-quarters of global emissions from burning plant material come from Africa and Asia. Less than one-eighth comes from North America and Europe.

Park Williams, a scientist at UCLA, says Africa dominates global fire activity. If there is a trend in Africa, it becomes the global trend. In sub-Saharan Africa, fire activity has gone down dramatically over the last 25 years.

Changed agriculture and better fire management

Mark Parrington, a scientist at Copernicus, says fires in Africa and Asia are way down. The reasons are changing agricultural practices, fire management and where people are moving to.

Huge grassland fires on the African savanna have traditionally burned each year, compared to more intermittent forest fires in other regions, says John Abatzaglou, a fire scientist at the University of California Merced. With more land being used for housing and farming, humans are limiting savanna fires. People are also creating barriers to prevent fires from spreading.

In Asia and the Amazon, fire is often used to clear land for agriculture, according to the experts. Williams says the development is driven entirely by human demographic change.

The situation in Europe and North America

Spain's wildfire is the country's largest on record, at more than 193 square miles. Wildfires in Europe have burned just a bit under 2025, which was a record year. In Canada and the United States, the area burned this summer is at least 25 percent higher than the 10-year average, according to the national wildfire centers. Emissions from the fires in Canada were still around the average for the time of year at the end of June, according to Copernicus.

🏊‍♀️ 50 years ago no one dared dip a toe in the Detroit River, now people fish, paddle and swim there

WALL-Y — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:10:43 GMT

Friends of the Detroit River is now launching the 14th and final priority habitat restoration project in the Detroit River. Thirteen are already complete.
The cleanup of contaminated sediment received $10 million last month from U.S. environmental agencies.
Every spring, millions of fish move up through the river to spawn.

From industrial dumping ground to recreational area

A person standing on the Detroit River shoreline 50 years ago would hesitate to go near the water. That is according to McKenzi Waliczek, director of programs at the nonprofit Friends of the Detroit River.

Since then, the river has changed. The industry that powered the region for over a century left behind contaminated sediments and damaged habitats. Today the river is an area for recreation and tourism. Along the shores are parks such as Milliken State Park, and on Belle Isle there are fishing piers and Blue Heron Lagoon.

The Detroit River is one of the most biologically important waterways in the Great Lakes, according to Waliczek. Every spring, millions of fish move up through the river to spawn. Birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals depend on the habitat that remains and the habitat now being restored.

Thirteen projects complete, one to go

Friends of the Detroit River, together with partners such as the EPA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, has completed 13 habitat restoration projects in the river. Now the 14th and final priority project is getting underway, at Lakewood East Park in Detroit.

The project includes nearly 1 mile of shoreline and adjacent canals where the river meets Lake St. Clair. The plan is to remove much of the seawall and restore the natural shoreline. The park's canals, wetlands and open shoreline have significant restoration potential, according to Waliczek. Fish that migrate between Lake Erie, Lake St. Clair and the broader Great Lakes system will benefit.

The organization's executive director, Tricia Blicharski, says the project starts in July 2026 and runs for three years. Community engagement and plan review begin immediately. Construction is expected to start in spring 2027.

Within three to four years, the habitats are expected to be removed from the list of impairments in the so-called Area of Concern, a 700-acre area that extends the length of the river from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie.

Belle Isle gets new fish nurseries

On Belle Isle, work is underway at Blue Heron Lagoon and Lake Okonoka. The lake is being deepened, fish nursery areas are being created and previously enclosed water is being opened to the Detroit River, according to Terry Heatlie, a habitat restoration specialist under contract with NOAA.

Terry Campbell, who took part in a boat tour along the river, recalls fishing on Belle Isle with her father. The pier near Blue Heron Lagoon was always full of anglers, she says. The fish were eaten, and they were more contaminated then than they are now.

Ten million dollars for sediment cleanup

Alongside the habitat projects, work continues to clean up contaminated sediment on the riverbed. Sam Noffke, aquatic biology specialist at the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, EGLE, has worked on the cleanup for more than a decade. He started by examining 40 years of sediment data to determine which areas to prioritize. More than 1,000 sediment samples have been analyzed.

Last month the effort received $10 million from a partnership between the EPA and EGLE. Through the Great Lakes Legacy Act, federal funds can cover 65 percent of the cost when nonfederal actors provide the rest.

The boat tour also visited the Harbortown and Harbortown Upstream remediation sites.

Erma Leaphart, a retired organizer in the Sierra Club's Great Lakes program, used to sit by the river long before the riverwalk was built, chatting with the fishermen. Everyone has a responsibility for the river, she says. It is about teaching young people about it and protecting what has been built for future generations.

🦝 The numbat was nearly extinct, now it is no longer classified as endangered

WALL-Y — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:21:15 GMT

The numbat, a striped marsupial from Australia, was close to extinction. By the late 1970s, only around 300 individuals remained.
After more than 40 years of conservation work, the population has grown to between 2,000 and 3,000 individuals.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN, has now moved the species from the endangered category to near threatened.

The numbat, also known as the banded anteater, is the animal emblem of Western Australia. It is a marsupial with reddish-brown fur and stripes that feeds on ants and termites.

The species was long on the verge of disappearing. By the late 1970s, only around 300 individuals remained. The decline was mainly driven by introduced predators such as the red fox and domestic cats, but also by habitat destruction and changes in fire patterns.

Predators removed and new populations established

Since then, scientists, the state conservation agency DBCA, Perth Zoo, conservation organizations and volunteers have worked for more than 40 years to save the species.

One key measure has been baiting and removing foxes and cats from certain areas. According to Tony Friend, research associate at the DBCA, this has led to large increases in the two original populations in Western Australia. One of them has now grown to as many as 2,000 animals.

Conservationists have also built fenced areas that keep the introduced predators out. There, new populations have been established using translocated wild numbats and animals bred in zoos.

Five new populations across southern Australia

The new populations have now persisted for at least ten years, and the oldest for more than 30 years. According to Friend, they vary in size, from 20 to 30 animals up to 150 to 200. They are spread across southern Australia, with three in Western Australia, one in South Australia and one in New South Wales.

Today, there are between 2,000 and 3,000 numbats in total. The IUCN, the global authority on threatened species, has therefore moved the species from the endangered category to near threatened on its Red List.

Friend, who has worked with the numbat for 40 years, says the downlisting is what the team has been working toward all that time. He emphasizes that both the number of animals and their geographic spread need to keep growing, as this protects the species from drought, disease and predation.

🧬 The bluebuck went extinct in 1799, now it is being de-extincted

WALL-Y — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 08:15:27 GMT

The bluebuck was the first large African mammal driven to extinction by humans in modern times.
The company Colossal Biosciences is now working to bring the species back using genetic technology.
The work is building methods that can also help other threatened antelope species.

A species that disappeared more than 200 years ago

The bluebuck was an antelope that lived on the coastal grasslands of South Africa. It was last seen in the wild in 1799. By then it was already the first large African mammal that humans had driven to extinction in recorded history. Hunting, colonial expansion, and rapid changes to the landscape all contributed to its loss.

The bluebuck was a mid-sized antelope. It stood up to nearly 4 feet at the shoulder and weighed between 265 and 441 pounds. It had a silvery gray coat with a bluish tone in sunlight, curved horns, and a lighter facial mask. Its closest living relatives are the roan and sable antelope.

Today only seven authenticated specimens remain, all of them in European museums in Berlin, Vienna, Stockholm, Paris, Leiden, Amsterdam, and London. None of them is complete. Most consist of parts of skins or isolated skulls.

The genetics are being mapped

Colossal Biosciences is now working to restore the species. The company published a first bluebuck genome in a scientific study in 2024. It showed that the species is closely related to the roan and sable antelope.

Researchers are now generating data from additional museum samples to understand the genetic diversity that existed before the species died out. They have also built reference genomes for the roan and sable antelope. By comparing the genomes, they are identifying which genes give the bluebuck its distinguishing traits, such as the gray coat and the facial mask.

The steps in the work

Colossal's researchers are among the first in the world to establish cell lines from antelopes. The cell lines will be used to edit the genome so that the bluebuck's traits are restored.

In parallel, assisted reproductive technology for antelopes is being developed, including ovum pick-up, in vitro fertilization, and embryo transfer. The final step is cloning through somatic cell nuclear transfer. In this process, a cell nucleus carrying the bluebuck's genetic variants is placed into an egg cell from an antelope, after which the embryo is transferred to a surrogate mother.

Benefits for other antelopes

The work is being carried out together with the organizations Endangered Wildlife Trust, Advanced Conservation Strategies, and Re:wild. More than 90 percent of the bluebuck's original grasslands have been lost to agriculture and development, which means that reintroduction also requires restoring the habitat.

The methods being developed can be applied to more species. Seven bovid species are currently critically endangered, and two more have gone extinct in recent times. The reproductive and genetic technology developed in the project could become a toolkit for strengthening vulnerable antelope populations in Africa.

🤑 New research: Freer economies grew without harming the environment

WALL-Y — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 07:55:05 GMT

A study of 49 economic liberalizations shows that GDP per person rose 16 percent within ten years.
Total greenhouse gas emissions did not increase, and deaths from air pollution declined.
After the year 2000, emissions fell both per person and per dollar of economic output.

Growth without environmental decline

Economists Vincent Geloso, Justin Callais, and Alicia Plemmons examined what happens to the environment when countries make their economies freer. The results are published in the journal Structural Change and Economic Dynamics.

The researchers studied 49 cases of large-scale liberalization between 1970 and 2015. By liberalization they mean policies that promote international trade, strengthen property rights, and reduce the tax and regulatory burden. To identify the countries, the researchers used large upward jumps in an index of economic freedom.

The countries that liberalized were compared with similar countries that did not. GDP per person rose 16 percent within ten years among the liberalizers. At the same time, the environment did not deteriorate.

Lower emissions and fewer deaths

Deaths from air pollution declined after the reforms. Total greenhouse gas emissions were not affected by liberalization. Emissions per dollar of economic output fell clearly and consistently.

Countries that liberalized after the year 2000 also showed lower emissions both per person and per dollar. The increase in total emissions appeared only in the period before 2000. After 2000, no such effect was seen.

The results held across two methods

The researchers used two methods. The first compares liberalizers with non-liberalizers. The second builds a constructed comparison country for the three largest liberalizers: Hungary, Peru, and the United Kingdom. Both methods produced the same pattern. The liberalizations either had no effect on carbon dioxide emissions or reduced them.

The researchers also examined the country that moved in the opposite direction during the period, Venezuela. There, emissions per dollar of economic output rose clearly, and no other environmental measures improved.

The explanation lies in the incentives

Behind the results are several forces that counteract the tendency for more economic activity to mean more emissions. As countries grow, they shift from industry to services, which produce lower emissions. Growth also requires firms to use less energy and fewer resources to create more value. And as people become better off, they are willing to pay more for a clean environment.

Secure property rights and open markets lead firms to take responsibility for the pollution they cause. Those who are harmed can seek compensation, which pressures firms to change in advance. Open markets also let prices show how scarce resources are, which drives frugality and new solutions.

🦏 Satellites track animals from space to detect poachers in real time

WALL-Y — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 08:46:00 GMT

When a poacher approaches, the animals flee in patterns that can be recognized, and tags on the animals pass the signal on so rangers can intervene.
The technology has already helped free 80 wild dogs from snares in Kruger National Park.
By 2027, six receivers in orbit will be able to receive data on animal movements in real time across the entire planet.

The animals' panic reveals where the hunter is

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany are studying how animals react when humans approach. When a hunter appears, different species flee in patterns that can be recognized. Springbok bound away, zebras gallop, and wildebeest turn and run several hundred yards. Giraffes often stand still and watch from a distance, with their heads turned toward the threat.

To test the system, the team carried out simulated hunts at the Okambara reserve in Namibia during 2024. Over three days, the researchers fired about 30 volleys while a drone filmed the animals' flight from above. No animal was killed. The purpose was to teach an algorithm to recognize the panic patterns and send a warning to rangers.

Okambara is a flat reserve covering 65 square miles, about 100 miles from the capital, Windhoek. There, 5 percent of all large animals have been fitted with GPS tags that continuously record their position.

Tags small enough for butterflies to carry

The technology is based on small electronic tags that thousands of animals now carry. Some tags track not only position but also activity, heart rate, and body temperature. They also measure the surrounding temperature and air pressure.

Today's tags are small enough for birds and even butterflies to carry. A company in New Jersey has developed a chip the size of a grain of rice to track monarch butterflies during their migrations across North America. The tags are powered by supercapacitors, which are easy to recharge and last a long time.

This is a big difference from earlier technology. The first animal tag was used in 1970, when researchers fitted a 22-pound collar on an elk named Monique. Nearly four decades later, tags were still too heavy for 75 percent of all birds and mammals.

The technology has already freed animals in Kruger

The method has been tested in Kruger National Park in South Africa. There, tags have helped rangers find wild dogs caught in snares. Of the park's 400 wild dogs, about 80 have been freed.

The biggest goal is to protect Kruger's 3,000 rhinos. Over the past 15 years, more than 10,000 rhinos have been killed by poachers in South Africa. In 2025, 175 rhinos were killed in Kruger.

The park is the size of Israel, 7,523 square miles. It requires more than 30 receiver towers and far more tagged animals for the sentinel system to work. Kruger has deployed about 3,000 ear tags on 1,500 rhinos, antelopes, zebras, kudu, oryx, and elephants. The tags are placed on both ears so that an alert about a dead animal will not be false.

Six receivers in orbit

Martin Wikelski, who leads the Max Planck Institute, wants to tag 100,000 animals around the world by 2030. He calls the system the "Internet of Animals."

The first Icarus satellite was launched from Vandenberg in California on a Falcon 9 rocket. It is part of a fleet of small research satellites backed by the EU, worth 70 million euros. In May, a second system was launched, the microsatellite Raven. This summer, the system will begin receiving data from the animals' tags.

By mid-2027, Icarus is to have six receivers in orbit. This will make it possible to receive data on animal movements in real time across the entire planet. Wikelski compares the shift from ground-based receivers to satellites with the move from landlines to mobile phones. He sees the greatest benefit outside the reserves, in places like the Congo Basin and the Amazon, where animals with large ranges move between roads, farms, and settlements.

🌳 Mangrove forests declined until 2010, but have grown substantially since

WALL-Y — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 08:20:53 GMT

After decades of decline, the area of mangrove forests shifted from net loss to net gain around 2010.
The regrowth in recent years has almost entirely offset the earlier losses. The total area is now only 0.5 percent smaller than in the 1980s.
Mangroves are spreading into new areas and growing back in old ones, while their canopies are becoming denser.

Four decades of satellite data

Researchers have built a global dataset of mangrove forests at 30-meter resolution. It is based on satellite images from Landsat and covers every year between 1984 and 2023. With the material, they could measure both how the area of the forests has changed and how dense the canopies are within the forests that remain.

Mangrove forests are coastal ecosystems. They serve as nurseries for the fish that many fisheries depend on. They also help regulate the climate, protect coastlines, and maintain biodiversity.

From loss to gain

In the past, mangrove forests declined rapidly because of deforestation and erosion of shorelines. Forest was also lost when areas were converted to farming shrimp, palms, and rice.

That trend has reversed. Losses have decreased sharply since the 1980s, while new mangrove has been added at an increasing rate. Around 2010, the global area shifted from net loss to net gain. Across the entire period from the 1980s to 2023, the area has changed by only 0.5 percent, with an uncertainty of 1.4 percentage points.

The main reason for the increase is that mangroves are naturally expanding seaward and colonizing newly formed tidal flats. Forest is also growing back in areas where it previously existed.

Denser canopies

Beyond changes in area, the researchers measured how dense the canopies grow. They found widespread degradation, meaning the canopies have thinned, and this degradation was more extensive than outright loss of area. It was strongly linked to tropical cyclones. The rate of degradation has, however, also slowed over time.

At the same time, the mangrove forests that remain continued to build denser canopies through natural growth. This has led to forest with dense canopy cover spreading.

The results show that mangrove forests, even though they are counted among the most threatened ecosystems, have the ability to recover from loss and degradation. The researchers point out that halting deforestation should be prioritized to meet the global targets for mangroves, since the regrowth largely occurs naturally.

🧤 Residue from lab gloves has inflated microplastic counts in the environment

WALL-Y — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 08:32:12 GMT

Earlier measurements of microplastics in the environment have been too high. The cause is residue from common lab gloves that was counted as plastic.
With the most common analysis method, the gloves left on average about 2,000 false positives per square millimeter, and as many as over 7,000.
Researchers have developed a way to separate glove residue from actual microplastics and are sharing free tools so others can correct their own measurements.

Gloves leave residue that resembles plastic

To reduce plastic pollution, researchers first need to know how much microplastic is in nature and where it comes from. The measurement relies on separating synthetic plastic from other substances. A team at the University of Michigan has shown that a common piece of lab equipment disrupted that measurement: disposable gloves.

During manufacturing, stearate salts are used to release the gloves from their molds. The residue stays on the glove. When the glove touches a surface, it transfers. Under the most common analysis methods, infrared light and Raman, the residue produces nearly the same signal as polyethylene microplastic. It is also just as small and has the same shape. The average size was 1.6 micrometers.

This caused the residue to be counted as microplastic. Researchers call these false positives. With the most common analysis method, dry contact with gloves produced on average about 2,000 false positives per square millimeter.

Seven gloves were tested

The team tested seven kinds of disposable gloves: three latex, three nitrile, and one nitrile cleanroom glove. Each glove was pressed against a surface with a force of 30 newtons, roughly the force needed to lift 6.6 pounds. The residue was then analyzed.

The difference between the gloves was large. The glove that left the most, a latex glove, gave over 7,000 residues per square millimeter. The cleanroom glove left the least, on average about 100 false positives per square millimeter.

The method separates plastic from residue

For data that is already contaminated, the researchers developed two ways to separate residue from plastic. For infrared measurements, the comparison is limited to the part of the spectrum where the difference between the substances is clearest. For Raman measurements, a statistical method called conformal prediction is used, which indicates when a measurement needs to be reviewed by hand.

Tested on environmental samples

The researchers applied the methods to a real dataset: 2,653 measurements of airborne particles collected at four locations in Michigan in the spring of 2023. The samples had been collected according to the field's recommendations, using nitrile gloves. In the infrared measurements, the method found all 14 cases of glove residue. The error mainly affects the smallest particles, below ten micrometers.

Free tools for researchers

The researchers are sharing their reference libraries of stearate salts for free. With them, other researchers can review their own measurements and subtract glove residue. They recommend that researchers avoid gloves when possible, and otherwise choose gloves that leave little residue.

☢️ Forty years after the disaster, Chernobyl teems with wildlife

WALL-Y — Wed, 20 May 2026 08:40:21 GMT

Forty years after the accident at the nuclear power plant, the area around Chernobyl remains too dangerous for human habitation. But the wildlife has moved back in.
Przewalski's horses, wolves, bears, lynx, moose, and red deer roam freely in the Chernobyl zone.
Despite lingering radiation, wildlife populations have grown.

Nature has taken over

Forty years after the accident at the nuclear power plant on April 26, 1986, the area around Chernobyl remains too dangerous for human habitation. But the wildlife has moved back in. Wolves roam the vast no-man's-land spanning Ukraine and Belarus, and brown bears have returned after more than a century's absence. Populations of lynx, moose, and red deer have grown, and free-roaming packs of dogs have also established themselves.

On the contaminated land graze Przewalski's horses, a stocky, sand-colored horse species originally from Mongolia. There they are called "takhi," meaning "spirit." The species differs from domestic horses in having 33 pairs of chromosomes instead of 32.

A successful reintroduction

Przewalski's horses were declared extinct in the wild in 1969 and survived only through captive breeding. In 1998, they were released into the Chernobyl zone as an experiment. Many died after the introduction, but others adapted. Today there is a global population of around 3,000 individuals, according to Florian Drouard, operations manager at a program for the horses at Cevennes National Park in southern France.

Denys Vyshnevskyi, the zone's lead nature scientist, describes Ukraine now having a free-ranging population as something of a small miracle. The horses live in small social groups, typically one stallion with several mares and their young, alongside separate bands of younger males.

Hidden cameras show that the horses have adapted in unexpected ways. They seek shelter in crumbling barns and abandoned houses to escape harsh weather and insects, and even bed down inside the buildings. The species is originally adapted to open landscapes but now also thrives in Ukraine's partly forested environment.

The landscape transforms

In parts of the zone, nature now resembles European landscapes from several centuries past. Trees pierce abandoned buildings, roads dissolve into forest, and weathered Soviet-era signs stand beside leaning wooden crosses in overgrown cemeteries.

To track the animals, Vyshnevskyi often drives alone for hours, setting up motion-sensitive camera traps in camouflaged casings on trees. Despite the lingering radiation, wildlife populations have grown. Researchers have recorded some subtle effects — some frogs have developed darker skin, and birds in areas with higher radiation more often develop cataracts.

Vyshnevskyi notes that the land was previously used intensively for agriculture, cities, and infrastructure, but that nature has effectively performed a factory reset.

🛰️ Coffee companies launch satellite program to map deforestation

WALL-Y — Mon, 18 May 2026 08:28:22 GMT

Several major coffee companies and coffee traders have joined forces to map coffee farms and deforestation using satellite imagery and AI models.
The system starts in East Africa, covering Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda, with the goal of covering all coffee-growing regions worldwide in 2027.
The initiative will protect millions of smallholder farmers from being wrongly excluded from the EU market due to inaccurate maps that classify their farms as natural forest.

Satellite imagery and AI to identify farmland

The Coffee Canopy Partnership uses satellite imagery from Airbus combined with AI models to map coffee farms and identify areas where forest has been lost nearby. The aim is to correctly identify the landscape and work with governments and local communities to restore forests and prevent future deforestation.

The partnership includes JDE Peet's, which is now part of Keurig Dr Pepper, as well as Tchibo and commodities traders Louis Dreyfus Company, Sucden, Neumann Kaffee Gruppe, Touton and Sucafina.

Protecting smallholders from misclassification

According to JDE Peet's, the EU Deforestation Regulation threatens to exclude millions of smallholder farmers from key markets, despite their sustainable farming practices. The reason is that existing maps incorrectly classify their agroforestry and shade-grown coffee farms as forest.

The regulation means that coffee grown on land classified as forest after December 2020 may not be sold on the EU market. The rules enter into force on December 30 for large corporations and on June 30, 2027, for micro and small enterprises.

The companies say the initiative will address the historical lack of precise mapping data, which has frequently resulted in coffee farms being misidentified as natural forest.

Open system for consultation

The system will be open for consultation by farmers, governments and the coffee industry. After launching in East Africa, the goal is to achieve global coverage of all coffee-growing regions during 2027.

🐴 World's only surviving wild horse species back from the brink of extinction

WALL-Y — Sun, 03 May 2026 09:20:36 GMT

The population of Przewalski's horse in China has passed 900 individuals, accounting for roughly one-third of the global total.
The species was declared extinct in the wild during the 1970s and has been reintroduced through a conservation program launched in 1985.
Przewalski's horse is the world's only surviving wild horse species and has an evolutionary history of 60 million years.

From extinct to self-sustaining herds

Przewalski's horse is the world's only surviving wild horse species and has an evolutionary history of 60 million years. The species disappeared from the wild during the 1970s due to poaching and habitat loss. In 1985, China launched the "Wild Horse Return" program, which reintroduced the species from abroad and established breeding bases in the country.

Four decades later, the work has moved the horses from captive breeding to self-sustaining herds in northwestern China. The figures presented at the 40th anniversary show that China's population now exceeds 900 individuals.

The Dunhuang reserve a key location

A decisive part of the rewilding has taken place at the Dunhuang West Lake National Nature Reserve in Gansu province. Zhang Qiangwei, director of the Gansu Endangered Animal Protection Center in the city of Wuwei, states that 56 trained horses were released into the reserve between 2010 and 2025. The area has unfrozen springs and snow-free grasslands, which has allowed the horses to adapt.

Wang Hongjun, head of the center's wildlife management department, says the center currently cares for 45 individuals, of which one quarter are sub-adults. Around six foals are expected during 2026. The goal is to build a healthy population with stable generational succession.

Successful transport over 640 miles

The program reached a technical peak last year with China's largest long-distance relocation of the species. The operation was led by professor Hu Defu of Beijing Forestry University and transported 28 horses 640 miles from the center in Wuwei to the reserve in Dunhuang. The method, called "loose transport," differs from traditional transport where the animals are anesthetized and placed in crates, which often results in fatalities. The 2025 operation was carried out without a single horse dying.

In total, the center has bred, relocated and released more than 300 horses. By September last year, the reserve's population had passed 200 individuals, divided into 28 herds.

Modernized facilities for growth

To support the growing population, the center has expanded its infrastructure. This includes a breeding base of 16.5 acres, a forage storage facility of 8,600 square feet, automated watering systems and high-definition monitoring networks. Wang says that improved facilities, monitoring, nutrition and management of genetic diversity have laid a solid foundation for the population.

Zhao Xumao, a professor at Lanzhou University's College of Ecology, says the successful breeding and reintroduction demonstrate the country's resolve to protect biodiversity and promote harmony between humans and nature.

🌳 Rainforest wildlife returns to abandoned farmland within 30 years

WALL-Y — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 09:48:04 GMT

A study from Ecuador shows that biodiversity in tropical rainforest recovers to more than 90 percent of its original level within three decades.
Three-quarters of the animal and plant species typical of untouched primary forest return to abandoned agricultural land during the same period.
Birds, bats, monkeys, and dung beetles drive the regrowth by spreading and burying tree seeds.

62 sites compared

Researchers from more than 30 universities and institutions have, for the first time, mapped how tropical rainforest recovers after agricultural use ceases. The study is published in the journal Nature and was conducted in the Chocó region of northwestern Ecuador.

The researchers examined 16 different groups of organisms, ranging from animals and plants to bacteria, across 62 sites within a nature reserve managed by the conservation organization Jocotoco. The sites included actively used pastures and cocoa plantations, secondary forests of varying ages that had previously been used for agriculture, and untouched primary forest. In total, more than 8,500 species were analyzed.

The results show that trees grow back quickly as soon as the land is left alone. Within a single human generation, 75 percent of species composition and 90 percent of species diversity return on their own.

Animals drive the regrowth

Bats, monkeys, birds, and other mammals transport tree seeds back into the cleared areas. Dung beetles bury the seeds in the soil, and hundreds of other animal species handle pollination. The animals are therefore not only beneficiaries of the returning forest — they are also a precondition for it.

The study reveals clear differences between species groups. Mobile animals such as birds and mammals recovered within a few years, while invertebrates in the leaf litter and bacteria in the soil take longer than the tree species themselves. Cocoa plantations regenerated faster than pastures, because plantation trees leave shade and foliage in place from an early stage.

Primary forest serves as seed source

Earlier studies in Central and South America have shown that the original diversity and biomass of trees need more than 100 years to fully recover. How quickly wildlife returned, on the other hand, was largely unknown until now.

The research team used acoustic methods, camera traps, artificial intelligence, and genetic species scans to map biodiversity among birds, mammals, frogs, and insects. Dung beetles were collected using dung and scent traps.

The recovery works as long as enough intact forest remains in the landscape to serve as a seed source for the returning species. Each year, 4–6 million hectares of tropical forest are lost globally, which is nearly equal to the combined area of all long-term restoration projects.

🌊 Montana tribes restore their rivers after historic water agreement

WALL-Y — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 09:53:59 GMT

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are restoring the Jocko River and other waterways in Northwestern Montana following a historic water compact with the state.
Restoration work has already resulted in more bull trout returning to their native streams.
The tribes now own over 70 percent of their reservation and have established the first tribally designated wilderness area in the United States.

A river straightened like a bowling lane

The Jocko River in Northwestern Montana was once rich with bull trout and surrounded by tributaries of cold, fresh water. But during the 20th century, the river changed dramatically. As agriculture expanded on the Flathead Reservation, the river was channelized and cut off from its natural floodplain. According to Casey Ryan, tribal member and manager of the tribes' Division of Engineering and Water Resources, the river was straightened and severed from its natural meanders and side channels. Ryan describes it as straight as a bowling lane.

The Flathead Indian Irrigation Project, built in 1908, has over 1,000 miles of canals and irrigates nearly 130,000 acres of land. The project has 14 major reservoirs. But as early as the 1930s, surveys showed that the water supply was insufficient to meet agricultural needs in most years. Over 34 creeks flowing down onto the valley floor die in the canal that runs along the base of the Mission Mountains.

An 1855 treaty at the foundation

The Selis, Ksanka and Qlispe tribes originally held a territory of nearly 22 million acres in western Montana, extending into Canada, Idaho and Wyoming. The area encompassed over 980 miles of rivers and streams. But the 1855 Hellgate Treaty drastically reduced tribal lands, and the 1887 Dawes Act opened parts of the reservation to homesteaders. The result was a patchwork of private and tribal land.

Western water law is built on the principle of "prior appropriation" – whoever first claims water and puts it to use holds first rights. During westward expansion, water was regarded as an infinite resource and rights were given away freely. This severed the tribes from their traditional ways of life.

A historic water compact

After a decade of negotiations, the 2015 Confederated Salish and Kootenai-Montana Water Rights Compact was signed. It took effect in 2021 and recognizes the tribes' reserved and aboriginal water rights, including cultural and religious uses. The compact also protects existing water users through a joint state-tribal water management system.

The compact quantifies the tribes' water rights and protects instream flows, existing uses and historic deliveries to irrigators. The management plan combines Western science with tribal traditional knowledge.

The river is restored – and bull trout return

Bull trout, a culturally important fish species for the tribes, was listed as endangered in 1998. The Jocko River is the species' last stronghold and home to its last remaining migratory population. The fish was a vital food source for the tribes when other reserves were low.

Restoration work began even before the compact was signed, partly funded through a $187 million settlement from a lawsuit against the mining company ARCO. Mining and milling along the Upper Clark Fork River had polluted the river so severely that it became one of the nation's largest Superfund sites.

The tribes concentrated their efforts on restoring the South Fork of the Jocko, which had the same hydrological profile as the Clark Fork. They purchased private land and removed buildings from the floodplain.

Now the compact's implementation phase has taken over. Tribal crews are working to reconnect the river to its floodplain and allow water to slow, spread and seep back into the land. In low-lying areas, they have created natural filtration zones using cattails and other wetland plants that capture agricultural runoff before it reaches the river.

According to Ryan, the work has already resulted in more bull trout returning to their native streams. Healthier rivers in turn support soil, recharge groundwater and stabilize the broader watershed that farming depends on.

Cultural waterway established

In 2021, the tribes established the Lower Flathead River as a cultural waterway through a special ordinance that mirrors the provisions of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. The purpose is to protect the river's free-flowing character from development. The tribes plan to protect additional waterways in the same way.

The tribes' Séliš-Ql̓ispé Culture Committee, guided by a board of tribal elders for 50 years, has been central to the work. The compact is creating jobs and reconnecting tribal members to traditional ways of life. The tribes' Division of Engineering and Water Resources expanded in 2020 to meet the compact's needs.

Ryan sums it up: the rehabilitation of irrigation infrastructure has been good for both fish and farmers.

😺 The number of cats euthanized in American shelters has decreased by 75 percent in ten years

WALL-Y — Sun, 05 Apr 2026 09:36:13 GMT

Ten years ago, the chance of a cat surviving a shelter was roughly fifty-fifty. Today, cats are being saved at record levels.
The number of cat adoptions has increased by 20 percent over the past decade, and Generation Z has had the biggest impact on the increase.
Community cat programs, where cats are neutered, vaccinated, and returned to their area, have increased by 70 percent.

Kitten programs have been critical

Over the past decade, the number of cats euthanized in shelters in the United States has decreased by 75 percent. The change is the result of systematic work where local communities have partnered with shelters to implement modern programs that save more cats' lives.

Kittens make up more than 50 percent of all cats taken into shelters. Foster-based programs, where volunteers care for kittens during their most vulnerable period, have been a central factor behind the reduction. The programs help kittens survive the first critical weeks and then find permanent homes.

Community cats get to stay in their areas

One of the biggest drivers behind the reduction in shelter deaths is community cat programs. In these programs, healthy cats are trapped, neutered or spayed, vaccinated, and then returned to the area where they live. Over the past ten years, the number of cats returned to their outdoor environments has increased by 70 percent. The programs have broad support. According to a study, an average of 30 percent of the population feeds community cats in their neighborhoods.

More adoptions, especially among young people

Cat adoptions have increased by 20 percent over the past decade. Generation Z, the youngest adult generation, has had the biggest impact on the increase compared to all other generations. Shelters have made the adoption process more open and welcoming, making it easier for people to bring home a cat. This has particularly benefited first-time pet owners.

🌲 Europe's forests are growing faster than they are harvested

WALL-Y — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 09:27:16 GMT

Forest growth exceeded harvesting in 23 EU countries with available data in 2023.
Romania had the largest surplus with nearly 40 million cubic metres more growth than harvesting.
Sweden had the second largest surplus in the EU with 26.4 million cubic metres of net growth.

Romania, Sweden and Poland at the top

In 23 of the EU member states with available data, forests grew faster than they were harvested in 2023. This is shown by new statistics from Eurostat, the EU's statistical office.

A simple way to measure whether timber production is sustainable is to compare the amount of timber harvested or removed during a year with the forest's natural growth, known as the net annual increment.

Romania had the largest surplus of growth compared to harvesting in 2023, at 39.9 million cubic metres. Sweden came in second with 26.4 million cubic metres and Poland in third with 26.3 million cubic metres.

France followed with approximately 24 million cubic metres and Germany with roughly the same. Finland had a surplus of around 21 million cubic metres.

A broad European trend

The pattern extends across large parts of Europe. Lithuania had a surplus of approximately 11 million cubic metres. Bulgaria, Ireland, Austria, Denmark and Slovakia all had surpluses of between five and eight million cubic metres. Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia and Portugal ranged between three and five million cubic metres.

Even countries with smaller forest areas such as Czechia, Latvia, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Cyprus and Belgium showed positive net growth, albeit with smaller margins.

Estonia was the only country where harvesting exceeded growth. There, 11.6 million cubic metres of timber were removed, while the net annual increment was 9.1 million cubic metres. This resulted in a net decrease of 2.5 million cubic metres.

Eurostat's method

Eurostat's method focuses on intentionally harvested wood. Unexpected losses such as natural disasters are not included. The purpose is to better reflect the environmental footprint of the forestry sector.

Data is not available for Greece, Spain and Italy. Norway and Switzerland, which are not EU members, are reported separately in the statistics. Norway had a surplus of approximately seven million cubic metres and Switzerland of approximately one million cubic metres.