Farmer Jerry Haak inspects the drip irrigation system on his gala apple orchard in Outlook, Wash. Haak says one thing that’s vital to a healthy, profitable crop: water – an unreliable resource in Washington’s Yakima Valley.
Doling out water in the arid West is tough to do. There’s not much to be had, and everyone wants a fair share. What’s fair? It depends who you ask. One basin in central Washington has found a way for fish, farmers and families to have enough water. And its early success is drawing interest throughout the Northwest.
Former naval officer Ken Balcomb has been studying the endangered orcas of Puget Sound for over 30 years. In a way, they’re his children. When one of them washed up dead in February, Balcomb set out looking for answers. He thinks they lead to his former military branch. New: Orca Death Still Unsolved.
A new climate-change study published Monday surveyed nearly 500 mammals in the western hemisphere. It found that on the whole, mammals that can move quickly to new territory and adapt to human encroachment have good odds of surviving a warming planet. Mammals that stay put may not stick around.
An estimated 5 billion hatchery fish are released into the Pacific Ocean each year. A collection of research released Monday raises concerns about how all those hatchery fish might be competing with wild salmon.
If you live in Central Washington, the Portland suburbs or Idaho's capital, then odds are what comes out of your sewage treatment plant will help grow crops -- thanks to the Northwest's concentration of cutting-edge recycling technology.
Hike through the Siskiyou Mountains, and you can find dozens of species of flowers that bloom nowhere else in the world. Many of these mountains are made of rock that was once on the sea floor. Weird, beautiful, and carnivorous plants have adapted to survive in the nutrient poor soil.
Large industries and toxic dump sites are no longer the only sources of major concern for water quality on the Columbia River. A study released today by the United States Geological Survey has found that our day-to-day life has a major impact as well.
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