Latest Plants News
Environmental delegates gather in Colombia for a conference on dwindling global biodiversity
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Global environmental leaders gathered Monday in Cali, Colombia to assess the world’s plummeting biodiversity levels and commitments by countries to protect plants, animals and critical habitats. The two-week United Nations Biodiversity Conference, or...
Proposed Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge expansion could lead to buyout of mining project
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A federal agency proposed an expansion of the Okefenokee Swamp's vast wildlife refuge on Friday, which could lead to a buyout offer for land intended for a private company's mining project that conservationists have fought for years. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife...
Afro-Colombians fight the effects of gold mining through biodiversity projects in a violent region
SAN ISIDRO, Colombia (AP) — In an outdoor classroom surrounded by snake specimens preserved in jars, teacher Melqui Mosquera proudly talks about the nature reserve he set up in a Colombian region environmentally devastated by illegal mining. There are fish ponds with species...
A Southern California school plants a 'Moon Tree' grown with seeds flown in space
LAKE FOREST, Calif. (AP) — To cheers and applause from kids wearing spacesuits and star-studded T-shirts, a tree was planted in California that is out of this world. The so-called “Moon Tree” — grown with seeds that were flown around the moon — was wheeled out in a wagon...
Colombia’s river guardians battle to protect the Atrato amid threats and abandonment
PAIMADO, Colombia (AP) — Sediment and pebbles are all that’s left on the earth around much of Bernardino Mosquera’s small riverside community in northwest Colombia’s Choco region. Just a year ago, healthy shrubs and trees filled this important biodiversity spot teeming with...
Water gushes through sand dunes after a rare rainfall in the Sahara desert
RABAT, Morocco (AP) — A rare deluge of rainfall left blue lagoons of water amid the palm trees and sand dunes of the Sahara desert, nourishing some of its driest regions with more water than they had seen in decades. Southeastern Morocco's desert is among the most arid places in...
Nibi the 'diva' beaver to stay at rescue center, Massachusetts governor decides
BOSTON (AP) — The question of whether a 2-year-old beaver named Nibi can stay with the rescuers she has known since she was a baby or must be released into the wild was resolved Thursday when the Massachusetts governor stepped in to protect Nibi. The state issued a permit to...
As many forests fail to recover from wildfires, replanting efforts face huge odds — and obstacles
BELLVUE, Colo. (AP) — Camille Stevens-Rumann crouched in the dirt and leaned over evergreen seedlings, measuring how much each had grown in seven months. "That's two to three inches of growth on the spruce,” said Stevens-Rumann, interim director at the Colorado Forest Restoration...
Biden says he hopes to visit Helene-impacted areas this week if it doesn't impact emergency response
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says he will visit Hurricane Helene-impacted areas this week as long as it does not disrupt rescue and recovery operations. Biden was briefed again on Sunday evening about the impact of the devastating storm on an enormous swath of the...
AP PHOTOS: Hurricane Helene inundates the southeastern US
Tangled piles of nail-spiked lumber and displaced boats littered the streets. A house lay crushed under a fern-covered oak tree toppled by the winds. Residents waded or paddled through ruddy floodwaters, hoping to find their loved ones safe, and rescue crews used fan boats to evacuate stranded...
