NRES

Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a substantial reorganization of the Forest Service, moving its headquarters to Salt Lake City, Utah, and closing its existing regional offices. According to the announcement, the move is designed to move leadership “closer to the forests and communities it serves.” 

As winter comes to a close, many people look forward to warmer temperatures and spring blooms, but for land managers working to preserve or restore oak-dominated forests, it is prescribed burn season. Fire brings more light into forests, which is crucial for young oak tree growth, but many land managers are concerned about how non-native plants affect fire intensity and young tree survival rates.

Finding bats in the attic or under roof tiles is no homeowner’s idea of fun. But Florida’s endangered bonneted bats have few natural options left. With a dwindling number of large, old trees with cavities — their preferred habitat — and exotic species competing for what’s left, many bonneted bats have moved into homes, leading to panicked humans and calls to professionals who can oust the squatters.

In a world where increasing demands for food security and energy strain existing resources, scientists are looking for new ways to maximize both. One potential option, agrivoltaics, integrates solar photovoltaics with crops. A new study examines the agricultural and economic trade-offs that come with installing solar arrays on working farms across the Midwest.

A new accounting of nitrogen pollution in the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin (MARB) reveals a significant decline in recent decades, suggesting positive momentum for water quality goals in local watersheds and the Gulf. Surprisingly, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign-led study doesn’t credit the change to reduced fertilizer application, but instead to cleaner air and more efficient nitrogen uptake by modern corn hybrids. 

Keeping amphibians as pets offers hobbyists an opportunity to connect with the non-human world, often increasing interest in conserving animals in the wild. But there’s a dark side to the amphibian trade, according to a recent study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 

Corn bred with genes from wild relatives can reshape soil microbial communities and reduce nitrogen loss — with no yield reduction — according to new research from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The advancement marks the first time corn’s genetic makeup has been linked with inhibition of nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria, the microbes responsible for turning fertilizer nitrogen into forms that pollute water and contribute to climate change.   

Scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign can now differentiate between human-derived and hydrological contributions of riverine nitrogen pollution in the Upper Mississippi River Basin. The advancement, published in Environmental Science and Technology, sets the stage for more nuanced policy and management of nitrate and nitrite, the nutrients that degrade drinking water quality and cause oxygen-starved “dead zones” in the Gulf each year.

"Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints.” That’s what kids are usually told on nature walks. But Caitlin Bloomer, aquatic ecologist and teaching assistant professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, believes that a more hands-on, land-based approach is needed to improve conservation. So when she traveled to Minnehaha Falls, Minneapolis, this summer to help lead a nature walk for kids, they went home with some invasive crayfish. 

Cover crops improve soil health and water quality, prevent nutrient loss, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but they’re only grown on about 5% of U.S. agricultural lands. That’s despite billions in annual federal investments, primarily in the form of cost-share and incentive payments to farmers who adopt conservation practices.