The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) monitors and approves the creation of Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) areas under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Habitat Conservation Plans allow economic development in areas that have threatened and endangered species with the agreement that the developer provides...

The Southern California coast, from Point Conception to the Tijuana River wetland, has become more sensitive to flooding as king tides have increased in magnitude. These king tides are thought to be intensifying due to numerous environmental factors such as storm surges, strong winds, and...

Water quality plays a critical role in California's freshwater supply and environmental health in the San Francisco Bay-Delta. While there are measures in place to protect human and environmental health from poor water quality conditions, implementation of these measures is frequently reliant on physical water...

Wetlands are a critical feature of our landscape for the ecological services they provide, including protecting water quality, providing habitat to rare species, mitigating erosion, and providing opportunities for recreation. Despite this, wetlands are facing increasing threats from a variety...

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are a vital component to global agriculture, however, over recent decades their populations have been declining. Honey bees provide pollination services to more than 90% of the leading 107 global crop types, and without them it is estimated that...

The eastern Great Basin (EGB) covers approximately 411,000 km2 within the states of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. Since the 1950s, wildfires have increased in both frequency and size within the EGB and neighboring states. Partners at the Bureau...

Chile is characterized by extreme climate variability ranging from the arid Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on earth, to the extremely wet Lake District that averages 2,535 mm of annual rainfall. In recent years, Chile has experienced abnormal climate conditions as record...

According to the Washington Department of Natural Resources, roughly 36% of large fires in the state since 2010 were caused by lightning. General trends also show a greater increase in the number of lightning-ignited fires over the last three decades...

Intense thunderstorms throughout the Hindu-Kush Himalayan (HKH) region have resulted in an upsurge of lightning-related deaths due to an increase in population. Partnering with the NASA Global Hydrology Resource Center Distributed Active Archive Center, NASA SERVIR Science Coordination Office, Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), Nepal Department...

In the Madre de Dios region of the Peruvian Amazon, forests are being cleared for mining, timber harvesting, road construction, and hydroelectric dam development. These rapid land use changes are increasing human presence in previously sparsely-populated areas, disrupting ecosystems and increasing the...