A New Protected Natural Area Emerges in Bucharest: Petricani Meadow

The Romania Journal— On Earth Day, the Văcărești Natural Park Association offered the citizens of Bucharest a new area of education and nature conservation, modeled after the Văcărești Natural Park: Petricani Meadow. More than six hectares of green space and sparkling water, full of biodiversity, are now accessible to the public after the completion of the themed trail […]

Seven Days—An Act 250 Bill Would Fast-Track Approval of Downtown Housing While Protecting Natural Areas. For the past four years, whenever lawmakers sought to make significant reforms to the land-use and development regulations in Act 250, their efforts have gone nowhere. Various bills seeking to modernize the 1970 law have stalled in committee, died when efforts to reconcile competing House and Senate versions fizzled, or been vetoed by Gov. Phil Scott. This year, however, following months of work by three different study committees, optimism for a breakthrough is growing. A bill gaining...

Boing Boing—Not again! Boeing plane makes emergency landing in New York when emergency slide flies off mid-flight. Another week, another busted Boeing plane that lost a part mid-flight. This time, it was a Delta Air Lines flight headed to LAX from JFK Airport this morning, when, about an hour into the flight, the crew and passengers could feel a vibration. — Read the rest

Zócalo Public Square—Is the Wilderness Act Still Protecting Nature?. At the end of 2023, four environmental groups sued the National Park Service and invoked the Wilderness Act to stop the replanting of trees following a catastrophic wildfire in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Around the same time, the National Park Service announced that it aimed to invoke the Wilderness Act to limit the use of fixed anchors on Yosemite’s iconic big wall climbs. How did a law created 60 years ago to protect nature in undeveloped areas come to do something else...