Green & indigenous News

Researchers in Costa Rica have unearthed fossils from a mastodon and a giant sloth that lived as many as 40,000 years ago, officials announced Friday, calling it the biggest such find here in decades.

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A study of more than 100 kindergarten-age children suggests kids tend to think of snakes differently than they do other animals and that hearing negative or objectifying language about the slithery reptiles might contribute to that way of thinking.

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Most people think of microbes in simple terms: Some make you sick, while others help keep you healthy. But microbes' influence stretches far beyond human bodies. These astonishingly complex organisms regulate the health of forests, oceans and grasslands and determine how ecosystems respond to environmental change.

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Daniel Herrera CarbajalICT

PHOENIX — Tribes want more of a seat at the table for Colorado River water usage talks.

As the seven Colorado River Basin states seem unlikely to reach a water usage agreement by Feb. 14, tribes want more input in the new operating guidelines.

The deadline was set by Interior Secretary Doug Bergum after the basin states failed to reach an agreement by the original date in November 2025.

Historically tribes have been excluded from Colorado River management.

“When these laws were made regarding the river, we weren’t part of that,” Colorado River Indian Tribes Chairwoman Amelia Flores, told ICT. “We continue to tell them to correct that with these guidelines that are coming out for the future.”

Boats move along Lake Powell along the Upper Colorado River Basin Wednesday, June 9, 2021, in Wahweap, Ariz. Included in the infrastructure deal that became law last month is $2.5 billion for Native American water rights settlements, which quantify individual tribes’ claims to water and identify infrastructure projects to help deliver it to residents. On the Navajo Nation, the largest reservation in the U.S., the money could fund a settlement reached in 2020 over water in the upper Colorado River basin. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

In the original 1922 Colorado River compact the only parties at the negotiating table were the seven basin states and the United States. None of the 30 Tribal nations who have claims to the river and its tributaries were present in negotiations.

Thirty tribal nations have varying degrees of recognized water rights, with 22 Tribal Nations holding rights to use approximately 3.2 million acre-feet of Colorado river water annually. This equals approximately 25 percent of the basin’s annual water.

There are currently 12 tribal nations with unresolved water right’s claims which once adjudicated or settled, would increase the total volume of water that must serve tribal nations.

One of those tribes is the Pueblo of Zuni.

“The Colorado River and Grand Canyon is homeland to the Zuni people,” Zuni Councilman Edward Wemytewa told ICT.” “And we do not have readily available access to the river. We have to organize with other Tribes. . . Zuni needs to be more involved with the river.”

While many tribe’s water rights are senior, dating back before the 1922 compact, they often do not use them due to funding and infrastructure barriers.

“The Colorado River Indian Irrigation Project is probably the oldest in the BIA system and it is operated and maintained by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. And quite frankly, they have not done a very good job of maintaining and keeping the irrigation project in prime working order. And as a result the project is highly inefficient and it makes it difficult for the tribes and its members to be able to fully access its water because the system is the only way we can access our water in Arizona and it is just incredibly inefficient,” Bezedek told ICT.

This undated photo shows an irrigation canal on farmland in Mohave Valley, Arizona. An arm of the Central Arizona Project wants to buy farmland in the Mohave Valley Irrigation and Drainage District, pay farmers to fallow portions of it and send the water savings to central and southern Arizona. (DK McDonald/Mohave Valley Daily News via AP)

Recently, governors of six of the seven basin states met in Washington D.C. in an attempt to reach an agreement in Colorado River negotiations.

If the states can’t reach an agreement before the current operating guidelines expire in October, the federal government will implement one of its alternative usage plans.

The current interim operating guidelines for lower basin shortages specify how and when deliveries are made to California, Arizona and Nevada, and are triggered by reservoir levels in Lake Mead.

New operational guidelines for Lake Mead and Lake Powell are actively underway led by the Bureau of Reclamation in consultation with states and tribes as well as other stakeholders.

In January a draft Environmental Impact Statement was released which analyzes five main alternatives:

• No Action Alternative
• Basic Coordination Alternative (Federal Authorities Alternative)
• Enhanced Coordination Alternative (Federal Authorities Hybrid Alternative)
• Maximum Operational Flexibility Alternative (Cooperative Conservation Alternative)
• Supply Driven Alternative

Colorado River Indian Tribes is currently reviewing the proposed alternatives according to lead water attorney John Bezdek.

CRIT has the most senior water rights of any entity with water usage rights to the Colorado River.

“CRIT first and foremost wants to see its water rights protected and the ability for CRIT to fully put its water to use,” Bezdek told ICT. “We would also like to see barriers for our water use taken down and the opportunity for CRIT, as well as other tribes to be fully engaged in finding solutions here in the Colorado River Basin.”

The Colorado River is split into two basins outlined in the 1922 Colorado River Compact. The lower basin consists of Arizona, California and Nevada. The upper basin consists of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico and a small portion of Arizona.

Tribal nations rely on the Colorado River for agricultural, domestic and commercial uses as well as spiritual activities and practices.

“We want to be part of the solution and we’ll continue to voice that. We’ll continue to push for being part of the solution,” Flores told ICT.

“Given the importance of a consensus-based approach to operations for the stability of the system, Reclamation has not yet identified a preferred alternative,” Bureau of Reclamation Acting Commissioner Scott Cameron said. “However, Reclamation anticipates that when an agreement is reached, it will incorporate elements or variations of these five alternatives and will be fully analyzed in the Final EIS enabling the sustainable and effective management of the Colorado River.”

Following a public comment period and feedback, a final EIS and record of decision are expected before Oct. 1, the start of the 2027 water year.

“Our water rights go back to the creation of our reservation, but even back further, it goes to our creator,” Flores told ICT. “We continue to fight for consultation. I want to say we’re 100 percent there, but we’re not.”

The post Colorado River: Tribes seek to be part of solution appeared first on ICT.

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It's difficult to forget standing in front of a glacier that is advancing toward you, towering ice pillars constantly cracking as they inch forward. The motion is too slow to see in real time but is obvious from one day to the next.

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As millions of visitors prepare to descend on North Texas for the FIFA World Cup, city of Dallas officials say the global spotlight also brings local environmental responsibility.

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In parts of Africa most affected by biodiversity loss and climate stress, the problem is not an absence of events worth reporting. It is the difficulty of translating slow-moving ecological change, fragmented governance and contested evidence into journalism that travels beyond borders. The signals are often local, technical and politically inconvenient. Yet they shape global outcomes all the same. Over the past decade, international interest in the Congo Basin, the Sahel and Central Africa has waxed and waned. Attention spikes around summits or crises, then recedes. What remains is the steady work of reporters who stay with these regions long after headlines move on, tracing how land use, energy choices, wildlife trade and misinformation interact on the ground. The entry point may be human, but the subject is systemic. Forest governance that looks sound on paper but frays in practice. Conservation policies that succeed in one district and fail in the next. Communities adapting to climate stress with tools that are promising but incomplete. The task is not to simplify these dynamics, but to make them clear and relatable to audiences. Aimable Twahirwa, a senior science journalist based in Kigali, has spent much of his career doing precisely that. After two and a half decades reporting across Central, East and West Africa, he joined Mongabay in 2024 to focus on regions that are often described in the abstract, but shaped by local realities. His work has examined wildlife trafficking routes, Indigenous roles in forest governance and the uptake of renewable…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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On Feb. 16, Native groups will commemorate Elizabeth Peratrovich's impassioned speech before the Alaska Territorial Legislature, considered a turning point that led to the passage of an antii-discrimination bill in 1945.

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Cold air and frigid waters have caused more than 600 young green sea turtles to wash ashore on Florida's beaches this month—and more are turning up every day.

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The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework states that plastic pollution must be eliminated by 2030. So why haven't we enacted measures that make a real difference?

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Though superbloom is not a scientific term, that doesn't stop legions from hoping for a giant display of wildflowers come springtime. UC Riverside plant ecologist Loralee Larios weighs in here on the outlook for such a show this year, where one might see it, and how flower lovers can protect the blooms for years to come.

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Trigger warning: This story contains graphic descriptions and testimony of sexual assault, violence, and suicidal ideations. If you or someone you know is in need of support, the following are national and regional resources. The 988 Lifelineis a national suicide and crisis lifeline, and can be reached by dialing 988. Indigenous residents in Washington state can press 4 and be connected with an Indigenous counselor. The Strong Hearts Native Helplineis a national hotline that provides resources for Native Americans and Alaska Natives who have experienced sexual and domestic violence, and can be reached at 1-844-7NATIVE (762-8483).

Luna Reyna
Underscore Native News + ICT

SEATTLE — In the small beige King County courtroom, Native women in colorful ribbon skirts with Coast Salish embroidery holding traditional medicine filled the first four rows of public seating at Redwolf Pope’s sentencing on Jan. 7. Survivors of Pope’s crimes, other Native women, friends and family were also present to support one another.

Pope sat in an orange jumpsuit just a few feet in front of the first row where he represented himself as he had for the duration of the trial.

Pope, a 49-year-old man who posed as a Native American for decades, was sentenced to more than 46 years in prison. A jury convicted him of five counts of second-degree rape and four counts of first-degree voyeurism in Washington state courts in September.

In 2018, Pope was arrested in Phoenix, Arizona, on the New Mexico warrant accusing Pope of videotaping himself sexually assaulting multiple unconscious women and secretly recording a guest in a bathroom. He was extradited to face the charges. A Santa Fe jury found Pope guilty of second-degree rape and voyeurism in 2020. He was sentenced to four years in prison in New Mexico, serving just two years after receiving credit for the almost two years already served while awaiting trial. He was extradited to Washington state in 2022 to face additional rape charges, for which he was recently sentenced to over 46 years.

Survivors of Pope’s violence requested in statements to Judge Tanya Thorpe of King County Superior Court that Pope should receive the harshest sentence possible to keep others in the community safe from ever being harmed by him again.

Survivors walked their statements up to the judge by going behind the first row of people and around the prosecuting attorneys desk on the right side of the room to not have to face Pope directly or be near him. Each had their back to Pope as many detailed sexual and physical violence they endured.

Pope’s case raised questions about identity in Indian Country. Survivors also questioned why community leadership and local authorities couldn’t act when women alerted them about Pope more than two decades ago. It took several other survivors and video evidence to see some form of justice.

For the survivors, the sentence and trial coming to a close are a relief and the bond created between them all has formed a sisterhood that has inspired advocacy for victims rights in the courtroom.

Survivors speak at sentencing

During the first few hours of sentencing, survivors of Pope’s crimes were given the opportunity to speak to the judge recounting the violence in detail.

“You stalked me, you drugged me, you raped me, you threatened me…” a survivor who asked to remain anonymous said in her statement while facing the judge with her back to Pope.

ICT and Underscore News typically does not identify victims of sexual abuse except in cases where they publicly identify themselves or share their stories openly.

She went on to explain that when she saw that Pope was being prosecuted and convicted in New Mexico for the exact same crimes he had committed against her, she began to understand her delicate mental and emotional state.

“Even though my case was one of many, they were unable to prosecute. I’m still one of your victims, perhaps more so as I stand with hundreds of other women you raped that will never see justice for themselves, perhaps still wondering what happened to them, why they don’t remember and why they’re afraid,” the anonymous survivor said.

City Hall Park & King County Courthouse, Seattle, Washington, USA. Photo by Joe Mabel.

She recounted an incident of physical abuse in September 2012 being so bad that she thought she had a concussion. She was too afraid to report the physical and verbal abuse so she fled Washington state after she graduated from law school, leaving her family and everything she has ever known. She said his actions impacted her career, relationships, and peace of mind, but she’s stronger now.

“I’ll be here watching ready to ensure you never have the chance to try again,” the anonymous survivor said. “You thought you cast aside your victims, forgetting each of us as you move on to the next instead, you made an army, one victim at a time. We’ll always be watching. We’ll always be ready, and now we’re going to make sure that you will never be free.”

Survivors took this opportunity to read statements they had prepared as a way to take back their power and to urge the judge to hold Pope accountable for his actions by giving Pope the harshest sentence possible. Most read their statements with their backs to him while looking at the judge. Others addressed him directly while standing near the judge’s podium.

Erica Elan urged Judge Thorpe to protect future women from Pope, by giving him the harshest sentence possible.

“I firmly believe that the only option for collective safety is a life sentence,” Elan said.

Elan and Lehi Sanchez found the cameras throughout Pope’s living spaces in his condo in the Capital Hill neighborhood of Seattle. They shared their findings with one of the survivors who was subletting the condo. She went to the Seattle police. Elan and Sanchez went to the Santa Fe police which led to the cameras in Pope’s Santa Fe apartment being discovered as well.

“His brazen violence, as we’ve unfortunately all witnessed, his targeting of the Native community, his clear pattern of abuse, his selfie style videos of himself spliced together while violating women who I love and respect are forever seared in my mind,” Elan said. “A person who can do this over and over does not have a place in any free society.”

One survivor, who asked to remain anonymous, told the judge that at 35 weeks pregnant she should be preparing for her baby, “ … but again, I am here face to face with my rapist.”

“He is and should be considered by this court to be a serial rapist, a serial sex offender and predator, one that our community needs indefinite protection from,” she said. “He did not find his victims off the street, nor were they random strangers. He picked his victims carefully, calculatedly, and made his victims believe that he was their friend.”

No witnesses came to speak on Pope’s behalf.

When the Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, Jocelyn Cooney, addressed the court she also commented that judgment in this case is long overdue.

“The jury in this courtroom for eight weeks, witnessed the defendant’s acts, caught on film,” Cooney, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma citizen, said. “Him grinning at the camera as he violently raped his unconscious friends. Footage of his friends unknowingly being filmed in the most intimate of places, the bathroom. And after hearing the testimony of the brave survivors, the countless law enforcement officers and seeing the evidence for themselves, they found the defendant guilty on nine separate felony sex offenses, and today, the judgment of the court must reflect who he truly is at his core, a serial rapist and a serial voyeur, as he deserves no lenience from this court.”

Cooney also pointed out that Pope doesn’t just deny he did anything wrong, he continues to attempt to villainize the very people who uncovered his crimes. It shows that he is a “continued risk” to society, Cooney said.

Pope received a law degree from Seattle University and represented himself in court. However, he is not a licensed lawyer, confirmed the Washington State Bar Association. His LinkedIn page lists him as an attorney who has worked for the Tulalip Tribal Court for over a decade, but the Tulalip Tribes said he never worked as an attorney there.

During his closing arguments he attempted to paint himself as a victim and addressed survivors instead of defending his case. Judge Thorpe interjected and told him this isn’t an opportunity to disparage witnesses but to defend his case.

Pope’s sentence came swiftly, within minutes after closing statements. Because of the trust built between Pope and his victims, Judge Thorp’s ruling was for the harshest sentence possible under Washington state law: a total of 560 months or over 46 years.

Trust through identity

Trust was built due to Pope’s claims of Western Shoshone and Tlingit heritage, according to accounts from survivors and Pope himself during sentencing. Survivors recounted meeting Pope at demonstrations against the Dakota Access pipeline at Standing Rock and outside the White House in Lafayette Square in 2017 for the Native Nations Rise March on DC.

This led to him being asked to give a TEDxSeattle talk about his activism called “Lessons of Courage from Standing Rock.” He also appeared on FOX’s “The O’Reilly Factor” giving his perspective on Thanksgiving.

King County Courthouse stairs. Photos by Susan Dennis.

But the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska say he is not an enrolled citizen. During the trial Pope changed his story and claimed that he learned his mom isn’t Tlingit but comes from up north. Through the years, Pope has claimed to be a member of the Western Shoshone Tribe. There are several Shoshone tribes in America’s west. Shoshone members also have said they’ve found no record of Pope’s enrollment. Though it’s unclear whether he has claimed citizenship to any particular tribe or lineage or familial connection to those tribes. Pope shared during his Jan. 7 sentencing in Seattle that he was disenrolled.

“He certainly built his reputation as somebody who was an activist. I don’t think there’s a strong likelihood he would not have had access to at least a few of our survivors if not for that,” Cooney said. “It’s also a big reason why we did go to that aggravator, that abuse of trust, that he was only able to perpetrate his offenses because of the position of trust that he built with everybody.”

Cooney explained that the exceptional sentence was necessary because violence committed against those who trusted him. Cooney said he stripped his friends of an ability to trust those around them, and took away any sense of safety they are entitled to feel.

Another survivor who asked to remain anonymous shared with Underscore + ICT, “This is someone who was born into [the] thievery of Native culture[s]. This is why cultural appropriation is so dangerous and violent.”

For Patricia Allen, nickname Chookenshaa, which means Glacier Bear Woman in Tlingit, Pope’s false claims of Tlingit identity has caused her to question who in her community are actually Tlingit citizens. She is concerned about who can be trusted, especially men who called Pope “brother” that have been completely silent throughout the trial.

Allen met Pope about 14 years ago when she was around 21. She’s now 35.

She said he was interwoven in her social scene, and involved in the academic, nonprofit, social justice and intertribal spaces. He claimed he was Tlingit. He also said he was from an Eagle Brown Bear Clan from the village of Yakutat. Allen is from an Eagle Black Bear Clan and in Tlingit culture if you’re both from an Eagle clan, you’re considered like siblings so she addressed him as an eagle brother.

“It makes me wonder just who’s either complicit or who’s been supporting [Pope],” Allen said.

She believes that Pope harmed more people.

Allen and many others that she knows have stayed over at Pope’s residence in Seattle many times, thinking it was a safe place because Pope said he was sober, or on the Red Road.

“It’s gonna take a long time for us as a community to really even scratch the surface of just how deeply this impacts us, even just people who went there to use the bathroom,” Allen said.

Allen doesn’t believe that the sentencing is enough.

She has served as an elected delegate for the Tlingit & Haida Tribes of Southeast Alaska from April 2018 to March 2024, led the National Coalition to End Urban Indigenous Homelessness, and served as a community advocate with Chief Seattle Club in Seattle from September 2019 to December 2022.

As a delegate she brought Pope’s crimes up on the annual tribal assembly floor in 2019 asking leadership to make a public statement, and every year after that until 2024. She believes that Tlingit leadership should be more vocal, with statements advocating for the victims who should have been a priority during the trial process, considering many of the survivors of Pope’s crimes were Tlingit citizens.

Justice

Justice in this case looks different for everyone.

The prosecuting attorney said Pope’s sentence was just and fair based on the evidence presented and the crimes Pope perpetrated against the survivors.

“I think it was a display of what justice can look like in the system to hold somebody accountable, but also to give survivors a platform to be able to speak about what this individual did to them,” Cooney, the prosecuting attorney, said.

Moreno found relief in the sentencing.

“I’m glad that I don’t have to look over my shoulder anymore. I don’t have to worry about him being released on bond, or someone believing him, and this getting overturned,” Moreno said.

But true justice to her needs to go a step further, past the court systems and into the community of people who didn’t believe her.

“There’s still the anger that none of this needed to escalate in this manner like people have spoken up about him for a very long time,” Moreno said. “I think for me, justice would have looked like being believed in the first place and justice would have been not having to stay in class with him after I got a protection order against him… justice for me would also look like the people who publicly shamed me for being a victim. It would look like public apologies.”

She also said justice is Pope not being able to harm another woman.

“This is one step towards real justice, and that step has been our collective truth, the truth of our collective experience has resulted in a very bad, evil person being banished from our society where he belongs, incapable of doing any more harm,” she told Underscore + ICT.

City Hall Park, King County Courthouse, and King County Administration Building, Seattle, Washington, U.S. Photo by Joe Mabel.

Elan is grateful that after eight years the case is over, but she doesn’t believe that justice was served.

“In no world should any type of pursuit for justice from a predator take nearly eight years to get to some type of result,” Elan said. “And really, in no world should that predator be able to hold his victims hostage on the stand for days at a time and really use forms of psychological torture and brutalize them further. It’s egregious that that can happen.”

She went on to explain that the systems that are meant to maintain justice leave a lot to be desired.

“Justice doesn’t feel like the right thing. The last eight years I’ve been so grateful to get to know many of the people who he deeply harmed, and so many of them, myself included, have and are still dealing with the effects of what he’s done,” Elan said. “So I don’t think there’s really justice, but I do think there are things that we are all working to transform out of this and maybe prevent something, or at least a piece of this in the future.”

Victim bill of rights

In cases where defendants choose to defend themselves, they have the right to cross examine witnesses which includes survivors. Pope chose to defend himself and was able to cross examine each survivor throughout the four yearslong trial processes.

Elan and other survivors are working to update Washington’s victim bill of rights so that in the future abusers are less likely to be able to cross examine their victims in court. The updates to the victims bill of rights would give a judge the discretion to appoint somebody else to ask the questions of the victims. This creates a barrier between an individual who’s committed these acts and the survivor in cases where defendants want to represent themselves.

“Every survivor that came forward in this, during this trial, every named victim, and even some that didn’t, but every witness had to be cross examined by their rapist or assault abuser,” a survivor who asked to remain anonymous told Underscore + ICT.

This survivor went on to explain the psychological trauma of being cross examined by Pope.

“It’s like we got raped all over again,” she said.

This caused multiple survivors to mentally “spiral into really bad places” to the point of needing to seek out additional mental, emotional, and spiritual support.

“More needs to be done to protect survivors and rights can be upheld for people who choose to defend themselves, but we need to change the law so that there are protections for survivors who are brave enough to take the stand,” the anonymous survivor said.

“What this sick man did was try to convince his victims that it was consensual,” she told Underscore + ICT. “He tried to vie for people’s approval again.”

 “It was enraging,” the survivor continued. “I went dark. I’m on medical leave.”

“That’s such a terrible position for anybody to be in where the individual who perpetrated these harms against you, especially sexual violence, now has the opportunity to question you again,” Cooney said. “And what we saw was there were multiple survivors that he kept on the stand for multiple days, and it was not commensurate with how long I kept them on.”

According to Cooney, the longest direct examination of a survivor she did was close to two hours. Pope then questioned that survivor for two days.

“Hopefully that’s something that will actually pass, and it will be added into the victims rights bill,” Cooney said. “[The survivors] are working really hard to make that happen. It has kind of turned this pretty awful situation for the survivors into something that could benefit other survivors in the future.”

In January, an amendment to the Crime Victim Bill of Rights was introduced to the legislature. This amendment was shaped directly by survivors and Native community members. The amendment is currently in committee. The deadline to sign up to testify for or against the amendment was on January 27.

The Seattle Indian Health Board is advocating for support of the amendment and has provided links for written testimony, graphics to share on social media in support of the amendment and more.

This story is co-published byUnderscore Native NewsandICT, a news partnership that covers Indigenous communities in the Pacific Northwest.

The post Redwolf Pope survivors reclaim power in courtroom appeared first on ICT.

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Last Updated on February 13, 2026 Indigenous Yaaku (Yiaku) families in central Kenya’s Mukogodo Forest are confronting a wave of violence, theft and looming evictions, according to a statement released Tuesday by the East Africa Indigenous Women-Led Assembly (EAIWA). Leaders of the Yaaku community said clashes with armed groups in Laikipia County have resulted in […]

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The U.S. Interior Department has extended the public comment period for its review of the federal subsistence management program until March 30. Alaska Native groups said, given the magnitude of the issue, 60-days was not enough time to gather comments, especially from remote communities with limited internet and postal service.

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PARIS (AP) — The aftermath of a deadly storm continued to disrupt parts of France on Friday, with flooding concerns persisting in the southwest even as wind alerts were lifted, according to weather service Météo-France. Government spokesperson Maud Bregeon said on TF1 that France had recorded two deaths linked to Storm Nils: one on Thursday in the Landes department and a second “in the last hours” in Tarn-et-Garonne. She said the second victim was a man who was found in his garden. Network operator Enedis said the storm left up to 900,000 customers without power at its peak; by Friday morning it had restored service to about half of those affected and mobilized 3,000 personnel, including 2,100 technicians. Flood vigilance remained high. Météo-France maintained red flood alerts for Gironde and Lot-et-Garonne — to remain in place Saturday — due to a significant Garonne river flood episode. Météo-France said the storm had “uncommon strength” and swept in from France’s western seaboard overnight Wednesday into Thursday and has now moved on tracking east into Europe. By Associated Press Banner image: People walk in a flooded street of Confolens as severe flooding hits western France amid storm Nils, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Yohan Bonnet)This article was originally published on Mongabay

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February 13, 2025 – Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee released a draft farm bill package today, as farmers across the country continue to call for overdue investments.

The text of the bill largely reflects the Republican proposal from 2024, but it faces an uphill battle with Democrats, who have vowed to oppose a farm bill unless cuts to federal food assistance are reversed.

“The Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026,” released Friday by Agriculture Chair Glenn Thompson (R-Pennsylvania), contains provisions left out of the Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB). It includes mostly bipartisan legislation from the committee’s last attempt to pass a farm bill, which advanced out of committee in May 2024. At the time, only four Democrats voted in favor of the package.

The new package, dubbed “farm bill 2.0,” includes some investment in specialty crops and local food systems. But it also contains controversial bills on pesticides and animal welfare that some Democrats are likely to oppose.

Ahead of the text release, Ranking Member Angie Craig (D-Minnesota) told Politico that Republican staff refused to share details of the bill with Democrats on the committee. Having now seen it, Craig said it “fails to meet the moment facing farmers and working people.”

“The Republican majority instead chose to ignore Democratic priorities and focus on pushing a shell of a farm bill with poison pills that complicates if not derails chances of getting anything done,” Craig said in a statement.

Craig’s response follows months of House Agriculture Democrats warning that the unprecedented cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) made in the OBBB will make it challenging to advance a farm bill.

The House Agriculture Committee plans to debate the farm bill on Feb. 23. If it advances out of committee, it could still face challenges. House leadership must bring the bill to the floor, and already Republicans have begun discussions of a second reconciliation bill, which is likely to take up time and attention on Capitol Hill. (Link to this post.)

The post House Republicans Unveil a Revamped Farm Bill appeared first on Civil Eats.

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Some fungi are wasteful, while others recycle—and this can determine how much carbon is stored in a forest. Researchers at Lund University have now revealed how fungi manage their mycelium, the network that builds the structure of fungus. Using microfluidic chips—units that handle and analyze extremely small volumes of fluid through microscopic channels—the researchers could show that the availability of nutrients among fungi affects how much of the mycelium is recycled. The results could provide new insights into the carbon cycle and climate.

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Humans develop sharp vision during early fetal development thanks to an interplay between a vitamin A derivative and thyroid hormones in the retina, Johns Hopkins University scientists have found. The findings could upend decades of conventional understanding of how the eye grows light-sensing cells and could inform new research into treatments for macular degeneration, glaucoma, and other age-related vision disorders. Details of the study, which used lab-grown retinal tissue, are published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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With a few minutes of searching, anyone can find videos online of chatty birds: macaws talk to their keepers, cockatoos sing to the camera, corvids mimic the jarring sounds of construction sites. Research has shown that some birds can understand and use words in context—so, when Polly speaks up from inside her cage, she may really want a cracker—but scientists know far less about how birds use their vocal abilities in the wild. Christine Dahlin, professor of biology at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, is working to change that.

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Some lobster mothers produce offspring that are far more likely to survive—in findings that could help safeguard lobster diversity. University of Exeter researchers, working in partnership with the National Lobster Hatchery (NLH) in Cornwall, studied European lobsters that survived the first few weeks of life. The paper, published in the journal Aquaculture, is titled "Hatchery lobster releases risk genetic bottlenecking via survival skews with maternal effects."

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Gray wolves adapt their diets as a result of climate change, eating harder foods such as bones to extract nutrition during warmer climates, new research has found. The study, led by the University of Bristol in collaboration with the Natural History Museum, and published in Ecology Letters, has implications for wolf conservation across Europe and beyond.

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With extreme weather events, fires and floods growing increasingly common, general warnings are no longer adequate. Researchers at Uppsala University, in collaboration with the World Meteorological Organization and others, now call for change—from mass mailings to personalized warnings that actually persuade people to act.

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A study led by Francisco Vallés Morán, a researcher at the Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (IIAMA) at the Universitat Politècnica de València, has analyzed in detail the flooding caused by the DANA on 29 October 2024 in l'Horta Sud (Valencia) using advanced two-dimensional hydraulic modeling techniques. The study (in Spanish), published in Cuadernos de Geografía of the University of Valencia, accurately reproduces the dynamics of the event, the extent of the flooding and the overflowing flows that caused serious material and human damage.

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On the occasion of World Wetlands Day, the Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (IIAMA) at the Universitat Politècnica de València highlights the importance of these ecosystems as key tools for improving water quality, protecting soil and mitigating diffuse pollution, as well as the role of scientific research in developing sustainable, nature-based solutions.

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Researchers at University of Tsukuba have uncovered a master transcriptional regulator that controls rhizobial symbiosis between plants and nitrogen-fixing bacteria. By identifying an amino acid motif that emerged before the appearance of rhizobial symbiosis, they show that stabilization of DNA binding enabled this regulator to control a wide array of genes involved in nodule formation, bacterial infection, and symbiotic nitrogen fixation.

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