Peat bogs sequester a massive amount of the Earth’s carbon dioxide. But even as scientists work to better understand bogs’ sequestration, the wetlands are under threat.
Tag: Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk
The Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk is an editorially independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri School of Journalism in partnership with Report For America and funded by the Walton Family Foundation. Wisconsin Watch is a member of the network.
Posted inEnvironment
Opting for coexistence: Some Wisconsin landowners learn to live with beavers
Beavers can cause property damage, but research shows they positively impact the environment. Some landowners are ditching traps and dynamite to peacefully manage the nuisance.
Posted inEnvironment
New federal law addresses climate extremes and flooding along Mississippi River
Flood control along the Mississippi River is a central piece of a newly passed federal law — work that advocates believe is critical as the river basin sees more frequent and severe extreme weather events due to climate change.
Posted inEnvironment
Volunteers collect and plant acorns along Mississippi River to save struggling forests
Trees that grow in the Mississippi River floodplain have been struggling. Government agencies and various nonprofits are trying to reverse the forestland decline by planting new trees, and volunteers are key.
Posted inEnvironment
An ecosystem engineer’s vision: mock beaver dams to restore Wisconsin wetlands
Beaver-inspired structures could limit flooding and benefit wildlife habitat, but state permitting is arduous.
Posted inEnvironment
Mississippi River towns pilot new insurance model to help with disaster response
The Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, which represents cities in 10 states including Wisconsin, has announced a new insurance pilot, with hopes of better helping river towns recover.
Posted inEnvironment
Rollin’ on the river: How the Mississippi flows through song and still inspires today
During the summer, the band Big Blue Sky plays Friday nights for Maiden Voyage Tours, a northeast Iowa riverboat company. The band’s work adds to a centuries-long tradition of music inspired and transported by the Mississippi River.
Posted inEnvironment
The Mississippi River is eroding sacred Indigenous mounds in Iowa and Wisconsin
The Sny Magill Unit of Effigy Mounds National Monument near Clayton, Iowa, is a hidden wonder, with more than 100 sacred mounds built by Native Americans thousands of years ago. But the Mississippi River has significantly eroded the bank they built on, eating away at some of the mounds at the water’s edge.
Posted inEnvironment
The fate of thousands of US dams hangs in the balance, leaving rural communities with hard choices
Wisconsin dams are among nearly 12,000 that have been built under the USDA’s Watershed Programs. Generally smaller and set in rural agricultural areas, they’re mostly clustered from the center of the country eastward.
Posted inEconomy, Environment
Deportations, raids and visa access: How the presidential election could alter life for immigrant farmworkers
The division on immigration between presidential candidates shows what could be at stake for immigrant workers, who have underpinned the agriculture industry for decades.
Posted inEnvironment
Another Midwest drought is causing transportation headaches on the Mississippi River
For the third year in a row, extreme drought conditions in the Midwest are drawing down water levels on the Mississippi River, raising prices for companies that transport goods downstream and forcing governments and business owners to seek alternative solutions.
Posted inEnvironment
Wisconsin town of Eureka sued over large farm regulations
After notifying a northwest Wisconsin town last October of their intent to challenge a local ordinance that regulates livestock farming, two residents last week made good on their promise.