Bryce Oates News Today

There are well established practices for sustainable logging and increased carbon storage, but funding and political support is needed.

Bryce Oates, a regular contributor to Civil Eats, Daily Yonder and other pubs has launched a newsletter that comes from a rural perspective. In this episode we talk about the new WOTUS controversy, and all the bluster and drama that plays out in a rule that essentially regulates nothing, but some would like us to believe our food supply is at risk from protecting water supplies.

A campaign this month is challenging Pennsylvanians to learn about the health of their soil and neighborhood microbes by planting underwear in their farms or gardens. The Soil Your Undies campaign invites residents to bury a pair of 100% cotton underwear, which can help visualize soil quality over time. Kelly ONeill, Pennsylvania agriculture policy analyst for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which is helping organize the event, said residents can dig up the underwear after 60 days and report th...

June is National Rivers Month, and in Montana, a push to protect more rivers is swelling. The Montana Headwaters Legacy Act in Congress would nearly double the amount of river miles protected as Wild and Scenic in the state. After being reintroduced in 2021, its finally scheduled for a hearing next Tuesday in the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. ...

Conservationists in the Northern Appalachian-Acadian region are changing how they think about forest protection and management, by bringing together mainstream ecological knowledge with Indigenous ecology and culture. Five regional partners including the Wildlands Network and Two Countries One Forest held a conference outlining a shared vision, called "Future Forests Reimagined," and now they are working to apply it. Megan de Graaf, forest program director for Forests Interna...

By Bryce Oates for The Daily Yonder. Broadcast version by Chance Dorland for North Carolina News Service, reporting for The Daily Yonder-Public News Service Collaboration. In Western North Carolinas Nantahala-Pisgah National Forest, a committed group of outdoor recreation enthusiasts, conservationists, hunting and fishing groups, forest product businesses and forest ecology advocates has been working closely with the U.S. ...

More than 600,000 Missourians have some postsecondary experience but have not earned a college degree or credential. Some Missouri colleges and universities want to change that, through an initiative called Degrees When Due. The University of Central Missouri is one of the participating schools. ...

A newly created map reveals more Americans are being exposed to health threats from proximity to oil-and-gas production facilities. The maps release Tuesday comes ahead of new industry safeguards expected from the Environmental Protection Agency. Map co-creator Alan Septoff with the group Earthworks said more than 144,000 New Mexicans live within a "threat radius" of an oil or gas facility - defined as being a half-mile. ...

Two community colleges in New Hampshire are joining the Second Chance Pell Experiment through the U.S. Department of Education to offer courses and degrees or credentials to people in prison in their areas. White Mountains Community College is one of them. ...

Small Montana meat processors are on the front lines against the large companies that control the industry. Funding from the American Rescue Plan is helping these processors compete. $7.8 million were secured for 30 Montana businesses from the COVID relief legislation. ...