Nature

73 Stories

Most of Western Washington's largest Caspian tern colony is dead. Can the seabirds rebound?

More than 1,500 adult Caspian Terns made Rat Island, near Port Townsend, their home. Now 80% of them are dead.
Libby Denkmann

Sarah Leibovitz

September 26, 2023 / 4:45 pm
Rocketing boulders, dwindling streams: signs of WA's shriveling glaciers

Zack McGill was guiding a group of climbers down from the icy summit of Washington’s Mount Baker when he saw something few have seen: torso-sized boulders rocketing down the mountain at about 40 miles an hour.
John Ryan

September 01, 2023 / 10:22 am
Multiyear canoe journey highlights the value of Indigenous knowhow to fight climate change

A replica of an ancient Polynesian canoe, called Hōkūleʻa, will be at Seattle’s Pier 62 for the next few days. It’s one stop of many on it’s multi-year journey around the Pacific Ocean.
Gustavo Sagrero Álvarez

August 28, 2023 / 3:48 pm
Saying goodbye to Tokitae

The world lost Tokitae on Friday. She was the last living Southern Resident Orca in captivity. Organizers were trying to return her to the Salish Sea from Florida where she spent more than 50 years in the Miami seaquarium. Lummi Nation member Jay Julius is here along with Seattle Times reporter Lynda Mapes to talk about her life as part of the story of endangered Orcas.
Patricia Murphy

Jennie Cecil Moore

August 23, 2023 / 5:04 am
Signs of recovery after world’s worst underwater pandemic

Ochre star populations along parts of the West Coast are bouncing back from the Pisaster disaster.
John Ryan

June 14, 2023 / 10:24 am
Hear it again: An expedition to the top of the world is documented in 'Exposure'

In her new documentary film "Exposure," director Holly Morris follows a team of 11 women from Arab and European countries attempting to reach the North Pole.
Libby Denkmann

Sarah Leibovitz

June 12, 2023 / 1:39 pm
Week in Review: an orca is returning, name changes, and jail deaths

Bill Radke discusses the week’s news with Seattle Times Jonathan Martin, Publicola’s Erica Barnett, and Geekwire’s Mike Lewis
Bill Radke

Kevin Kniestedt

March 31, 2023 / 1:34 pm
Spring killing: Smaller-than-a-penny Japanese beetle looms large for Northwest agriculture

As spring wakes up in Oregon and Washington, so do invasive Japanese beetles. Larvae living among the roots of neighborhood lawns become adults and get up to the surface – ready for a meal, some mating and egg laying.
Anna King

March 22, 2023 / 5:58 pm
Kelp is having a moment

Around here, when you think forest, you think towering Evergreen trees. But an equally important forest sits within Puget Sound. The state’s kelp forests play a critical role supporting fish and sea life in the Northwest, but they’ve been on the decline for the last 10 years. Northwest News Network correspondent Tom Banse is here to talk about how the state is working to restore kelp and eelgrass along the coastline.
Patricia Murphy

Jennie Cecil Moore

March 08, 2023 / 5:00 am
Struggling Northwest kelp forests sending out an SOS. Help is coming

There's a rallying cry at various bays and beaches up and down the West Coast; it's "Help the kelp!" The towering brown seaweed with the floating bulb on top is in steep decline. That's alarming because underwater kelp forests provide shelter and food for a wide variety of sea life. The crew answering the call runs the gamut from seaweed farmers to hammer-wielding scuba divers and might some day include sea otters and octopuses.
Tom Banse

February 28, 2023 / 9:02 pm

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