Canada has pledged an extra $59.9 million towards a 142-item action plan to help save Wood Buffalo National Park from external threats like nearby hydropower dams, oil sands activity and climate change. But a State of Conservation report was filed late to UNESCO in December and environmental and Indigenous groups are still waiting to hear exactly how the money will be allocated in a bid to keep the park off a list of global World Heritage Sites in danger.

Climate change is harming many special places and iconic species around our planet, from Glacier National Park’s disappearing glaciers to California redwoods scorched by wildfires. But for the animal I study, the American pika (Ochotona princeps), there’s actually some good news: It’s not as threatened by climate change as many studies have warned.

Once upon a time in the Midwest, almost a century ago, there was talk of creating a "Great Plains National Monument" that would preserve a slice of grasslands that once dominated that part of the nation. Today there's talk of rescuing the grasslands that once swept the horizon in a wide belt ranging from Canada to Mexico.

Residential Environmental Learning Centers across the country introduce youth to national parks and the nature they hold, and give them the opportunity to better understand the issues that confront the environment. While the coronavirus pandemic postponed many active programs this year, at North Cascades Institute staff thought outside the box to keep youth in their leadership program connected with those issues.