Welcome to the August RN&R!
The Trump administration continues to weaken environmental protections. Late in July, the administration proposed revoking the scientific finding that is behind the government’s efforts to regulate climate change.
“The proposed Environmental Protection Agency rule would rescind a 2009 declaration that determined that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare,” according to The Associated Press.
This is just one of the latest in a series of environmental protection rollbacks that will, of course affect the whole nation—including our own beautiful corner of it.
As federal policies threaten to further degrade the environment, countless people and organizations are still striving to protect it. In the process of putting this issue together, I had the pleasure of learning about some of the intriguing work a few of them have been doing—and I’m pleased to be able to share their stories with you.
For this month’s Outdoors column, Helena Guglielmino talked with Maria Mircheva, executive director of the Sugar Pine Foundation, to learn how her group and others are working to protect endangered, high-elevation pines from an aggressive tree disease.
And for this month’s cover story, contributor Sarah Russell delved into a story that you may have already seen in the news, but not in this much detail—Susanville, Calif., photographer Randy Robbins’ quest to photograph the endangered Sierra Nevada red fox. The conservation experts Sarah talked with along the way are pretty pleased with Randy’s progress. Through their points of view, I learned a few things about the slow, tedious, fascinating business of studying endangered species.
I also learned a bit about photo technology. I’ve certainly spent some time fussing with camera settings, lighting and the other alchemical-seeming details of photography, to pick up a technique here and there, and I bet anyone else who’s ever struggled with a camera setting will relate to this story, too.
—Kris Vagner