The Obama administration Tuesday announced a nationwide plan to help wildlife adapt to threats from climate change. Developed along with state and tribal authorities, the strategy seeks to preserve species as global warming alters their historical habitats and, in many cases, forces them to migrate across state and tribal borders.

As even people living in a cave know by now, if Congress doesn’t strike a deal soon, some combination of automatic tax hikes and draconian budget cuts will kick in. As early as January 2, the first round of sequestration cuts will be triggered. I’ve heard little discussion of how this swan dive off the so-called fiscal cliff will affect our natural resources.

Millions of migrating ducks, geese and other waterfowl will find fewer rest stops on their way south this fall — more fallout from a drought that has parched marshes, ponds and wildlife refuges on flyways between North and South America.

Federal officials say they are generally satisfied with the progress on recovering four native Colorado River fish species, but concerned that the impacts of the 2012 drought could result in some setbacks to the program. Issuing a “sufficient progress”memo, the U.S.

A national wetlands inventory released this week by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that between 2004 and 2009, the lower 48 states lost a net average of 13,800 acres a year. That compared with a slight annual gain in wetlands during the previous six year-period.

Two years to the day that the Bureau of Reclamation began filling Lake Nighthorse, the agency Wednesday started testing the effect of releasing water from the reservoir. Specially made 500-micron tubular nylon nets, fine enough to strain out plankton, ensure that no fish or eggs can escape from the lake. Last year, the Fish and Wildlife Service stocked 50,000 rainbow trout in the reservoir.

A coalition of environmental groups is suing the federal government over its alleged failure to protect the San Juan River ecosystem from coal mining and the disposal of coal-combustion waste in northwestern New Mexico.

A federal judge Tuesday threw out much-disputed delta smelt protections that have cut water shipments to Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley, finding that federal biologists failed to justify aspects of the restrictions.

Nearly three decades after a proposed Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta bypass was killed by voters in a divisive initiative battle, the idea is back in vogue.