Happy Earth Day | We Celebrate You!

This Earth Day, we proudly celebrate YOU—the unsung heroes who devote your work to caring for earth's most cherished natural areas. Your efforts are vital! 

THANK YOU and Happy Earth Day from all of us at NAA.

The history of Earth Day: Driving environmental change

Each year on April 22, Earth Day brings together billions of people worldwide in a united effort to safeguard our planet.

What started as a grassroots movement in the United States in 1970 has grown into the world’s largest secular civic event, shaping environmental policy, education, and activism across the globe.

The first Earth Day marked a pivotal moment in U.S. environmental history, rallying broad bipartisan support and paving the way for the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) later that same year.

What are the rights of nature?

"Rights of nature” is a movement aimed at advancing the understanding that ecosystems, wildlife and the Earth are living beings with inherent rights to exist, evolve and regenerate. Legal rights are the highest form of protection in most governance systems. In the United States, humans and non-humans have enforceable legal rights, like corporations’ right to freedom of speech. At the same time, most legal systems treat nature as rightless property that humans can own, use and destroy.

Destroying endangered species' habitat wouldn't count as 'harm' under proposed Trump rule

The Trump administration is proposing to significantly limit the Endangered Species Act's power to preserve crucial habitats. The administration proposed a rule change that would essentially prohibit only actions that directly hurt or kill actual animals, not the habitats they rely on. If finalized, the change could make it easier to log, mine and build on lands that endangered species need to thrive.

Illustration courtesy of the National Park Service

A biotech firm says its genetic tweaks of a wolf amount to 'de-extinction." What does that mean for living species?

A U.S.-based biotechnology company is challenging this fundamental truth—arguing that extinction may not be as eternal as we once thought. Colossal Biosciences announced that it had used a complex genetic process to bring back the dire wolf. Most experts agree that these animals aren’t truly dire wolves, but rather a genetically tweaked version of modern-day gray wolves.

Photo courtesy of Avani Fachon / NPS / Environment for the Americas

Practitioner tools for addressing knowing–doing gaps in seed‐based restoration 

The increasing impact of global change drivers, including climate change, wildfires, and invasive plant species, is significantly transforming native plant communities in the western United States, prompting a strong focus on ecological restoration. One prominent restoration strategy involves using native seeds. However, achieving successful seed-based restoration faces several ecological and logistical challenges. 

In Other News

Opinion: Dramatic cuts in personnel threaten Great Smoky Mountains National Park*

Practitioner tools for addressing knowing–doing gaps in seed‐based restoration in Restoration Ecology

Robin Wall Kimmerer added to the 2025 TIME100 List

Wide variety of old-growth ecosystems across the US makes their conservation a complex challenge

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Announces Sentry Milk-Vetch (Astragalus cremnophylax var. cremnophylax) Recovery Plan

Opinion: It’s time to balance access with conservation on public lands and waters*

Land preservation push adds 454 acres to Bobcat Alley along Appalachian ridge

Building Resilience into the Local Ecosystem With Prairie Plantations

California university funding cuts endanger one of San Francisco's rarest collections*

2025 Northeastern Old Growth Conference: Wildlands and Old-Growth Forests: A Vision for the Future

Trump to rescind the Public Lands Rule

Rematriation and Indigenous Land Stewardship in Eastern Kentucky

As Utah’s San Rafael River dries, scientists try to give native fish a fighting chance

Final Environmental Assessment for the Kootenai Floodplain Reconnection Project

As advocates call for conservation funding, Wisconsin’s stewardship program faces steep odds

King County scientists identify a potential breakthrough for treating salmon-killing tire chemical - King County, Washington

Land near Minneapolis lock and dam being transferred back to Dakota stewardship

Guidelines for Conserving Pollinating Insects in Southeastern US Forests

• Items with an asterisk may require registration or a paid subscription to view*
• Items that are italicized represent academic titles

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Recent YouTube Releases

Reminding Ourselves and Others Why We're Doing This

April 18, 2025

Communicating the Importance of Our Work

April 11, 2025

Burned Area Watershed Restoration at Santa Clara Pueblo

April 4, 2025

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Funding Opportunities

Vermont Biodiversity Protection Fund

Deadline: November 15, 2025

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