Can a watershed have legal rights? The Snohomish River debate deepens The tide is turning in a Snohomish County legal battle over whether a river and its watershed have legal rights that can be defended in court. KUOW Staff
The story of Whatcom Creek: an explosion, a tragedy, and a rebirth The story of the 1999 pipeline explosion in Whatcom Creek, and how a community and a creek began to recover after seemingly irreversible devastation. Lucy Soucek
Sniffs, scratches, sights and sounds: Ed Yong on how animals sense the world Chris Morgan talks with Pulitzer Prize winning author Ed Yong about the astonishing ways animals sense the world around us: from birds that navigate the open ocean by smell, to penguins that sense vibrations underground. Lucy Soucek
Glacierless Peak? The icy realms of Washington’s North Cascades lose their cool The ice fields that give Washington’s Glacier Peak its name are disappearing, though few people may have noticed. John Ryan
'Old trees matter.' Seattle author Lynda Mapes is writing to save them in her new book The KUOW Book Club is continuing its summer reading series with Seattle Public Library this month. We're reading environmental journalist and author Lynda V. Mapes' new book, "The Trees are Speaking: Dispatches from the Salmon Forests." Katie Campbell
Keeping the Northwest’s buzz alive: saving the western bumblebee One of the Northwest’s most common animals has all but disappeared from much of the region. John Ryan
Washington state bans invasive ivy Washington state has banned the sale or transport of English ivy and its cousin, Atlantic ivy. The leafy holiday decorations are also aggressive invaders of Northwest forests. John Ryan
On a wing and a prairie: Puget Sound butterfly avoids extinction with human help In a prairie full of wildflowers, Erica Henry got down on all fours, then ducked under a low mesh tent, one of 10 homemade enclosures dotting the open space of Scatter Creek Wildlife Area south of Olympia, Washington. John Ryan
What the eruption of Mount St. Helens reveals about kite-flying spiders May 18, 2025, marks the 45th anniversary of Mount St. Helens' eruption — a catastrophic event that transformed the landscape and killed 57 people. From this devastation emerged an incredible scientific calculation about millions of spiders traveling through the sky. Brandi Fullwood
Main road into Hoh Rainforest set to reopen this week after months-long closure The main road into the Hoh Rainforest is set to reopen on Thursday after being closed since December. Casey Martin
