Karl Blankenship

5 days ago | bayjournal.com | Karl Blankenship

Shad and river herring that make it past an obstacle course of hydroelectric dams on the lower Susquehanna River — a tall challenge — now have a clear path to get all the way to New York. State and federal officials dedicated a new naturalistic fish passage in June that allows fish to bypass an inflatable dam that stretches across the river at Shikellamy State Park in Pennsylvania, just below the confluence of its west and north branches.

3 weeks ago | bayjournal.com | Karl Blankenship

Editor’s Note: This article is part of a special series that tackles tough questions about reducing nutrient pollution from agriculture that reaches the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers. To explore the full series, visit the series homepage. Cover image: Manure from a small feed lot and barn is collected in a containment lagoon to reduce the chance of water pollution from Raymond King’s farm in Narvon, PA. (Dave Harp) It was mid-June, and the corn planted a couple months earlier now stood a foot high.

1 month ago | bayjournal.com | Karl Blankenship

Woodrats, wood turtles and cerulean warblers may not seem to have much in common, but they are among the many species in danger of being crowded out of Pennsylvania as their habitats are increasingly chopped up by development, roads and pipelines. Part of the solution, a new report says, is for the state to develop a comprehensive plan to protect corridors that provide safe passage for those and other creatures as they move back and forth between suitable habitats.

2 months ago | baltimoresun.com | Karl Blankenship

The U.S. Department of Agriculture in April announced the termination of its $3 billion "climate smart" program, a grantmaking initiative that was supporting hundreds of millions of dollars in conservation work in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. An April 14 USDA press release called the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities, which promoted farm conservation measures with climate benefits, as a "slush fund" with high administrative costs and often low payouts to farmers.

2 months ago | southernmarylandchronicle.com | Karl Blankenship |David Higgins

The U.S. Department of Agriculture in April announced the termination of its $3 billion “climate smart” program, a grantmaking initiative that was supporting hundreds of millions of dollars in conservation work in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. An April 14 USDA press release called the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities, which promoted farm conservation measures with climate benefits, as a “slush fund” with high administrative costs and often low payouts to farmers.