Portia Bharath

United States

Digital Content Coordinator at National Wildlife Federation Blog

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Articles

3 Ways the Budget Bill Threatens America's Wildlife

1 week ago | blog.nwf.org | Portia Bharath

Somewhere within the more than 19 million acres of pristine wilderness that make up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a caribou calf is following her mother across the tundra. She’s enjoying soft grass under her hooves. She’s munching willow leaves. She’s not thinking about the United States Senate, or “reconciliation bills,” or the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. Caribou aren’t thinking about these things, but—if we care about protecting them and other American wildlife—we need to be.
Senate Budget Reconciliation Bill Erodes Oil and Gas Laws that Safeguard Wildlife and Benefit Taxpayers

1 week ago | blog.nwf.org | Portia Bharath

Elk, bighorn sheep, mule deer, burrowing owls, and more than 3,000 species of wildlife depend on lands that are managed by the Bureau of Land Management. These lands provide vital habitat for wildlife to migrate, search for food, and find mates. But these lands are also working lands that serve multiple purposes. They provide endless opportunities for hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, and other outdoor recreation. They provide lands for cattle grazing and timber harvest.
Community Spotlight: A Pocket Prairie for Channelview, TX

2 weeks ago | blog.nwf.org | Portia Bharath

Garden Habitats Get Outside Students and Nature | In April of 2025, culminating two years of community engagement work and NWF’s Resilient Schools and Communities (RiSC) program at Channelview High School, NWF and our local partners created a Pocket Prairie at the Channelview Sports Complex in Channelview, Texas. The beauty of this project lies in the collaboration.
One Big Beautiful Bill is One Big Horrible Mess

2 weeks ago | blog.nwf.org | Portia Bharath

President Trump’s so-called “one big beautiful bill”—also known as the budget reconciliation bill, or the GOP-led megabill—passed out of the House on a slim margin late last month and now heads to the Senate, where leadership plans to work quickly to debate and advance the bill to the floor. The bill may be big, but it is not beautiful—nor beneficial for Americans or our nation’s treasured wildlife.
How the Longleaf Pine’s Needles Support the Lumbee People

2 weeks ago | blog.nwf.org | Portia Bharath

When settlers invaded North America, they encountered significant beauty and ecological richness, such as the sprawling longleaf pine forests that covered approximately 90 million acres of the Southeast—made possible through hundreds of years of ecological stewardship by North America’s Indigenous peoples.
Horseshoe Crab Protection and Responsible Offshore Wind Energy

2 weeks ago | blog.nwf.org | Portia Bharath

As spring arrives, the waters and beaches of the mid-Atlantic and Gulf coasts will begin filling with spawning horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus), a species which has called the planet home for over 200 million years. During the late spring and early summer, adult horseshoe crabs travel from deep ocean waters to beaches along the East and Gulf coasts to breed.
Toxic Legacies of Hazardous Waste and the Fight for Environmental Justice

2 weeks ago | blog.nwf.org | Portia Bharath

A toxic legacy threatens the health of frontline and fenceline communities across the United States. From Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley” to neighborhoods in Chicago built on top of toxic waste landfills (read our blog on Altgeld Gardens here), hazardous waste has long been both a product of and a contributor to racial, socioeconomic, and environmental injustice. The U.S. hazardous waste problem exploded in the post-World War II industrial boom.
The New Normal Is Already a Loss: How Shifting Baselines Skew Our View of Nature

2 weeks ago | blog.nwf.org | Portia Bharath

As children, the natural world we grow up in is the only reference point we have. However, with each generation, our perception of the natural world changes, and with it, our understanding of what accounts for abundance and loss of biodiversity. A term bandied about is the “new normal.” In ecology, it’s called the shifting baseline syndrome. Think back on the bird song you woke up to this morning. You might have pulled out a few recognizable threads, perhaps the robin, the crow, the sparrow.
Restoring Maryland’s Shores: An Innovative Coastal Resilience Strategy in Havre de Grace, Maryland

2 weeks ago | blog.nwf.org | Portia Bharath

“This has needed to happen for over 80 years,” said a life-long Havre de Grace resident as he looked out over the newly constructed living shoreline that will reduce flooding and erosion of Water Street in the city of Havre de Grace, Maryland. Living shorelines are key when developing plans for coastal resilience, especially along populated coasts.
Disaster Preparedness is a Shared Responsibility

3 weeks ago | blog.nwf.org | Portia Bharath

Back in January, Taofik Oladipo and I wrote a blog about the LA fires, a stark reminder of how quickly disaster can strike even in areas familiar with seasonal threats. In that piece, we noted how evacuation orders were issued late, leaving many residents scrambling with little time to react. That event underscored the importance of being prepared, not after an alert goes out but well before. It made clear that preparedness needs to be a constant priority, not just a reaction to crisis.