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August 4, 2026 · Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests

No lions in the record, but that says nothing about the lions

A two-year sweep of community-science observations for this stretch of the Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests, running through August 2026, turned up zero logged sightings of the Asiatic Lion. That is a striking gap give

August 4, 2026 · Monongahela Transition Zone

Ammonia spikes near Athens hit a watershed with no slack left

The Ron Campbell Apartments wastewater discharger near Athens has blown past its legal ammonia limit twice in the past year: **1,097% over permit at the end of December 2025**, then 390% over again at the end of March 20

August 3, 2026 · Oxnard Plain and Valleys

An estuary impairment with an actual cleanup plan behind it

This estuary is one of five water bodies within ten miles of the Oxnard Plain and Valleys currently listed as impaired under the Clean Water Act. But an impairment listing is not the whole story here: this estuary alread

August 3, 2026 · Triassic Basins

Drought breaks in a single week as streamflow spikes across the basin

The drought gripping this part of the Piedmont collapsed almost overnight. Since early June the area had been locked in extreme to exceptional drought, with the most severe category holding at nearly 96 percent coverage

August 3, 2026 · Triassic Basins

Drought maps clear fast, but Piedmont creeks haven't caught up

The drought monitor and the creek gauges are telling two different stories in the Triassic Basins watershed right now, and the gap between them is the real story. The surrounding county spent five straight weeks under Ex

August 3, 2026 · Outer Nashville Basin

Drought map clears while local creeks sit at record lows

Davidson County's drought classification cleared completely this week, zero percent of the county in any drought category as of late July into early August. That's a remarkable reversal: the same map showed the entire co

August 3, 2026 · Taiheiyo evergreen forests

Two recurring thermal hotspots near the coast, likely industrial, not fire

Satellite fire-detection passes over the last five days have flagged two thermal hotspots along the coast, one in eastern Chiba and another farther south toward Sagami Bay. Neither looks like cause for alarm. Both showed

August 3, 2026 · Cape Cod/Long Island

Cape Cod's sudden lurch into severe drought, with no local gauge to track it

Drought arrived on Cape Cod this summer with a speed that the county-level numbers only hint at. As of early June, no part of Barnstable County registered severe drought. By mid-June that had flipped completely: the enti

August 3, 2026 · Oxnard Plain and Valleys

McGrath Lake stays impaired while its monitoring gauges go dark

McGrath Lake sits tucked behind the dunes near the mouth of the Santa Clara River, and it has been carrying an old designation that's easy to forget about: it remains on California's official Clean Water Act impaired wat

August 3, 2026 · English Lowlands beech forests

Eight ash records near Brighton, and what they don't tell us

The one thread with any substance in the chalk and beech woodland near Brighton and Lewes concerns European ash. Eight sightings were logged across the past three months, running from May 4 through a research-grade recor

August 3, 2026 · Southern Outer Piedmont

Drought map clears fast, but local creeks haven't moved

The severe-drought category emptied out across Mecklenburg County in a single week, dropping from nearly 88 percent coverage to zero. After a year of building dryness across the region's Piedmont drainage, that's a strik

August 2, 2026 · Midcoast

A shellfish company's own discharge keeps fouling the water it depends on

Merrymeeting Shellfish Company has exceeded its Total Suspended Solids limit twice this year at the same outfall: 442% over limit at the end of March, and 300% over limit just two days ago, on July 31. Two violations at

August 2, 2026 · Eastern Highland Rim

Drought breaks fast, but the Calfkiller's water quality remains unchecked

The region's drought has essentially broken in the span of a single month. In late May, moderate drought covered the entire area and severe drought had settled over nearly a quarter of it; by mid-July, abnormally dry con

July 31, 2026 · Michigan Lake Plain

Karner Blues post a strong second brood this July

The second brood of the Karner Blue is on the wing in the oak savanna and barrens northeast of here, the last kind of habitat this small, federally threatened butterfly can survive in at all. Its caterpillars feed on not

July 31, 2026 · Northern Inner Piedmont

Two severe overflows point to a chronic problem at Woodbridge STP

The sewage treatment plant serving Woodbridge Mobile Home Park has blown through its discharge limits twice this year, and not by a small margin. Suspended solids in the treated effluent ran over **2,000 percent above th

July 30, 2026 · Narmada Valley dry deciduous forests

Monsoon fungi recorded across the valley through July

Mushrooms have been appearing across the city since late June — Inkcaps, jelly fungi, chalk mushrooms, and several species still under identification have been recorded from Pashan to the Fergusson College campus to Decc

July 30, 2026 · Clayey High Lime Till Plains

Monarchs logged nearly daily alongside milkweed on the Huron

Monarchs (*Danaus plexippus*) have been recorded nearly every day this week along parks and green corridors, with three sightings on July 28 alone. This is the summer breeding generation — the one whose offspring will un

July 30, 2026 · Southwestern Florida Flatwoods

Shrikes keep returning to the same few open lots on this coast

Loggerhead Shrikes (*Lanius ludovicianus*) are North America's only truly predatory songbirds — they hunt insects, lizards, and small vertebrates from open perches, and famously cache prey by impaling it on thorns or bar

July 30, 2026 · Arizona Upland/Eastern Sonoran Basins

Drought retreats at the extreme, but the middle holds firm

Pima County's drought picture has changed dramatically at one end of the scale and barely at all at the other. This same week last summer, the entire county sat in severe drought or worse, with nearly forty percent of it

July 30, 2026 · Clayey High Lime Till Plains

A quiet, unpenalized drift into noncompliance across the watershed

Ninety-four facilities hold active Clean Water Act discharge permits within about 15 kilometers of here, and nearly a quarter of them are currently in significant noncompliance. What stands out isn't the raw count, it's

July 30, 2026 · Northwestern Glaciated Plains

Where the border cuts, the monitoring stops too

A standard instrument check on this stretch of the borderlands this week returns almost nothing. No USGS gauge within 25 kilometers to read streamflow or water quality. No EPA-permitted discharger on record in an upstrea

July 30, 2026 · Sagebrush Parks

Gunnison's drought stalls at its worst level through peak summer

Gunnison County's drought has stopped moving, and that's the concerning part. Exceptional drought, the U.S. Drought Monitor's most severe category, jumped from about 15% of the county in late June to nearly 22% by mid-Ju

July 30, 2026 · Northern Blackland Prairie

Barton Springs oxygen drops as flow hits summer lows

Dissolved oxygen at Barton Springs has fallen to 4.9 mg/L — a threshold where most aquatic life begins to feel real metabolic stress. The cause is straightforward: streamflow at Barton Creek above Barton Springs has drop

July 30, 2026 · San Juan Islands

Sewage plant exceeds limits twice with no penalty either time

The Friday Harbor sewage treatment plant has exceeded its Clean Water Act discharge limits twice this year. Suspended solids in its effluent ran 381% over the permitted limit at the end of March and 296% over limit again

July 30, 2026 · Ohio/Kentucky Carboniferous Plateau

Ammonia overruns at Little Palm nearly double as the Muskingum runs low

An ammonia nitrogen violation at Little Palm Properties has moved from bad to worse rather than resolving itself. The facility exceeded its permitted ammonia limit at the outfall by 720% in the quarter ending last Decemb

July 30, 2026 · Chesapeake Rolling Coastal Plain

Glen Arm plant's ammonia violations repeat on an already-impaired creek

The Glen Arm Wastewater Treatment Plant, which discharges directly into Long Green Creek in Baltimore County, has exceeded its permitted ammonia limit twice in the past year: by 368% last September and by 340% again this

July 30, 2026 · Whitewater Interlobate Area

Catalpa Sphinx moths peak as singing insects begin to appear

Catalpa Sphinx moths (*Ceratomia catalpae*) have reached peak activity across the region, with eleven sightings logged from mid-June through late July, ranging from Metamora and Richmond out to Oxford and Trotwood. These

July 30, 2026 · Boston Basin

Spotted Lanternfly confirmed at multiple locations across the watershed

Spotted Lanternflies (*Lycorma delicatula*) have been confirmed at multiple locations across the watershed over the past two months — 28 iNaturalist observations from Watertown, Cambridge, Newton, Arlington, Brookline, a

July 30, 2026 · Central Puget Lowland

Copper discharges quadruple at the Bremerton shipyard in a single quarter

Copper discharge from the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton has now exceeded its Clean Water Act permit limit for two consecutive quarters, and the trajectory is the notable part: 24% over limit in the quarter endi

July 29, 2026 · Lansing Loamy Plain

Polyphemus Moth appears at peak midsummer emergence

Polyphemus Moth (*Antheraea polyphemus*) emerged near Clarksville this month — a single sighting on July 9th, right at the peak of the species' fleeting adult flight window. These are among the largest silk moths in Nort