Site description

University of California, Berkeley is hiring. Apply now!

As lithium projects accelerate across Nevada, extraction is being approved on Indigenous ancestral lands without securing free, prior and informed consent. Companies are advancing projects as the US f...

Southern Nevada could see the revival of the gold Bullfrog Mining District if federal permits go through. It may come at a cost to the Amargosa River.

Dr. Naomi Fraga steps into the spotlight to help folks understand and save the desert’s precious native plants.

Center for Biological Diversity: RENO, Nev.— Environmental and Indigenous rights groups today appealed a federal court ruling that upheld approvals for the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium Mine in Nevada. The groups asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the decision.

For more than 15 years, botanist Naomi Fraga has been trying to collect seeds from the rare Death Valley sage, for safekeeping in a vault of native California seeds.

For more than 15 years, botanist Naomi Fraga has been trying to collect seeds from the rare Death Valley sage, for safekeeping in a vault of native California seeds.

Record warm winter-to-date continues across most of the American West; already abysmal mountain snowpack dips to record low levels in many areas (except...higher elevations in southern Sierra!) Well, it sure has been a winter to remember thus far across the Western U.S. Astonishing, record-breaking warmth has pervaded nearly entire region (with few exceptions, though one

At the 10-year anniversary of the 2016 “superbloom” that carpeted the desert floor in flowers, observers may have success in locating wildflowers once again.

Professor Cristina Dorador is on an urgent mission. She’s leading an expedition deep into the stunning landscape of the world’s highest and driest desert, the Atacama in Chile. Her goal is to find new...

Cristina Dorador is on an urgent mission in the world’s highest desert, the Atacama in Chile. As the rise of drug-resistant superbugs kills millions per year, Cristina has made it her mission to uncov...

Insects are declining worldwide. These declines have been documented across taxonomic groups and are worrisome given ecosystem services provided by...

The dilemma at Nevada's Rhyolite Ridge offers a preview of the hard choices ahead.

The dilemma at Nevada's Rhyolite Ridge offers a preview of the hard choices ahead.

From simple searches to chatGPT, the big digital buildup threatens the grid and water supplies.

Plant Evo-Devo

In rural Nevada, a battle is brewing over whether the state has an obligation to protect the sodaville milkvetch flower.

Sammy Roth travels to Esmeralda County, Nevada, to meet Naomi Fraga, a botany professor at Claremont Graduate University, and see the endangered Tiehm’s buckwheat up close. The wildflower stands in th...