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This is a moment that never gets old, especially since it seems every year it is captured in more detail, in slower motion, with just enough explanation. It's a great white shark breaching in the waters off of South Africa to bite a seal dummy, which it spits out…

See big animals in big places.

Plying the Icicle River, Washington. Photo: Leah Ricketts By Russ Ricketts It all started innocently enough. My friend Matt told me about snorkeling with the salmon in our local rivers in the Cascade Mountains. His epic tales of huge fish, deep pools and fast currents held…

In this weekly roundup, we scour the Web for our favorite long-form magazine and newspaper articles, collecting them here and on Longreads.com and Twitter. This installment focuses on the future of fast food, what it means to be an amateur, and all-things Olympic Games.

We all live downstream. Photo: Flickr/Kevin Krejci Next week, tens of thousands of manufacturers, retailers, media and marketers of outdoor gear will convene in Salt Lake City for the Outdoor Retailer (OR) Summer Market. Among them will be many…

Captain Don Voss, marine pollution from a diver's POV. Photos: Marine Cleanup Initiative, Inc. When he returned, wounded, from serving in Vietnam, doctors told Don Voss he wouldn't walk again. But Voss, now a 64-year-old ship captain, turned to swimming as therapy. With more…

Michael Kodas is chasing the ever-growing forest inferno all throughout Colorado

When a YouTube video showing a "big-ass" shark snatching a tasty red drum off the end of a fishing pole went viral last week, Chris Dixon, who lives on the water in the area, wondered if he should be more concerned. He spoke to Arnold Postell, a senior biologist at the South Carolina Aquarium, to find out.

After years of warnings and years of inaction, our forests are on fire and the blaze should only continue to grow.

This illegal deer stand is bigger than most Manhattan studios. Photo: St. Louis County Land and Minerals Dept. Deer hunters wait. They find a good spot in the forest, and they wait. To get a better vantage, they might climb into a tree or build a…

Fabiola in smoke. Photo: Brian Nevins This past April, 33-year-old, Hampton, New Hampshire-based photographer Brian Nevins won the Telus Pro Photographer Showdown in Whistler, British Columbia. It’s one of…

Telluride Mountain School students explore the Needle Mountains. Photo: Jamie Salem By Emily Brendler Shoff The older kids get, the easier it is to take them into the backcountry. This is even true for teenagers, who, despite getting a bad rap for being addicted to all…

Photo: Fremlin/CC 2.0/Flickr Going into 2012 Montana's wolf population exceeded 600. Looking for more ways to keep the population in check, the state's Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) Commission passed new rules on Thursday, July 12, that will allow wolves to be trapped.

World-renowned scientist E.O. Wilson did not take up calculus until he was 32 years old. When he did finally tackle the subject, he sat next to undergraduate students taking his introductory biology class. He uses this anecdote as a way into his five…

From sharks and cougars to avalanches and frozen waters, four survivors share their stories in their own words. Plus: expert commentary.

To get things between the 740 islands of the Falklands, a lot of flying is needed. Much of it is done by one of the four pilots in the Falkland Islands Government Air Service. Pilot Troyd Bowles delivers everything from tourists to remote lodges to farm animals to remote pastures…

The loud and awestruck reaction of the people on the dock makes this video. It would be easy to make fun of their excited cries of shark in a dismissive way—Who let the double rainbow guy on the dock? We know, it's a shark. etc.— but there's something that's…

Photo: Shutterstock/Amy Walters Last month, the House of Representatives passed an omnibus bill that would exempt the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from more than 10 important environmental laws, including the Wilderness Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and…

In this weekly roundup, we scour the Web for our favorite long-form magazine and newspaper articles, collecting them here and on Longreads.com and Twitter. This installment focuses on the animals—and languages—we're eradicating, the dopers we're catching and the fight su

Surveying the beaches in his home state of North Carolina with a world-renowned erosion expert, David Gessner considers the folly of trying to deny what all the sandbags and misguided legislation in the world can never stop: the rising sea

There are plenty of hungry predators roaming the USA. But the deadliest ones for humans may not be the those you expect.

Alligators and crocodiles landed in the #10 spot in the CDC's database. Photo: Shutterstock Whether it's by stinging, crushing, biting, butting, kicking, or any other variety of accidental or nefarious means, animals injure millions and kill hundreds of people every year. The…

If you’ve seen Red Gold, about efforts to stop the proposed Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska, you know the documentary-making prowess behind Felt Soul Media. The trailer for the team’s next film, DamNation, has just been released. Conceived by…

For better and (only sometimes) worse, elite athletes are our role models. We admire their discipline and commitment; their strength and skill inspire us to reach higher in our own lives. When I talked to alpinist Hilaree O'Neill last month by cell phone from Everest Base Camp,…

Hui Yu Kim, “Boating Fun” (Atkins’ Young Environmental Photographer of the Year: Under 16 Highly Commended) Don't let the incredibly long and clunky name turn you off: The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management's annual…

Cougar. Photo: Shutterstock Cougars are on the rise in the Midwest. From 1990 to 2008, the number of sightings confirmed by wildlife professionals increased. That's good news for fans of big cats, which were extirpated from most of that area around…

Kaieteur Falls, Guyana. Photo: Wilderness Explorers Newsweek said last week that visiting Guyana should be on your Bucket List. Then USA Today said just about the same thing. We first sang Guyana's praises…

San Francisco views at Angel Island State Park. Photo: John Trippe/FecalFace.com If you're all about eating locally-produced food and being active in your community, consider staking claim to some nearby dirt or sand, too. Here's a quick (and coastal-centric) list of camping options.

Thirty-five years ago, a national recession and high fuel prices led to the opening of the massive, controversial Trans-Alaska Pipeline System—and a host of problems and pollution that came with it. Sound familiar?

Photo: Mara/Flickr One of our top 10 environmental news stories of 2011 was the troubling violence that environmental activists face in many parts of the world, particularly in Brazil, where three high-profile activists were slain last May. While researching that…

The Rio Chama. Photo: Ingrid Truemper/Flickr If done right, an adventure day trip can be just as satisfying as a bigger mission. If not, it can be way more stressful. To make the most of your summer, you’ll want to plan a…

Simulated wetland used in silver nanoparticle research at Duke University. Photo: Benjamin Espinasse In recent years, many outdoor apparel manufacturers have embraced a new range of anti-microbial textile coatings that are designed to inhibit the growth of bacterial and fungus that cause odors. Less stinky…

White Marble. Photo: NASA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/Flickr By now you’ve probably heard of Blue Marble, the super hi-res composite image of earth. It’s not the single biggest hi-res…

Photo: Kesu/Shutterstock I know, it's Friday and in your head you're probably half-way down the nearest trail or river already. But next week, world leaders are meeting in Rio, 20 years after their last meeting there (thus, “Rio+20”) to try to hammer out some…

Midway Atoll is a 2.4-square-mile atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with three islands covering 1,549 acres. It's small, remote, and an essential landing strip for giant seabirds. More than three million of them plop down on the islands every…

In the stunning and remote wilderness along northern British Columbia’s Highway 16, at least 18 women—by some estimates, many more—have gone missing over the past four decades. After years of investigation, authorities still don’t know if it’s the work of a serial killer or multiple offenders. Bob Friel drives into the darkness for answers.

CrossFitter Mel Soria puts his functional fitness training to the test in the backwoods of Georgia, chasing down prey that's as delicious as it is dangerous

The filmmaker behind The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom explains why she's drawn to the world's gnarliest spots

In the flow, finally: Conejos River, Colorado. Photo: Katie Arnold Whenever you take young children on outdoor adventures, there will invariably come a moment when you’ll ask yourself, head in hands, between clenched teeth, possibly on the verge of tears or mental breakdown: How could this…

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Go3vsLnjEDc%3Ffeature%3Dplayer_embedded Sure, summer reading lists are usually filled with the latest mysteries or epic dramas to hit paperback. But for your list, consider adding a series of reports by the Salt Lake Tribune, “Our Dying Forests.” The series recently claimed the The Grantham Prize…

AquaBounty salmon, the unreported disaster at a Panama grow-out facility, and the Georgian libertarian who took control of the fish farm and may soon move it outside the watch of the Food & Drug Administration. Meet what could soon be the first GE animal allowed for human consumption.

There is nature in our backyards and our parks; even the green strips running down big avenues like Broadway in New York City contain natural value. By recognizing that we can connect people to nature—and nature to people.

Summer is the season to embrace the sunlight, celebrate, and make a few hundred new friends

Photo: Kalakutskiy Mikhail/Shutterstock This fall, Hal Herring plans to go backcountry hunting with his son near his Montana home. If they both take an elk, they'll be able to provide the family with enough meat for the following year. But should House…

Did a judge in Florida just put an end to SeaWorld's famous killer whale shows? A ruling issued yesterday may change the way marine amusement parks work forever.

Bob Evans' GasPod devices. Photo: GasPods Armed with an engineering degree that he earned not from a university but from “watching nature,” and with years of experimenting and designing better scuba fins, a Santa Barbara-based entrepreneur has created a small airfoil…

Sylvester Ayek survives by subsistence hunting and by turning his take into art. The Inupiat elder carves the ivory from walruses into jewelry and sculptures. In The Bone Carver, the Nome, Alaska, resident shares how he learned to hunt…

Chris Sharma. Photo: Mary Catherine O’Connor As we’ve reported before, California’s state parks are in the midst of a crisis that could result in many of them closing on July 1. While the initial list contained 70 parks, many of these have received at…

Click on the image for a larger graphic. In what may be no surprise to anyone, the ecological footprint of humans on earth has continued to increase over the last half century. As the population has increased, so has the amount of land and resources needed…

The Environmental Protection Agency just released its long-awaited study of the potential effects of the proposed—and highly controversial—Pebble Mine on Alaska's watershed and famed salmon, but the conclusions, tepid as they are, probably won't please either side

Manta ray. Photo Shutterstock Most people are familiar with Aldo Leopold's thoughts on cascading environmental damage from Thinking Like a Mountain. When wolves were hunted out of forests in the American Southwest,…

Visionary environmentalist David Brower birthed the modern conservation movement in the 1950s with his aggressive, principled defense of the earth. Kenneth Brower celebrates his father's legacy in his new book, The Wildness Within.

We all hate that guy—the one who shatters your outdoor serenity by watching iPad movies on the beach and texting from a chairlift. Well, Montana-based novelist and technophile WALTER KIRN is that guy, and he says you’re missing out.

If you want to see the difference between night skies with and without light pollution, you can't do much better than the video above. The World at Night recently announced the winners of the…

The Potomac River  Photo: MV Jantzen/American Rivers River conservancy American Rivers just released its 27th annual America’s Most Endangered Rivers report, naming the Potomac the most threatened river. This waterway earned the top spot not so much…

We’ve all heard of prodigal athletes—the seven-year-old ripping free skier, the two-year-old boulderer, teen mountaineers, the baby who starts skiing before she can walk, and the 12-year-old skateboarder who becomes the first athlete ever to land a 1080. Some of these…

We're adding chemicals to our land and water supplies, pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and facing the planet's sixth extinction crisis. YVON CHOUINARD, owner and founder of Patagonia, wonders if we've borrowed more from nature than we can ever give back.

Join us on Thursday, May 17, between 6 and 9 p.m. MST to watch the full version of Travis Rummel and Ben Knight award-winning documentary.

For 24 years, from 1986 until 2010, there were no mortal encounters with grizzlies in Yellowstone National Park. But four deadly incidents over the past two summers have hikers on edge, reigniting the fierce debate over bear management.

While many gun proponents remain adamant that firearms offer better protection against a charging bear than pepper spray, a growing body of scientific research suggests otherwise

If you're heading into bear country this summer, heed these important tips from Kerry Gunther, bear management program leader for Yellowstone National Park

Things have gotten crazy violent in the dark, dense forests of California’s Mendocino County, where pot growers from Mexico run elaborate plantations they’ll defend to the death. Damon Tabor saddles up with Sheriff Tom Allman, head of a helicopter-riding, rifle-toting paramilitary strike force determined to take back the woods.

 Glines dam site, pre-dam; the dam intact; the dam coming down. Photos: Clallam Co. Historical Society; Olympic NP The Olympic Peninsula's Elwha River is running free. Pretty much. The Elwha dam is down and the Glines dam is being chipped away (see the image…

I work outdoors in some serious deer tick habitat. I saw that Outdoor Research makes the pre-treated BugOut gaiters. Do your recommend them, or do you have any other suggestions for staying tick free?

Frank Quan at China Camp Village  Photo: Mary Catherine O'Connor I found Frank Quan at a picnic bench, just off the beach, as the waters of San Pablo Bay lapped gently on the shore. It was an unseasonably warm, windless April afternoon and…

Bird's Nest, by Mandy Barker Photographer Mandy Barker couldn’t stop collecting, cataloguing, and photographing trash. The 48-year-old from Leeds, England, picked ocean debris as the central theme of a school photography project. She often went…

Badlands bison Photo: National Park Service photo archive The Oglala Sioux Tribe may be granted management of the South Unit of Badlands National Park, which would create the country's first tribal national park. The…

Wildfire via Shutterstock  Photo by Jon Beard This summer's wildfire season is already well underway, with tragic repercussions. The Lower North Fork Fire in Colorado last month claimed three lives and many homes. It prompted Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper to put a moratorium…

Colin Firth has teamed up with Survival International to call for people to take action against the illegal logging and violence wiping out the remaining few hundred Awá of the Brazilian Amazon. Survival International calls the Awá the “Earth's Most Threatened Tribe.” “The Awá's…

A group of scientists on an expedition for the Far East Russia Orca Project spotted and recorded a video of an adult white killer whale in the waters off of Kamchatka. This is believed to…

Meet Mark Coleman, Prana's mindfulness ambassador. The Indian-sitting, mono-talking, easy-smiling, poetry-writing, meditating, Englishman-moved-to-the-United States-who-then-discovered-he's-a-nature-lover is the clothing company's zen adviser to athletes and employees. He sits down with everyone at Prana, from the rock climbers to the sales team, to unlock their potential by opening them up to mindful…

Jason Mecier artwork, on auction for Keep America Beautiful. Brought to you by Glad Bags. “If I get one more email on the subject, I'm going to celebrate Earth Day by kicking Gaia in the nuts,” declared journalist…

Ikal Angelei on the shores of Lake Turkana. Photo: Goldman Environmental Prize Running Ethiopia's Omo River can be a serious adventure, as we described here in 2008, but more importantly, the river is a lifeline for those who rely on the water and…

Photo: Flikr/tkd540 With their commercial use permits on hold, horse pack operators in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks aren’t taking trip reservations and are nervously awaiting a May 23 hearing at which U.S. District Court Judge Richard Seeborg will outline…

It’s ironic that surfing requires being in synch with nature and its rhythms but surfing equipment is so environmentally toxic. Almost all the gear, from the trunks to the wetsuits to the boards themselves, are made from non-recyclable petroleum-based resins, foam, plastics, and neoprene. Is it possible to enjoy surfing…

All aboard who's going aboard.  Photo courtesy Linx Co-op In our May issue we rounded up 12 amazing off-the-beaten path National Park adventures. Trekking into Yellowstone National Park (oh, you've heard of it?) didn't make the cut. But that doesn't mean you should avoid the 3,472 square…

Peter Douglas    Photo: Courtesy of California Coastal Commission The next time you find yourself on a stretch of pristine California coastline, you can thank Peter Douglas for what you don't see, such as high-rises or offshore oil-drilling platforms. The 69-year-old, who died April 1, fought hard against…

  With two high-energy rippers in our house, I’ve been trying to figure out how to slow down a little. Last week I posted some suggestions about traveling locally and scheduling fewer activities. Meditating is the obvious way to go,…

Meet the men and women on the knife's edge of exploration

He was a proud Marine who survived three ­brutal tours in Iraq and had plans to redeploy with the ­national guard. But when 30-year-old Noah ­Pippin ­vanished inside Montana’s remote Bob ­Marshall ­Wilderness, he left behind a trail of haunting secrets—and a mystery that may never be solved.