Today is the last day to share your thoughts on the federal government's plan to revoke the roadless rule on Forest Service lands. When the clock strikes midnight (ET), the comment portal will close. Looking for your Cinderella moment? Go comment now!!!

I went on @kjzz.org to chat about my @highcountrynews.org story on saguaro flowers!

The landmark roadless rule is on the chopping block, endangering 59 million acres of Forest Service lands that still retain some of their wild character. Experts say it's as bad of an idea as it sounds for wildlife. Now that you know, go forth and comment! You have until Sept. 19. to do so.

The landmark roadless rule is on the chopping block, endangering 59 million acres of Forest Service lands that still retain some of their wild character. Experts say it's as bad of an idea as it sounds for wildlife. Now that you know, go forth and comment! You have until Sept. 19. to do so.

The public has until September 19 to weigh in on the proposed rescission of the 2001 roadless rule on Forest Service land, a move that experts have said will harm the health and biodiversity of ecosystems. buff.ly/oMa9f05

A new 5-year mission begins! I'm so grateful to everyone at NASA Astrobiology for this opportunity to advance our search for life in the universe with @calebscharf.bsky.social and our team of amazing colleagues at @carnegiescience.bsky.social, NASA Ames, and beyond!

When I visited 🌵 NP in April, I found the saguaro flowers so surreal. Against the saguaro's austerity, they looked decadent, dressing cactuses in flapper chic. Flowers on the cactus arms looked like bouquets offerings to passers-by. I'm so glad @highcountrynews.org let me indulge my curiosity.

Kylie @thatsmohrlikeit.bsky.social is an awesome editor with an impeccable eye! It was great to work with her on this piece.

Researchers are monitoring saguaro flowers in the Sonoran Desert to understand the environmental cues influencing when and how they sprout, patterns that are fluctuating in the face of climate change. buff.ly/d4Bl13S

When I visited 🌵 NP in April, I found the saguaro flowers so surreal. Against the saguaro's austerity, they looked decadent, dressing cactuses in flapper chic. Flowers on the cactus arms looked like bouquets offerings to passers-by. I'm so glad @highcountrynews.org let me indulge my curiosity.

In June, a lynx rewilding project in eastern WA confirmed the first wild kitten litters to be born here. But fate had ironic timing. The same month, the Forest Service announced the repeal of the roadless rule. The lynx birthing grounds would be among those subject to the repeal. Read more here:

After a deadly algal bloom, someone has to pick up the pieces, so scientists can put them together.

Federal policies are making it challenging for trail crews from the Forest Service, stewardship organizations and volunteer groups to clean up trails this summer. buff.ly/zSM3CkF

When sun hits you, what does it *hit*? It rockets into your RNA, and the sound of colliding ribosomes and potholed RNA signals to your body to do something: produce a sunburn. My latest for @quantamagazine.bsky.social. www.quantamagazine.org/rna-is-the-c...

While media coverage has often lauded agrivoltaics, i.e. the marriage of solar and farming, reality has proven that it's quite a challenge to get it off the ground. Take Arizona, for example, a place of abundant sunshine and scarce water. From all appearances, agrivoltaics should be a shoe-in here.

Federal layoffs are likely to move ahead quickly, with major impacts on conservation and science. buff.ly/XieVRNB

I once met a man named Jacob. He was in his seventies, a small man, stooped and bent, who looked much older than he was. He was kind and gracious, and was used to people being put off by his posture and size. His story of how he ended up like that is informative. 1/

"Produced water" isn't "water" in any life-giving sense of the word, environmentalists say, but it's definitely produced—an existential problem of oil+gas's own making. New Mexico is weighing the reuse this toxic waste, and environmental groups are sounding the alarm. Me for @highcountrynews.org

Just. Wow.

Got woken up by a phone call, took an impromptu interview — braces still in my mouth, voice still scratchy, eyes still not fully open, brain screaming for caffeine — and proceeded to have one of the best chats of my life. My job is cool.

Republished at @grist.org, my piece illuminates how field scientists at the #ForestService soldier through uncertain times despite the federal assault on research.

The President's budget request would be devastating to NASA science and our quest for life beyond Earth. But there's still time to act, and your voice matters.

Shoutout to USFS R&D 💚 World’s largest forestry R&D studying topics that tie in to our public lands, forests, and trees nationwide. And yes, Chief Shultz, markets, timber products, economics, wildfire, recreation… our scientists study it all.

You've already heard the impact of federal cuts on health research, but what about research on the environment? That picture isn't exactly pretty either. My latest for @highcountrynews.org, on how the stellar field science at the U.S. Forest Service is under threat.

An all-at-once damning, touching, and rousing op-ed by @stonemanning.bsky.social for @highcountrynews.org. Please don't sell off America's public lands!

I love working at HCN. Our stories are often outdoors themed, so one perk of my job is I need to look up all the places that my sources/writers for whom I fact checking mention, and God they're beautiful. I'm going to end up with a massive list of places to visit before my fellowship ends!

4. The Horses and Mules That Moved Mountains and Hearts (@goesbykim.bsky.social for @highcountrynews.org) "By concentrating on their individual personalities, Kim slowly but surely pulls you into caring about the fate of these mules and horses." www.hcn.org/articles/the...

For the first time, I tried doing this promotional video thingie for my @highcountrynews.bsky.social article on the Forest Service's horses and mules! www.instagram.com/reel/DIMFDsJ...

IMPT Investigative Report by Grist The unregulated link in a toxic supply chain. From El Paso, #Texas, to Richmond, #Virginia, warehouses are leaking ethylene oxide, a cancer-causing chemical. Almost no one knows about them. grist.org/health/ethyl... #Cancer #Health #Chemicals #Environment

New podcast episode! 🍄🎙🖖 Science journalist Dr. @goesbykim.bsky.social beams back aboard to talk about how fungi are everywhere—from forests to deserts to cities to Star Trek!

Drew a little something today, of my little writing companion Tyson when I'm banging out an article on the couch. He'll occasionally twitch when he's sleeping next to me, but, Tyson, it's truly an honor to be kicked in the face by you, you perfect little house cat.

📡 Signal Boost 📡 It’s a tough time to be a federal researcher. If you know someone willing & able to speak to how *gestures broadly* is impacting federal field research in the West, a reporter at @highcountrynews.bsky.social is looking to tell the story. Please share if able 🙏

Hi! #journorequest here: For HCN, I'm looking to speak with #federal scientists from the West who are preparing for #fieldwork this upcoming season. How has the federal chaos affect your planning? I'd be happy to offer anonymity. You can reach me at [email protected] or via Signal @shienkim.1721.

"The stock handlers represent the ancient tradition of animal and human working together to move what feels like literal heaven and earth across harsh terrain, forging lifelong bonds in the process." —@goesbykim.bsky.social for @highcountrynews.bsky.social

Thank you to my editor @shaun505.bsky.social who didn't bat an eyelash when I filed a 2k-word draft though the assigned word count was 1k. In my defense, who doesn't want to read about the funniest, sweetest, smartest, and most adorable mules and horses? My latest for @highcountrynews.bsky.social:

*sung to the tune of Your Body is a Wonderland* 🎵 Your body is a wind instrument www.sequencermag.com/body-mod-lin...

Kim’s reporting is essential now. The impact to radical reform by the US government will take years to understand in part because we don’t even know entirely what it has harmed.

Mules & horses have long been partners w/ @forestservice.bsky.social, especially for use in wilderness areas. With recent DOGE chaos, it's not clear what will happen to the animals. @goesbykim.bsky.social reports for @highcountrynews.bsky.social www.hcn.org/articles/the...

Thank you to my editor @shaun505.bsky.social who didn't bat an eyelash when I filed a 2k-word draft though the assigned word count was 1k. In my defense, who doesn't want to read about the funniest, sweetest, smartest, and most adorable mules and horses? My latest for @highcountrynews.bsky.social:

The horses and mules that moved mountains and hearts Forest Service stock animals are indispensable to trail work on public lands.Trump’s radical upheaval is accelerating the death of a dying art. “Some of those old mules could end up in Mexico at a dog food factory.” www.hcn.org/articles/the...

So proud of this intellectual @miquai.bsky.social who can say in 1 breath "how do we abstract far enough away from life on 🌎 that we’d be able to notice life elsewhere even if it had different chemical specifics, but not so far that we’d be including all kinds of self-organizing structures like 🌪️?"

Scientists hope to take advantage of these plant-fungi partnerships to restore threatened ecosystems — learn more from @goesbykim.bsky.social's recent story. knowmag.org/Fungi_BSky #biosky #FungiFriends #fungi

At long last, here's my final piece in my planets series for Smithsonian Mag, on the worlds beyond our solar system. Here are some of Earth's exotic planetary FRIENDS in the cosmic neighborhood: - The one like cotton candy - The ones that are raging hot - The one with the tail 👉 shorturl.at/wxl3A

Hundreds of billions of exoplanets swarm our galaxy. @goesbykim.bsky.social rounds up some of the wildest ones. www.smithsonianmag.com/science-natu...

🚨 Attention NIH & NSF grantees! AAAS is hosting a rapid response webinar this Friday, 12-1 pm ET, on responding to federal research grant terminations. NIH and NSF will be case examples. Register here: aaas.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Last week, I attended a hearing of worker unions suing the federal government in SF district court. What the judge ruled and said was nothing short of jaw dropping. As my editor @shaun505.bsky.social told me, I was on "the steps of history." www.hcn.org/articles/jud...

Judge rules federal job cuts ‘unlawful’ The Forest Service, Park Service and other agencies must immediately reinstate workers purged by Trump. By @goesbykim.bsky.social www.hcn.org/articles/jud...

High Country News is doing something really cool: If you're a federal employee who's been laid off or fired, you can apply for free HCN access. You'll probably be reading a lot of my work too, since I seem to be on the beat of federal chaos.

An environmental catastrophe is unfolding right before our eyes. Yet there's scant regulation on the perpetrating chemicals that are killing our most charismatic wildlife and more. A piece by me for HCN republished for @sequencermag.bsky.social www.sequencermag.com/turkey-vultu...

Human's war on rats is a Pyrrhic one, if not Sisyphean. Our use of pesticides has brought severe casualties on our wildlife, especially raptors. By me: CA is the only state with restrictions on some of the worst chemicals, but birds are still testing positive for poison: www.hcn.org/articles/tur...