Environment

We all know that water is essential for our lives - but what happens to a community when there isn’t much of it?

The burrowing rodents can improve the nutritional quality of nearby grasses.

The prospect for spring rains is diminishing, meaning much of the state could head into a hot summer with little moisture in the ground to keep heat and drought at bay.

Wilderness areas are the most stringently protected types of public lands in the U.S. A coalition of Big Bend boosters is pushing for Congress to protect most of the park’s natural areas through a formal wilderness designation.

For almost two decades, a former oil well in Pecos County has been gushing briny water, creating a body of water known as Lake Boehmer. Now researchers, dispatched by local officials, have found high levels of the deadly gas hydrogen sulfide there, which could pose a public health issue.

Over the past year or so, local governments across the Big Bend have adopted stricter outdoor lighting rules, part of a broader effort to protect the region’s famously starry night skies.

Asthma is the most common chronic illness in children and a recent study investigated the geographic disparities in hospitalizations related to the illness in Lubbock County. The study explores the role that race and ethnicity, health insurance and other environmental factors play in these disparities. Texas Tech Public Media sat down with one of the researchers, Dr. Duke Appiah, who worked on this investigation.

Between Port Isabel and Brownsville, one state highway is infamous for its danger to coastal birds.

SpaceX is preparing to launch the largest rocket in the history of spaceflight. If permitted by federal regulators, it will lift off from a beach-side facility at the southern tip of Texas. But residents and researchers have criticized the permitting process, saying the company has flouted rules — at the expense of the environment and the community.

S2N2: On a mild Monday evening, people cast their lines into the Historic Dunbar Lake, hoping a fish will bite. At the other end of the park system, families picnic and walk the trails along Conquistador Lake. This is how Mari Huerta thinks of the Canyon Lakes system—a tranquil slice of nature. She’s enjoyed the North Lubbock lakes since she was a kid. Huerta still enjoys the lakes. But she no longer dips her toes in.“You can’t even do that now,” she said. “The water is so slimy.”