A painter paid $192,000 for a 1902 lighthouse three miles offshore; now he wants to turn the abandoned structure into a destination
Hooper Island Lighthouse. Image Credit: WBOC For more than a century, the 1902 Hooper Island Lighthouse has stood three miles offshore in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay. Years of exposure have left the historic structure badly in need of repair, but its…
Texas bought a 1,700-acre Hill Country ranch for a new state park; unlike nearby Garner, planners want it rugged, with Frio River access only after miles of backcountry hiking
Texas park authorities have acquired a 1,720-acre ranch in Uvalde County to create Bear Creek State Park, offering outdoor visitors a more natural and rugged alternative to the heavily developed recreation areas nearby. According to the Texas Parks and…
In 2008, wind turbines arrived in Iowa’s Howard County; by 2024-25, 147 turbines generated $2.71 million in taxes and helped fund 30+ bridge projects and 20 miles of paving
When wind turbines first appeared across Howard County in northeastern Iowa in 2008, they became part of the rural landscape. Nearly two decades later, the towering structures have become something more than a source of renewable energy. For the county,…
About 4,000 years ago, builders hauled 25-tonne stones 11 miles across northern England to create the ‘Devil’s Arrows’, Britain’s tallest surviving prehistoric stone row
Pic credit: University of York The Devil’s Arrows, Britain’s tallest surviving prehistoric stone row, have long raised questions about where they came from and how they reached Boroughbridge. It turns out that ancient Neolithic builders hauled these…
In 2014, Virginia removed a dam that had blocked migrating fish for over 70 years; nearly 130 miles of upstream spawning and nursery habitat reopened
For decades, a concrete barrier on Virginia’s Appomattox River stood between migratory fish and more than 120 miles of upstream habitat. In 2014, its removal changed that. The Harvell Dam in Petersburg was taken out as part of a collaborative restoration…
Scientists sent a robot two miles below California and found a bigfin squid; it was the first live Northeast Pacific sighting
Photo credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute Two miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California, in a world of near total darkness and crushing pressure, a remotely operated vehicle glided silently through the water.…
In 2024, Arizona used foam made from 100% recycled glass at 19 sites while widening 23 miles of I-17; the lightweight fill helped culverts built for two lanes support added lanes
I-17 Improvement Project using foam glass aggregate as a new innovative construction material Engineers in Arizona have used an unusual material to expand a major interstate: tens of thousands of tonnes of crushed recycled glass. During the expansion of…
In 2025, Michigan recycled more than 7,000 scrap tires into 0.8 miles of Ellsworth Road; the project later won a national green construction award
Representative Image (AI-generated) What happens when thousands of worn-out tires reach the end of the road? In Michigan, some of them found their way back onto one. In 2025, more than 7,000 scrap tires were recycled into rubber-modified asphalt used on…
In 2009, Washington removed a century-old dike and let tides reclaim 762 acres; 21 miles of channels reopened, and young Chinook salmon entered the restored marsh in their first migration season
Tidal water flowed back into the Nisqually River Delta for the first time in nearly a century after conservationists removed a large network of sea dikes, quickly reopening miles of historic estuary habitat for threatened Pacific salmon. In autumn 2009,…
From 1886 to 1968, more than 20 million fish were stocked in waters that became Rocky Mountain National Park; in 2026 crews treated 14.3 miles to remove non-native fish and restore threatened greenback trout
Rocky Mountain National Park (Image Credit: National Park Service) For more than 80 years, fish were deliberately introduced into the waters that would become Rocky Mountain National Park. According to the National Park Service (NPS), more than 20…