Natural Resources

"Louisiana's coast is disappearing at the rate of about a football field an hour. Since the 1930s, the Gulf of Mexico has swallowed up an area the size of Delaware."

''Cementing protection for one of the largest privately owned pieces of land on California's 1,100-mile coastline, a San Francisco environmental group on Monday donated to the public the Coast Dairies property - a pastoral expanse of rolling meadows, redwood forests and panoramic ocean views north of Santa Cruz."

"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) weighed in Monday against a Nevada rancher who is battling the federal government. 'Well, it’s not over,'Reid told KRNV, a Reno, Nev.-based television station. 'We can’t have an American people that violate the law and then just walk away from it. So it's not over.'"

"U.S. officials ended a stand-off with hundreds of armed protesters in the Nevada desert on Saturday, calling off the government's roundup of cattle it said were illegally grazing on federal land and giving about 300 animals back to the rancher who owned them."

"Passage Key became one of the first national wildlife refuges in 1905, boasting 30 acres of mangroves and an inland freshwater lake. Today, it sits under the water in Tampa Bay, only emerging at low tide as a small sandbar that is popular with seabirds -- and occasional trespassing nudists."

"NAPLES, Fla. – For their retirement, Pamela and Jaime Duran chose a cottage in Southwest Florida. Here, they could raise chickens, savor the quiet and enjoy the lush backdrop of the historic Everglades. They call it "a little piece of paradise.""

"A report released Tuesday describes ongoing difficulties for sea turtles, bottlenose dolphins, brown pelicans, and other species as a result of the Gulf oil spill in 2010."

"The San Joaquin River in California is America's most endangered waterway this year, says the national advocacy group American Rivers, known for annually picking the country's 10 most troubled rivers."

"The global mining firm Rio Tinto announced Monday that it will divest its 19 percent stake in the controversial Pebble Mine project in Alaska,  donating its shares to two state charities."