The Nevada state reptile faces multiple threats, mostly man-made. Concerned scientists are racing to find a solution.

Metroparks Toledo now has scientific evidence to prove two of its more controversial decisions in recent years — culling deer and removing non-native trees, including pines — have paid dividends in terms of expanded, diversified, and healthier plant growth.

Metroparks Toledo now has scientific evidence to prove two of its more controversial decisions in recent years — culling deer and removing non-native trees, including pines — have paid dividends in terms of expanded, diversified, and healthier plant growth.

How do you make a great park even better? They carefully wrestle with that conundrum regularly at Oak Openings, a precious and rare ecosystem that is part of a large region of oak savanna that the Nature Conservancy once called one of the 200 “Last Great Places on Earth.”

The public outcry over the selective thinning of beautiful — but non-native — pine trees from Oak Opening Preserve Metropark is being tempered by science that now shows the controversial Metroparks Toledo decision from years past is paying off.

Scott Abella began researching changes in plant life in the Oak Openings in 2002 as an undergraduate intern from Grand Valley State University in Michigan. Fifteen years later, Dr. Abella, assistant professor in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, continues his research on his summer breaks.

Master’s student Ka-Voka Jackson has combined her passion for biology and the environment with her Native American roots to help solve environmental issues from a unique perspective.

In recent years, conservation and environmental awareness have become sexy topics on college campuses, but two University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) students have gone beyond words, bumper stickers and fancy slogans.