When veterans retire from the military—whether voluntarily or from injury—it can be a difficult transition. Gone is the camaraderie that gave their lives structure and often lost is a sense of purpose. A partnership with the National Park Service is helping wounded warriors to heal and restore connections by giving them a mission underwater.

In the early days of the COVID-19 lockdowns, social media was flooded with reports of animals reclaiming abandoned environments. According to one widely shared post, dolphins had returned to the canals of Venice. While many of those stories have since been debunked, conservationists are providing legitimate reports of cleaner air and water, and wildlife reclaiming contested habitats.

Light rain and "burnout operations" used to deprive the Moon Fish fire of fuels in key areas helped firefighters keep the blaze in Big Cypress National Preserve from growing its footprint, though only 10 percent of the fire had been contained.

In the watery world of national parks that touch the Caribbean Sea and the Straits of Florida, staghorn corals add some height to reefs. Their outstretched arms rise from the reefs, often mimicking elk or deer antlers to onlookers with some imagination. But since the 1970s more than 95 percent of these distinctive corals have died, and fears that they would vanish were growing. Now, though, research indicates that a vigorous transplanting initiative possibly could help recover the species.