Pennsylvania state parks are making a move to go plastic-free and reduce waste, starting with their concession stands, to help meet the Commonwealth's sustainability goals.

By the end of this year, more than 15 state park food concessionaires will have updated contracts, including eliminating plastic straws, cutlery and food packaging. The renewed agreements also require vendors to convert to using compostable or paper-based products when a park offers on-site composting.

Shea Zwerver, executive policy specialist at the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), said cutting down on litter also helps the overall park ecosystem.

"How we can reduce our amount of waste from the beginning?" Zwerver remarked. "That's eliminating these avoidable items, but then also, transitioning to those bio-based or paper-based compostable options, because they can be broken down and returned back into nutrients."

The department is also adopting solar energy, transitioning to electric-powered vehicles and pursuing LEED-certified buildings as part of its sustainability efforts.

Pennsylvania parks saw a 26% increase in visitors from 2019 to 2020 as more people looked for outdoor activities in the pandemic.

Ben Monk, manager of Beltzville State Park, said the spike in visitors also led to more trash left behind. He pointed out the new paper product requirement at Beltzville can help address it.

"I think as the technology progresses, doing these things all of a sudden are easy," Monk asserted. "And I think as these, switching over to compostable materials and things like that, as they become easier, I think people will adopt them more, and we'll be much better off in the long run."

Beltzville made the switch to paper products during last Memorial Day. As future contracts with vendors expire in other state parks, DCNR will update them with the new requirements.

Connecticut is celebrating its first estuary reserve, which will help identify environmental threats to waterways and natural resources.

Connecticut's first National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) designates more than 50,000 acres of Long Island Sound, adjacent marshes and upland areas for research on climate resiliency, water quality and fish and wildlife habitats.

Patrick Comins, executive director of the Connecticut Audubon Society, has been a strong advocate for the reserve and said it can be a catalyst for critical conservation activity.

"The research that sheds light on the strategies within the NERR for things like climate resilience and mitigation will not only benefit the species -- things like bluefish, saltmarsh sparrow, semipalmated sandpiper, within the NERR -- but will also benefit them wherever they occur, the habitat and the species," Comins outlined.

Nearly 50 species listed under the Connecticut Endangered Species Act can be found within the reserve.

Saturday's designation ceremony is invitation-only and will take place at 11 a.m. on the University of Connecticut's Avery Point campus, which will be the research reserve's headquarters. The reserve receives funding from the state and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Roughly $1 million per year will be earmarked for the reserve.

Kevin O'Brien, supervising environmental analyst for the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said the reserve's educational component for local schools is also key, adding it will help foster environmental stewardship.

"As you're collecting information on changes in water temperature or water quality, opportunities for educational programs to get students to the reserve to work with that data to understand what some of the data might suggest about what the estuary's health is," O'Brien explained.

The research reserve is the country's 30th. Speakers at Saturday's event will include national and state government leaders, representatives from The University of Connecticut and others. After the ceremony, guests will be invited to join a boat tour of a section of the reserve.

A totem pole from Washington state promoting a free-flowing Snake River has nearly completed its 2,500-mile journey around the Northwest.

The Spirit of the Waters Totem Pole Journey started in early May in Bellingham, near the Lummi Indian Reservation where it was carved. Since then, it's traveled through Oregon, Idaho and back to Seattle on Thursday.

Jewell James, head carver of the House of Tears Carvers, said the pole is 16 feet long, weighs 3,000 pounds and sits on two carved, eight-foot-long salmon.

"A killer whale that has a baby whale on its nose to reflect Tahlequah, the whale that lost her calf and carried it around Puget Sound for 17 days and over 1,000 miles trying to get the message to us, the human beings, that we are killing them off," James explained.

James noted the journey is supporting the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes' call to remove four dams on the lower Snake River in southeast Washington, which are impeding salmon migration. The salmon's population drop in the Columbia River Basin in recent decades also has starved Southern Resident orcas in Puget Sound.

Dam supporters said they are integral for barging and irrigation in the region. But James countered there is growing disappointment among tribes and conservation groups with lawmakers' inaction as salmon near extinction.

"They're more prone to protect the interests of corporations than they are the general public," James contended. "And we find that a little frustrating."

The journey has brought together tribal members, conservation groups and the faith community to call for the restoration of the Salmon River. The totem pole is making its final stop in Tacoma today.

This afternoon, members of the public will get to have a say on the management plan for the first new aquatic preserve created in Florida in 32 years.

In 2020, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation to create the Nature Coast Aquatic Preserve, which will protect some 400,000 acres of seagrass spanning more than 700 square miles along Citrus, Hernando, and Pasco counties.

Keith Kolasa, aquatic services and waterways manager with the Hernando County Department of Public Works, said the goal is to be proactive in protecting many sensitive ecosystems.

"Protect and preserve a resource that's in good shape," said Kolasa, "versus trying to restore it similar to what we've seen in Tampa Bay and to the south, where there have been a lot of red tide and algae blooms."

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection will host two remaining public hearings, a virtual one at 6 p.m. today to present the draft Nature Coast Aquatic Preserve Management Plan to the public for their review and feedback, and an in-person meeting next Tuesday in Crystal River.

Details are on floridadep.gov.

The Nature Coast Aquatic Preserve is the second-largest aquatic preserve in Florida. Justin Grubich, science and policy officer with The Pew Charitable Trusts, said the management plan ensures that the way of life can thrive in the area that is heavily dependent on seagrass.

"Not only the biological inhabitants, all the sea turtles and manatees and fish and scallops that we like to catch and view," said Grubich, "but it also helps those coastal communities that depend on those resources for their livelihood."

Grubich said the management plan is a crucial component because it sets the road map for nearly everything that will happen at the preserve, from education to habitat monitoring.

It also identifies the priorities of maintaining those ecosystems and balancing them with public use.

Grubich said another critical component is gathering data management for research and learning about species beyond the areas currently known.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.