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Apr 2023
14m 37s

SUPERBLOOM: An Upside To The California ...

NPR
About this episode
California's wet winter has devastated many local communities. It has also benefited some of the state's endangered ecosystems. Those benefits are on full display in California's largest remaining grassland. Wetlands, long severed from the rivers and streams that nourished them, are being flooded with freshwater. Biologists are seeing baby salmon, fattened by new food sources in flood plains, make their way to sea. Endangered birds and waterfowl are nesting next to flooded fields. Today, NPR climate correspondent Nate Rott takes us on a tour through California's booming natural beauty.

To see one of the superblooms and other ecological benefits, check out Nate's story — filled with photos by NPR's ace photographer Claire Harbage: https://n.pr/428xWOB.

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