Natural History Wanderings

The Rural Blog reported

National Park staffing reductions have left Yosemite’s increasing number of visitors to their own devices. Park guests “were far less supervised than they normally were, which had led to the wrong kind of wildness — littering, cliff jumping, drone-flying,” reports Soumya Karlamangla of The New York Times. Since 2025, the National Park Service staff has shrunk by 25%

Read more at With too few employees and rangers, Yosemite National Park hosts visitors with the ‘wrong kind of wildness

ScienceDaily reported

A tiny fish long feared lost has resurfaced in Bolivia, offering a rare conservation success story amid widespread habitat destruction. Moema claudiae, a seasonal killifish unseen for more than 20 years, was rediscovered in a small temporary pond hidden within a fragment of forest surrounded by farmland. The find allowed scientists to photograph the species alive for the first time and uncover new details about its behavior and ecology.

Read more at Back from the dead: “Extinct” fish rediscovered in a remote Bolivian pond after 20 years

SF Gate reported

Aramark, the concessionaire that operates Yosemite National Park’s restaurants, gift shops and lodging facilities, recently notified employees in the park of a new policy that puts their housing stability in serious jeopardy. 

The notice was pinned on the front doors of employee housing units earlier this month, according to an Aramark employee at the park who was granted anonymity in accordance with Hearst’s ethics policy.

Read more at Aramark tells Yosemite workers it’s axing most of their housing rights