In Louisiana, a diverse coalition including fishermen, chefs, environmentalists and retailers calls for fair, sustainable sharing of the Gulf of Mexico’s natural resources.

With Louisiana’s coastline sinking and washing away, projects aim to reverse mismanagement that has blocked depositing of sediment at the Mississippi’s mouth.

Landowners in Pennsylvania are managing their forests to provide better habitat for declining species of songbirds like the golden-winged warbler.

In Louisiana, a diverse coalition of fishermen, chefs, restaurateurs, environmentalists and retailers have come together to add their voices to the polarized fight for shares in the natural resources of the Gulf Of Mexico. In Utah, the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument has become an iconic symbol of the Antiquities Act that dates back to President Theodore Roosevelt who started a tradition of using it to protect vast American landscapes. In the Lower Mississippi Valley, a federal program funds the creation of wetland reserve easements to convert flooded farmlands back to the original wetland habitats that were unwisely cleared decades ago.

On the Continental Divide in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, residents support a plan to create new wilderness and wildlife conservation areas, including the nation’s first national historic landscape to honor veterans of the Second World War. In southern Utah, the remote and untamed Escalante River faces a major threat from invasive plants as it winds through spectacular redrock canyons; volunteers chop their way through choking stands of Russian olive to unblock the river and keep it wild and free. A training program in Georgia educates teachers in a new approach to science teaching called 3-D Science – getting teachers and students outside to observe their own surroundings and letting kids’ natural curiosity lead them to learn more.

Landowners in Pennsylvania work with government support to provide critical forest habitat for threatened bat species.

In a “catch share experience” on the Gulf Coast, a charter boat captain with an individual fishing quota shows recreational anglers how sustainable practices promise more income and safety.

With Louisiana’s coastline sinking and washing away, projects to restore the Mississippi Delta aim to reverse decades of mismanagement that has blocked the depositing of sediment at the river’s mouth. Pollution in Lake Erie has focused attention on nutrient runoff from Ohio’s farms, and government advisors are assisting farmers to develop solutions. With nutrient runoff also a problem where farms use poultry litter to fertilize fields, researchers are finding ways to recycle litter into nitrogen and other useful chemicals.

From recent episodes of THIS AMERICAN LAND, these brief summaries of stories highlight major repair and maintenance issues affecting America’s national parks.

With new water rights and a major irrigation project under construction, the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona is gearing up for a revival of an agricultural heritage that sustained them for centuries before white settlers arrived. Public-private partnerships in national parks are saving taxpayers money while supporting critical services, maintenance and repairs. With individual fishing quotas for red snapper, charter boat captains on the Gulf Coast adopt new sustainable practices that provide them with more income and safety.