Ashley Ahearn
Year started with KUOW: 2011
Ashley Ahearn is KUOW’s award-winning environment reporter and the host of a new national podcast on the environment, terrestrial. Each episode explores the choices we make in a world we have changed.
Ashley has been covering the environment for NPR and member stations for more than a decade and you've probably heard her stories on Morning Edition, Marketplace, All Things Considered, The World and other national shows, as well as right here on KUOW in Seattle.
She has a masters in science journalism from the Annenberg School at the University of Southern California. In her spare time she rides motorcycles and snowboards and hikes in the Olympic and Cascade mountains with her husband and her ridiculously spoiled labradoodle.
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In the past two years, more than 800,000 acres in northern Nevada have burned. The traditional sagebrush rangeland is being replaced by cheatgrass that burns hotter and more frequently.
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A proposed fee of $15 per ton of carbon emissions in Washington state has several exemptions for large emitters, and has rural voters afraid they'll end up paying.
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In a blow to the coal industry, a new terminal in the Pacific Northwest was denied approval after opposition from environmental groups and a debate between local Native American tribes.
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As international leaders convene in Paris to talk about solutions for climate change, one tribe on the Washington coast reluctantly plans its retreat from the encroaching Pacific Ocean.
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Over 1,600 acres of old-growth rainforest have burned in Washington's Olympic National Park. As Ashley Ahearn of KUOW reports, the wildfire is expected to persist through the rest of the summer.
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The Forest Service is set to open more than 80,000 acres for clean, renewable geothermal power in Washington state. But environmentalists are worried about damage to streams and old-growth forests.
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The Port of Seattle has leased space to Shell Oil to dock ships and store Arctic drilling rigs in the off season. City officials and environmentalists question that decision and want Shell out.
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Once a booming timber area, Grays Harbor County is the site of three proposed oil terminals. The local fishing industry sees the uptick in oil movement as a big risk, with limited economic benefits.
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The Environmental Protection Agency and state Department of Ecology have moved in to monitor water pollution and hazardous materials. Residents living in the area have expressed concerns.