The Southwest's drought is shrinking wildlife's suitable habitat

[OKIsItJustMe]

https://news.umich.edu/the-southwests-drought-is-shrinking-wildlifes-suitable-habitat/

May 26, 2026
Contact:
Matt Davenport

As people in the United States are coping with historic drought conditions, the country’s wildlife is also facing problems because of the extreme aridity.

Herbivores, omnivores and carnivores in the southwestern U.S. have all seen the extent of their suitable habitat shrink due to drought, according to a new study led by the University of Michigan.

“The take-home message is that the effects of drought are huge and widespread. These results aren’t just from one small study system,” said Kirby Mills, a lead author of the new study published in the journal Communications Earth and Environment.

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The study analyzed 12 years worth of data collected by GPS collars worn by mule deer, black bears and cougars—herbivores, omnivores and carnivores, respectively—in Nevada and Utah (currently, Utah is one of nine states completely covered by some level of drought). During severe drought conditions, each species saw at least a 10% reduction in the area of highly selected, or highly suitable, habitat.

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Leclerc, M., Mills, K.L., Ditmer, M.A. et al. Extreme droughts shrink suitable habitats and reduce fitness for large mammals in the American West. Commun Earth Environ 7, 450 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03530-y

[Deuxcents]

1. Meanwhile..data centers are popping up all over. We are not helping the situation. At all

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. An Incomplete List of Successful Anti-Data Center Legislation

https://www.404media.co/an-incomplete-list-of-successful-anti-data-center-legislation/

Matthew Gault May 25, 2026 at 9:00 AM

Opposition to the massive data centers that power AI is bipartisan and growing across the country. From Maine to California, more states and local communities are passing moratoriums and bans on construction of the noisy, power and water hungry buildings. People are getting arrested for speaking too long at town halls, legislators are receiving death threats, and it’s clear that the fight against these computer warehouses will shape American politics for years to come.

In Ypsialanti Township, Michigan, the University of Michigan has partnered with America’s nuclear weapons scientists to build a massive $1.2 billion data center. Earlier this month, the Ypsilanti utility authority paused the delivery of water to new data center projects for six months, a move the University called “unlawfully discriminatory.”

On May 10, Colleton County South Carolina passed a six month moratorium on data center construction with an option to extend. The moratorium came ahead of the planned construction of an 800 acre data center in the ACE Basin Estuary that would build on 200 acres of untouched wetlands. Local landowners and the South Carolina Environmental Law Center were already suing to halt construction of the project. This is the second location for the particular project. The builders first tried to build the data center in Georgia last year but failed after local opposition grew too strong.

Logistics company Prologis eyed Washington Township, Michigan for a 312-acre data center project. Locals organized and voiced their opposition at planning meetings. “I have just learned that the petitioner for that project has just withdrawn their application,” Audrey Brown, a Washington Township Clerk said in a post on Facebook yesterday. “This means that as of today, there are no data center projects under consideration by the township. Therefore, I will be adding a temporary moratorium for all data center applications for consideration at tomorrow night’s board meeting. The moratorium will give our community time to put legal safeguards in place.”

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