OTNP June 2026

The Center For Biological Diversity wins for us, and nature again.
Loophole in Endangered Species Act Is Closed to Coal Miners After Court Ruling https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/loophole-through-endangered-species-act-protections-closed-for-coal-miners-after-court-ruling/
I am seriously late getting my newsletter out this month and I apologize! Lots of fun things going on.

I hike regularly in the Santa Monica mountains just north of Santa Monica in Los Angeles. As I was going up my regular trail I heard a buzzing that I assumed was a large number of flies around something but I stepped carefully several feet off the trail and looked and discovered thousands of native bees nesting in holes they had dug in the ground
https://youtube.com/shorts/n9-AxgzGNMw?is=AdgeFKmtofZ5fZYr
The dramatic collapse of Bombus pensylvanicus has made it a species of major conservation concern. [1, 2]
Historic Abundance: The American bumble bee was formerly the most widespread and common bumble bee species in the southern U.S. and eastern Great Plains.
Current Status: Populations have plunged by roughly 89%. While still present in some southern states, it has become critically rare or entirely extirpated in the northern parts of its historical range.

Another fun thing I have done recently is that I have gotten a garden at a big community Garden in Los Angeles again. It has 500 gardens and people grow everything from food to flowers to just fun plants. I’ve been in a half dozen community gardens over the years and some only allow one to grow food vegetable plants. That isn’t benefiting our native pollinators and this particular Garden is fantastic in that it promotes growing flowers as well as food. I bring that up because it is one of the few places in Los Angeles in the last couple of decades that I have seen bumblebees.

Spinach, which holds the top spot in this year’s dirty dozen, had more pesticide residue by weight than any other type of produce and “contained, on average, four or more different types of pesticides,” according to Environmental Working Group, which has published the annual report since 2004. (Over 20 years my friends)

Before the USDA examines each sample, the fruit or vegetable is peeled or scrubbed and thoroughly washed to mimic consumer behavior at home. Even after taking those steps, testing found traces of 264 pesticides — of those, 203 appeared on Dirty Dozen produce.

For the first time, the report found over 60% of all Dirty Dozen samples contain pesticides that are also “forever chemicals” called PFAS. The top three most frequently detected pesticides on produce were these perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

Chemicals used on Spinach in California in 2023

And this illustrates the serious problem with systemic insecticides.
They are taken up by the plant and contained within its tissues.
You cannot
Wash them
Off

And lastly
We Are Bombarding America’s Forests With Roundup – Mother Jones https://share.google/1486qTVA6jhsAVzqP
Since this is directly related to my our toxic national parks I will do a more complete evaluation of this story next month.

We desperately need
#ChemFreeZones
Especially around our schools!

Please ask our environmental organizations to provide basic information on what pesticides the national parks are spraying.
https://chng.it/9Dj4vKwbK5

For past OTNP (#_OTNP on X) issues.
https://www.puravidaaquatic.com/wordpress/past-ourtoxicnationalparks-posts/
But you may want to start here. www.puravidaaquatic.com/wordpress/why-i-started-this/
If you have received this as a forward and would like to continue receiving it please email me “vidaaquatic@gmail.com”
And if you would like to donate as little as $5 to the cause, you can Zelle it to vidaaquatic@gmail.com. thank you very much.
Bob
The best to everyone