At 10 years old, Nancy Pau’s whole world changed when she moved from a small island on the coast of China — with no running water or electricity — to New York City.

“We went from a place where everyone knew each other and kids had free run of the outdoors to one where we were told to lock the doors and not answer the phone,” she said.

She adapted, and eventually thrived, in her new home.

Now a wildlife biologist at Parker River National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Massachusetts, she works to restore the Great Marsh and make it…

Terri-Lynn Hall is looking forward to next spring. For the first time in her 32 years on the Charleston, Maine, Select Board, perhaps Crooked Brook and its tributaries will leave town roads intact.

“It happens at least twice a year at certain crossings,” Hall said. “The road completely washes out and isn’t passable.”

Next year should be different due to five road-stream crossing upgrades funded in large part by a settlement with Chevron, Texaco, and other owners and operators of the Chevron marine oil terminal in Hampden, Maine.

Residents of Charleston will enjoy greater safety and fewer expenses, but they…

If you’re looking for the best pizza near Atlantic City, Ron Popowski is your man. The supervisory fish and wildlife biologist at the Service’s New Jersey Field Office is a self-proclaimed pizza critic and loves debating the merits of local pies.

In fact, given his work history, he likely can recommend a good slice in many parts of the country. In addition to more than 20 years with the Fish and Wildlife Service, he’s had positions with the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service. …

What does the ideal dam removal and river restoration look like? There’s no such thing as perfect, but the Saccarappa Falls project in Westbrook, Maine, comes close. Not that it was easy…or quick.

“This project has gone on for so long it’s become a way of life for me,” said Michael Shaughnessy, president and co-founder of Friends of the Presumpscot River, who has been advocating for fish passage on the waterway for more than 20 years. “For the last year, I was concerned it wouldn’t happen — right up until the headwall was broken.”

Over the last two decades, a…

The last line of Chris Lowie’s email signature is personal: carry on the legacy. . . . . what ever you want it to be. It’s a motto inspired by his father, who lived to 90 and is never far from his thoughts.

Growing up in the Finger Lakes region of New York, Lowie and his seven siblings spent a lot of time outdoors.

“It all happened at the lake cottage,” he recalled fondly. “We learned to hunt and fish and to live with integrity.”

As manager of Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, and with nearly 30 years as…

If not for a trip to South Africa following freshman year in college, Keith Ramos may have become a pediatrician. Instead, a visit to Kruger National Park opened his eyes to the possibility of making a living working with — and for — wildlife. The kids’ loss is the critters’ gain.

Now manager of three national wildlife refuges in northern Maine — Moosehorn, Sunkhaze Meadows, and Aroostook — Ramos grew up in Puerto Rico watching Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom on Telemundo on Saturday mornings. …

The last time a common loon hatched in southern Massachusetts, there were only 37 states in the U.S.; Ulysses S. Grant was President; and there was no such thing as a telephone. Yeah, it’s been a while.

So imagine the excitement one charcoal ball-of-fluff bobbing between its protective parents near Fall River has caused among those who have been working to bring this bird back for years.

“Seeing the first loon chick in over a century in southern Massachusetts creates hope that, with persistence, other systems can be made whole again,” said David C. Evers, Ph.D., …

Albert Spells tells a story about a small stream in Barnwell, South Carolina, that flows through a culvert under Route 278. His brother Carnell and friend Thomas dubbed it The Little Stream. The Little Stream was their favorite fishing hole as young teenagers.

“It wasn’t much of a stream, but it was ‘our stream,’” he said. “We could always catch fish at The Little Stream, and we thoroughly enjoyed fishing there.”

During spring break of his freshman year at South Carolina State College, they went to fish at The Little Stream. …