Today, the U.S. House of Representatives failed to pass the Farm Bill. The vote, 198-213, saw 30 Republicans join 183 Democrats to defeat the bill.

As the world's attention shifts Saturday to the royal wedding of the United Kingdom's Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle, I wanted to focus this column on the royal family!

My dad was a junior high biology teacher.

You're never too old to learn new things, a spirit that Virginia's accredited New River Land Trust takes to heart by leading field trips for people ages 50 and over.

High school students in Trees Atlanta's summer job program learned landscaping and leadership skills while beautifying Atlanta by watering trees and pulling invasive weeds.

In Colorado's high-altitude San Luis Valley, which contains the headwaters of the Rio Grande, communities and conservationists have always needed to work together to solve water challenges while balancing the needs of people, agriculture and wildlife.

In 1978, during low tide in the Columbia River Estuary, amateur paleontologists exploring the tidal flats in Pacific County, Washington, found the skull and teeth of a primitive whale dating back 25 million years to the Oligocene, a geological epoch.

As we have done for 35 proud years, the Land Trust Alliance continually considers its impact on land trusts and the nation — and ways in which we can work together to save the places that people need and love.

Habitat restoration is a goal of many land trusts, including Three Valley Conservation Trust in Oxford, Ohio.

What's your grown-up version of playing in a puddle?