414 articles
Multnomah Falls
Multnomah Falls is a 620-foot two-tiered waterfall on Multnomah Creek in the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon, about 30 miles east of Portland and the state's tallest.
Muraenidae
Muraenidae, the moray eels, is a family of Anguilliformes eels with about 200-227 species in 15-16 genera, two subfamilies (Muraeninae, Uropterygiinae), tropical reef predators with raptorial pharyngeal jaws.
Muskeg
Muskeg, or Maskīk, is a North American term for peatland, waterlogged terrain of sphagnum moss and stunted black spruce that covers every Canadian province and stores vast carbon.
Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary
Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary (Nalsarovar, નાળ સરોવર) is a 12,000-hectare shallow freshwater lake and Ramsar site (no. 2078, designated 2012) in Gujarat, India, the largest natural wetland of the Thar Desert province and a Central Asia Flyway stopover hosting over 200 bird species.
National wetland policy in Africa, Latin America, the Pacific and the Middle East
National wetland policy in Africa, Latin America, the Pacific, and the Middle East covers the country-level laws, programs, and institutions governing wetlands outside regions with the most developed statutes.
National wetland policy in Asia
National wetland policy in Asia is the set of laws and rules by which Asian countries protect and manage their wetlands, with China's first comprehensive statute effective June 2022.
National wetland policy: comparative structures and inventory programs
A national wetland policy is the set of laws, permits, and inventory programs by which a country protects, regulates, and maps its wetlands, using models that differ widely.
National Wetlands Inventory
National Wetlands Inventory (NWI), a 1974 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service program, maps U.S. wetlands and deepwater habitats using the Cowardin classification, publishes the Wetlands Mapper and Status and Trends reports, and is not a jurisdictional wetland determination.
Neiriz Lakes & Kamjan Marshes
Neiriz Lakes & Kamjan Marshes (Neyriz Lakes and Kamjan Marshes), Ramsar site no. 39 in Fars, Iran, designated 1975: saline Lakes Bakhtegan and Tashk plus freshwater Kamjan Marshes, 108,000 ha, on the Montreux Record since 1990 and shrinking from drainage, dams, and drought.
Nemunas Delta
The Nemunas Delta (Nemuno delta) is the river delta at the mouth of the Nemunas, Lithuania's largest river, where it empties into the Curonian Lagoon, protected as a regional park and Ramsar wetland.
Neyrac-les-Bains
Neyrac-les-Bains, a thermal spa in Meyras, Ardèche, France, on the maar Doris volcano; 37°C carbogazeous bicarbonated water, a rare CO2 mofette, Roman origins, and cures for skin and rheumatic conditions.
Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls: three waterfalls (Horseshoe, American, Bridal Veil) on the Canada-US Niagara River between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario; 57 m Horseshoe drop, 168,000 m3/min peak flow, 1950 Treaty flow limits, hydropower, and 12,500-year erosion history.
Niger Source
Niger Source is a 180,400-hectare Ramsar wetland in Faranah prefecture, Guinea, designated 17 January 2002, protecting the headwaters of the Niger River; also a Classified Forest since 1945.
Nigula Nature Reserve
Nigula Nature Reserve (Nigula looduskaitseala), established 11 July 1957 in Pärnu County, Estonia, protects a 6,430.9 ha West Estonian raised bog, old forests, and bog islands; Ramsar site since 1997, Natura 2000 since 2004, with bird monitoring since 1968.
Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan (西山温泉慶雲館)
Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan (西山温泉慶雲館), also called Koshu Nishiyama Hot Spring Keiunkan, is a hot-spring ryokan in Hayakawa, Yamanashi, Japan, founded in 705 by Fujiwara Mahito and Guinness-certified since 2011 as the world's oldest hotel.
No net loss wetlands policy
No net loss of wetlands is a US policy goal requiring permitted wetland losses to be offset by restoration or creation, adopted by President George H. W. Bush in 1988.
North American beaver
The North American beaver (Castor canadensis) is the continent's largest rodent, a keystone ecosystem engineer that builds dams and lodges, was nearly exterminated by the fur trade, and is invasive in parts of Eurasia.
North American Waterfowl Management Plan
The North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP) is a 1986 Canada–U.S. treaty-style agreement, joined by Mexico in 1994, restoring waterfowl to 1970s levels via wetland habitat conservation delivered through 22 habitat and 3 species joint ventures.
North Caspian swamp
North Caspian swamp: shallow-water wetlands, reed beds and deltas of the Caspian Sea's northern basin in Kazakhstan and Russia; under 5 m deep over two-thirds of its area, Volga-fed, Ramsar-protected, and retreating as sea level falls.
Nyssa sylvatica
Nyssa sylvatica (blackgum, black tupelo, sour gum) is a deciduous Nyssaceae tree native from southern Ontario and the eastern United States to Mexico, 5–30 m tall, dioecious, IUCN Least Concern, with red fall foliage, wildlife fruit, tupelo honey, and tough wood.
Okavango Delta
Okavango Delta System: endorheic inland delta (alluvial fan) in north-western Botswana, fed by Angola's Okavango River; Ramsar site 1996, UNESCO World Heritage Site 2014; Africa's largest endorheic delta.
Okefenokee Swamp
Okefenokee Swamp: a nearly 700-square-mile blackwater peatland in southeast Georgia, headwaters of the Suwannee and St. Marys rivers, a National Wildlife Refuge since 1937 and a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2026.
Old Croghan Man
Old Croghan Man: Irish Early Iron Age bog body (c. 362–175 BC) found June 2003 in Clonearl Bog, Co. Offaly; ~198 cm tall, manicured nails, ritual killing, displayed at the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin.
Old Faithful
Old Faithful, a cone geyser in Yellowstone National Park's Upper Geyser Basin, Wyoming, erupts boiling water up to 184 feet every 54 minutes to about two hours.
Olvassuo Mires
Olvassuo Mires (Finnish: Olvassuo) is a large, mostly pristine aapa mire complex in northern Finland, designated a Ramsar site in 2004 and known as a breeding ground for mire birds.
Onsen (温泉)
Onsen (温泉) are Japanese hot springs and the bathing facilities built on them, legally defined by the 1948 Hot Spring Law, distinct from sento public baths, with over 2,300 facilities, nude bathing etiquette, and a toji spa-cure tradition.
Orinoco Delta & Coastal Drainages
Orinoco Delta & Coastal Drainages, FEOW freshwater ecoregion 309, covers the Orinoco Delta in Venezuela plus coastal rivers of northwestern Guyana; a 22,000 km2 tidal wetland with four endemic fishes, the Warao people, and the Delta del Orinoco Biosphere Reserve.
Palouse Falls
Palouse Falls is a 198-foot waterfall on the Palouse River in southeastern Washington, made Washington's official state waterfall in 2014 and formed by the Ice Age Missoula floods.
Paludiculture
Paludiculture is productive farming or forestry on wet or rewetted peatlands that keeps water tables high to preserve peat. Also called wet agriculture; crops include reed, cattail, Sphagnum, sago; cuts GHG emissions versus drained peatland farming.
Pantanal
The Pantanal is the world's largest tropical wetland, about 42 million acres across Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay, defined by an annual flood pulse, exceptional wildlife including jaguars and 10 million caimans, extensive cattle ranching, and growing fire and drought threats.