VPR joins other NPR stations in the Northeast to bring listeners coverage of environmental issues affecting the region.

Scientists released a Golden eagle in Connecticut about a month ago outfitted with a GPS tracking device. Researchers say by following the journey of birds like this they can make predictions about where to build wind turbines that are not on migration routes. Today we have an update on the eagle's path since it left the state.

It's not that unusual to see bald eagles in parts of the Northeast, but golden eagles are rare here. In all there are only one to two thousand in eastern North America. As part of a collaboration of Northeast public radio stations, WNPR's Nancy Cohen reports from a windswept hilltop in Connecticut where a rescued Golden eagle was released into the wild.

The nation's first carbon trade system, which started in the Northeast may be in trouble. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, is designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 10-percent by 2018. But now, three of the 10 states in the initiative are considering withdrawing, in part because of the cost to electric ratepayers.

In northern New Hampshire, local activists are fighting a power line that would send the electricity south. And questions are being raised about whether big hydro is really green.

Farmers markets have seen huge growth in the past three decades. They give consumers access to local food, sometimes at a lower price. And farmers can sell without a middleman getting a cut.  Now, some markets run through the entire winter. The number of winter-long markets have doubled, tripled... even quadrupled in some states.

The extreme snowfall has pitted disposing snow against protecting the water. Many cities in the Northeast have run out of space to put the snow and are asking for permission to dump it in waterways.

One of the world's largest reserves of natural gas --enough to supply the entire U.S. for more than two years-- lies buried deep below southern New York and nearby states in an area known as the Marcellus Shale. But the method used to extract it, called hydro-fracking, is sparking a contentious debate.

December is typically a good time for business. And one of the best places to sell things is New York City. That's why every year a number of hardy tree farmers make the long trip south and stay for several weeks --- to sell Christmas trees.

A "cap-and-trade" climate-change proposal is stalled in Washington. But a similar program has been up and running in ten states from Maine to Delaware for two years  

From east of the Hudson River and up through New England, efforts are under way to save what's become a rare species of rabbit - the New England cottontail.

States farther north have launched educational programs to try to reduce moose collisions. New Hampshire may have something to teach the rest of the region.

In Colonial times, making hard cider - the kind with alcohol in it - was a way to preserve the apple crop. It was even used as currency. In recent decades, there's been a quiet resurgence of craft cider making in New England and New York.

Many Republicans in the region once backed climate change legislation, and embraced a policy known as "cap-and-trade" to reduce greenhouse gases. But a lot of Republican candidates in the Northeast are now campaigning aggressively against cap-and-trade.

Across the Northeast, people have been cooling off wherever they can. On Cape Cod, it's the National Seashore.  In Vermont, it's backwoods swimming holes or Lake Champlain. And in New York City this month, people are taking a dip right on the street.  In special pools made out of Dumpsters. 

Some farmers in the Northeast are in the midst of an experiment in energy independence. They're growing crops that produce the fuel to run their tractors and equipment.

A century ago, raising your own chickens wasn't unusual. Now, even in Vermont, most people get their eggs in cartons, and their chicken wings wrapped in plastic. But there are a growing number of people nationwide who are reviving the art of chicken rearing.

These days, companies are more likely to be cutting employee benefits than adding any perks. But even in this down economy, some businesses are offering an unusual new benefit that doesn't cost a lot, but that some employees are really "digging".

A conservation group in the Northeast is helping wildlife groups, along with state and federal agencies figure out the location of shorebirds that may be hurt by the Gulf oil spill. But gathering that information isn't easy. Researchers in Louisiana are spending long, hot days counting small birds.

As the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico continues, scientists and wildlife conservationists are warning that large numbers of birds could be lost, and there are concerns about other shorebirds nesting in and around the northeast. Efforts are underway to track these birds and to mitigate for a far-reaching disaster.