Nathan Rott
Nathan Rott is a correspondent on NPR's National Desk, where he focuses on environment issues and the American West.
Based at NPR West in Culver City, California, Rott spends a lot of his time on the road, covering everything from breaking news stories like California's wildfires to in-depth issues like the management of endangered species and many points between.
Rott owes his start at NPR to two extraordinary young men he never met. As the first recipient of the Stone and Holt Weeks Fellowship in 2010, he aims to honor the memory of the two brothers by carrying on their legacy of making the world a better place.
A graduate of the University of Montana, Rott prefers to be outside at just about every hour of the day. Prior to working at NPR, he worked a variety of jobs including wildland firefighting, commercial fishing, children's theater teaching, and professional snow-shoveling for the United States Antarctic Program. Odds are, he's shoveled more snow than you.
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Scientists have long known that plastic waste is bad for marine animals. A new study quantifies how little ingested plastic it takes to be a lethal dose. -
The avian flu is devastating marine mammal populations. A new survey finds that nearly half of breeding females in the world's largest population of southern elephant seals were killed by the virus.
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Scientists have known for decades that many animals use the Earth's magnetic field for navigation. It's less clear how they do it. A new study suggests earthworms may be a good way to figure it out. (This story first aired on All Things Considered on October 15, 2025.)
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Scientists have known for decades that many animals use the Earth's magnetic field for navigation. It's less clear how they do it. A new study suggests earthworms may be a good way to figure it out. (This story first aired on All Things Considered on October 15, 2025.)
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Jane Goodall, a legendary primatologist whose studies of wild chimpanzees transformed our understanding of apes, died Wednesday at age 91.
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On a rare undeveloped point of the California coast, scientists are trying to repopulate shorelines with an endangered marine snail. This type of experimental conservation is becoming more necessary. This story first aired on All Things Considered on November 7, 2024.
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A recent biodiversity meeting acknowledged the serious problem of deforestation while a new report on global environmental threats to trees offered a startling estimate.
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The sound of fear is universal. Screams of mammals have similarities -- irregularities in the sound -- that are meant to draw attention.
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Crews in western North Carolina are using helicopters and ATVs to get food to people who were cut off by flooding caused by the remnants of Hurricane Helene.
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In North Carolina, the hardest-hit communities are also some of the hardest to reach. Days after the remnants of Hurricane Helene, people are trying to decide whether they should stay or leave.
