The previously rural area is now home to coal-fired power stations and plants that process nonferrous metals and chemicals. In Shandong Province, on the lower reaches of the Yellow River ...

Attempts at controlling the Yellow River were begun as early as the third ... Farmers would immediately plant their crops—never needing fertilizers because the flood soil was so rich.

When hydrologist Bob Beschta arrived in Yellowstone in 1996 ... banks were eroding and precious soil was sloughing off down river. Vegetation that used to line and safeguard the riverbanks ...