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Changes in pollutant concentrations in environmental media occur both from pollutant transport in water or air and from local processes, such as adsorption, degradation, precipitation, straining, and so on. The terms "fate and transport" and "transport and fate" reflect the coupling of moving with the carrier media and biogeochemical processes describing local transformations or interactions. The Journal of Environmental Quality (JEQ) was one of the first to publish papers on fate and transport (F&T). This paper is a minireview written to commemorate the 50th anniversary of JEQ and show how the research interests, methodology, and public attention have been reflected in fate and transport publications in JEQ during the last 40 years. We report the statistics showing how the representation of different pollutant groups in papers changed with time. Major focus areas have included the effect of solution composition on F&T and concurrent F&T, the role of organic matter, and the relative role of different F&T pathways. The role of temporal and spatial heterogeneity has been studied at different scales. The value of long-term F&T studies and developments in modeling as the F&T research approach was amply demonstrated. Fate and transport studies have been an essential part of conservation measure evaluation and comparison and ecological risk assessment. For 50 years, JEQ has delivered new insights, methods, and applications related to F&T science. The importance of its service to society is recognized, and we look forward to new generations of F&T researchers presenting their contributions in JEQ.

Soil salinity negatively impacts the productivity and profitability of western San Joaquin Valley (WSJV) farmland. Many factors, including drought, climate change, reduced water allocations, and land-use changes could worsen salinity conditions there, and in other agricultural lands in the state. Mapping soil salinity at regional and state levels is essential for identifying drivers and trends in agricultural soil salinity, and for developing mitigation strategies, but traditional soil sampling for salinity does not allow for accurate large-scale mapping. We tested remote-sensing modeling to map root zone soil salinity for farmland in the WSJV. According to our map, 0.78 million acres are salt affected (i.e., ECe > 4 dS/m), which represents 45% of the mapped farmland; 30% of that acreage is strongly or extremely saline. Independent validations of the remote-sensing estimations indicated acceptable to excellent correspondences, except in areas of low salinity and high soil heterogeneity. Remote sensing is a viable tool for helping landowners make decisions about land use and also for helping water districts and state agencies develop salinity mitigation strategies.

International audience; Forestry – including afforestation (the planting of trees on land where they have not recently existed), reforestation, avoided deforestation, and forest management – can lead to increased sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide and has therefore been proposed as a strategy to mitigate climate change. However, forestry also influences land-surface properties, including albedo (the fraction of incident sunlight reflected back to space), surface roughness, and evapotranspiration, all of which affect the amount and forms of energy transfer to the atmosphere. In some circumstances, these biophysical feedbacks can result in local climate warming, thereby counteracting the effects of carbon sequestration on global mean temperature and reducing or eliminating the net value of climate-change mitigation projects. Here, we review published and emerging research that suggests ways in which forestry projects can counteract the consequences associated with biophysical interactions, and highlight knowledge gaps in managing forests for climate protection. We also outline several ways in which biophysical effects can be incorporated into frameworks that use the maintenance of forests as a climate protection strategy.