Positive Wildlife News 2021

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Bipartisan Legislation to Fund Wildlife Recovery Introduced in the U.S. Senate

The funding provided will benefit birds, other wildlife, and communities across the United States.

Today Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) introduced the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act. The bipartisan legislation, introduced in the House of Representatives earlier this year, will dedicate $1.3 billion for states and territories and $97.5 million to tribal nations annually for proactive, on-the-ground conservation projects, creating over 30,000 jobs and generate over $93 billion in total economic activity.

“The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act will be an important part of how we respond to the loss of 3 billion birds in North America since 1970,” said Sarah Greenberger, senior vice president for conservation policy, National Audubon Society. “The dedicated funding provided in this bill will help state wildlife agencies proactively conserve vulnerable species, like the Golden-Winged Warbler and Black Tern.”

Bipartisan Legislation to Fund Wildlife Recovery Introduced in the U.S. Senate
 
UngulateNerd92 said:
Bipartisan Legislation to Fund Wildlife Recovery Introduced in the U.S. Senate

The funding provided will benefit birds, other wildlife, and communities across the United States.

Today Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) introduced the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act. The bipartisan legislation, introduced in the House of Representatives earlier this year, will dedicate $1.3 billion for states and territories and $97.5 million to tribal nations annually for proactive, on-the-ground conservation projects, creating over 30,000 jobs and generate over $93 billion in total economic activity.

“The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act will be an important part of how we respond to the loss of 3 billion birds in North America since 1970,” said Sarah Greenberger, senior vice president for conservation policy, National Audubon Society. “The dedicated funding provided in this bill will help state wildlife agencies proactively conserve vulnerable species, like the Golden-Winged Warbler and Black Tern.”

Bipartisan Legislation to Fund Wildlife Recovery Introduced in the U.S. Senate
Click to expand...
A major step in the right direction!
 
Last-Known Habitat Of The World's Rarest Bird Protected

Stresemann's Bristlefront will get added protection with the addition of much-needed habitat to Mata do Passarinho Reserve. Photo by Ciro Albano

More than 500 acres of Atlantic Forest, including the area where the last known Stresemann's Bristlefront was detected, will be added to the Mata do Passarinho, or “Songbird Forest,” Reserve in Brazil. American Bird Conservancy (ABC) partner Fundação Biodiversitas (Biodiversitas) has taken ownership of the added acreage, which consists of two rare fragments of intact Atlantic Forest. This biome is one of the most threatened in the world, with less than10 percent of its original area remaining.

Last-known Habitat of the World’s Rarest Bird Protected
 
Once-endangered June sucker downgraded to ‘threatened’ status amid $50 million Provo River Delta Restoration

The gray-brown, five-foot-long June sucker fish only exists in one place in the world: in Utah Lake. Due to habitat loss and an invasive fish species, there were only about a thousand fish left at a time. But now the population is recovering thanks to a $ 50 million delta restoration near Utah Lake.

The fish live in Utah Lake, but their main spawning grounds are in the Provo River and surrounding wetlands. The Provo River Delta Restoration Project aims to restore this ecosystem. Due to his efforts, 4,300 tracked fish are spawning in the Provo River this year, a number that is likely 10-20% of the total population.

It is a far cry from the population low of 1,000 in 1986 when it was classified as an endangered species.

Once-endangered June sucker downgraded to ‘threatened’ status amid $50 million Provo River Delta Restoration
 
Paraguay's San Rafael reserve is being restored in a buzz-worthy way

Youth conservationist Fabiana Benítez tells how one rainforest is being restored with the help of BirdLife Partners and tea.

I knew when I was five years old that I wanted to be involved in biodiversity. I grew up in a city, but what I really loved was swimming in the village springs at my grandmother’s house surrounded by birdsong, or learning from my father how to fish for our dinner and harvest honey.

Paraguay's San Rafael reserve is being restored in a buzz-worthy way
 
Endangered yellow-legged frogs find new home in San Jacinto Mountains

Idyllwild, Riverside County, California - Several hundred endangered mountain yellow-legged frogs were released into the San Jacinto Mountains, and more are on the way, to begin what biologists hope will be years-long breeding activity to promote sustainability of the species, the U.S. Forest Service said Monday.

The 253 frogs were bred as part of a San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance project focused on restoring the species' habitat in the San Bernardino National Forest.

Endangered yellow-legged frogs find new home in San Jacinto Mountains
 
Nearly 12,000 acres of Eel River Peninsula's Tule elk habitat protected, opened to public access

Thanks to the strong conservation ethic and vision of a northern California landowner, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is pleased to announce nearly 12,000 acres of tule elk habitat is now permanently protected and in the public’s hands.

The conservation transaction conserves critical forestlands from threats of conversion and builds upon the Eel River Peninsula Conservation Strategy to protect up to 70,000 acres of northern California’s coastal wildlife habitat.

Nearly 12,000 Acres of Eel River Peninsula’s Tule Elk Habitat Protected, Opened to Public Access | Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
 
Monks Wood Wilderness: 60 years ago, scientists let a farm field rewild – here's what happened

"Will it become a wood again, how long will it take, which species will be in it?"

In the archive of the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology there is a typed note from the 1960s that planted the seed of an idea.

Written by Kenneth Mellanby, director of the Monks Wood Experimental Station, a former research centre in Cambridgeshire, UK, the note describes a four-hectare arable field that lies next to the station and the ancient woodland of the Monks Wood National Nature Reserve. After harvesting a final barley crop, the field was ploughed and then abandoned in 1961.

Monks Wood Wilderness: 60 years ago, scientists let a farm field rewild – here's what happened
 
Good Tiger News: Northeast China Is Home to 55 Amur Tigers

The next global hotspot for wild tigers could be in China

Extensive land-use planning, improved habitat connectivity, restoration of prey, and reduction of human impacts are needed to restore tigers in four key landscapes

An international team of scientists say that tigers could come roaring back in an unlikely place: northeastern China.

Scientists from Northeastern Forest University in Harbin, China, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), UC Davis, Amur Tiger National Reserve, World Wildlife Fund, and other groups recently published their results in the journal Biological Conservation, and say that four major forested landscapes – Laoyeling, Zhang-Guangcailing, Wandashan and the Lesser Khinghan Mountains may be able to support more than 300 Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica) including 119 breeding females.

Good Tiger News: Northeast China Is Home to 55 Amur Tigers
 
UngulateNerd92 said:
First endangered ʻuaʻu observed on Maunakea in more than 60 years

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo researchers located an endangered native seabird called the ʻuaʻu and a nesting site on Maunakea in May 2021. Active ʻuaʻu (also known as the Hawaiian petrel or Pterodroma sandwichensis) have not been recorded on the mauna since 1954.

“When we saw them for the first time it was almost a moment of disbelief,” said conservationist Bret Nainoa Mossman, a UH Hilo alumnus who along with UH Hilo researcher Patrick Hart spent years enduring frigid conditions after sundown on Maunakea searching for the seabirds. “We had been looking for them for so long that they were kind of like this ghost that we were just chasing on the mauna. To actually see them, just like really connected the dots and really cemented how important what we were doing really is because no one else was looking for these birds for quite a long time.”

https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2021/07/08/uau-observed-on-maunakea/
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Translocated birds return to Nihoku and are confirmed breeding :) :

After Years at Sea, First Hawaiian Petrel Pair Nests at Nihokū
 
Ile-Balkhash Nature Reserve Conducts Largest Release of Bukhara Deers in Its History

The third and the largest release of the Bukhara deer (Cervus bactrianus) took place in the Ile-Balkhash nature reserve of the Almaty region on July 12, reported the World Wide Fund (WWF) Representation in Central Asia.

“Together with the WWF, 61 deers were planned for release, which is a record number for one year. Camera traps were set up in the release zone to observe the deers that returned to nature. In addition, a total of nine satellite collars are used to enhance the control of the deer population,” said Head of the Almaty Regional Territorial Inspection of Forestry and Wildlife Department Leonid Sidorenko.

Ile-Balkhash Nature Reserve Conducts Largest Release of Bukhara Deers in Its History - The Astana Times
 
Nova Scotia bats are back (a bit) after most were lost to white-nose syndrome

Researchers are excited to find more bats have emerged in Nova Scotia this year than anticipated.

Lori Phinney, wildlife biologist with the Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute, said they have been monitoring several sites in the province for the past five years or so and with more observed this spring, they want to get the word out so that members of the public can also keep an eye out for the fuzzy fliers in hopes of getting a broader idea of how they're doing across Nova Scotia.

Nova Scotia bats are back (a bit) after most were lost to white-nose syndrome | Saltwire
 
Camera trap cameo for Buru Island babirusa last seen 26 years ago
  • Camera traps have snapped the babirusa “deer-pig,” a type of tusked wild swine, on an island in Indonesia where they hadn’t been observed in more than a quarter of a century.
  • Locals on Buru Island had previously reported seeing the animal there, but the new images are the first official confirmation of babirusa there since 1995.
  • Officials are designing a conservation program for the Maluku or hairy babirusa (Babyrousa babyrussa) found on Buru and trying to determine its presence on two other islands.
  • According to local lore, a babirusa will appear to guide a person lost in the forest to safety.
Camera traps have confirmed the presence of babirusa on Indonesia’s Buru Island for the first time in 26 years, the country’s environment ministry announced earlier this month.

https://news-mongabay-com.cdn.amppr...u-island-babirusa-last-seen-26-years-ago/amp/
 
UngulateNerd92 said:
Camera trap cameo for Buru Island babirusa last seen 26 years ago



    • Camera traps have snapped the babirusa “deer-pig,” a type of tusked wild swine, on an island in Indonesia where they hadn’t been observed in more than a quarter of a century.
    • Locals on Buru Island had previously reported seeing the animal there, but the new images are the first official confirmation of babirusa there since 1995.
    • Officials are designing a conservation program for the Maluku or hairy babirusa (Babyrousa babyrussa) found on Buru and trying to determine its presence on two other islands.
    • According to local lore, a babirusa will appear to guide a person lost in the forest to safety.
Camera traps have confirmed the presence of babirusa on Indonesia’s Buru Island for the first time in 26 years, the country’s environment ministry announced earlier this month.

https://news-mongabay-com.cdn.amppr...u-island-babirusa-last-seen-26-years-ago/amp/
Click to expand...
It should be in the rediscovered species thread.
 
Northern pool frog project reversing extinction say experts

A frog which has been extinct in England since the 1990s has been reintroduced to its original habitat after some were flown over from Sweden.

The northern pool frog was last found at Thompson Common, in Norfolk.

The Swedish specimens were introduced to a secret site in Norfolk in 2005 and tadpoles have since been successfully moved back to ponds at the common.

"That means we can reverse extinction, and it's not often you can say that for an animal," a conservation group said.

https://www-bbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-norfolk-57991619.amp
 
For species in the red, IUCN’s new Green Status signals conservation wins
  • The IUCN will soon be launching the IUCN Green Status of Species, a new assessment tool that will illuminate the ecological functionality of species within their ranges, and also show how much a species has recovered due to conservation efforts.
  • The new framework will classify species into nine recovery categories, and measure the impact of past and present conservation efforts and recovery potential in the short term and long term.
  • A team of more than 200 international researchers presented preliminary Green Status assessments for 181 species in a new paper.
  • The IUCN Green Status for Species will officially launch online at the start of the IUCN World Conservation Congress in September.
The California condor has been teetering on the brink of extinction for decades. When the species was first assessed in 1994 for the IUCN Red List, the global authority on the conservation statuses of species, it was listed as “critically endangered.” Nearly 30 years later, its status has not changed. But this doesn’t tell the whole story.

https://news-mongabay-com.cdn.amppr...w-green-status-signals-conservation-wins/amp/
 
UngulateNerd92 said:
For species in the red, IUCN’s new Green Status signals conservation wins



    • The IUCN will soon be launching the IUCN Green Status of Species, a new assessment tool that will illuminate the ecological functionality of species within their ranges, and also show how much a species has recovered due to conservation efforts.
    • The new framework will classify species into nine recovery categories, and measure the impact of past and present conservation efforts and recovery potential in the short term and long term.
    • A team of more than 200 international researchers presented preliminary Green Status assessments for 181 species in a new paper.
    • The IUCN Green Status for Species will officially launch online at the start of the IUCN World Conservation Congress in September.
The California condor has been teetering on the brink of extinction for decades. When the species was first assessed in 1994 for the IUCN Red List, the global authority on the conservation statuses of species, it was listed as “critically endangered.” Nearly 30 years later, its status has not changed. But this doesn’t tell the whole story.

https://news-mongabay-com.cdn.amppr...w-green-status-signals-conservation-wins/amp/
Click to expand...
It is a commendable and well advised they now have a category for success stories as in conservation and restoration work!
 
New family of Critically Endangered forest elephants spotted, including three babies

A previously unknown family of eight African forest elephants were recently captured by camera traps in Guinea.

Conservationists at Fauna & Flora International (FFI) and Centre Forestier N’Zérékoré are celebrating after their camera traps captured footage of a family of African forest elephants in the Ziama Forest in Guinea.

New family of Critically Endangered forest elephants spotted, including three babies
 
Fresh hope for one of world's rarest raptors

A new study by conservation experts in the UK and Mauritius will guide the next steps in the recovery of a tropical bird of prey, once regarded as the rarest bird in the world.

After it was discovered that only a handful remained in the wild in the early 1970s, Mauritius Kestrel became the focus of an ongoing restoration programme. The project saw scientists and conservation biologists from around the world come together to reintroduce the threatened species, in a bid to bring it back from the brink of extinction.

Now in new research published this week, scientists have analysed decades of monitoring data from the programme, which has provided a comprehensive insight into the kestrels' survival and breeding rates – revealing how successful the reintroduction has been on the Indian Ocean island.

Fresh hope for one of world's rarest raptors - BirdGuides
 
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