Positive Wildlife News 2023

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Critical Habitat in California Wine Country Slated for Conservation

Napa Land Deal Would Save 14,000 Trees From Harmful Vineyard Conversion

Approximately 2,300 acres of intact wildlife habitat in Napa County is expected to be sold to a land trust for permanent protection under an agreement announced this week.

The county re-approved the controversial vineyard development known as Walt Ranch in 2022, after years of community opposition and legal challenges. The proposed vineyard would have ripped out riparian, oak and native grassland habitat to plant grape vines. But the new deal will permanently protect the site and would save 14,000 mature oak trees and other important carbon-sequestering habitats from total destruction.

“This kind of conservation success story shows developers and decisionmakers across California that there’s a better way to plan for the future,” said Aruna Prabhala, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The oak woodlands and chaparral of Walt Ranch is a Napa gem that we desperately need to help combat the climate crisis. It’s why we fought so hard for so many years to protect this land.”

Critical Habitat in California Wine Country Slated for Conservation
 
Six new nature reserves planned across Oman

The Environment Authority (EA) on Sunday unveiled its achievements for 2022 while celebrating the Oman Environment Day, which falls on January 8.

H E Abdullah bin Ali al Amri, chairman of EA, said, “The authority has prepared a plan to register six new nature reserves in Oman. The sites will be subject to evaluation by the concerned authorities before any announcement.”

He explained that there is a roadmap for the green economy that is being implemented by the authority with the funding from Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) – in strategic partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme.

Talking about the initial indications of the national campaign to combat invasive birds, he confirmed that about 25,000 invasive birds have been eliminated, and there is a decline in their numbers.

One moment, please...
 
UngulateNerd92 said:
Six new nature reserves planned across Oman

The Environment Authority (EA) on Sunday unveiled its achievements for 2022 while celebrating the Oman Environment Day, which falls on January 8.

H E Abdullah bin Ali al Amri, chairman of EA, said, “The authority has prepared a plan to register six new nature reserves in Oman. The sites will be subject to evaluation by the concerned authorities before any announcement.”

He explained that there is a roadmap for the green economy that is being implemented by the authority with the funding from Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) – in strategic partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme.

Talking about the initial indications of the national campaign to combat invasive birds, he confirmed that about 25,000 invasive birds have been eliminated, and there is a decline in their numbers.

One moment, please...
Click to expand...

What constitutes an invasive bird?
 
Defenders of Wildlife’s California Program Looks Back on a Successful Year

Defenders of Wildlife’s California field experts tallied several success stories this past year in Defenders' decades-long fight to protect wildlife and wild spaces.

In 2022, we prioritized the protection of the southern sea otter, Sierra Nevada fisher, gray wolf, Chinook salmon and other freshwater fishes, desert tortoise, bighorn sheep, migratory birds and other species that need immediate conservation action.

Defenders of Wildlife’s California Program Looks Back on a Successful Year
 
£3.78million for protected sites and species across Wales

Bats, oysters, bumblebees and other rare species will benefit from the second round of grants from the Nature Networks Fund. Seventeen projects are receiving funding to help Wales’ network of protected land and marine sites to thrive, and encourage local communities to get involved in nature conservation.

We’re delivering the Nature Networks Fund (round two) on behalf of the Welsh Government and in partnership with Natural Resources Wales. The programme is supporting a range of projects that will aid nature’s recovery.

£3.78million for protected sites and species across Wales
 
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Charity buys Somerset land in bid to open 48 nature reserves

A rewilding charity has bought 460 acres of land in Somerset to help create the first of a series of nature reserves in every English county.

The charity Heal, which launched at the start of the pandemic, said the £5.25m site near Bruton will aim to tackle the nature and climate crises.

It hopes the site will become a blueprint for a similar site in each of the 48 English counties by 2050.

Ideas for the site include food growing areas and a community meeting space.

https://www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-64371220.amp
 
Manitoba Government Preserving Unique Biodiversity Through New Provincially Significant Peatlands Designations

The Manitoba government is designating Moswa Meadows and Fish Lake Fen as provincially significant peatlands to ensure the biodiversity of the two areas is preserved, Natural Resources and Northern Development Minister Greg Nesbitt announced today.

“Manitoba is home to millions of hectares of peatlands – complex, interconnected wetland ecosystems that efficiently store carbon – that our government manages using a measured approach that balances environmental and social benefits with community and rural economic opportunities,” said Nesbitt. “I am proud to announce the inaugural designation of provincially significant peatlands under the Peatlands Stewardship Act.”

Specified development activities, including mining, forestry, agriculture and peat harvesting, are now prohibited across the nearly 28,000 hectares that make up Moswa Meadows and Fish Lake Fen to ensure the areas can continue to provide long-term beneficial goods and services including carbon sequestration and storage, water filtration, and flood mitigation.

Province of Manitoba | News Releases | Manitoba Government Preserving Unique Biodiversity Through New Provincially Significant Peatlands Designations
 
Oregon Butterfly Is Endangered Species Act Success

Fender’s Blue Butterfly Moved From Endangered to Threatened Status.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that the Fender’s blue butterfly will be downlisted from endangered to threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. This action is based on the recovery of butterfly populations in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

“The Endangered Species Act has ensured the full recovery of more than 50 species, and the Fender’s blue is now well on its way,” said Quinn Read, Oregon policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “This little butterfly was nearly lost to Oregon, but now we can celebrate its recovery along with the 50th anniversary of the landmark law that saved this species.”

Oregon Butterfly Is Endangered Species Act Success
 
Five species on San Clemente Island fully recovered, no longer considered endangered

San Clemente Island paintbrush, lotus, larkspur and bush-mallow plants, San Clemente Bell’s sparrow no longer require Endangered Species Act protection.

Five species are no longer considered endangered on San Clemente Island, a small remote island off the San Diego, California coastline.

The announcement Tuesday comes after decades-long conservation efforts between the U.S. Navy and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

https://www-cbs8-com.cdn.ampproject...ered/509-d29247df-59a8-4a9a-bce9-4df0fe065eea
 
United States Restores Full Protections in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest

Reversal of Trump administration policy will help communities, economy, and wildlife.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) [this week] restored long-standing protections to 9 million acres of the Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska, the crown jewel of the U.S. national forest system. A wide range of Alaskans have advocated for these safeguards on the Tongass, including southeast Alaska Tribes, salmon fishers, outdoor recreation and tourism business owners, and nearly a quarter of a million people from across the country who submitted public comments to the U.S. Forest Service, which is part of USDA.

USDA’s decision to reinstate the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule in the Tongass honors Indigenous people’s leadership on behalf of the Tongass, both as stewards of areas within their traditional territories and as advocates—in the federal courts and elsewhere—for safeguards. This action reverses a policy implemented by the Trump administration that opened roadless areas to development in approximately half of the Tongass, the largest forest in the U.S. and the largest intact coastal temperate rainforest in the world.

U.S. Restores Full Protections in Alaska's Tongass National Forest | The Pew Charitable Trusts
 
Everyday Australians' social media posts help find missing plant species

Scientists have identified six new or rediscovered Western Australian plant species from photos taken and uploaded to the internet by members of the public, including a nature photographer from Jurien Bay, a pair of wildflower enthusiasts from Dongara and a farmer from near the Stirling Range National Park.

Lead researcher, Ph.D. student Thilo Krueger from Curtin's School of Molecular and Life Sciences said the newly described species were carnivorous sundews and were identified through images shared on Facebook and to the iNaturalist website, highlighting the value of such platforms for contributing to advances in taxonomic research.

"In spite of the extinction crisis we are facing in the 21st Century, undescribed species are regularly discovered and named by scientists each year," Mr. Krueger said.

Everyday Aussies' social media posts help find missing plant species
 
UngulateNerd92 said:
United States Restores Full Protections in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest

Reversal of Trump administration policy will help communities, economy, and wildlife.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) [this week] restored long-standing protections to 9 million acres of the Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska, the crown jewel of the U.S. national forest system. A wide range of Alaskans have advocated for these safeguards on the Tongass, including southeast Alaska Tribes, salmon fishers, outdoor recreation and tourism business owners, and nearly a quarter of a million people from across the country who submitted public comments to the U.S. Forest Service, which is part of USDA.

USDA’s decision to reinstate the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule in the Tongass honors Indigenous people’s leadership on behalf of the Tongass, both as stewards of areas within their traditional territories and as advocates—in the federal courts and elsewhere—for safeguards. This action reverses a policy implemented by the Trump administration that opened roadless areas to development in approximately half of the Tongass, the largest forest in the U.S. and the largest intact coastal temperate rainforest in the world.

U.S. Restores Full Protections in Alaska's Tongass National Forest | The Pew Charitable Trusts
Click to expand...

Here is another relevant article.

President Biden bans logging roads in much of America's largest national forests

White House reinstates protections in Tongass National Forest that were undone by Trump; move aims to protect fish and a giant carbon sink.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/clim...1/25/tongass-forest-protections-alaska-biden/
 
First Nation declares large portion of British Columbia’s Taku River watershed a protected area

British Columbia’s Taku River system is the largest intact watershed on the Pacific coast of North America. A decision this week by the Taku River Tlingit First Nation increases the likelihood that this rare, rich ecological refuge will remain that way.

Located in the far northwest corner of the province, the 1.8-million-hectare Taku watershed is one of only a few regions in B.C. that bear no major scars from human development.

The Taku River Tlingit have declared that 60 per cent of the area will be preserved as what is known as an “Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area,” including all of its salmon-bearing rivers and streams. The balance will be treated as “specially managed landscapes,” which will include zones with high mineral potential where the nation says it is willing to consider “respectful, clean mineral extraction.”

https://www-theglobeandmail-com.cdn...arge-portion-of-british-columbias-taku-river/
 
Conservation of one of the rarest birds is working in Cambodia

The latest censuses by the government and conservation organisations revealed that nearly 80% of the global population of the white-shouldered Ibis are in Cambodia.

The species is classed as “Critically Endangered”, the highest category of threat for a species, on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.

The annual census surveys are coordinated by the members of the Cambodian Ibis Working Group (CIWG), made up of the Ministry of Environment, Forestry Administration, Angkor Centre for the Conservation of Biodiversity (ACCB), NatureLife Cambodia, Rising Phoenix, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Conservation of one of the rarest birds is working in Cambodia - Khmer Times
 
UngulateNerd92 said:
Here is another relevant article.

President Biden bans logging roads in much of America's largest national forests

White House reinstates protections in Tongass National Forest that were undone by Trump; move aims to protect fish and a giant carbon sink.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/clim...1/25/tongass-forest-protections-alaska-biden/
Click to expand...

Here is another relevant article from the Center for Biological Diversity.

U.S. Forest Service Restores Critical Protections to Tongass National Forest

In a win for Southeast Alaska communities, wildlife and the climate, the U.S. Forest Service today reinstated Roadless Rule protections across the Tongass rainforest in Southeast Alaska.

Tribal leaders, recreational small-business owners, commercial fishing operators and conservationists cheered the agency’s restoration of this critical safeguard. The move restores federal protection — from industrial logging and damaging road building — to just over 9 million undeveloped acres in America’s largest national forest.

The 17 million-acre Tongass National Forest, in the southeast corner of Alaska, is a temperate rainforest that draws visitors from around the globe and provides habitat for an abundance of wildlife, including grizzly bears, bald eagles and wolves. It is the ancestral homeland of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian peoples. The Tongass also serves as the country’s largest forest carbon sink, making its protection critical for U.S. efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions and to set a global example.

U.S. Forest Service Restores Critical Protections to Tongass National Forest
 
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