Positive Wildlife News 2025

Protected lands at Tennessee’s Obed Wild and Scenic River expand thanks to tireless enthusiasts

As East Tennesseans and tourists alike enjoy summer fun on the Obed Wild and Scenic River, enthusiasts are growing its amount of federally protected land.

Part of the U.S. National Park Service, the Obed Wild and Scenic River in Cumberland and Morgan Counties on Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau offers swimming, hiking, picnicking, kayaking, fishing and climbing at the federally protected Obed Wild and Scenic River lands. It currently includes about 45 miles along streams like the Obed and Emory Rivers.

Residents of Oak Ridge, a little less than an hour’s drive away, created Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning (TCWP) and lobbied to create the federally protected area in 1976. Now, the same group, through fundraising and land swaps with anonymous private individuals, has gained 30 acres on which it plans to build a trail connected to the federal land.

https://tennesseelookout.com/briefs...-river-expand-thanks-to-tireless-enthusiasts/
 
Conservation covenant ensures unique Lumby land will stay natural

The Nature Conservancy of the North Okanagan is preserving the 80 acres and the thriving ecosystems that exist there.

It's a unique swath of 80 acres near Lumby with pristine mixed old growth forest, rain-fed streams and springs, and rocky outcrop ecosystems.

And it's going to remain just as it is, thanks to a new conservation covenant.

The Lumby area property — home to everything from black bears and hawks to at-risk snakes — is currently an undisturbed ecosystem providing suitable conditions for rare plants that are listed in British Columbia for their conservation concern. Through the covenant jointly held by the owner, the Nature Conservancy of the North Okanagan (NCNO), and the Regional District of North Okanagan, the lands will always be protected.

“It’s a very special property with regionally uncommon, natural characteristics making it an incredibly important ecosystem and connection point for wildlife moving towards the Monashees,” said NCNO director Keenan Rudichuk.

The property is now called the Long Shadows Conservation Covenant and was registered as an ecological conservation covenant in 2024.

Conservation covenant ensures unique Lumby land will stay natural - Summerland Review
 
Over 30% of land now designated as forest and conservation areas

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing underscored that the government is expediting its efforts in growing trees along both sides of roads and the establishment of a two-acre firewood plantation per village, in addition to greening 13 districts in order to increase forest coverage areas and prevent loss of water and fertile soil.

Chairman of the State Administration Council, Prime Minister Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, planted a neem sapling at the second monsoon tree-growing ceremony for 2025 held in Yanaungmyin forest reserve in Dekkhinathiri Township of Nay Pyi Taw yesterday morning.

Speaking on the occasion, the Senior General unveiled that the government plans to establish forest reserves and protected public forests for 30 per cent of the country in order to increase the forest coverage area of the nation and protect wildlife and significant geophysical areas, while arranging to set up natural conservation areas for 10 per cent.

During its tenure, he recounted that the government has formed more than 660,000 acres of 61 forest reserves and protected public forests and more than 610,000 acres of 16 natural conservation areas. As the Senior General stressed that the government has established 1,324 forest reserves and protected public forests on 25.94 per cent of land areas and 62 natural conservation areas on 6.43 per cent of the land areas, it is necessary to strive to meet the target areas of the forest coverage, he added.

Over 30% of land now designated as forest and conservation areas - Global New Light Of Myanmar
 
New protected area established at Morava and Dyje confluence

A new protected landscape area called Soutok was officially established today at the confluence of the Morava and Dyje rivers. Spanning 125 square kilometres, it contains the largest floodplain forest complex in Europe. Approved by the Czech government in January, it becomes the country’s 27th protected landscape area.

New protected area established at Morava and Dyje confluence
 
Helsinki aims to protect 10% of its land and sea area by 2038

Helsinki has just approved a bold new Nature Conservation Area Programme that will see the city protect 10% of its land and sea area by 2038.

The programme includes 98 new land and 22 new marine areas throughout the city, and will double the protected area on land and increase it by tenfold in marine areas.

Helsinki aims to protect 10% of its land and sea area by 2038 - Wanderlust
 
First Indigenous-led marine reserve to span southwestern Pacific

The Melanesian Ocean Reserve will safeguard the ancestral waters and people of the southwestern Pacific, upholding its status as one of the world’s most biodiverse marine areas while securing its economic and cultural vitality for its Indigenous Peoples.

A six-million-square-kilometre expanse of ocean and islands across the southwestern Pacific is to become the first multi-national ocean reserve on Earth to be led solely by Indigenous people, encompassing the national waters of the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Papua New Guinea.

An area as vast as the Amazon rainforest, the six-million-square-kilometres will connect with the protected waters of the Exclusive Economic Zone of New Caledonia.

First Indigenous-led marine reserve to span southwestern Pacific - Oceanographic
 
Forest corridors protect Colombia’s critically endangered brown spider monkey
  • Brown spider monkeys (Ateles hybridus) are some of the world’s most threatened primates, as deforestation has razed about 85% of their habitat in Colombia.
  • With monkey populations living in patches of forests, conservationists in the Middle Magdalena region feared that low genetic variation could lead to a further collapse of the species, so they started creating biological corridors connecting forest fragments.
  • The project currently maintains 15 ecological corridors, with plans to create six more. Researchers work with landowners to create private conservation areas, leveraging the benefits of forest restoration for agriculture and ecosystems in general.
In Colombia’s Middle Magdalena region, a patchwork of forest corridors is linking up isolated populations of the critically endangered brown spider monkey (Ateles hybridus). Composed of native and fruit-bearing trees, these corridors on the margins of agricultural land and along riverbanks are providing a lifeline to this species and others, enabling them to move between isolated forest fragments.

Around 600 hectares (1,480 acres) of forest providing habitat for the brown spider monkey in the Middle Magdalena are being connected by 15 ecological corridors, created by conservationists Andrés Link and Gabriela de Luna. Their NGO, Fundación Proyecto Primates (the Primates Project Foundation), aims to add another six corridors and connect a total of 2,000 hectares (4,940 acres) of forest across the region.

“We’ve used the brown spider monkey as an umbrella species,” Link says. “We believe that working for the brown spider monkey is helping the entire biological community in this really diverse area of central Colombia.”

https://news-mongabay-com.cdn.amppr...ritically-endangered-brown-spider-monkey/amp/
 
Over 1,500 acres added to Monte Rio Redwoods Regional Park

Monte Rio Redwoods Regional Park in Sonoma County just got four times bigger.

The county acquired a parcel of over 1,500 acres of protected redwood forest on Tuesday that will significantly expand the park and create a contiguous conservation area of more than 34 square miles south/southwest of the unincorporated area of Monte Rio.

The Monte Rio Redwoods Expansion property was purchased from the forestry and lumber outfit Mendocino Redwoods Company, LLC for $24 million by the conservation nonprofit Save the Redwoods League and was immediately donated to the county’s Regional Parks Department.

https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/over-1500-acres-added-to-monte-rio-redwoods-regional-park/
 
Cancun inner-city lagoon once used as rubble dump now a protected natural area

A lagoon area of Cancun that was once used as a rubble dump has been returned to its natural state. The government spent years recovering the lagoon, which today, is a natural protected area of Quintana Roo.

Governor Mara Lezama inaugurated Reserva Estatal Laguna Manatí Saturday, which she said, is now home to more than 130 wildlife species. She said the recovery of Laguna Manatí reminds us that nature can heal, that we can restore what seemed lost if we do it together with love, commitment and action.

Cancun inner-city lagoon once used as rubble dump now a protected natural area - Riviera Maya News
 
Trawler ban to protect corals

Greece has established its first trawling exclusion zone to protect rare coral ecosystems near the Fournoi Korseon islands, a milestone for marine conservation.

The protected area spans 430 square kilometers and aims to safeguard coral forests of global environmental significance, some thousands of years old.

“These are unique ecosystems of rare beauty and rich biodiversity,” said Anastasia Miliou, scientific director of the Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation.

The ban follows years of underwater research and collaboration between Archipelagos, the Fournoi municipality, local fishermen, and international experts.

Trawler ban to protect corals | eKathimerini.com
 
Salontaung Island mangrove forest designated protected area

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar has officially designated a mangrove forest area in Salontaung Island as a protected mangrove forest reserve under Notification 72/2025, effective from 22 July 2025 (13th Waning of Waso, 1387 ME).

Salontaung Island mangrove forest designated protected area - Global New Light Of Myanmar
 
In rare triumph, camera traps snap endangered wildcats in Pakistan
  • Conservationists in Pakistan have snapped incredibly rare images of two small cat species: the Asiatic caracal (Caracal caracal schmitzi) and the sand cat (Felis margarita).
  • The 2025 caracal image comes after two other sightings in the country were captured on camera phones.
  • Very little is known about caracal and sand cat populations in the country. Though both species are of least concern at the global level, they’re highly endangered in Pakistan.
  • Conservationists say they’re hopeful these sightings will spur interest in small cat species in Pakistan and encourage greater protection and targeted conservation measures.
Conservationists snapped images of two small wildcat species in Pakistan earlier this year: an Asiatic caracal (Caracal caracal schimitzi) and a sand cat (Felis margarita) — both which are incredibly rare in the country. Information on both cats in Pakistan is limited, with the sand cat presumed possibly extinct there, according to the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority.

https://news-mongabay-com.cdn.amppr...aps-snap-endangered-wildcats-in-pakistan/amp/
 
Giant river otter returns to Argentina after almost four decades

A family of giant river otters was released into the Iberá National Park in northeast Argentina on July 1. The endangered species, with no known breeding populations in Argentina over the past 40 years, was considered probably extinct in the country.

The release, led by conservation nonprofit Rewilding Argentina, included a breeding pair named Coco and Nima, translocated from different zoos in Europe, and their offspring, named Pirú and Kyra. The family of four now swim freely in Laguna Paraná, a lake in the Iberá wetlands located in the province of Corrientes.

Giant river otter returns to Argentina after almost four decades
 
Strathmorezoo said:
A pair of Montague's harrier have successfully bred in the UK for the first time since 2019. They have reared four chicks in a secret location in Essex.
Click to expand...
Is there a reason this species is not doing ok in the UK? Generaly in Central Europe (Poland, Czechia, Bavaria) it´s numbers are growing with a little help - monitoring of nests in crops and eventual agreement with farmers to protect them. I know the UK is also protecting any nest found and it´s a fringe of its breeding range. But still strange development.
 
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