Reintroduced Rheas Help Restore Patagonia's Grasslands
"Tompkins Conservation Chile released 14 juvenile Darwin’s rheas into Patagonia National Park in the Aysén region of Chile. This is the fifth release carried out by this one-of-a-kind rewilding program to prevent the local extinction of this iconic bird.
A new season of Darwin’s rhea releases in Patagonia National Park is bringing forth a hard-won recovery of this locally endangered flightless bird. An emblematic species of the Patagonian steppe, the rhea plays a fundamental role in creating and maintaining healthy grasslands by dispersing seeds to renew vegetative growth. In Chile’s Aysén region, more than a century of overgrazing, hunting, and nest destruction has threatened the rhea’s survival.
This year marks the most rhea releases in Patagonia National Park since the program’s inception in 2014. Tompkins Conservation donated over 200,000 acres in 2019 to help create the 750,000-acre park. According to Cristián Saucedo, director of rewilding at Tompkins Conservation Chile, “Active restoration of rheas has proved instrumental to its survival. We have tripled the population to approximately 70 specimens and increased their habitat in the national park by over 30%.”
Home extension for the threatened wildlife of Curramore Wildlife Sanctuary
By Dr Alexander Watson, North-East Regional Ecologist, Tim White, North-East Regional Operations Manager and Nahrain John, Science Communications Associate
Curramore Wildlife Sanctuary is special – a biodiversity hotspot that supports an astonishing 700 species of native animals and plants over its 170 hectares. Koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) forage and sleep amongst the tall eucalypts, voracious Subtropical Antechinus (Antechinus subtropicus) hunt for insects on the forest floor, gloriously plumaged male Paradise Riflebirds (Ptiloris paradiseus) woo cryptic females, and one of Australia’s largest butterflies, the endangered Richmond Birdwing (Ornithoptera richmondia), flutters through the rainforest canopy.
Though we could and should go much further, this is a step in the right direction.
"Governments achieve target of protecting 17% of land globally
UN report warns that quantity not matched by quality, with many conserved areas poorly protected, as Germany backs new landscapes fund for developing countries
An area greater than the land mass of Russia has been added to the world’s network of national parks and conservation areas since 2010, amid growing pressure to protect nature.
As of today, about 17% of land and inland water ecosystems and 8% of marine areas are within formal protected areas, with the total coverage increasing by 42% since the beginning of the last decade, according to the Protected Planet report by the UN Environment Programme (Unep) and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)."
Hope for wallabies so endangered they were thought to be extinct
An endangered species of native wallabies has been pulled from the brink of extinction and saved from the jaws of feral cats, thanks to a breakthrough trial in central Queensland.
Key points:
Conservation scientists say they've seen the largest recorded increase in the population of an endangered wallaby.
Bridled nailtail wallabies are regularly preyed upon by feral cats and foxes when they are juveniles.
UNSW scientists have taken young wallabies and raised them in a protected shelter before releasing them, which saw an 89 per cent success rate.
Bridled nailtail wallabies were once eastern Australia's most common wallaby, but by the early 20th century the animals had become so rare they were expected to be extinct.
Hares, cranes, bitterns: small triumphs in the battle to rewild Britain’s landscape
A Lincolnshire project is restoring native flora and fauna to the area and it’s just the start of a UK-wide environmental drive
A small patch of Bourne North Fen in Lincolnshire provides an intriguing contrast to the vast stretches of wheat and rapeseed that surround it. Untended for years, this little piece of land is now covered with grass and reeds surrounding a wood of willow and alder.
Last week, between downpours, this tiny six-hectare plot bristled with wildlife: a cuckoo called insistently; the occasional booming sound of the bittern – one of Britain’s rarest birds – could be heard; a hare ambled around.
It is a tiny paradise, set in some of England’s most intensely farmed landscapes. And if Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust has its way, there is likely soon to be a tenfold increase in this activity at Bourne North Fen.
The trust is now negotiating to take over 60 hectares of surrounding farmland, currently planted with field beans, and return it to natural fen. Reed beds would be restored, river water would be cleaned and increasing amounts of carbon would be captured by flourishing plant life.
For good measure, more rare species are likely to return – following the example of nearby Willow Tree Fen reserve, where cranes have begun breeding for the first time in 400 years in Lincolnshire.
Elk are a phoenix rising from Appalachia’s coal ashes
A corridor of wild elk habitat from Georgia to Maine would bolster regional economies and a cooler climate.
In 2014 I drew a coveted Kentucky elk tag from the state’s lottery, which granted me the privilege of hunting a restored elk population in Breathitt County. I had dreamed of hunting elk in the eastern U.S. since I was a young child in Pennsylvania in the 1970s, when I inherited my grandfather’s dusty book of game laws, published when elk were fair game in the Keystone State. By the time I was given that book, elk could not be legally hunted anywhere in the eastern half of the country.
‘A huge surprise’ as giant river otter feared extinct in Argentina pops up
Conservationists thrilled at the sighting of the wild predator, last seen in the country in the 1980s
"It was a huge surprise,” said Sebastián Di Martino, director of conservation at Fundación Rewilding Argentina. “I was incredulous. An incredible feeling of so much happiness. I didn’t know if I should try to follow it or rush back to our station to tell the others.”
The cause of the excitement was the sighting, last week, of a wild giant river otter – an animal feared extinct in the country due to habitat loss and hunting – on the Bermejo River in Impenetrable national park, in north-east Argentina’s Chaco province. The last sighting of a giant otter in the wild in Argentina was in the 1980s. On the Bermejo, none have been seen for more than a century.
Blue-eyed Ground-dove – the comeback of a species presumed extinct for 75 years!
Until 2015, the Blue-eyed Ground-dove (Columbina cyanopis) was thought to be extinct. After 75 years without any sightings, Brazilian ornithologist Rafael Bessa encountered 11 individuals by chance while conducting research in the Brazilian Cerrado. This rediscovery rocked the ornithological world and Columbina cyanopis entered the list of Lazarus birds that were once presumed extinct. Currently, 31 Blue-eyed Ground-doves are known to live in the wild.
Judge halts dredging project for Georgia port over threat to sea turtles
A federal judge ordered an immediate halt May 20 to plans to dredge a shipping channel on the Georgia coast near the Port of Brunswick, citing a threat to sea turtles nesting on nearby beaches.
The injunction by U.S. District Judge R. Stan Baker delivered an initial setback to the Army Corps of Engineers.
Conservationists complete transfer of Mispillion Harbor lands for shorebird protection
A public-private partnership to help ensure migrating shorebirds have a permanently protected place to rest and feed along the First State coast is nearing the finish line.
A recently completed transfer of land at Mispillion Harbor is the final major piece of the process. And this week, contributor Jon Hurdle details that move and what it means.
World's tiniest pig, once thought extinct, returning to the wild
The shy, 10-inch-tall pygmy hog, "rediscovered" in 1971, is steadily increasing in number due to captive breeding in its native India.
In the thick, tall grasslands of the Himalaya foothills lives the endangered pygmy hog, a species so small its piglets can fit in your pocket. Standing about 10 inches tall, the shy animal once roamed the border regions of India, Nepal, and Bhutan, snuffling about for insects and tubers.
But a century of habitat degradation and destruction—especially conversion of grasslands for agriculture use—devastated the pygmy hog, and until its “rediscovery” in 1971, many people thought the animal was likely extinct.
In the mid-1990s, conservationists captured some wild pigs and began breeding them in captivity, releasing them back into Assam, a state in northeastern India where a tiny wild population had survived. (See amazing pictures of wild pigs.)
Twenty-five years later, these conservation efforts are paying off, experts say: Altogether, between 300 and 400 animals remain in the wild, and 76 in captivity, and the species appears to be thriving.
The success of the initial program has led to subsequent efforts. Between 2008 and 2020, scientists released 130 pygmy hogs into two national parks, Manas and Orang, and two wildlife sanctuaries, Barnadi and Sonai Rupai—all in Assam.
Thank the Federal Government for Investing in Nature
Thanks to nearly 10,000 CPAWS supporters, our collective voice was heard and our call for investment in nature in the 2021 federal budget was answered.
Please help us thank the federal government for its historic investment in nature, and encourage the ongoing pursuit of Canada’s nature protection goals, by sending a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Jonathan Wilkinson and Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard Bernadette Jordan. A copy of your letter will also be sent to your Member of Parliament.
Prairie chickens are dying out on the Great Plains. Biden’s efforts to save them could spark fight on key oil patch
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal to list lesser prairie chicken under the Endangered Species Act could impose restrictions on drilling in the Permian Basin
The Biden administration called for new protections under the Endangered Species Act for an iconic bird of the Great Plains on Wednesday, a move with major consequences for the oil and gas industry.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials proposed listing as endangered a portion of the lesser prairie chicken’s population living in Texas and New Mexico, whose range overlaps with the oil- and gas-rich Permian Basin. The agency stopped short of awarding the same protections to the birds’ northern population, in Oklahoma and Kansas, on the grounds that their numbers had declined less drastically.
Blue-eyed Ground-dove – the comeback of a species presumed extinct for 75 years!
Until 2015, the Blue-eyed Ground-dove (Columbina cyanopis) was thought to be extinct. After 75 years without any sightings, Brazilian ornithologist Rafael Bessa encountered 11 individuals by chance while conducting research in the Brazilian Cerrado. This rediscovery rocked the ornithological world and Columbina cyanopis entered the list of Lazarus birds that were once presumed extinct. Currently, 31 Blue-eyed Ground-doves are known to live in the wild.
A Bipartisan Breakthrough for Endangered Pacific Northwest Salmon
Two members of Congress are collaborating across the aisle to confront an extinction crisis unfolding in their backyard.
After decades of decline, endangered salmon in the Pacific Northwest may finally have a lifeline. Two members of Congress shed partisanship in favor of collaboration to confront an extinction crisis unfolding in their backyard.
On May 4, Oregon Democrat Rep. Earl Blumenauer joined his Idaho Republican colleague Rep. Mike Simpson in calling for immediate federal legislative action to address major interlocking problems stemming from the collapse of the once-mighty salmon runs of the Columbia and Snake Rivers. Scientists have long said the single best thing that can be done to prevent the extinction of these iconic species — and the related decline of Southern Resident Orcas — is to breach four outdated dams on the lower Snake River.
Coral cultivation offers hope to devastated western Indian Ocean reefs
Marine scientists in the Seychelles are propagating corals resistant to bleaching in the hope of replacing destroyed reefs with ones that are more resilient
Marine scientists in the Seychelles are propagating and replanting corals resistant to bleaching in the hope of replacing destroyed reefs in the western Indian Ocean with ones that are more resilient.
Each workday, Claude Reveret and Sarah Frias-Torres of Nature Seychelles, a not-for-profit environmental organisation, lead a team of scuba divers down to the ocean floor around Praslin, the country’s second-largest island, and the nearby Cousin Island Special Reserve.
There they take part in an unusual undersea gardening project – cultivating corals that have proven resistant to the stress caused by warming water, which has led to the collapse of coral reef systems in the western Indian Ocean.
