Positive Wildlife News 2021

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It worked! Rare birds recovering thanks to ambitious island restoration

It was the most ambitious and logistically challenging island restoration project to date. The aim in 2015: to turn some of the world’s rarest birds back from a path to extinction by removing introduced predators from remote French Polynesian islands. Now the birds are truly bouncing back, giving hope for future restorations.

Out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, there is a group of islands that host some of the most beautiful and unique birds in the world. The Acteon and Gambier Archipelago, part of French Polynesia, lies approximately 1,600 km from Tahiti, the nation’s political centre. Boasting some of the highest numbers of endemic birds in the tropical Pacific, this far-off piece of paradise is a nature-lover’s dream.

It worked! Rare birds recovering thanks to ambitious island restoration
 
Five miles of stunning Northern California coastline preserved in landmark redwoods deal

In the largest coastal land preservation deal in Northern California in more than 20 years, a San Francisco environmental group has signed an agreement to buy five miles of rugged oceanfront land on the Mendocino Coast, with plans to restore its redwood forests.

Home to Roosevelt elk, coho salmon, mountain lions and other wildlife, the oceanfront panorama has changed little since Spanish galleons sailed south from Cape Mendocino in the 1600s. It sits at the southern end of the “Lost Coast,” between Rockport and Ferndale, an area so steep and remote that state road engineers in 1984 abandoned plans to extend Highway 1 through the region, turning the roadway inland and leaving the oceanfront the most undeveloped and isolated portion of California’s famed coastline.

Five miles of stunning Northern California coast preserved in landmark redwoods deal
 
In historic move, Costa Rica makes big splash for conservation

Costa Rica announced Friday that it will expand its protected ocean area from 2.7 percent to more than 30 percent of its territorial waters — a major leap that puts the Central American country nine years ahead of a global deadline to protect nearly a third of the world’s land and sea.

The expanded Cocos Island National Park and its surrounding marine protected area (MPA), off the country’s Pacific coast, will now cover over 5 million hectares (12.3 million acres) — a staggering 26 times larger than its previous size. In addition, the nearby Bicentennial Marine Management Area will expand to 11 times its previous size, now encompassing more than 100,000 square km (38,600 square miles) — roughly equivalent to the size of Iceland.

Conservation International worked closely with the Costa Rican government, local partners and communities to complete environmental surveys, consultation processes and technical and policy work that helped make this designation a reality.

In historic move, Costa Rica makes big splash for conservation
 
West Sussex wildlife project will create new wildlife corridors across county

For an arable farmer to be asked to pen this first piece in a series on nature recovery is, in itself, remarkable.

Our impacts as farmers have been at odds with nature for decades yet, I now realise, we sit well placed to be part of the solution. Mindsets are changing.

The importance of our coastal farm at Climping, adjacent to the Sussex Bay, cannot be overstated. It is one of those rare places where marine and terrestrial habitats still interact. Our foxes and crows scavenge the tideline and shore waders seek land refuge in storms.

West Sussex wildlife project will create new wildlife corridors across county | West Sussex Gazette
 
‘It is phenomenal’: Farne Islands seal numbers expected to reach new high

National Trust rangers predict record year as they begin count of grey seal pups

“This is what it’s all about,” said Richard Bevan, beaming. “To see this many seals when 10 years ago there would not have been any.”

Bevan is a zoologist surveying the shore of Inner Farne island off the coast of north Northumberland. As far as the eye can sea there are about 100 female grey seals and their dependant pups. In the water hopeful males splash about, none more obvious than a dominant bull with a roman nose and scar. “We’ve called him Pacino,” said a ranger.

It is a joyous, gloriously noisy scene and, experts say, a vivid illustration of a British conservation success story.

https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.amp...lands-seal-numbers-expected-to-reach-new-high
 
Costa Rica’s pristine ‘Shark Island’ now a massive marine reserve

Three times the size of the country’s mainland, the reserve’s abundance of sharks, whales, turtles, and other marine life has been described as an “underwater Jurassic Park.”

The first time he dove into the waters surrounding Cocos Island, Enric Sala felt like he was in an “underwater Jurassic Park.”

“I remember vividly diving under a school of 200 hammerhead sharks, inside a school of thousands of bigeye trevally, and [being] surrounded by 20 green turtles mating,” says the National Geographic explorer-in-residence, in an email.

Costa Rica’s pristine ‘Shark Island’ now a massive marine reserve
 
Large tract on Manitoulin set aside as nature reserve

Acquisition helps ensure wildlife corridor for wolves, bears.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada is protecting a huge swathe of wilderness on the west end of Manitoulin Island.

Spanning 7,608 hectares and 18.5 kilometres of North Channel shoreline, including a beach, the Vidal Bay tract is one of the land trust’s largest acquisitions in Ontario.

Large tract on Manitoulin set aside as nature reserve | Sudbury Star
 
Saving Nature and REGUA Announce Significant Land Purchase as Part of Multi-Year Conservation Vision for Brazil’s Atlantic Forest

Saving Nature, a non-profit, science-led conservation organisation dedicated to preventing extinctions and fighting climate change, announced today a significant land acquisition in Brazil. The investment is part of a multi-year partnership with Reserva Ecologica de Guapiaçu (REGUA), a Brazilian NGO working to restore critical habitat for biodiversity in the Atlantic Forest near Rio de Janeiro.

With barely seven percent of the original forest cover remaining, Brazil’s Atlantic Forest and its rich biodiversity are among the most imperiled on the planet. Saving Nature has been working with local conservation partners in the region for over a decade to restore a beachhead for biodiversity. The partners are working to reverse environmental damage by planting native trees on degraded lands to create vital connections between forest fragments where species are stranded in isolation and at risk of extinction, allowing them to disperse and rebound.

Saving Nature and REGUA Announce Significant Land Purchase as Part of Multi-Year Conservation Vision for Brazil’s Atlantic Forest
 
Smaggledagle said:
Azure-Tailed Skink Population Rediscovered in Hawai'i

The azure-tailed skink (emoia impar) was once common in Hawai'i but their population had dwindled to a 10-acre islet off the coast of Molokaʻi. It was discovered though that a population was in the rocky ocean cliffs of the Hāmākua Coast in Hilo.

https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2021/12/07/blue-tailed-lizard-rediscovered/
https://hilo.hawaii.edu/faculty/mau...tantHawaiiIslandPreprintHerpReview5242021.pdf
Click to expand...
That's an introduced species to Hawaii.
 
New Marine Protected Area in Nicaragua: Corn Island Archipelago Declared “Protected Marine Landscape”
  • Located 51 miles off the coast of Nicaragua in the Caribbean Sea, new protection for the Corn Islands will preserve mangrove stands, enhance coral reefs and fisheries resources, and provide a stronger legal framework to protect inland wetlands critical for freshwater supplies
  • The new MPA is home to many threatened marine species, including hammerhead sharks, hawksbill sea turtles, and black corals
 
In major announcement, Western Australia Government commits to protect Exmouth Gulf, signalling end to industrial threats

In a major victory for the WA environment, Premier Mark McGowan, Minister for Environment, Amber-Jade Sanderson, and Minister for Fisheries, Don Punch, announced today that the WA Government will protect Exmouth Gulf, Ningaloo with important conservation measures. These commitments include new conservation reserves in areas where major industrial developments have been proposed.

In particular, the Government has committed to creating a class A reserve in the Qualing Pool area, proposed location of the Gascoyne Gateway port, and a marine park at the eastern side of the gulf adjacent to where K+S has proposed a massive salt production facility.

In major announcement, WA Government commits to protect Exmouth Gulf, signalling end to industrial threats - Australian Marine Conservation Society
 
Idaho Recieves $750,000 in Conservation Funding

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and its partners allocated $750,639 of grant funding to benefit wildlife habitat and hunting heritage projects in Idaho. RMEF contributed $202,550 and leveraged an additional $548,089 in partner dollars.

The grants fund nearly two dozen projects, positively impacting more than 17,000 acres of habitat across Adams, Blaine, Boise, Bonneville, Boundary, Caribou, Cassia, Clark, Clearwater, Fremont, Idaho, Latah, Lemhi, Owyhee, Shoshone, Teton and Washington Counties, including several of statewide benefit.

Idaho Receives $750,000 in Conservation Funding | Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
 
News from the Nature Conservancy Magazine:

1. This may have been mentioned, but the Wildlife Corridor act was one assed in Florida this spring

2. For the first time in three decades, bog turtles are moving into new areas of wetland

3. In partnership with the San Diego Wildlife Alliance and the Northern Rangelands Trust, the nature conservancy has moved Rothschild’s giraffes off of The flooding peninsula of Longicharo. The animals were moved there for conservation, but the are began to flood, fortunately a custom boat was able to move the animals to safer land.

4. The Nature Conservancy purchased 11,040, acres of short grass prairie, pinyon-juniper woodlands and mixed conifer forest in Colorado. This is the first step in conserving Silver Mountain, a ranch that supports native wildlife including elk, cougars, and pronghorn. It could also be a future habitat for Canada lynx. The Conservancy will raise money to place a conservation easement in the land, before selling it into private, conservation-minded ownership.
 
Survey shows threatened whio population climbing, proof recovery programme working

The number of breeding pairs of New Zealand’s threatened whio (blue duck) has almost tripled over the past 10 years, according to a Department of Conservation survey.

The species is only found in New Zealand’s fast flowing waters and with an estimated nationwide population of less than 3000, whio are rarer than some kiwi.

Andrew Glaser, DOC Whio Recovery Group lead, said there were now 863 breeding pairs living in protected sites across the country – 565 more pairs since 2011.

Survey shows threatened whio population climbing, proof recovery programme working
 
White House hails 'significant progress' on conservation goals

The White House hailed what it called "significant progress" on national conservation goals in the first year of its America the Beautiful initiative in a report Monday, including the restoration of two national monuments.

The initiative, announced in May, is a 10-year federal conservation program aiming to eventually release annual "State of Nature" reports and develop an "American Conservation and Stewardship Atlas" of land and water management data. It served as an update to the administration's earlier "30x30" initiative, which aimed to preserve 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030, although this remains a stated goal of the program.

https://thehill-com.cdn.ampproject....ation-touts-national-monuments-bipartisan?amp
 
"We are excited to tell you about our latest victories to protect polar bears, beluga whales, caribou, and migratory birds. Kristen Monsell, senior attorney and litigation director of our Oceans program, will give an update on these wins and detail some of the other crucial work to protect the Arctic and save Alaska's wildlife."

 
Two Protected Areas Created in Bolivia to Safeguard Critically Endangered Andean Guanaco

Last month, two municipal conservation areas were established in the department of Potosí. Known for its Andean mountains and plains, Potosí is now home to the Cordillera de los Chichas – Mochará Municipal Conservation Area in Tupiza created on November 16th (89,854 acres) and the Cordillera Crucero – La Tranca Municipal Conservation Area in Cotagaita created on November 3rd (19,897 acres). The two adjacent protected areas are home to populations of the Andean guanaco (Lama guanicoe), a critically endangered species in Bolivia.

Two Protected Areas Created in Bolivia to Safeguard Critically Endangered Andean Guanaco - Andes Amazon Fund
 
Washington Governor Jay Inslee Proposes $187 Million for Salmon Recovery

“This is welcome news because salmon habitat is disappearing faster than it can be restored. Dedicated funding is key to facilitating the survival of these crucial fish that Southern Resident orcas, and our communities, depend on as climate change threatens their ecosystems. It is imperative that we urge legislators to support and invest in these programs in 2022.”

Kathleen Callaghy, Northwest Representative for Defenders of Wildlife

Last week, Washington Governor Jay Inslee unveiled a suite of legislative proposals that would invest $187 million into drastically updating the state’s approach to protecting salmon.

The proposals are the result of two years of negotiations with Washington Tribal communities, for whom salmon are both a key resource and a cultural cornerstone. Members of the Swinomish, Tulalip, and Nisqually tribes joined Inslee during his announcement.

WA Governor Proposes $187 Million for Salmon Recovery
 
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