Did you know that your yard, office patio, or city park could provide important habitat for dozens of plants and animals? Today, The Nature Conservancy and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology launched Habitat Network, a free online citizen-science platform that invites people to map their outdoor space, share it with others, and learn more about supporting wildlife habitat and other natural functions in cities and towns across the country. Forty million acres of U.S. land are covered by lawn–usually non-native grass that has minimal ecological function and costs property owners more than $30 billion to maintain. Habitat Network offers alternate solutions
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Migratory birds are on the move, winging their way from nesting and breeding grounds in North America to winter habitat in Central and South America and the Caribbean. It’s a spectacular journey—but it’s one that many of them will never finish. Habitat loss, outdoor cats, and pesticides all take their toll, but one of the biggest threats to the birds’ safe travels is one they can’t see. Hundreds of millions die every year in the U.S. when they collide with glass windows. High-rise offices create an obvious threat, but about half of collisions occur at private homes. Several birds of
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The Alabama Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) recently allocated $142,464 in Hunting Heritage Super Funds and Tag Funds for wild turkey projects in Alabama. Of that total, $68,265 was donated to the Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) to fund projects including wildlife habitat management and the publication of the annual wild turkey report, Full Fans & Sharp Spurs. Approximately $74,000 was approved for other projects statewide including funding to improve wild turkey habitats on public lands as well as to help launch outdoor education programs in schools. Also, $35,000 of NWTF Super Fund revenue
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Amid rising numbers of at-risk wildlife in the South, the American Forest Foundation (AFF), a leading forest conservation organization that works with family forest owners, today released a new report that reveals private and family landowners in the South offer a solution to helping at-risk wildlife species. Across 13 southeastern states, Southern forests rank at the top in terms of biodiversity when measured by the number of wildlife and plant species. But, due to forest conversion to non-forest uses such as agricultural land, housing development and commercial expansion, fragmented waterways, natural fire suppression and an influx of invasive species, a significant
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The Pennsylvania Game Commission is burning its way toward 10,000 acres of better wildlife habitat. During its spring burning season, the Game Commission treated a record 8,637 acres with prescribed fire to improve habitat on state game lands and Hunter Access properties statewide. That amount eclipses the 2015 total by nearly 2,000 acres – and the season isn’t over yet. More prescribed burns are planned to occur on state game lands – as soon as this week, if conditions are right – and the agency expects this year’s acreage total to exceed 10,000 acres. This is especially great news for
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The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission will host an informational workshop for private landowners to learn about timber and wildlife habitat management opportunities. The workshop will occur on Sept. 21 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with lunch provided, at the New London Volunteer Fire Department located at 310 South Main Street in New London. The workshop, “Enhancing Wildlife Habitat on Working Lands in North Carolina,” is hosted by the Commission’s Private Lands Program in partnership with the N.C. Tree Farm Program. The workshop will include an indoor morning session with presentations on methods that balance wildlife habitat management and commercial
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