by Liz Brewer, Outreach Specialist, AMJV When Laura Jackson’s parents let their kids pick which part of the family’s 700-acre dairy farm in Pennsylvania they each wanted to inherit, she and her husband Mike knew exactly what they wanted. They chose 120 acres on the lower slope of Tussey Mountain that had three open fields and 105 acres of forest. The Jacksons knew the history of the land; it had been high-graded twice (loggers cut the best trees and left the rest) and invasive plants were beginning to overtake the forest. The three fields were not yet the picturesque “Mountain Meadows”
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The 2022 State of the Birds Report is now available! The report shows long-term downward trends for our nation’s birds that reveal a vital message: Birds are declining in every habitat except wetlands, where decades of investment have sparked dramatic gains. Conservation works when we give birds and nature a chance. Together, we can reverse bird declines and #BringBirdsBack! AMJV Coordinator Todd Fearer recently discussed the 2022 State of the Birds Report and bird conservation in an interview with American Bird Conservancy and BirdWatching Magazine. Although the State of the Birds Report identifies grim trends in many bird populations, Todd
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Our AMJV team is excited to share with you that our brand new AMJV Outreach Toolkit – designed to help folks communicate about forest management topics – is now available on our website! Note – the Outreach Toolkit is designed to be an online “living” resource, so stay tuned for additional topic sections and content to be added in the future! Please take a few moments to browse through the Outreach Toolkit, send any comments/suggestions to us, and share the link to the toolkit with others, perhaps on social media, through e-mail, and/or in your organization’s next newsletter!
Deep in AMJV’s Virginia Highlands Focal Landscape you can find Boiling Springs Rod and Gun Club, a private hunting club with over 4,000 acres. They are a non-profit organization with 20 members, including a 5-member Wildlife Management Committee. Members of Boiling Springs are acutely aware of how enhancing habitat for deer, turkey, and grouse overlaps with the needs of other birds and pollinators as well. They are active stewards who have sought assistance from multiple experts to protect the health of their land. Funding from The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay allowed them to work with a forester to start a
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Our AMJV partners are the backbone of bird conservation and healthy forest restoration throughout our region. To highlight some of the wonderful work they do, we will be spotlighting partners throughout the year, beginning with partners who work within our focal landscapes. In the Appalachian Mountains of western Virginia lies a vast landscape of private and publicly-owned forestland that is a hotspot for biodiversity, provides ecosystem benefits, and serves as an important migratory pathway for predicted wildlife movement in response to climate change. Perhaps most commonly known for being a recreational oasis, this multi-county swath also provides habitat for many priority
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Click here to view and download our 2021 AMJV Year in Review!
Click here to view and download the 2023 AMJV Partnership Year in Review!
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The 2023 AMJV Impact Report is now available for downloading and sharing! Starting in 2022, this beautiful report has been designed annually by Liz Brewer (AMJV Outreach Specialist) to…
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by Liz Brewer, AMJV Outreach Specialist Appalachian Mountains Joint Venture (AMJV), in partnership with the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF), USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS), and the West Virginia…
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