Hiding deep in the marsh, inaccessible to even the most dedicated birders and researchers, Black Rails have kept much of their ecology a secret for centuries. Now the species is facing alarming declines and solutions are urgently needed to stabilize the population. Given how little is known about the species and their habitat, the Atlantic [...]
For 32 years the North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP) has been a model of international conservation and a beacon of success for wildlife conservation practitioners and enthusiasts worldwide. As the mechanism that established joint ventures, the Plan focuses on waterfowl, their habitats, and the people who value them. Recently released, the 2018 Update remains [...]
By Amelia DuVall, Seabird and Habitat Restoration Ecologist, California Institute of Environmental Studies This article was originally published by the Sonoran Joint Venture and reposted with permission. Scripps’s Murrelets typically lay two-egg clutches. Chicks spend just two days in the nest before heading out to sea with parents (photo courtesy of Darrell Whitworth). On a [...]
Post by Lynn Fuller and originally published by Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture As a Habitat Joint Venture, Pacific Birds promotes habitat conservation and we often report on exciting new acquisitions, easements or restorations undertaken by our land trust partners. Recently we took a look at what is involved after that to ensure that conservation lands are preserved in [...]
In June, the City of Clovis and Playa Lakes Joint Venture (PLJV) formalized their partnership with a joint resolution to provide public education about the significance of playas to groundwater recharge and wildlife habitat and to restore playas in Curry County, New Mexico, so they can better provide those benefits. The resolution was signed by [...]
Story and photo by Sabin Adams, Pheasants Forever Habitat Restoration Specialist in Minnesota For the last couple decades, a spring drive north of Gary, Minnesota on Highway 32 would have taken you by numerous rows of drainage ditches and vast, level expanses of black dirt. Going 60 miles per hour, it would be hard to [...]
Stories of people working together to put aside differences and boost their community’s natural and economic health often go unnoticed beyond the local newspapers and cafes. However, many successful landscape conservation partnerships involving rural communities and multiple agencies and partners are quietly underway in sagebrush ecosystems across the West -- yielding positive results for our [...]
In Colorado’s high-altitude San Luis Valley, the need to protect limited water supply for people, agriculture, and wildlife brings diverse groups together to creatively solve their water challenges. Growing up on a ranch in southern Colorado’s San Luis Valley, Jim Gilmore gained an appreciation for the abundant waterfowl and songbirds that use the ranch’s wetlands [...]
State of the Birds 2017 Identifies Benefits for Agriculture, Forestry, and Conservation (Washington, D.C., August 3, 2017) Thirty-seven million. That’s the increase in the number of waterfowl in the Prairie Pothole Region over the past quarter-century, thanks to the Farm Bill. The State of the Birds 2017 report, released today by the North American Bird [...]
For Americans who haven’t lived in or experienced the Intermountain West’s sagebrush country, it can feel like an empty void or unproductive wasteland. Members of the conservation community know these perceptions to be unfounded, and for decades they have enacted significant scientific studies and conservation initiatives to better understand and protect this place. Yet, these [...]