#wildlife corridors

[conscorridor]

For almost 25 years, Bhutan has been working to enhance the wildlife corridors which connect the country's protected areas. These provisions protect tigers, snow leopards, elephants, and drinking water. See how Bhutan is setting an example in our latest digest.

#wildlife corridors #environmental policy #bhutan #landscape ecology #conservation #science communication #scientists on tumblr

[bumblebeeappletree]

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#Leave Curious #solarpunk #rewilding #wildlife corridors #wildlife #britain #england #farmland #Youtube

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from the Center for Biological Diversity:

The California Senate passed the Safe Roads and Wildlife Protection Act on Monday in a 35-0 vote, paving the way for more wildlife crossings across the state’s roadway system. Assembly Bill 2344 now awaits approval from the governor after a concurrence vote in the Assembly, which it passed in May.

“California lawmakers agree that it’s unacceptable for animals to be slaughtered on highways due to a lack of wildlife crossings,” said J.P. Rose, policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Urban Wildlands program. “Wildlife crossings work, and mountain lions, desert tortoises and kit foxes deserve safe passage over the barriers we’ve created.”

A.B. 2344 would require Caltrans to identify barriers to wildlife movement and prioritize crossings when designing new roads or making road improvements. The proposed legislation prioritizes crossing projects, which can be overpasses, underpasses, culverts and other infrastructure improvements, to prevent deadly wildlife-vehicle collisions.

According to the UC Davis Road Ecology Center, there were more than 44,000 wildlife-vehicle collisions reported in California from 2016 to 2020. These crashes resulted in injuries and deaths to drivers and wildlife and caused at least $1 billion in damages.

#wildlife corridors #wildlife overpasses #wildlife crossings #California

[normal-newt]

Hello. You may have seen earlier post or not (you didn’t miss much). But think that if pointing out problem, it’s worth pointing out ways to improve things. 

Because am tired of people saying if you grow some of own food at home, there is no need to avoid planting invasive plants or try to encourage local ones. Growing own foods can be very valuable to people, but often won’t create habitat for urban/ suburban wildlife, and invasive species can spread plants far outside of your own garden.

Anyway, thought I might share how I decide what plants are good to have in gardens, for both people and nature. Hopefully it helps make choosing a plant simpler for someone out there.

Introduced plants: invasive or dangerous. These are plants that are not from your area. An invasive plant will spread and take over nearby areas, stopping other plants growing. Dangerous plants might be very poisonous or have large spikes that can cause serious injuries. I will never put these in any garden, and don’t think they should be sold in most cases. Examples of these plants in Australia include prickly pears and oleander.

Introduced plants: non-invasive and safe. These are plants that are not from your local area, but which usually don’t take over. They are not likely to hurt anyone badly. They might take extra care to make sure they grow well in your area, but are often useful in some way. I put these in garden sometimes, usually if I cannot find a local plant to do the same job or I really really like that one plant. Mint can go in this category, but only if kept in pots so it doesn’t escape. Roses also go here, because even though they’re spikey they are more likely to just scratch than actually injure most people.

Local plants: safe and easy to grow. These are plants that come from near you! They are unlikely to hurt anyone, and are easy to grow in gardens. They might be edible, look pretty or make good homes for wildlife. I plant these as much as possible, and am making a list of the ones that are best suited to where I live. In Australia, most or all local edible plant knowledge owned by First Nations people, so make sure you treat with respect and have permission before using, sharing or making money off it. Please make sure people get paid back for sharing their knowledge.

Local plants: risky to humans. These are plants from your area which might be dangerous to people or pets. They are beautiful and important for the ecosystem, but might be dangerous to keep in your garden. I will use them in gardens sometimes, but only with careful thought. I never put them in places where people walk past, or where children or pets might get into. These plants are still needed in non-garden areas, so supervise children and keep pets on a leash if going into natural parks.

Plant which are very rare:  Some species don’t have many plants left. Sometimes they are taken from the wild for gardens, which can kill them. Sometimes these plants need only experts to look after them while the population recovers. Your dog digging one up can make a big impact on the population of a whole species. One exception is plants like Wollemi pines. They are grown and sold by special nursery. Buying them helps fund conservation, and means they have “insurance populations” across the country if something happens to the ones in the wild.

Take care + have fun! And if you plant local plants, remember to keep an eye out for animal friends who might come to visit!

#gardening #special interest posting #your garden is part of the ecology in your area #and you get to help it grow #remember this too if you're doing guerrilla gardening #if you undo years of invasive species control by throwing random seeds at nature strips I will be so annoyed #biodiversity #micro-habitats #wildlife corridors #tiny birds love good gardens #invasive species #does this count as solarpunk or is it too boring..?

[kallockpaintings]

Habitats Sign

View On WordPress

#aluminum sign #animal sign #animals #contemporary art #coyote #earth #emilia kallock #environment #forests #love #mindfulness #nature #northwest art #opossum #preservation #river #road sign #skunk #water access #wildlife corridors

[ravioliraz]

There’s a lot of seriously messed up stuff that needs fixing going on right now. I don’t want to take away from any of those messages. But I’m going to get up on my soap box for one second and talk about something really close to my heart that has not received much attention lately. It’s the need for wildlife corridors/crossings. I’m sick of driving along highways and seeing endless roadkill. It’s such a ghoulish scene, and horrible waste of life. And it’s ENTIRELY preventable with a bit of infrastructure. That’s where wildlife crossings come in. They are structures that allow wildlife to cross busy highways and roads without having to dodge traffic. This is no small problem; an estimated 12% of wild North American mammals die on roads. That’s more than 1 in 10 deer, porcupines, foxes, beavers, groundhogs, raccoons, possums, and more. Millions of your favorite little guys are getting needlessly slaughtered because humans can’t be bothered to give them a proper crossing spot. And here’s the kicker, these wildlife crossings really do work in places they have been constructed. But despite crossings’ benefits, they remain scarce in the US. Only around 1,000 wildlife crossings currently dot America’s 4 million mile road network. Therefore, most animals have no choice but to cross busy roads and they often pay the ultimate price. If you aren’t convinced, you should consider that wildlife crossings save human lives as well by reducing human/ large animal collisions. Hundreds of Americans die annually in car crashes with animals, and tens of thousands more are injured. Since the US interstate highway system was created last century, the landscape of the US wilds has been drastically altered by human use. I believe it’s our duty to safeguard our wild neighbors and ensure anthropomorphic land use does as little harm as possible; especially if we have a known solution right in front of us. Next time you are driving your car and see a horribly disfigured animal corpse on the side of the road, please be reminded that it is not an inevitable outcome. We can curb these deaths with the aid of wildlife corridors; we just need a little political will. Thanks for reading! Note I got my statistics from this article, but there are many good reading materials on this subject.

#wildlife #roadkill is sad #wildlife corridors #call to action #infrastructure #safeguard wildlife #North American wildlife #possum #beaver #deer #fox #raccoon #porcupine #help the environment #groundhog #ravrazorig

[proteusolm]

Spruce grouse are both very well camouflaged and very reluctant to flee. I almost stepped on this poor woman, who didn't move one inch the whole time.

This is in stark contrast with ruffed grouse, the females of which will seemingly go out of their way to fight you during baby season.

#From the summer. Tree planting. #God this was a baaaad piece #Super hilly and kinda just stupid corridors of plantable ground in between solid sheets of bedrock that I still felt the need to go poke at #Running into this lady was a highlight of that day #I think that afternoon is when I found a woodland caribou antler though? #Mine #Wildlife #Grouse #Spruce grouse

[moregraceful]

devoting my life to mattasha tkacharkov, who is with me

#guy who hasn't watched a playoff game since round 1 and has mattchuk filtered voice: wow! that matthew tkachuk guy sure is good! #i have no beef with mattchuk btw. love that man. i was wearied by blorbification #but i see a light at the end of the tunnel. and that tunnel is sasha barkov 😍😍 #do you all know HOW MANY florida wildlife instagrams i follow. so fucken many #for me instagram is simply the florida wildlife corridor trail cam app #what if you were a finnish dilf conservation scientist...and i inherited a ranch i didn't want....and we fell in love while negotiating #with the florida department of environmental conservation..... #hockey for ts #fresno oilers.txt

[ploridafanthers]

i hate traveling the speed limit but recently my neighborhood has put some new lawn signs up with pictures of little baby sandhill cranes like "slow down! babies are crossing" and i'm like ahhhh dammit you got me that's a really good reason i'll slow down

#these things are like insanely cute #wildlife corridors and school zones are the only forces that compel me to obey the speed limit

[tsalala]

“It’s apparent that reconnecting this vital wildlife habitat is a very important historic undertaking,” [Michael Comeaux, Public Information Officer Caltrans District 7] said. “[This crossing] will help guide future decisions about how to provide for the needs of wildlife in infrastructure projects.”

In fact, it already is. In October 2022, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law that requires the agency to prioritize wildlife crossings when building roadways. The Safe Roads and Wildlife Protection Act is intended to both reduce collisions between cars and animals and also enhance connectivity. Building the 101 fractured the landscape, Pratt says, turning the Santa Monica Mountains into an ecological island where genetic isolation and inbreeding are already having an effect on the local mountain lion population.

“Islands are we’re species go to die,” Pratt said, “and we made the Santa Monica Mountains an island. And so this is reconnecting it ecologically to the rest of the world. And we know we need that can ecological stitch for the Santa Monica Mountains to be resilient and thrive.”

[Beth Pratt’s] work isn’t over. It’s a promise she made to P-22, whose face is tattooed on her left shoulder.

“You know, when I got to sit with him the day before he died, which was…one of the most profoundly sad moments of my life,” she recalled, “I told him we would not stop and I’m going to honor that promise.”

To that end, the National Wildlife Federation just launched the P-22 Legacy phase of the Save LA Cougars campaign — to raise the additional $15 million needed to finish the final aspects of the Wallace Annenberg Wildlife Crossing and fund some other connectivity projects.

“My moral compass is these mountain lions and wildlife and how to ensure that we right these great wrongs that we did in you know, almost banishing them from the landscape,” Pratt said.

The project is expected to be completed by late 2025, early 2026, the latest. If you think Pratt gets emotional now, she says, just wait until those first creatures finally cross.

Mountain lion “P-22” (b. 2010 — d. 2022) in a photo released by the National Park Service on Feb. 18, 2021. (NPS / Jeff Sikich)

#puma concolor #puma #save LA cougars #california #wildlife #wildlife corridor #urban wildlife #p-22 #mine

[rebeccathenaturalist]

You have NO IDEA HOW HAPPY THIS MAKES ME!!!!!! Willapa NWR is my "home refuge", so to speak. I've volunteered there for hours, spent a ton of time walking the trails, and it is incredibly dear to me. They're already protecting and restoring thousands of acres of land, from tidal wetlands to old-growth forests to dune habitat and more. This funding approval means that Willapa NWR will receive $1,255,248 to acquire 239 acres of land for the purpose of preserving waterfowl and other wildlife habitat.

Habitat loss is THE single biggest cause of species endangerment and extinction, so the more we're able to protect, the better--especially if we can create wildlife corridors between sections. Biodiverse ecosystems also have a better chance of weathering the effects of climate change.

Along with the habitat acquired for Willapa NWR, funding was also approved to purchase land for other Refuges:

Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana – $1,466,000 to acquire 548 acres.

Clarks River National Wildlife Refuge in Kentucky – $6,621,000 to acquire 2,482 acres.

Green River National Wildlife Refuge in Kentucky – $11,372,000 to acquire 1,335 acres.

Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge in New Hampshire – $1,066,450 to acquire 797 acres.

The funding was acquired through the sales of Federal Duck Stamps; 98% of the money from these stamps goes into purchasing and maintaining Refuge lands. While these were originally created to raise funds for waterfowl land by requiring waterfowl hunters to buy a stamp with their license each year, anyone can buy a Duck Stamp. There are lots of non-hunting collectors who buy them for the art, and the annual art contest draws talent from across the country. The Junior Duck Stamp Program allows young artists K-12 to enter their own contest while also learning about conservation. (It also was the topic of one of my more infamous posts here on Tumblr!)

#conservation #environment #environmentalism #Willapa National Wildlife Refuge #National Wildlife refuge #wildlife refuge #wildlife habitat #wildlife corridors #wildlife #animals #nature #climate change #biodiversity #endangered species #extinction #Washington #Washington State #PNW #Pacific Northwest

[conscorridor]

Learn more about projects recently funded under the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program

#ecology #landscape ecology #conservation #wildlife corridors

[robeight]

Tech Tycoon Uses His Talents To Protect Florida Wildlife

A Tampa man who made millions selling his tech startup is using his knowhow and money to help preserve Florida’s wildlife. When Tampa entrepreneur Arnie Bellini sold his IT service company in 2019, it made him and many of his employees very wealthy. Now he’s using his business skills and millions of his own money to tackle environmental issues in Florida.

The tech founder is on a mission to educate people about the importance of preserving undeveloped land in Florida for the good of the environment and the economy. "We in the State of Florida have an amazing opportunity to balance our economy and our ecology and keep this a state that’s wonderful and beautiful forever," he explains.

Bellini is spending $5-million of his own money on an advertising campaign called “Live Wildly” to sell the public on why green space is so important. He’s also meeting with leaders in the state to get support for the state’s wildlife corridor, an 18-million acre preserve spanning the state that was approved by the legislature last year. He believes that now is a critical time to get ahead of this issue. “Let’s be proactive,” he says. “Let’s not wait until it's too late."

Source: FOX 13 News

#Good News #GoodNews #Florida #Wildlife #Environment #Tampa #Environmental #Preservation #Ecology #Live Wildly #Wildlife Corridor #Green Space

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this press release from the Department of the Interior:

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland today announced several actions the Department is taking to advance its work on wildlife corridors. The Department’s efforts will focus on conservation and restoration of wildlife corridors and habitat connectivity in a way that supports conservation outcomes, honors private landowner rights, and encourages collaboration with other federal agencies, state and local governments, Tribes and other stakeholders.

Secretary Haaland announced $2.5 million in grants, which have been matched by another $7 million in contributions, that will be distributed to seven states and three Tribes for a total of 13 projects through the Improving Habitat Quality in Western Big Game Migration Corridors and Habitat Connectivity(link is external) program. The grant program, initially established after Secretary’s Order 3362, is administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and receives funding from the Interior Department, the Department of Agriculture, and private partners.

The Secretary also announced a first-of-its-kind agreement between the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society to coordinate support, involvement and utilization of the National Conservation Training Center to meet conservation needs, such as improving wildlife corridors and connectivity. The Service has pledged to fund this work with an initial commitment of $450,000.

The U.S. Geological Survey, working in collaboration with state and Tribal wildlife agencies, also published the second volume of its Ungulate Migrations of the Western United States report. The report provides detailed maps of corridors, stopovers, routes and winter ranges so that migration can be taken into account by state and federal transportation officials, land and wildlife managers, planners, and other conservationists working to maintain big-game migrations in the western states.

#wildlife corridors #conservation #habitat connectivity

[longlistshort]

This mural by Ernesto Maranje was created for Florida Wildlife Corridor, located in The Factory complex in St. Pete.

For more of Maranje’s work, also check out his Instagram.

#Ernesto Maranje #Florida Wildlife Corridor #Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation #Nature #Nature Art #Florida Street Art #Nature Painting #St. Pete Mural #St. Pete Murals #St. Pete Street Art #Street Art #Street Art St. Pete #The Factory #The Factory St. Pete #Birds

[reasonsforhope]

"With “green corridors” that mimic the natural forest, the Colombian city is driving down temperatures — and could become five degrees cooler over the next few decades.

In the face of a rapidly heating planet, the City of Eternal Spring — nicknamed so thanks to its year-round temperate climate — has found a way to keep its cool.

Previously, Medellín had undergone years of rapid urban expansion, which led to a severe urban heat island effect — raising temperatures in the city to significantly higher than in the surrounding suburban and rural areas. Roads and other concrete infrastructure absorb and maintain the sun’s heat for much longer than green infrastructure.

“Medellín grew at the expense of green spaces and vegetation,” says Pilar Vargas, a forest engineer working for City Hall. “We built and built and built. There wasn’t a lot of thought about the impact on the climate. It became obvious that had to change.”

Efforts began in 2016 under Medellín’s then mayor, Federico Gutiérrez (who, after completing one term in 2019, was re-elected at the end of 2023). The city launched a new approach to its urban development — one that focused on people and plants.

The $16.3 million initiative led to the creation of 30 Green Corridors along the city’s roads and waterways, improving or producing more than 70 hectares of green space, which includes 20 kilometers of shaded routes with cycle lanes and pedestrian paths.

These plant and tree-filled spaces — which connect all sorts of green areas such as the curb strips, squares, parks, vertical gardens, sidewalks, and even some of the seven hills that surround the city — produce fresh, cooling air in the face of urban heat. The corridors are also designed to mimic a natural forest with levels of low, medium and high plants, including native and tropical plants, bamboo grasses and palm trees.

Heat-trapping infrastructure like metro stations and bridges has also been greened as part of the project and government buildings have been adorned with green roofs and vertical gardens to beat the heat. The first of those was installed at Medellín’s City Hall, where nearly 100,000 plants and 12 species span the 1,810 square meter surface.

“It’s like urban acupuncture,” says Paula Zapata, advisor for Medellín at C40 Cities, a global network of about 100 of the world’s leading mayors. “The city is making these small interventions that together act to make a big impact.”

At the launch of the project, 120,000 individual plants and 12,500 trees were added to roads and parks across the city. By 2021, the figure had reached 2.5 million plants and 880,000 trees. Each has been carefully chosen to maximize their impact.

“The technical team thought a lot about the species used. They selected endemic ones that have a functional use,” explains Zapata.

The 72 species of plants and trees selected provide food for wildlife, help biodiversity to spread and fight air pollution. A study, for example, identified Mangifera indica as the best among six plant species found in Medellín at absorbing PM2.5 pollution — particulate matter that can cause asthma, bronchitis and heart disease — and surviving in polluted areas due to its “biochemical and biological mechanisms.”

And the urban planting continues to this day.

The groundwork is carried out by 150 citizen-gardeners like Pineda, who come from disadvantaged and minority backgrounds, with the support of 15 specialized forest engineers. Pineda is now the leader of a team of seven other gardeners who attend to corridors all across the city, shifting depending on the current priorities...

“I’m completely in favor of the corridors,” says [Victoria Perez, another citizen-gardener], who grew up in a poor suburb in the city of 2.5 million people. “It really improves the quality of life here.”

Wilmar Jesus, a 48-year-old Afro-Colombian farmer on his first day of the job, is pleased about the project’s possibilities for his own future. “I want to learn more and become better,” he says. “This gives me the opportunity to advance myself.”

The project’s wider impacts are like a breath of fresh air. Medellín’s temperatures fell by 2°C in the first three years of the program, and officials expect a further decrease of 4 to 5C over the next few decades, even taking into account climate change. In turn, City Hall says this will minimize the need for energy-intensive air conditioning...

In addition, the project has had a significant impact on air pollution. Between 2016 and 2019, the level of PM2.5 fell significantly, and in turn the city’s morbidity rate from acute respiratory infections decreased from 159.8 to 95.3 per 1,000 people [Note: That means the city's rate of people getting sick with lung/throat/respiratory infections.]

There’s also been a 34.6 percent rise in cycling in the city, likely due to the new bike paths built for the project, and biodiversity studies show that wildlife is coming back — one sample of five Green Corridors identified 30 different species of butterfly.

Other cities are already taking note. Bogotá and Barranquilla have adopted similar plans, among other Colombian cities, and last year São Paulo, Brazil, the largest city in South America, began expanding its corridors after launching them in 2022.

“For sure, Green Corridors could work in many other places,” says Zapata."

-via Reasons to Be Cheerful, March 4, 2024

#colombia #brazil #urban #urban landscape #urban planning #cities #civil engineering #green architecture #green spaces #urban heat #urban heat island effect #weather #meteorology #global warming #climate change #climate hope #climate optimism #climate emergency #climate action #environment #environmental news #city architecture #bicycling #native plants #biodiversity #good news #hope #solarpunk #ecopunk #hopepunk