Category: Wildlife

Goldfinch

Michigan: Friends of Negwegon State Park join #GivingTuesday challenge

Friends of Negwegon State Park join #GivingTuesday challenge

The Friends of Negwegon State Park and the Community Foundation for Northeast Michigan are working together to help raise park funds through the Giving Tuesday Northeast Michigan event, set for Dec. 1.

Giving Tuesday is celebrated the Tuesday following Thanksgiving and was created to inspire people to give back, while collaboratively taking action to improve local communities.

This 24-hour online fundraising event will help raise additional dollars for the park’s endowment fund through the community foundation. The endowment fund will help preserve the park now and into the future by leveraging grant dollars used for park projects, including invasive species control, interpretive programming, dark sky events and threatened and rare species research.

To make an online donation, visit CFNEM.org between 12 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 1, and select Friends of Negwegon. Every penny donated goes directly to the selected charity. Read more
Fishing, Wildlife

Massive Land Gift in Osceola County, Florida

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Thanks to the tremendous generosity of Elisabeth DeLuca, more than 27,000 acres of iconic Florida prairie and wetlands habitat have been permanently protected through a unique partnership between Ducks Unlimited (DU) and the University of Florida.

The land was donated to the University of Florida by Elisabeth Deluca, and a conservation easement was set up through DU’s land trust, Wetlands America Trust. The easement will protect important wildlife habitat and natural values on the property in perpetuity.

“This Kissimmee Prairie landscape is in the Everglades headwaters, yet at the edge of central Florida’s tourism and development core and is now a permanently protected piece of the conservation puzzle,” said DU CEO Adam Putnam. “For generations to come, students and researchers will make new discoveries alongside migrating waterfowl, endangered red cockaded woodpeckers and grasshopper sparrows on this massive outdoor laboratory. Future ranchers, waterfowlers, nature lovers and wildlife scientists will be able to apply what they’ve read in textbooks to what they’re observing on the landscape, thanks to Elisabeth DeLuca. This partnership between the University of Florida and Ducks Unlimited benefits waterfowl, wildlife and millions of Floridians who value clean water and the protection of the natural landscape.” Read more

Wildlife

The BirdSpotter Photo Contest

Enter your feeder bird photos in the BirdSpotter photo contest, and vote for your favorites too. This close portrait of a male Northern Cardinal was photographed Bob Vuxinic.
How can you beat a spread-wing photo of an Eastern Bluebird? Mary Santangelo took this stunning photo at her feeding station in Effingham, Illinois that ranked as one of the Grand Prize winners in last year’s Bird Spotter photo contest. 2 Attachments

Each year, Wild Birds Unlimited co-sponsors the popular BirdSpotter photo contest in conjunction with Project FeederWatch. You can win a number of prizes, and every other Monday a new BirdSpotter photo challenge will begin. Whether you submit photos or not, you can always view the photos submitted and vote for your favorite. The first Category is “Birds with Food, or at the Feeder” which continues through November 26th, followed by Category 2: “How many species can you get in one photo?” that runs from November 30 to December 10.

What’s in it for you? You get to enter your favorite photo in each two-week challenge, you get to vote for your favorite photo; and if you win, you can get one of the quality prizes provided by Wild Birds Unlimited stores and the Cornell Lab. You could win a $100 or $250 gift card for purchases of your choice at Wild Birds Unlimited stores plus a Lab prize.

For all the information and a list of all this season’s challenge topics, see https://feederwatch.org/birdspotter2020-21/#weekly-categories and for more information about Wild Birds Unlimited stores and online shopping, see https://www.wbu.com/

Wildlife

Michigan: share your thoughts with the DNR at upcoming virtual meetings

The Department of Natural Resources is committed to providing Michigan residents the opportunity to share input and ideas on policy decisions, programs and other aspects of natural resource management and outdoor recreation opportunities. One important avenue for this input is at meetings of the public bodies that advise the DNR and, in some cases, also set policies for natural resource management.

With COVID-19 public health and safety in mind, most upcoming meetings have been changed to virtual meetings or conference calls. Frequently check the DNR boards, commissions, committees and councils webpage for updates.

The links below will take you to the webpage for each group, where you will find specific virtual and teleconference meeting information and, when finalized, meeting agendas. Please check these pages frequently, as meeting details and agendas may change and sometimes meetings are canceled.

December meetings

Read more

Fishing, Hunting, Wildlife

Michigan: have your deer tested for bovine tuberculosis

Don’t forget to bring your deer head to a DNR deer check station or drop box to be tested for bovine tuberculosis, especially if you hunt in Alcona, Alpena, Cheboygan, Crawford, Iosco, Montmorency, Ogemaw, Otsego, Oscoda, Presque Isle or Roscommon counties. We need samples from these counties to meet surveillance goals, which will help biologists understand the scale of infection in the local deer herd.

Sixty percent of deer that test positive for bovine tuberculosis show no signs of the disease, so testing is important. Read more

Hunting, Wildlife

Texas A&M University Explains Tree Transition to Dormancy 

Trees are remarkable plants, and at no time is that more apparent than in the fall, when deciduous trees—bracing themselves for the winter—begin their transition into dormancy. The result is a vibrant and magnificent display of colors that, more often than not, feels like the trees are putting on for us. (Everyone loves a good shot of fall foliage reflecting off of a lake, anyway.)

The reality, of course, is that it’s not just an act of visual poetry – it’s chemistry. And while that might not explain the more existential questions we have about life and beauty and the cyclical behavior of nature, it can at least explain a.) why some trees turn the color they do and why some turn more vibrantly than others, b.) why some regions have better displays of foliage, and c.) how that changing of colors benefits the tree itself. Read more

Wildlife

Clemson Brings Accessibility to Professional Wildlife and Fisheries Resources Degree

For Josh Caldwell, serving as active-duty military in Utah, getting a professional degree to further his goals for employment with a state or federal fish hatchery when his military career is over didn’t seem feasible at a traditional brick-and-mortar school.

Breanna Ondich holds a turtle

Clemson University graduate student Breanna Ondich observes a turtle during her work at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. Ondich is one of many students taking advantage of the added accessibility of Clemson’s fully online professional wildlife and fisheries resources degree program.
Image Credit: Clemson University

For Breanna Ondich, already working in her desired field at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, advancing her education was something she felt necessary to keep up with her peers but difficult to do from her current job’s location on a barrier island off the coast.

For both, the Master of Wildlife and Fisheries Resources (MWFR) degree in Clemson University’s College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences offered the key ingredient to making their educational goals possible: accessibility.

With a new online delivery option for students with experience in natural resources who wish to enhance their professional degree skills, the non-thesis program is in a fully online format, allowing lectures to be available 24/7. Read more

Wildlife

SCIF Maintains Momentum in Africa with Virtual AWCF

Last week, Safari Club International Foundation (SCIF) held its 18th African Wildlife Consultative Forum (AWCF) with its virtual hosts, the Botswana Ministry of Environment, Natural Resource Conservation and Tourism and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks. Despite the many challenges to organize this unique African meeting during COVID-19, the virtual AWCF successfully maintained the momentum for sustainable use wildlife conservation in Africa.

The economic impacts of COVID-19 and its negative effects on conservation programs throughout Africa have made increased communication and mutual support between participating AWCF stakeholders more important than ever in our common mission to conserve wildlife. SCIF worked together with the international hunting industry and our government and community partners to foster the same collaborative spirit during this virtual event true to the in-person AWCF meetings.

The decision to make AWCF virtual this year was difficult, but SCIF’s leadership and the Botswanan wildlife authorities agreed to charge forward given the urgent conservation needs in Africa. SCIF thanks Botswana and all the AWCF attendees for working so closely with us through a planning period affected by the many uncertainties of a global crisis. Read more

Hunting, Wildlife

Boone and Crockett Club Celebrates Overdue Delisting of Gray Wolf

Wildlife

Arizona Deer Association Begins 24 Mile Pipeline Project for Wildlife

Gila County, Arizona – Arizona Deer Association has started a 24 mile water pipeline project on the H4 Ranch in Southern Gila County. The ranch recently lost all of their water infrastructure due to the 200,000-acre Bush Fire, where 90% of the H4 allotment burned.

Working closely with the Arizona Game and Fish Department, USFS Tonto National Forest and H4 owners – the Brown family, Arizona Deer Association volunteers recently completed the first phase of the project. Volunteers installed 5.9 miles of water distribution pipeline, much of which had to be done on horseback due to the rough terrain. The project is scheduled for completion by mid-February, bringing much need water to the area’s wildlife.

Arizona’s continued drought and dismal 2020 Monsoon season, has left the States wildlife stressed. Winter Moisture Forecasts for Arizona are bleak as well. As the drought continues, Wildlife Biologists are predicting less than normal fawn recruitment this year. Arizona Deer Association volunteers are making a difference – by hauling water to dry catchments, developing water sources and improving habitat. Read more

Wildlife
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