Rewilding & Conservation News and Discussions

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Over 50 Unknown Species Found In "Pristine" Marine Ecosystems Near Rapa Nui
by Tom Hale
April 12, 2024

Introduction:

(IFL Science) Dozens of new species have been discovered along the Salas y Gómez Ridge off the coast of Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, the remote Pacific island famous for its giant stone moai human statues. Among the never-before-seen critters found here were squid, fish, corals, mollusks, sea stars, glass sponges, sea urchins, crabs, and squat lobsters.

They were discovered during a recent expedition by the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s R/V Falkor (too), which is currently surveying the underwater environment within the Pacific Ocean deep off Chile's coastline.

At the Salas y Gómez Ridge, part of a chain of 110 volcanic seamounts, the team identified 160 different species, at least 50 of which are thought to be new to science.

“The observation of distinct ecosystems on individual seamounts highlights the importance of protecting the entire ridge, not just a few seamounts,” Dr Erin E Easton, Chief Scientist at Schmidt and Assistant Professor at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, said in a statement.

Read more of the IFL Science article here: https://www.iflscience.com/over-50-unk ... ui-73786

Read Dr. Erin E Easton’s statement here: https://schmidtocean.org/scientists-fi ... eamounts/

[wjfox]

Computer model suggests frozen cells could be used to save northern white rhino from extinction

APRIL 17, 2024

A team of geneticists and computer scientists from the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Cornell University and the University of California, Santa Cruz, has created a computer model that shows it should be possible to save the northern white rhino from extinction by using frozen cells of 12 individuals. Their paper is published in the journal Evolutionary Applications.

Conservationists have been predicting the extinction of the northern white rhino as the population dwindles. Currently, there are only two infertile elderly females remaining. But hope for saving them has not been lost—the team reports that cell lines collected from 12 of the rhinos and cryogenically frozen and stored at the San Diego Zoo could be used to impregnate a southern white rhino, thereby perpetuating the species.

To use the cells, they would need to be either cloned into embryos or made into sperm and egg cells that could be used for in vitro fertilization—the process would involve reprogramming them into pluripotent stem cells with the ability to grow into the desired cells. First, however, researchers require evidence that the rhinos produced would be genetically diverse—without diversity, the species would soon die out.

To provide evidence, the research team sequenced the genes of both northern and southern white rhinos as a way to measure the degree of diversity in both subspecies. They then used a computer model to mimic the creation of a set number of northern white rhinos with the expected degree of genetic diversity.

They found evidence (in comparison with thriving southern white rhinos) that such diversity was adequate to sustain a future population of the rhinos. The team then turned their attention to the likelihood of genetic mutations in the engineered animals and their offspring and found no evidence of fitness declines over 10 generations.

https://phys.org/news/2024-04-frozen-ce ... rhino.html



Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

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Urgent Need for Logging Loophole Remedy Within Proposed Koala National Park
April 23, 2024

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) A team of conservation and policy researchers have called for a logging loophole within the proposed Great Koala National Park to be urgently remedied to stem the tide of harmful outcomes impacting the South East Australian koala population.

Led by Adjunct Senior Research Fellow Timothy Cadman, from Griffith University’s Institute for Ethics, Governance and Law, the new report published in the International Journal of Social Quality highlighted exclusion of prime koala habitat from logging within the proposed park was inconsistent with koala protection efforts.

Dr Cadman said the plans needed to also consider the integrity of the broader reserve habitat system and be accorded the requisite status of World Heritage.

The Great Koala National Park is set to cover 300,000 hectares of state forest and existing national parks from Grafton to Kempsey in Northern New South Wales.

The Park, to act as a safe haven for east coast koala populations impacted by bushfires, development and logging, was proposed more than a decade ago, with the current New South Wales Labor Government putting the plans into action

Read more of the Eurekalert article here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1042159

For a presentation of the case study as published in The International Journal of Social Quality : https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/ ... 30104.xml

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How Can Forests be Reforested in a Climate-friendly Way?
April 29, 2024

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) Europe's forests have already been severely affected by climate change. Thousands of hectares of trees have already died due to drought and bark beetles. Scientists from the University of Vienna and the Technical University of Munich TUM have now investigated which trees can be used for reforestation. Their findings: only a few tree species are fit for the future, such as English oak in the UK. However, mixed forests are important for the survival of forests, otherwise the forest ecosystem as a whole could be weakened. The results of the study were recently published in the renowned journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.

Although European forests are naturally home to a mix of trees, the number of tree species is lower than in climatically comparable areas of North America or East Asia. In the future, even fewer species will be available to the forestry industry, as scientists led by Johannes Wessely and Stefan Dullinger from the University of Vienna have shown in their new study. Depending on the region, between a third and a half of the tree species found there today will no longer be able to cope with future conditions. "This is an enormous decline," says lead author Johannes Wessely, "especially when you consider that only some of the species are of interest for forestry".

The scientists examined the 69 more common of the just over 100 European tree species with regard to the 21st century in Europe. On average, only nine of these 69 species per location are fit for the future in Europe, compared to four in the UK. "Trees that are planted now for reforestation must survive under both current and future conditions. This is difficult because they have to withstand the cold and frost of the next few years as well as a much warmer climate at the end of the 21st century. There is only a very small overlap," says Wessely. In the UK, these climate-fit species include, for example, the English oak. Which tree species will suit which region of Europe in the future varies greatly overall.

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1042638

[weatheriscool]

US House votes to remove wolves from endangered list in 48 states

Source: ABC News/AP

April 30, 2024, 6:45 PM

The U.S. House voted Tuesday to end federal protection for gray wolves, approving a bill that would remove them from the endangered species list across the lower 48 states.

A handful of Democrats joined with Republicans in passing the bill. The measure now goes to the Senate, but it appears doomed after the White House issued a statement Monday warning that the Biden administration opposes it. Congress shouldn't play a role in determining whether a species has recovered, the statement said.

The Republican-authored bill comes amid national debate on the wolves' future. Hunters and farmers across the country maintain the species is stable and have been complaining for years about wolf attacks on game species and livestock. They want to be allowed to legally kill the animals. Conservationists insist the population remains fragile after being hunted to near-extinction by the 1960s.

In 2011 Congress stripped Endangered Species Act protection from gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains and the Trump administration removed protections across the rest of the continental U.S. in 2020. However, a federal judge blocked the change except in the northern Rocky Mountains. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this past February rejected requests from conservation groups to restore protections in that six-state Rockies region, allowing Idaho, Montana and Wyoming's state-sponsored wolf hunts to continue. The agency estimated the wolf population in the region at almost 3,000 animals at the end of 2022.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us- ... -109808318

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Tribes Lead on Wildlife Passages
by Ben Goldfarb
May 1, 2024

Introduction:

(High Country News) The North Cascades elk herd is a cluster of some 1,600 animals whose domain, like so many habitats, is riven by a highway. From 2012 to 2019, Washington state records show, at least 229 elk were killed by cars along a stretch of State Route 20 in the Skagit Valley. The situation imperils humans, too: In 2023, a motorist died after swerving around an elk into a telephone pole.

“My own nephew had an elk collision, and I’ve nearly had collisions myself over the years,” said Scott Schuyler, a member of the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe, who is also the tribe’s natural resources and cultural policy representative. “We have an obligation to protect our neighbors and ourselves and these animals.”

To many observers, the solution has long been clear: a wildlife bridge, flanked by fencing. But building such a structure would cost around $8.5 million, a daunting expense.“There didn’t seem to be any money out there on the horizon that could make this happen,” said Jennifer Sevigny, a biologist with the nearby Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians, which co-manages the elk herd.

That changed in November 2021, when Congress passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — a package that included the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program (WCPP), a grant initiative that would distribute $350 million over five years to states, Native tribes and other entities for animal-friendly infrastructure. Although Sevigny knew the competition for grants would be fierce, she submitted a proposal for an elk bridge when the program launched in 2023. “Honestly, I didn’t think we were going to get it,” she said.

When the recipients of the first $110 million in grants were announced in December 2023, however, the Stillaguamish was among them. Once the grant agreement is finalized, the tribe will partner with the Upper Skagit to convene biologists and engineers to design the bridge, which is expected to take four years to construct.

Read more here: https://www.hcn.org/issues/56-5/tribes ... assages/#

If you have trouble opening the link provided above, the article was also published in Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/environment ... atalities/

[wjfox]

Forestry England to rewild 8,000 hectares of land to support wildlife and tree health

20 May 2024

Forestry England is preparing to rewild more than 8,000 hectares of its land across four of the nation's forests, in a bid to experiment with a more hands-off approach to forestry management which it hopes can better support wildlife and biodiversity, the agency has announced today.

England's largest land manager has unveiled plans to develop four new 'wild areas' across four different forests where it aims to "let nature take the lead", an approach it hopes "will over decades make them the most valuable places for wildlife across England".

It said the new approach to forestry management and restoring ecosystems would deliver biodiversity benefits that "spread out across other forests and the wider countryside".

The biggest new wild area is set to span at least 6,000 hectares in the Kielder Forest in Northumberland, where the agency said it aims to restore a fully-functioning upland ecosystem by expanding native woodland and scrub to create more open habitats.

As well as restoring peatland and natural water courses in the area, Forestry England also said it aimed to create an "innovative model" of modern productive forestry, balancing nature-first approaches alongside sustainable wood production to boost the long-term resilience of the forest.

https://www.businessgreen.com/news/4209 ... ree-health



Credit: Forestry England

[Time_Traveller]

One of world’s rarest cats no longer endangered

20 June 2024, 13:21 BST



One of the world's rarest cats, the Iberian lynx, is no longer classed as endangered, according to a report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

On Thursday the IUCN, which categorises species according to the level of risk they face in a "red list", bumped the Iberian lynx from "endangered" to "vulnerable" after a significant surge in numbers.

Its population grew from 62 mature individuals in 2001 to 648 in 2022. While young and mature lynx combined now have an estimated population of more than 2,000, the IUCN reports.

As the name suggests, the wild cat species calls the Iberian region - Spain and Portugal - home.

According to the latest census data, external, there were a total of 14 clusters where the animals were stable and reproducing. Of those, 13 were located in Spain and one in Portugal.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cyxxz51vwz2o

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No Evidence that England’s New ‘Biodiversity Boost’ Planning Policy Will Help Birds or Butterflies
June 28, 2024

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) A new legal requirement for developers to demonstrate a biodiversity boost in planning applications could make a more meaningful impact on nature recovery if improvements are made to the way nature’s value is calculated, say researchers at the University of Cambridge.

From 2024, the UK’s Environment Act requires planning applications to demonstrate an overall biodiversity net gain of at least 10% as calculated using a new statutory biodiversity metric.

The researchers trialled the metric by using it to calculate the biodiversity value of 24 sites across England. These sites have all been monitored over the long-term, allowing the team to compare biodiversity species data with results from the metric.

Plant biodiversity at the sites matched values produced using the metric, but bird and butterfly biodiversity did not.

This means there’s no evidence that a 10% net biodiversity gain calculated using the statutory biodiversity metric will translate into real-life gains for birds and butterflies, without additional conservation management.

Read more of the Eurekalert article here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1049361

For a presentation of study results as presented in the The Journal of Applied Ecology: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley ... 664.14697

[wjfox]

[Time_Traveller]

'Some absolute gems’: £1.5m appeal to save rewilding haven Strawberry Hill

Fri 19 Jul 2024 14.39 BST

When new rules in the 1980s encouraged farmers to “set aside” some arable fields from crop-growing to reduce EU-wide overproduction, Hugh White rebelled.

“He said: ‘If you don’t want my corn, I’ll put the whole lot in set-aside,’” remembers the farmer’s son, Graham White. And so in 1988, cultivation ceased abruptly on all 153 hectares (377 acres) of Strawberry Hill farm in rural Bedfordshire.

Long before “rewilding” was invented, White’s wheatfields became rough grassland and a haven for barn owls.

Five years later, when government funding for his set-aside had finished, White appeared on the TV show Countryfile to urge the authorities to help keep his fields wild.

White was once a passionate champion of conventional farming but had found a new vocation – as a wild barn owl farmer. Strawberry Hill’s vole-filled meadows and disused barns produced more than 200 barn owl chicks within a decade.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... -hill-farm

[Time_Traveller]

Backpack-wearing dogs enlisted to rewild urban nature reserve in Lewes

Fri 26 Jul 2024 10.25 BST



Backpack-wearing dogs are being enlisted to “act like wolves” to help rewild an urban nature reserve in the East Sussex town of Lewes.

Before wolves were persecuted to extinction in the UK in about 1760, they were known to roam large areas, typically covering 12 miles (20km) or more each night.

In doing so, wolves would inadvertently pick up wildflower and grass seeds in their fur, dispersing them many miles away and helping establish new colonies of plants, which is vital for biodiversity and for ecosystems to thrive.

The project by the Railway Land Wildlife Trust in Lewes, funded by Ouse Valley Climate Action, aims to recreate this ecological benefit by equipping local dogs with seed-filled backpacks to help reseed the landscape. The project is thought to be the first of its kind in the UK.

Dylan Walker, the manager behind the scheme, said: “We’re really interested in rewilding processes, but they often involve reintroducing big herbivores like bison or wild horses. In a smaller urban nature reserve it’s really hard to do those things. So, to replicate the effect that those animals have on the ecosystem we aimed to utilise the vast number of dog walkers that are visiting the nature reserve daily.”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... erve-lewes

[Time_Traveller]

Fresh hope for bird with bizarre 'crex crex' call

7 hours ago

Since 2021, 100 corncrakes have been bred in captivity and released each year in a bid to re-establish them in the wild on the flood plains of the River Ouse - home to thousands of wild birds.

The call of the corncrake is a “lovely noise to hear out in the washes,” says Emilie Fox-Teece of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust reserve at Welney, Norfolk.

“The fact that we're able to help boost and support the population in this way to try and establish a sustainable population is very important," she says.

The birds that are released each year have big challenges ahead. They spend the summer feeding then migrate to Africa in the autumn, with only a small number making it back home the following spring to breed.

Returning males are located by their calls and counted, with numbers slowly growing from three males in 2021 to at least nine in 2024, suggesting a population of at least double that, once the quieter females are factored in.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwy332e4lyno

[Time_Traveller]

Plans revealed for new wetland site near town

9 August 2024



Plans for a new wetland site near Stroud have been revealed.

If approved, the Fromebridge Biodiversity Project will cover an area the size of seven football pitches and provide a habitat for migrating birds and water voles.

The scheme includes a bird hide and the creation of accessible paths to encourage visitors.

It will also be the first step in reinstating the final stretch of the Stroudwater Canal between Fromebridge and Saul Junction.

The proposal has come from Cotswold Canals Connected (CCC), which is a partnership between Stroud District Council and Cotswold Canals Trust

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg5l2ex612o

[wjfox]

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Nearly 25% of European Landscape Could be Rewilded
August 15, 2024

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) Europe's abandoned farmlands could find new life through rewilding, a movement to restore ravaged landscapes to their wilderness before human intervention. A quarter of the European continent, 117 million hectares, is primed with rewilding opportunities, researchers report August 15 in the Cell Press journal Current Biology. They provide a roadmap for countries to meet the 2030 European Biodiversity Strategy's goals to protect 30% of land, with 10% of those areas strictly under conservation.

The team found that 70% of the rewilding opportunities in Europe lie in colder climates. Northern Europe—particularly Scandinavia, Scotland, and the Baltic states—and several highland regions in the Iberian Peninsula show the greatest potential.

"There are many areas in Europe that have a low enough human footprint, as well as the presence of key animal species, to potentially be rewilded," says first author and biogeographer Miguel B. Araújo (@Araujo_lab) of the National Museum of Natural Sciences, CSIC, Spain, and the University of Évora, Portugal. "We also highlight the need for different strategies depending on the conditions of each region."

The researchers established criteria to determine areas with rewilding potentials: extensive tracts of land, covering more than 10,000 hectares, with little human disturbance that feature vital species. Based on the size of the land and the types of animals that inhabit the area, they further identified two strategies for rewilding—passive and active.

Passive rewilding relies on natural recolonization, where animals gradually move back into abandoned areas on their own. The approach works best in regions with a healthy population of key herbivores, such as deer, ibex, moose, and rabbits, as well as carnivores, such as wolves, bears, and lynxes. Regions without key herbivore or carnivore species would require active rewilding by reintroducing the missing species to kickstart the ecosystem's recovery. Both strategies aim to create a self-sustaining, biodiverse landscape.

Read more of the Eurekalert article here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1053901

For a presentation of study results as published in Current Biology: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/ ... ll%3Dtrue

[Time_Traveller]

One of UK’s largest and rarest spider species making a comeback, says RSPB

Wed 21 Aug 2024 16.54 BST



One of the rarest and largest species of spider in the UK is said to be making a comeback on nature reserves.

After facing near extinction over the last century, the UK’s population of fen raft spiders is steadily increasing, and numbers are at a record high this year, according to the conservation charity RSPB.

Fen raft spiders can have a leg span of up to 7cm and are known for their incredible nursery webs that can measure up to 25cm.

The RSPB said the resurgence of these giant spiders was the result of conservationist work undertaken to reintroduce them to suitable areas of restored habitat.

The project was a collaboration between Suffolk and Sussex Wildlife Trusts, Natural England, the Broads Authority, the RSPB and the British Arachnological Society.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... b-fen-raft

[Time_Traveller]

Wildlife experts warn of 'butterfly emergency' after count reveals record low numbers

Wednesday 18 September 2024 10:58, UK



Conservationists have declared a "butterfly emergency" after a vast community survey recorded the lowest ever numbers of the insect.

The Big Butterfly Count, organised over three weeks in the summer, asked members of the public to spend 15 minutes recording the butterflies they see in a nearby green space, whether a garden, park or countryside.

But to their dismay, Butterfly Conservation, the wildlife charity behind the survey, found this year's results to be the worst in the 14-year history of the citizen science project.

Volunteers spotted seven butterflies on average per 15-minute count, down almost half on last year's average of 12.

On 9,000 of the total 143,241 counts, people saw no butterflies at all - the highest number in the history of the scheme.

https://news.sky.com/story/wildlife-exp ... s-13217088

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Green Groups Applaud 1 Million Public Comments Urging Biden to Protect Old-Growth Forests
by Brett Wilkins
September 21, 2024

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) Green groups on Friday pointed to the more than 1 million public comments urging the U.S. Forest Service to protect old-growth forests from logging in urging the Biden administration to increase what critics say are inadequate protections for mature trees in a proposed federal amendment.

The Forest Service (USFS)—a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture—received massive input during four rounds of public comment on the National Old-Growth Amendment Draft Environmental Impact Statement.

The USFS' proposed national old-growth amendment follows a 2022 executive order by President Joe Biden that directed the agency to draft policies to protect mature trees in national forests, which are imperiled by but also play a critical role in fighting fossil fuel-driven climate change.

Climate campaigners panned Biden's order as "grossly inadequate." Since the executive order, the Biden administration has allocated $50 million for old-growth forest conservation under the Inflation Reduction Act, which the president signed in August 2022.

In June, USFS announced a draft environmental impact statement for a proposed amendment to Biden's directive. Environmentalists called the draft a "step forward" while urging the administration to do more to protect mature forests.

Read more of the Common Dreams article here: https://www.commondreams.org/news/old- ... mendment

Here is a link to the 2022 Executive Order dicussed in the article cited above: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-ro ... conomies

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Landmark Declaration of Rights Safeguards Biobío River in Chile
by Julia Conley
September 25, 2024

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) Biodiversity and Rights of Nature defenders celebrated a "historic moment" on Wednesday as communities in Chile joined advocacy groups in launching the first Declaration of Rights protecting an ecosystem in the South American country, with the document aiming to safeguard "the rights of Chile's Biobío River against mounting environmental threats."

Communities located along the river—the second-longest in the country—joined environmental advocates, Indigenous tribes including the Pehuenche and Lafkenche people, and scientists in several months of "participatory dialogues" to determine how to protect the Biobío River from industrialization and other threats to the countless species it supports and to the river itself.

International Rivers, a group dedicated to protecting free-flowing rivers around the globe, said that the "cornerstone of the declaration lies in its profound acknowledgment of the intrinsic value held by the Biobío River" and its right to flow unimpeded by hydroelectic projects, disruptions to the riverbed, and other activities.

Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/news/bio- ... er-chile