Entry bubble Bye Bye, Blue Pike

By: Stephanie | September 10, 2009 | Category: General

Today Jane Goodall, famously known as the woman who lived with chimpanzees in Tanzania and noted conservationist, is lecturing at the Library of Congress on endangered species. Conservation efforts like Goodall’s were on my mind last weekend as I walked past endangered Galapagos Tortoises and Madagascar lemurs at a zoo. Seeing those animals made me curious about endangered species in the United States.

dead fishI learned that the U.S. currently has 1,320 endangered or threatened animal and plant species. An endangered species is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range, and a threatened species is likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the current rate of extinction is much higher now than in the past, mainly due to habitat loss. Other reasons are disease, pollution, the introduction of harmful nonnative species, and over-exploitation of wildlife for commercial purposes.

You can search for a specific species of plant or animal to find its status, or see the status of some of the more popular species.

A number of species have been removed from the endangered or threatened list. It’s chilling to me to see the species that are no longer on the list because they’re now extinct: the blue pike, the Santa Barbara song sparrow, and the Mariana mallard, to name a few.

Still, other species are no longer on the list because they’ve been saved by conservation efforts. The gray wolf, the Yellowstone grizzly bear, and, as GovGabber Jake noted, the bald eagle, are some of the success stories.

Learn more about endangered and threatened species from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. And consider buying Federal Duck Stamps, where 98 cents of every dollar go directly to buying or leasing wetland habitat for protection in the National Wildlife Refuge System.

What do you think about wildlife and plant conservation?

| Post a Comment | View Comments [4] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: animal   conservation   endangered_species   extinction   habitat_loss   plant   stephanie   threatened_species   wildlife  

 

Entry bubble Have Summer Plans? Go Wild!

By: Editor | July 27, 2009 | Category: Travel

bird in waterOur guest blogger today is Martha Nudel of the Department of Interior's National  Wildlife Refuge System.  

Want to try something wild this summer? You don’t have to go far or spend a bundle.  National wildlife refuges, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, are teeming with out-of-the-ordinary seasonal events.   Here is a sampling: 

• As bird watching grows in popularity, new trails are popping up around the country, many on national wildlife refuges. The new Makoke Birding Trail in central Iowa is a collection of 22 separately mapped sites, none more than 40 minutes from downtown Des Moines. One of those 22 sites is Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, where tallgrass prairie restoration is bringing back habitat for more than 200 species of birds. A guide to the trail can be loaded: http://www.iowabirds.org/places/documents/Makoke_Trail.pdf.

• The new Sun and Sage Loop of the Great Washington State Birding Trail features more than 200 of the state’s 346 annually recorded bird species.  Among the 52 stops in southcentral Washington is # 29, Toppenish National Wildlife Refuge, with its 1,700 acres of seasonal wetlands and shrub-steppe.  Each fall, 30,000 waterfowl arrive at the Toppenish Refuge and stay for winter.  You may spot Pied-billed grebes, northern pintails, northern shovelers and perhaps even short-eared owls.  For a downloadable trail guide: http://wa.audubon.org/BirdingTrailMaps/TM_index.html.

• All summer long, track wolves at Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in Manteo, N.C., during the red wolf howling safari.   Cars caravan to the howling site on Wednesday nights, weather-permitting.  $5 to participate in the two-hour guided program.  Bring a flashlight and insect repellant.  For more information: www.redwolves.com or www.fws.gov/refuges/profiles/index.cfm?id=41630 or 252-473-1131

• Learn how Native Americans made hunting tools from stone and bone August 9 at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, WA.  Enjoy demonstrations of historic Chinookan tool making, plant harvesting and weaving from natural materials, noon to 3:30 p.m. at the Cathlapotle Plankhouse. The plankhouse is open regularly on weekends from noon to 4 p.m. through October. For more information: www.plankhouse.org or 360-887-4106.

• Take your camera when you visit national wildlife refuges so you can become part of an online wildlife  photo mosaic.  Go to http://yououtdoors.org/ to get started.

This summer, go wild!!  For more information about national wildlife refuges, go to: http://www.fws.gov/refuges/.

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Entry bubble Hit the Road, Not the Wildlife

By: Stephanie | April 28, 2008 | Category: Travel

Passing a dead armadillo on a road in Orlando last week, I began to wonder about roadkill. ants crossing signI mean, should I have reported the stiff little critter? Is there anything being done to prevent such accidents?

I learned later from USA.gov's FAQs that I could have contacted the police or the local, county, or state road commission to report the roadkill. And if an endangered species is injured or killed in traffic (not an issue in this situation), I should call the state fish and wildlife agency or the nearest FWS Ecological Service field office.

To avoid hitting the animal that we so often see dead on the side of the road—deer—the U.S. Forest Service suggests keeping a close watch for them at dawn and dusk; flashing your lights or honking your horn to frighten deer that are near the road; and looking for other deer after one has crossed the road. If you hit a deer, don't get near it, remove your vehicle from the roadway if you can, and call the police.

Some agencies are using innovative ways to make thoroughfares more wildlife friendly. The Federal Highway Admininstration's website, "Critter Crossings: Linking Habitats and Reducing Roadkill," presents strategies that range from goat bridges to salamander tunnels to help keep animals from being hit by vehicles.

And "Keeping It Simple: Easy Ways to Help Wildlife Along Roads" allows you to search for wildlife friendly road projects in your state. Iowa, for example, has put up a fence along a highway that protects threatened turtles, and Alabama has created a boardwalk to help keep the endangered Perdido Beach Mouse from being stepped on.

Even NASA has to deal with roadkill of a sort: apparently the Space Shuttle hits a few birds on its way up. The agency is looking at an avian radar detection system to solve the problem.

But in spite of an agency's best efforts, roadkill is inevitable sometimes. The results can still be dealt with in an environmentally friendly way, though. So talk about "going green": the Montana Department of Transportation offers a manual on composting roadkill such as deer, elk, bison, and moose. One of their better composting tips: "The more remote the site, the better."

| View Comments [2] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: accidents   animals   cars   endangered   roadkill   stephanie   threatened   vehicles   wildlife