Utah’s well-being hinges on the long-term health of Great Salt Lake. That reality is made even clearer in a report commissioned by the Great Salt Lake Advisory Council that outlines the potential economic costs that could ensue if the lake’s ecosystem collapsed. With Great Salt Lake’s water levels on a sustained downward trend, “further declines, […]
Tag: wetlands
The Clean Water Act Under Siege
Before the Clean Water Act, our nation’s waters were in trouble. The average loss of wetlands in the United States was nearly half a million acres annually. Lake Erie was considered functionally dead, thanks to industrial pollution and farm run-off. Ohio’s Cuyahoga River caught on fire more than a dozen times in the century before […]
POLL: Should the Trump Administration be allowed to strip waterways pollution protections?
The Trump administration is planning to strip Obama-era pollution protections from thousands of US streams and millions of acres of wetlands, in a move environmentalists warn will harm vital wildlife and could allow pollution into drinking water. The federal government plans to scale back the list of waterways for which land users are required to […]
POLL: Should the Reddish Egret’s habitat be protected?
Hurricane season is again upon us, with storms threatening communities, homes, and wildlife habitat in their path. As communities recover in the wake of these storms and floods, we must implement common-sense policies to help rebuild a more nature-based, resilient landscape to better protect people and wildlife like the reddish egret. The good news is, […]
WWT-ringed goose makes record journey south
A barnacle goose who failed to turn up at his overwintering grounds at WWT Caerlaverock Wetland Centre in Scotland has turned up safe and well – a record 900 miles further south in Spain! It’s the furthest south that a barnacle goose has ever been recorded. The goose had migrated safely for six years running […]
Unconventional swine: how invasive pigs are helping preserve biodiversity in the Pantanal
Ordinarily, invasive and exotic species are a grave threat to native wildlife: outcompeting local species, introducing parasites and disease, and disturbing local ecological regimes. A unique case in the Brazilian Pantanal, however, has turned the tables; here, an introduced mammal has actually aided the conservation of native wildlife. The impact of feral pigs (Sus scrofa) […]
World’s rarest duck on the rebound in Madagascar
After a final sighting in 1991, the Madagascar pochard was thought to have vanished for good. But this diving duck was rediscovered in 2006 when a flock of 22 individuals was found on Lake Matsaborimena in northern Madagascar by conservationists during an expedition. Soon after Madagascar pochard eggs were taken and incubated in a joint […]
Two new frog genera discovered in India’s Western Ghats, but restricted to threatened swamp-ecosystems
The misty mountains of the Western Ghats seem to unravel new secrets the more you explore it. Researchers have discovered two new frog genera, possibly restricted to rare and threatened freshwater swamps in the southern Western Ghats of India. The discoveries, described in the open-access journal Zootaxa, prove once again the importance of the mountain […]
