Oklahoma Department of Transportation

July 19, 2024

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation is receiving national recognition for its efforts toward anti-littering, environmental responsibility and monarch conservation.

“According to ODOT, the department was recently recognized at the Keep America Beautiful National Awards Ceremony. ODOT was one of four Oklahoma state agencies to be recognized alongside the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority, Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality and Oklahoma Department of Agriculture Food and Forestry.” 

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Energy Central

June 18, 2024

Biologists’ most exciting discovery to date is a male Nomada electella, a species that had never been recorded in New York.

“The discovery of regionally rare bee species on transmission corridors is incredibly important for pollinator conservation,” said Molly Jacobson, native pollinator ecologist, SUNY-ESF. “These rare bees rely on very specific resources, like certain flowers, soils, or particular hosts (in the case of parasitic bees), which have become scarce in the northeast due to reforestation and development of these sandy, open or shrubby habitats.”

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E&E News

March 20, 2024

Judgment day approaches for the monarch butterfly.

Bound by a court settlement, the Fish and Wildlife Service is supposed to decide by early December whether the monarch warrants listing as threatened or endangered. Although the agency misses many Endangered Species Act deadlines, it appears determined to meet this one after several years of study.

“We wanted to make sure that we have all the best science available … and we wanted to make sure that we were able to gather all that information and make a quality decision,” said Nicole Alt, director of FWS’ Center for Pollinator Conservation.

Read more.

KFGO (Fargo, ND)

March 31, 2024

The Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources is now accepting grant applications for pollinator habitat projects across Minnesota. Ecologist Dan Shaw says the small-scale nature of the projects these grants will fund, like in communities and residential areas, is key to reversing declines in bee, butterfly and dragonfly populations.

He says, “Residents really can make a difference within their landscapes. We tell people to start small if you’re new to planting native plants and supporting pollinators, you can always expand in the future.”

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Montreal Gazette (Montreal, QC)

March 4, 2024

Steven Guilbeault, the federal minister of environment and climate change, was in Montreal on Monday to announce up to $7.5 million of new funding for projects to protect the habitat of species at risk across the country, including $1.5 million for 12 projects in Quebec.

“Nature is at the heart of our way of life and our main ally in the fight against climate change,” he told reporters at a news conference in La Fontaine Park. “Investing in nature also means investing in the fight against climate change because they are two sides of the same coin.”

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Phys.org

February 1, 2024

Managing forest edge habitats to maintain a gradient of canopy cover and plant density could be key to conserving some threatened native plant species such as wild lupine, according to Penn State researchers.

Edge habitats created by natural or human-caused disturbances, including corridors along roadways and utility rights-of-way, provide prime opportunities for encouraging the establishment and reproduction of rare native plants, the researchers reported in a new study published in Plant Ecology.

Read the rest of the article at Phys.org.

Bay Journal (Mayo, MD)

November 21, 2023

Here’s an item to add to your bingo card for long car drives: “no-mow” signs.

More highways and byways across the region are posting them next to strips of land — in medians, at intersections and along shoulders and curbs — as part of reduced mowing practices being integrated into their culture.

Mowing less frequently or avoiding it all together during certain times of year helps to leave habitat for native and pollinator-friendly plants, such as milkweed, when migrating monarchs and other wildlife need them most. Less mowing also means less pollution from gas-powered mowers, and there are financial incentives, too. 

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(St. Louis) County joins national monarch protection agreement

October 4, 2023

The Timberjay (Northern St. Louis County, MN)

In a win-win Tuesday for monarch butterflies and St. Louis County, the board of commissioners approved an agreement that will provide more butterfly habitat along the county’s roadways while protecting future county operations should the monarch be designated as endangered.

Read more on the Timberjay website.

December 15, 2022

With 8 billion people now sharing our globe, the demands on land and water have never been greater. Biodiversity loss is a growing concern worldwide as highlighted by the recent global conferences on climate change (COP27) and biodiversity (COP15). In connection, the habitats and species, including at-risk insect pollinators, that make up biodiversity are an increasing focus of land management.

In June this year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced the establishment of a new Center for Pollinator Conservation. This announcement signaled the continuing importance that pollinators have across the nation. Pollinators are facing severe declines in population around the world, including throughout North America with bee populations decline being the most notable. Since 2017, the rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis) has been listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act and there are several other bumble bees that are either petitioned for federal listing consideration or undergoing status assessments for possible future listings.

Read the rest of the article here.

 

CNN (Cambridge, UK)

November 14, 2022

This roundabout would have been easily overlooked just a few months ago – wedged between busy traffic lanes, there wasn’t much growing apart from bog-standard grass. But local residents who drove past every day thought it had potential.

Now, it’s been transformed into a wildflower meadow, buzzing with insect life and blooming with color.

Reinvigorating those grassy edges of streets and highways – often called road verges or medians – is the bread and butter of local conservation group On The Verge Cambridge, which stepped in to help re-wild the traffic circle as they work toward boosting biodiversity in the local area through planting.

Read the rest of the article here.