Natural Areas

Climate Change & Conservation eNews

Natural Areas

Josh Parrish

Providing economic opportunity for family forest owners

This might be an interesting video to share. It does a good job of counter-messaging the negative narratives about carbon payments.

The Nature Conservancy, The American Forest Foundation, and Amazon are working together to help family forest owners bring in income through sustainable forest management, which has been proven to play a significant role in sequestering more carbon.

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forest-vista
© RBG Kew

Perspectives: Natural climate solutions

As noted by The Nature Conservancy, natural climate solutions won't be effective if we don't transition to clean energy within 10–12 years. The trees, plants, and soils will be too stressed — and increasingly vulnerable to fires, droughts, floods, disease, and invasive insects and fungus.

We are at a critical point for the future of the planet.

We need to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century to keep global temperature increases under 2°C. While most efforts toward this goal have been focused on reducing fossil fuel use, new science shows that natural climate solutions—based on the conservation, restoration and management of forests, grasslands and wetlands—can deliver up to a third of the emission reductions needed by 2030…

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Urban Trees
Unsplash

Any infrastructure plan also needs to invest in trees and green space

The American Jobs Plan proposal would significantly boost community infrastructure as well as jobs — many of which would support long-term investments in conservation and reduce the impacts and pace of climate change. Is your local land conservation group following this?

It’s up to community leaders, neighborhood organizations, nonprofits, and more to ensure that green strategies are not an afterthought but a critical foundation of any infrastructure plan introduced in Congress…

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Songbird
Unsplash

Climate change strategies

Land trusts all over the country are focusing on landscape-scale, climate-resilient lands for protection. It will also be important to prioritize community lands, as well as lands for human refuge and resilience.

The Land Trust of Napa County (LTNC) is actively working to incorporate the challenges and threats posed by climate change into both its land conservation and natural resource management strategies, with a focus on protecting and restoring the ability of our local ecosystems to respond and adapt to warming temperatures. LTNC has dramatically increased its pace of land protection and stewardship throughout Napa County over the last five years to more effectively address these pressing issues…

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Dragonfly
Unsplash

Berks County landmark hill preserved from development

Keeping climate change in the news, and linking it to conservation, doesn't have to be overt all the time. Notice how climate change is mentioned in this story — almost in passing. Depending on your strategy, this can be an effective way to build trust and climate awareness.

“As you cross the Schuylkill River traveling east on Route 422 from Reading toward Pottstown, two hills rise above the horizon to the south: Gibraltar Hill and Seidel Hill. Gibraltar Hill’s 234 acres in Robeson and Cumru townships were conserved by Natural Lands in 2014. The second mountain in Robeson Township, the 103-acre Seidel Hill, was recently preserved…”

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Mossy Trees
Pixabay

Finding the Mother Tree: An evening with Susan Simard

Have you read about Dr. Suzanne Simard's research? I personally find it totally cool. Now you can sign up for a free webinar and listen to her directly. I hope you will join me...
Upcoming webinar event
Wednesday, June 16 
7:00-8:30 PM EST

In her first book, Finding the Mother Tree, Simard brings us into her world, the intimate world of the trees, in which she brilliantly illuminates the fascinating and vital truths — that trees are not simply the source of timber or pulp, but are a complicated, interdependent circle of life; that forests are social, cooperative creatures connected through underground networks by which trees communicate their vitality and vulnerabilities with communal lives not that different from our own.​

The Western New York Land Conservancy is thrilled to host Dr. Simard for a live-streamed virtual event. Finding the Mother Tree: An Evening with Suzanne Simard will include a presentation on her pioneering work and a conversation.

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Happy Farmers
Rachel Leathe/Bozeman Chronicle

American Farmland Trust calls on the Biden administration to protect and conserve 30% of working farmland and ranchland to achieve 30×30

It would be helpful if you shared on social media and reached out to your representatives to say how much you support the 30 x 30 effort — and to let them know it's important that they help counter misinformation. American Farmland Trust has a good post you can read here.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, American Farmland Trust released “Agriculture’s Role in 30×30: Partnering with Farmers and Ranchers to Protect Land, Biodiversity, and the Climate” outlining agriculture’s critical role in the effort to “conserve at least 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030” as put forth in the Biden administration’s January 27, 2021, Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. AFT’s recommendations make it clear that we urgently need to both permanently protect five percent of vulnerable working lands from being converted to development and support landowners’ voluntary efforts to implement conservation practices on an additional twenty-five percent of working lands, particularly in biodiversity hotspots, key connectivity corridors and areas with high carbon sequestration potential.

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Dolphins
NRDC website

30 x 30: NRDC’S commitment to protect nature and life on earth

This initiative provides a ray of hope into our collective efforts to conserve what has become even more important to our communities during the pandemic.

“To prevent mass extinctions and bolster resilience to climate change, scientists warn that we must protect at least 30 percent of our lands, rivers, lakes, and wetlands by 2030. At the same time, we must also fully and highly protect at least 30 percent of our oceans by 2030 to help safeguard marine ecosystems and fisheries that provide food, jobs, and cultural sustenance to billions around the world.

We have the tools to create a better, healthier future for our planet—and ourselves—but we must act now…”

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Early Fall Forest
Unsplash

The right trees for the right time: Speakers to focus on forest resiliency amid climate change

Perhaps there is a way for your local conservation group to tap into a webinar series like this. You can always promote webinars and speaker series that are relevant to your area.

New approaches to forest management — that can help maximize ecosystem resiliency in changing climate conditions — will be the focus of four talks being offered in conjunction with a recently announced project in the Hoffman Evergreen Preserve in Stonington, Connecticut.

The next two talks (out of a series of four) will be on May 12 and June 9. Registration is free.

Sponsored by the Avalonia Land ConservancyConnecticut Sea Grant and UConn CLEAR (Center for Land Use Education & Research), the talks will give municipal officials, resource managers, land trust members, tribal leaders, private forest owners, students, teachers, and others the chance to learn from experts about climate change effects on northeastern forests and strategies to enhance their ability to adapt…

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Western Meadowlark
Evan Barrientos/Audubon

Conservation Ranching: Empowering consumers to make a difference in grassland conservation

“Grassland birds have suffered an unparalleled decline over the past half century, stemming from widespread development of North America’s grasslands. This calls for Audubon’s action. To combat the negative effects of grassland degradations—and to keep grass on the landscape—Audubon has developed the Conservation Ranching Initiative. This market-based conservation approach offers incentives for good grassland stewardship through a certification label on beef products. For the first time, consumers can contribute to grassland conservation efforts by selectively purchasing beef from Audubon-certified farms and ranches…”

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