The elfin has landed: How military aircraft helped a rare butterfly

November 5, 2018 - In 2000, the New Hampshire Army National Guard needed space to house new aircraft. They ended up making space to house rare butterflies, too. The partnership is restoring an endangered butterfly and may help keep another butterfly from needing federal protection.

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Mink numbers low in PCB-laden Hudson River, study finds

November 1, 2018 - Researchers have confirmed that mink populations are reduced along New York’s Hudson River, which is contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. The dangers to mink are documented in a new peer-reviewed, multi-year study commissioned by the Hudson River Natural Resource Trustees. Scat-detecting dogs helped researchers find and collect mink scat. Individual mink in the region were identified through DNA, and experts used that information to estimate population density, ultimately concluding that approximately 40% fewer mink live along the Hudson River than in its tributary Mohawk River. The primary distinction between these two rivers is the Hudson River’s significant PCB contamination.

Press release

Fact sheet

Learn more about the Hudson River natural resource damage assessment

Saving an ancient fish in modern times

October 31, 2018 - When the future of Arctic charr looked grim, state biologists and locals worked together to restore this fish to waters in Maine. The species is found nowhere else in the Lower 48 except for 14 lakes and ponds in the state. An intensive effort beginning in 2007 paid off last spring when biologists found an increasing population at Big Reed Pond.

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National Fish and Wildlife Foundation announces more than $1.1 Million in grants to help bats

October 30, 2018 - On the eve of Halloween, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) announced more than $1.1 million in grants to combat white-nose syndrome (WNS) and promote the survival of bats in North America.

The grants were announced at the Ruffner Mountain Nature Center in Birmingham, Alabama, where Bat Conservation International (BCI), one of the grantees, is working with two non-toxic anti-fungal agents, ultraviolet light and polyethylene glycol, as a way to reduce the impact of WNS. This project builds on promising research funded last year. The grants were awarded through the Bats for the Future Fund (BFF), a public-private partnership between NFWF, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service, Southern Company and the Avangrid Foundation. They will fund efforts to test four different environmental treatments, as well as further develop a vaccine test to help manage the disease and improve survival and recovery of affected bat populations. In addition to Birmingham, experimental treatments will be deployed in Arkansas, Colorado, Minnesota, Texas, Wisconsin and Ontario, Canada.

News release