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Service Releases Annual List of Candidates for Endangered Species Act
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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced its Candidate Notice of Review, a yearly appraisal of the current status of plants and animals considered candidates for protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
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Slow and Steady: Bog Turtles at Home on Private Lands
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As a result of the Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund, agricultural landowners in New Jersey are changing management practices on their land to support the bog turtle, a species listed as threatened in the northern part of its range under the federal Endangered Species Act.
The beauty is, farmers aren’t just changing their practices because it’s good for the turtle; they are changing their practices because it’s good for business.
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Solar energy development impacts on land cover change and protected areas
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Decisions determining the use of land for energy are of exigent concern as land scarcity, the need for ecosystem services, and demands for energy generation have concomitantly increased globally. Utility-scale solar energy (USSE) [i.e., ≥1 megawatt (MW)] development requires large quantities of space and land; however, studies quantifying the effect of USSE on land cover change and protected areas are limited. We assessed siting impacts of >160 USSE installations by technology type [photovoltaic (PV) vs. concentrating solar power (CSP)], area (in square kilometers), and capacity (in MW) within the global solar hot spot of the state of California (United States). Additionally, we used the Carnegie Energy and Environmental Compatibility model, a multiple criteria model, to quantify each installation according to environmental and technical compatibility. Last, we evaluated installations according to their proximity to protected areas, including inventoried roadless areas, endangered and threatened species habitat, and federally protected areas. We found the plurality of USSE (6,995 MW) in California is sited in shrublands and scrublands, comprising 375 km2 of land cover change. Twenty-eight percent of USSE installations are located in croplands and pastures, comprising 155 km2 of change. Less than 15% of USSE installations are sited in “Compatible” areas. The majority of “Incompatible” USSE power plants are sited far from existing transmission infrastructure, and all USSE installations average at most 7 and 5 km from protected areas, for PV and CSP, respectively. Where energy, food, and conservation goals intersect, environmental compatibility can be achieved when resource opportunities, constraints, and trade-offs are integrated into siting decisions.
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South Carolina Department of Natural Resources
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The mission of the Land, Water, and Conservation Division of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources is to provide scientific and reliable information to policy and decision makers and to the public in order to understand, sustain, and protect the State's natural resources for the benefit of all generations.
The mission of the Geological Survey is to provide reliable, unbiased scientific information to public and private decision-makers involved with land-use planning, environment, and economic development.
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Stoleson, Scott
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Stream channel geomorphology influences mussel abundance in southern Appalachian streams, U.S.A.
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We quantified freshwater mussel abundance and species richness and their physical habitat at 24 sites in eight streams in southern Appalachian catchments in 2000 and 2001. In addition, we modelled site-specific hydraulic parameters during summer baseflow and bankfull stages to estimate high- and low-discharge conditions, respectively.
Mussel abundance was related to stream geomorphology, whereas richness was related to stream size. Baseflow habitat parameters explained only minor variation in abundance or richness, and both measures were highly correlated with mean current velocity or stream size. Bankfull shear stress composed a relatively low proportion of overall mussel habitat variability, but it accounted for significant variation in abundance and richness. Mussel abundance was highly variable at sites subject to low-shear stress during spates, whereas abundance always was low at sites subject to high-shear stress. These data suggest that habitat conditions during floods, rather than those at summer baseflow, limit the abundance of mussels in Appalachian streams. These data also suggest that mussel abundance and assemblage structure may be sensitive to any changes in channel geomorphology and hydraulic conditions that might result from land use in the catchment.
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Study: Subseasonal Forecasts Provide a Powerful Tool for Protecting Whales
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Effective management of marine mammal populations threatened by man-made impacts is particularly challenging for marine environments. Not only are these environments highly dynamic and difficult to observe, previous static management approaches have proven problematic or ineffective in marine environments, particularly for highly migratory species or for species undergoing distributional shifts due to climate change.
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Successful Recovery and Removal from Endangered Species Act of Native Kentucky Plant a Victory for Conservation Partners
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State of Kentucky and U.S. Forest Service played crucial role in recovering the white-haired goldenrod, adding to growing list of ESA successes
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The Powell River gets Infusion of Freshwater Mussels in Restoration Effort
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They're small, slimy and extremely slow moving. Freshwater mussels may not pass the eye test as one of nature's key players, but the unique filter-feeding creatures are vital to the ecological health of rivers and streams.
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Three new darter species of the Etheostoma percnurum species complex (Percidae, subgenus Catonotus) from the Tennessee and Cumberland River Drainages
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The federally endangered Duskytail Darter, Etheostoma percnurum Jenkins, is known from only six highly disjunct populations in the Tennessee and Cumberland river drainages of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Only four are extant. Variation in morphology including meristics, morphometrics, and pigmentation was examined among the four extant populations and limited specimens from the two extirpated populations (Abrams Creek and South Fork Holston River). Analyses of these data found each of the extant populations is morphologically diagnosable. The few specimens avail- able from Abrams Creek and South Fork Holston River prevented thorough assessment of variation, and these were grouped with their closest geographic counterparts, Citico Creek, and Little River, respectively. Three new morphologi- cally diagnosable species are described: E. sitikuense, the Citico Darter, from Citico Creek, Abrams Creek, and Tellico River (Tennessee River system); E. marmorpinnum, the Marbled Darter, from the Little River and South Fork Holston River (Tennessee River system); and E. lemniscatum, the Tuxedo Darter, from the Big South Fork (Cumberland River system). Each species warrants federal protection as an endangered species.
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