Save The Bay’s Post

Exciting news! The Bezos Earth Fund awarded NFWF $30 million in conservation funding to support our efforts to restore two iconic and imperiled landscapes: the longleaf pine forests of the Southeast and the Northern Great Plains grasslands. In the past year, generous funding from the Earth Fund has supported 51 NFWF-funded projects and resulted in more than $90 million in conservation impact across 15 states and two provinces. Renewed funding will support NFWF grantees to restore and maintain 200,000 acres of longleaf pine forest and 600,000 acres of Northern Great Plains grasslands. Taken together, these activities will help with carbon sequestration and support recovery of 10 at-risk species, including the red-cocked woodpecker and black-footed ferret. https://loom.ly/2Zt821E Thank you, Bezos Earth Fund! We can’t wait to see what this third year of collaboration brings. 📷: Pronghorn in the grasslands of the Northern Great Plains #conservation #environment #sustainability #climate #carbon

Thanks to funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund a new phase of Cumbernauld Living Landscape, an ambitious partnership initiative with an ecosystem approach to land management, is set to begin. Led by the Trust, the Nurturing Natural Connections project will further enhance, restore and reconnect vital green spaces across #Cumbernauld, following an initial one-year development grant of £181,200. The development phase forms part of a six-year project to tackle biodiversity loss and climate change across the town’s green spaces and watercourses. Nurturing Natural Connections will build on more than a decade of successful partnership working in Cumbernauld to date. The previous four-year project completed last year and resulted in the planting of over 13,000 native trees; management of more than 4 hectares of wildflower meadows; removal of 950 large sacks of litter; restoration of approximately 5 hectares of peatbog; improvement of 3 kilometres of paths; attendance of more than 6,000 people to educational workshops, wellbeing sessions and practical conservation days; and 960 hours of local volunteers’ time to carry out conservation tasks. Read more. https://lnkd.in/dastFizd Tracy Lambert | North Lanarkshire Council | Ally Corbett | Glasgow City Region | The Conservation Volunteers | #LivingLandscapes #WorkingforWildlife #climatechange #natureconnection #greenspaces #bluespaces #wellbeing #ecosystems #biodiversity #funding #naturerestoration

Land Trust Tuesday! Land trusts are working to conserve land, water and wildlife - and protect people's connection to Colorado's special places. Diverse in size, geographic scope and programming, their conservation and stewardship efforts are vital to Coloradans' quality of life every day. This week's featured land trust: Colorado Headwaters Land Trust! What's so grand about Grand County? The spectacular valleys and scenic views created by the headwaters of the Colorado River. The rivers and streams of the Colorado River headwaters have shaped and continue to sustain the scenic valleys and landscapes so critical to Grand County's economy, cultural heritage and quality of life. Did you know that the Colorado River is the carver of the Grand Canyon and the lifeline of the southwest - and is the most endangered river in the United States? And that the Fraser River, one of the Colorado's tributaries, was recently named the third most endangered river in the nation by American Rivers? These headwaters are struggling to retain their valuable natural attributes: scenic open space, wetlands, vital water rights, working ranches, critical cold-water aquatic habitat, and world-class rafting and fly fishing. And these are the landscapes Colorado Headwaters Land Trust is working hard to protect. One of the many cool things CHLT does is publish a list of recommended books to read. Check out this list - and consider going to an upcoming book club CHLT is co-hosting with Grand County Wilderness Group: **Wilderness and the American Mind, by Roderick Frazier Nash **Wilderness Forever: Howard Zahniser and the Path to the Wilderness Act, by Mark Harvey **Silent Spring Revolution: John F. Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and The Great Environmental Awakening, by Douglas Brinkley **Where the Deer and the Antelope Play: The Pastoral Observations of One Ignorant American Who Loves to Walk Outside, by Nick Offerman **Making America's Public Lands: The Contested History of Conservation on Federal Lands, by Adam M. Sowards **Dispossessing the Wilderness: Indian Removal and the Making of the National Parks, by Mark David Spence **The Rise of the American Conservation Movement: Power, Privilege, and Environmental Protection, by Dorceta E. Taylor

As we close out the year, there is more good news for forests and the Appalachians - one of the most resilient, diverse and productive places on Earth -   This ancient chain of forested mountains, valleys, wetlands and rivers spans roughly 2,000 miles from Alabama to Canada and at The Nature Conservancy, we are working to: ➕ Stitch together a connected landscape of climate resilient lands, corridors and waters at the pace and scale necessary to mitigate climate change and protect biodiversity. ➕ Leverage land and water conservation to provide critical natural climate solutions for healthy communities and resilient landscapes. ➕ Aid the capacity of local conservation organizations, Indigenous Peoples and local communities to help conserve high priority lands and waters; ensure conservation outcomes equitably benefit all who live in and rely on the Appalachians. With this deal, we just got one step closer -    David Phemister, Hayley Lynch, Bill Estep FISH & WILDLIFE RESOURCES, KENTUCKY DEPARTMENT OF Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation   https://lnkd.in/eq4jRHzi

The Conservation Alliance Confluence Program RFP is now available! Please share with your networks. The goal of the Confluence Program is to intentionally connect to historically racially excluded people for the protection of natural places. Each year, The Conservation Alliance awards four grants to groups led by Asian, Black, Brown, Hispanic, Indigenous, Latin American, or additional communities who identify as People of Color working to protect a natural place. Each grantee receives $100,000 over a two-year period ($50,000 per year) for their effort to protect or conserve land and/or water to foster a planet where natural places, wildlife, and people thrive together. https://lnkd.in/gWENaueR #grantopportunity #conservation #TCA #equityandinclusion

The Ontario government's investment of over $925,000 in Pickering's wetland restoration projects reveals a crucial alignment between public funding and ecological stewardship. Spearheaded by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) and the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, these projects are integral to the five-year, $30-million Wetlands Conservation Partner Program. This investment goes beyond mere #conservation. It transforms previous aggregate extraction sites into natural heritages and recreational destinations, enhancing habitats for native species like Atlantic salmon and brook trout 🐟. Importantly, it also serves as a blueprint for how multi-stakeholder initiatives can improve water quality and climate resiliency across urban and agricultural landscapes. https://lnkd.in/gSDtucjj

First-of-its-kind peatland restoration project for Northern Ireland, being led by Ulster Wildlife along with An Creagán Centre. The project aims to restore 30 hectares of severely degraded habitat, which will help nature, improve water quality, reduce flood risk and tackle climate breakdown. What a great project, looking forward to seeing how it progresses. "The interventions aim to help trap water on the bog, allowing peat-forming plants to grow again and wildlife to recover, as well as reducing carbon emissions and moving the site towards carbon storage. Monitoring the water table, and greenhouse gas emissions, alongside monitoring specialist plants such as sphagnum mosses, and iconic wildlife such as snipe and large heath butterfly, will help assess the effectiveness of restoration. The aim is to share knowledge and learning with practitioners, farmers, contractors and researchers facing similar challenges across peatland landscapes at home and abroad, with techniques and the latest research showcased." Full news piece is available here: https://lnkd.in/e7RxDmiy #protectnature #lovenature #lovebogs

📅 One year ago today, NEWT and partners published the groundbreaking report, "Wildlands in New England: Past, Present, and Future," which issued a clarion call for accelerated wildlands conservation in the Northeast. The first-of-its-kind analysis quantified the extent of permanently protected landscapes in New England. The results were sobering: Just over 3 percent of the region enjoys the promise of a future free from development and exploitation. NEWT strives every day to increase that number. By conserving wildlands alongside working forests and farms, and supporting sustainable, resilient communities, we can secure a brighter, more hopeful future for humans and wildlife. Read the report here 👇 https://lnkd.in/ecY2vn-y

The public is being asked to provide input on 16 proposed, new, or expanded wilderness areas and nature reserves in Nova Scotia. The Department of Environment and Climate Change said it launched an online survey today (July 19) and public input will be accepted until Sept. 20. They said the survey is available at: https://lnkd.in/e2p7mP3g. The proposed new designations include: the Antigonish Nature Reserve (new, 48 hectares); the Bonnet Lake Barrens Wilderness Area (addition, 53 hectares), Guysborough County; the Canso Coastal Barrens Wilderness Area (addition, 59 hectares), Guysborough County; the Eigg Mountain-James River Wilderness Area (addition, 345 hectares), Antigonish County; the Fourchu Coast Wilderness Area (addition, 255 hectares), Richmond and Cape Breton counties; and the Middle River Wilderness Area (addition, 22 hectares), Inverness County. “We applaud the province for advancing new protected areas across Nova Scotia, including recently acquired private lands,” Bonnie Sutherland, Executive Director of the Nova Scotia Nature Trust said. “With over 70 per cent of Nova Scotia land privately owned, and biodiversity concentrated on these lands, we are delighted that the province is joining the Nature Trust, other land trusts, and Mi’kmaw organizations in advancing private land conservation. Our unique collaborative approach in Nova Scotia, with diverse partners working together and integrating both public and private land conservation, is driving exciting protected-areas wins, including these 16 sites proposed for designation. Continued collaboration and protection of both public and private land will be critical to reach the ambitious 20 per cent by 2030 target, while ensuring that the 20 per cent includes our most ecologically important natural areas.” Currently 13.6 per cent of Nova Scotia’s land and water is protected, the province said, noting that these proposed sites were private land acquired by the Province of Nova Scotia through the Target 1 Challenge Fund, a five-year agreement between the Province and the Government of Canada with a goal to protect more land and water “We committed, in law, to protect 20 per cent of our land, water and wetlands by 2030 and are working hard to achieve this goal and maintain Nova Scotia’s reputation as a national leader in conservation,” added Timothy Halman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. “We are now inviting Nova Scotians to share their thoughts with us on 16 proposed new designations, which will protect an additional 1,820 hectares of nature.” #nsnt #conservation #protectedland #naturereserves

NATIONWIDE - Dozens of states across the country are stepping up with innovative solutions to conserve lands and waters, protecting natural resources and wildlife for future generations. For the Confluence of States, Conservation & Stewardship remains a common principle on which our offices of outdoor recreation are built. As momentum builds nationally to address the impact of climate change and stop the alarming loss of natural areas, a new report from the Center for American Progress and the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators reviews a variety of land conservation policy models that have been adopted at the state level—from the tried and true to creative new approaches—highlighting recent examples of each. “While recent state actions are encouraging, more is still needed,” said Drew McConville, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and co-author of the report. “As the pace of nature loss and species extinctions grows, scaling up the impact will require even more committed leadership and deeper investment from governors and legislators, as well as effective support from Congress and federal agencies.” The report called “State Policy Leadership To Conserve Nature: A Guide to Innovative Land Conservation Policy Tools Being Deployed by State and Territorial Governments Across the Country” profiles policy models including: ✅ Statewide targets and conservation plans. ✅ Conservation funds. ✅ Outdoor equity funds. ✅ Tax incentives for conservation. ✅ Natural carbon sequestration. ✅ New state parks and conservation lands. ✅ State trust lands management. ✅ Tribal land return and co-management. ✅ Wildlife corridors and habitat connectivity. The following are some recent conservation investments noted in the report: 🌿 Last year, New Mexico launched a new permanent fund to conserve threatened landscapes, improve recreation access, and protect cultural heritage sites. 🐟 Georgia established a dedicated funding stream for conservation projects in 2018. ⛰ Colorado expanded tax credits for private land conservation in 2021. 🌳 Texas voters approved $1 billion for state parks in 2023. 🦌 Florida’s legislature invested more than $1 billion from 2021 to 2023 to complete a critical wildlife corridor. Read the report: “State Policy Leadership To Conserve Nature: A Guide to Innovative Land Conservation Policy Tools Being Deployed by State and Territorial Governments Across the Country” by Drew McConville, Kate Burgess, and Mariel Lutz - https://lnkd.in/essp2gtn