Did You Know?
Find out what's happening across our country in the world of
Conservation, brought to you by the
National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) and
the Oneida County Land and Water Conservation Department
Enjoy!
Conservation, brought to you by the
National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) and
the Oneida County Land and Water Conservation Department
Enjoy!
“The Oneida County Land and Water Conservation Department does not promote or oppose the
practices mentioned in the following articles. We only strive to provide our readers with the most
up-to-date information so they can make informative, personal decisions based on facts.”
practices mentioned in the following articles. We only strive to provide our readers with the most
up-to-date information so they can make informative, personal decisions based on facts.”
(September, 2019)
Engadget: How conservationists are controlling invasive species in the 21st century
By Andrew Tarantola
Invasive species, defined as those plants and animals imported through human action and which cause harm, account for an estimated $100 billion in damages to the U.S. economy every year.
Yale Environment 360: New Jersey Soil Microbe Shown to Break Down ‘Forever Chemicals’
Scientists have discovered that a soil microbe commonly found in New Jersey wetlands can break down one of the toughest class of pollutants, known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
The Los Angeles Times: Forest thinning projects won’t stop the worst wildfires. So why is California spending millions on them?
By Bettina Boxall
Four months after the town of Paradise was incinerated in the most destructive wildfire in California history, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an emergency proclamation, ordering agencies to thin trees and clear shrubs near some of the state’s most fire-threatened communities.
Star Tribune: As monarch butterflies vanish, University of Minnesota investigates road salt as culprit — and cure
By Greg Stanley
Too much sodium is toxic for butterflies and can delay or hinder their muscle development. But smaller amounts may prove beneficial.
NBC News: How the Amazon's fires, deforestation affect the U.S. Midwest
By Erik Ortiz
The continued loss of vegetation in the Amazon could have a cumulative effect, not only in contributing to climate change but also affecting rainfall patterns around the globe, including the U.S. Midwest, threatening food production and destabilizing ecosystems, according to the experts.
Bridge: Battle looms over laws to slow spread of invasive species in Great Lakes
By Jim Malewitz and Sarah Whites-Koditschek
At least 80 invasive species have arrived in the ballast water transatlantic ships take in and discharge for balance.
(July, 2019)
Star Tribune: Invasive grasses choke birds’ habitat
By Jennifer Bjorhus
When the forest canopy along the Mississippi River gaps and shrinks, an aggressive, sun-loving invasive plant called reed canary grass takes hold, a species that thrives in areas disturbed by fluctuating water. Hundreds of bird species are affected.
Engadget: How conservationists are controlling invasive species in the 21st century
By Andrew Tarantola
Invasive species, defined as those plants and animals imported through human action and which cause harm, account for an estimated $100 billion in damages to the U.S. economy every year.
Yale Environment 360: New Jersey Soil Microbe Shown to Break Down ‘Forever Chemicals’
Scientists have discovered that a soil microbe commonly found in New Jersey wetlands can break down one of the toughest class of pollutants, known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
The Los Angeles Times: Forest thinning projects won’t stop the worst wildfires. So why is California spending millions on them?
By Bettina Boxall
Four months after the town of Paradise was incinerated in the most destructive wildfire in California history, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an emergency proclamation, ordering agencies to thin trees and clear shrubs near some of the state’s most fire-threatened communities.
Star Tribune: As monarch butterflies vanish, University of Minnesota investigates road salt as culprit — and cure
By Greg Stanley
Too much sodium is toxic for butterflies and can delay or hinder their muscle development. But smaller amounts may prove beneficial.
NBC News: How the Amazon's fires, deforestation affect the U.S. Midwest
By Erik Ortiz
The continued loss of vegetation in the Amazon could have a cumulative effect, not only in contributing to climate change but also affecting rainfall patterns around the globe, including the U.S. Midwest, threatening food production and destabilizing ecosystems, according to the experts.
Bridge: Battle looms over laws to slow spread of invasive species in Great Lakes
By Jim Malewitz and Sarah Whites-Koditschek
At least 80 invasive species have arrived in the ballast water transatlantic ships take in and discharge for balance.
(July, 2019)
Star Tribune: Invasive grasses choke birds’ habitat
By Jennifer Bjorhus
When the forest canopy along the Mississippi River gaps and shrinks, an aggressive, sun-loving invasive plant called reed canary grass takes hold, a species that thrives in areas disturbed by fluctuating water. Hundreds of bird species are affected.
(April 25, 2019)
KMUW:
As Weeds Outsmart The Latest Weedkillers, Farmers Are Running Out Of Easy Options
By Daniel Charles
Culpepper tells farmers that they still can control this superweed, but they need to use a bunch of different tools. That means deploying multiple chemicals, alternating the crops that they plant, and planting extra "cover crops" in the off season to cover the soil and make it harder for weeds to emerge.
(February 21, 2019)
The Guardian:
Plummeting insect numbers 'threaten collapse of nature'
By Damian Carrington
More than 40% of insect species are declining and a third are endangered. The rate of extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds and reptiles. The total mass of insects is falling by a precipitous 2.5% a year, suggesting they could vanish within a century.
Los Angeles Times:
Navajo shepherds cling to centuries-old tradition in a land where it refuses to rain
By David Kelly
A brutal drought gripping the Southwest is hitting New Mexico and the Navajo Nation reservation especially hard, threatening traditional shepherds and a pastoral way of life going back generations.
The Mercury News:
California’s ‘dry farmers’ grow crops without irrigation
By Priyanka Runwal
While unfamiliar to many consumers, dry farming is an age-old practice that entails carefully managing soils to lock winter rainfall into the top layers until it’s time to begin growing crops during the spring and summer.
(January 28, 2019)
U.S. Ag Net:
New Conservation Practice Could Reduce Nitrogen in Drainage Water
In a new study, University of Illinois scientists have estimated that a new conservation practice known as saturated buffers could reduce nitrogen from agricultural drainage by 5 to 10 percent.
The Conversation:
Bison are back, and that benefits many other species on the Great Plains
By Matthew D. Moran
Today some 500,000 bison have been restored in over 6,000 locations, including public lands, private ranches and Native American lands. As they return, researchers like me are gaining insights into their substantial ecological and conservation value.
(January 24, 2019)
The Enquirer:
Cincinnati’s local zoo is paving the way in green and sustainable efforts
By Ladan Nikravan-Hayes
By 2025 the Zoo will produce more power on its properties than it consumes. It will use no potable water for non-drinking water needs and will be sending zero waste to the landfill. The Cincinnati Zoo would be the first zoo in the world to achieve this.
NACD Editor’s Note: Hamilton County SWCD helped install rain gardens and a vegetated roof at the zoo through grants. These features have signage enabling the district to educate the millions of visitors that go to the zoo each year. “It’s a great partnership,” says district director Holly Utrata-Halcomb.
(January 7, 2019)
The New York Times:
Will Mushrooms Be Magic for Threatened Bees?
By Paul Stamets
(Opinion) In the field study, a small amount of one of these mycelial extracts was added to the sugar water commonly fed to honeybees by beekeepers; wild bees could benefit too. I hope to create, with some colleagues, a nonprofit organization that could make available this mushroom extract and a bee feeder, similar to a hummingbird feeder, so that all of us can help save bees from our own backyards.
Great Lakes Echo:
Farmers, Great Lakes benefit from cover crops
By Andrew Blok
Cover crops help prevent nutrient runoff from farms, particularly phosphorus, from making its way to the Great Lakes and creating conditions for algal blooms. If the Great Lakes are ever free of nuisance algal blooms, it will be because more farmers adopt soil-smart practices such as cover crops to curtail erosion, researchers say.
(January 3, 2019)
The Guardian:
How Native American tribes are bringing back the bison from brink of extinction
By Jeremy Hance
On 5,000 hectares of unplowed prairie in northeastern Montana, hundreds of wild bison roam once again. But this herd is not in a national park or a protected sanctuary – they are on tribal lands. Belonging to the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes of Fort Peck Reservation, the 340 bison is the largest conservation herd in the ongoing bison restoration efforts by North America’s Indigenous people.
National Geographic:
How cattle can help save the birds of the Great Plains
By Molly Loomis
Like the bison, the birds fill a critical role in the ecosystem, dispersing seeds, controlling insects, and mitigating weeds. When sustainably grazed and rotated through fields to give the land time to recover, cattle can mimic the impacts of native bison and actually do more good than harm to the ecosystem.
KMUW:
As Weeds Outsmart The Latest Weedkillers, Farmers Are Running Out Of Easy Options
By Daniel Charles
Culpepper tells farmers that they still can control this superweed, but they need to use a bunch of different tools. That means deploying multiple chemicals, alternating the crops that they plant, and planting extra "cover crops" in the off season to cover the soil and make it harder for weeds to emerge.
(February 21, 2019)
The Guardian:
Plummeting insect numbers 'threaten collapse of nature'
By Damian Carrington
More than 40% of insect species are declining and a third are endangered. The rate of extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds and reptiles. The total mass of insects is falling by a precipitous 2.5% a year, suggesting they could vanish within a century.
Los Angeles Times:
Navajo shepherds cling to centuries-old tradition in a land where it refuses to rain
By David Kelly
A brutal drought gripping the Southwest is hitting New Mexico and the Navajo Nation reservation especially hard, threatening traditional shepherds and a pastoral way of life going back generations.
The Mercury News:
California’s ‘dry farmers’ grow crops without irrigation
By Priyanka Runwal
While unfamiliar to many consumers, dry farming is an age-old practice that entails carefully managing soils to lock winter rainfall into the top layers until it’s time to begin growing crops during the spring and summer.
(January 28, 2019)
U.S. Ag Net:
New Conservation Practice Could Reduce Nitrogen in Drainage Water
In a new study, University of Illinois scientists have estimated that a new conservation practice known as saturated buffers could reduce nitrogen from agricultural drainage by 5 to 10 percent.
The Conversation:
Bison are back, and that benefits many other species on the Great Plains
By Matthew D. Moran
Today some 500,000 bison have been restored in over 6,000 locations, including public lands, private ranches and Native American lands. As they return, researchers like me are gaining insights into their substantial ecological and conservation value.
(January 24, 2019)
The Enquirer:
Cincinnati’s local zoo is paving the way in green and sustainable efforts
By Ladan Nikravan-Hayes
By 2025 the Zoo will produce more power on its properties than it consumes. It will use no potable water for non-drinking water needs and will be sending zero waste to the landfill. The Cincinnati Zoo would be the first zoo in the world to achieve this.
NACD Editor’s Note: Hamilton County SWCD helped install rain gardens and a vegetated roof at the zoo through grants. These features have signage enabling the district to educate the millions of visitors that go to the zoo each year. “It’s a great partnership,” says district director Holly Utrata-Halcomb.
(January 7, 2019)
The New York Times:
Will Mushrooms Be Magic for Threatened Bees?
By Paul Stamets
(Opinion) In the field study, a small amount of one of these mycelial extracts was added to the sugar water commonly fed to honeybees by beekeepers; wild bees could benefit too. I hope to create, with some colleagues, a nonprofit organization that could make available this mushroom extract and a bee feeder, similar to a hummingbird feeder, so that all of us can help save bees from our own backyards.
Great Lakes Echo:
Farmers, Great Lakes benefit from cover crops
By Andrew Blok
Cover crops help prevent nutrient runoff from farms, particularly phosphorus, from making its way to the Great Lakes and creating conditions for algal blooms. If the Great Lakes are ever free of nuisance algal blooms, it will be because more farmers adopt soil-smart practices such as cover crops to curtail erosion, researchers say.
(January 3, 2019)
The Guardian:
How Native American tribes are bringing back the bison from brink of extinction
By Jeremy Hance
On 5,000 hectares of unplowed prairie in northeastern Montana, hundreds of wild bison roam once again. But this herd is not in a national park or a protected sanctuary – they are on tribal lands. Belonging to the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes of Fort Peck Reservation, the 340 bison is the largest conservation herd in the ongoing bison restoration efforts by North America’s Indigenous people.
National Geographic:
How cattle can help save the birds of the Great Plains
By Molly Loomis
Like the bison, the birds fill a critical role in the ecosystem, dispersing seeds, controlling insects, and mitigating weeds. When sustainably grazed and rotated through fields to give the land time to recover, cattle can mimic the impacts of native bison and actually do more good than harm to the ecosystem.