Story by: Alison Levine
Eagle enthusiasts in New Jersey have plenty to celebrate today on National Bald Eagle Day. Thanks to our dedicated Bald Eagle Project volunteers we know that so far this year 96 bald eagles have fledged from their New Jersey nests! Eagles have come a long way in the Garden State since the early 1980s when there was only one active nest in the whole state.
(more…)Story by Alison Levine
The third Friday in May has been a celebration of our nation’s wildlife and wild places since 2006, when the United States Congress established the holiday. There is a special urgency this year as the United Nations recently reported that nearly one million species worldwide are at risk of extinction within decades (read our post about the UN report for more information).
One of the main points the report makes is that humans are dangerously degrading Earth’s ecosystems, the delicate, interconnected webs of life that we all, people and wildlife alike, need to survive.
(more…)Story by: Alison Levine
A new report into human impacts on nature shows that nearly one million species risk becoming extinct within decades and that current efforts to conserve the earth’s resources will likely fail without radical action, UN biodiversity experts said this week. The report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) found that grave impacts on people around the world are now likely.
The report identifies five main drivers of this unprecedented decline: changes in land and sea use, direct exploitation of organisms, climate change, pollution, and invasion of alien species.
by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager
If you live along or visit the coast, then it’s no surprise that ospreys continue to thrive in New Jersey. 2018 was yet another banner year for these coastal nesting raptors. Their large stick nests depict our rivers and estuaries while they indicate that we’re doing a good job of protecting our local environment along the coast. Today we’ve published results from last year’s nesting season in the 2018 New Jersey Osprey Project Report.
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Kris Schantz, 2017 Inspiration Award Honoree
As a Principal Zoologist for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program, 2017 Women & Wildlife Inspiration Award Honoree Kris Schantz works with one of New Jersey’s most underappreciated and persecuted species: the timber rattlesnake. She earned her Masters of Science degree from Rutgers University based on a study of the rattlesnake and its habitat in northern New Jersey, and her passion in both learning and developing greater understanding of this species has helped improve its protection.
Ms. Schantz partners with academic and consultant biologists, as well as a number of reptile enthusiasts to accomplish the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s conservation mission. Her responsibilities have expanded to include other vulnerable snake species, such as the corn snake, northern pine snake, and scarlet snake. (more…)
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