#conservatio

TAKE ACTION:  Polar Bears Threatened by Seismic Testing 

Within weeks heavy trucks could be crushing polar bear dens in the Arctic Wildlife National Refuge. The trucks could also scare mother polar bears into abandoning their dens, leaving their cubs to perish and sending the species into further decline.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has just given draft approval for a company to harass polar bears while searching for oil in the area this winter.

This is part of Trump's all-out attack on the refuge. The administration is fast-tracking lease sales for oil and drilling there.

Now it's permitting seismic exploration, which is highly destructive to lands and wildlife. The permit would allow convoys of massive trucks, tractors and bulldozers to roll over fragile tundra 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for months on end. These activities will not only irreparably scar the landscape — they will scare off polar bears.

We must resist this reckless and cruel proposal and stop the Trump administration from turning the Arctic Refuge into an oilfield on its way out the door.

Striped Possum (Dactylopsila trivirgata) Reminds me of a skunk, however I do love the black and white stripes on the little feller. However it does have something else in common with the skunk, it can emit a yucky smell. Though we are yet to know why...

The Turtle Conservancy:

Our beautiful center is home to over 32 species of turtles and tortoises, 12 of which are on the "Top 40 Most Endangered" list according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group.

We breed and raise these critically endangered species to assure their survival no matter what!

By Rich Carlson/USFWS

  Photo: I examine one of the many native species collected from Ohop Creek

I am a Restoration Ecologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). I have been working in the Ohop Valley for over a decade and have been involved with most of the restoration projects in that valley during those ten years. I was very excited to help with the third phase of restoring Ohop Creek, and wanted to share one piece of that project with you. The Fish-Out of Ohop Creek.

On August 25 and 26, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service helped move salmon and other aquatic species to their new home in Ohop Creek, a major tributary to the Nisqually River. 

Photo: Many hardworking volunteers waded into the creek to help collect biodiversity samples and move fish from the creek.

Like many streams in the west, Ohop Creek had been moved to the side of the valley, ditched, and straitened for agriculture. With willing sellers, and financial support from many supporters, the Nisqually Land Trust was able to acquire the entire project area, from valley wall to valley wall. This provided a unique opportunity to restore not just a stream, but an entire floodplain, to benefit fish, birds, mammals, and amphibians. The latest project involved creating 1.4 miles of new channel that will connect to the one mile of stream that was restored in 2009. 

Conservation-Properties.com was created to serve the niche market of conservation real estate, as well as the buyers, sellers, and real estate professionals who work within that market.  The site is exclusive; only properties that have been conserved or are viable candidates for conservation can be listed.

Conservation-minded buyers visit the site because they know they will not have to wade through thousands of unrelated listings in order to find the small number of properties that interest them.  They also know that the brokers representing the properties and listed in our Conservation Resources directory have experience dealing with the complexities that come with buying, selling, or marketing conservation properties.

Conservation-Properties.com is not a listing service for just any type of property, and that is exactly why it is useful.  We know our audience and present only properties and that will be of interest to them.

So how do you know if your property qualifies for listing on Conservation-Properties.com?

Here are a few guidelines:

On the Mission & Standards page, a Conservation Property is defined as a land tract that meets one of the two following criteria: (1) The property must be permanently protected by a conservation easement; or (2) The property must have significant conservation value due to its environmental, biodiversity, economic, or landscape attributes.

Another useful question to ask is “Would a land trust or other conservation organization be interested in protecting this piece of property?”

We do not list office, retail, industrial, flex, warehouse, multifamily, mineral development sites, or brownfields.

As you can see, many properties will not qualify for inclusion on the site.  It is important that we strictly adhere to these guidelines in order to best serve our specialized market of conservation-minded landowners, buyers, and real estate professionals.