Natural Areas Association (NAA) is an association of scientists and practitioners focused on the management of ecologically significant natural landscapes with the intent to protect biodiversity for current and future generations. Natural Areas News is is your trusted resource for current events, reliable science, conservation success, emerging challenges, best practices, and achievements of those who work daily to preserve natural areas.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is delisting 21 species from the Endangered Species Act (ESA) due to extinction. Based on rigorous reviews of the best available science for each of the species, the Service determined these species are extinct and should be removed from the list of species protected under the ESA.

The Endangered Species Act is now 50 years old. It is a vital part of our nation's conservation efforts, but it comes into play only when a species is nearly gone. The act is an emergency room for revitalizing species already in dire condition, but there is much we can do to prevent vulnerable species from needing it in the first place.

Illustration courtesy of Kim Strassburg/USFWS, Public Domain

Several Indigenous organizations are leading conservation efforts, in partnership with state and local government, as land and water restoration programs set a goal of returning water quality and habitat to “pre-settlement conditions."

The long-billed curlew (Numenius americanus) is North America's largest shorebird, and their movements inform research on grasslands health.

New investments in conservation are needed to halt and reverse the rapid and extensive changes to ecosystems driven by growing human demands for natural resources. A major barrier is matching viable financing solutions to conservation projects. Recent conservation finance studies catalog available financing options, but do not provide adequate guidance.

Four threatened and endangered plant species growing in the San Bernardino National Forest will have an opportunity to thrive following the adoption of a plan by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service that bans new limestone mining. Limestone mining is now prohibited on 2,841 acres in the national forest for 50 years.

Funding Opportunities

2024 Keep Maryland Beautiful Grants

Deadline: Nov. 15, 2023

Natural Areas Research Grant in Ohio

Deadline: Feb. 1, 2024

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