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.

Courtesy of Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation

NAA Board President Roger

McCoy designated as Honorary State Naturalist of Tennessee 

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) has designated State Director of Conservation Programs Roger McCoy with the honorary State Naturalist title, the third person ever to hold the title in the state. McCoy is currently Natural Areas Association’s Board President, and has served on its board since 2015. 

Photo courtesy of the Bureau of Land Management

Bureau of Land Management to finalize rule allowing federal leases targeted at protection of natural areas

The Bureau of Land Management will soon publish a final rule allowing public lands to be leased for environmental protection. The rule directs agency land managers to identify landscapes in need of restoration and to create plans to fill those needs. It also creates two new types of leases focused on protecting natural areas.

Photo courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announces Invasive Species Eradication Funding Opportunity

Invasive species pose a significant threat to the ecological, economic, and cultural integrity of America’s lands and waters and the communities they support. Interested individuals are invited to submit proposals to support the eradication of a newly introduced or established species in terrestrial or aquatic habitats of the United States, including U.S. territories.

Stop planting invasive Bradford pear trees and take down every one you see

Looking around, it’s easy to see (and smell) this crisis. The pungent Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana) trees blooming white in late March and early April appear not just in the neighborhoods where they were planted, but also in empty fields, along roadsides and in forests. And those shrubs that leafed out weeks before anything else in Indiana? Those are invasive Asian bush honeysuckle (Lonicera tatarica). The problem is that, in addition to spreading prolifically, these plants are disrupting nature.

Photo courtesy of Mississippi State University

Mississippi State University experts study elusive bird to properly manage land

The black rail (Laterallus jamaicensis) is at heart of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Firebird project, a coastal conservation initiative co-led by a Mississippi State University scientist. The concept for the study began when land managers became worried that they could no longer use prescribed burns in these high marsh areas because the black rail was being considered for listing as a threatened species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

In Other News

• Suzanne Simard makes the 2024 TIME100 List

• Interior Department Finalizes Action to Strengthen Endangered Species Act
• NASA funding powers Montana State research into global biodiversity
• Inclusive Habitat Restoration: Building Resilience And Opportunity
  
• TennGreen Land Conservancy completes a 206-acre conservation easement with help from the Tennessee Division of Natural Areas
• Prairie State Conservation Coalition announces it's the recipient of grant up to $42 million
• NatureServe Launches NatureServe Explorer PRO, enabling users to dive deeper into biodiversity data
• Bureau of Land Management to invest $3.1 million to restore wildlife habitats, as part of the Investing in America agenda
• Nevada moves to protect rare flowering plant found mostly in White Pine County
• A new online collection seeks to foster Native co-stewardship of public lands
  
• How do we reinforce climate action?
• Horizon Scanning: A Process for Identifying Emerging Signals of Change Shaping the Future of Natural Resources Management
• Private land conservation towards large landscape goals: Role of relational values, property rights orientations and perceived efficacy in ranchers' actions
• Small beginnings: Interactions between fire timing and the giant sequoia seedling generation niche
• Will County Forest Preserves pick up another ecological restoration award*
• Found only in Tampa Bay, a rare flower is no longer endangered. Is that good?*
• Michigan State University's 700 acres of natural areas bring the classroom outdoors
• Committee Continues Work to Support Conservation, Domestic Energy
• Buffalo Are A Keystone Species For Both Tribal Identity And Grassland Health. Here’s How A New Bill Could Help Native American Tribes Welcome Buffalo Back To Their Lands*
• A look at rare and endangered plants in the United States
• New Rule for Public Land Management Emphasizes Indigenous Knowledge

• Setting prairies ablaze in springtime is key to restoring damaged ecosystems, conservationists say
  

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Funding Opportunities

The Alabama Coastal Management Program | Annual Request for Proposals

Deadline: April 25, 2024

Application Period Now Open for Wetland Restoration Projects in Wisconsin

Deadline: Open until projects are selected

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