iWILD

Freakish Fallout of Flooding In Pakistan, monsoon flooding...

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 12:33:00 -0700

Freakish Fallout of Flooding

In Pakistan, monsoon flooding forces spiders to swarm into trees. Their webs may have cut down on malarial mosquitoes, doubtless appreciated by the millions who lost their homes in 2010 when ten years worth of rain fell in a week, inundating a fifth of the country. 2011 monsoons are shaping up to be comparably catastrophic. More on aid efforts here.

Photo: Russell Watkins for U.K.’s Department of International Development

The White Salmon River Flows Free This timelapse video by Andy...

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 12:52:00 -0700

The White Salmon River Flows Free

This timelapse video by Andy Masur records the explosive rewilding of Washington’s White Salmon River. Steelhead rejoice.

Rewilding Month Continues… at the Haston Free Public...

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 16:50:00 -0600

Rewilding Month Continues…

at the Haston Free Public Library! There are wonderful photos of last weekend’s visit to Harvard Forest at the Library website: That gaze up the tree trunk gives you an idea of what it’s like to be a 320-year-old black gum. (Anybody remember 1691? That tree does).

And coming this weekend (Saturday, 1-3pm)—a field trip and easy hike at Mandell Hill, an East Quabbin Land Trust property in Hardwick, where the incomparable EQLT is fighting the good fight against invasives, reclaiming former pastureland, and welcoming back the bobolinks and meadowlarks of yore. Directions here.

Photo: Don Doe

Rewilding—A Community-Wide Read, Off to a Great Start in...

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:10:00 -0600

Rewilding—A Community-Wide Read, Off to a Great Start in North Brookfield, MA

I was honored to kick off a community-wide reading of Rewilding the World at the beautiful Haston Free Public Library in North Brookfield, MA on October 6, 2011. We had a great crowd, and the event received lots of fine local coverage, by Brad Miner in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and Gus Steeves in The Spencer New Leader.

My thanks to everyone who came, all the friends of the Library, and to all who helped pull together this month-long series of special events, field trips, and even a concert, particularly Harbour Hodder, Library Trustee; Ann Kidd, Library Director; Ellen Smith, Library Trustee; and Louise Garwood, who designed the gorgeous banner & flyer.

For more on upcoming rewilding events, check out the Library website.

New England Goes Wild! Come to the Haston Free Public Library in...

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:51:00 -0600

New England Goes Wild!

Come to the Haston Free Public Library in North Brookfield, Massachusetts, on 6 October 2011, 7pm, for an evening of rewilding with Caroline Fraser. Then enjoy a month of free conservation field trips and a special benefit concert for the East Quabbin Land Trust featuring Sarah Stockwell-Arthen.

Learn more in today’s Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

Say Hello to Mawingo for World Rhino Day! And celebrate rhinos...

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:24:00 -0600

Say Hello to Mawingo for World Rhino Day! And celebrate rhinos by spreading the word: Rhino Horn is Not Medicine.

Want Wolves? Check out The Crucial Role of Predators: A New...

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 16:54:33 -0600

Want Wolves?

Check out The Crucial Role of Predators: A New Perspective on Ecology, by Caroline Fraser at Yale Environment 360.

Photo of cheetahs at Lewa: Caroline Fraser

Hello, Kitty… and Tapir and Giant Anteater! One of nearly...

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 16:37:47 -0600

Hello, Kitty…

and Tapir and Giant Anteater! One of nearly 52,000 awesome photos captured by 429 cameras during the Global Camera Trap Mammal Study, documenting 105 species in 7 protected areas.

Photo of puma in Volcan Barva, Costa Rica, courtesy of Organization for Tropical Studies, a member of the TEAM network.

MEET THE TITI New Titi Monkey discovered in Brazil’s...

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:14:00 -0600

MEET THE TITI

New Titi Monkey discovered in Brazil’s Amazon: Find photos and an excellent write-up at Mongabay. This species could be one of 8.7 million on earth, according to a new study in PloS Biology.

Photo © Júlio Dalponte at Mongabay.

Are you liking Rick Perry, who thinks climate science is a...

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 10:11:11 -0600

Are you liking Rick Perry, who thinks climate science is a cult? If not, consider supporting the Tar Sands Action, a sit-in at the White House (and select spots around the nation) slated for August 20-September 3. Read Bill McKibben’s Washington Post op-ed! Sign the petition! Pressure Obama—who can block construction of the Keystone XL pipeline pumping oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico! (After all, what could go wrong with a 2,147 mile-long crude-oil pipeline?) Twitter! Get arrested!

Photo: leftwingnutjob

Activist Jailed for Two Years While BP CEO Walks Free If...

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 15:44:00 -0600

Activist Jailed for Two Years While BP CEO Walks Free

If you’re in any doubt about whether the rights of the corporation trump those of the individual, have a look at the case of Tim DeChristopher, an activist who, in 2008, bid on Utah oil and gas drilling leases as an act of civil disobedience, to protect public lands from destruction. In Bill McKibben’s opinion, DeChristopher is guilty of nothing “except [hurting] the pride of the Bureau of Land Management,” one of the government agencies that shills for corporations. The BLM’s pride doesn’t come cheap: DeChristopher was sentenced to two years in jail and fined $10,000. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, energy companies and the BLM claimed “hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses.”

Meanwhile, Tony Hayward, chief executive of BP at the time of the Gulf Oil spill, got his life back, along with a $17 million severance package.

DeChristopher, 29, grew up in a West Virginia despoiled by coal mining and mountain-top removal. He told the court:

“This is not going away. At this point of unimaginable threats on the horizon, this is what hope looks like. In these times of a morally bankrupt government that has sold out its principles, this is what patriotism looks like. With countless lives on the line, this is what love looks like, and it will only grow.”

Read the rest of his statement at AlterNet.

The Long Journey DNA samples show that a mountain lion from a...

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 11:47:15 -0600

The Long Journey

DNA samples show that a mountain lion from a population native to the Black Hills of South Dakota walked 1,800 miles across farms, prairies, and forests, skirting the Great Lakes and Chicago, only to be hit by a car on June 11 on a road in Milford, Connecticut, fifty miles from New York City. Scientists quoted in a BBC report believe it may be “the longest-ever recorded journey of a land mammal.”

The big cat’s movements drive home, once again, our top predators’ need for big wilderness and large-scale protection.

Photo: BBC

Thanks ARKive! Just one of ARKive’s “vacation...

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 12:48:13 -0600

Thanks ARKive!

Just one of ARKive’s “vacation pix”…cooling photos of chilling critters, including this surfing Gentoo penguin.

Can Social Media Save the Planet? Maybe so….Check out the...

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 15:25:40 -0600

Can Social Media Save the Planet?

Maybe so….Check out the possibilities in today’s report at Yale Environment 360.

Then on your bike, as the Brits say, and start posting buds (Project BudBurst) and counting squirrels (yes, Project Squirrel): Citizen Science starts at home.

GREAT GRIZ NEWS Alert hiker Joe Sebille captured the first...

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:10:00 -0600

GREAT GRIZ NEWS

Alert hiker Joe Sebille captured the first photos of a grizzly in Washington’s North Cascades National Park in nearly a half-century. Hiking last October, Sebille snapped the bruin with a point-and-shoot and only realized recently, on showing the pic to a park ranger, the momentous nature of his encounter.

And, in further carnivorous coverage, a new wolf pack—complete with nursing mom— has surfaced in Washington’s Kittitas County. Might be time to move back to the old stomping grounds.

Photo: Joe Sebille

mabelmoments: A gecko licks the morning dew off its eyeballs....

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 15:51:59 -0600

mabelmoments:

A gecko licks the morning dew off its eyeballs. This gecko is found on coastal sand dunes in Namibia. The nocturnal reptiles collect water on their eyeballs in the early morning when a mist bank descends as cool coastal air hits warm desert air. Then they lick it off to have a drink. It took photographer Isak Pretorius three days in to get the licking picture, following gecko tracks across the dunes through the mist. Picture: Isak Pretorius / National News and Pictures

iWild is Back! Apologies for the prolonged absence: We were...

Sat, 25 Jun 2011 13:26:00 -0600

iWild is Back!

Apologies for the prolonged absence: We were off chuntering about biodiversity in foreign lands and what not. But now we’re back, and there’s lots to catch up on:

Some good news from the Serengeti! After a recent visit from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Tanzania announced that it would give up plans to build a road across the Serengeti. But the group that sounded the alarm, Serengeti Watch, approaches the news with caution: “Our interpretation - A battle has been won, but the struggle to save the Serengeti goes on. Roads will still be constructed up to the edges of the park. The pressures on the Serengeti, including a commercial corridor to Uganda, still exist. The highway across the Serengeti has been proposed three times now, and can be raised again. But yes, let’s congratulate ourselves on the work we’ve done.“
Terrifying news from the IUCN Red List: More than 19,000 species are heading to extinction, according to the latest data. That’s up from 11,000 a decade ago. The Economist lays it out.
Ocean ecosystems continue their precipitous slide, according to the latest report from the International Programme on the State of the Ocean, citing a “deadly trio of factors”: warming, acidification, and anoxia (low oxygen levels). Videos here.
Al Gore takes the lazy-ass media and the Obama administration to the woodshed re inaction on climate change in the latest issue of Rolling Stone. I’m getting emails every week now from Barack, asking me to donate $375 for a chance to have dinner with him and from Michelle, trying to sell me t-shirts. Hey guys, I still love you, but I don’t want dinner, and I don’t want a t-shirt. I’m with Al: I want you to get on it.

More soon.

Photo: Caroline Fraser

This Endangered Species Day —give a dog a break. If you...

Fri, 20 May 2011 17:05:00 -0600

This Endangered Species Day

—give a dog a break. If you live in New Mexico, speak to your congressman or senator and urge them to support the Mexican Gray Wolf reintroduction program. If you live in the Rocky Mountain west, let your politicians know that the Endangered Species Act is important to you and that wolves belong in the wild. Empty forests—forests without top predators—are dead forests, biologically, aesthetically, economically.

And if you live in Idaho, give some serious thought to electing a new governor and new representatives in Washington. You and your wolves deserve better.

Writer’s Voice with Francesca Rheannon Francesca Rheannon...

Wed, 04 May 2011 02:35:36 -0600

Writer’s Voice with Francesca Rheannon

Francesca Rheannon of Writer’s Voice interviews Caroline Fraser: Available streaming online or via free podcast. We talk about rewilding, the de-listing of the gray wolf in the northern Rockies, and more.

Photo: Tracy Brooks

Biodiversity and Endangered Species: Rethinking the Balance of...

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 13:39:31 -0600

Biodiversity and Endangered Species: Rethinking the Balance of Nature

Everyone interested in biodiversity issues is welcome at a symposium to be held at Cambridge University’s Fitzwilliam College, 6 May 2011, 2-6pm. Speakers will include Mike Rand, of the Cambridge Conservation Initiative, Mark Blaxter, Ben Collen, and Caroline Fraser. Or follow on Twitter: #scisoc.