Working Lands for Wildlife’s Post

Big Creek Connects is officially joining forces with West Creek Conservancy! 🎉 This merger brings together two organizations with a shared vision for conservation, greenway development, and habitat restoration in Northeast Ohio. Together, we’ll amplify our efforts to protect natural spaces and connect communities to nature. Discover how this merger strengthens our mission: https://buff.ly/42j4QPL #ProgressThroughPartnership #ProtectRestoreConnect

What happens when we bring communities together to help nature flourish? 💚 Published today, The Wildlife Trusts' report reveals the striking results of the Nextdoor Nature project, which was made possible thanks to £5 million funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. 👐 For us, this funding allowed us to recruit two Wilder Communities Officers, Patrick and Helen, who worked alongside communities in the Priorswood and Holway areas of Taunton and the Westfield and Milford park area of Yeovil. Their work focused on being present in communities, listening to ideas, and helping to bring those ideas to life in a practical way. Ponds were dug and repaired, pollinator beds planted, bug hotels built, and bats monitored — the dedication of so many brilliant people working together for nature left Patrick and Helen feeling privileged to be part of their story. Although the Nextdoor Nature project has come to an end, its legacy lives on. In fact, Nextdoor Nature ran as one of the many projects that makes up Team Wilder, which feeds directly in to one of our vision for a Wilder Somerset 2030. What's Team Wilder? Well, in order for nature to recover, we need many more people on nature’s side. The science shows that if just 1 person in every 4 visibly takes action, this can be enough to change the minds and behaviour of the majority. 🌱 Find out more about Team Wilder, and how you can take action for nature: https://lnkd.in/eXb2qmRN 📊 Discover the impact of Nextdoor Nature: https://lnkd.in/ebhqUNxE #NationalLottery #NextdoorNature #Community #Wellbeing #Nature #Wildlife

We are delighted to award a Project Advancement grant to Placer Land Trust for their Placer LandBack and Equitable Access project. "With CCLT’s support, we are deepening our partnerships with Tribal communities in Placer County, including working in joint venture with the Colfax Todds Valley Consolidated Tribe on the permanent protection, restoration, and return of over 300 acres of land back into Tribal ownership. This CCLT grant will fund the work our land trust and the Tribe need to perform in 2025 to make this project successful, such as collaborative forest management planning in coordination with CAL FIRE and Placer County, and planning for community education and recreation that is compatible with the protection of land’s natural and cultural resources." —Jeff Darlington, Executive Director Generous support for this grant program is provided by the Wildlife Conservation Board. Read the full press release and see all 23 grantee organizations at https://bit.ly/4ffSvP5.

Some positive conservation news for the Chicago-Calumet River watersheds 🌱💚🌱 NFWF and partners announced six projects selected to receive $2.1 million in grant funding to enhance habitat and greenspace throughout the Chicago-Calumet region. Projects supported by these grants will protect and conserve fish and wildlife habitat, reduce stormwater runoff, engage most-impacted communities in restoration activities, and improve access to greenspace. We can’t wait to see the results! https://loom.ly/GQjCXYg The Chi-Cal River Fund is a partnership among NFWF and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), USDA Forest Service, BNSF Railway, Cleveland-Cliffs, Salesforce, Crown Family Philanthropies, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Hunter Family Foundation, the The Joyce Foundation, and the Walder Foundation. 📷: Kayakers in Chicago. Photo courtesy of Shedd Aquarium. #chicago #river #conservation #environment #wildlife

“Walder Foundation is proud to support this important partnership which advances nature-based solutions that benefit biodiversity and communities in the Chicago region. This work will help mitigate the negative effects of climate change in some of Chicago’s most impacted communities while boosting access to safe green spaces, restoring critical habitats, and enhancing community health. By demonstrating multiple benefits, these projects can serve as a catalyst for advancing nature-based solutions across the region.” — Jack Westwood, Senior Program Director, Environmental Sustainability

From the place where it slips out of Lake Ann in Benzie County’s northeast corner, Platte River haunts a landscape of forest and open fields, steals past this village of 330 residents, crosses a mighty and silent wetland, fills a big lake, and then, nearly 30 miles from where it started, reaches a curved sand inlet where it empties into Lake Michigan. One of the 49 blue ribbon trout streams in Michigan’s lower peninsula, the Platte’s clear waters sparkle in the sunlight of a blue sky day. Cedars along the banks open their branches, as if to salute the splendor. Still, there’s considerably more to the river’s story than its compelling beauty. In the 160 years since the watershed was settled by immigrants from the East Coast and Europe the river has flowed through three distinctive eras in Benzie County. The decades of rapacious logging in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, distinguished the first. That was followed by a half century of healing the waters and the forests, helped by the thousands of red pine seedlings planted by President Franklin Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps. The third era, when Benzie’s restored natural character inspired public policy to protect it, opened in the mid-1960s and has been unfolding ever since with increasing urgency, intelligence, and commitment. The banks of the Platte River, logged, healed, and now secure, have served as a stage for every era. On May 18, 2024, a new act in the drama occurred when the Honor Area Restoration Project (HARP) culminated nearly a decade of citizen engagement and a keen public-private financing strategy and formally opened Platte River Park. The 52-acre expanse of forest, blueberries, and meadow flanks 1,550 feet of undeveloped riverfront. Platte River Park adds to the legacy of stewardship that’s helped make Benzie the greenest county in Michigan. https://lnkd.in/gXarFV5U

Can you believe it has been two years since bison were released into Blean Woods? This phase of the project, which was a huge partnership effort with Wildwood Trust has not only changed the woodland but also the way we think about conservation in the UK. In their time with us, the three original bison have become a herd of six and we have welcomed ponies, pigs, and cattle into the reserve too. We have left the herd to get on with their bison business and we are already seeing some remarkable changes. Soon, we are hoping to install bison bridges that will allow the 'Big Six' to access more of the area. Now, we look to the future and are investigating how we can connect the Blean landscape with The Woodland Trust, RSPB, and other landowners. The bison have started something quite special, and now we are working towards building that into a vision for a connected landscape, where wilderness meets wildlife-friendly infrastructure with a thriving green economy in one of the most land-scarce corners of England. In our video, Bison Ranger Heidi talks us through some highlights. 👉 kwtg.uk/blean2

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's (NFWF) National Coastal Resilience Fund recently announced a $999,500 grant to Shirley Heinze Land Trust and partners of the Calumet Land Conservation Partnership for a project titled: "Building Community Resilience in the Calumet Region." The three year project will build relationships among communities, community-based organizations and municipalities to create a comprehensive and adaptive plan for improving resilience in the Calumet region. This will be achieved by developing a living document that can adapt and evolve to community needs, develop nature-based solutions and prioritize projects for future implementation that will build community resilience and enhance habitat. Congratulations to Shirley Heinze Land Trust and partners of the Calumet Land Conservation Partnership on this groundbreaking award! Read more about the NCRF program here: https://ow.ly/nJoT50Ujc1S

Announcement: Funding Opportunity: 2024 Wild & Scenic Rivers Stewardship Partners Funding Summary: For the sixth consecutive year, USDA's Forest Service and the River Network announced funding availability for nonprofit and Tribal organizations working on or planning for stewardship activities on Forest Service-administered Wild & Scenic Rivers (WSR) and surrounding lands. Wild and Scenic Rivers are free-flowing rivers and help preserve recreation, fish and wildlife habitat, water quality, and cultural heritage. $200,000 is available for projects submitted by May 31, 2024. Why it matters: Preserving WSRs reflects the importance of outdoor spaces in our daily mental and physical well-being and fosters greater stewarding of these rivers for the future. This funding expands the diversity of organizations working with the Forest Service and ensures the protection of designated rivers and streams (including cultural, historic, recreational, and fish and wildlife values). For more information go to bit.ly/WSRSPF24! #indigenousag #nativeag #nativeagriculture #tribalag

🥳 FUNDING/COST BREAKDOWN... I am really excited about this year. Up to now we have focused a lot of our time on creating the strongest foundations possible and NOW we can focus ALL of our time & resources on building on this foundation and growing our Databases to help 1000s of wild lives. We have some new costs this year so I have created this cost breakdown so that I can be fully transparent and so that anyone following us can find out more about how we help wildlife... There's a couple of links below, if you're curious as to how we use funds to reach our targets... - One is to our overall 'UKWT Costs' page (which shows our monthly costs and then our 'pop up' costs') - https://lnkd.in/eRy-mJvP - The other is to a blog post, created today, with a much fuller breakdown of where every penny of our 'monthly costs' goes: https://lnkd.in/eSMfMyB3 #WeAllMatter #ukwildlife #wildlifeemergencyservices