Modified items

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Wind energy company requests Endangered Species Act permit for W.Va. project: Beech Ridge Energy has applied to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for an incidental take permit addressing impacts to endangered bats at the company’s wind energy project in Greenbrier and Nicholas counties, West Virginia.

PA Mussels Used to Help Restore Streams in Ohio, Illinois, and West Virginia: A joint effort between federal and state agencies, including the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC), has resulted in the successful collection and relocation of approximately 4,000 state and federal endangered northern riffleshell mussels from a site on the Allegheny River along the border of Forest and Venango counties.

Scientists Locate Natural “Strongholds” that Could Protect Nature in the Face of Climate Change: A new study by The Nature Conservancy has identified a series of landscapes across the American Northeast and southeastern Canada that are predicted to withstand the growing impacts of climate change and help ensure nature’s survival.

Stream channel geomorphology influences mussel abundance in southern Appalachian streams, U.S.A.: We quantified freshwater mussel abundance and species richness and their physical habitat at 24 sites in eight streams in southern Appalachian catchments in 2000 and 2001. In addition, we modelled site-specific hydraulic parameters during summer baseflow and bankfull stages to estimate high- and low-discharge conditions, respectively. Mussel abundance was related to stream geomorphology, whereas richness was related to stream size. Baseflow habitat parameters explained only minor variation in abundance or richness, and both measures were highly correlated with mean current velocity or stream size. Bankfull shear stress composed a relatively low proportion of overall mussel habitat variability, but it accounted for significant variation in abundance and richness. Mussel abundance was highly variable at sites subject to low-shear stress during spates, whereas abundance always was low at sites subject to high-shear stress. These data suggest that habitat conditions during floods, rather than those at summer baseflow, limit the abundance of mussels in Appalachian streams. These data also suggest that mussel abundance and assemblage structure may be sensitive to any changes in channel geomorphology and hydraulic conditions that might result from land use in the catchment.

Stakeholder participation for environmental management: A literature review: The complex and dynamic nature of environmental problems requires flexible and trans- parent decision-making that embraces a diversity of knowledges and values. For this rea- son, stakeholder participation in environmental decision-making has been increasingly sought and embedded into national and international policy. Although many benefits have been claimed for participation, disillusionment has grown amongst practitioners and stakeholders who have felt let down when these claims are not realised. This review first traces the development of participatory approaches in different disciplinary and geograph- ical contexts, and reviews typologies that can be used to categorise and select participatory methods. It then reviews evidence for normative and pragmatic benefits of participation, and evaluates limitations and drawbacks. Although few of the claims that are made have been tested, there is evidence that stakeholder participation can enhance the quality of environmental decisions by considering more comprehensive information inputs.

Pragmatic population viability targets in a rapidly changing world: To ensure both long-term persistence and evolutionary potential, the required number of individuals in a population often greatly exceeds the targets proposed by conservation management. We critically review minimum population size requirements for species based on empirical and theoretical estimates made over the past few decades. This literature collectively shows that thousands (not hundreds) of individuals are required for a population to have an acceptable probability of riding-out environmental fluctuation and catastrophic events, and ensuring the continuation of evolutionary processes. The evidence is clear, yet conservation policy does not appear to reflect these findings, with pragmatic concerns on feasibility over-riding biological risk assessment. As such, we argue that conservation biology faces a dilemma akin to those working on the physical basis of climate change, where scientific recommendations on carbon emission reductions are compromised by policy makers. There is no obvious resolution other than a more explicit acceptance of the trade-offs implied when population viability requirements are ignored. We rec- ommend that conservation planners include demographic and genetic thresholds in their assessments, and recognise implicit triage where these are not met.

A Review of Climate-Change Adaptation Strategies for Wildlife Management and Biodiversity Conservation: We reviewed the literature and climate- change adaptation plans that have been developed in United States, Canada, England, Mexico, and South Africa and finding 16 general adaptation strategies that relate directly to the conservation of biological diversity. These strategies can be grouped into four broad categories: land and water protection and management; direct species management; monitoring and planning; and law and policy. Tools for implementing these strategies are similar or identical to those already in use by conservationists worldwide (land and water conservation, ecological restoration, agrienvironment schemes, species translocation, captive propagation, monitoring, natural resource planning, and legislation/regulation). Although the review indicates natural resource managers already have many tools that can be used to address climate-change effects, managers will likely need to apply these tools in novel and innovative ways to meet the unprecedented challenges posed by climate change.

Planning for Growth and Open Space Conservation Webinar Series: A discussion of the programs the Forest Service utilizes to preserve open space through conservation easements and land acquisitions.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Science Seminar Series: On Thursday, July 26th a Science Seminar Series presentation titled, "A Function-based Framework for Stream Assessment and Restoration Projects" will be given by Richard R. Starr, Division Chief, Habitat Restoration Division, Chesapeake Bay Field Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Appalachian LCC Conservation Priorities Science Needs Workshop - November 29th-30th, 2011: The workshop will assemble a group of researchers and managers from across the Appalachian region to identify the broad suite of decision-support tools and science information needs to address the conservation challenges and opportunities across the landscape.