Agata Rucin’s Post

𝗛𝗮𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘁𝗵𝘆 𝗙𝗮𝗿𝗺: 𝗮 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿, 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝗱𝗺𝗶𝗻. 🐎 For over two years, we have been privileged to work on the Wild Hamatethy project with its landowners Yan & Camilla. Like all of our projects, it has been the teamwork between landowner and RESTORE that has started to deliver some amazing results, with each partner strengthening the other. At the start of our engagement, Yan & Camilla were already light years ahead of many UK landowners. They had switched upland sheep for cattle on their land, was beginning to realise better profits, and had already reintroduced beavers to an area of the farm. The Hamatethy beaver ponds are now amongst the most gloriously chaotic and abundant micro-habitats in Cornwall: visited regularly by otters and kingfishers and home to a thriving abundance of amphibians. RESTORE are a value-add company, not one-band heroes. With some areas of Yan & Camiila’s land already coming into great ecological shape, we began to deal with other areas of ecological emptiness that the farm had inherited. We identified that the simplified pasture needed serious work; the damage of ivermectins was still apparent in suppressed dung beetle populations, and the land needed a complex programme of establishing trees and scrub, together with putting dominant grasses on the back foot. So – it was time for porcine intervention. In the past year at Hamatethy, we have seen cuckoos and spotted flycatchers making use of the new tree-banks established on site; increases in orchids and other wildflowers in areas rootled by pigs, and immense densities of dung-beetles following in the wake of the Exmoor ponies brought to site. Restoring upland pastures, denuded over centuries, can be a painstaking process, but Hamatethy also shows the speed and resilience at which nature can recover. #restorenature #cornwall #organicfarming #rewilding #naturerestoration #generationrestoration #nature #environment #regenerativefarming

Since Ducks Unlimited Canada’s inception, we have protected and restored more than 9.2 million acres, influenced more than 244 million acres, and enhanced 492,695 acres of vital wetland and associated habitats. 🌱 In 2024, we had an impactful year on the landscape: ✅ Conserved and restored 166,495 acres of habitat, exceeding our goal by 24%! ✅ Influenced 21.5 million acres, surpassing our target by 41%! ✅ In Canada's boreal region, which contains approximately 85% of our wetlands, and supports up to 40% of North America's waterfowl breeding population, we influenced an additional 21.2 million acres! These efforts are part of our long-term vision to conserve and restore 10.2 million acres by 2038—our 100th year! We are #FocusedOnTheFuture. With your support, we are unlimited in what we can accomplish. 🌎🦆 Learn more: https://loom.ly/D_DrvFA #WetlandConservation #HabitatRestoration #NatureBasedSolutions #YearInReview

🆓 Free milkweeds for our friends with habitat restoration projects 🌿 Great pollinator habitat includes native milkweeds. Milkweed is the host plant for the monarch butterfly and a nectar source for many other insects. Invite monarchs to your habitat, large or small, with milkweeds from Monarch Watch. Monarch Watch is once again distributing free milkweeds for planting in large-scale habitat restoration projects for Spring 2024. Since this program began in 2015, 840,000 milkweeds have been planted in restored habitat throughout much of the monarch breeding range. To qualify, applicants must have a minimum of two acres (one acre or less in California) to restore to natural, native habitat, and have a management plan in place. Those awarded free milkweeds need only pay shipping/handling, which is modest compared to the value of the plants. For more information and to apply, please visit: Monarch Watch Free Milkweed for Restoration. #Monarch #RegenerativeFarming #Conservation #StateParks #Highways #MonarchJointVenture

The Klamath River is free of four huge dams for the first time in generations. But for the Yurok tribe, the river's restoration is only just beginning – starting with 18 billion seeds.  Between 2018 and 2021 seed collection crews – many of whom are tribal elders – were hired to harvest native seeds, by hand, in preparation for the dam removal. They collected 98 species and around 2,000lbs (900kg) of seeds. The seeds were then dispatched to specialised nurseries, which propagated them en masse, and sent the seedlings to storage facilities where they were kept until the time came for them to be planted.A total of 18 billion native seeds were propagated – more than 66,000lbs (30,000kg) worth – each species selected for a purpose: to retain sediment, to prepare the soil for other plants, for cultural uses, or to be a food source. Wheatgrass, yarrow, lupine and oak trees – an important cultural species for the Yuroks and a keystone species – to name a few. https://lnkd.in/g7eDqwKR

At Cultivo, visiting project sites and seeing the results of landscape regeneration efforts is always inspiring, particularly when those efforts benefit the ecosystem as a whole: humans, animals, plants, and the land itself. 🌿 Our CEO Manuel Pinuela, PhD witnessed this play out firsthand on a Cultivo project site in Mexico, where a parched landscape no longer supported the native bears’ primary forage, forcing them into conflict with local ranchers in a desperate search for food. 🐻 Read more about how regenerating this ecosystem benefited both ranchers and bears in Manuel’s post. #naturetech #nature #investinnature #naturalcapital

Species Spotlight: Highbush Cranberry (Viburnum trilobum) Highbush Cranberry is a large deciduous shrub that, despite its name, is not a cranberry. It is a viburnum in the Adoxaceae family, along with species such as arrowwood and elderberry. Despite this, the viburnum’s fruit strongly resembles the look of cranberries, which is how it got its name. Highbush cranberries can grow to 3 m tall and have showy cream-white flowers that bloom between May and June. Its berries mature in the fall, as do cranberries and persist throughout winter, providing an excellent food source for wildlife. It also has an extensive root system, making it ideal for preventing erosion and stabilizing loose soils. This species can be found across Canada from Newfoundland to British Columbia, but is most commonly found in Ontario and Quebec. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/e6dSDVin Eco Zone: 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b, 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b

Zebra Mussels are an invasive species that contaminate the water and impact the ecosystem in many negative ways. They can change the quality of water, compete with native freshwater mussels, and reduce the amount of plankton available that form the basis of fish life. Our lake is one of the only remaining lakes in the region that hasn't been contaminated by Zebra Mussels and it's important to take preventative measures to keep them out of our lake. To learn more about how to prevent the invasion of Zebra Mussels, visit: https://lnkd.in/gbMXSu7K #lakewoodlake #lakewood #leessummit #homeowners #homeownersassociation #hoa #residential #homeownership

Throwback Thursday: Wetland Creation in Graveney 🌿 In 2022, in collaboration with our sister company FGS Pilcher, we embarked on a transformative 91-acre wetland creation project aimed at enhancing habitats within a site recognised as both a Special Protection Area (SPA) and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Our team utilised excavators and tracked dumpers to carry out essential works, including the creation of large scrapes, foot drains, and bunding. These vital elements are designed to facilitate the re-wetting of the grassland, ultimately fostering a thriving ecosystem. As we reflect on this significant initiative, we are optimistic about the positive impact it will have on local wildlife. The newly created wetland is expected to serve as a sanctuary for a diverse array of species, including breeding and wintering wildfowl, waders, water voles, and various rare invertebrates and plants. Our commitment to environmental stewardship is at the forefront of our operations, and we are proud to contribute to the preservation of biodiversity in our region. Watch our short video showcasing the progress made across the 91-acre site! #WetlandConservation #Biodiversity #EnvironmentalStewardship #SustainableDevelopment #HabitatEnhancement #WildlifeProtection #FGSPilcher #ThrowbackThursday

American Bird Conservancy and our partners are making a new home for Kirtland's Warblers in Wisconsin! 🌲 To nest successfully, Kirtland's Warblers require very particular conditions: dense young stands of Jack Pine that are 6-15 years old, 5-20 feet high, and grow in very well-drained sandy soil. This unique habitat was historically created and maintained by wildfires, but over the years, fire suppression programs reduced the number of young Jack Pines, resulting in the near-extinction of Kirtland’s Warbler, which was only removed from the endangered species list in 2019. Now, work led by The Nature Conservancy and ABC in central Wisconsin is one of the first steps in a long-term plan to create new habitat for Kirtland's Warblers. 🔥This fall, a prescribed fire will replicate the effects of a natural fire by clearing the land and preparing the soil bed for the project's next step: the planting of more than 100,000 Jack Pine seedlings in spring 2025. Grants to ABC from the federal Regional Conservation Partnership Program are supporting the work. https://lnkd.in/gjQiPnn4 #GoodFire #PrescribedFire #ForestManagement #KirtlandsWarbler #JackPine #BirdWisconsin The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy in Wisconsin

A story of bison, cows, displacement and restoration… 1. Bison are native to prairies, which are flat grasslands, mainly located in the US and Canada. 2. But wild bison numbers plummeted from 60 million to barely 800 in the in the few decades to 1889. 3. Market forces and government policy replaced bison and native peoples with ranches, white settlements and cattle. 4. But cows aren’t native to prairies, which meant their arrival had adverse effects on the ecosystem. 5. When it’s hot, cows gravitate to creek bottoms for shade and cool water. When it's cold, they hunker down behind creekside shrubs to shelter from the wind. This constant presence at water-bodies led to over-grazing, shrub decline, stream bank erosion, dry soils and an influx in non-native grasses. 6. But bison are now getting a second chance. 7. Tribal reservations are at the forefront of their recovery, taking excess bison from Yellowstone National Park and restoring them to treaty lands. 8. About 30,000 bison now exist in conservation herds in various parks and protected areas across the country. 9. This is great news for nature, because not only are bison adapted to prairie life, but the prairie is adapted to bisons. 10. Native prairie plants use the nutrients in bison dung to grow (which is good, given that an adult bison eats 11kg of grass a day). 11. Birds pluck bison fur from bushes to insulate their nests. 12. Bison roll in the dust and create indentations known as ‘wallows’ that hold water after rainstorms. After the bison move on,  insects flourish in these pools and become a feast for birds and small mammals. 13. Pronghorn antelope survive by following bison tracks through deep winter snows. 14. And when bison do visit streams and ponds to drink, they move on quickly, preferring the grasses on the sunbaked uplands to woody shrubs in the river bottoms. 15. Bison are so good for the prairie ecosystems, that you can think of them as a highly mobile, low-tech restoration tool. Read more: https://buff.ly/3MFv4mG