Marc Yaggi’s Post

TSF is playing an important role in conserving, improving, and protecting our nation's cold water resources while providing angling opportunities for future generations. Take five minutes to learn more about TSF's work!

#Aboutlastweekend, this is my favorite photo from our morning cleanup, Saturday, April 27, on the Ribault River. Capt. Sam Baker of Sol Margin Fishing & Conservation Foundation had just assisted a youth in catching this fish. I'm not an angler but he called it "a red." Our family from South Carolina said it looked like a spot. I don't know what its name, but before my plant-based lifestyle I called it good food. The look on the Captain's face reminds me of hearing a youngster say, "I did it!" I imagine that's the sentiment every time you have waited expectantly on fish to bite your hook and then, suddenly, it does! Capt. Baker loves nature. He loves fishing, loves the environment, and he loves teaching others about what he loves. Now he has a band of supporters, including us at the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Community Trust, Inc., who want to help him help the community sustain our culture by returning the river to a healthy state. He and Kristopher Smith of the #RibaultSportsmenAssociation, working with the St. Johns Riverkeeper and Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Jacksonville, know that a #resilientribault means a #resilientcommunity of #GullahGeechee people who can maintain their #culture through #subsistencefishing and passing down #fishingtraditions to the next generation. #Environmentalconservation is #culturalconservation. Intervening in the #climatecrisis includes providing tools that communities in its path can use to become #sustainable. I'm looking forward to helping Gullah/Geechee people maintain our culture, despite the odds. When the right opportunities bite, we'll reel them in and then we can say, "We did it!" Photo credit: Glenda Simmons Jenkins

Simple rock and brush structures, built along streams, can create wet meadows where wildlife and native plants can thrive. See for yourself how these low-cost structures can transform the land. This short video is brought to you by the Southwest Montana Sagebrush Partnership, a network of partners that includes federal and state land managers, nonprofits, local businesses, and landowners dedicated to the responsible stewardship of southwestern Montana's sagebrush sea: https://buff.ly/3La4vFg Feeling inspired after watching the video? This on-demand webinar called "Low-Tech Wet Meadow Restoration: Reading the Landscape to Recognize Opportunities" is a great starting point for learning more about these simple and effective projects.

One of the main challenges the community faces is how to sustain operations at the Reteti Sanctuary and in the entire conservancy over the long run. https://ow.ly/Imr350Rl0ep

URGENT!!! The USDA has begun rounding up and gassing geese in NJ. We have been successful in getting some to stop killing, but a few are still moving ahead. USDA can begin rounding up and gassing the geese any day now. So writing NOW is critical. We have reached out to all of them, sent information and visited the site with some. We've had success in steering some away from lethal towards nonlethal. But others are still hell-bent on allowing the killing (with a portable CO2 gas chamber). The individuals you will be sending a letter to either allow the USDA, in partnership with either Teterboro or Newark Airport, to come on their property, which lies in the flight path of airplanes, and round up and gas the geese OR have their own contract with USDA Wildlife Services to do the same thing. Instead of allowing the USDA in year after year to kill, they should be looking into habitat modification which is the clear winner when it comes to options for keeping geese out of a specific area. In air traffic areas, at best it’s irresponsible to not use the most effective methods, at worst, is can be dangerous, providing a false sense of security. Please urge these entities to DENY THE USDA ACCESS to their property and schedule a site visit with Animal Protection League of New Jersey instead. Click here to send a letter.- https://lnkd.in/e2UygGQZ And a second letter is going to those who have their own contract with USDA and we are asking them to CANCEL THE CONTRACT. Click here to send that letter. https://lnkd.in/e3i-RJpa Thank you.

Learn how you can help!

This week, my thoughts have been with Texas as wildfires ravage the state, consuming over 1 million acres and claiming the lives of at least 10,000 cattle and the immeasurable loss of wildlife. Entire families and communities are facing the heartbreaking loss of their homes and ways of life. In 2021, I traversed the Texas panhandle in my RV, camping at Caprock Canyons State Park, the home of the Texas bison herd. Once, up to 60 million bison roamed North America, but in the 1870s, overhunting had reduced their numbers to less than 1,000. During this "Great Slaughter," visionaries like Mary Ann Goodnight stepped forward. Their efforts to conserve the bison through the late 19th century laid the groundwork for the recovery of bison populations across North America, showcasing the power of determined conservation efforts. The story of the bison's recovery is a testament to what we can achieve with focused action and a commitment to conservation. In the face of current challenges like the Texas wildfires, it begs the question: How can we apply this same dedication to care for our planet today? How do we move towards sustainable practices that can rejuvenate and preserve our environment? Mary Ann Goodnight's legacy is a call to action. Each environmental challenge, each wildfire, presents us with a choice: Do we revert to practices that endanger our planet, or do we seize the opportunity to rethink and reshape our relationship with the land? What steps will you take to contribute to a sustainable and resilient future? >> If you'd like to learn how you can take action, I invite you to PlanetSmart Finance Fest. See the link in the comments. #climatechange #wildfires #climatejustice

Changing how we cut grass can create more native wildflower meadows. Even if some of these patches are small, it will all add up to a big area. Wildlife will be able to move between wildflower habitats as they become connected. Yet despite WAG policy and strategy’s small local community councils will again ignore and continue with their business as usual approach without being held to account? How should this be approached as letters of complaint and reporting to County Council level have to date resulted in no change?

Healthy communities depend on a healthy environment. Read the latest from our Founder and Chairman Bill Frist, M.D. to learn how prescribed burns lead to safer - and ultimately healthier - communities. #health #environment #policy #sustainability

Great news for Oregon rivers! The @NOAAFisheries Coastal Resilience Fund just awarded $8.1 million to @WildSalmonCenter for 11 #CoastCohoPartnership projects in the Nehalem, Siletz, Siuslaw, Coos, and Coquille watersheds. All will improve life for threatened Oregon Coast coho salmon runs. Together, they'll: -Restore 494 acres of tidal wetland habitat; -Improve 145.5 acres of instream, non-tidal wetland and/or off-channel habitat; -Enhance 86.5 acres of riparian habitat, including 1.3 miles of livestock exclusion fencing; and -Reconnect 9.3 miles of streams for salmon. And more great news! NOAA's award will also support the expansion of the #CoastCohoPartnership's work into the South Umpqua, Alsea, and Sixes watersheds. We can't wait to get to work for wild fish and the people who love them. (Photo: Drift Creek, Siletz watershed. Credit: David Herasimtschuk.)