Wildlands Network’s Post

Preserving our expansive beautiful land is what makes our state great. It’s a fine balance of development and ecological control and preservation that will enable true prosperity for all.

At the beginning of this month, we asked the question: What is the value of land? 🏞🌳 Ultimately, its sort of a trick question. Land holds immense value, but there is no way to truly measure the totality of its worth, its importance, or its significance. We can assess the land for human utility, for development, for monetary value... but what about the species that share this land with us? What is the value of land for a black bear, for a white-tailed deer, for a Red Wolf, for a piping plover? When it comes down to it, land is invaluable. The private and public lands of our state hold immense importance for us and for the wildlife in our state. It's our responsibility to care for them. In the words of Aldo Leopold, "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise." Want to know more about what you can do to foster Lands for Wildlife? Head to ncwf.org.

At the beginning of this month, we asked the question: What is the value of land? 🏞🌳 Ultimately, its sort of a trick question. Land holds immense value, but there is no way to truly measure the totality of its worth, its importance, or its significance. We can assess the land for human utility, for development, for monetary value... but what about the species that share this land with us? What is the value of land for a black bear, for a white-tailed deer, for a Red Wolf, for a piping plover? When it comes down to it, land is invaluable. The private and public lands of our state hold immense importance for us and for the wildlife in our state. It's our responsibility to care for them. In the words of Aldo Leopold, "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise." Want to know more about what you can do to foster Lands for Wildlife? Head to ncwf.org.

For Cliff Oxford, a Waycross, Ga., native, the Okefenokee Swamp is home turf. "The U.S. Fish and Wildlife is doing our business and what it is supposed to do in speaking for the woodpeckers, otters, ‘gators, bowfin, pitcher plants and the rest of the swamp habitat, as well as for all people who fish, hunt and walk in the swamp." Read Cliff Oxford's full opinion piece in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: https://lnkd.in/e2pwfUUz

Excellent news though I do take issue with the idea that these beautiful lizards are 'common' they are anything but a true wonder of nature. Even in 1912 these lizards were not common throughout England - the majority of which has no lizards. They are widespread and can be locally abundant but are still cannot be considered as common in the status sense. Nor are they dull - a host of colours and patterns exist throughout their range with many colour morphs across their range. They have essentially anti freeze in their blood to prevent succumbing to ice and frost, they live in the coldest place in the Northern Hemisphere and to me are an ideal candidate as a bio indicator species for nature recovery in England. From rewilding to Biodiversity Net Gain this species will feature as they spread out from their countryside refuges - as the anthills, grass tussocks, bramble edges, woodland edges arise from nature recovery so will the numbers of lizards - recording them on the ground will provide the evidence as to whether the action is working over the next 30 to 40years. Report sightings via the Record Pool www.recordpool.org.uk

Puneet Dwivedi Restoring Ecosystems is something we have to do in a big way!! In order to find knowledge that could help guide these Restoration efforts and describe what the 90 million acres looked like almost 100 years ago, could I suggest the following from 1930. This report describes rates of harvest and impacts of fires, and landscape changes. The innovative bit will come from taking forestry, logging, fire, and tree growth information and extracting or turning it into Ecological & Restoration Data. Timber Growing and Logging and Turpentining Practices in the Southern Pine Region: https://lnkd.in/greZcUqD I am happy to discuss this report and how the treasure trove of information it contains can be extracted or turned into Ecological & Restoration Data!!

Do you help people to access parks, beaches, lakes, rivers, canals, woodlands, or nature reserves? Are you a staff member or a volunteer in one of these wonderful places? Or perhaps you are a landowner? On behalf of The Wildlife Trusts, Iain Broome and I are producing some resources to help more people access and enjoy blue and green spaces. We’re running two identical online workshops in August and would love you to join one to help us shape this work. There is already lots of research about barriers and enablers that affect access to green and blue spaces. To add to this, we’ll be asking you: 1. Do you have insights about specific groups of people within your local population who do or don’t use the spaces near you? 2. What guidance is already available about improving access? 3. What more can be done to help people access blue and green space? 4. Who else should we be talking to as we collate our research? Join us on: 7th August 10 – 11.00am  or 15th August 12pm – 1.00pm Register for The Wildlife Trusts workshop here: https://lnkd.in/eusjdfDN You can contact me directly with a PM Could you help us reach more people by sharing and tagging this post? Many thanks!

“What we do in wildlife is actually manage people…and we do that based on values. It’s driven by what the communities… that we live in value. We spend more money on the conservation of the wildlife that we value more, right or wrong.” Listen to the full episode with Dr. Erim Gomez at https://bit.ly/46E9t5Z

New community: Love working outdoors? Want to help nature? I'm launching a new community to share land & habitat management practices that will help support the wonder and beauty of the natural world. Whether you're a seasoned landowner or just want to deepen your knowledge of land management, this new community is your hub for land management advice for wildlife, biodiversity, and ecosystem health. What we offer: • Expert Insights: Have a burning question? Just post it! I'm here to provide personalized answers and guidance. • Actionable Steps: Get practical tips to make a real impact on the natural beauty and diversity of your land. •Foundational knowledge: Understand the principles behind how ecosystems work that inform practices. • Community Tips: Sharing our challenges and successes accelerates our learning. 🏗️ Course content is in development, but it will be geared to address key questions I get from members. 👉 The best part? It's completely free to join—for now! 😀 https://lnkd.in/eb59BX3S

I always wonder what happens to some of the more progressive language and direction within the BLM agency, and why it only appears in an Instruction Memorandum, rather than an RMP? There are important habitat areas within the current Rock Springs Resource Management Plan that deserve similar language as that found in the 2015 IM. We fail to implement habitat projects and evaluate their effectiveness on wildlife. With all that is going on in relation to sage-grouse, we need more efforts directed at understanding how habitat management can change the course and direction of wildlife species, including sage-grouse.