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Educate Others | Get Involved | The Monarch Joint Venture

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The Monarch Joint Venture is a partnership of federal and state agencies, non-governmental organizations, and academic programs that are working together to support and coordinate efforts to protect the monarch butterfly migration across the lower 48 United States.

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Butterfly Heroes | National Wildlife Federation

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Learn more about the National Wildlife Federation's Butterfly Heroes initiative and how we're helping monarchs and other pollinators.

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Find out why Earth's climate is changing and what you can do about it.

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Children have read the Dr. Seuss book The Lorax for decades and moviegoers are packing theaters to see the film version. But did you know there is a real Lorax forest right here in the Lowcountry?

The only one in the United States is fairly easy to find. There's a sign just off Highway 41 in Berkeley County. Young readers for decades have heard the message of a furry creature, the Lorax, sounding the call of conservation.

That message comes to life in the real Lorax forest. A small section of the Francis Marion National Forest was planted in part with funds from the Lorax project, a conservation effort that grew from the Dr. Seuss book The Lorax, first published about forty years ago.

"The forest service received about $28,000 to restore long leaf pine in the Francis Marion forest. About 600 acres were restored in 1998 and 1999," said wildlife biologist Mark Danaher.

With Lorax funds, the endangered red cockaded woodpecker and other species were given new life. The living lesson leaps from the pages of the book and off the movie screen. The Lorax preaches that by cutting down our trees, we could wipe out living creatures and the forests where they live.

But destructive human practices aren't the only danger to a forest. Mother nature is as well. Back in 1989 when Hurricane Hugo came through, it destroyed 37,000 acres of the Francis Marion National Forest.

Today, the long leaf pine is one of the most endangered forest ecosystems in the U.S.

The endangered red cockaded woodpecker makes its home in long leaf pines. The problem is that pine grows slowly. So after Hurricane Hugo, researchers came up with a man made solution.

"It's amazing. The birds will start using the artificial inserts within days or weeks after we put it in," Danaher said.

Danaher says with the habitat restored, the woodpeckers are making a comeback.

"The Lorax offers a good message of restoration, hope, recovery and renewal," Danaher said.

It's a living lesson that the furry Lorax began preaching some four decades ago.
Copyright 2012 WCSC. All rights reserved.

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Francis Marion National Forest's special connection to 'The Lorax'

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Children have read the Dr. Seuss book The Lorax for decades and moviegoers are packing theaters to see the film version. But did you know there is a real Lorax forest right here in the Lowcountry? The only one in the United States is fairly easy to find.

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Link on how to save The Amazon:

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Amazon Conservation: How to Save the Amazon Rainforest

Between May 2000 and August 2005, Brazil lost more than 132,000 square kilometers of forest-an area larger than Greece-and since 1970, over 600,000 square kilometers (232,000 square miles) of Amazon rainforest have been destroyed. Why is Brazil losing so much forest? What can be done to slow deforestation?

What can de done to save the Amazon rainforest in Brazil?

Today Brazil faces an enormous challenge: how to balance economic growth with the preservation of the Amazon rainforest.

1. Rehabilitation and increased productivity of formerly forested lands

2. Expansion of protection areas

3. Development based on concepts of sustainable use of some existing forest

4. Land policy reform

5. Law Enforcement

Rehabilitation and increased productivity of formerly forested lands In reducing the loss of tropical rainforests we must not only be concerned with the transformation of existing natural ecosystems, but also the more rational utilization of already cleared and degraded areas. To lessen future forest loss we must increase and sustain the productivity of farms, pastures, plantations, and scrub-land in addition to restoring species and ecosystems to degraded habitats. By reducing wasteful land-use practices, consolidating gains on existing cleared lands, and improving already developed lands we can diminish the need to clear additional rainforest.

INCREASING PRODUCTIVITY: [ more]

Increasing productivity of cleared rainforest lands is possible using improved technology to generate higher yielding crops. Taking advantage of improved germplasm developed through careful selection can produce grasses and crops that will grow on degraded forest soils. While technology may have accelerated the development and impoverishment of tropical rainforests, it will be one of the keys to saving them.

When it comes to cattle pasture, Judson Valentim of the Brazilian Farm Research Corporation (Embrapa), suggests that "the use of so-called alternative technologies, such as non-plowing farming, could increase productivity in areas that have already been cleared ... Proper use of the area of the rainforest already cleared (deforested or destroyed) in the Amazon could solve many problems. He points out that 20 percent of the area could produce 50 million tons of grains annually. Another 20 percent could be used for small farmers (around 900,000 of them if each got 20,000 hectares)."

Valentim continues, "The remaining 60 percent would be used to raise 100 million head of cattle. And all that, without cutting down a single, additional tree or burning so much as one hectare." [Marrying Growth and Preservation in Brazil's Amazon]

Important Updates on Amazon Conservation

These updates are more current than the body of this text

Brazil could halt Amazon deforestation within a decade

(12/03/2009) Funds generated under a U.S. cap-and-trade or a broader U.N.-supported scheme to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and degradation ("REDD") could play a critical role in bringing deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon to a halt, reports a team writing in the journal Science. But the window of opportunity is short - Brazil has a two to three year window to take actions that would end Amazon deforestation within a decade.

Brazil's plan to save the Amazon rainforest

(06/02/2009) Accounting for roughly half of tropical deforestation between 2000 and 2005, Brazil is the most important supply-side player when it comes to developing a climate framework that includes reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD). But Brazil's position on REDD contrasts with proposals put forth by other tropical forest countries, including the Coalition for Rainforest Nations, a negotiating block of 15 countries. Instead of advocating a market-based approach to REDD, where credits generated from forest conservation would be traded between countries, Brazil is calling for a giant fund financed with donations from industrialized nations. Contributors would not be eligible for carbon credits that could be used to meet emission reduction obligations under a binding climate treaty.

How to save the Amazon rainforest

(01/04/2009) Environmentalists have long voiced concern over the vanishing Amazon rainforest, but they haven't been particularly effective at slowing forest loss. In fact, despite the hundreds of millions of dollars in donor funds that have flowed into the region since 2000 and the establishment of more than 100 million hectares of protected areas since 2002, average annual deforestation rates have increased since the 1990s, peaking at 73,785 square kilometers (28,488 square miles) of forest loss between 2002 and 2004. With land prices fast appreciating, cattle ranching and industrial soy farms expanding, and billions of dollars' worth of new infrastructure projects in the works, development pressure on the Amazon is expected to accelerate. Given these trends, it is apparent that conservation efforts alone will not determine the fate of the Amazon or other rainforests. Some argue that market measures, which value forests for the ecosystem services they provide as well as reward developers for environmental performance, will be the key to saving the Amazon from large-scale destruction. In the end it may be the very markets currently driving deforestation that save forests.

HABITAT AND SPECIES REHABILITATION: [ more]

There is still time to save some of the most threatened species and ecosystems that have been pushed so close to extinction that they will perish unless we intervene. In Brazil, tremendous progress has been made in restoring the population of the Golden Lion Tamarin which resides in the dwindling Atlantic forest. According to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature, the species has recovered "from a low of 200 wild animals recorded in the early 1970s ...[to its] 1,000th wild birth in March 2001."

The restoration of entire ecosystems is most possible in regions where parts or at least remnants of the original forest still remain and there are few human population pressures. Small clearings surrounded by forest recover quickly and large sections may recover in time especially if we provide some assistance in the reforestation process. After several years, a once barren field can once again support vegetation in the form of pioneer species and secondary growth. Although the secondary forest will be low in diversity and poorly developed, the forest cover will be adequate for some species to return (assuming they still exist). In addition, the newly forested patch can be used for the sustainable harvest of forest products and low intensity logging.

Tracts of replanted forest may have ecological returns in addition to economic ones. In the short term, forests absorb large amounts of atmospheric carbon and the more trees that are replanted, the more atmospheric carbon will be sequestered. Replanting and rehabilitating secondary forests around the world has tremendous potential for offsetting greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, rehabilitated forest lands can attract ecotourists and sustain some native forest wildlife.

Expansion of protection areas The extension of protection to critically important habitats within the Amazon region is key to maximizing survival of biodiversity in Brazil. Paramount to the success of conservation efforts:

1. prioritizing areas for protection -- i.e. focusing on biological hotspots

2. ensuring sufficient enforcement agencies and funding exist for the maintenance of protected areas

3. encouraging the involvement of locals -- the fate of protected areas rests largely in the hands of local people and only by improving their living condition can we expect conservation efforts to be successful. Conservation cannot come at the expense of local people; local people must be made both partners and beneficiaries in conservation, and not enemies of it.

Sustainable Development Perhaps the best way to address deforestation in Brazil is developing a new conservation policy based on the principle of sustainable use and development of rainforests. Sustainable development is a phrase that has been used regularly over the past decade, but critics will quickly tell you that collecting fruits, latex, and nuts from the rainforests is not enough make a living let alone support a growing economy. "Sustainable development" should considered an underlying philosophy to be applied via policy to various agents and industries involved in the use and development of rainforest lands and resources.

For thousands of years parts of the Amazon has been managed to sustain productive agriculture and at times, sustain dense human populations. It is estimated that more land was under cultivation in the Amazon on the eve of the arrival of Columbus than is today. The fact that certain forms of agriculture are possible is a vital consideration for the sustainable, economic development of tropical rainforests.

Actions to take:

Incorporate the techniques of indigenous Amazonians into agricultural projects in the rainforest to increase the productivity of degraded forest lands and promote sustainable use of forest resources. Through agroforestry, polycultural fields, and floodplain orchards outright destruction of rainforests can be avoided, while improving economic efficiency and providing a source of income for rural poor

End subsidies granted to large landowners

Logging [ more]
What is desperately needed is a new form of forestry that departs from the older mentality where forests only exist to serve immediate human demands and are non-exhaustible resources. New forest management adds both rural development and conservation projects to traditional tree harvesting and aims to keep forests as functional ecological systems while providing multiple economic benefits.

Actions to take [ more]:

Restrict the trade of certain rainforest tree species. In 2002, CITES did just that with mahogany, but Brazil still has a way to go in terms of enforcing existing forestry laws governing the extraction of certain tree species. Native Amazonians still face violent encroachment by illegal loggers seeking mahogany.

End Subsidies. By ending subsidies for saw mills and road construction, logging of tropical rainforests will become more accurately reflect the true costs of harvesting.

Use reduced impact logging. Reduced impact logging practices including: 1) cutting climbers and lianas well prior to felling; 2) directional tree felling to inflict the smallest impact on the surrounding forest; 3) establishing stream buffer zones and watershed protection areas; 4) using improved technologies to reduce damage to the soil cause by log extraction; 5) careful planning to prevent excess roads which give access to transient settlers; 6) reducing wood waste for cut areas (anywhere from 25-50% of the wood from a given cleared patch is wasted); 7) limiting the gradient of roads to prevent excess erosion.

Establish plantations on degraded lands. Forest plantations are essentially tree crops planted for the particular purpose of providing a specific source for wood products.

Cattle [ more]
Clearing for pastureland and land speculation purposes is a major cause of tropical forest loss, especially in Latin America. Cattle are an attractive investment for Amazonian farmers because they are a highly liquid capital asset with low marginal costs once forest has been cleared. Cattle are used to establish land claims on otherwise "unoccupied" rainforest land and can be used as a hedge against inflation.

Actions to take:

Eliminate tax incentives and land policies which encourage conversion of forest to pasture.

Increase productivity on existing pastureland by introducing agroforestry techniques and using "non-plowing farming,"

Land policy reform Under Brazilian law, much of the Amazon is essentially an open access resource so there little incentive for squatters, farmers, or developers to use forest lands or resources in a sustainable manner. Simply clear some land then move on to another area when the land is no longer viable. Developers can also acquire rights to unoccupied forest land simply by "using" it for at least one year and a day -- typically by burning the native forest and establishing some cattle on the land.

To remedy this wasteful use of land, lawmakers in Brazil should consider laws that restrict these practices. Or maybe lawmakers could enforce some of the existing laws like the 1996 law that forbade Amazon landowners from cutting more than 20% of the forest on their land. For whatever reason the laws on the books are not that effective -- deforestation has increased dramatically in the past couple of years.

Law Enforcement Brazil has a number of laws on the books that theoretically should slow Amazon deforestation and encourage sustainable use of forest resources. The problem is, IBAMA, Brazil's Environmental Protection Agency, is woefully under funded -- in 2003, the entire budget for environmental law enforcement in Brazil was $9.5 million. $9.5 million to police Earth's 5th largest country (roughly the size of Australia, Spain, and Germany combined) having the world's biggest expanse of tropical wilderness.

Between the lack of resources, rampant corruption, and questions as to whether IBAMA even has any legal authority to enforce the law, the agency only collects 6.5% of the fines it imposes.

IBAMA estimates that 80% of all logging in the Amazon is illegal, but there's relatively little it can do about it. To effectively enforce existing environmental law, IBAMA is going to need more resources.

Conclusion Brazil is a land of remarkable beauty and unsurpassed biological diversity. For this reason, deforestation in the Amazon is especially troubling. While environmental losses and degradation of the rainforests have yet to reach the point of collapse, the continuing disappearance of wildlands and loss of its species is disheartening.

Biodiversity is makes life on Earth livable for our species. By extinguishing hotbeds of biodiversity like the Amazon rainforest we are destroying a part of ourselves. Biodiversity will recover after humanity is gone, but in the meantime, the continuing loss of our fellow species will make Earth an awfully crowded, but lonely place.

Past extinctions have shown it takes at least 5 million years to restore biodiversity to the level equal to that prior of the extinction event event. Our actions today will determine whether Earth will be biologically impoverished for the 500 trillion or more humans that will inhabit the earth during that future period.

The extinction event that is occurring as you read these words rivals the extinctions caused by natural disasters of global ice ages, planetary collisions, atmospheric poisoning, and variations in solar radiation. The difference is that this extinction was conceived by humans and subject to human decisions. We are the last, best hope for life as we prefer it on this planet.

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Between May 2000 and August 2005, Brazil lost more than 132,000 square kilometers of forest-an area larger than Greece-and since 1970, over 600,000 square kilometers (232,000 square miles) of Amazon rainforest have been destroyed. Why is Brazil losing so much forest? What can be done to slow deforestation?

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Seafood Watch - Official Site of the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Sustainable Seafood Program

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The Seafood Watch program helps consumers and businesses make choices for a healthy ocean. Use the free mobile app, website and printed guides to get recommendations about which seafood to buy and avoid.

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Help create habitats for monarch butterflies.

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Monarch Watch : Monarch Waystation Program

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Monarch Watch is a cooperative network of students, teachers, volunteers and researchers dedicated to the study of the Monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus and its spectacular fall migration.

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Since 1918, Save the Redwoods League has protected more than 200,000 acres of redwood forest and helped create 66 redwood parks and preserves.

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World Federation for Coral Reef Conservation

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World Federation for Coral Reef Conservation

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The mission of The World Federation for Coral Reef Conservation is to advance the understanding, use and conservation of coral reefs and coastal environments through an integrated program of excellence in data gathering/sharing, education, and outreach built upon active and long term partnerships with divers, conservationist, the science community and local island governments and stakeholders.

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Established in 1964, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species has evolved to become the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global conservation status of animal, fungi and plant species.

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Global Climate Change threatens tropical birds

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Global Climate Change threatens tropical birds

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Feb. 16, 2012 - Climate change spells trouble for many tropical birds - especially those living in mountains, coastal forests and relatively small areas - and the damage will be compounded by other threats like habitat loss, disease and competition among species.

That is among the conclusions of a review of nearly 200 scientific studies relevant to the topic. The review was scheduled for online publication this week in the journal Biological Conservation by Çağan Şekercioğlu (pronounced Cha-awn Shay-care-gee-oh-loo), an assistant professor of biology at the University of Utah.

There are roughly 10,000 bird species worldwide. About 87 percent spend at least some time in the tropics, but if migratory birds are excluded, about 6,100 bird species live only in the tropics, Şekercioğlu says.

He points out that already, "12.5 percent of the world's 10,000 bird species are threatened with extinction" - listed as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature ( www.redlist.org).

Şekercioğlu's research indicates about 100 to 2,500 land bird species may go extinct due to climate change, depending on the severity of global warming and habitat loss due to development, and on the ability of birds to find new homes as rising temperatures push them poleward or to higher elevations. The most likely number of land bird extinctions, without additional conservation efforts, is 600 to 900 by the year 2100, Şekercioğlu says.

"Birds are perfect canaries in the coal mine - it's hard to avoid that metaphor - for showing the effects of global change on the world's ecosystems and the people who depend on those ecosystems," he adds.

Şekercioğlu reviewed the scientific literature relevant to climate change and tropical birds with Richard Primack, a biologist at Boston University, and Janice Wormworth, a freelance science writer and ecological consultant in Australia.

Wormworth and Şekercioğlu coauthored the 2011 book, "Winged Sentinels: Birds and Climate Change." The new article is an updated condensation of that book and another 2011 book Şekercioğlu coauthored, "Conservation of Tropical Birds."

The review was funded by the Christensen Fund - which finances community-based conservation projects - the University of Utah and National Science Foundation.
Putting the Heat on Tropical Birds
Scientists expect climate change to bring not only continued warming, but larger and-or more frequent extreme weather events such as droughts, heat waves, fires, cold spells and "once-in-a-century" storms and hurricanes. Birds may withstand an increase in temperature, yet extreme weather may wreck habitats or make foraging impossible.

"The balance of evidence points to increases in the numbers of intense tropical hurricanes (though hurricane frequency could decrease overall)," Şekercioğlu and colleagues write. "This would predominantly affect tropical bird communities, especially species living in coastal and island habitats."

Şekercioğlu says it is difficult to predict how habitat loss, emerging diseases, invasive species, hunting and pollution will combine with climate change to threaten tropical birds, although "in some cases habitat loss [from agriculture and development] can increase bird extinctions caused by climate change by nearly 50 percent."

In addition, "compared to temperate species that often experience a wide range of temperature on a yearly basis, tropical species, especially those limited to tropical forests with stable climates, are less likely to keep up with rapid climate change."

The researchers say studies indicate:

Climate change already has caused some low-elevation birds to shift their ranges, either poleward or to higher elevations, causing problems for other species. Global warming helped rainbow-billed toucans move from Costa Rican lowlands to higher-elevation cloud forests, where they now compete for tree-cavity nest space with the resplendent quetzal. The toucans also eat quetzal eggs and nestlings.

Birds with slower metabolisms often live in cooler tropical environments with relatively little temperature variation. They can withstand a narrower range of temperature and are more vulnerable to climate change.

Climate change may spread malaria-bearing mosquitoes to higher elevations in places like Hawaii, where the malaria parasite can threaten previously unexposed birds.

Longer and less regular dry seasons and droughts expected during global warming may reduce populations of tropical birds that often time their breeding with wet seasons when food is abundant.

Şekercioğlu acknowledges that "not all effects of climate change are negative, and changes in temperature and precipitation regimes will benefit some species. ... Nevertheless, climate change will not benefit many species."
Scenarios for Extinction
A 2008 study by Şekercioğlu and late climatologist Stephen Schneider calculated 60 scenarios of how tropical land bird extinction rates will be affected by various possible combinations of three variables: climate change, habitat loss and how easily birds can shift their range, meaning move to new habitat. Citing those estimates, the new review paper says that "depending on the amount of habitat loss, each degree of surface warming can lead to approximately 100 to 500 additional bird extinctions."

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted 1.1 to 6.4 degrees Celsius (2 to 11.5 degrees Fahrenheit) of global warming of the Earth's surface by the year 2100, which Şekercioğlu's study converted into a best case of about 100 land bird extinctions and a worst case of 2,500.

He says the most likely case now is considered to be 3.5 C (6.3 F) warming by 2100, resulting in about 600 to 900 land bird species going extinct. These estimates are conservative because they exclude water birds, which are 14 percent of all bird species.

Because they don't travel far, "sedentary" birds "are five times more likely to go extinct in the 21st century than are long-distance migratory birds," says Şekercioğlu.

The review found:

Tropical mountain birds are among the most vulnerable to climate change. Warmer temperatures at lower elevations force them to higher elevations where there is less or no habitat, so some highland species may go extinct.

Climate change and accompanying sea-level rise pose problems for birds in tropical coastal and island ecosystems, "which are disappearing at a rapid rate," Şekercioğlu and colleagues write. Many such ecosystems already have been invaded by non-native species and exploited by humans.

Birds in extensive lowland forests with few mountains - areas such as the Amazon and Congo basins - may have trouble relocating far or high enough to survive.

Tropical birds in open habitats such as savanna, grasslands, scrub and desert face shifting and shrinkage of their habitats.

Rising sea levels will threaten aquatic birds such as waders, ducks and geese, yet they often are hemmed in by cities and farms with no place to go for new habitat.

Tropical birds in arid zones are assumed to be resilient to hot, dry conditions, yet climate change may test their resilience by drying out oases on which they depend.
More Research and Conservation Needed
To better understand and reduce the impact of climate change on tropical birds, Şekercioğlu urges more research, identification and monitoring of species at greatest risk, restoration of degraded lands, relocation of certain species, and new and expanded protected areas and corridors based on anticipated changes in a species' range.

"Nevertheless," Şekercioğlu and colleagues write, "such efforts will be temporary fixes if we fail to achieve important societal change to reduce consumption, to control the emissions of greenhouse gases and to stop climate change."

"Otherwise," they add, "we face the prospect of an out-of-control climate that will not only lead to enormous human suffering, but will also trigger the extinction of countless organisms, among which tropical birds will be but a fraction of the total."

The University of Utah offers a satellite uplink service for live interviews or video feeds about this story. For more information, please visit: http://unews.utah.edu/broadcast-services

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Feb. 16, 2012 - Climate change spells trouble for many tropical birds - especially those living in mountains, coastal forests and relatively small areas - and the damage will be compounded by other threats like habitat loss, disease and competition among species.

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Protect the keel billed toucan

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Best known for its oversized bill, the keel-billed toucan is a large and colorful bird with black plumage, a bright yellow throat and cheeks, vibrant red feathers under its tail and a yellow-green face.