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MSN.com: New Tech Tackles Food Waste

This article was originally published on MSN.com on March 13, 2013. It was written by Michelle V. Rafter. View the original article here. What if you could tell how fresh a half-gallon of milk was or how long a pound of salmon would keep -- not from the "sell by" date on the packaging, but from the food itself? University researchers in Europe think they've developed a sensor that could do just that, and it could be ready for grocery shelves as soon as five years from now. Sensors are the latest salvo in the battle against food waste, which has become rampant. Every year, U.S. households throw away an estimated 40% of their food, equal to $2,275 a year for...

The Philadelphia Inquirer: A race against time to restore shorebird beaches

This article was originally published in The Philadelphia Inquirer on March 8, 2013. It was written by Sandy Bauers. View the original article here. As municipal officials on the Atlantic coast of New Jersey sprint to get Sandy-ravaged shore communties ready for summer, wildlife officials on the shores of Delaware Bay are frantically prepping for a different species of beach-goer. They are in a race against time to repair and replenish beaches that are critical to shorebirds. In about a week, the sand trucks and spreading equipment could be moving in. And not a moment too soon. For now, red knots — the species in the most serious decline — and other shorebirds are still in South America, bulking up...

Christmas Bird Count Data Reveal Population Declines

The National Audubon Society’s analysis of 40 years of Christmas Bird Count (CBC) data has revealed alarming declines in the populations of many bird species.   During the annual CBC, volunteers across the United States, Canada and other Western Hemisphere countries count birds over any 24-hour period from late December through early January and submit the data to the Audubon Society to be compiled.   The average population of the common birds in steepest decline, including Northern Bobwhite, Evening Grosbeak, and Northern Pintail Duck, has fallen by 68 percent since 1967. All 20 birds on the national Common Birds in Decline list lost at least half their populations in only four decades.   The findings, the Audubon Society suggests, point to serious...

Projects Identified in Manomet Assessment of Hurricane Sandy Damage to Receive Funding

Earlier this month, Congress allocated $68.2 million in emergency supplemental funding to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to restore and repair 25 national wildlife refuges and three national fish hatcheries that were damaged during Hurricane Sandy.   Restoration projects at several of these refuges were identified in the December 2012 Hurricane Sandy Rapid Assessment Report that the Manomet Center released with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The report recommended actions to mitigate negative impacts from the storm on coastal birds and their habitats and protocols to minimize effects of future storms.   Over 30 projects between Massachusetts and North Carolina were included in the report as priority-level restoration efforts, amounting to close to $50 million in repairs. The funding...

USA Today: Sandy’s Wake Leaves Shore Birds in Dire Straits

This article was originally published in USA Today on February 2, 2013. View the original article here. When red knots descend on the beaches of Delaware Bay this spring famished from their marathon flight toward the Canadian Arctic from the tip of South America, the rosy-breasted shorebirds may find slim pickings instead of the feast of horseshoe crab eggs they count on to fuel the rest of their migration. Superstorm Sandy scrubbed away almost all the sand the crabs need to spawn upon. Restoring it in time is a top priority of wildlife groups beginning to repair Sandy's massive damage to dunes, beaches and salt marshes along the Eastern Seaboard that support a diverse population of birds, fish, marine organisms...

Project Aims to Restore Downeast Maine Fisheries

On Wednesday, the New England Fishery Management Council tried to save a vanishing fish population by voting for a 77 percent reduction in the Gulf of Maine’s cod catch for the next three years.   The decision follows long-running population declines for a variety of fish species in the northeastern United States, a region where cod was once so plentiful that an entire Cape was named after the fish. Cod landings in the Gulf of Maine have dropped by 90 percent over the past 150 years and virtually no cod have been caught in eastern Maine for more than 20 years, according to Anne Hayden, Manomet’s coordinator of the Downeast Fisheries Partnership (DFP).   Last week, Hayden and Robin Alden, the executive...

The Register Citizen: Hurricane Sandy’s damage to Connecticut bird habitats studied

This article was originally published in The Register Citizen (CT) on January 27, 2013. It was written by Susan Misur. View the original article here. The Connecticut Audubon Society is planning to study how Hurricane Sandy's significant damage to shoreline nesting habitats will affect endangered birds, and whether it could benefit some of them. Its conservation staff assessed several areas -- Sandy Point and Morse Point in West Haven, Milford Point, Stratford's Long Beach, Harkness Memorial State Park in Waterford, and Bluff Point State Park in Groton -- and identified possible repairs to habitats. Staff members made before-and-after comparisons using data collected on water birds last summer as part of the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbird Conservation initiative. The coastal...

Triple Pundit: Why We Must Harness Green Infrastructure—Not Concrete—To Secure Clean Water

This article was originally published in Triple Pundit on January 17,  2013. It was written by Todd Gartner. View the original article here. Natural ecosystems provide essential services for our communities. Forests and wetlands, for example, filter the water we drink, protect neighborhoods from floods and droughts, and shade aquatic habitat for fish populations. While nature provides this “green infrastructure,” water utilities and other decision-makers often attempt to replicate these services with concrete-and-steel “gray infrastructure”—usually at a much greater cost. Particularly where the equivalent natural ecosystems are degraded, we build filtration plants to clean water, reservoirs to regulate water flow, and mechanical chillers to protect fish from increasing stream temperatures. And even though healthy ecosystems can reduce the operational costs of these structures, investing in restoring...

Oystercatcher Recovery Project Shows Results

Ten years ago, the first-ever survey of the American Oystercatchers in the United States found only 11,000 birds and a population in decline.   American Oystercatchers – large, colorful shorebirds that live in a narrow band of coastal habitat from Canada to South America – were not able to raise enough chicks because of pressure from predators, habitat loss and disturbance from human activities.   Since then, the American Oystercatcher Working Group (led by Manomet’s Shiloh Schulte) and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) developed and then implemented a recovery plan.   Recent studies have shown that the plan is not just working, but is surpassing expectations.   The recovery initiative now includes 25 partners in 17 states and...

The Tampa Tribune: Tampa Bay oystercatcher count could help secure future of bird

This article was originally published in The Tampa Tribune on January 9, 2013. It was written by Yvette C. Hammett. View the original article here. RIVERVIEW - The tall birds with pale pink legs and bright orange beaks congregated on a spit of sand in The Kitchen area of Hillsborough Bay Wednesday, making a census that much easier. Mark Rachal, sanctuary manager for Audubon Florida, slowly motored toward the tiny sandbar. With binoculars and a GPS at the ready, he counted American oystercatchers in one of the more natural areas of Tampa Bay, filled with clear water, seagrass and mangrove islands, and in the more industrialized Port of Tampa area. Scientists taking part in the first full count of oystercatchers...