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Cape May County Herald: NJDEP Creates New Program to Help Horseshoe Crabs

  This article was originally published in The Cape May County Herald on May 24, 2013. View the original article here. CAPE MAY, NEW JERSEY - The Wetlands Institute, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of N.J., and the Manomet Center for Conservations Sciences, in cooperation with The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, have launched a new program to help recover horseshoe crabs populations in the state. The program, “Re-turn the Favor,” invites volunteers to rescue horseshoe crabs that have been turned over by wave action or that have become trapped behind bulkheads or other human-built structures. The name reflects the key role that horseshoe crabs play in protecting human health, as well as their irreplaceable role in the Delaware Bay ecosystem....

Oxford Hills Sun Journal: Trees planted in Androscoggin watershed to protect water quality

This article was originally published in Oxford Hills, Maine, Sun Journal on May 19, 2013. View the original article here. BETHEL, MAINE — The Clear Water Carbon Fund planted 250 trees along the Pleasant River, a tributary of the Androscoggin River, in West Bethel this month. Saplings are planted along the Pleasant River in West Bethel this month as part of the Clear Water Carbon Fund's effort to improve water quality and remove and store carbon emissions from the atmosphere. The fund is a program that enables individuals and businesses to sponsor tree plantings to protect clean water, remove and store carbon from the atmosphere, and improve habitat for fish and wildlife. The trees planted along the Pleasant River were...

The Philadelphia Inquirer: B95, the Moonbird, spotted on Delaware Bay

  This article was originally published in The Philadelphia Inquirer on May 17, 2013. It was written by Sandy Bauers. View the original article here. A rare bird that has defied all the odds has been spotted yet again on Delaware Bay.   The bird is B95, after the number on his leg band. But his nickname is, perhaps, more to the point. He’s the Moonbird, because in his lifetime, researchers figure he had flown the equivalent of the distance to the moon. And at least halfway back.   This, for a bird that weighs about as much as a stick of butter.   The bird is a red knot, one of the most imperiled shorebirds now arriving on Delaware...

Shorebird Research Team Prepares for Arctic Expedition

In June, a team of Manomet scientists will return to the Arctic to research and band shorebirds on their breeding grounds.   This expedition will be conducted as part of the Arctic Shorebird Demographics Network (ASDN), an effort coordinated by Manomet, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Kansas State University to help determine factors limiting shorebird populations.   The demographic network was co-founded by Shorebird Science Division Director Stephen Brown and is organized by Manomet staff. It features 17 organizations working at 16 sites across 3,000 miles of Arctic tundra in Alaska, Canada, and Russia.   Manomet scientists will be on the ground at two different sites in the Arctic this year.   One team will spend two weeks...

NJSpotlight: Restoring Sandy-Ravaged Shore to Protect Rare, Migratory Red Knot

This article was originally published on NJspotlight.com on April 8, 2013. It was written by Jon Hurdle. View the original article here. Endangered red knot feeds on horseshoe-crab eggs, crabs spawn on the gently sloping sands washed away by the superstorm. Thousands of tons of sand are being dumped on the Delaware Bay shoreline in a last-minute effort to restore beaches that were destroyed by superstorm Sandy but could now provide a lifeline for New Jersey’s most endangered shorebird. Contractors are working to repair a 2.5-mile stretch of coast from Moore’s Beach south to Piece’s Point in Cape May County where the monster storm washed away the gently sloping sand that provided a haven for horseshoe crabs to lay their...

Manomet Releases Phase 1 of Atlantic Flyway Shorebird Conservation Business Strategy

In early March, Manomet and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released the first phase of the Atlantic Flyway Shorebird Conservation Business Strategy - an unprecedented collaboration to implement conservation for shorebirds across the entire east coast of North America.    Over the past 20 years shorebirds like the Red Knot, Whimbrel and Semipalmated Sandpiper have seen serious population declines. Human population expansion, particularly along coastlines, is posing threats to populations of these and many other shorebird species along the Atlantic Flyway.   “The Business Strategy’s overall goals are to create a long-term platform for stability and recovery for populations of several shorebird species and to increase current shorebird population levels by 10 to 15 percent by 2020,” said Stephen...

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...