Latest news with #MassAudubon
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Healey slams Trump for canceling $45M to protect farms, forests and wetlands in WMass and beyond
The Trump White House's decision to pull the plug on more than $45 million in already awarded federal funds to protect farms, wetlands, and forests across the Bay State threatens jobs and leaves the state vulnerable to natural disasters, the Healey administration said Friday. President Donald Trump 'is yet again taking action that will hurt Massachusetts' rural communities, farmers, and economy,' Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement. 'This is funding that would have been used to ensure clean water, provide access to fresh local food, and support our agricultural economy,' Healey said, accusing the Republican president of 'making us less healthy and weakening our economy. He should reverse these cuts immediately.' The state announced the money, awarded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in October 2024. It includes $20.8 million earmarked for protecting farms and wetlands that would have especially benefited the state's smaller and more rural communities, Healey's office said. The White House also canceled $25 million that would have gone to Mass Audubon to protect more than 10,000 acres of 'vital' forest and wetlands along the Connecticut River in Western Massachusetts. Read More: 'Legal battles of our lives': AG Campbell testifies in DC on all-hands effort to counter Trump That money 'epitomized government efficiency and effectiveness. Not only would the grant have protected 10,000 acres of land that safeguards the public's drinking water and benefits wildlife,' David O'Neill, Mass Audubon's president and CEO, said in the administration's statement. The now-canceled cash also 'would have leveraged tens of millions of private funds, and, importantly, kept working lands in the hands of private farmers,' O'Neill continued. 'When we terminate grants that conserve our forests, keep working lands working, act as a flood protection buffer for communities, and leverage millions from other funding sources, we all lose.' The money that would have headed to farmers 'strips [them] of critical tools to keep their land in agriculture through voluntary conservation easements,' state Agricultural Resources Commissioner Ashley Randle said. Read More: Supreme Court limits nationwide injunctions, but fate of Trump birthright citizenship order unclear 'Without this support, farmers lose options – and some may be pushed to sell, putting local farming at risk," Randle said. The USDA announced last month that it was cancelling the Climate Smart Commodities Program — a $3 billion effort to fund projects across the country to improve soil health, sequester carbon, reduce methane emissions and encourage other climate-friendly farming practices, The Wisconsin Examiner reported. The USDA dismissed the program as a 'Biden era slush fund,' and argued that it was 'built to advance the green new scam at the benefit of NGOs, not American farmers.' Earlier this week, state Attorney General Andrea J. Campbell, joined by colleagues nationwide, asked a federal judge in Boston to bar the White House from using an obscure clause in federal law to cut off funding to the states. The Republican White House has wrongly used the 'agencies priorities clause' to block funding to the states for programs ranging from fighting violent crime and education to protecting clean drinking water and addressing food insecurity, Campbell's office said in a statement. Chicopee's next budget is 6% hike from this year. Here's where spending has increased Trump says he's terminating trade talks with Canada over tax on technology firms Mass. lawmakers get a deal; gun for first on-time (ish) state budget in years 'You have been the worst': Secretary Hegseth blasts former Fox colleague Mass. AG Campbell vows to fight on after Supreme Court hands Trump birthright citizenship win Read the original article on MassLive.
Boston Globe
18 hours ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Trump cancels $45 million in federal funds for conservation in Massachusetts
The moves are among the latest efforts by the Trump administration to claw back funds granted in the waning days of Joe Biden's presidency, and follow months of 'When we stop protecting natural lands, we lose clean air, flood protection, and the ability to slow climate change,' said Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper. 'These places absorb carbon, shield our homes from extreme weather, and keep nature in balance. Without them, we all feel the impact.' Advertisement The state was told of the cancellation on June 11. A spokesperson for the US Department of Agriculture did not respond to a request for comment about the decision to cancel the grants. The programs funded with these grants were part of an effort known as 30 by 30 — a United Nations goal to conserve 30 percent of lands and water by 2030, which had been Advertisement The idea is that by conserving vast parts of the planet, the world can tackle two crises at once: the climate crisis, driven by the burning of fossil fuels and made worse by the destruction of natural lands that can absorb climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions, and the rapid loss of biodiversity. The planet's wildlife populations fell some 73 percent between 1970 and 2020, In December 2022, over 190 countries joined the United States and made On his first day in office, Trump The $25 million to Mass Audubon was the largest federal grant ever received in the organization's 128-year history. The conservation of the forests and wetlands serves several purposes, including protecting the many biodiverse species that live there, and ensuring the carbon locked up in the trees and other fauna is not released into the atmosphere. 'The grant have protected 10,000 acres of land that safeguards the public's drinking water and benefits wildlife,' said David O'Neill, chief executive of Mass Audubon. 'When we terminate grants that conserve our forests, keep working lands working, act as a flood protection buffer for communities, and leverage millions from other funding sources, we all lose.' Sabrina Shankman can be reached at
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
122 acres of Vollinger Farm in Northampton conserved for ag, wildlife
NORTHAMPTON — More than half of the Vollinger Farm has permanently protected for agriculture and wildlife habitat, the Kestrel Land Trust announced Thursday. A total of 122 acres of the 217-acre farm on North Farms Road will be preserved. The trust said the land was at much higher risk for development than farms in the Connecticut River floodplains. Farm owner Robert 'Bob' Vollinger had been working with the trust on the project for about five years, the trust said. This also is the first time that the trust is the holder of a federally funded easement. 'This complex process to become qualified for and hold an Agricultural Land Easement required a steep learning curve for everyone involved,' said trust Conservation Director Mark Wamsley in a statement. The easement aims to protect the long-term viability of the nation's food supply by preventing the conversion of productive farmland to non-agricultural uses, the trust said. Many farms in Western Massachusetts are prime wildlife habitat, providing land and water for many wild creatures. This farm is next to a city-owned conservation area, which supports similar habitats. The Regional Conservation Partnership program provided $749,500 in funding, while Mass Audubon's Catalyst Fund provided an additional $100,000. Another 80 acres is temporarily enrolled in the state's Farm Viability Program, which provided funding for Vollinger to renovate one of his barns. Kestrel hopes to protect that land permanently in the future. The Vollingers have owned the land — hayfield, woods, pasture and crop fields — for three generations. It's next to the Broad Brook-Fitzgerald Lake Greenway, the largest conservation area in Northampton. 'Conserving the farm was always my goal. Now it will also help me plan for the future and contribute to my retirement. I'm looking forward to spending more time on the farm and being out on the land in the coming years,' Vollinger said in the statement. Kestrel Land Trust is a nonprofit group based in Amherst that conserves and cares for forests, farms, and riverways in the Connecticut River Valley of Western Massachusetts. Visit to learn more. Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Retiree earns inspiring nickname after rescuing hundreds of owls from airport: 'They might be hiding or ... sleeping'
Since 1981, Norman Smith has rescued more than 900 snowy owls from Boston Logan International Airport, The Washington Post reported. The 73-year-old "Owl Man of Logan Airport" worked at Mass Audubon for nearly 60 years and continues to catch and release southbound snowy owls from the airport's runways. The retiree's involvement at Mass Audubon began when he was a teenager, the Post said. Most recently, he served as the director of the organization's Blue Hills Trailside Museum. He remains an expert on snowy owls, having made discoveries about the species through both his work at Mass Audubon and the airport. Logan Airport hosts the largest concentration of snowy owls in the Northeast, according to Mass Audubon. The birds migrate south from the Arctic when winter approaches, the Post explained, choosing the airport as their temporary home because of its resemblance to the barren Arctic tundra and abundance of food. However, snowy owls pose risks to planes, passengers, and themselves. Collisions between birds and airplanes can hurt everyone involved, and Logan Airport recorded the deadliest bird-related airplane accident in 1960 when a flight crashed because of a flock of starlings, killing all but 10 people on board. While policies to shoot birds at airports arose from accidents like this, Smith responded with a different strategy. He reached out to Logan Airport in 1981 and asked to humanely trap the snowy owls there, studying the birds before relocating them. For the past 44 years, Smith has rescued about 10 to 15 owls a year, according to the Post. He attaches transmitters to some of the owls as part of the Snowy Owl Project, allowing him and his team to learn more about the birds' locations and migration routes. His work also landed him in a documentary. "They might be just sitting there, they might be hiding, or they might be sleeping," Smith said about the owls. "They could be out on the salt marsh, roosting or feeding on a duck or a rabbit." Snowy owl populations are decreasing because of warmer temperatures, which cause habitat and prey loss, and Partners in Flight listed the species on its Yellow Watch List. Smith aims to protect the species by educating others about it and promoting care "for this world in which we live," Mass Audubon stated. Should the government be paying people to hunt invasive species? Definitely Depends on the animal No way Just let people do it for free Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
What goes ‘bump' in the night is actually helping to ensure humanity's survival
When you're asleep, the world remains awake. Thousands of nocturnal species are crawling, flying, leaping, swimming, and dancing through forests, caves, lakes, parks, and the urban environment. Without seeing them, people may not even know they're there. Even though they're largely unseen, a new research review has found that without the contribution of the world's nocturnal pollinators, humanity would struggle to survive. "We have this idea that all the magic happens during the day, because that's when we're active, and that's when we see bees and butterflies fluttering around flowers," Liam Kendall, a postdoctoral fellow at Sweden's Lund University, said in a statement. Kendall and fellow researcher Charlie Nicholson were the authors of the first-of-its-kind meta-analysis which was published this month in the journal Ecology Letters. Most people know about daytime pollinators, including birds, bees, wasps, and butterflies. They provide critical ecosystem services, working to fertilize flowers that can create fruit and seeds. Without their services, humanity would be in dire straits. One in three bites of the food Americans eat depends on pollinators. Furthermore, nearly 80 percent of global crop plants used to make food and other plant-based products require pollination by animals. For decades, scientists have tried to determine whether plants are largely pollinated during the day or at night. But, less attention has been given to the bats, months, nocturnal butterflies, and fireflies. To understand their role compared to their daytime counterparts, Kendall and Nicholson compiled data from 135 studies, finding that 90 percent of the 139 plant species that were examined in the studies had similar reproductive success, regardless of when the plants were pollinated. "We were definitely surprised by the number of plant species where it didn't matter. We found this really fascinating because it's easy to assume that a specific plant needs a specific pollinator. The analysis actually showed almost the opposite — there's much more flexibility. A different pollinator than expected can contribute enough for a plant species to reproduce," said Kendall. So, why has their impact taken so long to widely recognize? In fact, it hasn't been totally unrecognized. Moths have been called the 'unsung heroes of pollination,' many of which are tied to apple pollination. The white-lined sphinx moth, which is also known as the hummingbird moth, is a crucial pollinator for twilight-blooming flowers, according to Mass Audubon. They are widespread in North America. Plus, hundreds of species of plants rely on U.S. bats, including bananas, mangos, and agave. Kendall theorizes that daytime pollinators are seen by humans as more 'beautiful,' and attract more attention. Furthermore, he hypothesizes that many researchers may have had a certain idea for how pollination for a particular plant may occur. Of course, it is also notable that humans are most active during the daytime. The authors also highlighted that daytime species are better protected than nighttime species. Tackling artificial light at night — or excessive or poorly placed lighting that can interrupt the natural environment — may be one way to help protect them. They also face exposure to pesticides, disease, invasive species, climate change, and habitat loss. Climate change is disrupting the relationship between all pollinators and plants, with rising temperatures affecting when plants flower and potentially getting them out of sync with their pollinators. "Actions are often taken to protect daytime pollinators, such as spraying pesticides at night. There's an oversight there — sure, you're protecting the daytime insects, but you're also, theoretically, harming the nocturnal pollinators. This means we could be doing much more, but we haven't thought enough about it so far, and more research is needed," said Kendall.
