National CELEBRATING BLACK CONSERVATIONISTS THREATS TO HORSESHOE CRABS REMOVING DAMS RESTORES FISH RUNS HOW BIRDS BOOST HUMAN HAPPINESS NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDER ATION | NWF.ORG | WINTER 2023 WINNERS OF OUR 2022 PHOTO CONTEST PULSE OF THE PLANET Wıldlıfe . . NATURE S WITNESS ¨
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NWF.ORG/NW 3 22 22 CONTENTS 44 38 | CLEAR PASSAGE Dam removal is restoring epic runs of herring and other fi sh in many New England rivers. TEXT AND PHOTOS BY LAUREN OWENS LAMBERT 44 | ANIMAL ATTRACTION With help from a remote camera, a photographer captures a stream of delightful visitors beneath her bird feeder. TEXT AND PHOTOS BY CARLA RHODES 48 | DECLINE OF AN ANCIENT MARINER Plagued by modern threats, prehistoric horseshoe crabs are linchpins in marine and terrestrial food webs. BY LAURA TANGLEY 16 | PULSE OF THE PLANET National Wildlife’s 2022 Photo Contest Winners BY LISA MOORE 30 | MAKING MY WORLD With a deep passion for the natural world, Black researchers, writers and environmental justice activists are changing the face of conservation. BY JACQUELINE L. SCOTT 36 | LOVING THE LAND Honoring some notable Black U.S. environmentalists past and present BY VICKY C. SAGET National Wildlife¨ Published worldwide by the National Wildlife Federation Vol 61, No.1 | nwf.org “These are the people who will ultimately be charged with protecting the natural world, so they need to see narratives that are inclusive.” 30 16 30 winter 2023 CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: TALAL AL RABAH; ERIC LARSEN; CARLA RHODES
4 NATIONAL WILDLIFE . WINTER 2023 22 22 22 22 Follow us on Instagram nationalwildlifemagazine National Wıldlıfe . . CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: ARIANE MÜLLER; LAUREN TAMAKI; STEVE WINTER; DIANA CABALLERO ALVARADO On the cover: On a frigid February day in 2022, a Pallas’s cat strides across a snowy plain in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. After waiting for hours in a blind, photographer Thomas Vijayan was able to capture this striking portrait, which won an honorable mention in National Wildlife® magazine’s 2022 photo contest. 5 | EDITOR’S NOTE 6 | PRESIDENT’S VIEW 8 | SCOPE 10 | GUEST EDITORIAL By Vernice Miller-Travis 12 | NATURE AND HEALTH How birds boost human happiness 14 | COMMUNITY CONNECTION Bison transfer from Denver to Cheyenne and Arapaho People 54 | FIELD WORK NWF and affiliates 57 | NEXT GENERATION Meet Megan Harwell 58 | FOOTPRINT Art by Harry Fonseca 8 12 48 54
NWF.ORG/NW 5 EDITOR’S NOTE . National . MEMBERSHIP BENEFIT Wıldlıfe® Winter 2023 | Volume 61 | Number 1 NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION MISSION Uniting all Americans to ensure wildlife thrive in a rapidly changing world. BOARD OF DIRECTORS Chair: Kent Salazar Chair Elect: John Robbins Vice Chairs: Rebecca Pritchett, Siva Sundaresan, Mary Van Kerrebrook Past Chairs: Kathleen Hadley, Bill Houston Directors: Michael Bartlett, Mark Berry, Arthur “Butch” Blazer, Carol Buie-Jackson, Allyn Dukes, Jomar Floyd, Scott Gilmore, John Goss, Randy Jones, Koalani KaulukukuiBarbee, Frederick Kowal, Jay Lanier, Catherine Novelli, Miguel Ordeñana, Mamie Parker, Stevie Parsons, Brad Powell, Sally Ranney, Lyndzee Rhine, Brianna Jones Rich, Norm Ritchie, Terri Roehrig, Phil Roos, Rob Speidel, Rachel Sprague, Elizabeth Swisher, Greer Tidwell, Gloria Tom, Beth Viola NWF REGIONAL CENTERS Headquarters: Reston, Virginia Field Offi ces: Denver, Colorado; Atlanta, Georgia; New Orleans, Louisiana; Annapolis, Maryland; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Austin, Texas; Missoula, Montana; Montpelier, Vermont; Seattle, Washington; Washington, D.C. EXECUTIVE TEAM Collin O’Mara, President & Chief Executive Offi cer Dirk Sellers, Chief Development Offi cer Bruce Stein, Ph.D., Chief Scientist Thuy Senser, Director of Digital Publishing MAGAZINE STAFF Lisa Moore, Editorial Director Haley Mustone, Managing Editor Laura Tangley, Senior Editor Delaney McPherson, Assistant Editor David Whitmore, Design Director Kim Hubbard, Photo Editor Julianne H. Smith, Senior Production Manager Maxwell Bagley, Production Assistant MEMBERSHIP SERVICES 1.800.822.9919 Membership: National Wildlife is one of the benefi ts of a membership in the National Wildlife Federation. Minimum contribution for a membership is $15 per year. Of this amount, $5 is designated for a one-year subscription to National Wildlife. The balance of the contribution is tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. For inquiries about membership, write to NWF at 11100 Wildlife Center Drive, Reston, VA 20190-5362 or visit nwf.org. Contact Us: For general inquiries about the magazine, write to National Wildlife at 11100 Wildlife Center Drive, Reston, VA 20190- 5362 or email [email protected]. For changes of address, please send both old and new addresses. (Not responsible for unsolicited submissions and materials.) National Wildlife (ISSN 0028- 0402) is published quarterly by the National Wildlife Federation, a nonprofi t corporation, 11100 Wildlife Center Drive, Reston, VA 20190-5362. Periodical postage paid at Herndon, VA, and at additional mailing offi ces. Pre-press by Quad/ Graphics Imaging. Printed by Quad/ Graphics, Sussex, Wl. Postmaster: Send address changes to National Wildlife, P.O. Box 1583, Merrifi eld, VA 22116-1583. Canada Postmaster: Send Canadian address changes to IDS, P.O. Box 456, Niagara Falls, Ontario L2E 6V2, Canada. Copyright 2023 National Wildlife Federation. All rights reserved. Renew today Printed in the USA. and receive your free NWF storage tote Simply visit nwf.org/renewmag Contents not included. While supplies last. Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery. SHARE YOUR VIEWS [email protected] LISA MOORE Editorial Director CHARTING A NEW COURSE Beloved readers, welcome to our new era! Here is our fi rst 60-page quarterly, featuring our new look and ad-free format. We’re delighted to bring you this more elegant presentation of articles and photographs, and we appreciate the overwhelmingly positive feedback we received from many of you in response to my previous note announcing these changes. Th ank you so much for your support. In honor of Black History Month in February, this issue celebrates the accomplishments of some remarkable Black conservationists (pp. 10, 30 & 36). We hope you’ll also explore the eye-popping winners of our 2022 photo contest (p. 16), learn about threats to horseshoe crabs (p. 48) and enjoy new features such as Community Connection (p. 14), Next Generation (p. 57) and Footprint (p. 58), where we will feature art that celebrates wildlife and connecting with nature. And now I have more big news to share with you. Aft er eight wonderful years at the helm of National Wildlife¨ magazine, I’ve decided to retire in early 2023 to get out from behind the desk and plunge into nature in new ways. I’ll be forever grateful for the opportunity I’ve had serving you, working with our amazing staff and freelancers and celebrating the incredibly important conservation and environmental justice work of the National Wildlife Federation. Wishing you all the joy of birdsong, thriving gardens, safe access to healthy environments and a lifetime of devotion to nature. ■
6 NATIONAL WILDLIFE . WINTER 2023 ABOVE: JOHN FORTENER; TOP RIGHT: SEBASTIAN KENNERKNECHT (MINDEN PICTURES) PRESIDENT’S VIEW On the Brink of History A s I write this letter to you in mid-November, just as our magazine is going to press, I’m hopeful that Congress is on the brink of passing what would be the most historic investment in wildlife conservation in our nation’s history—and the most significant legislation to protect wildlife in half a century. After years of hard work from all of us at the National Wildlife Federation—as well as the tireless efforts of our 52 state and territorial affiliates, our Tribal partners and thousands of other members and supporters—the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act has gained strong bipartisan support in both the U.S. House and Senate, with more than 260 lawmakers ready to vote “Yes” on this game-changing legislation. By doing so, they would make the protection of wildlife a part of their legacy—and a gift to future generations. This would be possible because the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act would invest nearly $1.4 billion every year to help keep species from becoming endangered and to help conserve the roughly one-third of U.S. species already at heightened risk of extinction due to humancaused climate change, invasive species, disease, habitat fragmentation and other threats. Those funds would support individual state wildlife action plans, which base their conservation actions on science to ensure success. As part of the act, $97.5 million a year would be devoted to wildlife conservation projects led by the 574 federally recognized Tribes in the United States—the COLLIN O’MARA President & CEO of the National Wildlife Federation A broad range of species— including such charismatic creatures as snowy owls (right) and bighorn sheep (facing page)—will benefit from passage of the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act.
clean water and livelihoods. It would help establish wildlife movement corridors, combat the ravages of wildfi re, fund scientifi c research to help understand species declines and, ultimately, off er hope that species will survive and thrive. Whether it’s the gentle tug of a trout on a fi shing line, the staccato song of a bird, the sight of a majestic bighorn sheep or the blink of an evening fi refl y, experiences with wildlife in nature can unite and inspire generations. We can keep those experiences from fading into mere memory by passing the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, a law as transformational as the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act and other foundational environmental laws that have helped people and wildlife thrive. We know there’s still hard work ahead to save species, address environmental injustices and reorient environmental policy to center people and wildlife alike. Th e Recovering America’s Wildlife Act would be a bold step toward achieving these goals. By the time this magazine reaches you, we’ll know whether or not it passed in late 2022. Either way, we’ll keep working with visionary lawmakers and all of you to ensure its enactment—and a brighter future. ■ fi rst-ever dedicated source of federal wildlife funding for Tribes and the most signifi cant acknowledgment of the essential conservation work that Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities have been doing for centuries. Funding from the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act would help put in place nature-based solutions to restore coastal wetlands, which provide vital habitat for wildlife and also protect communities from climate-fueled hurricanes and fl oods. It would help conserve and restore lands and waterways that provide millions of Americans with Take the Clean Earth Challenge! cleanearthchallenge.com #ComeCleanForEarth SHARE YOUR VIEWS Follow Collin O’Mara on Twitter @Collin_OMara. Share your thoughts and opinions, email [email protected]. NWF.ORG/NW 7 cleanearthchallenge.com
8 NATIONAL WILDLIFE . WINTER 2023 scope BY MARK WEXLER JEFF GOUDY actually learned the exact sounds, without leaving anything out.” How do humpback whales in one place learn from whales that live in another population located so far away? The scientists believe that the animals are hearing the new songs on shared migration routes or in common feeding grounds in Antarctica. “It’s rare for this degree of cultural exchange to be documented on such a large scale in a nonhuman species,” says Allen. of sounds and the length of sound patterns produced by humpback populations off the coasts of both east Australia and New Caledonia. “By listening to the Australian humpbacks, we were able to see if the songs changed in any way when sung by the New Caledonian whales,” says lead author Jenny Allen, a University of Queensland research fellow. “We found they A fter analyzing several years of high-quality underwater recordings, scientists report that humpback whales (above) from one region of the South Pacific can learn incredibly complicated melodies sung by humpbacks from another region nearly 2,000 miles away. In their investigation, published recently in Scientific Reports, the researchers measured the number CULTURAL EXCHANGE Visit National Wildlife online (nwf.org/nw) to read the complete digital edition.
NWF.ORG/NW 9 microscope TOP: BRITTANY CROSSMAN; MIDDLE: DAVID TIPLING (NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY); BOTTOM: DIANA CABALLERO ALVARADO WEATHERMEN? Reviewing hundreds of predictions from dozens of locations since Groundhog Day began in the 1800s, researchers report in Weather, Climate, and Society that the celebrated rodents correctly predict spring’s onset just 50 percent of the time. HAMMER HEADS Why don’t woodpeckers get concussions? Reporting in Current Biology, a team of scientists has refuted the long-assumed correct answer—that woodpecker skulls act like shock-absorbing helmets to protect the birds’ brains when they pound their beaks against tree trunks. In analyses of high-speed videos of black (right), pileated and great spotted woodpeckers, the researchers found that the birds do not absorb the shock of the impact with a tree. “Th eir heads basically function as stiff , solid hammers during pecking,” says lead author Sam Van Wassenbergh, a research professor at Belgium’s University of Antwerp. Building threedimensional, biomechanical models of the birds, the scientists also concluded that shock absorbance by the skulls would severely hinder the birds’ pecking abilities. Th ough the acceleration of each peck exceeds the known threshold for causing concussions in humans, the birds’ smaller brains can withstand the jolts. “Th e absence of shock absorption does not mean their brains are in danger during the seemingly violent impacts,” Van Wassenbergh says. Even the strongest shocks from dozens of pecks the team analyzed appeared to be safe for woodpecker brains. BIRDS, BEES MAKE A GOOD BREW N eed that cup of Joe to get going in the morning? Say “thank you” to the birds and the bees that team up on farms where coff ee is grown. Conducting fi eld work on 30 Costa Rican coff ee farms, researchers discovered that coff ee beans grow larger and more plentiful when birds and bees join forces—with the bees pollinating the plants (Scaptotrigona pectoralis on coff ee fl ower, left ) and the birds protecting them from pests. Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists report that without the combined eff orts of these winged helpers— many of which have migrated from thousands of miles away—the $24 billion coff ee industry would suff er nearly a 25 percent decrease in crop yields. Th ey say their fi ndings suggest that ecosystem services can be appreciably more valuable together than separately. “Nature is an interacting system, full of important synergies,” says lead author Alejandra Martínez-Salinas, an ecologist at Costa Rica’s Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center.
10 NATIONAL WILDLIFE . WINTER 2023 MARIO BURGER A sludge vessel sits at the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant on the Hudson River. Environmental justice pioneer Vernice Miller-Travis had opposed its location in West Harlem. BY VERNICE MILLER-TRAVIS Claiming Our Birthright T hough most Black Americans are grounded in relationship with the land where our ancestors hunted, fished and planted, that relationship became deeply intertwined with oppression and unspeakable violence. Maintaining a healthy bond with the land and enjoying nature safely became very challenging. I grew up on Lenox Avenue in Manhattan’s famed Harlem community, not far from the Harlem River. Because my mother was raised on a farm in Maryland and my father on an island in the Bahamas, they gave me a love of the land, sea and fruits of the Earth—a love that goes back in our family for generations. During summer visits to the Bahamas, I came to treasure the ocean and its bounty and unspoiled beaches. Back home, when we visited my grandmother in Nyack, New York, we’d explore the lower Hudson River Valley and marvel at the pine forests, the nesting eagles and falcons and of course the mighty river itself. While attending New York’s Barnard College, I saw how students were taught to fear the Black residents of Harlem, who had little waterfront access despite being nestled between two rivers. A few years later, when I learned that the state and New York City were building a giant wastewater treatment plant on the Hudson River adjacent to West Harlem, it was a lightbulb moment for me. I was working for the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice, helping research where U.S. hazardous waste sites existed. I learned that of all the variables we studied, race was the most statistically significant indicator of where these sites were located. We published our findings in a 1987 report titled Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States, and my lifelong passion for environmental justice (EJ) began. Not long after that, a large group of Latino, Indigenous and Black leaders condemned the “Top 10” U.S. environmental groups, including the National Wildlife Federation, for their white-centered approach to conservation. In the decades since, I’ve consulted with many of these green groups and recently completed a two-year EJ assessment and training with NWF, which is now committed to making environmental justice a core part of its mission, understanding that unless all people are engaged in conservation, the movement will fail. By embracing this effort, members of NWF can help ensure its success. We have a long way to go, but I take heart as I see more BIPOC folks engaging in this work. We had to fight to get a seat at the table, but we persevere because we know our survival as a people is inextricably linked to survival of the natural world. We do conservation work because we love it, and we stay in this fight because we have no choice. n Vernice Miller-Travis is executive vice president of the Metropolitan Group, a leader in social justice consulting. Rooted in the land, Black Americans are transforming conservation GUEST EDITORIAL
Your planning has shaped your life journey, why not do the same for your legacy? A gift to the National Wildlife Federation through your estate plan creates a better future for wildlife. To learn more, please return the attached card, call our Gift Planning Office at 1-800-332-4949 (option #3), or visit legacy.nwf.org. Your Future, Your Impact, Your Legacy! This information is not intended as legal, accounting or other professional advice. For assistance in planning your legacy gift, please consult an estate planning attorney and/or financial advisor for professional advice. Plan for Your Future & the Future of Wildlife ©Joseph Lange
12 NATIONAL WILDLIFE . WINTER 2023 Many Songs Lifting Spirits People are happier when they spend time with a diversity of bird species BY MARK WEXLER F or as long as she can remember, Danielle Ferraro has been captivated by birds. “Just seeing them or hearing them sing makes me happy,” says the Colorado State University wildlife biologist. Her feelings are not surprising. In recent years, scientists have gathered extensive evidence that spending time in nature positively affects people’s emotional and physical health. Three years ago, Ferraro, then a biology graduate student at California Polytechnic State University, decided to investigate how birds, in particular, may play a role in producing such beneficial effects. Focusing on the impact birdsong may have on a person’s sense of well-being, Ferraro and her colleagues played recordings of various avian species’ calls on two trails in a Colorado park for several weeks. They then interviewed hikers about their experiences walking the paths. Among their objectives, the researchers wanted to know if participants could discern changes in the number of different bird species singing. They discovered that hikers who heard the recordings could indeed sense such changes in bird diversity. Those hikers also reported experiencing greater feelings of joy and pleasure than others who walked the same trails when the recorded calls were not playing. “Remarkably,” Ferraro says, “we found that even just 10 minutes of exposure to the recordings had very positive effects on people’s moods.” Published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Ferraro’s paper is far from the only study finding that the presence of wild birds—particularly multiple bird species—can lift people’s spirits. In the first continentwide analysis of its kind, German researchers, for example, poured through a massive European Quality of Life Survey for socioeconomic data on some 26,000 people in 26 countries. Based on information from the European Breeding Bird Atlas, they also tallied the number of avian species in various locations. “We found that Europeans are particularly satisfied with their lives if their immediNATURE AND HEALTH
LAUREN TAMAKI NWF.ORG/NW 13 neighborhoods with more birds active during the daytime, along with an abundance of foliage, are less likely to suffer from depression, anxiety and stress compared to people who live in areas with fewer birds and plants. Many residents said they enjoyed the same positive psychological benefits from bird-watching no matter what species they saw. Published in the journal BioScience, the study “starts to unpick the role that some key components of nature play for our mental well-being,” says University of Exeter researcher and lead author Daniel Cox. Birds living around homes—and nature in general—he adds, show great promise in preventative health care. According to Ferraro, “There could be an evolutionary reason why so many of us get pleasure from hearing and seeing birds.” Human brains might be genetically attuned to enjoying nature, she suggests. “It could be our natural inclination.” n Based in California, Mark Wexler is a frequent contributor. ate surroundings host high [bird] species diversity or if they live in near-natural surroundings that are home to many species,” says the study’s lead author, Joel Methorst, an ecologist at Helmut Schmidt University. In a subsequent analysis of medical data provided by German authorities for 30,000 residents, Methorst and his colleagues confirmed that the larger the number of bird and plant species in a region, the more content people are. While they did not uncover a relationship between residents’ physical health and their experiences with birds, the researchers did find evidence of a link between the subjects’ mental health and their bird encounters. As a result, they emphasize in a 2021 report in Landscape and Urban Planning, preserving bird diversity is not only important for nature but also for human happiness. A team of British scientists came to the same conclusion after surveying several hundred people of different ages, incomes and ethnicities about their mental health. The researchers learned that British residents living in
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NWF.ORG/NW 15 community connection ALL: DENVER PARKS AND RECREATION Bison in Denver’s Genesee Park (top left) await transfer (above) to various Tribes, including Cheyenne and Arapaho People of Denver. Richard TallBull of the TallBull Memorial Council (lower left) addresses a reverent crowd at the transfer. S now fell gently on a reverent crowd of Cheyenne and Arapaho People and others gathered in Denver’s Genesee Park last March for a ceremony that signaled the healing of historic wrongs—a healing long overdue. Denver Parks and Recreation (DPR) manages two herds of bison—known as buffalo to Native Americans. Typically it has auctioned off most surplus animals each year. But last year, for the first time, it decided to end the auction and transfer all surplus bison to Indigenous Peoples. In March it gave 15 animals to the Northern Arapaho Tribe in Wyoming, 17 to the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes in Oklahoma and one to the TallBull Memorial Council (TBMC), a cooperative of Cheyenne, Arapaho and other Indigenous Peoples who have exclusive use of about 70 acres within the city’s Daniels Park for practicing their cultural traditions. There, they honored the return of the buffalo, a sacred source of physical and spiritual sustenance. For TBMC board member Bill TallBull, the event held the weight of a dark history. He and his people still live the pain of the Sand Creek Massacre, when, in 1864, hundreds of Cheyenne and Arapaho men, women and children who had gathered in the Territory of Colorado to negotiate peace were slaughtered by the U.S. military. That history is rarely taught, “but it affects me every day,” says TallBull, recalling that day’s horror and also how his people were robbed of their lands, their buffalo driven to near extinction. “They took everything from us,” he says. “Now we’re finally getting to the point where we’re sitting at the table and sharing our history. Our council’s mission is to bridge the educational gap and build understanding of who we are as Native People.” The bison transfer was one step along that bridge. After years of discussion, the TBMC, DPR, Denver American Indian Commission and InterTribal Buffalo Council crafted the transfer agreement, which will likely continue annually, supplying bison to Indigenous Peoples across the country to promote genetic diversity in Tribal herds. “We’re trying to right historical wrongs,” says Scott Gilmore, a DPR manager who helped negotiate the agreement, which he hopes will add meaning to the city’s land acknowledgment honoring area Indigenous inhabitants. Shannon Dennison, DPR’s director of mountain parks, agrees. The city’s bison herds were established for conservation, she says, so auctioning surplus animals “didn’t meet our mission.” Dennison also notes that Denver is now allowing Indigenous residents to gather traditional ceremonial plants from city land without permits as part of its “commitment to put action behind words.” For Bill TallBull, these are promising steps on a long road toward a future where, he hopes, his people will have their own herd to manage and will again be free to hunt and fish on their traditional lands. “Open minds and desire to learn brought us to this bison donation program,” he says, “and the significance of that day feels profound. We are part of Mother Nature. My skin is brown like the dirt. My ancestors’ blood is in the dirt, nurturing plants and flowers. Look at the snow that came down on that day. It was a blessing. The day was healing for us.” n —Lisa Moore BISON TRANSFER FROM DENVER, COLORADO, TO CHEYENNE AND ARAPAHO PEOPLE Sacred Return
16 NATIONAL WILDLIFE . WINTER 2023 ALL PHOTO CREDITS HERE
ALL PHOTO CREDITS HERE NWF.ORG/NW 17 NATIONAL WILDLIFE’S 2022 PHOTO CONTEST WINNERS Pulse of the Planet With planning and patience, photographer Feng Jiang finally caught the shot he had hoped for—a crisply focused longicorn beetle leaping like an insect Transformer from its perch in an alder forest near Jiang’s home in Kunming, China. Using a special macro lens and flash at close range, he endured “countless failures” before catching this stunning midleap moment. OTHER WILDLIFE FIRST PLACE Feng Jiang Kunming, China Surprise! As our photo contest judges review the thousands of images submitted to our contest each year, some frames jump out with intense emotional punch. That was certainly the case in our 2022 contest, which drew over 30,000 photos from some 3,100 photographers around the world. The winners presented here, from each of our nine different categories, reflect nature in all its rich variety, from moments of raw but life-giving predation to a parent’s tender embrace, from lofty cliffside perches to placid undersea meadows. Whether avid amateurs or longtime professionals, nature photographers who share their gifts help the rest of us see the world through new eyes—and inspire us to save what we see. As the early, renowned nature photographer Ansel Adams once said, “Ask yourself: ‘Does this subject move me to feel, think and dream?’” Here we invite you to feast your eyes and dream away. n
BABY ANIMALS HONORABLE MENTION Minqiang Lu Guangzhou City, China In the warm grip of its protective parent, a baby white-headed langur rests in the relative safety of a reserve in Chongzuo, China, created to protect this species— one of Earth’s rarest primates. Listed in China as endangered, these langurs number only about 1,300. Despite protections, they still suffer from habitat destruction for crops and logging and also from poaching. Waiting for hours to capture this tender moment, Minqiang Lu feels the langurs are “more precious than giant pandas.”
NWF.ORG/NW 19 A male northern flicker shoots out of his nest to hunt for his hungry brood while his mate prepares to hop back inside to guard their chicks. By studying this pair from a blind for two years near his Pennsylvania home, Jeffrey Kauffman learned how they worked as a team. “The tricky part,” he says, was showing both birds in one frame just as the male came rocketing out. BIRDS SECOND PLACE Jeffrey Kauffman Lancaster, Pennsylvania PEOPLE IN NATURE FIRST PLACE Laurie Schaerer Mobile, Alabama Hip-deep in the salty waters of the Gulf of Mexico off Alabama’s coast, a fisherman casts his net in the golden evening light. Laurie Schaerer often comes to this small fishing town of Bayou La Batre to photograph nature. On this calm night, she says, the water was “smooth as glass,” and the clouds and light helped create a timeless image. “Fishing to feed their families is a way of life for people here,” she says. “He’s probably been doing this his whole life.”
20 NATIONAL WILDLIFE . WINTER 2023 On a July day in 2021, Jake Mosher was awed by the beauty of wildflowers in bloom in Montana’s Gallatin Mountains—and horrified by the yellow glow of distant smoke from that summer’s relentless wildfires. “In the contrast of beauty and doom,” he says, “I was hoping to show a sliver of what we could lose during this unprecedented time of climate change.” LANDSCAPES & PLANTS FIRST PLACE Jake Mosher Bozeman, Montana “In the contrast of beauty and doom, I was hoping t
NWF.ORG/NW 21 As the pandemic raged in 2020, few tourists visited O’ahu’s beaches in Hawai’i, which may have made sea life freer to roam. Swimming “like Superman” with his camera in outstretched arms, Shane Myers suddenly saw this octopus on a sandy patch between corals. “We startled each other,” says Myers, who caught one clear shot as the animal inked before darting away. OTHER WILDLIFE SECOND PLACE Shane Myers Mililani, Hawai’i g to show a sliver of what we could lose ....” —Jake Mosher
22 NATIONAL WILDLIFE . WINTER 2023 On his first trip to Yellowstone National Park, Steele Burrow watched amazed as a large herd of bison swam across the Yellowstone River in Hayden Valley. “I had no idea bison could swim,” says Burrow, who captured the moment a large bison emerged and began shaking water off its fur like a massive dog. “It was surreal,” he adds, “an incredible fraction of a second that won’t happen again.” MAMMALS FIRST PLACE Steele Burrow Washington, D.C. Mesmerized by the magical emergence of 17-year cicadas in May 2021, Virginia-based science teacher Kim Schauer photographed the insects at night to show her students that “bugs can be beautiful.” Using a flashlight to illuminate a newly emerged cicada, she made this ethereal portrait on her mobile phone. “It looks like it’s on fire from the inside out,” she says, “with wings like a cathedral’s stained glass.” MOBILE SECOND PLACE Kim Schauer Reston, Virginia
NWF.ORG/NW 23 A day-old sandhill crane chick peeks out from its parent’s protective feathers at a park in Michigan known for its abundance of waterfowl. John Fortener, now 16, had gone to the park on a rainy April morning knowing that eggs from the area’s nesting sandhill cranes would be ready to hatch. Using a zoom from a safe distance, he was delighted to see the tiny head pop in and out of this feathery tent. His advice to other young photographers? “Get outside as much as possible and just watch.” YOUNG NATURE PHOTOGRAPHERS SECOND PLACE John Fortener Allen Park, Michigan
GRAND PRIZE NATURE’S WITNESS AWARD Dave Welling Canoga Park, California As Dave Welling hid in a blind near an artificial pond on a ranch in the arid Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, he began photographing a pair of green jays that had stopped for a drink. When one jay moved away, Welling continued to photograph the other until he heard loud avian shrieking. Swinging to his left, Welling was stunned to see a that a large western diamondback rattlesnake had struck the missing jay and held it in a death grip as the bird struggled for life. Shooting with film in his camera, Welling documented the scene for more than five minutes as the bird moved from struggle to resignation, eventually to be swallowed whole. “This really shows what it’s like for creatures living in the wild,” says Welling. “There are risks for both predators and prey.” He hopes humans will come to value the entire range of wildlife that need protection. “Let’s give them some space, a place to live, a chance.”
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NWF.ORG/NW 27 A lyrical garden of water lilies stretches toward the crystalline surface of a cenote in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, where underwater photographer Suliman Alatiqi waited more than 20 minutes hoping for exactly the right light to capture the clouds and trees in the world above. He hopes the photo’s vivid over-under perspective helps convey the “interconnectedness of nature.” LANDSCAPES & PLANTS SECOND PLACE Suliman Alatiqi Kuwait City, Kuwait Each summer for 13 years, Mark Kelley has documented bears in Alaska’s Anan Creek, whose massive run of pink salmon lures abundant wildlife. In one rare shot, two black bear cubs and two eagles share the same tree. Another memorable frame shows bears fighting near the prime fishing spot. “Fights look fierce,” he says, “but they’re mostly bluster.” (See all 10 portfolio images online.) PORTFOLIO FIRST PLACE Mark Kelley Juneau, Alaska
28 NATIONAL WILDLIFE . WINTER 2023 “I love the idea that once you capture that m
NWF.ORG/NW 29 MAMMALS SECOND PLACE Talal al Rabah Kuwait City, Kuwait On the last day of a 2020 trip to photograph wildlife in Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve, Talal al Rabah saw a pair of cheetahs hunting in a light rain. After it stopped, they began grooming each other, “as if drying themselves from the rain,” he says. This tender moment in diffuse light lends poignancy to this portrait of the world’s fastest land mammals, now dwindling toward extinction. MOBILE FIRST PLACE Marie LaForge Englewood, Florida When Marie Laforge walks the beach near her home in Florida, she looks for small details others might miss, such as the fleeting beauty of a tiny wave. For this shot, she got down low, ignoring the spray on her phone. “I love the movement of water, how it captures the light and creates shapes like a sculpture,” she says. “And I love the idea that once you capture that moment, nobody will ever capture it again.” BIRDS FIRST PLACE Harry Collins Hellertown, Pennsylvania Sitting on a gnarled perch jutting from a New Jersey cliff some 500 feet above the Hudson River, a female peregrine falcon plucks the downy under-feathers from a freshly killed grackle that her mate brought her as a courtship gift. Documenting this pair of falcons since 2015, Harry Collins hopes to show all aspects of wildlife behavior, raising awareness of “all we stand to lose” without conservation. t moment, nobody will ever capture it again.” —Marie Laforge
Making My World With a deep passion for the natural world, Black researchers, writers and environmental justice activists are changing the face of conservation
ALL PHOTO CREDITS HERE At home in the sea, marine scientist Carlee Jackson Bohannon records behaviors of nurse sharks in Caye Caulker, Belize. Bohannon is one of four Black women who founded Minorities in Shark Sciences to expand opportunities in the field.
32 NATIONAL WILDLIFE . WINTER 2023 its first shark-sciences workshop in 2021—free of charge to interested participants—and has been growing since. With members in 36 countries, MISS now offers a range of programs focused on education, mentoring and promoting social justice, including its K-12 Gill Guardians curriculum for kids, summer camps, science fairs, a mentorship program, college fellowships, field trainings to teach shark science and an online program called Diversifying Ocean Science. “Our ultimate goal,” says Graham, “is to accommodate whatever they need to do. We never ask about grades, test scores, degrees—those don’t define what a person is or correlate to whether they’ll be a good scientist. All they need is for someone to give them a chance.” Graham herself is a scientist on many fronts, specializing in studying and protecting sharks such as the endangered smalltooth sawfish. A fellow at the prestigious Safina Center and part-time project coordinator with the Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium in Florida, she’s also president and CEO of MISS, dedicated to engaging people of color in marine science. “Because of segregation, we could not go to the beach or the swimming pool, so we have lots of issues around swimming,” she says. “We need a multigenerational approach to get parents and kids into the water. Once they are comfortable, then it’s easier to get them to see the magic.” James Edward Mills: Scaling new heights “Part of my childhood was camping trips, fishing and ski weekends in public outdoor spaces,” says freelance journalist James Edward Mills, who grew up in California. “It was only later that I realized it was unusual for a Black family.” Founder of The Joy Trip Project, which covers outdoor recreation through a social justice lens, Mills has spent his adult life ensuring that outdoor adventure is celebrated as a part of the Black experience. In 2013, he was a member of the first all-African American team to attempt to summit Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest peak. He then recorded the epic trek in his book “The Adventure Gap: Changing the Face of the Outdoors.” Yet this path to positive change has not been easy. “African Americans have a complicated relationship to the environment,” writes Carolyn Finney in her book “Black Faces, White Spaces,” which explores how being out in nature often has not been safe for Black people. Even so, many Black Americans grew up with a love of nature instilled by their families and time spent fishing, hunting, camping or planting home gardens. With an abiding love of the land and the natural world, growing numbers of Black people are working to kindle that love in new generations. In recent years, there has been an explosion in naturebased groups promoting events such as Taking Nature Black and using social media hashtags such as #BlackBirdersWeek, #BlackBotanistWeek and #BlackGirlsHike to network and celebrate members’ achievements. Those achievements are groundbreaking, as the following four individuals illustrate. Jasmin Graham: Swimming with sharks Growing up fishing with her dad off the Atlantic coast of South Carolina, Jasmin Graham developed a deep connection to nature. “Fishing made me fall in love with the ocean and with bodies of water,” she says. “Some people go to church. I go to a body of water to refill.” That reverence for nature led her to a Masters in biological science and a passion for studying sharks, where she was almost always the only Black person in the room or boat or lab. A random Twitter post in 2020 changed that. Graham met three other Black women with the same zeal for sharks. They quickly bonded and launched Minorities in Shark Sciences (MISS) to “build community among people of color, especially gender minorities of color, to share our experiences, collaborate and feel more connected,” says Graham. Almost immediately there was tremendous interest and support. MISS raised more than $30,000 in the first few weeks, became a nonprofit and opened to membership. More than 500 people joined from around the world. “It showed us we were not alone,” says Graham. “A lot of people wanted to enter marine science but had felt barred.” MISS offered From seafloor to mountaintop, Black conservationists are improving the health of the planet—and its people—in profound ways. BY JACQUELINE L. SCOTT PRECEDING PAGES: CARLEE JACKSON BOHANNON
TOP: CASSIE WEGENG PHOTOGRAPHY; BOTTOM: FIELD SCHOOL NWF.ORG/NW 33 In 2022, Mills went to Nepal and, from base camp at Mount Everest, documented the first all-Black team to climb Earth’s highest peak. Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.’s last speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” seven members of the team, along with their Nepali sherpa guides, reached the pinnacle. “This was a monumental achievement,” says Mills—and telling such stories, he adds, is vital for the future of conservation. “People of color are profoundly underrepresented in outdoor recreation as a pastime or career,” says Mills. “Yet they are rapidly becoming a majority in communities all over the planet. If we fail to tell their stories about connecting to nature, we could see a generation of people who decide they have no place or role to play in environmental conservation. These are the people who will ultimately be charged with protecting the natural world, so they need to see narratives that are inclusive.” Devoted to expanding the field of shark research, Jasmin Graham (top center and above right) teaches members of Minorities in Shark Sciences to study sharks in Florida waters.
34 NATIONAL WILDLIFE . WINTER 2023 CHAD BROWN An avid outdoorsman, Hall also writes about the importance of harvesting wild foods. “When wild food is directly responsible for your own nourishment,” he says, “it awakens your understanding of relationships between humans and ecology.” That relationship—and the health of the environment itself—depends on biodiversity. Yet the “story of colonization,” says Hall, “is the story of homogenizing ecology” through monocropping and other detrimental practices. Likewise, ecology suffered when Indigenous Peoples were exiled from their own lands, unable to practice traditional land stewardship as they had for millennia. “It’s not an accident that when you get a very sharp and violent decrease in the diversity of ways of being in a place,” says Hall, “you start to get all sorts of ecological crises.” Mills finds reason for hope. “I see so many more people of color in the outdoors on a regular basis, and so many more of their stories than I did 30 years ago when my career started. Through this emergence of storytelling, we’re seeing more participation at higher levels. That’s positive change.” Jonathan C. Hall: Speaking his truth “Watching nature shows on PBS, it was possible to see nature in places that I didn’t know existed,” says Jonathan C. Hall, a writer, ecologist, condor researcher and biology professor at Eastern Michigan University. “Such shows opened my eyes to the bigger world.” But the world he sees now is in trouble. “My work revolves around human-wildlife interactions,” he says, “and looking at ways to confront the settler-colonial-racist-capitalist roots of modern living”—all of which have had devastating impacts on wildlife and people. One example close to his heart is the California condor and its near extinction due to habitat loss and lead contamination. Hall takes students into the field to capture, study, release and track the birds in hopes of understanding how and why they’re drawn to human habitation. Journalist James Edward Mills (above) visits the Alaskan Arctic to work on a film called “Blackwaters,” due out in 2023. Educator Jonathan C. Hall holds an endangered condor (right inset) during field work to study human impacts on the birds. In her Virginia garden, activist and educator Ife Kilimanjaro (far right) promotes food sovereignty and environmental justice for all. “Part of my childhood was camping trips, fishing and ski weekends in public outdoor spaces. It was only later that I realized it was unusual for a Black family.” —James Edward Mills
TOP: NATE PALMER; INSET: CATALINA PORRAS NWF.ORG/NW 35 In addition, its Soul Fire in the City program teaches families how to build garden beds and plant and maintain seeds. Though Soul Fire Farm owns 80 acres, it farms only about eight. “Our intent is to keep the human footprint small and ensure the remaining acreage is dedicated to the life that lives there,” says Kilimanjaro. The farm also collaborates with Stockbridge–Munsee Indigenous Peoples, the original stewards of the area, who teach about wild harvest and share traditional ecological knowledge that reflects their relationship with the land. “That’s another way we think about conservation,” says Kilimanjaro, “as cultural preservation, including Indigenous rights and access.” “When I think of conservation, there is a dark side,” she says, “like John Muir denying Indigenous People access to their land.” On the joyful side, she cites her “developing relationship with plants and trees, feeling that they are relatives.” Ultimately, her hope is that “Black folks, like all folks, see ourselves in the right relationship with nature.” n Jacqueline L. Scott is a scholar, writer and outdoorswoman based in Toronto, Canada. Teaching these lessons to students is gratifying for Hall, yet he remains frustrated by the lack of diversity in conservation. “The outdoors is still overwhelmingly a white space physically and psychologically,” he says. “In nature, Black folks need freedom from the white gaze. It’s another emancipation.” Ife Kilimanjaro: Seeking food sovereignty “I am trying to think of a time when I was not in nature as a child,” says Ife Kilimanjaro, who loved picking fruits from her grandparents’ garden in Michigan. Today, she shares that love of fresh-grown food as managing co-director of Soul Fire Farm near Albany, New York, which she calls an “Afro-Indigenous community farm committed to uprooting racism and seeding sovereignty in the food system.” Recognizing that poor and racialized groups are most likely to be food insecure, the farm grows and distributes healthy food, holds workshops for urban youth and trains young Black and Brown farmers in regenerative agriculture.
w SOLOMON G. BROWN Environmentalist (1829-1906) This self-educated environmentalist became the first African American employee of the Smithsonian Institution. GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER “The Plant Doctor” (1864-1943) Born into slavery, Carver became a world-recognized scientist and conservationist, famous for his research on combating soil depletion and replacing cotton crops with legumes. He is regarded as one of America’s greatest agricultural researchers and educators. COLONEL CHARLES YOUNG Military Leader & Conservationist (1864-1922) Young was the first Black colonel and highest-ranked Black man in the U.S. Army in his time. In 1903, he became the first African American national park superintendent and led a regiment of Buffalo Soldiers, who managed what is now Sequoia National Park in California. BUFFALO SOLDIERS The First National Park Rangers Specific Conservation Assignments (1899-1904) The Buffalo Soldiers made major contributions to the infrastructure and conservation of Sequoia and Yosemite national parks. They constructed the first usable road leading into Sequoia’s Giant Forest and the first trail up Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the Lower 48. They also built an arboretum in Yosemite, which some have described as one of the first museums in the National Park System. ABRAHAM LINCOLN LEWIS Businessman & Philanthropist (1865-1947) In 1935, “A.L.” Lewis—Florida’s first Black millionaire—bought 200 acres of beachfront in Nassau County, Florida, to give Black people access to the ocean, a pleasure prohibited under Jim Crow laws. Named American Beach, it is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places. HATTIE CARTHAN “Brooklyn Tree Lady” (1900-1984) Noting the lack of trees in her Brooklyn neighborhood, this environmental justice activist created a beautification committee that engaged youth in tree care and led to the planting of more than 1,500 trees throughout central Brooklyn. BETTY REID SOSKIN Park Service Legend (1921-Present) Soskin became a California National Park ranger in 2007, the oldest ranger in the system until retiring in 2022 at age 100. Loving the Land HONORING SOME NOTABLE BLACK U.S. ENVIRONMENTALISTS PAST AND PRESENT By Vicky C. Saget Betty Reid Soskin Buffalo Soldiers “We are the environment, and how we treat each o John Francis CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ART ROGERS; LEA SUZUKI (THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE VIA GETTY IMAGES); MAGNOLIA TREE EARTH CENTER OF BEDFORD STUYVESANT INC.; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, PRINTS AND PHOTOGRAPHS DIVISION, THE WILLIAM GLADSTONE COLLECTION OF AFRICAN AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHS (REPRODUCTION NUMBER LC-DIG-PPMSCA-11406)
MAVYNEE BETSCH “Beach Lady” (1935-2005) Great-granddaughter of A.L. Lewis, Mavynee Betsch was an opera star who later became an activist known as “Beach Lady” for her tireless efforts to preserve the legacy and land of American Beach on Florida’s Amelia Island. HAZEL M. JOHNSON Mother of the Environmental Justice Movement (1935-2011) In the 1970s, Johnson began to raise awareness about toxic pollutants impacting Chicago neighborhoods. In 1979, she founded the People for Community Recovery to fi ght environmental racism and was dubbed the mother of the environmental justice movement. DR. BUNYAN BRYANT Environmental Justice Education Leader (1935-Present) In 1972, Bryant was the fi rst African American professor in what became the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability, where he helped develop an environmental advocacy curriculum, making Michigan the fi rst U.S. university to offer advanced degrees in environmental justice. DR. WARREN M. WASHINGTON Climate Scientist (1936-Present) This renowned expert in meteorology was an early developer of atmospheric computer models that have helped explain climate change. DR. JOHN FRANCIS The “Planetwalker” (1946-Present) After seeing the devastation of a 1971 San Francisco Bay oil spill, Francis swore off motorized vehicles for 22 years and spent much of that time walking through North America to raise awareness about climate and human responsibility for the Earth. Nicknamed the “Planetwalker,” he heads Planetwalk, a nonprofi t education and advocacy group. DR. ROBERT BULLARD Father of the Environmental Justice Movement (1946-Present) Esteemed author, activist and scholar at Texas Southern University, Bullard is an environmental justice pioneer who has written extensively about environmental racism and the intersection of race, pollution, economics and political power. BARACK OBAMA 44th President of the United States (1961-Present) As president, Obama created two large marine reserves and the second largest desert reserve on the planet. In all, he placed more than 550 million acres of natural habitat under protection—far more than any other U.S. president— and added 22 new national parks. LISA PEREZ JACKSON Chemical Engineer & Environmentalist (1962-Present) The fi rst African American to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Jackson pushed for stricter fueleffi ciency standards and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions for the sake of human health and the planet. Mavynee Betsch Lisa Perez Jackson Barack Obama “Relaxation and recreation without humiliation.” Abraham Lincoln Lewis h other is really how we treat the environment.” John Francis CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: COURTESY OF A.L. LEWIS MUSEUM AT AMERICAN BEACH; BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI (AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES); MARTIN SCHOELLER (AUGUST); JOSHUA YOSPYN; GARY CLARK (USA TODAY NETWORK)
Clear Passage
T he crisp air of a New England morning meets the warm breath of construction workers, creating a glowing fog. As they work, hydraulic machinery and diesel engines shatter the silence along the Mill River in Taunton, Massachusetts, an old mill town whose red brick buildings and cement smokestacks reflect its industrial past. On a wide swath of muddy riverbed, the workers break up rocks and concrete, dismantling the town’s old West Britannia Dam. Like many rivers in New England, the Mill River once teemed with anadromous fish—especially blueback and alewife herring—that migrated from the Atlantic into freshwater spawning grounds. Arriving by the millions each year, these and other fish species played a crucial role in the greater ecology of New England waterways, nourishing riparian habitats and providing food for people as well as raptors, otters and other predators. NWF.ORG/NW 39 TEXT AND PHOTOS BY LAUREN OWENS LAMBERT Dam removal on the Dennys River in Maine (above, aerial support by LightHawk) will increase herring and salmon runs. After dam removals on the Mill River in Taunton, Massachusetts (left), herring returned for the first time in over 200 years. Dam removal is restoring epic runs of herring and other fish in many New England rivers
40 NATIONAL WILDLIFE . WINTER 2023 Industrialization ended that bounty. Over time, New Englanders built more than 14,000 dams, 3,000 of those in Massachusetts alone. By 1921, the state declared the Mill River dead, its herring wiped out by water pollution and a gauntlet of dams. David Belding, then a biologist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF), said that restoration of the river’s fishery was “impossible.” His prediction seemed reasonable. From the 1800s to the early 21st century, “there were no river herring at all in this river,” says Alison Bowden, director of conservation science and strategy at The Nature Conservancy. The era of unbuilding But fish, and nature, are resilient if given half a chance. Massachusetts and resident Indigenous Peoples recognized that many of the aged, industrial-era dams were no longer serving their original purpose and would not be worth the money to maintain. At risk of collapse, many also posed a flooding threat to towns downriver, and some dams were deemed to violate Tribal treaties and cultural values by eliminating fishing rights. So dam deconstruction seemed the best option for both people and the environment. In 2002, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, one of the oldest dams in the nation was the first in the state to come down. Removals on Mill River began in 2012, and by 2018, the state had toppled three of the river’s dams and added a fish ladder, opening some 50 miles of main stem and tributary fish habitat. Early in that effort, Bowden got a call from DMF biologist Mike Bednarski. “He called me on a Saturday morning yelling, ‘We have fish!’.” In 2020, the herring run topped 13,000 fish. “So,” says Bowden, “we proved Dr. Belding wrong.” Such success means dams are still falling across the state. By 2021, more than 60 dams had been torn down, and with the recent passage of a Massachusetts infrastructure bill and the 2022 federal Inflation Reduction Act, towns are seeing an influx in financial support for such projects. Some projects are cross-cultural collaborations. A dam removal on the border between Maine and Canada, for example, involved government entities, the Passamaquoddy Tribe and the Peskotomuhkati Nation. The goal was to restore fish runs to the Skutik–St. Croix River, which crosses the heart of these Indigenous homelands. “At one point, there were millions of sea-run fish on the Skutik River,” says Chris Johnson, ecology manager for the Passamaquoddy Sipayik Environmental Department. “Now we’re seeing a very small fraction of that, and some species, such as Atlantic salmon, have been totally extirpated from the river.” In fact, New England no longer has any Atlantic salmon except in Maine, Deconstruction of the old West Britannia Dam on the Mill River near Taunton, Massachusetts (top right), has opened some 50 miles of prime habitat for American eel and river herring. Restoring such fisheries is wet and weary work. Biologists with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) prepare to move river herring over Scalley Dam in Woburn (left) so they can reach their spawning grounds. At a dam on the Indian Head River in Hanover, the DMF’s John Sheppard (bottom right) collects biological samples from an American shad, one of the largest members of the herring family.
ALL PHOTO CREDITS HERE NWF.ORG/NW 41
42 NATIONAL WILDLIFE . WINTER 2023 where the remaining few are found in only eight rivers. “At one point, there were only 900 alewives returning,” Johnson adds. Steps to increase fish access to spawning grounds in 2013 have brought numbers up to 712,000, and Johnson hopes an additional dam removal will result in the return of 20 million river herring in the next five to 10 years. “Currently, we just don’t have what was here,” he says. “It’s really vital that these fish species survive so that we can survive.” Weighing the pros and cons Dam removal needs to be carefully weighed since some dams benefit wildlife and may provide essential habitat for some endangered freshwater mussels such as brook Researcher Ayla Skorupa (below) glues tags on endangered freshwater mussels before moving them downriver from a dam deconstruction in Pepperell, Massachusetts. On the Skutik–St. Croix River in Maine, technicians with the Passamaquoddy Sipayik Environmental Department (bottom) collect a receiver that locates acoustic tags that identify American shad. Careful science and dam removals are restoring runs of blueback and alewife herring (right) to New England rivers. “Currently, we just don’t have what was here. It’s really vital that these fish species survive so that we can survive.” —Chris Johnson, Passamaquoddy Tribe
NWF.ORG/NW 43 weed and golden ragwort bloom along the riparian corridor, and birch and willow saplings rise from what was once a reservoir. Muddy banks bear the footprints of river otter, and small fish rise to the water’s surface as the cries of osprey fill the sky. “With the rebirth of the river and the return of the fish,” says Bowden, “you have all of these cascades of benefits, both for nature and people. We have a much cleaner and healthier river that is now connected all the way to the ocean, and the community can now enjoy a clean and healthy river that has fish in it for the first time in generations.” n Lauren Owens Lambert is a conservation photographer and journalist based in Massachusetts. floaters. “Their highest abundance in Massachusetts is directly downstream of dams or within shallow dam impoundments,” says Ayla Skorupa, a directorate fellow with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and University of Massachusetts–Amherst. One of the few habitats for brook floaters was near a dam on Sucker Brook in Pepperell, Massachusetts. Before that dam was removed in 2021, Skorupa and others helped relocate the mussels. “Thinking critically about the species around the dam, how they’re impacted and the overall watershed is really important,” she says. On balance, the benefits of dam removal are clearly apparent. In the five years since the West Britannia Dam came down in Taunton, for example, button bush, joe-pye
NATURE SWITNESS ANIMAL ATTRACTION With help from a remote camera, a photographer captures a stream of delightful visitors beneath her bird feeder Sporting electric-yellow lores, a dapper white-throated sparrow poses underneath a bird feeder in New York’s Catskill Mountains.
46 NATIONAL WILDLIFE . WINTER 2023 ALL PHOTO CREDITS HERE S tuck at home while the pandemic raged during the winters of 2020 and 2021, I began to observe my immediate surroundings more closely, especially activity at the bird feeder outside my house in New York’s Catskill Mountains. Growing curious about the comings and goings of local wildlife, I decided to install a camera trap—an unattended photographic setup triggered by heat from a passing animal—on the ground beneath the feeder. Immediately, a new take on “bird’s-eye view” materialized before my eyes. By enabling common winter species to, essentially, take selfies, my camera revealed a multitude of natural behaviors as familiar feathered friends along with surprising visitors wandered into the frame both day and night. Working daily to review and edit these images, I also made sure to keep the feeder and ground below it clean to protect my subjects’ health. What I now call my “Beneath the Bird Feeder” project provided me much-needed artistic escape, focus— and pure joy—during an unprecedented time in modern human history. It also reminded me to respect and protect my natural surroundings and deepened my love for overlooked, common species that deserve just as much attention as their exotic counterparts. n Bird feeders attract more than hungry birds, especially during cold winters. The evidence: an adorable southern red-backed vole (below), a repeat visitor, and an eastern gray squirrel (bottom), which comically launched itself right over the top of my camera. TEXT AND PHOTOS BY CARLA RHODES
NWF.ORG/NW 47 During a late-afternoon snowstorm, my camera captured an otherworldly glimpse of a technicolor male northern cardinal (above). With outstretched wings, the bird appears to be reaching toward the camera. To me, one of the most fascinating aspects of camera trapping is the opportunity to observe such rarely seen behaviors. Likewise, this dark-eyed junco (right) seems to be photobombing its own shot! Who knew that juncos could be such hams? Carla Rhodes is a writer and photographer based in New York. “Immediately, a new take on ‘bird’s-eye view’ materialized before my eyes.” —Carla Rhodes
48 NATIONAL WILDLIFE . WINTER 2023 ALL PHOTO CREDITS HERE Plagued by modern threats, prehistoric horseshoe crabs are linchpins in marine and terrest are linchpins in marine and terrestrial food web ial food webs Each May through June, the Delaware Bay attracts hundreds of thousands of horseshoe crabs, the world’s largest gathering of these important and imperiled “living fossils.”
ALL PHOTO CREDITS HERE NWF.ORG/NW 49 Decline of an Ancient Mariner
50 NATIONAL WILDLIFE . WINTER 2023 PRECEDING PAGES: ARIANE MÜLLER; ABOVE: GREGORY BREESE (USFWS) shoe crabs on Slaughter Beach during their May-June spawning season. Conducted six times monthly on more than 20 Delaware Bay beaches in Delaware and New Jersey, the surveys coincide with peak spawning activity, which occurs at high tide on nights with new or full moons. Beyond counting crabs that late May night in 2021, Workman and his companions also were privileged witnesses to a natural spectacle performed for nearly half a billion years by creatures older than the dinosaurs. Based on fossil records, horseshoe crabs—which are not actually crabs but arthropods more closely related to spiders—began roaming the Earth’s ocean floors at least 450 million years ago. During that time, the animals, which have changed just before midnight on Delaware’s Slaughter Beach came quickly into focus: Hundreds of living things—each resembling a rusty, half-buried Army helmet—swarmed at the water’s edge. The larger, platter-sized animals were female horseshoe crabs, said biologist Elliott Workman, who has studied the odd creatures for more than four decades. Flanked by clusters of smaller males, each female deposited thousands of eggs in the wet sand while males used their “boxing glove” pincers in frenzied attempts to latch onto her, trying to fertilize as many eggs as possible. As land and biodiversity coordinator for the Delaware Nature Society, a National Wildlife Federation affiliate, Workman oversees the society’s annual surveys of horseEn route more than 9,000 miles from the southern tip of South America to Arctic breeding grounds, red knots stop to refuel on horseshoe crab eggs in Delaware’s Mispillion Harbor. BY LAURA TANGLEY Bathed in bright light from a full moon, the scene