Community Wildlife Management Areas Are Successfully Conserving Wildlife in Tanzania

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A group of Masai Giraffes in the Tarangire Ecosystem.

·         A new study found community-based wildlife conservation in Tanzania can quickly result in clear ecological success by benefitting giraffes and other wildlife species. Arusha, TANZANIA, 10 August 2018- Community-based natural resource management is a grassroots conservation tool that has become one of the dominant paradigms of natural resource conservation worldwide. In Tanzania, efforts to … Read more

Comprehensive meta-analysis reveals Spotted Owls are not significantly affected by forest fires

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Spotted Owl in a severely burned forest.

A complete meta-analysis of every published study that examined Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis) responses to wildfire was recently published. Contrary to current perceptions and recovery activities, mixed-severity forest fire does not appear to be a serious threat to owl populations. On the contrary, wildfire was found to create more benefits than costs for Spotted Owls. … Read more

Everything you wanted to know about wildland forest fires but were afraid to ask

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Regrowth after a high-severity forest fire. The past three decades of science that has found fires, including large high-severity fires, are an ecologically essential part of forest ecosystems and create highly biodiverse wildlife habitat.

A team of fire ecologists released a report this week titled “Everything You Wanted To Know About Wildland Fires” summarizing the state of knowledge about forest fires on public lands. This report comes just days after the US Congress passed the Wildfire Suppression Funding and Forest Management Activities Act as part of the federal omnibus … Read more

Giraffe Skin Disease Linked to Soil Fertility

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Giraffe in Tarangire National Park

Giraffe Skin Disease is a disorder of the skin that is characterized by crusty lesions on the back side of the front legs of adult Masai giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi) the only subspecies in Tanzania. Lesions such as the ones shown in this picture on the forelimbs indicate Giraffe Skin Disease. Giraffe Skin Disease was first … Read more

Community-Based Wildlife Conservation in Tanzania Yields Ecological Success

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Dik-diks in Randilen WIldlife Management Area, Tanzania, East Africa. Dik-diks were among the wildlife species that benefitted from the community-based wildlife conservation area.

Good news about the environment is rare these days, but in Tanzania there are signs that local wildlife conservation efforts can effectively protect the natural resources that provide the lion’s share of revenue for the economy. Eco-tourism is Tanzania’s largest economic sector and biggest dollar earner for this developing nation, but wildlife populations have suffered … Read more

Post-fire Logging, But Not Severe Fire, Harms Spotted Owls

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Spotted Owl in a severely burned forest.

Wildlife ecologists studying the rare spotted owl in the forests of California have discovered that large, intense wildfires are not responsible for abandonment of breeding territories. Instead, the researchers found that post-fire logging operations, which are common on both private and National Forest lands, most likely caused declines in territory occupancy of this imperiled wildlife … Read more