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Virtual fences can benefit both ranchers and wildlife

Ruth Kamnitzer

July 19, 2023 |

Mongabay |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Washington

Cattle ranchers are switching from barbed wire to virtual fences to cut down on costs, easily practice rotational grazing to improve pasture health, and benefit the local environment and wildlife. The virtual fence software uses GPS and radio towers, so boundaries can be drawn with a computer or phone. And the cows wear tracking collars that will administer a warning beep when a boundary is close and a small shock when a boundary is crossed to encourage the cow to turn around.

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Counterintuitive conservation: Fire boosts aquatic crustaceans in U.S. savannas

Ashli Blow

April 21, 2023 |

Mongabay |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Prescribed burns remove shrubs and invasive plants from habitats that vernal pool fairy shrimp and different species of crayfish live in — making it easier for them to thrive and populations to increase.

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How Planting Grasslands Fights Climate Change

Michelle Lotker

April 03, 2023 |

PBS North Carolina |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, North Carolina

In North Carolina, planting native grassland plants instead of typical turf for lawns, landscaping, and roadside areas can create a carbon sink as the plants trap carbon underground in their long root systems.

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Is There Anything 'Solar Meadows' Can't Do?

Elizabeth Hewitt

March 31, 2023 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Ramsey, Minnesota

Pollinator-friendly solar arrays, also called solar meadows, feature meadows of native flowers around the solar panels instead of turf or gravel to support pollinators.

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The Right Way to Repair a Mountain

Geetanjali Krishna

February 09, 2023 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: India, Uttarakhand

The team at the Uttarkashi forest division began training community members to construct biodegradable logs to serve as dams to reduce the amount of topsoil carried away by rainwater. Within the first month of the project, the area saw a 15% increase in new vegetation. There’s now a group of about 70 villagers who create these logs. It’s an easily replicable, low-cost initiative that utilizes community support and is in the process of being implemented and is in the process of being implemented in other parts of the country to protect fragile landscapes like the Himalayas.

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Conservationists Are Saving America's Prairies by Selling Them Off

Marcello Rossi

January 16, 2023 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Oregon

The Nature Conservancy uses conservation easements to protect prairie land in Oregon. These legal agreements allow landowners to sell their land to the conservancy but continue to use it for activities like farming and ranching.

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How a rare butterfly returned

Jaclyn Moyer

November 01, 2022 |

High Country News |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Kalapuya, United States, Oregon

A recovery plan in Oregon including controlled burns, seed production to increase the number of Kincaid’s lupine plants, and partnerships with private property owners to improve habitat is keeping the Fender’s blue butterfly from going extinct and supporting other plants and animals along the way.

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After her farm flooded, this B.C. farmer went looking for solutions

Matt Simmons

October 18, 2022 |

The Narwhal |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: Canada, British Columbia

Local farmers, government officials, and nonprofits, including the faith-based conservation organization A Rocha Canada, partnered to prevent further loss of land due to flooding. They planted fast-growing plants, like willow and cottonwood shoots, into the eroded bank to replicate the ecosystem before agriculture and development cleared the land. The method — low-tech riparian restoration – is a cost-effective approach that has mitigated land erosion due to flooding. The project also helped to bridge longstanding divides between participants.

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Colorado ranchers moove into the future with virtual fences that help sustain public grasslands

Jason Blevins

September 21, 2022 |

The Colorado Sun |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Colorado

Ranchers in the Upper Colorado River District use collars and virtual fences broadcast through antennas and cell towers to keep cows grazing in specific areas. The practice is used to promote native grass growth and sustain public grassland.

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In the US West, Researchers Consider a Four-Legged Tool to Fight Two Foes: Wildfire and Cheatgrass

Emma Foehringer Merchant

July 06, 2022 |

Inside Climate News |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Scientists are experimenting with a low-cost way of combatting an invasive species and wildfires. They’re using cattle to graze on cheatgrass, which has spread across the U.S. West, disrupted native plants and animals and become a source of fuel for fires. The cows were able to reduce the grass by an average of more than 60 percent, creating an area that could prevent fires from spreading.

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