Kicking off three wildlife projects!
Plus Great Salt Lake work & wildlife awards
The sun is shining longer each day, and our warm-weather projects are off to a great start! A huge thank you to all who joined our spring volunteer trainings and have hit the ground running. Thank you!
If you missed the trainings, it's not too late to join our projects. Read below or visit our project pages to watch the training recordings and learn how to get started. Don't forget to share these projects to make this season the biggest ever for wildlife conservation!
Utah Pollinator Pursuit
Adopt a butterfly site for the season or record bumblebees and monarchs whenever you see them.
Boreal Toad & Habitat Project
Join our team or set out for beautiful sites independently to search for boreal toads and other amphibians.
Wildlife Image Analysis
We still need volunteers to analyze images from last year and support wildlife conservation. You can join remotely.
Wondering which project to join? If you want to enjoy the sunshine, learn about local species, and contribute to wildlife conservation, join the Utah Pollinator Pursuit or Boreal Toad Project. To get involved from your own home or a local library and check out what's happening behind the scenes with Utah's wildlife, sign up for our Wasatch Wildlife Watch Image Analysis.
Can't decide? Sign up for our project volunteer list to receive information on upcoming projects.
Biodiversity Challenge
Deadline Extended!
May 17 is the new deadline for our Biodiversity Challenge! Join us as we celebrate biodiversity, or the variety of life around us.
Some submissions will be honored with awards, but many will be part of an effort to connect our projects to places and experiences across the West. We want to know how you see lands and life around you!
A dragonfly sparkles in the sun. Photo ©Janice Gardner
How to join? Learn about western biodiversity, join one of our projects, or engage with plants, places, and life around you in some way. Then, submit photography, poetry, art, or something else that reflects the life and places in the West that you love most.
Conserving Great Salt Lake
Did you know that our Wetlands and Waterbirds project works to conserve Great Salt Lake habitat?
Sageland Collaborative staff survey for birds at Great Salt Lake. ©Janice Gardner
We have built on our 2020 Great Salt Lake needs report to develop work supporting struggling bird populations. The year’s summer drought brought GSL water levels down to the lowest ever recorded on the lake, threatening the many species—like the red-necked phalarope—that depend on the lake.
Did You Know? One third of the global population of the phalarope depends on Great Salt Lake. Red-necked phalarope photo ©Dorian Anderson
Over the next three years, we will address severe threats to bird populations by surveying for shorebirds across Utah Lake, the entire Great Salt Lake, and Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge.
As the first large survey of GSL shorebirds in over 25 years, this fresh data will be crucial for conservation. It will provide a scientific foundation for regional efforts to support shorebirds and other wildlife. Major partners are Point Blue Conservation Science, National Audubon, and Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
Janice Gardner Receives Wildlife Award
Conservation ecologist Janice Gardner tags a rosy-finch to track population movement and habitat.
Janice Gardner, Conservation Ecologist at Sageland Collaborative, has recently received the Award of Merit from The Utah Chapter of The Wildlife Society. You can read more about her work in the interview below. Congratulations, Janice!
Learn about Janice's wildlife work
Mark Your Calendars: Pollinator Pride Party
Thank You, Rosy-Finch Volunteers!
We've finished our rosy-finch surveys for the year, and we want to thank our amazing volunteers. This is our third year of gathering data on rosy-finches, with over 200 volunteers in 10 states counting these mysterious little birds at feeders across the West. We reached almost 1,000 bird surveys for this winter season!
This work is only possible because of you—our volunteers and donors—and our partners at Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Tracy Aviary, US Forest Service, Alta Environmental Center, Friends of Alta, and many others. Thank you!
Where are rosy-finch volunteers submitting surveys for these mysterious birds? Check out this map to see where observations are happening across the West.
Volunteers of the Month: Earth Day Stream Planters!
Volunteers gather before getting muddy to plant willows and native plants and restore the stream. Despite a very rainy forecast, over 25 volunteers and partners showed up! Photos: Sarah Woodbury
On Earth Day, a huge group of you came out to join us to plant pollinator-friendly native plants in Yellow Fork Canyon, Utah as part of our Stream Restoration work. We are so grateful for your hard work to heal this landscape. These plants create habitat for birds and other wildlife that depend on healthy streams. Thank you!
(Plus . . . What to Do if You Find a Baby Bird)
This time of year, most birds are nesting and raising their young. That means you might find a baby bird in your yard! Most of the time, those baby birds don't need help, but there are some instances they may need a helping hand.
Learn more from the baby bird guide created by Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and Wild Aware Utah.
Thank you for your passion for wildlife and lands in the West! Has something in this newsletter inspired you? Support the future of conservation by donating today.
Visit the project page on our website or connect with us on social media (see links below) to learn more about our conservation work, and please contact us with any questions or suggestions.