|
Cooperative Ventures along River Corridors Waterways for Wildlife The Wildlife Habitat Council builds cooperative ventures between corporate, private, government and conservation communities to improve and manage habitat along river corridors and watersheds. WHC Waterways for Wildlife projects include: the Cooper River in South Carolina, the St. Clair River Basin Project spanning the international St. Clair River, which runs between Michigan and Ontario, and the Three Rivers Habitat Partnership (TRHP), which focuses on the Ohio, Allegheny, Monogahela and Youghiogheny Rivers.
Pollination – and the conservation of pollinators – is an important issue that unites urban and rural areas and which touches all of our lives. We can all contribute to a solution to this important emerging conservation issue by simple, everyday decisions, such as what we choose to buy or how we manage our backyards or other land. These efforts are part of a newly formed consortium of conservation groups, government agencies, universities, and private industries from the United States, Mexico, and Canada, called the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC). NAPPC participants, including the Wildlife Habitat Council, have begun discussions on how to work together for the common good of pollinators across our continent. Pollination is a vital stage in the life cycle of all flowering plants. When pollen is moved within a flower or carried from one flower to another of the same species it leads to fertilization. This transfer of pollen is necessary for healthy, productive native and agricultural ecosystems. What do 5,000 native wildflowers and grasses, 100 elementary students, hundreds of volunteer hours, three organizations, and two corporate wildlife teams equal? In 2001, TRHP launched the Wings of Wonder program, which links corporate habitat projects with local schools to help students and communities learn about the conservation of migratory birds and butterflies. One garden features native wildflowers and grasses that provides both adult and larval foods for the monarch butterfly, as well as other pollinators and wildlife, plus a milkweed plot for monarch breeding, used as the hub for ecological studies.
The St. Clair region historically was a landscape of great biodiversity. Along the shoreline of the St. Clair River and Lake St. Clair, emergent marshes would slowly transition into wet prairie, prairie and into oak-savanna communities on the beach ridges of the glacial lakeplain. Carolinian Canada is a popular name for the extreme southwest region of Ontario where the eastern deciduous forest of North America has its northernmost limits. The Carolinian Canada region has the greatest number of both flora and fauna species compared with any other ecosystems in Canada -- given that it comprises only 1% of Canada’s total land area -- conserving the natural communities of this region holds critical importance. Two rare ecosystems found in the Carolinian life zone include tallgrass prairie and oak savannah. The St. Clair River Basin Project approaches ecosystem-wide habitat management in the Great Lakes area by assisting with the recovery of tallgrass prairie in the region through prairie restoration projects and transforming traditionally mowed monocultures to diverse wooded areas that provides food and habitat for wildlife. Employee and community volunteers together have planted hundreds of native plant species: prairie forbs, warm season grasses and wildflowers. Carefully monitored prescribed burns are conducted to encourage production and flowering of native grasses and forbs, and to discourage growth of woody and invasive species. This method has a dramatic, positive impact in increasing native plant diversity and structure in prairies. These areas provide additional habitat for species such as butterflies and other insects, songbirds, shorebirds, waterfowl and mammals.  Click here to download Adobe Acrobat Reader |
