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A north wind, skeins of greenheads riding it south, breaking from on high at the cut of your call, and falling into the decoys. Buddies jump up with shotguns pointed at fluttering mallardsthose are mornings every duck hunter lives forMigration Day.

Now reverse that. Mallards headed north on a south wind, racing back to the breeding grounds (so they think), but first they have to make stops along the way to feed, water, and rest. They are incredibly susceptible to being killed during this small window. Hungry and anxious to get home, tough late-season mallards turn into fresh birds.

When to Expect the Reverse Migration

How can you get on a hunt like this? Reverse migrations of mallards and geese can occur just about anywhere you get a hard freeze followed by a quick warm up. If you live in a state where that kind of weather occurs regularly during the season, then you are likely going to see greenheads and geese funnel back from the south. Ive seen it happen from October in South Dakota to January in Kansas. Hell, one of the best Canada goose flights Ive ever witnessed took place during a sunny morning on Long Island, New York, two days after the temperature dipped below freezing and a foot of snow fell.

How to Prepare Your Hunt

The biggest factor in taking advantage of reverse migration days is being ready. Birds are going to be looking for the first open water they see with a pile of ducks sitting on it. Federal and state refuges and cooling ponds (discharge lakes used by power companies) are some places that will be holding birds, but you likely cant hunt, so make sure your set up is south of those areas or the birds will short stop you.

Our biggest reverse migration almost always happens in January, says Kansas hunter Brad Harris. It will get bitter cold and freeze everything up, so most of our birds will go south. Then it thaws and they come back on a south wind and sunshine.

Mallards, lesser Canada geese, snow geese, and specklebellies (well get to the geese later) are the four most common waterfowl species that reverse migrate while fall and winter seasons are still open. Big honkers will too, just not with as much regularity because in most cases it takes more than a quick weather front to get them to move south en masse. And white geese are huntable during the spring conservation season as they chase the snow line back to the tundra, of course. Other species do reverse migrate before the spring rush back north, its just these five seem to do it with more regularity, making them increasingly vulnerable.

Just this last week (in early December), we saw thousands of specks and snows coming out of the south, flying over Champaign, said Illinois biologist and photographer, Ryan Askren, who still had more than six weeks of season left. All waterfowl have an innate drive to want to be as close to the breeding grounds as possible. Specks, in particular, are an early-migrating bird.

Set Big Decoy Spreads for Greenheads

Sometime in early- to mid-January, it will get cold enough to freeze a majority of the open water in central and southeast Kansas. Theres some deeper sand pits and rivers that wont completely lock up, but it forces a majority of the greenheads to move south. It only lasts a few days and when the mallards return, Harris is waiting with open water, dozens of decoys and aggressive calling.

Two days before the thaw, Ill get my ice eaters in and we will open up water, so that when birds are coming back from the south, its the first thing they see, he said.

You can hunt in flooded ag or in dry fields, but Harris best results have come on oxbows and smaller pondstheres more open water thus better visibility for birds returning. He has had some stellar hunts in flooded corn during these times, but on average bigger water is better because it allows for a larger decoy footprint. And when it comes to decoys, you will need to go big. Set goose sleeper shells and mallard and goose full-body field decoys on the ice with mallard floaters on the water.

The key is making the rig look like the refuge, where every duck coming from the south wants to be. And have plenty of good callers wailing away at sky-high migrators. You need to get their attention first, but also, an acre full of fake ducks needs to sound like an acre full of live ones.

We run about 10- to 20-dozen floaters on the water and anywhere from two to four (spinning-wing decoys) as long as the sun is out, which it usually is on a warm up, Harris said. You have about a two- to four-day window to really get after them before its over.

Where to Hunt the Reverse Migration

This phenomenon is not specific to Kansas. Its also common in Oklahoma too, but fair warning, that state is overrun with hunters and wannabee guides posing as legit outfitters. Thats not to say you cant find a good guide in January, just be cautious. I wouldnt advise freelancing down there either. There is some public land, but most of the good duck holes are private and door-knocking is only going to leave you sorely disappointed.

Fact is, the reverse migration will happen just about anywhere there are drastic swings in weather patterns. Here in central Illinois, we see it happening more frequently, mostly in November and early December. You can just about bank on mallards, specks and/or snows showing up after a short cold snap followed by a warm up. Its a tough place to hunt because we dont get the bird numbers we once did, so on the first and second days of the warm up, its game on.

Its hard to get access to private lakes and ponds, and the public ground is very restricted here in terms of when you can go, so leases and handshakes with a landowner are paramount. A lot of the water is deep; old rock quarries that filled over the years. Since it can be tough to throw out a huge spread with decoy lines that might have to be as long as 100 feet, we sometimes set goose and duck decoy rigswith remote spinning-wing decoys (so they can be turned off when geese are around)on a high point in a field close to the quarries. So, if you cant hunt water, get as close to it as possible. Your hope is the birds see the decoys and come in for a look.

If you live in a state where the weather swings arent as wild, reverse migrations are likely not going to happen as often, or at all. For example, if you live in Minnesota or the Dakotas, or Canada, and winter has set in for good, mallards arent likely to funnel back if there is a freak snow melt. They are probably too far south already.

But in states that have more fluctuation in weather patterns, the reverse migration can happen, and it doesnt take much change in tactics from when birds are coming off the refuge as they would on a typical morning.

Id say recently our biggest cold fronts have been in November and then December turns pretty mild, said Tony Vandemore, who co-owns Habitat Flats in north-central Missouri, and has seen an uptick in reverse migration days in recent years. Location wise, we get south of the refuge, and were not going to leave a decoy at home. The birds are up there in the stratosphere and they just drop out of the ozone.

Target Lessers, Snows, and Specks

The Central Flyway is where you will find these three species most commonly bouncing north to south and back again, from north Texas into Oklahoma and Kansas (I highly suggest taking a week to 10 days and completing a three-state goose swing in late January and into February). Just like the mallards, they will go on lockdown, sitting on ice, or bugging out for warmer weather during a deep freeze.

When it warms back up, the birds go insane that first afternoon, flying in every direction imaginable. There is no way to tell what field they will hit, and its also tough to scout them for the next day because they will act completely different in the morning following a calm night on the roost. Your best bet is to just get under them in a traffic field with a high point so they can see the spread.

They can be unpredictable, said Drew Palmer of Mile North Outdoors, who has guided and filmed extensively throughout North America. But then they will go back into a pattern, and thats when you can have a damn good day.

Massive spreads of full-bodies, silhouettes and socks (we are talking a spring snow-goose size rig) with multiple callersthe more the betterlaying in the decoys are key. If its sunny and the wind is blowing 15 miles per hour, it can be downright filthy with massive wads of lessers and specks (sometimes with white geese mixed in) literally landing at your feet.

And when February hits, forget spring snows unless you have a slam-dunk juvie shoot lined up in Arkansas, because thats when you REALLY want to be targeting dark geese. They are in a hurry to get back north, feeding hard and flying hard, and it makes them way more susceptible to being shot.

Some guys only want to come here to kill five greenheads, but if I can get them on one of these goose shoots, theyre hooked, Palmer said.

Chase Big Honkers If You Dare

Even big late-season Canada geese, which are notoriously difficult to hunt throughout the Midwest and East, can fall victim to calls and decoys, particularly over water and half-frozen ponds in early February. One of the most ideal setups is to fill the icy edge with honker sleeper shells and set floaters on open water.

Winter wheat, sod farms or just plain grass (I know a hunter who has permission and targets reverse migrators in the outfield of a baseball diamond just past city limits) are also ideal spots to shoot big geese.

Calling is subjective. Big geese in different locales like to be called at differently. Its also weather dependent. Calm days, typically mean ease off the call. Windy days, go ahead and get aggressive. Good callers have a better handle on how to control honkers and give them notes they want to hear to get and keep their attention. Theres no universal way to land big geese. Youre going to have to tryand failto see what works best. One tip Scott Threinen, a Minnesota honker killer and owner of Molt Gear, has always championed is to get loud when geese are cupped and on approach. He says a lot of hunters will go silent and reach for the guns, which is a mistake. Honkers on the ground or water will get very vocal when other birds are coming in. Its basically to tell them to stay the hell away, that this is my area and you are not welcome.

But its definitely one of the times during the season Canadas are most reckless. Typically, they are an anti-social bird that shortstop decoys and generally frustrate field hunters (at least in the Mississippi and Atlantic flyways). But those habits go out the window this late in the year. Thats not to say they arent still difficult, but now will be the best time to hunt them.

My favorite goose hunting is the reverse migration in late January and into February, Vandemore said. The birds do not have to move far, maybe 40 or 50 miles, and it resets them. It makes a bird that was stale a few days ago as dumb as when it first got here (earlier in the fall).

Continued here:
5 Keys to Killing Reverse Migration Mallards and Geese - Outdoor Life

Its not enough to convince producers to give cover crops a shot there needs to be a game plan.

There are plenty of reasons why. Seed can be expensive, especially if theres no livestock to help recoup that cost through their digestive systems. Many worry the fall seeding window is too narrow to give the crop time to amount to anything, but admit theyve few alternative planting dates to consider.

In some cases experts like Lee Briese, of North Dakotas Centrol Inc., say farmers gave cover crops a shot years ago, and abandoned the practice when it didnt work that year.

Lee Briese of Centrol Inc. discusses the advice he gives cover croppers in North Dakota during the Getting the Most Out of Every Acre event in Brandon in November.photo: Alexis Stockford

A more deliberate approach will shift most of those arguments, Briese says. Many of those unsuccessful cover crops may have been the wrong species mix, planted at the wrong time, or did not have an end goal firmly in mind during the planning stage.

Why it matters: Cover crops can help a farmer accomplish many things, but understanding the end goal is key to the management choices.

Species selection is critically important, he said. So thats the first question for me. If youre planting a warm-season cover crop a little too late, its not going to do well. If youre planting a cool-season cover crop in the heat of the summer, its not going to do well.

The end goal will also be central to species selection, plant timing and seeding rate, he added. A mix tailored to fight erosion will look very different from one planned to fight weeds, increase farm resiliency or improve soil health, he noted.

[AUDIO ABOVE] Joe Gardiner of Clearwater, Man., talks to Alexis Stockford about how he got started with cover crops, what keeps him coming back to the practice and how hes changing up his farm management this year.

Local experts like Yvonne Lawley of the University of Manitoba have echoed the point. Lawley has urged producers to consider the root profile of their cover crop, whether the mix leans to warm or cool season, whether those species fix or scavenge nitrogen, and how they plan to terminate the crop so they are not creating their own weed problem.

The entire process is more art than science, she said, and will be highly individual to a farmers circumstance, equipment, work flow and end goals.

Cover crops have grown incredibly complex on some farms, Briese noted, with some producers putting down something like 30 different species. Thats great for biodiversity, he said, but significantly less so to the producers pocketbook.

Briese advocates the five food groups philosophy, which he says ensures a diverse species mix while potentially balancing seed cost. A balanced cover crop mix includes cool-season grasses, warm-season grasses, both warm- and cool-season broadleafs, and legumes, he said, and the addition of both warm- and cool-season crops helps ensure that something will grow out of the mix, regardless of weather conditions.

A mix of more than five species may start to see diminishing returns on the balance sheet, he noted, particularly for producers just starting out with cover crops.

Its a good strategy, according to Michael Thiele, co-ordinator of Manitobas Ducks Unlimited grazing club and an outspoken advocate of cover crops as a tool for biodiversity.

I think thats simply practical, but think of that: five species versus what has been one for 100 years, he said.

Michael Thiele is among the local experts urging producers to take up cover crops, but also to have a distinct plan before they plant.photo: Alexis Stockford

Joe Gardiner of Clearwater is one of the producers who, self-admittedly, goes crazy, with his mixes. His cover crops run up to 15 species, which he ties to his goals of maximum biodiversity and biomass both for the sake of soil health and forage for his cattle.

At the same time, he noted, his full-season cover crops mitigate the risk of taking on more species compared to an underseeded or post-harvest mix. Farmers who arent doing that are wise to consider less complex mixes, he said.

That makes a lot of sense for a relay crop or a fall-seeded cover, because youre just not getting the return from the biomass to justify the seed cost, and I get that totally and I understand it, he said. From a full-season cover perspective, the goal is to stimulate biology. You cannot stimulate biology with a monoculture.

Joe Gardiner of Clearwater outlines his cover cropping system during an event in Brandon last month.photo: Alexis Stockford

Gardiner also sources much of his seed on his own farm, further reducing cost. His cattle also make that risk more palatable, he acknowledged. He first got into cover crops as a means to increase fall forage.

Kevin Elmy, manager of Cover Crops Canada and a cover crops consultant with Imperial Seed, has a slightly different approach.

Many producers interested in cover crops forget to add in rotation, he said, particularly when it comes to something like tillage radish.

Tillage radish is a well-known compaction buster in the cover crop world. Manitoba experts, however, have recently raised concern that the brassica might create a bridge for pests like flea beetles and disease, given the local popularity of canola.

Its one reason that Elmy has brought sugar beets into his Imperial Seed mixes. Although more expensive, the beets also fill much the same niche as tillage radish.

I have a triangle, so it is grass, legume, broadleaf, he said. If youre looking from a grass to a brassica (in the rotation), which one are you missing? Youre missing a legume, so you want to try and introduce something like subterranean clover or Persian clover.

Kevin Elmy, of Cover Crops Canada, says rotational considerations are too often forgotten.photo: Friendly Acre Seed Farms

That short legume would be underseeded as a relay crop, but remain under the canopy until the cash crop is harvested and then grow through the fall, he said.

That system depends on an early seed date, he noted, giving the legume time to bloom and set nitrogen.

The system is a harder sell for producers without livestock, he acknowledged, but argued that a cover crop that knocks back weeds, saves a fall desiccation, or over the course of years, increases water infiltration and saves a producer from having to install tile drainage, will more than pay for itself.

Once we set goals, then we can pick species, then we can have a strategy on how to get it done, he said.

Soil health advocates may have biodiversity and soil structure top of mind, but Briese says many of his customers are turning to cover crops as weed control, after nothing else has worked.

In some cases, he noted, those producers are attempting to choke out a herbicide-resistant weed a growing concern in both his home North Dakota and Manitoba he said a properly managed cover crop blend may be less expensive than a herbicide pass.

Theyre realizing that this is a potential opportunity for them. Its not incredibly expensive if done well, he said.

Once again, he noted, the goal will underscore the plan of attack. He pointed to one of his clients fighting herbicide-resistant kochia. As such, that customer actually needed his cover crop to overwinter to provide that early-season competition.

Anyone planning for weed control will want to pick species that establish quickly with good ground cover, Lawley advised.

The other thing thats really important to think about for that criteria is which weeds do you need to suppress and what is the biology of when those weeds are growing or establishing themselves, she said.

In the case of a winter annual, she noted, the producer will want a vibrant cover crop post-harvest to interrupt the weeds life cycle.

Cover crops fighting salinity, meanwhile, should get in the soil as early in the season as possible, Lawley noted.

Even your cover crops may not establish where it turns white. You need to work on shrinking that white area by getting a cover crop established in that wet area immediately around it, she said.

In many cases, that cover crop will be broadcast rather than drilling in what is essentially patch seeding, she noted. As such, Lawley advised producers to choose a small-seeded crop or an easily germinated option like barley.

Barley may be among the most common saline-tolerant options, but Lawley argued that there are enough other options for a multi-species cover crop. Sugar beets, camelina and sorghum sudan grass to a certain extent, may also thrive, she said.

Work flow is a challenge, cover crop experts admit, although Lawley pointed out that fall seeding might be done in the morning if a farmer has to wait until the drier afternoon to combine anyway.

Fall seeding is often the easiest to work into a year, Gardiner said, but added that it is also the seeding window most likely to end in failure, since there is little growing time left in the season.

For both Thiele and Briese, the key is both a realistic starting point and commitment.

Cover cropping is a skill and we need to learn it, no different than you would learn to play an instrument, Briese said. You cant play Bach right away. You learn Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star first.

Both Thiele and Briese urge producers to choose a limited number of acres to start, band then attack that cover crop with the best plan possible.

Look, if youre really serious and youre committed, take a field and commit to that field for five years, Thiele said. Youre not going to see the world change in one or two or three years. You need to be committed to this and do it right and be focused and committed and, in five years, youll convince yourself that these systems can work.

Read more:
The learning curve of cover crops - Manitoba Co-operator

A new accessible playground and community hub has opened at Canatara Park. Pictured left to right are Todd Murray with Rotary Sarnia-Lambton After-Hours, Rob Collie with Rotary Sarnia, Rotary Sarnia-Bluewaterland's Henry Kulik and Marie Watson, City of Sarnia recreation and planning manager Ryan Chamney, Rotary-Bluewaterland member Pat Boegelin, and Mike Elliott with Rotary Sarnia. Tyler Kula/Postmedia News

An accessible playground, the first of its kind in Sarnia, has opened at Canatara Park.

More than a playground, the wheelchair-accessible play structure atop a poured-in-place rubber base, also features nearby benches with built-in games tables, a stage area for theatre beside the existing picnic pavilion, and exercise equipment.

We just wanted to create a space that, whether youre playing or a caregiver here to watch their kids play, theres something to do, said city recreation and planning manager Ryan Chamney.

The project cost roughly $335,000, and was partly funded with $80,000 and $90,000 in total from all three of Sarnias Rotary clubs.

We got a lot for what we spent, said Chamney.

The Canatara Park Rotary Clubs of Sarnia Accessible Playground and Community Hub project is step one of nine in accessibility upgrades eyed for playgrounds in various city parks, he said.

Tecumseh Park is up next. Work is planned to start there later in 2020 and likely wrap up in 2021, Chamney said.

Accessible swings, wheelchair gliders and other upgrades are being eyed as part of the projects.

Not all the upgrades will necessarily be as big as the hub project in Canatara, Chamney said, but theyll all be made accessible and inclusive spaces.

The initial timeline for the accessibility projects collectively was in 2018 estimated at three to 15 years, depending on funding availability.

Accessibility upgrades are also being worked out for the nearby Canatara bandshell.

Rotary officials with Rotary clubs of Sarnia, Sarnia-Lambton After-Hours, and Sarnia-Bluewaterland said their contribution came from Trip of the Month lottery proceeds.

The project was completed by Park N Play Design Company Ltd, and the design was vetted and endorsed by the clubs and the citys accessibility advisory committee.

That design has also been awarded Playcore national designation for meeting best practices in youth fitness, and for promoting inclusive play and recreation.

The new playground replaces one a plaque says the city and Sarnia-Bluewaterland club jointly opened in October 1994.

That accessible structure was outdated as far as Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act standards, city officials said.

A grand opening to celebrate the new structure and unveil a commemorative plaque is being eyed for the spring, Chamney said, thanking the Rotary clubs for helping make it possible.

Landscaping and grass seeding in the area is also planned for the spring.

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New accessible playground is the first of its kind for Sarnia - Sarnia and Lambton County This Week

Establishing a productive pasture requires more than just putting down seed and straw. Soil tests will help determine the proper amount of lime and fertilizer. These amendments, along with proper seeding rates, should be applied at the right time of year, usually spring or fall, for optimal growth. It can take a year or more to establish a pasture. Pasture management after establishment is also important, and includes mowing, dragging, and maintaining proper stocking rates. In general, in order to maintain a healthy sod and good groundcover you should have a minimum of two acres of pasture for each horse. Keeping more horses on less pasture requires an increased level of management of both horses and grounds in order to maintain the health of both.

More information on establishing and renovating pastures for horses, forage selection, and grazing management can be found in the Virginias Horse Pastures series, Virginia Cooperative Extension publications 418-101, 418-102, 418-103, and 418-104.

Trees in pastures are beneficial for a variety of reasons. They provide protection from sun, wind, and rain, and are a beautiful scenic addition. Orienting a row of trees from east to west will result in appropriate turf light and encourage pasture forage. However, horses and trees are not always a good mix. Turning out too many horses on small acreage results in denuded pastures or debarked trees, which is neither attractive nor environmentally friendly. Also, the presence of a large number of livestock can result in soil compaction around trees, which reduces the oxygen available to tree roots and negatively impacts tree growth. Nevertheless, some tree species deal with soil compaction better than others. The compaction tolerant tree list includes many native trees such as sycamore, red maple, hackberry, eastern red cedar, sweetgum, black gum, loblolly pine, oak, black locust, willow, bald cypress and slippery elm (Coder, 2000).

Regardless of the trees you choose for your pasture, it is best to fence around them to protect the roots and bark while allowing horses to benefit from their shelter. At a minimum, the trunk should be secured with fencing 2 to 4 feet away. Better protection requires a fence 10 to 20 feet away from the trunk, or ideally out to the drip line (picture the tree top as an umbrella, the edge of the umbrella is the drip line) of a mature tree. However, this may decrease the horses use of the tree as shelter. The Virginia Urban Street Tree Selector at http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/treeselector/ provides a tool to determine mature crown width on certain species.

Finally, some species should be avoided in horse pastures.

For help in identifying trees, bring samples to your local extension office or try your hand at identifying the species with the help of an online tree identification tool at http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/idit.htm.

If your objectives involve land clearing, it is important to familiarize yourself with the pros and cons. Planning and attention to detail during the land-clearing process will help protect water and soil resources while keeping costs to a minimum. This publication provides some practical considerations of costs, regulatory issues, biological and environmental factors, and covers effective methods and easily avoided pitfalls.

For more assistance and information, contact the following public agencies:

Virginia Cooperative Extension Additional printed educational resources and free subject matter newsletters, soil test kits and interpretation, forage management education, pesticide safety and education, and more at http://www.ext.vt.edu.

Soil and Water Conservation Districts Technical assistance, information, and education on the conservation of natural resources, soil, water, and related resources, http://www.vaswcd.org/.

Natural Resources Conservation Services Federal agency providing both technical and financial assistance related to conserving key natural resources such as soil, water and wildlife, http://www.nrcs.usda.gov.

Virginia Department of Forestry Offering Consulting Foresters list, timber buyers list, timber selling advice, and forest management planning, http://www.dof.virginia.gov.

Southern Piedmont Agricultural Research and Extension Center http://www.arec.vaes.vt.edu/southern-piedmont/.

Coder, Kim. 2000. Compaction Tolerant Trees. University of Georgia.

Downing, Adam, Corey Childs, and C.A. Shea Porr. 2008. To Clear or Not To Clear That Is the Question, Virginia Cooperative Extension publication 465-340, http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/465-340/

Johnson, James E. 1997. Firewood for Home Heating, Virginia Cooperative Extension publication 420-003.

Magadlela, A.M., M.E. Dabaan, W.B. Bryan, E.C. Prigge, J.D. Skousen, G.E. DSouza, B.L. Arbogast, G. Flores. 1995. Brush clearing on hill land pasture with sheep and goats. Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science 174:1-8.

McNabb, K. 1997. Environmental Safety of Forestry Herbicides. Alabama Cooperative Extension System. Publication number ANR-846. http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0846/, accessed March 6, 2008.

Teutsch, C.D., and R.M. Hoffman. 2005. Virginias Horse Pastures: Grazing Management, Virginia Cooperative Extension publication 418-101, http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/418-101/

Teutsch, C.D., and R.M. Hoffman. 2005.Virginias Horse Pastures: Forage Species for Horse Pastures, Virginia Cooperative Extension publication 418-102, http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/418-102/

Teutsch, C.D., and J.H. Fike. 2005. Virginias Horse Pastures: Forage Establishment, Virginia Cooperative Extension publication 418-103, http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/418-103/

Teutsch, C.D., J.H. Fike. 2005. Virginias Horse Pastures: Renovating Old Pastures, Virginia Cooperative Extension publication 418-104, http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/418-104/

The authors wish to thank the following individuals for their contributions in review of this document:

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Options for Clearing Land: Pasture Establishment for ...

As catastrophic bushfires spread across parts of Australia, misinformation about one of the regions most beloved animals, the koala, spreads, too.

Areas of Australia started to burn in September 2019, marking an early start to the regions fire season and scorching more than 5 million acres in News South Wales and parts of Queensland.

When the fires became international news, online stories like this one went viral with shocking headlines that claim koalas are now "functionally extinct" as a result of the blaze.

It is true that several hundred koalas have died in the bushfires (some estimates put the death toll in the thousands) and large swaths of the marsupials habitat have been destroyed. However, the claim that koalas are "functionally extinct" is inaccurate.

The story was flagged as part of Facebooks efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

It appears that the idea that koalas are "functionally extinct" started when the Australian Koala Foundation, a local conservation nonprofit that advocates for koala protection and preservation, released a statement in May 2019 calling on Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to enact the Koala Protection Act, which was written in 2016.

"The Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) believes Koalas may be functionally extinct in the entire landscape of Australia," the statement says. "The AKF thinks there are no more than 80,000 Koalas in Australia."

Since the fires, the organization released another statement in October 2019 standing by its use of the term.

Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the US-based Center for Biological Diversity, told PolitiFact there are two different definitions of "functionally extinct." One is that a species still occurs in the wild but cant effectively reproduce, so is all but extinct. The other, is that a species is so reduced that it can no longer play its role in the ecosystem. Neither definition, he says, applies to the koala.

The koala population is indeed declining, but AKFs estimate is much lower than other assessments.

The International Union for Conservation (IUCN), the global authority on the conservation status of all species, approximates that 300,000 mature adult koalas remain in the wild, and lists the species as vulnerable, a step above endangered and two above critically endangered.

But IUCN last assessed the koala population in 2014, and the species may very well be worse off due to food degradation, deforestation, hunting, drought and fires over the last several years. That said, another group of scholars studied the koala population in 2016 and found comparable numbers.

Nevertheless, several wildlife experts reject the notion that koalas are currently "functionally extinct."

"By either definition, it's hard to see koalas as functionally extinct," Greenwald said. "The last estimate for their numbers is roughly 300,000, and in some places they are very much playing their ecological role of munching on eucalyptus leaves."

Wildlife conservation experts also told National Geographic that its difficult to measure koala populations, even at the best of times, because the animal has a wide range across eastern Australia, are human-shy and live very high up in trees.

Christine Adams-Hosking, a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Queensland in Australia, told PolitiFact that koalas "are certainly not functionally extinct" in Australia. And though they have been affected by habitat loss as a result of the fires, she said, its too early to know the impact.

"We will never know exact numbers because we dont know how many koalas exactly there were there in the first place," she said. "Time will tell. Over the next few years, the burnt areas will need to be monitored to see how many koalas recolonize the burnt areas and whether they can successfully build up their population numbers again."

PolitiFact also reached out to the World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia about the claim. The organizations senior manager for land clearing and restoration, Stuart Blanch, told us that while the bushfires are a setback for koala conservation, WWF-Australia does not agree that the species is functionally extinct.

The organization estimates that from July to November, the fires scorched more than 8% of the known koala forest in New South Wales and that, even before the fires, koala populations disappeared from large areas of eastern and southern Australia.

"While koalas will survive this bushfire crisis, the longer-term picture in New South Wales and Queensland is not good unless excessive tree clearing is halted," Blanch said. "WWF-Australia has published a report projecting that koalas will become extinct in the wild in eastern Australia by as early as 2050 and highly likely by 2100 if deforestation and other threats continue. "

The organization said that koalas require remaining eucalypt forests to be preserved, cleared forest areas to be regenerated, and isolated patches of habitat to be connected by newly planted wildlife corridors.

Our ruling

As catastrophic bushfires burn in Australia, claims that koalas are now "functionally extinct" have gone viral.

Many wildlife experts reject this designation, and several estimates suggest there are around 300,000 koalas left in the wild. However, the population is currently listed as vulnerable, and its numbers are steadily declining as fires, and other issues, threaten the animal.

This claim has some truth to it but omits crucial context that would give a different impression. We rate it Mostly False.

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No, koalas are not 'functionally extinct,' but they are in trouble - PolitiFact

In the last monthsof an especially brutal year for the Amazon, the Brazilian rainforest has experienced a last-minute spurt of destruction.

Levels of deforestation in Brazils Amazon in November 2019 flared up by almost 104 percent compared to the same month in 2018, according to official satellite data cited by AFP and Reuters. Considering that deforestation usually quietens down towards the end of the year due to the Amazon's rainy season, this rise is especially unusual.

These November figures build on statistics from Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE) released last month that showed a 29 percent increase in deforestation in 2019 compared to the previous year.Between August 2018 to July 2019, the INPE estimates 9,762 square kilometers (3,769 square miles) of rainforest was slashed, burned, or bulldozed in Brazil that's1.8 million football fields.

Much attention was given to the fires in the Amazon earlier this year. Despite claims made by the Brazilian government, a survey of the rainforest in Brazil showed the number of fires in August of this year was three times higher than in 2018 and the highest since 2010.

Deforestation in the Amazon is primarily driven by agriculture, mining, logging, infrastructure development, and most prominently cattle ranching. Some of the steepest increases in deforestation occurred here between 1991 to 2003. While rates of rainforest destruction were at their highest in 2008, the past few years have seen another resurgence of land clearing.

Much of this can be blamed on increasing global demand for commodities like beef, soy, and palm oil, however, the rise has also been attributed to the election of President Jair Bolsonaro. Nicknamed Captain Chainsaw by environmentalists, the far-right populist president has continued to challenge the status of protected areas and weaken environmental agenciesin the hopes of forging Brazil into an economic powerhouse.

Following UN Climate Change Conference COP25 this week, Brazil's environment minister sarcastically tweeteda photograph of a vast beef steak with the caption:"to offset our emissions at COP, a veggie lunch!" PresidentBolsonaro also repeatedly threatened to take Brazil out of the Paris Climate Agreement during his election campaign, although he appears to have softened that stance duringhis first year of presidency.

The Brazilian president previously accused the INPE of forging deforestation statistics and being "in the service of NGOs." In August 2019, following a very public spat, Bolsonaro evenfired the head of the INPE, Professor Ricardo Magnus Osrio Galvo, and suggested the government would look for a private company to take over from the INPEs duties to monitor the Amazon.

Needless to say, these accusations remain unfounded as does Bolsonaros claim that this years Amazon fires were started by NGOs andpaid for by Leonardo DiCaprio.

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November Deforestation Up 104 Percent On Last Year In Brazilian Amazon - IFLScience

Banteay Srei district authority inspected land grab at Siem Reap Provice. Supplied

Siem Reap provinces Banteay Srei district authorities on Friday stopped and warned of legal action against the unauthorised clearing of forest land led by a machinery owner at the districts Hal village in Tbeng commune.

District governor Khim Finan told The Post on Sunday that he had gone to the area after receiving reports of a group of individuals clearing the villages forest and digging a canal to construct a private road in secret to grab state land in the area.

The activities will affect the ecosystem in the forest and disrupt the flow of water in the old canals. It will also affect the residents living downstream who rely on the canal for their livelihood.

I have instructed village and commune officials and residents directly to put all these illegal activities to an abrupt halt and ensure that such anarchy will not occur again.

Otherwise, the officials and residents will be held accountable before the law, Finan said, adding that grabbing of state land was illegal.

Finan said the cutting down of mangrove trees had led to the drying up of water in the area, which would seriously affect water supply in the Siem Reap River.

If the activities are not stopped on time, in the future, our Siem Reap River will lose water, he said.

Finan said what he found most concerning was the illegal land-clearing activities in the conserved forest of Banteay Srei district and the Kulen Mountain located in Phnom Kulen National Park.

These activities, he said, harmed the natural and cultural wealth of Siem Reap.

Adhoc investigator Sous Narin confirmed the illegal land-clearing activities in the areas.

Because the authorities didnt solve the problems effectively, they kept entering to clear the forest further. But after being prohibited by the authorities, their activities have discontinued, he said.

Narin observed that activities related to grabbing of state lands not only occurred in Banteay Srei but in other districts as well.

Finan said the issue of land grabbing in the Kulen Mountain forests had been happening for a long time. Over the last few years, residents had further encroached on state land by building guardian spirit houses.

By November this year, the authorities had demolished 49 of the 1,000 illegal constructions that encroached on the forested area of the Kulen Mountain.

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Illegal land clearing in Banteay Srei stopped - The Phnom Penh Post

Some bignumbers from nature made news in 2019. They were enough of a shock to getpeople talking about the dwindling diversity of plants, animals and other lifeon Earth, and what to do about it.

Some of that dramatic news came from the Amazon, wheresatellites picked up signs of a very active start to the annual fire season.The risk of a record-breaking season renewed worries about one of the richestreservoirs of biodiversity on Earth.

In August alone, satellite-based imaging instruments calledMODIS logged 11,516 detections of fire in the large, northwestern Brazilianstate of Amazonas. The number isnt individual fires, but the number of pixels,each measuring at least a square kilometer, containing fire activity, explainsLouis Giglio of the University of Maryland in College Park, a specialist indetecting fires with remote instruments. (Higher numbers reported by some newsoutlets tallied detections from an instrument with smaller pixels.)

As the fire season drew to a close in late October, Giglioworked out the big picture for the year. While fire risk in most of SouthAmerica in 2019 was very average, Amazonas was where chaos ensued, he says.The fire detections for August exceeded all MODIS records for that month, whichgo back almost two decades, Giglio says. He ranks the 2019 fire season, fromlate June through October, as the second worst for Amazon burning, after the2005 season.

The damage distresses Alexandre Aleixo of the University ofHelsinki, who lived in the Amazon forest studying its birds for 16 years. Heworries that the lure of land for farming in Brazils pro-development politicalclimate is leading to land-clearing fires that easily jump into protectedareas, threatening the biodiversity there.

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Clearing jungles for soybeans or cattle is a good example of what a 2019 United Nations report called the main threat to nature: humans taking over wilderness for their own uses. That report made news by saying that around a million or so species of plants and animals globally about 1 in 8 face accelerated extinction unless damaged habitats are restored (SN: 6/8/19, p. 5). Dead species walking is one term used in the 1,500-plus-page draft of the report, released in an early form in May by the U.N.s Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.

The real total of Earths imperiled species is probablylarger than a million. The U.N. panel didnt assess the abundant forms offungi, which have given humans bread, wine and antibiotics, or the vastuniverse of nonfungal microbes. Even plant and animal numbers are estimates, ofcourse; humans havent come anywhere close to giving names to all of Earthscomplex life.

The number 3 billion also startled people, prompting stories of the way things used to be. Its the estimated total population drop in birds in the United States and Canada since 1970 (SN: 10/12/19 & 10/26/19, p. 7). Digging into decades of sightings of 529 species, including records from citizen scientists, researchers detected a growing bird deficit. Many rare birds known to be in peril have continued to decline, but unnervingly, even some common birds are dwindling. Pushy and adaptable starlings dropped 63 percent, for example. Today, overall, 29 percent fewer birds, the team estimates, are flying around in the United States and Canada than there were 50 years ago.

That loss is a punch in the gut, study coauthor PeterMarra of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., told Science News whenthe research was released. It means fewer beaks to handle many ecosystem jobs,such as nabbing insects out of the air, spreading the pollen of deep-throatedflowers or giving fruit seeds an intestinal ride to new homes.

Climate change is another of the U.N. reports top five threats to biodiversity, and fighting it by planting trees to trap greenhouse gases sparked conversation this year. Ethiopias office of the prime minister tweeted that the nation planted more than 353 million tree seedlings on a Monday in July, declaring the feat a world record.

Theres room left on Earth to plant enough trees to trap an enormous amount of carbon, estimated ecologist Tom Crowther of ETH Zurich and colleagues in a high-profile and controversial paper published in the July 5 Science. It claimed that Earth has around 0.9 billion hectares suitable for planting more trees, enough in theory to capture some 205 metric gigatons of carbon (SN: 8/17/19, p. 4).

The paper brought fresh attention to the science behind the idea, says Alan Grainger, a global change geographer at the University of Leeds in England. But more than 70 scientists joined forces to call those numbers an overestimation on October 18, also in Science. The debate over how much carbon could be captured goes on (SN Online: 11/17/19). Yet Crowther argues that planting trees across just 10 percent of the area the original paper identified would be a worthy goal. Even better, his critics say, is to avoid emitting all those greenhouse gases in the first place.

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A year of big numbers startled the world into talking about nature - Science News

DTE Energy plans to blast down the remains of its Conners Creek power plant Friday morning as part of the land assembly needed for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' new Jeep plant project on the east side of the city.

Known as an "explosive felling" rather than the more familiar term of "implosion,"the explosive demolition of thedefunct power plant will take place at 9 a.m. Friday, DTE said. The 75-acre plant site at100 Lycaste St. is fenced and secure so no street closures or nearby evacuations are required.

A good viewing area for the public may be the eastern end of Belle Isle, across the Detroit River from the plant. But for safety reasons, no viewing area closer to the plant will be available.To ensure public safety, air quality will be monitored after the demolition.

An "explosive felling" differs from "implosion" in slight but important ways. In an implosion, the explosive charges go off simultaneously so that the structure collapses inward on itself. In an explosive felling, the charges go offmilliseconds apart to make a structure fall in a controlled manner. Think of a three-legged stool and if you remove a leg, the stool falls over.

DTE has partially removed portions of the structure, including the landmark "Two Brothers" stacks that long served as an east-side landmark.

AECOM, an American multinational firm, is serving as DTEs engineering consultant for the demolition. The explosive felling be performed by Independence Demolition.

Limestone is moved into piles to be loaded onto barges to build the fourth reef in the Belle Isle Fish Spawning Reef Project in the Detroit River at the now-shuttered DTE Conners Creek coal-fired power plant on Nov. 30, 2016.(Photo: Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press)

Earlier this year, DTE agreed to swap about 40 acres of the plant site for FCA to use as a storage area for new Jeeps producedat the plant now under construction several blocks to the north. In return for giving up part of its Conners Creek site, DTE agreed to take surplus city-owned parcels elsewhere for use as power substations and the like.

DTEwill retain at least 10 acres of the plant site bordering the Detroit River for its own future use, although no plans have been announced for that parcel. That part of the complex is the site of the now-closed Edison Boat Club, a marina that for decades has operated forDTEemployees.

The land thatDTEwill keep also includes a small inlet running from the river to the power plant. That canal gained fame several years ago when a beaver lodge was discovered there. Naturalists said it marked the first confirmed return of the once-plentiful beaver to the Detroit River in perhaps a century.

The ConnersCreek power plant first came on line in 1915 and in its heyday employed more than 350 people and generated enough energy to power nearly 400,000 homes. The plant initially burned coal for fuel but later switched to natural gas.DTEceased using the plant to generate power in 1988.

More: Things are still raw inside Michigan Central Station but progress is happening

More: Old Kmart headquarters site in Troy still vacant after 13 years. Here's why.

This 1996 image shows the Conners Creek power plant's "Seven Sisters" and "Two Brothers."(Photo: Mary Schroeder/Detroit Free Press file)

In 1996,DTEdemolished the "Seven Sisters," the plant's seven identical 352-foot-tall stacks. The "Two Brothers" stacks remained standing until the current demolition got underway and often served as a navigational landmark for boaters and pilots.

Conners Creek Power Plant played an important role in the growth of Detroit and is an integral part of DTEs history, said Trevor Lauer, president and COO, DTE Electric. While its time as a power plant has passed, the employees who ran it for nearly a century will be remembered and honored by all of us at DTE. We are very pleased that it continues to play a role in Detroits growth.

Contact John Gallagher at 313-222-5173 or gallagher@freepress.com.Follow him on Twitter @jgallagherfreep. Read more on business and sign up for our business newsletter.

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DTE to blast down its Conners Creek plant in Detroit, clearing land for FCA Jeep project - Detroit Free Press

Last year, the first permitted 3D printed house in the US went up in Austin, Texas. The house was a buzz-generating proof of concept, a wacky example of the cool things tech can do. At the time, its creatorsconstruction technologies startup ICON and housing nonprofit New Storywere raising money to fund construction of homes for low-income families in Latin America.

Now their proof of concept has turned into something much more concrete (pun intended): today, New Story announced construction of their first community of 3D printed homes, going up in Mexicos southern state of Tabasco. There will be 50 3D printed houses once construction is complete, the first two of which were unveiled today.

At 500 square feet apiece, the houses arent terribly large, but they each have two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, and bathroom. Houses are printed in around 24 hours time using a printer called the Vulcan II.

Speed isnt the printers only advantage; With 3D printing, you not only have a continuous thermal envelope, high thermal mass, and near zero-waste, but you also have speed, a much broader design palette, next-level resiliency, and the possibility of a quantum leap in affordability, said ICON co-founder Jason Ballard. This isnt 10 percent better, its 10 times better.

Similar to its first iteration, which was used to build the Austin home, Vulcan II is a gantry-style printer on rails, and it pours a concrete mix into a pattern laid out by software one layer at a time. New Story employs local people to prepare and finish the homes, including land clearing, foundations, doors, windows, and roofs.

Conventional construction methods have many baked-in drawbacks and problems that weve taken for granted for so long that we forgot how to imagine any alternative, Ballard said.

Located along the Gulf of Mexico in the countrys southern region, Tabasco is a hub for Mexicos oil industry, and has the highest rainfall average in the country. It also has a large indigenous population, many of whom live in poverty despite the states oil revenues. New Storys homes were designed for families currently living in makeshift shelters; the median monthly income of the families that will live in the community is $76.50.

New Story partnered with local government programs to survey over 500 families in the area, selecting those with the greatest financial and physical need. These families will get zero-interest, zero-profit mortgages and pay 400 pesosaround $20per month for 7 years, with the remainder of the cost subsidized by New Story and funded by private donors.

Our private group of donors, who we call The Builders, invest directly into our operational and R&D expenses, said Brett Hagler, CEO of New Story. This allows us to take calculated risks, like a 3D printer, without diluting our promise to general donors.

Families will move into the homes when all of them are completed in 2020.

ICON and New Story see the Tabasco community as an important step towards their mission to re-imagine the approach to homebuilding and construction and make affordable, dignified housing available to people in need around the world. Theyre currently building or planning communities in Haiti, El Salvador, and elsewhere in Mexico.

We feel its our responsibility to challenge traditional methods, Hagler said. Linear methods will never reach the billion-plus people who need safe homes. Challenging our assumptions, iterating based on data, and taking calculated risks on innovative ideas will allow us to reach more families with the best possible solutions, exponentially faster.

Image Credit: New Story

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A Community of 50 3D Printed Homes Is Under Construction in Mexico - Singularity Hub