NYSOA - Conservation

NYSOA's Letter Supporting Threatened Species Status for the Rufa Red Knot - June 2014
POSTED 6/16/14

"The dramatic decline in Red Knot populations is well-documented, and certainly provides sufficient cause for providing protection under the Endangered Species Act for this bird. There have been alarming drops in Red Knot numbers in New York and neighboring states which harbor critical stop-over feeding areas for this long-distance migrant."

Read the letter sent to US Fish & Wildlife Service by Andy Mason, NYSOA Conservation Committee Chair

NYSOA's Letter Regarding Plans to issue 30 Year Permits to Kill and Injure Eagles at Wind Farms - February 2014
POSTED 3/17/14

"We believe that the Department of the Interior has made a serious and dangerous error in its
decision to grant long-term eagle take permits to wind projects. We urge you to reconsider and
review this action before irreversible damage is done to these birds that are a large part of our
national wildlife heritage."

Read the letter sent to US Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell by Andy Mason, NYSOA Conservation Committee Chair

NYSOA Comments on NYS DEC's Draft Mute Swan Management Plan - February 2014
POSTED 3/17/14

"The growing and expanding population of Mute Swans in NY State and beyond has affected native waterfowl through competition for food and nesting habitat, as well as the swans' aggressive nature toward waterfowl, including nesting birds. Other concerns include water contamination and public safety."

Read the letter sent to the DEC by NYSOA's Board of Directors

The Landowner Incentive Program in New York - January 2014
POSTED 2/7/14

"The Landowner Incentive Program (LIP) began as a federally-funded initiative in 2004. In that year, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) received a grant from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to work with private landowners to protect and manage the habitat of at-risk species. Although private land comprises 85% of the area of the state, there had never before been an initiative of this size to work with private landowners on wildlife conservation."

Read the article by NYSDEC's Marcelo J. del Puerto. Excerpts were published in the January 2014 issue of New York Birders.

Range Changes for Golden-winged and Blue-winged Warblers - October 2013
POSTED 2/6/14

Golden-winged Warbler
photo by
Benjamin Van Doren.

"The unusual severity of the GWWA decline, much greater than most shrubland species, can not be explained by habitat loss. In fact, areas where GWWA were recently eliminated still have appropriate habitat: in Virginia only 35 of 863 shrub patches supported GWWA (Wilson et al. 2007), and in New England none of 328 census points in shrubland habitat had GWWA, although Blue-winged Warblers (Vermivora pinus) (BWWA), which followed GWWA into New England, were common."

Read the article by John Confer, published in the Otober 2013 issue of New York Birders.