Great Lakes Echo

How seeds from the past are saving a unique flower of the Great Lakes

5 min read

By Kyrmyzy Turebayeva

More than 30 years ago, a group of scientists planted just 4,200 seeds of the rare Pitcher’s thistle in the sandy dunes of the Great Lakes. At the time, no one knew if the new populations would survive. Today, three decades later, the restored populations are thriving and spreading.

The post How seeds from the past are saving a unique flower of the Great Lakes first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.

Great Lakes Echo

From otters to butterflies: How Minnesota became a pioneer in nongame wildlife conservation

6 min read

By Kyrmyzy Turebayeva

In the late 1970s, when most wildlife conservation programs in the United States focused almost exclusively on game species, a quiet but historic shift began in Minnesota. It was here that one of the nation’s first state programs dedicated to protecting so-called nongame wildlife emerged from butterflies and bats to bald eagles and river otters. That story is now told in detail by Carrol Henderson in his new book, “A National Legacy: Fifty Years of Nongame Wildlife Conservation in Minnesota.”

The post From otters to butterflies: How Minnesota became a pioneer in nongame wildlife conservation first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.