Conservation

URBANA, Ill. – Who should make decisions about the management and fate of national parks and other protected areas? For a long time, especially in national parks, natural resource management decisions have centered around tourists, leaving local landowners and other stakeholders out of the picture. Now, a movement known as inclusive conservation is bringing local stakeholders to the table, and a research group from the University of Illinois is leading the effort in Alaska’s Denali National Park.    

URBANA, Ill. — University of Illinois Extension is calling all lovers of bees, butterflies, and other pollinators that keep our crops and gardens growing to join scientists in tracking their distribution and habitat use across the state, from the comfort of your home, school, or community garden.

URBANA, Ill. – At the southern tip of the Himalayas, farmers in the Kangra region of India’s Himachal Pradesh graze cattle among rolling hills and forests. The forests, under management by the state or farmer cooperatives, are thriving. But a new University of Illinois study shows, unlike state-managed forests, farmer cooperatives directly benefit both forest health and farmers.

URBANA, Ill. – Many anglers know invasive species cause problems in their favorite fishing spots, but a smaller subset routinely acts to prevent aquatic hitchhikers on boats and other equipment. What sets these anglers apart? A recent study from the University of Illinois attempts to answer that question from a social science perspective.

URBANA, Ill. – Every summer, a “dead zone” forms in the Gulf of Mexico. Plumes of oxygen-robbing algae, fed by excess nitrogen coming in from the Mississippi River, kill off marine life and threaten the livelihoods of those who fish the Gulf. States bordering the Mississippi River are putting strategies in place to limit nitrogen from wastewater treatment plants, surface runoff, and agricultural fields.