Category Archives: Robert Barossi

Bats, environmental volunteers, Oregon Zoo, Robert Barossi

Volunteers Build Homes for Bats

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 ID-100286742(Image courtesy of satit_srihin at FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

by Robert Barossi

Bats are an often maligned and misunderstood species. They are also an extremely important part of natural ecosystems. Thanks to the Environmental Conservation Outreach Team at the Oregon Zoo in Portland, bats are getting a little help. In fact, according to this story, they are going to be getting a little luxury, as in luxury living spaces. Volunteers are working on “luxurious bat condominiums,” which will provide the bats with a perfectly-suited space for them to live, breed or hibernate, especially when natural sites for doing so are not available. The project takes the age-old bird-box idea to a whole new level, one which will hopefully protect the bats from future population declines.

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Barnegat Bay, environmental volunteers, New Jersey, Robert Barossi, USDA

Volunteers Help to Map the Ocean Floor

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P1000226(Photo by Robert Barossi)

by Robert Barossi

Ok, so it’s not EXACTLY the ocean, but it’s a body of water that’s connected to the ocean. In this case, it’s Barnegat Bay in New Jersey, which runs from the Atlantic Ocean up along the Jersey coast for around 40 miles. And, as this press release points out, the bay’s ecosystems, especially in the soil at the bottom, have been seriously impacted over the years. And not impacted in a good way. Now, volunteers are helping the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to sample the soil on the floor of the bay. With the volunteers assistance, scientists have been sampling and mapping the soil, a process which will go along way toward restoring the bay’s ecological health. According to the release, “The Earth Team volunteer program helps the agency meet conservation needs in communities. Volunteers enable NRCS to stretch available resources and help put additional conservation practices on the ground.” Or, in this case, in the water.

 

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Adopt-a-Highway, environmental volunteers, Minnesota, Robert Barossi

Volunteers Along the Highway

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(Image courtesy of Evgeni Dinev at FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

by Robert Barossi

It’s likely that your state has an Adopt-a-Highway or Sponsor-a-Highway program. According to the program’s official website, 49 out of 50 states utilize the program and have stretches of highway which have been adopted by organizations, businesses, religious and community groups, etc. As this article from Minnesota demonstrates, it’s often environmental groups and their volunteers who take part in this program. In the town of Worthington, it’s two such organizations, Worthington FFA and Ocheda Beavers 4-H Club, which have led the way in adopting and caring for stretches of highway. This has included a number of children who have worked along the highway after school to pick up trash and litter. According to the article, in Minnesota, “48,000 volunteers… clean up more than 10,000 linear miles of highways.” While that does help to beautify the roads and save the state money, it also goes a long way towards helping the environment and ecosystems along that 10,000 miles of road.

If you have enjoyed the stories on this blog, check out my eBook, Being Where You Are: How Environmental Volunteers Impact Their Community and the Planet Every Day

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environmental volunteers, Philadelphia, Robert Barossi, Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, toads

Volunteer Toad Detour

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ID-100609(Image courtesy of James Barker at FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

by Robert Barossi

At this time of year, toads, frogs, salamanders and many other species are on the  move. They are leaving their winter homes and heading to nearby spots to spend the spring and summer. In Roxborough, a suburb of Philadelphia, volunteers are working as a sort of crossing guard, watching over a “toad detour” during this important migratory period. Volunteers work during the evening hours, watching for the toads and making sure they make it safely across a heavily traveled road. According to the nearby Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, the detour has significantly minimized the population decreases caused by street-crossing toads being hit by cars. This work, and the volunteers who are in large part making the work possible, is going a long way to protect and preserve the toads and their essential role in the local ecosystem.

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environmental volunteers, lake sturgeon, Michigan, Robert Barossi

Volunteers and the Lake Sturgeon

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IMG_0214

(photo by Robert Barossi)

by Robert Barossi

The images and messages created by environmental organizations often use iconic and instantly recognizable species. Polar bears. Pandas. Wolves. Eagles or birds of prey. These species are often beloved and revered, and there are certainly good reasons for their status and their use as a conduit for environmental messages. On the other hand, there are thousands of other species that, while far less recognizable and beloved, still need our help. Numerous other species need protecting and preserving and volunteers are an essential part of this important work. This great story out of Michigan details how many volunteers of widely varying ages and demographic backgrounds work together to help protect the lake sturgeon. These aquatic animals have very long life spans and can grow to be rather enormous. They’re not necessarily cute and cuddly or what some might think of as “beautiful,” but they are an important and endangered species, one which is receiving  a measure of protection from a large group of dedicated volunteers. That protection may be paying off, or at least helping. According to National Geographic, the lake sturgeon, “has made something of a comeback. Strong efforts at righting environmental wrongs in the Great Lakes have improved conditions, and concentrated efforts to protect the fish have turned sturgeon into a spotlight species.”

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environmental volunteers, Great Lakes, Michigan, Robert Barossi, water quality monitoring

Volunteers Monitor Great Lakes Streams

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Underwater Leaves

(Photo by Robert Barossi)

by Robert Barossi

Wow, it’s been a long time since I posted a story on here. After such a too-long hiatus (mostly due to moving and some health issues), I’m hoping to be back on here regularly, posting at least a few times every week. So, without further ado…

The Great Lakes have been in the news a lot lately, for a number of environmental reasons, from algae blooms to invasive species. This story out of Michigan focuses on how volunteers are an enormous part of the effort to monitor the streams which connect to the larger lakes. While the article puts some emphasis on the Michigan Clean Water Corps, it includes a number of other interesting  and important aspects of stream monitoring in the area. One is that the volunteers are often monitoring populations of insects and small aquatic species, rather than chemicals. It’s an interesting switch from other monitoring practices that focus on testing for things like phosphorus or dissolved oxygen (in a sense, a way to test the water’s quality and collect data which focuses on biology rather than chemistry). Also important is the fact, as the article mentions, that volunteers are doing these kinds of monitoring tests across a number of states (five are mentioned) and for many different organizations, from nonprofits to government agencies. It’s more evidence of how a task as big and daunting as monitoring the waterways connected to the Great Lakes takes many people working in many places, and most of them are volunteers.

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American kestrel, Cape Cod, environmental volunteers, nest boxes, Robert Barossi

Volunteers Helping Kestrels on Cape Cod

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(photo by Gualberto107, courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

by Robert Barossi

Many raptors are iconic species, instantly recognized and often beloved by us human beings. They are also an important and essential part of the ecosystem in which they live. Here in Massachusetts, specifically on Cape Cod, there is an effort to bring more American kestrels to the area. The region’s population of this bird, the smallest falcon species, has been decreasing in size for some time. While the reason is not known for the declining numbers, there is something that people can do and are doing to attract more birds to the area: nest boxes. Like the volunteers and environmental organization staffers in story linked above, people everywhere can erect nest boxes that will provide the kestrel with a place to call home. Doing so is even encouraged by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, on their fact page about the American kestrel. On Cape Cod, volunteers will continue to work as monitors, keeping an eye on the birds who may inhabit the nest boxes. All of this work, and the other boxes built by people everywhere, will hopefully help keep this important and beautiful raptor species alive and thriving.

 

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environmental volunteers, Oregon, Portland, Robert Barossi

Many Volunteers Working Together

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Up a Tree(Photo by Robert Barossi)

by Robert Barossi

As I’ve mentioned many times on this blog, collaboration and cooperation are essential elements to volunteering. People who volunteer don’t just work with the organization they volunteer with, they also often work with other volunteers from other organizations. This article from Clackamas, a suburb of Portland, Oregon, caught my eye because of just how many different organizations are involved. There are at least eight different organizations mentioned in the story, which covers a number of events happening around Portland to restore the area’s watershed during Earth Month (April). At each of the events, different organizations (two or more working together at each event) brought together large groups of volunteers who made a huge impact.

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environmental volunteers, Green Forests Work, Kentucky, Robert Barossi

Volunteers Rebuild Forest Destroyed by Mining

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P1000239

(Photo by Robert Barossi)

by Robert Barossi

Mining operations in the United States have the well-known and well-earned reputation of being environmentally devastating. Strip mining and mountaintop removal mining have destroyed vast areas of wilderness. The impacts of those operations, whether in the past or still ongoing, are felt every day by the humans and wildlife who live around the mining sites. This great story out of Kentucky features a group of volunteers who are helping to reclaim the strip-mined land for the forests. They’re doing so one tree at a time, planting seedlings that will grow up and repopulate the area where mining wiped out the majestic forest that once occupied the area. Green Forests Work is the organization leading the effort in the hopes that future generations will be able to enjoy the eastern Kentucky wilderness the way it once was, before modern industry destroyed it. Of course, that effort will not just benefit humans but also benefit the numerous wildlife species who once made, and may still try to make, this bioregion their home.

If you have enjoyed the stories on this site, you can read more in my eBook, Being Where You Are: How Environmental volunteers Impact Their Community and the Planet Every Day.

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environmental volunteers, river cleanup, River Cree, Robert Barossi, Scotland

Volunteers Protect a Scottish River

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ID-100581(Image courtesy of James Barker at FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

by Robert Barossi

I will freely admit that Scotland is one of my favorite places on the planet. When I spent a month living there during college, during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, I quickly fell in love with the city of Edinburgh, the country of Scotland and pretty much everything about it. While it was only one day, we did have an opportunity to visit the Highlands, still one of the most beautiful natural landscapes I have ever seen. This morning, I came across this great story out of Galloway, highlighting the efforts of a number of volunteers to preserve and protect the River Cree. a local organization, the River Cree Hatchery and Habitat Trust, has been leading this effort, which the article says has “rejuvenated” the river.  The Trust praises their volunteers, young and old, who have participated in a number of important initiatives, from removing fallen trees to building fences to protect the river’s banks to a number of projects which will assist the fish along their migration routes.

 

If you have enjoyed the stories on this blog, check out my eBook, Being Where You Are: How Environmental Volunteers Impact Their Community and the Planet Every Day

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