RTPI’s Project Wild America Youth Ambassadors Take a Walk on Jamestown’s Wild Side
RTPI’s Project Wild America (PWA) Youth Ambassadors are a cohort of high school and college students who have been recruited to work alongside RTPI biologists for the summer, exploring, recording, and bragging about the diversity of wildlife that thrives in Jamestown’s urban habitats. In the early 1900s, young Roger Tory Peterson roamed the streets, parks, and surroundings of Jamestown and was so inspired by the birds, moths, wildflowers, and other natural treasures he found, that it became the foundation for his celebrated international career. Now, a century later, our Youth Ambassadors...
Read MoreProject Wild America Youth Ambassadors Program 2017
Roger Tory Peterson – inspired by Jamestown’s wild side during his youth – went on to become a world renowned naturalist. For the third consecutive summer, RTPI employed a cohort of local high school and college students as “Project Wild America (PWA) Youth Ambassadors” to follow in Peterson’s footsteps by working alongside our conservation staff monitoring and raising public awareness about Jamestown’s unique and vital natural resources. Check out the highlights from this year’s PWA program on their website and Facebook page, and stay tuned for more detailed reporting of what...
Read MoreWhat’s In Our Water?
Have you seen this woman in the news lately? This is Dr. Sherri (Sam) Mason, the SUNY Fredonia Professor whose groundbreaking research on plastic pollution in the Great Lakes has earned her much recognition and press. RTPI staff have teamed up with Dr. Mason for guidance on evaluating the levels of plastic pollution in another freshwater system – the Chadakoin River in Jamestown. During our summer 2017 “education through conservation” initiative, the Project Wild America Youth Ambassadors Program (PWA), local students will work with RTPI staff to sample and assess the levels of plastic...
Read MoreQuick Update With More to Come!
Hey all! It’s been a while! I just wanted to give a quick update on the Project Wild America Youth Ambassadors with a promise that there will be a lot more info, pictures and posts to come! Overall the summer went splendidly! We logged hundreds of hours surveying the Chadakoin River Corridor and spent ample time reaching out the the community to showcase all the species found within the area. Through the course of the 6-week program our PWA students successfully identified 286+ different species and conducted nearly a dozen different types of surveys. I’ll have more to report on...
Read MoreSlaty Skimmer
This Slaty Skimmer (Libellula incesta) is not hanging out in the desert, though it may look like that from this photo. Much of the region is running a strong rainfall deficit from the past few months with many areas abnormally dry and some in the midst of moderate drought. This combined with higher than average temperatures and aggressive destruction of vegetation in areas around ponds like this one (I promise there is a pond out of sight in this photo with actual water) can make what was a favorable area for insects and thus birds and other wildlife far less attractive and beneficial. Water...
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