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As deforestation threatens the songbird, Wisconsin works with partners to stave off further decline

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As deforestation threatens the songbird, Wisconsin works with partners to stave off further decline


Tucked within the sand barrens south of Brule, volunteers and wildlife managers detected indicators of nests for the Connecticut warbler final 12 months. The sparrow-sized fowl with a grey head and yellow stomach has returned 12 months after 12 months to the jack pine stands of northwestern Wisconsin to nest within the moss on the forest ground and beneath blueberry bushes.

Discovering the fowl isn’t any simple process. Connecticut warblers favor distant habitats the place they will stay hidden among the many brush. Regardless of that, employees with the Wisconsin Division of Pure Sources noticed six to eight singing males in a small space the place the birds had beforehand been discovered.

However when biologists returned this summer time, they found solely three singing males.

“The quantity had declined even simply throughout that one 12 months,” stated Ryan Brady, a DNR conservation biologist in Ashland.

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One silver lining: a technician discovered every male had nested efficiently. However the fowl’s decline has prompted the DNR to take emergency measures to stave off additional loss.

The DNR is working with state and worldwide companions to rescue the fowl whose inhabitants has decreased greater than 60 p.c throughout its vary extending from Canada to Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The company can be partnering with a personal landowner and forestry employees in Bayfield County to guard and enhance habitat for the fowl by eradicating brush in jack pine forests this 12 months and subsequent. That’s anticipated to create extra appropriate habitat for the species.

Brady stated a part of the rationale for his or her decline in northern Wisconsin is that lots of the older jack pine timber the birds favor have been harvested within the final twenty years. However Connecticut warblers have additionally dropped off in black spruce and tamarack swamps that aren’t beneath pressures from logging.

One risk is that temperature fluctuations because of local weather change could also be affecting their habitat by altering their meals supply or one way or the other disrupting what the birds can tolerate.

“We actually really feel like there is a good probability that the lack of wintering habitat in South America could possibly be enjoying an enormous function on this fowl’s decline, and that is why we’re not seeing as many birds right here in Wisconsin through the breeding season,” Brady stated.

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Round 5,000 miles away, analysis has proven lots of the birds fly continuous over the Atlantic for 2 full days to a big forested space in South America referred to as the Gran Chaco, which is present process excessive charges of deforestation. The area has misplaced greater than 20 p.c of its forest between 1985 and 2013, in accordance with a research revealed final 12 months within the Royal Society’s organic analysis journal. The research discovered the speed of deforestation has elevated since 2000.

“It does pose a risk probably to an excellent portion of their breeding inhabitants or their whole world inhabitants,” stated Mike Hallworth, research writer and information scientist on the Vermont Heart for Ecostudies.

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The fowl’s decline comes at a time when many species are dwindling. Analysis has proven that North America has misplaced practically 3 billion birds since 1970. The DNR started taking steps when the Wisconsin Breeding Hen Atlas II survey pinpointed the Connecticut warbler as certainly one of 226 species that had declined essentially the most up to now 25 years.

“It will take a collaborative method to deliver the species again,” Hallworth stated. “Simply having state by state is not going to do it, or province by province. It must be a concerted effort for all these researchers to make significant impacts on their inhabitants.”

That’s why Brady convened a digital summit this fall of 27 conservation companions from the U.S. and Canada to speak concerning the fowl’s plight and a path ahead. Wisconsin solely makes up a tiny fraction of the worldwide inhabitants. Canada is liable for round 95 p.c of the world’s breeding inhabitants of Connecticut warblers, representing between 1.5 million to 2 million birds.

Within the meantime, the DNR and the Pure Sources Basis of Wisconsin are growing investments to assist pinpoint vital migratory fowl habitat in South America. A conservation venture to guard the Connecticut warbler is amongst a number of that may obtain $117,000 raised through the Nice Wisconsin Birdathon.

Whereas surveys monitor the birds in North America, Brady stated monitoring information for Connecticut warblers is at present missing at their wintering grounds. He stated figuring out their areas, threats and incentives for individuals to guard the birds are important steps that must occur.

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“Most of those vary contractions we see or declines, we see them begin on the fringe of the vary,” Brady stated. “That is what we’re seeing right here. So, if we lose them right here, there is a good probability you are going to proceed to lose them elsewhere.”



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Wisconsin

Former Arrowhead offensive lineman is transferring to Wisconsin from Illinois

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Former Arrowhead offensive lineman is transferring to Wisconsin from Illinois


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MADISON – Joey Okla didn’t need long to make his decision.

Four days after capping off a visit to Wisconsin to attend meetings and practice, the graduate of Arrowhead High School announced that he plans to transfer to UW from Illinois.

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Okla announced on April 9 he planned to enter the transfer portal and was at UW on Friday and Saturday. He was an all-state performer as a senior at Arrowhead in 2021, redshirted at Illinois in 2022 and played in one game last season.

Okla, 6-foot-2 and 320 pounds, has three seasons of eligibility remaining.

He is the second offensive lineman to commit to UW this month.

Tackle Leyton Nelson, who spent the last two seasons at Vanderbilt, announced Monday he plans to transfer to UW.

Nelson, 6-6 and 308, played for current UW line coach AJ Blazek at Vanderbilt. He played in one game (two plays) as a freshman in 2022 and played a total of 60 plays over 11 games last season. He has three seasons of eligibility remaining.

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Activists challenged on Oct. 7 Hamas terror at pro-Palestinian campus 'fair' in Wisconsin

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Activists challenged on Oct. 7 Hamas terror at pro-Palestinian campus 'fair' in Wisconsin


“Fox & Friends” co-host Lawrence Jones visited a pro-Palestinian “fair” at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to talk with activists as antisemitism continues to engulf college campuses nationwide. 

“We’re here to really advocate for Palestinians, for Gaza,” one activist told Jones on Tuesday. “We’re advocating, honestly, for just… humanity.”

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY MOVES TO HYBRID LEARNING ON MAIN CAMPUS AMID ANTISEMITIC PROTESTS

“There’s also a lot more casualties on the Palestinian side than there is on the Israeli side,” another activist chimed in. 

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“And I’m not trying to like, compare the sides, but a lot of people are like, ‘oh my God, October 7th, October 7th,’ but like, no, this is since 1948.”

“People are saying, well, but what about the Jewish community that is under attack as well? The women that were raped, the kids that were put into ovens,” Jones said. 

One activist turned to the other activist and questioned the legitimacy of the claims that women and children were raped and tortured during the Oct. 7 massacre. She said she thought those claims were debunked. 

“The UN came out with a report,” Jones said. 

“I don’t know the resource, but like I said, we’re not here to condone… we’re not here for violence at all,” she said in response. 

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“Do you feel like you could separate the two and you say, hey, let’s just talk about the humanitarian aspect of it without talking about the larger conversation of Hamas using the people that you care about, I care about, as human shields? Like, does that concern you?” Jones asked. 

ANTI-ISRAEL CAMPUS PROTESTS ARE SPREADING: CALIFORNIA, TEXAS BRACE AFTER ACTIVISTS OVERRUN COLUMBIA, YALE

It does concern me. It does. It’s actually really unfortunate,” she said. “We don’t look highly at that at all because you’ve got to understand, you’re all talking about Hamas this, Hamas this. We’re talking about the civilians.” 

Jones discussed his visit to the “fair” on Wednesday during “Fox & Friends,” arguing that there is no “common ground” with the far-left activists. 

“If we can’t even meet at a common ground that women were raped and children were put into ovens in Israel on Oct. 7 then we can’t have a conversation,” Jones said. 

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“They’re denying that it happened. They’re saying that it was propaganda, and this is the same thing that we experienced when I went to the campuses after October 7th, is that they’re under this impression that this did not happen,” he continued. 

His remarks come as anti-Israel agitators have flooded college campuses nationwide, forming pro-Palestinian protest encampments with a unified demand that their schools stop doing business with Israel.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS: 5 DRAMATIC MOMENTS FROM A WEEK OF CHAOS

Inspired by ongoing protests and the arrests last week of more than 100 students at Columbia University in New York City, seen at the epicenter of the ongoing demonstrations, students from Massachusetts to California and Tennessee to Texas are now gathering by the hundreds and pledging to stay put on campus until their demand is met.

The nationwide movement has gained momentum and has taken on new strength as administrators continue to allow anti-Israel demonstrations at schools like Columbia, Yale, MIT, UC Berkeley, University of Southern California, Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, Northwestern University, Vanderbilt University, University of Michigan, University of North Carolina, University of Virginia and others.

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The protests come as the Israel-Hamas war surpassed the six-month milestone earlier this month, which has resulted in tens of thousands of civilian Palestinian deaths. The stories of suffering in Gaza have sparked international calls for a cease-fire and protests around the world.

Fox News’ Lawrence Richard and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Earth Week: Sustainability in Wisconsin’s dairy industry

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Earth Week: Sustainability in Wisconsin’s dairy industry


MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – It’s Earth Week all around the globe and in America’s Dairyland, there are lots of sustainability practices in Wisconsin’s dairy industry.

Wisconsin’s 76th Alice in Dairyland, Ashley Hagenow sat down WMTV’s Tim Elliot to share more.

Hagenow broke down what sustainability means to Wisconsin farmers, how dairy farmers practice sustainability and more.

To find out more about how Wisconsin dairy farmers are committed to building a sustainable future, visit Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin’s website.

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