Natural Areas Association (NAA) is an association of scientists and practitioners focused on the management of ecologically significant natural landscapes with the intent to protect biodiversity for current and future generations. Natural Areas News is is your trusted resource for current events, reliable science, conservation success, emerging challenges, best practices, and achievements of those who work daily to preserve natural areas.

Photo courtesy of Susan Kolterman

The Key Largo tree cactus (Pilosocereus millspaughii) has lost its battle with rising sea levels and other pressures. It's now considered locally extinct in the United States, a group of researchers reported in a recent study. The demise of the cactus is believed to be the nation's first local extinction as a result of sea level rise, the study's authors say.

Photo courtesy of Ben Depp/The New York Times

Before the European settlers arrived in North America, the region we know as the American South was home to seven to 10 million acres of prairie. Today nearly all those Southern prairies — along with nearly all the other types of Southern grassland ecosystems, and nearly all the plants and animals they supported — are gone.

Photo courtesy of Carlos Moreno/KCUR 89.3

Managing disruptive species has become an unending part of the job for many ranchers, park workers, and homeowners across the Midwest. That won’t change, and more plants, insects and fungi will inevitably arrive. Communities have begun looking for tools to curb the economic and ecological costs of non-native species.

Photo courtesy of Highline Public Schools

Camp Waskowitz, the longest-running outdoor education facility in Washington, was placed under a conservation easement to protect the facility and its 345 acres of surrounding forest from development in perpetuity. In exchange for the easement, the camp will also receive $7 million to maintain the facility, fund scholarships, and expand public access to scenic trails.

Scientists are using artificial intelligence (AI) to flag potentially new species and understand complex ecosystems through the use of smartphones, camera traps, and automated monitoring systems. Researchers have estimated that globally, due to human activity, species are going extinct between 100 and 1,000 times faster than they usually would, so monitoring is vital to conservation efforts.

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