WV State Parks hosting job fair at Pipestem on May 11
PIPESTEM, W.Va. The West Virginia State Parks system will host an on-site and virtual job fair at Pipestem Resort on May 11 to recruit people for positions at the park. The job fair, hosted in partnership with the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, Workforce West Virginia and the Region 1 and Region 3 Workforce Development boards, will be open 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. “A summer job at a state park is such a rewarding experience and a great opportunity for folks in need of work to get into the tourism and hospitality industry,” said West Virginia State Parks Chief Brad Reed.
Aquatic Resources Education Center Photo Contest
Photographers and nature lovers are invited by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control to submit photographs for the first annual Aquatic Resources Education Center (AREC) nature photography contest. The contest is intended to increase public awareness and promote the natural wonders of the AREC and surrounding Tony Florio Woodland Beach Wildlife Area. Children and adults are encouraged to visit the wildlife area and take and submit photographs of aquatic life, birds and other wildlife, scenic landscapes, and people enjoying the outdoors.
The photo contest is open for entries Monday, May 3 through Monday, Aug. 16, 2021. Photos entered in the contest must have been taken between Jan. 1, 2021 and Aug. 16, 2021. Prizes will be awarded in three categories: birds, nature, and people enjoying nature, in three age groups: under age 13, teens age 13 to 18, and adults age 19 and older.
First Sea Turtle Nest of the Season Spotted
BRUNSWICK, Ga. – Nesting season for loggerhead sea turtles has started on schedule.
The annual cycle of these massive turtles returning to beaches in the Southeast to lay their eggs began in Georgia with a nest found Saturday morning on Little Cumberland Island. Georgia Sea Turtle Cooperative members reported a second nest Sunday on Sea Island.
Georgia Sea Turtle Program Coordinator Mark Dodd said the first nests are “always around the first of May.” “It’s kind of like clockwork.”
This year’s first also has historical ties. While nesting has been monitored on all Georgia beaches since 1989, the network took root in 1964 when former University of Georgia professor Dr. Jim Richardson started the Little Cumberland Island Sea Turtle Project. That loggerhead monitoring effort is the oldest in North America and shares the status worldwide with a program started in South Africa the same year.
Fish and Game to resume Little Camas elk trapping project
Over two days in early May, biologists will attempt to trap elk in the Little Camas region in an effort to reduce the size of an elk herd that has a history of depredating on agricultural crops.
Fish and Game staff from the Magic Valley Region will again attempt to trap and translocate elk in the Little Camas region over a two-day period in early May. Trapping efforts are aimed at reducing the size of the elk herd that has a long history of living almost exclusively on private property and depredating on agricultural crops leading to significant and expensive depredation claims.
State Responds to Proposed Critical Habitat for ESA-Listed Humpback Whales
Juneau Today, the federal government announced their final rule designating critical habitat for populations of humpback whales in Alaska waters that remain listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Today’s notice reveals that the total area designated by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is nearly 300,000 square miles when combined across the three humpback whale populations, with over 150,000 square miles of waters from California up the Pacific coast and out to the Aleutians included in the designation.
Critical habitat designated areas in Alaskan waters are concentrated around the eastern Aleutians and Bering Sea, Kodiak, and Prince William Sound.