The waiting list of 800 children for summer camp at the Chattahoochee Nature Center is a good problem to have, by any typical management metric. Natasha Rice doesn’t see it that way.
Flies alighting on the livestock and pastures so dry that hay’s being fed to cattle are signs of dry conditions in parts of Georgia. But this situation is mild compared to the drought out West ...
When Georgia’s state geologist wasn’t satisfied with calculations submitted about how Trail Ridge may be affected by a proposed sand mine along the Okefenokee Swamp, he went to the source of numbers used in the ...
Blackhall Studios founder Ryan Millsap has indicated he still controls the 40 acres of land within Intrenchment Creek Park that Blackhall Studios acquired in a land swap with DeKalb County. A lawsuit seeking to void ...
Atlanta’s traffic congestion often isn’t mentioned in the reports of epic growth involving the state-owned Port of Savannah. This remains the case with the recently announced purchase of about 2,284 acres for a planned industrial ...
Since Dec. 4, 2020, the federal EPA has been evaluating more than 300 pages of public comments submitted in response to proposed changes in DeKalb County’s federal consent decree that’s to stop the spillage of ...
PORT ST. JOE, Fl. – The jobs lost in the Apalachicola Bay’s shuttered oyster industry won’t be easy to replace. But green shoots are sprouting in the form of two new industries about 23 miles ...
Metro Atlanta enters summer with no areas of abnormal dryness, though portions of the coastal area are showing signs of being dry and the level of moisture in soil is falling across the state, according ...
Two pension funds that helped topple ExxonMobile’s management team Wednesday were part of an unsuccessful effort that last year sought a new leadership structure at Southern Co. in an attempt to bring about more dramatic ...
The two-story pedestrian bridge that’s to link Emory University Hospital Midtown and the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University contains flourishes that add visual texture to a bridge with the main purpose of easing access ...
The Global Water Center has opened at the Mall of Georgia a Mobile Discovery Center that is part of an effort to help end the world’s water crisis by building consensus around generally accepted safe ...
North Atlantic right whales have gained protections and sea turtles are more imperiled under a new federal calendar for harbor dredging that came to light May 14 in a federal lawsuit that seeks to protect ...
By Guest Columnist PAULITA BENNETT-MARTIN, Savannah-based field representative of Oceana Every year in the southern Atlantic waters off Florida and Georgia, people get excited to see rare North Atlantic right whales, especially moms with calves. That’s ...
As the artist wrote of her newly unveiled work at Blue Heron Nature Preserve: “My piece speaks to the need for people to find a way back home to grounded safe space.”
Earth Day and the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill. This week's recognition of these events occurs as polar opposite human interventions are unfolding around Florida’s Apalachicola Bay.
By GUEST COLUMNIST JOE COOK, Paddle Georgia coordinator and guidebook series author In the spring of 1970, Georgia’s then comptroller general and Republican gubernatorial hopeful, Jimmy Bentley, dispatched 65 telegrams to state and national leaders – ...
The South River’s designation as an example of environmental injustice on American Rivers’ list of 10 most endangered rivers arrives as the nation focuses attention on Georgia for its revised and restrictive elections law.
The campaign to remediate coal ash in Georgia is now active in two venues: A court that will help influence if customers or shareholders pay a $525 million cleanup bill; and a persuasion campaign built ...
Sally Sears’ latest big story is her own travel memoir, an around-the-world journey by a budding journalist in the era when Rick Steves was just beginning to tell travelers to get off the beaten path.
AURORA, N.C. – The world’s largest phosphate mine and chemical plant operates in the nation’s largest lagoonal estuary. This area in eastern North Carolina bears watching as Georgia officials review a proposal to mine sand ...
Featured Thought Leader
Making Atlanta Safer for Migrating Birds
People, Places & Parks Thought Leadership
By Jared Teutsch, Executive Director Bird migration is one of the most amazing feats in the natural world. Each fall and spring, billions of birds take to the skies, avoiding predators, and dodging turbulent weather as they travel between breeding grounds in the north and wintering grounds in the Caribbean or Central and South America. Some of these migration routes are epic, like the Red Knot that travels more than 9,300 miles one-way each fall and spring, pausing along Georgia’s coast to refuel. Or, the tiny Ruby-throated Hummingbird, weighing about the same as a penny, that spends summers in Georgia and then, in a stunning migratory feat, crosses the Gulf of Mexico, a 500-mile trip, in a single 18- to 22-hour flight! Many of these birds pass through Atlanta where they face a new and dangerous threat—glass-covered, brightly-lit buildings. Current research estimates that between 365 million and 1 billion birds perish each year after colliding with buildings in the U.S. Atlanta is a particularly challenging place for migrating birds, ranking as the fourth most dangerous city during fall migration and ninth in spring for light exposure to migratory birds, according to a 2019 study by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. With an estimated 250 million birds passing over Georgia during spring and 675 million birds migrating over in the fall, it is vital to learn about migration over our state and make our cities safer. Most migrating birds pass through Georgia during the nighttime hours, when skies are calmer, predators are less active, and temperatures are cooler. Large, brightly lit cities wreak havoc on migratory birds as the ever-present glow of artificial light turns the normally safe nighttime sky into a perilous pathway. Bright lights confuse and disorient birds causing them to collide with structures or become trapped in beams of light where they circle until they are exhausted. Once on the ground, brightly lit building lobbies, reflective glass showing trees and shrubs, transparent facades, or even indoor plants near windows can lead to more collisions. Since 2015, Georgia Audubon has been studying this problem through Project Safe Flight Georgia to gain a better understanding of what buildings are most problematic and which species are most affected. During spring and fall migration, volunteers patrol routes in downtown Atlanta, Buckhead, Dunwoody, as well as at Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State University, and Georgia State University. Through newly developed partnerships with these universities and the Lily Branch Audubon student chapter at the University of Georgia, in Athens, we have opened the door to new research opportunities, student engagement, and the possibility of making the campuses safer for birds. A sister program to Project Safe Flight, the Lights Out Georgia initiative is a voluntary effort designed to make Georgia safer for our resident and migratory birds. Modeled after similar successful programs in New York City, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Toronto, Lights Out Georgia participants pledge to take bird-friendly steps during spring and fall migration between the hours of 12:00 midnight and sunrise to create safe passage for migrating birds. You can learn more about Light Out Georgia at www.georgiaaudubon.org/lights-out-georgia. Finally, thanks to a collaborative effort between Georgia Audubon and Dr. Kyle Horton, at Colorado State University, and a generous grant from the Disney Conservation Fund, Georgia Audubon recently launched a new tool allowing us to predict nights of high bird migration and issue Lights Out Alerts. While it might not be possible to dim the lights every single night during migration, reducing or eliminating nighttime lights on the ten or so peak migratory nights each season may be the most palatable approach. Beyond monitoring for building collision victims, we are taking steps to reduce these collisions through education, advocacy, and physically improving problematic buildings. From applying bird-safe film to select buildings with a collision problem to exploring the best avenues for implementing bird friendly glass in new construction projects, Georgia Audubon is working to make Atlanta a city that works not only for its residents, but also for the avian life that shares our space. This is sponsored content.
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