John Marzluff explores how farming, food production and wildlife can coexist in new book ‘In Search of Meadowlarks’

Farming and food production can be made more compatible with bird and wildlife conservation, says University of Washington ornithologist John Marzluff in his latest book. “In Search of Meadowlarks: Birds, Farms, and Food in Harmony with the Land” was published in February by Yale University Press. “Agriculture and wildlife can coexist,” Marzluff, a professor of environmental and forest sciences, writes, “if farmers are justly rewarded for conservation; if future technological advancements increase food production and reduce food waste; and if consumers cut back on meat consumption.”

Sockeye salmon fuel a win-win for bears and people in Alaska’s Bristol Bay

In a world where valuable natural resources can be scarce, nature often loses when humans set their sights on something they want. But a new study published in the journal Ecological Applications shows that doesn’t always have to be true. Researchers found that with proper management of salmon fisheries, both humans and bears — who depend on a healthy supply of the fatty, oily fish — can thrive.

How to move ‘hands on’ classes online

Every spring, Laura Prugh teaches a wildlife research techniques class at the University of Washington. Her students spend much of their time outside, complementing their lecture notes with actual experience. They learn to identify and properly handle animals — frogs, salamanders and bushy-tailed woodrats, for example — and they practice using equipment for tracking animals and estimating populations. But when the UW announced it was moving its spring quarter 2020 classes entirely online to combat the novel coronavirus, Prugh and other instructors across campus faced a new, unchartered challenge.

Community science project tracks changes in bird behavior during coronavirus

The predictable, daily routines of humanity have all but stopped with the arrival of COVID-19. For most of us, we no longer head to the office each morning or have friends and family over for dinner in our homes. Our day-to-day activities now look entirely different than they did six weeks ago. But does this abrupt change only apply to us bi-pedaled mammals?

Study synthesizes what climate change means for Northwest wildfires

Recent years have brought unusually large and damaging wildfires to the Pacific Northwest – from the Carlton Complex Fire in 2014 that was the largest in Washington’s history, to the 2017 fire season in Oregon, to the 2018 Maple Fire, when normally sodden rainforests on the Olympic Peninsula were ablaze. Many people have wondered what this means for our region’s future.