Plan to expand Ruaha national park has been beset by allegations of abuse, leading bank to withhold final $50m of $150m budget
The World Bank has suspended financing intended to develop tourism in southern Tanzania after allegations of killings, rape and forced evictions.
The bank began investigating last year after being accused of enabling abuses around Ruaha national park, which was due to double in size as part of a World Bank-supported programme.
Continue reading...State government and Nature Conservancy jointly purchase Vergemont station, which contains habitat for endangered night parrots
A Queensland outback cattle station the size of Yosemite national park which includes key habitat for the elusive night parrot has been acquired for conservation after an anonymous donation of $21m.
Vergemont station, 110km west of Longreach, was acquired in a joint purchase by the Queensland government and the Nature Conservancy, which brokered the deal. The group said it is likely the single largest philanthropic contribution to land protection in Australia.
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Continue reading...Activists say plan to remove 200 felines near Old San Juan fortress within six months is not enough time and worry cats will be killed
A non-profit organization said Thursday that it sued the US National Park Service over a plan to remove Puerto Rico’s famous stray cats from a historic district in the US territory.
The lawsuit filed by Maryland-based Alley Cat Allies comes four months after the federal agency announced it would contract an animal welfare organization to remove an estimated 200 cats that live in an area surrounding a historic seaside fortress in Old San Juan.
Continue reading...Minns government fulfils $13m election commitment following long-running community campaign to protect the area
Almost five hectares of parklands has been added to the Wolli Creek regional national park – “a patch of green ribbon” which runs through dense suburbs in Sydney’s south – in the past year.
The Minns government added the additional 4.7 hectares after a $13m election commitment to complete the park, which borders Wolli Creek and was first promised by the Carr government in 1998.
Continue reading...James Bond star in hot water for stepping out of bounds at hot springs area in US national park – and must appear in court
Pierce Brosnan, whose fictitious movie character James Bond has been in hot water plenty of times, is now facing heat in real life, charged with stepping out of bounds in a thermal area during a recent visit to Yellowstone national park.
Brosnan walked in an off-limits area at Mammoth Terraces, in the northern part of Yellowstone near the Wyoming-Montana border, on 1 November, according to two federal citations issued this week.
Continue reading...Tom Gerbier was hiking the tallest mountain in the contiguous US in Sequoia national park when he fell to his death
A pilot from France who disappeared while hiking California’s towering Mount Whitney was found dead after falling about 1,000ft (305 meters) off a cliff, the National Park Service said Friday.
The hiker was identified as Tom Gerbier of Fontenay-sous-Bois, France, who was a pilot for Air France, the park service said in a statement.
Continue reading...Joshua Haveman employed tactical combat casualty care to patch up the wounded hiker’s badly mangled legs and help him to safety
An off-duty US air force flight instructor braved strong winds, hail and slippery conditions to rescue a fellow climber who had fallen about 80ft (24.4 meters) down a slippery slope at Yosemite national park this past Labor Day weekend, according to the military branch.
Joshua Haveman’s valiant actions not only earned him a hero’s praise from his air force colleagues – but they also prevented another hiking tragedy from occurring after the last few months have seen multiple hikers lose their lives amid a range of perilous conditions.
Continue reading...William became largest private landholder in the national park when he inherited Duchy of Cornwall
Campaigners are urging Prince William to invest in significant rewilding across swathes of Dartmoor’s predominantly farmed land.
The land became William’s after he inherited the Duchy of Cornwall, an extensive landholding including the largest privately owned area of Dartmoor national park, from his father, King Charles, when he succeeded to the throne.
Continue reading...Wildlife enthusiasts watching live feed from remote national park spot hiker in distress and alert authorities to rescue him
They logged on hoping to see brown bears gorging on salmon, fattening themselves up for their winter hibernation. Instead, what the wildlife enthusiasts viewing one of Alaska’s most remote national park webcams saw was a disheveled and weather-beaten hiker shuffling into view, mouthing the words “help me” into the lens.
The episode captured by a camera at the Katmai national park sparked a chain of events that ended with the safe recovery of the unknown hiker by search and rescue teams, according to rangers.
Continue reading...At the village with the most unsolved burglaries in the UK, shopkeepers are turning to vigilante-style tactics
Within the genteel New Forest village of Lyndhurst, it was considered a crime of almost outrageous audacity.
On a busy Saturday afternoon in February, two vividly painted Moorcroft pottery charger plates were stolen in plain sight from the middle of the venerable antique store.
Continue reading...Wyatt Kauffman slipped on a cliff and fell after ‘moving out of the way so other people could take a picture’
A 13-year-old North Dakota boy has survived falling 100ft from a ledge at the Grand Canyon’s north rim during a family trip.
Emergency crews needed two hours to rescue Wyatt Kauffman after he slipped on a cliff Tuesday and plunged nearly 100 ft (30 meters) at the Bright Angel Point trail, authorities said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Continue reading...Rangers say Joy Cho fell off Teewinot mountain before dawn on Friday during a hike and seven companions rescued
A woman has died after falling off a mountain during a hike in Wyoming’s Grand Teton national park.
According to a National Park Service press release reviewed by CNN, Joy Cho of Simi Valley, California, fell off the west side of Teewinot mountain before dawn on Friday.
Continue reading...Tensions are escalating in state forests near Bellingen, where a protesters’ camp is locked in a standoff with a heavy police presence
The New South Wales government has been accused of stalling on a promise to create a national park to protect koalas as tension mounts over logging in the state’s northern forests.
Protesters and police have been engaged in a standoff, with both groups setting up forest camps, as logging takes place in the Newry state forest near the town of Bellingen, on the mid-north coast.
Continue reading...About 300 people were stranded after power failure disabled the 40-car ride that scales Sulphur mountain in Banff national park
Hundreds of people have been trapped overnight atop a mountain in Canada’s Banff national park after a a lightning strike shut down a popular gondola ride.
As many as 300 people were stranded after the power failure on Monday evening disabled the 40-car ride that scales Sulphur mountain.
Continue reading...High temperature ‘may have been a factor’ in death of 71-year-old Steve Curry in Golden Canyon area, park officials say
A 71-year-old man collapsed and died in Death Valley on Tuesday as temperatures in the valley – the point of lowest elevation in North America as well as one of the hottest places in the world – reached at least 121F (49.4C).
“Heat may have been a factor in his death,” Death Valley national park officials said in a press release.
Continue reading...Dedication of the 3-mile loop to Winston Walker comes after a push to make national parks more inclusive
As a nature loving little girl, Jessica Newton never understood why the faces on information boards in the state and national parks she visited looked nothing like her.
“My parents would take me to these places and the platforms would tell you about a trail, or a person, but I’d never see anyone that looks remotely close to my color,” she said.
Continue reading...Scientific committee calls for ‘urgent action’ from the Albanese government to address damage caused to sensitive alpine ecosystems
Feral horses in the Australian alps pose an imminent threat to the Albanese government’s zero extinctions target, a scientific committee that advises the government on endangered species has told a parliamentary inquiry.
The threatened species scientific committee (TSSC) says feral horses “may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction” of six critically endangered animals and at least two critically endangered plants.
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Continue reading...While seasonal floods aren’t unusual for the national park, this spring could see a deluge from winter snowpack melt
Most of Yosemite valley – the tourist center of the famed national park – will close this weekend as warming temperatures threaten the region with a surge in snowmelt that’s expected to push the Merced River beyond its banks. Forecasters have warned that runoff from California’s historic snowpack, set high along the peaks of the Sierra Nevada range, could cause widespread flooding.
“Downslope there will be problems,” said the National Weather Service meteorologist David Spector, adding that the area around the Pohono Bridge just east of the park’s central entrance would reach flood stage by Friday. “Only parts of the valley are expected to be impacted for now,” he said. “But it may become worse by Sunday or Monday.”
Continue reading...Greg Ovens’s popular outdoor survival videos used as evidence against him in case centred on Alberta’s Banff national park
An arrest warrant has been issued for a US YouTuber for illegally fishing in a Canadian national park, and his partner has been fined $6,000, after a judge condemned their “reckless” outdoor survival videos.
The popularity of the videos highlights an increasingly lucrative online niche, with millions tuning in to watch avid outdoors people test their skills and mettle in harsh conditions. A number of television shows have further popularized the genre and inspired a growing share of the public to venture into the hinterlands.
Continue reading...Dominic Perrottet lauds tourism benefits of buying 440,000 hectare site Thurloo Downs in state’s north-west
Habitat for more than 50 threatened species will be preserved as part of a new land acquisition by the New South Wales government that will become the state’s third-largest national park.
The 437,394 hectare site, which is called Thurloo Downs and is about 250 kilometres from Bourke in the state’s north-west, contains globally significant arid zone wetlands, as well as salt lakes, playas and other geological formations that are unprotected elsewhere in NSW.
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