SECAS brings together public and private organizations around a bold vision for the future of our region. We're connecting the lands and waters of the Southeast and Caribbean to support healthy ecosystems, thriving fish and wildlife populations, and vibrant communities. With a data-driven spatial plan and an ambitious regional goal, SECAS helps accelerate conservation action in the places where it will make the biggest impact.
From the blog
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Child inspects a monarch butterfly in West Virginia. Photo by Ryan Hagerty, U.S. FWS. Southeast butterfly trends - Some bad news but also signs of conservation impact
There was a recent paper in Science about butterfly declines in the United states from 2000-2020. The data comes from >76,000 surveys from 35 different monitoring programs. I dug a little deeper into the trends in the Southeast. I figured I’d share some of the things that I found interesting. Apologies to folks in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Virginia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, because the paper’s “Southeast” region didn’t include those states and territories. It did include most SECAS states, though!
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Known issues for Blueprint 2024 have been updated to reflect feedback from last year's workshop attendees, including the 261 feedback polygons provided in the workshop feedback tool! Updating known issues and improving indicators from workshop feedback
The Southeast Conservation Blueprint 2024 known issues are now updated based on the feedback from last year’s Blueprint workshops. You can find the new known issues here on the website and in the Blueprint development process final report, which is also included in the Blueprint data download. Although it takes awhile, I love going through all the comments. Not only does it help with updating the known issues, but it points to ways we could improve the next Blueprint.
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Upcoming webinars in the SECAS Third Thursday Web Forum series. Spring Third Thursday Web Forum flyer now available
Check out the Third Thursday Web Forum schedule for the 2025 spring season! We’ve lined up some fantastic presenters for September, October, and November. SECAS hosts these webinars on the third Thursday of each month at 10 am Eastern time. »Click here for an interactive pdf of the flyer with links to register.
- March 20th, 2025 @ 10 am ET: Developing the Eastern ruffed grouse conservation plan. The March presentation by Zak Danks with the Kentucky Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Resources will highlight a cross-state and international regional planning effort to guide future efforts to conserve ruffed grouse population, which have declined by at least half during the last 30 years within their eastern range.
Visit the SECAS blog for a full archive of posts.