​Hello all! It has been a long time since we have posted a blog and I thought we should address this and talk about what is in the works. At the end of December, we posted on social media that we were going to fill our blogs with history about national parks, bizarre animal relationships, and more. However, I felt this wasn’t the direction we really wanted to go and we were just trying to fill space. When we first started our blog, we had a board member who had a real skill of creating an impactful and thoughtful blog article. When she moved on to a fantastic new job and had to step down with volunteering with us, it left us not knowing exactly which direction to take the blog. So, nothing happened. Even when we were pumping out monthly articles, they were sporadic pieces that didn’t have a rhyme or reason to why we were talking about it besides it was related to conservation in some way. Around last summer is when we started reworking the idea of social media and our brand as a whole and blogs again came up. Still no direction.
 
Fast forward to January, and we have a new volunteer come onto the team who is stoked for research and constructing articles that make people stop and think. I am personally very excited to start releasing what he has been working on, but I wanted it to be distinguished from the rest of what we have done so far so we are introducing Season 2 of our blogs! One of the main pillars of Conservation Made Simple is education, and further, education that allows the reader to create their own stance on the issue. So, this new season will discuss large topics and attempt to stand unbiased while diving headfirst into both sides of the story to allow you to create your own opinion about it. Whether we are talking about Climate Change, Are Poachers Really Bad People?, or The Real Impact of the Middle Ground, we hope you are able to enjoy the articles and start conversations with friends and family! Our ultimate goal is to make conservation topics and issues simpler for you and we believe we can use our blog platform to do so. With this said, creating these deeper articles is a lot of time and effort and we are making sure we place quality over timeliness, so we will not have a strict schedule but will aim for a once a month article! Thank you all for the support on our other platforms and for standing by and supporting Conservation Made Simple as we continue to grow!!

Lately many articles are being published touting the power of planting trees in the fight against climate change. I acknowledge of course the need for positive new surrounding the topic of climate change. If it’s always doom and gloom, how will we ever find the motivation, as a society, to actually do something about it?  However, there are several important ecological factors to consider when planting trees in any given area including, but not limited to; the characteristics of the soil, the history of the area (did trees grow here in the past, and if so, how long ago were they present), and which species are native to the area. If scientists plan to replant a large percentage of the Earth’s land, then they absolutely must consider where and what species they choose to plant very carefully. Not every area of land is equally suited to any trees and different tree species have different requirements. ​

​In the early days of formal scientific efforts, curious individuals would explore their world and publish their observations for the world to marvel over. Men – and a few intrepid women – would venture away from home or into the depths of their laboratories and reemerge with new discoveries, catapulting their names into fame and our history books. Individuals could make a splash because the nature of science was simpler. Science was interested in species, organs, and individual processes removed from the larger interconnected picture. Nowadays, science acknowledges the connectivity between everything, from ecosystems to interdisciplinary research projects, and with that realization emerged new tools and collaborations that increased the capacity and reach of scientific discovery. Researchers around the globe have access to immense data sets, created by close collaborators despite the miles separating them. One of the most exciting ways that those data sets are being created is with the use of citizen science. 

​Trophy hunting is a controversial topic in the conservation world. Die-hard animal huggers oppose it because it promotes unnecessary killing of animals. Hunting enthusiasts tout the values of conservation and preservation – values held by people like Teddy Roosevelt – that are part of the culture that surrounds sport hunting. This blog is intended to break down some of the less obvious aspects of trophy hunting that make it such a gray area.

​WOOP WOOP!! Today marks one year of being a 501(c)(3) non-profit and we are extremely excited! This last year was filled with many great memories, challenges, and accomplishments, and we have come out stronger and farther along than any of us had expected. We launched our first official program: Visual Ballads, conducted six booth events over the summer at the Sail-in Cinema in Everett, and started plans for seven programs, three projects, regular events, and an in-depth YouTube channel and podcast! We are beyond grateful for everyone who has followed us along this journey through our social media or newsletter, and for those who have donated to our mission. Although I could go on and on about what the last year has brought, how thankful I am for all your support, and what is to come this next year, I would like to dedicate this post to the people who have made all these wonderful things happen. Conservation Made Simple would not be growing at the rate it is if our team didn’t put blood, sweat, and tears into this organization day in and day out. Keep reading to meet them!

​Dogs aren’t just man’s best friend, they are helping save other species around the world too!

​There are many terrestrial species with a strong reliance on sound, but only the bat comes close to the complete reliance seen in many marine and aquatic species. Just as the bat needs sound to find prey and navigate its nocturnal world, species that inhabit water use sound to overcome the rapid loss of light at depth. The use of sound to locate prey and mates, navigate along migration routes, communicate with conspecifics and defend against predators is seen in a diversity of forms in the ocean. With increasing ocean noise threatening more well-known top predators, like the southern resident killer whales, understanding the impacts further down the food web has never been more important.

While most people know about the songs and sounds made by whales, few people know that other animals in the ocean make sound too! Here’s a look at some of the more interesting examples from shrimp to fish.

Sharks have been around for over 400 million years, longer than we have been walking the earth! What makes these apex predators so fascinating? Here, you can learn more about different shark species and what makes each of them one of a kind!

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) was established in 1973 in response to a growing movement of citizens calling for the extinction of…well…extinction. The purpose of the ESA, as described by the US Supreme Court, is to “reverse and halt the trend toward species extinction, whatever the cost.” This noble and lofty goal is upheld primarily by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The ESA requires that any action that is permitted, funded, or carried out by the federal government does not endanger the existence of any listed species, either directly or through the destruction of their critical habitat. The law also prohibits “taking” a listed species, or participating in commerce for a listed species. Before we go any deeper, here are some definitions you might need to know.

​Before ringing in the new year, we would like to celebrate the species discovered in 2018. Each year brings new findings that expand the Encyclopedia of Life. Of the 1.74 million species that are on earth today, here are a few that became known to man in 2018.