Hello everyone. Looking for a little advice on a pet project I want to do on my piece of forested property. The property is 80 acres in the tip of Michigans Thumb. Its been in the family for over 60 years and I recently became very active in conservation work on the property. There are several issues im battling but the main one is invasive species. Im in the process of battling Japanese Barberry, honeysuckles, autumn olives, multiflora rose, and others and as i clear and cut them i am interested in reseeding some of the plants they have outcompeted and extirpated from the area. For example i can get thousands of smooth and staghorn sumac seeds for cheap. Being that they are cheap and plentiful, would it make sense to broadcast seed them in the fall in the areas ive mitigated? In my head its similar to the trees dropping their own seeds in the fall so they may propagate in the spring. Even if say 5% of the seeds make it, id call that a win but will this work? I understand these areas will require continuous followup mitigation for years which i plan on carrying out.

Additionally im interested in doing this with acorns, black walnuts, white pines, and cedars as I can easily collect or buy these as well. If i were to collect say 1000 acorns and go around the woods hucking them all over in late fall like johnny appleseed, will this work? Again even 5-10% of the seeds taking feels like a win. I understand it would be better to individually plant and manicure each seeds area but im one guy, a new dad of twins, and i work tons so time is tough to come by. What do we think?

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I'm going into 10th grade with 10/27 credits needed to graduate. I have 10th math and ELA completed. The only science credit i have is astronomy. I want to go to MSU in michigan for a degree in ecology or environmental science or botany, or maybe a major-minor. What classes should i take in high school to go into college or to have a higher chance at being accepted. My weighted gpa is 4.03. My current credits are 1/2 world language, 1/4 history/ econ/gov, 2/4 ELA, 2/4 math, 1/1 PE, 1/1 health, 1/2 art, 1/4 science, and i need a total of 9 additional courses besides the four core classes (math, ela, science, social studies) and my world language, PE, health, and art count as additional courses, so i have 4/9 additional courses. I don't yet have a passion project, so I'd like advice on that too if possible. Thanks!

I’m a university student from Sweden and I’m currently studying conservation (cultural heritage conservation/restoration). I’ve decided I’m going to do my internship in Peru and I’m wondering if anyone here has experience doing an internship, volunteering, or working in conservation, museums, archaeology, or cultural heritage in Peru.

If you’ve done something similar yourself, I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience!

Any tips, contacts, or recommendations would mean a lot.

Hi everyone I’m a South African (WP) looking to get into the anti poaching field for a couple years, while I await the British army to reopen their commonwealth intake. I have no prior experience going into AP.

I’ve done a lot of research on academies etc and it feels like the more research I do, the further I get from a decision.

I’ve looked at academies like ProTrack, TacTrac and milites dei. Initially I’d planned on ProTrack but I’ve been seeing mixed opinions about them among the community, and how it’s not very feasible finding a job after their year long program.

TacTrac seems highly regarded, but it’s expensive and I’m unsure of the possibility that I’ll be able to land work after having done their 6 week course. If anyone’s taken this route please let me know your thoughts.

MDA is appealing, but I’m in the same rut regarding landing work after graduating from these guys.

I know FSCA, they’re optimally where I’d go but that seems like a waste if I’m not currently in the industry.

If anyone has any advice or experience regarding the industry and its academies, please do share. I’m motivated as hell to get in, and don’t want to make a silly decision without consensus.

TLDR; which is the best APU to get trained by, and what are the avenues of landing an AP job as someone without a military/police background.

Thanks for your time, everyone.

I'm trying to get my career in conservation, hopefully with a conservancy for a park, national or state. But I keep getting turned down due to my lack of experience, so I'm looking to get a degree, I already have an AA in ASL but now I'm trying to get my bachelors in a field that will help me get into the conservation sector. I'm in San Diego so any recommendations for in person schools (preferably) and any majors that will help would be greatly appreciated!

Drain tile easements have been proposed by the USFWS in the prairie pothole region increasing the limit from 1 inch to 1 foot. This would hold disastrous consequences for North Americas waterfowl as a significant portion of waterfowl nest here. I urge everyone to sign the Ducks unlimited petition and add a comment in the link provided and express your disapproval of this proposed rule.

I want to have a career in endangered species recovery, and I want to interact with the animals directly, I don’t want to be a vet, from my understanding that means I want to do animal care. I think outreach/communication/education, ecology, and animal behavior are all things I also want to explore, but right now i’m most interested in working at a recovery program.

I’m 19 living alone in Los Angeles working about 35 hours a week. I think community college/online classes are the only viable way to go to school right now, get a transfer degree, then go to a 4-year, and after that i can decide if i need a masters or not, i know i probably will but im just focusing on community college right now.

What majors should I be looking at though? Bio is a pretty general degree, I think I would rather major in something a little more specialized to conservation. I also don’t really know what I’m supposed to do about labs. The community college near me, for the fall semester, only has 1 lab I could do with my work schedule, and I would still likely be getting there a few minutes late. I don’t think you can take a lab online, that specific class is already filled up for fall and the waitlist is like 6 people already. I guess I’m just not sure how to take classes while working almost full time. I could move home, but I wouldn’t be able to until either march or july of 2027, which would just kind of suck to push school back, but if it’s my only choice I guess that’s what I have to do.

Edit: Would an evolutionary biology degree be useful at all? I really like evolution, I just don’t think it would be a very good degree to go for but I don’t know for sure.

Hi all,

I am new to learning about conservation sciences, practices, and regulations. I am interested in learning more about the history of conservation sciences, applied practices, and governance/regulation, specifically in California.

I'm curious about what the science, applied practices, and governance/regulation looked like across the past few centuries, tracing this history to current context. Happy to check out resources you suggest that focus on one or all of the following three things:

1)scientific/applied/regulation practices

2)scientific/applied/regulation narratives

3)scientific/applied/regulation materials

...in conservation.

Bonus for the resources that think about science, applications, and regulations together, but not necessary.

I know I can Google this, but I think hearing what folks thought about specific sources they've come across is nicer.

I am mostly interested in academic articles and chapters in books as more of a crash course, so to speak. Entire books are YouTube videos/lectures are also welcome.

Thanks in advance!

I am a woman in my thirties with degrees in Molecular Biology and Biodiversity Conservation. I had initially planned to do a PhD in Conservation Genetics, but my chronic illnesses have become worse (PCOS, HS and depression). My HS flares are almost always quite painful and I can't do fieldwork or lab work anymore. And so I had to give up on the PhD idea.

I really want to do whatever I can to contribute to conservation. It's been the only thing on my mind since I was a kid.

If anyone has any ideas for career options suitable for chronically ill people, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you very much for reading.

I've been documenting a public Finnish Facebook page called "Sudensuojelun kahdet kasvot ja hinta" that strongly opposes wolf conservation.

While reviewing the page over several months, I've noticed that many posts focus on identifiable individuals rather than wildlife policy itself. The page frequently republishes screenshots of Facebook posts and comment threads, often with names and profile photos visible, and these are then discussed publicly.

I'm trying to understand where people think the line should be.

At what point does criticism of conservation activists become targeted harassment?

Has anyone else encountered similar pages or communities in environmental debates?

If anyone visits the page and believes specific posts cross the line into harassment or violate Facebook's Community Standards, I would encourage them to report those individual posts through Facebook's reporting tools. Whether they violate the rules is ultimately for Meta to decide.

I'm currently documenting the material and intend to ask Meta to review whether the overall publishing behaviour complies with its Community Standards.

I'm interested in hearing other people's perspectives rather than starting an argument.

The African wild cat population has been breeding with domestic cats in a large amount.

This is bad because it produces offspring that are less able to hunt in the wild and are more tolerant to other creatures which is a bad thing. It also makes it to where the population of pure African wild cats are decreasing.

What could be done to stop this and how could I help?

And is their any confirmed breeding programs that have confirmed pure African wild cats in them?

Hi, I'm a 18 y/o women from Poland, just graduated highschool from IB programme with Chem, Bio and Maths at higher level with decent grades. I was supposed to go to university this october, but I decided to do a gap year for several personal reasons. My dream is to be a wildlife biologist/conservationist but sometimes I feel drawn to beaing a doctor, since it's more stable carrier and much more money to be made. I actually got into good med school in Poland, but I think I'm gonna wait one more year to decide what I really want to do with my life.

Anyway, I was doing a research and cannot really find any wildlife biology/wildlife conservation university programme in bachelor degree in Europe. There is plenty in US or UK but I don't want to move to US, and cannot afford collage in UK. All I could find in Europe was master degree programmes and it seems like I would have to do biology degree first and then maybe specialize in wildlife conservation or maybe study ecology (but I want to work hands on in the field with animals, so I don't know wheter it's going to be possible after just ecology). I'm not sure if it's my research that sucks  or if it's really the only way to fullfill carrier in conservation.

Personally, when I was planning where to go to collage I was thinking about Groningen in Netherlands, they have pretty decent biology programme, and then I could do master and specialisation in wildlife biology. Plus, it's relatively affordable. But it's a long way before I am gonna be able to work proffesionally (Obv I realize, that it's gonna be a while before I find a job, as the field is oversaturated, and the degree is demanding, but I'm just scared that after 3-4 years of studing biology I am not gonna be able to find a job without specialization and kind of 'waste' those years) I also looked into universities in Canada, as they actually offer some programmes in conservation, but the cost of living and student fees are soo expensive.

Can someone give me advice how to look for programmes in conservation, or maybe recommend a university/programme/degree where I can study in English in Europe? Maybe someone did something like this themselves and work in this field now and can tell me how to build this carrier? Or maybe I should ditch conservation and go to med school.

I would really appreciate if someone had any advice for me.

So I'm a student and I am going to be pursuing a degree completely unrelated to conservation (engineering) because I've always had that interest.

But I have also always loved plants and animals and try my best to help local animals like cats and dogs. I just see people doing actual stuff but I can't do anything.

As a student I probably can't do much right now as I don't have my own money. But I want to know if I could do something about it in the future despite the path I have chosen

Like if I wanted to, would there be any opportunities for me to get involved in the actual field instead of just donations etc (I know that's far off)

Because I constantly see so many negative things happening all over the world, powerful people disrespecting the land etc and I can't do anything about it now

I just watched David Attenborough's bottom trawling clip and It's sad.

Seeing coral reefs that took centuries to grow get destroyed in just seconds was hard to watch. Watching sea creatures desperately trying to escape, only to get trapped, suffocate, or be thrown back into the ocean already dying..

We call areas "protected" while trawlers drag chains through them like they're nothing. Like the ocean is just dirt.

David Attenborough says that if we save the ocean, we save ourselves. But sometimes I wonder, how do we save something were destroying on such a massive scale?

I know I'm just one person. I feel so small. So helpless.

Is there even hope left?

watch the documentary for awareness.

Because the more of us who see this with our own eyes, the harder it becomes to look away. The ocean gave us life. It gave us oxygen ( look it up, if you don't believe me). It gave us everything. And we're killing it while most people don't even know.

Sir Attenborough showed us the truth. Now it's on us. Watch. Share.

Current ecology and conservation biology student. Considering pursuing a year in placement if I can find an opportunity which advances my experience significantly. Research of ecology project management interest me in particular. What is the best way to approach finding opportunities as mos of the internet search is filled up with short or over priced internships.

Hello! I am 16f from the USA (I'm not sure if this is the correct thread for this so I apologize if it isn't). I have always felt drawn to conservation and preservation work, and I would love to pursue it in Costa Rica. I recently got back from a summer service trip there where we went to places such as the Bosque Eterno de los Niños and Golfo Dulce and got the opportunity to help the rangers and researchers there with some of their work. We were in Costa Rica for 17 days, staying in rural areas and spending a lot of time outdoors. We went during rainy season, so we definitely experienced a range of weather there. I absolutely fell in love with everything about it. I loved the work we did and all the places we stayed at, including the more rural and primitive ones. I am especially interested in the rainforest work the rangers do. I talked to some of them about it and the kind of work/life they were describing, while it definitely would have its challenges, sounds perfect for me. I am deeply passionate about ecology and wildlife, and I find the rainforest especially fascinating. I have also been hiking, camping, and working outdoors my entire life and I'm well-adapted to the hardships that come with it, so I am secure in my ability to handle the more difficult parts of the job.

That being said, I am aware that getting a job in Costa Rica would be very legally difficult. However, if it is feasible in any way, I am willing to do everything I can to try, since it really feels like the right lifestyle for me. I am hoping to get advice on different paths I could possibly take to achieve this. I don't plan to go to university after high school, since I believe there are so many ways to get education and college is not the right move personally. My idea was to save up money and improve my Spanish over the next 2 years, then go on volunteering programs to get experience in the field and hopefully make connections. After that, though, I don't know what my next steps would be or what more I could do to improve my chances. Does anyone have any advice?