Habitat Conservation & The Fate Of The Northern White Rhino

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The Intertubes have been buzzing over the northern white rhinoceros, now that National Geographic has turned its documentary lens on a high-tech mission to bring a new generation of the all-but-extinct two-horned creatures to life. Progress has been inching along at a pace that would put a snail to shame, but it is progress nevertheless, and the new documentary could help foster a renewed burst of public support for habitat conservation efforts around the world.

Reproductive Science Meets Habitat Conservation

The white rhino rescue team works under the umbrella of the Germany-based BioRescue project, and they have their work cut out for them. Only two northern white rhinos are left on Earth, which makes the rescue effort difficult enough. To make the task of teasing out another generation all but impossible, both are females.

Nevertheless, the advanced state of 21st century reproductive science is the key that keeps the possible alive. To get an up-close look at that, check out the new National Geographic documentary The Last Rhinos: A New Hope, now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.

During an online press conference last week, BioRescue Director Jan Stejskal discussed the impact of his team’s work on the potential for rescuing other species. However, he also emphasized that the delicate, painstaking labwork behind the northern white rhino project is a rescue mission of last resort, made necessary by failed attempts at habitat conservation and species preservation.

“It’s true that habitat conservation gets precedence, but in some cases all of these steps were already tried and they didn’t work,” Stejskal told CleanTechnica. “A new approach was needed for the northern white rhino.”

In addition to suffering from the impacts of habitat encroachment in Central and East Africa, northern white rhinos were murdered by poachers and caught in the crossfire of wars. The two remaining females, Fatu and Najin, are living out their lives at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya.

Habitat Conservation In The USA

The lessons of the northern white rhino for other nations around the world are clear, particularly here in the US where habitat conservation has taken a back seat to other concerns of the current administration.

Nevertheless, some pockets of continued progress on habitat conservation still exist. One good example is the emerging field of agrivoltaics, in which rural solar arrays are designed to accommodate pollinator habitats, native species restoration, or livestock grazing (or all three) as well as food crops for human consumption.

Agrivoltaic arrays can function as a farmland conservation tools, habitat conservation tools, or both. Farmers who lease their land to an agrivoltaic developer can earn a reliable income stream to provide financial support, helping to avoid bankruptcy and enabling the land to remain viable for agricultural operations.

Although solar critics oppose the use of farmland for solar arrays, ground-mounted solar panels have a light footprint. They can be removed at the end of their lifespan and the entire site can be returned to agriculture. In fact, solar arrays cover a vanishingly small percentage of farmland in the US. Historically and up to this day, the overwhelming cause of permanent farmland loss in the US is real estate development, with low-density housing emerging as a main cause alongside tract homes, warehouses, malls, and other buildings.

Saving Farms, Saving Species

Farmland also intersects with habitat conservation in the field of regenerative agriculture. In contrast to the soil-impacting, chemically dependent monocrop strategies that underpin conventional industrial-scale agriculture, regenerative strategies reflect indigenous practices that focus on soil health, biodiversity, and water conservation.

The leading farmland conservation organization American Farmland Trust supports regenerative farming, both as as complement to agrivoltaics and as a standalone practice.”Well-managed farmland supports wildlife and biodiversity, cleans our water, increases resilience to natural disasters like floods and fires, and helps combat climate change,” AFT explains.

“In all senses of the word, farmland sustains us. Yet we are losing it at an alarming rate. And on land that continues to be farmed, we are also losing ground—quite literally. We have lost billions of tons of topsoil.” the organization emphasizes.

Among other activities, AFT offers a regenerative farming microgrant program. One showcase for the program is a livestock farm in New England, where an AFT grant supported the replacement of a sprawling thicket of  invasive and non-native species with pollinator-friendly native species.

Habitat Conservation & The Land Trust Movement

AFT is just one among hundreds of non-profit land trusts in the US, organized under the umbrella of the Land Trust Alliance. “Most land trust projects start through the generosity of private landowners, and many of these lands are open to the public,” LTA explains.

“In fact, 80 percent of land trusts provide public access to their protected lands, according to the 2020 National Land Trust Census, amounting to 1.2 million acres of land and 9,761 miles of trails open to the public,” LTA adds.

Along with hiking and biking opportunities, open-access land trusts can provide communities with a long list of quality-of-life services including guided nature walks and classes as well as farmers markets and community gardens, among many other activities.

“Land trusts do not do this work alone. They partner with libraries, gyms, community centers, farmers co-ops, local businesses, extension agents, schools, hospitals and other nonprofits to connect people with the land in ways that are meaningful to them,” LTA emphasizes.

In some cases, land trusts also work with local, state, and federal agencies to transfer private land to public ownership. Some examples cited by LTA include the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (transferred 105 acres of forest to the Pennsylvania Game Commission); Black Swamp Conservancy in Ohio (gifted a mix of farm, forest, and wetland along the Sandusky River to the Sandusky County Park District); The Bitter Root Land Trust in Montana (transferred 70 acres of river bottom to the City of Hamilton); and The Trust for Public Land (transferred 15 square miles in New Mexico to the federal Sabinoso Wilderness Area).

“The project represents the largest land donation to a federal wilderness area in U.S. history and will help increase public access to this remote area,” LTA notes, referring to the Sabinoso transfer.

These local habitat conservation efforts are more valuable now than ever before. If you know of a land trust in your area — or if you’ve seen The Last Rhinos: A New Hope — drop a note in the comment thread and share your thoughts on hope for the future.

Photo (cropped): The Last Rhinos: A New Hope documents the race to save a species almost — but not quite — destroyed after habitat conservation and protection efforts failed (courtesy of National Geographic via DropBox).