Reports of the mysterious white nose syndrome, a fungal phenomenon that has reduced certain bat populations to near extinction levels, seem to have died down of late. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean the disease is doing the same.

One species in particular has scientists worried. This fall, when the Virginia Big-Eared Bats return to their caves for their six-month hibernation, there’s some concern that they won’t emerge in the spring. Learn more about what the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park is doing to keep the species alive (thanks to a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), and about white nose syndrome itself.

Photo by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation; Little Brown Bat showing symptoms of white nose syndrome.

It’s fall — leaves are changing color, song birds are migrating, Vs of ducks and geese gracefully and noisily wend their way south for the winter, and scores of species are eating and storing, preparing for the cold months ahead. If you’re like millions of other Americans, this is one of your favorite times of year to watch the seasonal changes in your particular eco-nich. And what better place to view the seasonal highlights but at a National Wildlife Refuge?

The Federal Government has been in the business of protecting wildlife resources since 1864. According to the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service: “The first Federal action aimed in part at protecting wildlife resources on a designated area appears to be an Act of Congress on June 30, 1864, that transferred the Yosemite Valley from the public domain to the State of California. One of the terms of the transfer was that State authorities ‘shall provide against the wanton destruction of the fish and game found within the said reservation and against their capture and destruction for purposes of merchandise or profit.’” 

Today, the National Wildlife Refuge System has designated more than 520 units in all 50 states, plus American Samoa, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Johnson Atoll, Midway Atoll and several other Pacific Islands, encompassing over 93 million acres of valuable wildlife habitat.

Next week, October 11 thru 17, has been designated National Wildlife Refuge Week. There’s at least one Refuge in every state and you can find if there are special activities happening in your state next week on this Special Events Calendar. But whether or not there is a special event in your state, this would be a great time to visit the National Wildlife Refuge closest to your home.

This Sunday, Sept. 27, PBS kicks off their six-part series by Ken Burns about America’s national parks. The series is magnificent, as befits the subject, and hopefully it will inspire a reinvigorated interest in our nation's most beautiful natural spaces. (Find out more about the series in The National Parks: America’s Best Idea – A New Series from Ken Burns and PBS, a write-up by the MOTHER EARTH NEWS editors covering all six episodes.)

Along the same lines, we asked you a couple of weeks ago which national parks you visited most recently. The exciting news is that of the 949 readers who took the poll, 711 have been to a national park recently. And of the specific parks listed, Great Smoky Mountains National Parks recorded the highest number of poll-taking attendees, with 210 votes. (You can see the full survey results below.)

And that’s not all. Some of our readers have been sharing remarkable photos from their national park visits at the MOTHER EARTH NEWS photo-sharing site, cu.MotherEarthNews.com — from the Great Smoky Mountains to Glacier National. If you have photos from a recent park visit, put ’em up! We love them, and, who knows, they may appear in the CU department of the magazine.

Now, though, we want to hear your stories. What’s your favorite memory of our national parks? We know that MOTHER’s readers have some good ones, so take a minute to share them below. Haven’t been yet? Where do you want to venture first?

Photo by iStockphoto

Which U.S. national park have you been to most recently?

1. Grand Canyon National Park 10% (92 votes)
2. Yellowstone National Park 11% (104 votes)
3. Yosemite National Park 6% (58 votes)
4. Great Smoky Mountains National Park 22% (210 votes)
5. Olympic National Park 3% (31 votes)
6. Other 23% (216 votes)
7. None 25% (238 votes)

Total Votes: 949

Do you remember? I do!

My husband and I were moving from Buffalo, N.Y., to Richland, Wash. Rather than stay in motels, we decided to camp our way across the country. On the night of July 20, we were setup in a campground in Montana, just west of Yellowstone National Park. It was a clear night and the moon was shining through the pines. We lay with our heads on a log, the campfire at our feet and marveled that at that moment there were humans walking around on the luminous orb in the sky. Far out!

Did the walk on the moon affect your life on July 20, 1969?  If so, please post your story in the comments section below.

One of my favorite beverage brands, Naked Juice — so named because of its bare, no-sugary-frills-added fruit ingredients — recently announced that all of its drinks containing bananas will now sport a label that says “Rainforest Alliance Certified.”

The certification sounds like a good thing, but as with many product claims in this era of green washing, it can be difficult to tell whether a label represents a worthwhile cause, or even represents anything at all.

So, what does “Rainforest Alliance Certified” mean?

A Rainforest Alliance Certified farm is one that complies with 10 standards set in place by the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN). These standards include ecosystem conservation, wildlife protection, and fair treatment and good working conditions for workers.

Abby Ray, Rainforest Alliance communications associate, says farms are evaluated by SAN-authorized auditors and must score at least 50 percent in each of the 10 standards and 80 percent overall in order to receive the certification. “This prohibits a farm that, for example, has beautiful forest cover but poor worker housing from passing,” Ray says.

Most farms need at least two years to achieve certification, and certified farms are re-evaluated every year by local auditors who give extra attention to any areas of the criteria in which the farms may have previously fallen short.

Since the beginning of 2008, the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal — a green frog nestled in a circle (shown near the bottom of the bottle at right in the photo) — has been popping up on coffee, tea, cocoa and fruit products all over the world. In the United States, brands such as Lipton Tea and Newman’s Own Organics contain products from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms. (See the Rainforest Alliance Marketplace for a full list of certified products.)

A criticism that has arisen regarding the Rainforest Alliance certification is that brands are allowed to use the green frog seal on a product if even just 30 percent of the product comes from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms. Ray says, however, that 30 percent certified content from a multinational brand still has a significant impact.

“What matters to the Rainforest Alliance is the impact on the land and workers, so a company buying 30 percent of 100 tons has more of an impact than one buying 100 percent of 10 tons,” Ray says.

As for what the certification designates for Naked Juice: The delectable drink brand now buys every banana that goes into its beverages (80 percent of Naked Juice products contain bananas) from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms, making it the first U.S.-based beverage to contain sustainably produced bananas.

This Certified Wildlife Habitat in Austin is thriving with native plants for butterflies and hummingbirds.

Austin, Texas recently became the largest city in the nation to be certified as a Community Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF).

To earn the distinction, Austin residents took on environmental stewardship projects such as removing invasive plant species from parks and hosting gardening know-how workshops throughout the city. Community members also got to work making hundreds of landscapes meet the criteria to become NWF Certified Wildlife Habitats. Austin is now home to more than 900 Certified Wildlife Habitats, which include parks, businesses, schools and individual yards.

Alice Nance, conservation program coordinator for the Austin Parks and Recreation Department, says Certified Wildlife Habitats welcome animals by providing food, water, shelter and a place for them to raise their little ones. These habitats must be maintained using sustainable gardening practices, meaning no excessive watering, and use of no or few pesticides and fertilizers.

Nance says one of the most exciting results of the Community Wildlife Habitat project has been the increased biodiversity popping up in the city’s gardens. And flora and fauna aren’t the project’s only beneficiaries: Nance hopes the environmental initiatives will bring Austin’s residents closer to nature and inspire more neighborhood pride.

Thirty-one other U.S. cities have earned NWF’s title of Community Wildlife Habitat. Visit Keep Austin Wild for more information on Austin’s wildlife conservation efforts, and check out the NWF website to find out how you can make your community a Community Wildlife Habitat.

Biologists from the University of California, Berkeley, have reported that salamander populations in parts of Central America have declined sharply in the past 40 years — and global warming could be the cause.

UC Berkeley researchers compared data of current salamander populations in western Guatemala and southern Mexico to data collected from the locations between 1969 and 1978. The team found that two of the most common species of salamanders in the areas 40 years ago are extinct, and several others have experienced large drops in number.

Amphibian populations have been declining worldwide, and experts have attributed the drops in other amphibian species — such as the well-documented plummeting of frog populations — to factors such as pesticides, predators and habitat destruction.

But according to David Wake, professor of integrative biology at UC Berkeley and the new study’s lead researcher, the salamanders in Guatemala lived on a controlled nature preserve, so neither outside predators nor human disturbance could have been responsible for their startling disappearance.

The nature preserve couldn’t guard the salamanders from the effects of global warming, however, and the climate conditions of salamanders’ habitat did change over the past 40 years. Salamanders are highly sensitive to climate and humidity, so even a slight increase in temperature could have caused them to seek higher elevations. Having thrived at their former altitudes for thousands of years, the salamanders were unable to adjust to these new habitats, researchers suspect.

Unlike other amphibians, salamanders are famously secretive creatures and often go unseen by all but keen, deliberate observers. Wake says salamanders’ effects in ecosystems do not go unnoticed, however: In forests, salamanders account for a large amount of biomass. Certain species even depend on salamanders for their own survival, such as the salamander-eating snake, which, according to Wake, is also showing signs of population decline.

See Science Daily's article for more information on Wake and his colleagues’ study, and check out A Wealth of Salamanders for more on these fascinating creatures and their unique presence in North America.

Photo by iStockphoto/Armin Hinterwirth