In the late 1980’s I was sitting in the library at the University of South Florida (USF) yearning for adventure. This was around the first time I read about the FSPSP: “Fakahatchee Strand is perhaps the wildest place east of the Mississippi River.” I was hooked.

Sometimes I flew solo, sometimes I convinced a few friends to go with me. Sweaty, dirty, chronically cash-poor college students crammed into the cab and camper shell of my old truck, heading out into the night. A jumble of backpacks, grills, firewood, hiking boots, sleeping bags, tents, paddles, PFDs, coolers, and a very loud boom box rattled around the vehicle.

We would return many, many times.

FSPSP is nestled above the Ten Thousand Islands portion of Everglades National Park and lies just next to Big Cypress National Preserve. It is wet, wild, fecund, sublime, dark, dangerous, and demanding. Wading is as common as hiking. Reptiles and amphibians of all types are abundant as are insects, native plants, and iconic Florida species from bears to panthers, to crocodiles, to alligators.

We saw a Florida black bear on our first trip. We found Florida panther tracks in the soft oozing mud along the trams. The evening chorus of frogs, insects, birds, and God knows what else was a deafening cacophony. Florida folk musician and wilderness poet Dick Joslyn christened it the “Fakahatchee Jam.” We were not in Kansas anymore… and a gator was eyeing Toto for a snack.

We navigated the darkened waist deep waters you waded through with your feet, hidden beneath the water’s surface. We hoped the round objects you encountered were logs and not big toothy alligators. We saw endless snakes, many of which were fat and long and adorned with rattles, and others laid between ferns on a partially submerged log, thick as your forearm, were of the Moccasin variety. You were hyper aware of where you put your hands and feet. It was a long way to the hospital, and this was in an era before cell phones.

One afternoon we set up camp and hiked further along the tram to a large and open prairie. We lost track of time and after a miraculous sunset began hiking back to our campsite. Between the three of us we had one small flashlight with a feeble beam that barely penetrated the enveloping darkness. As we walked, we gradually kept drawing closer to one another. Then we made out a round elongated 8-10 foot wide shape in front of us. Was it a downed tree or log? Had we stepped over it before on the way in? We honestly could not remember.
Slowly, effortlessly, the log rose up on its four legs, and with great power and nobility eased into the darkened waters off the trail. Slowly. The darkened waters were still and silent again, betraying nothing of the modern dinosaur lurking within. The beam of the flashlight seemed ever more feeble.

We had a favorite island that we loved to camp on, remote and wild, in the Ten Thousand Islands. Comer Key was an official campsite within Everglades National Park. There were few amenities and it was only accessible by boat (or in our case, canoe).

A few months after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 we decided to return to our island paradise, perched along out near the edge of the islands along the Gulf of Mexico.  After leaving the boat launch in Everglades City in our canoes we arrived at a spot of open water and no island. Hurricane Andrew had simply washed it away. The power of nature.

I support NWF’s Gulf Program because I want there to always be places along the Gulf Coast that embody deep wilderness. I want to find places still, even in 2026, to get a little lost or to feel the power of nature. NWF saves the places that stir my soul.

So, in the spirit of adventure and exploration I urge you to travel south on I-75, jump on Tamiami Trail (US 41), leave Naples in the rearview and head east into the wild, wet, and wooly swamps. When you hit SR 29 head north to Copeland and enter FSPSP. While it might be a little less of a frontier than in the days of my youth, it is still one of the wildest places left east of the Mississippi River. Enjoy!

Learn more about Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park.

Joe Murphy is a native and lifelong Floridian who lives along the Gulf of Mexico in Florida’s Nature Coast. Joe is a former staff member for NWF’s Gulf Program and contributes these blog posts as a supporter and alumnus. You can follow Joe on Facebook.

Here are some commons owls you might see in the United States:

• American Barn Owl: Recognized by its distinctive heart-shaped face, the barn owls prefer to live in human-made structures, like old barns.  
• Barred Owl: Recognized by its distinctive call that sounds like it’s saying “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all?”, the barred owl can be found in mature woods and swamps in the eastern half of North America and the Pacific Northwest.
• Burrowing Owl: Known for its distinct white “eyebrows,” the burrowing owl makes its home in underground burrows.
• Eastern Screech-Owl: One of the smallest owl species in North America, the eastern screech-owl can often be found in suburban backyards, as well as forests and riparian areas.
• Great Horned Owl: One of the larger owl species in North America, the great horned owl lives in almost every type of ecosystem, from deserts to urban forests. 
• Western Screech-Owl: Known for sounding like a bouncing ping pong ball, the western screech-owl lives in the Western U.S., Canada, and Mexico, and commonly found in open woodlands, deserts, and suburban areas.

Download Owl Fun! Activity Guide for Kids and Families to Learn About Owls

Owls and a Healthy Ecosystem

Owls play an important role in a healthy ecosystem. They help control the rodent (e.g., mice, rats, etc.) and large insect populations (e.g., beetles, moths, etc.), which reduce the damage done to crops when there is an overabundance of these animals. Additionally, controlling the “pest” population also decreases the farmer’s need to use pesticides on their crops. Owls will often prey on sick, smaller mammals in the forest (like other predators also do) which helps reduce the chances of sickness or disease spreading through the prey population.

Threats to Owls and Conservation Strategies

Fortunately for wildlife enthusiasts, there are several species of owl across the country that are considered common (as highlighted above), but there are also a few owls facing population declines that have landed them under the protection of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Currently, there are three threatened species in the U.S. protected under the ESA:

• Cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl
• Mexican spotted owl
• Northern spotted owl

Read NWF blog, Spotted Owls: A Proven Strategy Against Extinction

One of the key threats to owls is habitat destruction. Practices such as logging, deforestation, and urban development destroy forests and other owl habitats, which impacts their ability to find safe spaces to raise young and to successfully hunt. Some conservation best practices for owls include leaving areas in your yard or in the community un-mowed to provide homes for owl prey and installing owl boxes. Additionally, leaving dead trees standing (if it is safe to do so) for nesting and perching.

Check out this DIY video from Roanoke College on how to build a screech owl box!

Owls can suffer secondary poisoning when they eat mice or rats that have consumed poisonous pest control baits (anticoagulant rodenticides), colloquially known as rat poison. The conservation community strongly encourages homeowners, farmers and others to forego the use of poisonous pest control baits and use other measures to deter rodents such as blocking entry to residences, reducing potential food sources, using mechanical rodent traps (if necessary), and/or consult a licensed wildlife control professional.

Advocating for laws such as the Endangered Species Act, that protect imperiled owl species and their habitats, and the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, which will provide much-needed funding to support the conservation of owls in decline and other species of greatest conservation need, when passed.

Fall and the Spooky Season

I would be remiss to not mention the popularity of owls during the spooky season. Stories from Roman and Greek mythology have owls playing a leading role, sometimes as a wise, helpful mystic, or a guardian of the dead. According to NWF Blog by Braelei Hardt, naturalist and science communication specialist at NWF, Why are Bats, Owls, Toads, and Crows Associated with Halloween?, Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, was often depicted with an owl companion. Athena’s owl was hailed as a symbol of knowledge and insight, and therefore owls were treated with reverence within Greek culture. In Roman mythology the owl was a bird of ill omen that fed on humans. When Rome defeated Athens in 146 BCE, this more malicious depiction of owls began to dominate both areas and spread into the world form there. 

And in autumn, the leaves are falling in the forest, allowing the sounds of the owl to be heard more easily.  There are simply better acoustics, with less foliage and a chill in the air. It’s also easier to see owls sitting in a tree, either hunting or just hanging out, without the cover of the tree’s leaves. Check out NWF blog, Trick-or-Tweet, to read more about Halloween’s haunted birds.

Now, are you ready to find out if you are as wise as an owl? Take our owl quiz.

Get outside and go on an owl prowl. Take a nighttime walk and see “whoooo’s” calling! If you are lucky enough to hear an owl, try calling back.

How to Help

• Leave dead trees standing (if it is safe to do so) for nesting and perching.
• Leave areas in your yard or in the community un-mowed to provide homes for owl prey.
• Install owl boxes in your yard or in the community.
• Advocating for laws such as the Endangered Species Act, that protect imperiled owl species and their habitats, and the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, which will provide much-needed funding to support the conservation of owls in decline and other species of greatest conservation need, when passed.

Kids’ Corner

• Owl Fun! Kids and Family Activity Guide
• Craft: Paper Plate Owl
• Craft: Make an Owl Mask
• Craft: Owl Door Hanger
• Craft: Pinecone Snowy Owls
• Recipe: Rice Cake Snowy Owl
• Video: Watch on Owl Turn Its Head
• Video: How do burrowing owls scare animals away?

Bats provide a remarkable natural pest-control service, helping protect California’s Central Valley crops, from rice and vegetables to orchards of fruit and nut trees. Across the United States, bats provide billions of dollars’ worth of natural pest control. Their contribution is especially relevant in California’s Central Valley, one of the nation’s major agricultural regions.

The Mexican free-tailed bat is not only the world’s fastest mammal, but also one of our key insect-consumers. By foraging high above the ground, Mexican free-tailed bats can intercept flying insects before they oviposit, or lay eggs, potentially helping prevent future generations of crop-damaging pests.

Despite being the most common kind of bat in the Central Valley, there is no time to waste when it comes to conservation efforts.

Mortality Events

As a frequent flier to the warm, arid landscapes of the Southwest and Mexico, Mexican free-tailed bats may appear well-adapted to high temperatures. However, a concerning pattern has emerged.

Over the past five years, several large mortality events have been documented at maternity roosts throughout California’s Central Valley. In June 2022, more than 200 Mexican free-tailed bats were found dead beneath a roost in Modesto, with no apparent cause of death.

Between June 2022 and August 2025, multiple mortality events involving at least 100 bats were documented beneath a bridge in Butte City. In July 2024, more than 1,000 pups were found dead beneath a separate roost in Bakersfield. Later that year, in September, several hundred dead bats were observed beneath a maternity roost near Fresno.

Each event coincided with a period of peak summer heat. This pattern raises concerns about the vulnerability of Mexican free-tailed bats and their maternity roosts as the Central Valley experiences a warming climate due to climate change.

Maternity roosts are essential refuges for Mexican free-tailed bats to give birth and raise their young until they can make the migration down south. In California, the largest maternity roost is composed of over a quarter of a million individuals. Protecting these roosts is therefore an important part of conserving Mexican free-tailed bat populations.

Bat Research at California State University Sacramento

Witnessing one of these mortality events firsthand inspired the central research question: How do Mexican free-tailed bats regulate their body temperature during periods of extreme heat in California’s Central Valley?

To answer this question, researchers at California State University, Sacramento (Sac State), embarked on a project funded by the Wild Kingdom College and University Grant Program, a collaboration of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom and National Wildlife Federation.

This involved catching Mexican free-tailed bats emerging from a maternity roost and affixing temperature-sensitive transmitters to assess body temperature changes during high heat periods across late summer. Temperature loggers were also inserted into these roosts to compare body temperatures with outside temperature changes.

Research Goals

By revealing how these bats respond to extreme heat, this research can improve our understanding of their ability to cope with a warming climate and inform conservation efforts. Protecting Mexican free-tailed bats may also help preserve the natural pest-control services that benefit the Central Valley’s agricultural industry.

Beyond its conservation goals, this project also seeks to expand public appreciation of bats.

Students from Sac State gained hands-on field experience by helping capture, process, and release these incredible mammals. Outreach events, including those at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, introduced members of the public and legislators to bats and their importance. By combining research with education, the project aims to build appreciation for these often-overlooked animals.

About the Authors

Alexandra Lyon is a master’s student at California State University, Sacramento, with five years of experience working with wildlife across various fields, including environmental consulting. She is passionate about bat conservation, public education, and plans to pursue a career centered around bats and climate change.

Anna Doty is a Professor of Biology at California State University, Sacramento, with decades of experience studying small mammals and bats. She has worked across the world including Australia, South Africa, and the southeastern United States, where she has published research with an emphasis on bat physiological ecology.

One of our first big victories was led by hunters and anglers with the passage of the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act, which created an excise tax on firearms, ammunition, and archery equipment and directed the generated funds to states for wildlife management, conservation, and restoration. 

In 1950, we supported a similar plan for fishing equipment and helped pass the Dingell-Johnson Sportfish Restoration Act. To date, these two funds have directed more than $40 billion into fish and wildlife management, restoration, and conservation, and are but two of the innumerable contributions America’s hunters anglers have made to conservation over our country’s history.

Hunters and anglers also have an unmatched, intimate connection to the outdoors and to wildlife, things we can’t afford to lose in our modern world. They contribute countless hours to restoration projects and clean ups, to the conservation of public and private  lands, and to securing access to these lands. 

Hunters and anglers are simply invaluable in American conservation. They are a part of the fabric of the National Wildlife Federation and always will be. We’ve known it since 1936, and it remains true today. These are but a few of the reasons we support Amendment 83 in Colorado.

Amendment 83 would add Colorado to the 24 other states that constitutionally protect the right to hunt and fish. Proponents were spurred by several years of attacks by anti-hunting and fishing advocates to the tune of more than 20 separate efforts through ballot initiatives, proposed wildlife commission rulemakings, and legislation to restrict or prohibit legal hunting and fishing activities and science-based wildlife management. 

Efforts to restrict or prohibit hunting and fishing are growing, and not unique to Colorado. Over the past several years, anti-hunting and fishing advocates have deployed similar tactics across the United States, even going so far as to introduce a ballot initiative in Oregon (IP28) that would have prohibited hunting, fishing, and even raising livestock for food, and prohibited several other animal related practices. 

There have been two attempts to get the measure on the ballot that have thus far failed, but proponents have vowed to return again next year. Efforts like these are happening across the country. Clearly, the ability to hunt and fish is under attack. 

Hunting and Fishing Fund Conservation

The threats to hunting and fishing have broad implications well beyond limiting or prohibiting those activities themselves. Most states get the vast majority of their wildlife management budgets from hunting and angling license fees and the aforementioned Pittman-Robertson and Dingell-Johnson excise taxes through the sale of hunting and fishing equipment. 

Additionally, most state wildlife agencies do not receive general fund allocations from their respective state legislatures. Without license fees and excise tax revenue most states would see their wildlife management budget reduced by at least 60% or more. 

Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) receives 68% of its wildlife budget from license fees and roughly 16% of its budget from excise taxes. CPW operates as an “enterprise agency”, which means it does not depend on the state’s General Fund for operating revenue and has received little to no allocation from the state legislature over the past decade during the period the anti-hunting and fishing efforts have become more frequent. 

Proponents for prohibiting hunting and fishing do not address this in their communications while pushing these proposals across the country nor do they propose alternative funding models. It is easy to surmise with the budget situation in Colorado—and in many states—that there simply will not be much money for wildlife without traditional sources of revenue, i.e. hunting and fishing sources.

Beyond the obvious implications above, opponents of Amendment 83 have also been disseminating false claims about what the amendment would or could do. They have stated that Amendment 83 could bring back leghold traps in Colorado. The leghold trap ban was a constitutional amendment that passed in 1996. 

Changing the state constitution requires a ballot initiative and 55% or more voter approval. That would be the case for reversing the leghold trap ban. Amendment 83 does nothing to change the ban on leghold traps nor does it repeal or change any existing laws. 

Anti-hunting and fishing efforts over the past several years and their problematic implications have led a coalition of hunters, anglers, and wildlife advocates to propose Amendment 83 in order to ensure that the ability to hunt and fish becomes a right, and that the management of wildlife will be conducted by the professional wildlife agency rather than through ballot initiatives. 

A Necessary Action

Hunters and anglers believe that if we do not enshrine these rights, it will only be a matter of time before anti-hunting and fishing initiatives pass and end hunting, fishing, and science-based wildlife management in Colorado. Thus the necessity of Amendment 83. 

The National Wildlife Federation supports Amendment 83 because we understand and value the traditions of hunting and fishing, the value of hunters and anglers as conservationists, and the billions of dollars hunting and fishing license fees and excise taxes have contributed to conservation for decades. 

Simply put, without hunting and fishing, we would lose resources for wildlife management agencies and conservation, we would lose a huge connection to wildlife and the outdoors, and we would lose a key segment of the population that is deeply invested in and has a long history of wildlife conservation. We would lose part of ourselves.

As one of the oldest and largest wildlife conservation organizations, that is a fate we simply will not accept. 

Our home of twenty years flooded in 2024 in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton. Built in 1963, it had never flooded before, but the Green Swamp rose, the Withlacoochee River rose, and our home was filled with two to three feet of water. That water sat in the house for a long, long time.

Our family became part of the great diaspora of people fleeing flooded homes and altered lives. We found temporary shelter in my mom’s house, which we were deeply grateful for, and we were profoundly blessed to have a safe place to go and lots of friends, co-workers and fellow congregants to help us clean out our home when the waters receded. 

We had flood insurance, a wonderful support network, jobs and a tight knit family, but it still was one of the most challenging and overwhelming things we have endured. We eventually ended up in a rental house, high on a hill, with no bodies of water in sight. When our landlord offered to sell us this house, despite the fact it made sense, I hesitated. Did we really want to own another home again in Florida?

We could have renovated our flooded home in eastern Hernando County, a home we loved. We raised our children there, welcomed grandchildren into the world there, and made it through changes in jobs, loss of loved ones, health scares, and other upheavals. I always assumed that would be our home far into our old age. 

After the flood, when we faced renovating that home, I froze. I kept picturing looking out the window and seeing the flood waters slowly enveloping our home again. I had the acrid smell of mold in my nostrils and the memory of filling dumpster after dumpster with all our possessions. I could not do it. We sold the house.

We finally made the decision to buy the rental home after reflecting on a simple but profound gift of hope. My mom passed away last year, but before she did, she bought us a new hammock stand. She told me it was to help us create a new home, to start over, and to find new ways to connect with the place we now found ourselves. The box with the hammock stand arrived after we said goodbye to her and began to mourn.

I couldn’t open it for the longest time. The pain of her loss burned hot to the touch. But now it is softened with gentle and loving memories, and a realization that we must make peace with life and find a path forward.

So, this week I bought a hammock for that hammock stand. We are setting it up in the backyard, and we have started to think about finally unpacking all the things we have in storage. We want to sink new roots into this home and make it our new normal. We will hang our new hammock, start a new home, and find a sense of place and community again. Our journey continues with a gift of love and peace from my mom, a sense of hope and a leap of faith.

I look forward to the first night I lay out in our backyard and gaze up at the heavens in that hammock. I yearn for those bright stars, glowing moon, and celestial magic. I hope to find a small moment of peace and an island of stillness in the darkened night. I will offer a prayer for a changing climate and for those still struggling. And I will thank my mom for the gift of home and a hammock stand.

This column originally appeared in several Florida newspapers including the Tampa Bay Times, the Keysnews.com, and the Citrus County Chronicle.

Joe Murphy is a native and lifelong Floridian who lives along Florida’s Nature Coast. Joe is a former Wildlife Policy Specialist for NWF’s Gulf Program and contributes these posts as an alumnus and supporter. You can follow Joe on Facebook.

Most LeConte’s thrashers live in California, and one of the key tools we have to protect their dwindling habitat is the California Environmental Quality Act. An industry-backed initiative on the state’s ballot this year, Prop 45 would gut that state law—putting wildlife and people alike at risk in favor of corporate developers. As longstanding federal protections are being rolled back, Prop 45 threatens California’s strongest safeguard for our public health, air, land, and water.

What does Prop 45 do?

Prop 45, which California voters will consider in November, would create gaping loopholes in the state’s protections for clean air, water, and soil. Backed by data center developers, for-profit utilities, and the California Chamber of Commerce, the measure would make it easier and faster to build potentially polluting projects with less community input.

While proponents say the initiative aims to lower costs, the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates that implementing Prop 45 could saddle state and local governments with an additional $100 million or more in annual spending. It would also shift pollution- and healthcare-related expenses onto taxpayers, burdening the public with higher utility and healthcare bills while driving up long-term pollution clean-up costs.

What would Prop 45 mean for Californians?

Prop 45 prioritizes a speedy review process for corporate developers over people’s health.

As it stands now, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires that harm to air, water, and wildlife be disclosed and reduced before projects are approved. It also gives people a chance to weigh in on certain developments that may bring pollution to their neighborhood.

Currently, CEQA can require developers to adjust their project plans in order to reduce or offset harmful impacts. If Prop 45 succeeds, that would no longer be the case for many projects. 

Under Prop 45, decisions about what gets built near homes, schools, and water supplies would be made with less information, less public input, and fewer ways for communities to protect themselves. This change will likely hit hardest in places already burdened by more than their fair share of pollution.

For families living near freeways, warehouses, and industrial sites, environmental review is often the only defense against more asthma, more cancer, more toxic runoff, and more pollution. 

What would Prop 45 mean for wildlife?

California has the highest biodiversity of any U.S. state. It also has more threatened or endangered wildlife than any other state, with approximately 30% of its wildlife species at risk of extinction. For San Joaquin kit foxes, arroyo toads, California condors, and hundreds of other species, stopping the passage of Prop 45 could be the difference between survival and extinction.

Prop 45 would make it far easier for corporations to ignore impacts on wildlife. In addition to dismantling the California Environmental Quality Act, Prop 45 could dramatically weaken other state environmental protections. If there is a conflict between Prop 45 and a state water quality law, a state air quality law, the California Endangered Species Act, the California Coastal Act or any other statute, the language in Prop 45 “wins.” 

Vote NO on Prop 45

This reckless initiative will roll back critical public health and environmental protections and is being bank-rolled by the industries that stand to profit from its passage. Prop 45 would fast-track some of California’s most polluting projects, including data centers and fossil fuel power plants, while raising costs for taxpayers and limiting public oversight. It would undo crucial safeguards California’s communities depend on—while the federal protections that might have formed a backup are quickly vanishing. 

We need to keep putting wildlife and people first, not prioritize polluting special interests. Rejecting Prop 45 means protecting homes and lives—from fragile habitat for wildlife like the LeConte’s thrasher to the neighborhoods where Californians live, work, and raise their families. NWF is proud to stand with over 450 local, state and national organizations and elected officials and urge Californians to vote NO on Prop 45. 

Data center electricity demand is projected to double by 2027, while data centers’ land needs are expected to triple in the next five years. As data center development accelerates, driven by investments in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, developers are searching for more land. Increasingly, that search is extending into rural America.

Today, the vast majority of data centers are in urban areas, but roughly two-thirds of planned U.S. data centers are being proposed in rural areas. Rural counties are attractive to developers because they can offer preexisting cleared land, contiguous acreage, lower land prices, fewer nearby residents to oppose projects, easier access to large transmission corridors, and room for new power generation. 

Data centers can access farmland through rezoning, direct purchases, or development of supporting energy infrastructure. In many parts of the country, agricultural lands are being rezoned for industrial use to develop data centers.

Rezoning—along with extraordinary purchase offers—can encourage farmers to sell their lands at prices well above their agricultural value. The prospect of future development can also create speculative value, increasing land and rental costs and real estate taxes for farmers who choose to not sell and remain in production.

Growing electricity demand is also driving the development of new transmission lines, substations, and generation infrastructure, placing additional pressure on agricultural land. In some data center hotspots, these projects would not be built without new demand from the industry. 

These projects can affect farmers, even when a data center is not built directly on their property. Utilities may use eminent domain—the government-authorized power to acquire private property for a qualifying public use with compensation—to obtain land or easements for transmission infrastructure. The use of eminent domain for energy infrastructure varies by state, and some states place restrictions on acquiring private property for economic development.

However, transmission projects may still qualify when they are justified by broader public purposes, such as improving grid reliability or meeting electricity demand. For farmers, this can mean losing productive acreage or having new transmission corridors cross and divide agricultural land.

The Fight for Water Resources

Data center development can also create competition for water. Many large facilities rely on water-based cooling systems to manage the substantial heat generated by high-density computing, including AI workloads. Data centers also have a significant indirect water footprint through the electricity they consume. This is because thermoelectric power plants, which generate much of the electricity used by data centers, require large amounts of water for cooling, meaning the water demands associated with data centers can extend beyond the facility itself.

Agriculture is already one of the largest users of water in the United States. Between 2010 and 2020, agricultural irrigation accounted for 47 percent of total U.S. freshwater withdrawals. In regions where water resources are limited, new demand from data centers and their supporting energy infrastructure can place additional pressure on the watersheds, groundwater supplies, and municipal systems that farmers and rural residents depend on.

Today, communities often lack clear information about how much water data centers use. Inconsistent and limited reporting makes it difficult to compare facilities or assess their cumulative effects on local water supplies.

“In Virginia, fifth-generation farmer Cory Garrett is fighting Caroline County’s effort to acquire his riverfront property for a proposed water pipeline that would deliver up to 14 million gallons of water per day to support data center development. Garrett’s case illustrates how the water demands of data center development can reach beyond facility boundaries and directly affect agricultural land and the farmers who depend on it.”

Impacts on Wildlife and Ecosystems

Agricultural landscapes are already highly modified ecosystems. But when agricultural land is developed for industrial uses, that loss is permanent. Conversion from productive agricultural land to industrial use may limit opportunities for adopting conservation practices on working lands or diversifying production systems. In turn, this could cause further cumulative environmental impacts, both in the U.S. and abroad, if new land is converted to farmland elsewhere. 

Data center campuses may replace agricultural and undeveloped land with buildings, parking areas, roads, and other impervious surfaces. Supporting infrastructure—including transmission lines, substations, and water infrastructure—can further fragment fields and natural areas. Construction of data center facilities can compact soils, alter drainage, and disturb vegetation.

These changes can also affect the prairie strips, forests, grasslands, wetlands, and riparian areas that may be embedded within or around agricultural landscapes. This habitat fragmentation can disrupt wildlife movement and reduce habitat for species that utilize agricultural landscapes, including those that support agricultural productivity, like pollinators.

Data center infrastructure can also introduce additional stressors, as these facilities may emit significant noise and air pollution or alter the microclimate of the area. For example, research has found that anthropogenic noise can inhibit pollination by bumblebees, while certain electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure has been associated with reduced flower visitation by honeybees and changes in plant metabolism.

People and wildlife will also see additional impacts from climate change if the rapid growth in energy demand for data centers is met by coal and gas-fired generation rather than renewable energy and energy storage. A reliance on fossil fuels will make international greenhouse gas emission reduction targets more difficult to reach.

As concerns over the loss of productive farmland grows, marginal agricultural lands with low productivity may prove to be another target for data center developers. But low agricultural productivity doesn’t equate to low ecological value—when restored to grasslands or wetlands, these areas can give native biodiversity a boost.

Farming Communities are Fighting Back 

At the local level, farmers and rural communities are increasingly pushing back against data center development and the conversion of agricultural land. Across the country, farmers have rejected multimillion-dollar offers for their land. In Kentucky, one farmer reportedly declined a $26 million offer for her farmland, while a Pennsylvania farmer has repeatedly rejected offers exceeding $15 million per acre, opting instead to preserve his land.

These individual decisions are occurring amid broader concerns about the long-term resilience of U.S. agriculture. Rising costs and competing land-use pressures are increasing strain on producers. Since 1982, cropland, pastureland, and rangeland declined, while developed land increased by about 66 percent. This makes the permanent loss of productive farmland an increasingly consequential land-use decision.

Communities are also questioning whether the economic benefits of data centers justify their local impacts. Developers and public officials frequently emphasize construction jobs and economic investment, but data center operations can require relatively few permanent workers. Public opposition is also widespread: a recent Gallup poll found that roughly 7 in 10 Americans oppose AI data centers being built in their communities. 

Local governments therefore play a critical role in determining how data center development affects rural communities. While states control many aspects of energy infrastructure and utility regulation, local governments typically retain authority over zoning, land use, and other community-level impacts, and often own or oversee water utilities. These authorities can give residents a meaningful avenue to influence whether and where large industrial facilities are built.

The Policy Landscape

State preemption—laws that allow states to override local zoning and land-use regulations—presents a significant risk to this local decision-making authority. These laws can restrict local governments’ ability to regulate certain large energy facilities and limit local control over data center development. 

Developers are also increasingly pursuing unincorporated rural land, where projects may face fewer zoning requirements, rezoning votes, or other forms of local review. This can reduce opportunities for residents to participate in decisions that fundamentally alter agricultural landscapes. 

The federal government could also intervene, such as by preempting state and local authority over electric supply decisions for data centers, or conversely by establishing minimum standards for water use efficiency and requiring renewable energy and energy storage to meet new data center energy needs. 

Balancing Digital Infrastructure With Agricultural and Wildlife Resilience

As data centers increasingly expand across rural America’s farmlands, communities, local and state officials, and policymakers must weigh how to accommodate new digital infrastructure without unnecessarily sacrificing farmland, water supplies, wildlife habitat, or rural communities’ agency.

Preventing harm from rapid growth requires policies that account for data centers’ full land, water, climate, and infrastructure footprint. Protecting agricultural resilience means evaluating not only where data centers are built (avoiding siting on farmland and valuable wildlife habitat), but also where and how their generation, transmission, water, and transportation infrastructure is located.

Greater transparency, meaningful community engagement, and clear communication can help ensure that rural communities have a meaningful voice in decisions that will shape their land and resources for decades to come.

The effort to celebrate, conserve, protect and enhance our public lands culminates with National Public Lands Day on September 26th. This month, I am hopeful that many Americans will gather in shared purpose and spirit on this special day in a fellowship of service and join efforts at the local, state and federal level to serve our public lands.

Clean ups, plantings, wildlife surveys, trail maintenance, painting parties, group outings and invasive plant removals are just some of the options available to volunteers across the country. The theme of the day is turning support into effort and showing how you value public lands.

In 2026, this month and day are more important than ever.

Our public lands, across the Gulf and across the nation, are facing unprecedented assaults from politicians, developers, the oil and gas industry, mining and logging, and other extractive industries. In Florida, for example, over the last two years, we have defeated efforts to develop our state parks and swap portions of our state forests and wildlife management areas for development. 

Unfortunately, those who would sacrifice our public lands to greed and political influence do not give up. Bad ideas and bad actors simply wait for another opportunity—the bulldozers will return to the gates of Eden.

So let us commit during National Public Lands Month 2026 to give voice to place, to use passion and creativity to engage in advocacy and to let our elected leaders know that public lands are essential to our communities.

So, what can you do?

First and foremost, get out there! You love what you know, and you only know what you experience. Get wet, dirty and immerse yourself in all things wild. You can find a guided hike or outing through most state parks, and organizations like your local Sierra Club, Audubon Society, or Native Plant Society all regularly schedule and lead local trips into wild places and parks.

Be your own north star! Bust out the map and chart your own adventure down the river or along the trail in September. If you are in Florida, take advantage of things like the Florida 2026 Hunting, Fishing, and Camping Sales Tax Holiday (September 1st through December 31st) to buy and use the gear needed to watch wildlife, sleep under the stars or catch a mess of fish. Go online and see if your state or surrounding states have similar programs.

Pile the whole family into the car and head out. Families that spend time together on our public lands are stronger for it, so unplug the devices and plug into the world around you as a family. Your kids may not remember the last electronic experience they had, but they will remember the fish you caught and the amazing animals you saw through the binoculars.

Maybe most importantly, once you enjoy our public lands, fight for them. Give voice to them. Speak for them. They are the birthright of all Americans. The idea of setting aside natural places for outdoor recreation and wildlife is an essential part of the American experience and core to who we are as a people. Become part of that tradition.

Create artwork, music, writings, poems, pictures, videos or multi-media projects using what you learned or experienced on public lands. Share your creations with friends, neighbors, fellow congregants, and co-workers. Share them on social media and with elected officials.

Ask candidates running for state level public office if they support your state’s land acquisition program and are willing to fully fund it. Ask those running for Congress if they will speak up for hunters and anglers and defend public lands for recreational use. Ask them if they will stop efforts to build more roads, expand energy leasing, and weaken protections for public lands. 

Start traditions this September in recognition of National Public Lands Month that take you, your family and your advocacy as a citizen in a new and better direction. Spend time in our state parks and state forests. Speak up for what you have learned to love through time on the trail, the river and at the fishing hole.

Use these experiences to regularly contact elected officials and remind them that you, your family, and your community value public lands. You want them acquired, well managed and protected. That will be a mighty and wonderful way to observe National Public Lands Month this year.

Learn more about National Public Lands Day events in your community 

Learn more about the Florida 2026 Hunting, Fishing, and Camping Sales Tax Holiday

Joe Murphy is a native and lifelong Florida resident who lives along Florida’s Nature Coast. He is a former Wildlife Policy Specialist for NWF’s Gulf Program and contributes these blog posts as an alumnus and supporter. You can follow Joe on Facebook. An edited version of this blog post was published in several Florida newspapers and social media sites.

It is particularly special for its accessibility, providing a serene environment where you can observe diverse wildlife at the intersection of various ecosystems. The refuge is not just “a park.” It’s a spectacular destination for birders, paddlers, SUPers, recreational anglers and hunters—and, most importantly, a vital landing spot for migrating birds. It is also a living landscape of Indigenous history, outdoor recreation, but facing growing development pressure.

Grab your binoculars, breathe in the fresh air, and soak in the sights. Now look up. You’ll find a towering tree cradling a massive bald eagle nest. Now peer toward the shore: In the shallows at low tide, you’ll see a great egret fishing quietly. Further downstream, the cackle of a kingfisher hovering over the water breaks the silence.

Just off Interstate 5, less than an hour from Portland, this mosaic of wetlands, grasslands and forest offers an immediate escape into the wild. But Ridgefield is more than a scenic stop. It is a critical resting and feeding ground along the Pacific Flyway, a place where thousands of migrating birds can land, refuel and continue their journey. It is also a living landscape of Indigenous history, outdoor recreation and growing development pressure.

An abundance of birds and history

Established in 1965, the Refuge is a lifeline for millions of migratory birds making their way along the Pacific Flyway, the major north-south flyway for migratory birds in the Americas, extending from Alaska to Patagonia. More than 200 bird species have been observed here, including large numbers of ducks and geese. Peak migration populations are estimated to include 35,000 geese, 3,000 swans, and 1,500 cranes.

For thousands of years, the area has been home to Chinookan Peoples of the Lower Columbia River. In 1805, it was a landing spot for the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Camping near Post Office Lake, Clark may have lost some precious Zzzzzs due to the prolific birdlife of the area.

He wrote: “I could not sleep for the noise kept by the Swans, Geese, white & black brant, Ducks &c. on an opposite base, & Sand hill Crane, they were emensely numerous and their noise horrid.”

Despite the raucous birdlife, there is a rich history of Native settlements here. The village of Cathlapotle, excavated in the 1990s, is located on what is now the refuge’s Carty Unit and was one of the largest villages on the river.

New development at the water’s edge

National wildlife refuges face many challenges today, among them, the lack of adequate funding. The Ridgefield Refuge is no different. But now the refuge is facing pressure from a different direction. A proposed 40-acre waterfront development would bring a hotel, housing and retail space to the opposite shore of Lake River.

The Port of Ridgefield says the project would generate jobs and economic activity. Conservationists caution that the potential economic benefits could come at considerable and irreversible environmental cost.

Habitat fragmentation and degradation are among the first potential impacts, coupled with runoff pollution from the hotel and housing developments. Motor oil, trash and other pollutants could flow directly into the water without treatment.

What about the birds? 

Corina Newsome of the National Wildlife Federation said “migrating birds already face many challenges. National wildlife refuges provide places where birds can feed, breed, nest and rest.

They need healthy habitat, free from heavy traffic, bright lights and excessive noise. These refuges also give the public access to experience the incredible bird diversity found in the region, and to witness the amazing spectacle of migration.”

The benefits to endangered fish species of the area should not be overlooked either, said James Adkins, executive director of the Association of Northwest Steelheaders.

“Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge is most often thought of as a vital refuge for migratory birds, but the wetland, lake and riverine habitat in and around the refuge provides critical rearing areas for endangered fish species throughout their life cycle,” said Adkins. “By attempting to capitalize on the benefits of the wildlife refuge for nature and the public enjoyment, the proposed development will end up compromising the integrity of the entire ecosystem.”

Flight for birds, sights for birders

As fall approaches, the action is already underway for the many birders who flock to national wildlife refuges along the Columbia River Basin. Fall migration has begun, and the skies of the Pacific Flyway are full of motion. In mid-September, nearly 900,000 birds passed through Clark County, home to the Ridgefield Refuge. The figures climb by approximately 100,000 birds a night and will gain momentum through November.

Fast facts for birdwatchers along the Pacific Flyway: 

• During fall migration, most birds pass through the contiguous U.S. from early September through October.
• Migration is largely invisible from the ground. Birds usually begin migrating 30 to 45 minutes after sunset, with the greatest number in flight two to three hours later.
• Migrating birds regularly fly between 1,000 and 3,000 feet, with some flying as high as  10,000 feet above ground! Seasonal timing and weather conditions can  impact their migration patterns.

Pine, or conifer, needles are leaves that evolved into a very different shape from the flat, broad deciduous leaves we normally think of as leaves. They’re narrow, waxy, and tough, and built to hang on through cold and drought rather than drop and regrow every year.

A pine tree’s needles come bundled in little sheathed clusters called fascicles, with either two, three, or five to a bundle. Each one of these is doing the same thing broad leaves do—catching light and turning it into food through photosynthesis.

Evergreen Doesn’t Mean Forever

We tend to learn to sort trees into two large bins: deciduous trees that drop their leaves, and evergreen trees that keep theirs. But “evergreen” doesn’t mean a needle lasts forever. It means that the tree as a whole will always be green, because it will always be holding a few years’ worth of leaves at once.

Most pine needles live somewhere between two and five years before dropping to the ground. Because the tree sheds only its innermost, oldest needles while the newest growth stays green at its branch tips, this loss usually goes unnoticed. Eastern white pines are the exception: they shed so many two- and three-year old needles at once that the interior of the tree turns vibrant yellow in the fall!

No pine ever sheds its needles all at once. Instead, they release needles to the ground in a slow, steady trickle, year-round or in short bursts like the white pine. The result on the forest floor is not a seasonal blanket but a deep, springy, ever-renewing layer. And that layer is habitat.

What Lives in Needle Duff

A thick layer of dead needles may look devoid of life, but peel that layer back and you’ll find one of the busiest neighborhoods in your garden. The mat of fallen needles, often called duff, shelters countless tiny species, including mites, beetles, spiders, ants, and centipedes.

These invertebrates serve as valuable food for the toads, salamanders, turtles, and snakes that live on and under the needle layer. Because most of our backyard birds depend on insects to feed their young, needle duff can also provide a buffet for many bird species.

Learn about the National Wildlife Federation’s work to restore longleaf pine habitat here!

Needle Layer vs. Broadleaf Layer

Needles are built differently from broadleaves, and they behave differently once they fall. A waxy cuticle, and slow-to-digest compounds means needles decompose far more gradually. Where a broadleaf layer can be half-gone by midsummer, matted down and well on its way to soil, a needle layer breaks down at a patient, steady pace and may remain for years after the tree dies.

Slow decomposition has its own gifts. Needle duff is durable and deep, and its interlocking, water-shedding structure knits into a mat that stays put on slopes and open ground where lighter leaves would simply blow or wash away. Instead of a seasonal blanket that arrives in fall and thins by summer, it offers steady, year-round cover to wildlife. Different tenants, a different rhythm, but still unmistakably alive.

So when the leaves come down this fall, remember that the needles coming down alongside them are leaves too. They’re feeding the soil, holding the ground in place, and sheltering an entire understory of small lives!