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Decades after they were hunted to near extinction, black bears are now rebounding in southern US states
Black bears were once abundant across most of the United States, including the lower Mississippi River basin. But decades of habitat destruction and overhunting in the 1800s and 1900s threatened to wipe out the population altogether.
But local policies and actions have helped the species rebound in the region. Mississippi stopped black bear hunting in 1932 after its populations dropped to an estimated 12 bears; Arkansas banned hunting and seen its population surge from 40 to 50 bears to around 5,000; Louisiana banned bear hunting in the late 1980s; and more.
Even better: Both residents and visitors are learning simple ways to safely coexist with the rising population of black bears, like transitioning to bear-resistant trash cans, and using safe deterrents that don’t “cause long-term harm, but enough that it makes that bear uncomfortable.”
Indigenous “turtle women” are helping vulnerable reptiles recover in the Ecuadorian Amazon
Seven Indigenous Siekopai women in Ecuador’s Amazon call themselves Tari Nomiowa’i — the “turtle women.”
For years, they have patrolled riverbanks, collected and recorded turtle eggs, and moved them to a protected incubation facility. After they hatch, the baby turtles are hand-raised by the same women.
Without their hands-on intervention tactics, the turtle eggs would be poached by hunters, crushed by boats, or washed away by climate-change-driven flooding.
In the 2025–26 nesting season, the turtle women collected 235 eggs, successfully hatched 208 turtles, and released them into the Aguarico River with the help of local schoolchildren.
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