Leopoldo Miranda

• MS Zoology-Wildlife Management
• Managing Director at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

In Florida, an innovative conservation strategy has taken root with the Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) Program, aimed at protecting the Florida panther. This innovative approach aims to save an important species and showcases the use of economic incentives to promote proactive stewardship for environmental conservation.

Imagine a person in the woods at dawn, with a bow or a gun, not just there to hunt, but to take care of nature. This person is a hunter in America, and they do a lot more than you might think. They help keep the number of animals just right so that the forests don't get too crowded or too empty, ensuring a balanced ecosystem where wildlife can thri...

Earlier this year, I embarked on a transformative project on my property: the clearcutting of approximately 40 acres of loblolly pines. This decision was not taken lightly. However, it is a vital step toward restoring the native longleaf pines, an ecosystem rich in biodiversity and historical significance. The revenue generated from this timber har...

Earlier this year, Conservation without Conflict had its 2024 Summit in Arlington, VA. One of the Keynote speakers was Leslie Allison, Executive Director of the Western Landowners Alliance. Her presentation was not only beautiful, but it was impactful. Leslie presented a topic that we do not often talk about in the conservation community. In her pr...

In the heart of Arlington, VA, from February 20th to 22nd, the Conservation Without Conflict Coalition held its Annual Summit, a gathering that could very well shape the future of wildlife conservation across the United States. With a focus on collaboration and voluntary action, the event marked a significant shift toward actionable conservation st...

THE PUERTO RICO BREEDING BIRD ATLAS. Jessica Castro-Prieto, Joseph M. Wunderle, Jr., José A. Salguero-Faria, Sandra Soto-Bayo, Johann D. Crespo-Zapata, and William A. Gould. 2021. General Technical Report IITF-53. U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, International Institute of Tropical Forestry, Rio Piedras, PR. 311 pp. https://doi.org/10...

Forager (predator) abundance may mediate feeding rates in wading birds. Yet, when modeled, feeding rates are typically derived from the purely prey-dependent Holling Type II (HoII) functional response model. Estimates of feeding rates are necessary to evaluate wading bird foraging strategies and their role in food webs; thus, models that incorporat...

ABSTRACT.—Navassa Island and waters surrounding it were designated a National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in 1999, becoming the eighth unit of the Caribbean Islands NWR Complex. Five expeditions to the island between July 1998 and October 2006 yielded 18 new records of birds, bringing the species list to 58. Winter mist netting allowed for the banding of...

Two of the Fish and Wildlife Service’s most popular and effective programs for voluntary, citizen and community-based conservation initiatives are the Partners for Fish and Wildlife and Coastal programs. They are a bridge to owners and managers of non-federal lands for development of partnerships to benefit trust species. The approach is simple: en...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service relies on the strength and support of others to successfully restore high-priority habitat. The Huntington Beach State Park Project in South Carolina and the Pocomoke River Conservation Partnership in Maryland are prime examples of the use of cooperative conservation.

The FWS has traditionally approached conservation with an emphasis on “more” - more protection, more restoration, and more management. We find opportunities in our programs, take action, and then report on completed projects using standard measurements, such as number of acres, river miles, and funds expended. Recent advances in the field of conser...

Shaded coffee plantations have been heralded for their conservation value to avifauna. Most studies emphasize benefits to Neotropical migrants. Less is known about how resident species use planta- tions. It has been hypothesized that in Puerto Rico shaded coffee plantations served as a refuge for resi- dent forest avifauna during periods of widespr...

The Saint Croix ground lizard (Ameiva polops) is a small lizard with adults measuring 1.5–3.5 inches (35–77 millimeters) from snout to vent. It is considered one of the world’s most endangered reptiles, with fewer than 500 individuals living in three tiny islands off the coast of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The lizard was believed to be e...

When Columbus arrived in the Caribbean, the eastern islands were covered by extraordinary tropical coastal forests. After centuries of European colonization, few of those ecosystems remain intact. The colonization of Culebra began in 1880, commanded by Don Cayetano Escudero. The fi rst settlement was located in an area now managed by the Puerto Ric...

Puerto Rico has a well-established protected areas system safeguarding good examples of tropical ecological systems that have survived human interference. Many fine studies by professional biologists and ecologists have contributed to a solid scientific infrastructure supporting biodiversity conservation in Puerto Rico. The Nature Conservancy, whos...

Traditionally, coffee is cultivated under a shading canopy of native trees in tropical areas of the world. Within the U.S., coffee is cultivated only in Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Shade coffee plantations are a simplified but stable agro-ecosystem. Their shading canopy provides most of the ecological functions of natural environments such as nutrient...

La región de roca caliza de Puerto Rico cubre aproximadamente el 27.5 por ciento de la superficie de la Isla y se subdivide entre la zona caliza del Norte, la zona caliza del Sur y la caliza dispersa. Todas las zonas calizas tienen características de karso1. Los términos técnicos que aparecen en letra negrita en este informe se definen en la secció...

Adaptado por Fernando Silva (Fideicomiso de Conservacion de Puerto Rico) para el seminario de periodistas "Fauna alada, nuestras aves y murcielagos. Hacienda Buena Vista, Ponce, Puerto Rico. Febrero 9, 2002

The limestone region of Puerto Rico covers about 27.5 percent of the island's surface and is subdivided into the northern, southern, and dispersed limestone areas. All limestone areas have karst features. The karst belt is that part of the northern limestone with the most spectacular surficial karst landforms. It covers 142,544 ha or 65 percent of...

Located in the Central Mountains, Los Tres Picachos Forest is the latest addition to the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources network of state managed forests. To protect and adequately manage this valuable ecosystem, basic information on species presence, abundance, and distri-bution is needed. We present the first compreh...

ON APRIL 23, 1999 WE observed a pair of adult Black-Cowled Oriole (Icterus dominicensis) feeding two young Black-Cowled Orioles and two juvenile Puerto Rican Stripe-headed Tanager (Spindalis portoricensis). This observation occurred at a mango tree (Mangifera indica) in Camino Los González just north of road PR 146 Km. 16.4 of Barrio Frontón in the...

We studied the foraging ecology of wading birds in shallow-water mangrove swamps in southwestern Puerto Rico in 1994-1995. We needed reliable estimates of prey availability. Kushlan's (1981) l-m" throw-trap is useful to obtain such estimates in various shallow-waterh abitats. However, its heavy,b ox-like frame made it difficult to work in our study...

The food habits of wading birds in the tropics are poorly known, particularly in coastal systems. We documented the food habits of Tricolored Herons (Egretta tricolor), Great Egrets (Ardea alba), Snowy Egrets (E. thula) and Little Blue Herons (E. caerulea), and assessed the degree of similarity among their diets in a mangrove swamp in southwestern...