El Yunque National Forest, formerly known as the Caribbean National Forest, is located on the island of Puerto Rico. It is also the name of the second highest mountain peak in the Forest. El Yunque is the only tropical rain forest in the United States National Forest System. El Yunque National Forest, formerly known as the Caribbean National Forest, is located on the island of Puerto Rico. It is also the name of the second highest mountain peak in the Forest. El Yunque is the only tropical rain forest in the United States National Forest System. Our free Rainforest ecards feature stunning nature photography -- captured by e-members just like you -- and show the landscapes and animals that we're working to protect. Sending a nature ecard is a great way to share your love of nature and brighten up someone's day. Have Great Photos? If you have taken a photo that would make a great Rainforest e-card, upload it to our Flickr group and tag it with rainforest-TNC09. Your image could be featured in our next round of e-cards! (Find out more about this easy way to enter.)
We enjoyed the chance of a lifetime to work at the world-renowned Mammoth Site with expert bonebed and laboratory curators, geologists and paleontologist. Once gigantic mammoths roamed freely on the high plains of North America. Now their remains lay undisturbed, entombed in the earth. Scientists estimate that more than 100 mammoths have accumulated in this small area. We learned how to excavate, record and preserve fossil material. The staff provided extensive lectures about the geology and paleontology history of the area. Congress passes an enormous Transportation Bill about every six years, chock-a-block full of largess for the states and the transportation industry for road and bridge building and other associated construction. In the past, the bill has been viewed, with no small justification, as a mega-pork delivery mechanism. Recently, however, transportation legislation has included some important conservation elements, not unlike the earlier evolution of the Farm Bill, with conservation elements existing alongside subsidies. In April, as the transportation bill was being considered, a number of bird-oriented groups wrote letters to key Senators requesting support for important conservation elements in the Senate version of the bill - for Transportation Enhancements, Scenic Byways, and Refuge Roads in particular. These groups, mostly operating through the Bird Conservation Alliance, included, among others, the American Bird Conservancy, the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, New Jersey Audubon Society, Illinois Audubon Society, Defenders of Wildlife, Tennessee Ornithological Society, Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, and the National Wildlife Refuge Association. Then, on 17 May, the Senate passed H.R. 3, the Safe Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2005 (SAFETEA), also known as the Highway Bill. The legislation includes significant provisions for transportation enhancements (including rails-to-trails and birding-trail support), scenic byways, refuge roads (vital to address a $2.1-billion backlog), and other creative elements, including funding for the elimination of non-native invasive plants along roadways. Differences between the Senate and House bills still must be resolved, and the issue of spending goals must be addressed. (President Bush has threatened a veto if the spending goes over $284 billion.) The results surely deserve watching.
A pair of Flame-colored Tanagers at Madera Canyon, southeast Arizona, appeared in mid-April, and the birds have been reported there off and on since. Flame-colored Tanagers have been found in the U.S. more than a dozen times since the first report in 1985 in Cave Creek Canyon, in the Chiracahua Mountains of Arizona. The species normally ranges from northern Mexico to Panama. Since the mid-1980s time, individuals and pairs have been found in varied canyons of the "sky islands" in southeast Arizona, including the Santa Ritas and the Huachucas. In the spring of 2003, a male Flame-colored Tanager was observed periodically along the road near the Madera Kubo Bed and Breakfast in Madera Canyon, in the Santa Rita Mountains. The next year, a pair nested in an oak just across the way from the Madera Kubo. And this year, the tanagers are usually observed high above the cabins in the sycamores across the road from the Madera Kubo Gift Shop. The occurrence of Flame-colored Tanagers in the United States is complicated by the tendency of lone male Flame-colored Tanagers to pair with female Western (and even Hepatic) Tanagers, producing a vexing situation with the potential of hybrid individuals . There have been at least three known such these cases.
