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Keeping Track just joined the forum so we thought we'd tell you a bit about our organization and a big project nearing completion. As a member of this forum, you probably know that habitat loss is now identified as the main threat to wildlife survival. Susan Morse, Keeping Track's founder and science director is aiming to slow or even reverse the trend by creating a grassroots guide to habitat conservation.
 
Writing for the general public as well as wildlife professionals and conservation leaders, Morse sees an unmet opportunity to spark thousands more conservation projects across North America. Her goal is to equip many more people with the information needed to curb the destruction of habitats that benefit human and animal populations alike.
 
“Land where a bobcat or an otter can live is also land that supports countless other species, all the while helping to keep local water sources clean, soils intact, the air pure, carbon sequestered and all life forms in balance,” she says. “But people often don’t realize how much the loss of even a relatively small piece of land can degrade an area’s biodiversity and ecological health.”
 
Morse comes to her latest project deep in a lifetime devoted to wildlife research and conservation. She is a nationally renowned wildlife tracker, forester, writer, public speaker and photographer. The non-profit organization she founded, Keeping Track, has over the last few decades field-trained thousands of people in identifying and documenting prime wildlife habitat so that it can be conserved.
 
“Keeping Track’s programs have led to the conservation of more than 40,000 acres, made highways safer for people and animals, and inspired people of wide-ranging interests to go to bat for wildlife,” Morse says. “The idea behind this book is to put much of that same information into the hands of people everywhere so those successes can be multiplied many times over.
 
“That way, we can keep the list of threatened and endangered species from growing any longer.”
 
The book will contain detailed information on more than 40 species, including how to identify the species living on the landscape, along with descriptions of the types of habitats those animals need to survive. The species include moose, bobcat, black bear, fisher and others Morse has studied in the deep forest within steps of her writing cabin in northern Vermont. She’s also covering cougar, caribou, Dall sheep, wolves, wolverines and dozens of other species she’s researched through expeditions into southern swamps, western deserts, Arctic tundra and other remote areas.
 
The book will be published by Princeton University Press. Morse will donate all royalties from its publication to Keeping Track so it can continue its outreach and education work on behalf of habitat conservation.
 
Among the audiences Morse writes for are members of the more than 1,000 land trusts across the United States. “Land trusts can’t protect everything,” says Morse. “Our book will help them do a better job of finding the most important projects and documenting their merits, which is critical in today’s increasingly competitive fundraising environment.
 
“Plus, by knowing just what makes a parcel important as habitat, land trusts will be better able to safeguard and even improve upon those qualities.”
 
A good portion of Morse’s work with Keeping Track has put her in contact with state and federal wildlife agencies. She sees the book serving as an important desk and field reference for their staffs as well as other natural resource professionals, including foresters, highway designers and park rangers.
 
“Because it’s being written for the layman as well as the professional, it can help win broader public involvement in conservation projects, even inspiring and educating citizen volunteers to assist in wildlife conservation initiatives.”
 
Morse has been working on the book for about 10 years. She’s seen threats to habitat and wildlife survival only grow and compound, whether from climate disruptions, poorly planned development or even a simple lack of information. This has now led her to step away from some of her traditional roles at Keeping Track to focus on wrapping up the book.
 
During its early years a relatively small group of donors supported the project. Morse is now ramping up fundraising so she can get the manuscript and photographs to Princeton University Press as soon as possible. Susan has posted a video and other information about the project at tinyurl.com/SavingHabitats.
 
Welcome to the forum. It is interesting to hear about the work Keeping Track is doing. 
I am posting a link to your home page incase anyone is interested.

http://keepingtrack.org/

It sounds like your organization is doing a lot of conservation work. That is admirable. If we are going to save species and habitats it is going to take the work of many people and organizations. I have left the link to your fund raising page.  I hope the book is a success. It sounds like it will be a good source of knowledge for people wanting to understand conservation.
Good luck with it.
Hello....a warm welcome! Smile
Thank you, Keeping Track for letting us know what valuable work Susan Morse, and Keeping Track are doing. I wish you all the best.