Will McCarry

Virginia

Staff Writer at Conservation International

Indie Folk from Virginia.

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Articles

What on Earth is ‘eDNA’?

3 weeks ago | conservation.org | Will McCarry

Editor’s note: From “blue carbon” to “ecosystem services,” environmental jargon is everywhere. Conservation International looks to make sense of it in an occasional explainer series we’re calling “What on Earth?"In this installment, we explore eDNA, a wildlife monitoring tool that is changing the way we study the natural world. I keep seeing this thing called "eDNA" in science articles. What is it?
For this scientist, the ‘real work’ is in listening

Feb 3, 2025 | conservation.org | Will McCarry

When presented with a choice, she always chose the adventure. Early in her career, Stephanie Wear set her sights on working internationally, supporting ocean conservation work in places she had seen only in magazines and movies. Today, Wear leads the Betty and Gordon Moore Center for Science at Conservation International, one of the world’s foremost centers for conservation research.
In Kenya, global crisis sparked ‘a new way to do conservation’

Nov 14, 2024 | conservation.org | Will McCarry

EDITOR’S NOTE: Few places on Earth are as evocative — or as imperiled — as the vast grasslands of sub-Saharan Africa. In a new Conservation News series, “Saving the Savanna,” we look at how communities are working to protect these places — and the wildlife within. MARA NORTH CONSERVANCY, Kenya — Under a fading sun, Kenya’s Maasai Mara came alive. A land cruiser passed through a wide-open savanna, where a pride of lions stirred from a day-long slumber.
Amid a vanishing savanna, new corridor a ‘big win’ for wildlife

Nov 13, 2024 | conservation.org | Will McCarry

Brazil is home to a vast, but overlooked, tropical savanna called the Cerrado. This sprawling patchwork of open grassland and scattered woodlands covers almost a quarter of the country — an area about the size of Greenland — providing habitat for 1,200 mammals, birds and reptiles and about 12,000 plant species. Among its remarkable wildlife are giant anteaters, maned wolves, armadillos and brilliantly colored macaws.
Wildlife find haven amid Brazil’s vanishing savanna

Nov 12, 2024 | conservation.org | Will McCarry

Brazil is home to a vast, but overlooked, tropical savanna called the Cerrado. This sprawling patchwork of open grassland and scattered woodlands covers almost a quarter of the country — an area about the size of Greenland — providing habitat for 1,200 mammals, birds and reptiles and 6,000 plant species. Among its remarkable wildlife are giant anteaters, maned wolves, armadillos and brilliantly colored macaws.
Can tree farms save a forest? Brazil is about to find out

Oct 21, 2024 | conservation.org | Will McCarry

Editor’s note: Read this story in Portuguese here. MATO GROSSO DO SUL, Brazil — On a blistering day in late August, Will Turner gazed across a dusty road, red as Mars, into the fringe of a dense forest — its canopy alive with the hum of insects and chattering birds. This forest in southern Brazil is an oasis — a remnant of a nearly forgotten ecosystem in a region now dominated by degraded cattle pastures.
Your guide to the UN biodiversity summit

Oct 14, 2024 | conservation.org | Will McCarry

Next week, leaders and representatives from nearly 200 countries will gather in Cali, Colombia, for the United Nations biodiversity summit known as COP16. Together, they will negotiate how the world can protect biodiversity and the ecosystems that sustain life on Earth. It’s a critical responsibility. From Africa’s savannas to the coral reefs of the Pacific, wildlife is under severe threat. of animals and plants are at risk of extinction by 2030 — and humanity is largely to blame.
Long silenced, an African park roars back to life

Aug 20, 2024 | conservation.org | Will McCarry

EDITOR’S NOTE: Few places on Earth are as evocative — or as imperiled — as the vast grasslands of sub-Saharan Africa. In a new Conservation News series, “Saving the Savanna,” we look at how communities are working to protect these places — and the wildlife within. BEIRA, Mozambique — Werner Myburgh couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. On his first trip through the savanna woodlands of Mozambique’s Zinave National Park, he saw almost no animals.
Why rare species thrive on Indigenous lands

Aug 9, 2024 | conservation.org | Will McCarry

From the savannas of Africa to remote Pacific islands, Indigenous Peoples and local communities are helping to conserve some of the most remarkable species on Earth. With deep-rooted connections to their lands and intimate knowledge of how best to manage them, Indigenous Peoples play a critical role in conservation. Though they account for only 5 percent of the world’s population, they manage more than a quarter of Earth’s surface and protect a significant share of Earth’s biodiversity.
Tachymenoides harrisonfordi: A new snake species named after Harrison Ford

Jul 19, 2024 | conservation.org | Will McCarry

High in the Andes Mountains, a team of researchers treks through an alpine swamp. Sifting through tall grass, they search for something priceless in the far reaches of a plateau patrolled by armed gunmen. Each footstep brings the team closer to a snake, coiled in the rushes. Its scales are threaded in copper; it stares through amber eyes. If this sounds like a scene from an Indiana Jones movie, you’re not far off — starting with the fact that the snake’s name is Harrison Ford. At least, it is now.