Partnering to save endangered animals: New York

We're so excited about the new interactive map highlighting endangered species efforts in each state across the nation. Each day we'll feature a state, partner and animal. Subscribe on the right to keep up!

New York’s Long Island is home to more than 7 million people, two major airports, nine bridges, 13 tunnels, and one very rare plant—the sandplain gerardia. This plant with delicate pink flowers grows at a handful of sites on Long Island, where coastal grasslands have been crowded by development or non-native plants. 

A partnership with the Federal Aviation Administration led way to the protection of more than 100 acres for this plant and other wildlife. Read the rest of the story. 

Protection of the Sayville grasslands is critical to survival of
sandplain gerardia. Credit: Ed Sambolin

Here are some other stories featured on New York's page:

• New England cottontail: This native rabbit’s population has plummeted over the last several decades, and though it’s disappeared from 86 percent of its historical range, the rabbit can be found in southeast Maine. 
• Great Lakes piping plover: Intensive conservation efforts have brought the number of breeding pairs of this population in a steady climb from a low of 12 in 1983.
• Seabeach amaranth: This annual plant is found on the dunes of Atlantic Ocean beaches.
• Chittenango ovate amber snail: This snail is found in only one place – Chittenango Falls State Park in Madison County, New York.
• Karner blue butterfly: Habitat for this small butterfly has been lost through human activity to suppress wildfire, cultivate forests and develop communities.
• Bog turtle: North America's smallest turtle, the bog turtle faces the loss, degradation and fragmentation of its habitat from wetland alteration, development, pollution, invasive species and plant succession.