Today’s good news story comes from The Good News Network and is about a best-selling author.

Believing that books save lives, international best-selling author James Patterson is taking the reins for dozens of American booksellers this year and giving their employees a $500 holiday bonus.

To protect the beloved industry and its bottom line, Patterson’s donations totaled $300,000 this holiday season and were divided between 600 bookshop workers.

According to the American Booksellers Association (ABA), workers either submitted an application for the bonus or were nominated by their colleagues, friends, or perhaps even an author.

“Booksellers save lives. Period,” Patterson said in a statement to ABC News. “I’m happy to be able to acknowledge them and all their hard work this holiday season.”

People Magazine reports that Alabama’s Thank You Books, Iowa’s The Nook, and San Francisco’s City Lights Books are just some locations that have witnessed Patterson’s gifts.

“We appreciate Mr. Patterson’s financial generosity as well as his generosity of spirit. We all continue to be awed by, and grateful for, Mr. Patterson’s continuing support of independent booksellers,” Allison Hill, CEO of the ABA, also said in a statement.

“It means everything to have him recognize and reward booksellers’ valuable role in the industry.”

This is just one of many large donations offered by Patterson to bookstores, totaling over $1.5 million of personal wealth over the last 20 years. This included a $500,000 donation during the opening salvos of the COVID-19 pandemic when enforced lockdowns and business closures threatened small businesses in many states.

“The White House is concerned about saving the airline industry and big businesses — I get that. But I’m concerned about the survival of independent bookstores, which are at the heart of main streets across the country,” Patterson said in a statement at the time.

“I believe that books are essential. They make us kinder, more empathetic human beings. And they can take us away momentarily from feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and scared.”

Today’s Good News comes from the Good News Network.

Endangered Thick-billed Parrot That Once Roamed the US Is on the Way to Recovery

A public-private partnership in Mexico just announced that the population of thick-billed parrots is approximately 2,500 individuals—at least 10% higher than that recorded 12 years ago.

The number was determined in a recent population survey in a protected area in the state of Chihuahua, where this charismatic species once roamed north into the United States.

The thick-billed parrot is an emblematic species of the temperate forests of the Sierra Madre Occidental, once found in Arizona and New Mexico.

Since 1995, this species, listed in danger of extinction by the Mexican government, has been the subject of numerous studies and actions for protection and management, while the mountain forests on which it depends have been the focus of extensive reforestation.

These efforts, led by the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas (CONANP) and the civil organization Organización Vida Silvestre (OVIS), along with the participation of local communities and other organizations in the US and Mexico, are yielding encouraging results as demonstrated by the increase in population, a statement from OVIS details.

“This emerging success story reflects the importance of collaboration between society and government and a vision of healthy ecosystems and sustainable communities, which is in line with the policies and practices that CONANP will strengthen in the following years,” said the head of CONANP, Pedro Álvarez-Icaza.

The census data suggests that the population of thick-billed parrots will continue to increase as the region’s communities consolidate sustainable forestry management practices.

Sergio Jiménez, OVIS’s executive director, thanked the various institutions’ support.

“This multi-institutional effort led by Ernesto Enkerlin Hoeflich, scientific director of OVIS, is bearing fruit after three decades, which gives us hope for other species at risk and points to the need for cooperation, persistence, and long-term planning to produce results and effective conservation.”

A significant effort was undertaken in the 1980s to restore populations of this parrot among the sky islands of Arizona. These dramatic, short, squat mountain chains amid the scorching lowlands were perceived as perfect havens for the reintroduction. Still, the problem was that predatory species like the American goshawk had already returned in large numbers to these hills, and their take of the parrots proved unsustainable.

In October 2020, it was announced that a higher elevation among the sky islands, including the Chiricahua mountains, would be sought to form the basis for a new reintroduction attempt.

If populations recover substantially enough in Mexico, the bird may recolonize its former haunts in the Southwestern US without the need for scientists’ intervention.

The good news in this story is that species on the verge of extinction can recover with concerted effort. Today’s JohnKu talks about efforts. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Recovery by John W. Howell © 2024

Even the hopeless,

Can benefit from our help. . .

The key is hard work.