Monthly Archives: May 2012

Wyden: More air tankers needed

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Ashland Daily Tidings 5/30/2012
Excerpt:   “U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden intends to hold the U.S. Forest Service’s feet to the fire in an effort to increase its fleet of large air tankers under contract.

“The forest fires are getting bigger and the air tanker fleet is getting smaller,” said Wyden, D-Ore., during a news conference Tuesday morning at the Medford air tanker base. “That has left us with some enormous challenges. We’ve already seen some big fires in Arizona and Colorado.

“Despite the enormity of all this, the agency that is most responsible for fighting them, the Forest Service, has allowed the air tanker fleet to shrink,” he said.  …..”
Read entire article at http://www.dailytidings.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120530/NEWS02/205300305/-1/NEWSMAP

Devastating disease found in endangered Tennessee bats

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Oakland Press 5/30/2012
Excerpt:   ” (Reuters) – A disease that has killed millions of hibernating bats in the United States has been detected for the first time in endangered gray bats in Tennessee, a finding that government scientists on Tuesday described as “devastating.”

White-nose syndrome, a disease named for the fungal residue left on the muzzles of infected bats, does not appear to have killed any gray bats so far. But federal biologists said the latest emergence of the disease constitutes a grave threat to the cave-dwelling winged mammals added to the U.S. endangered species list in 1976.   ….”
Read entire article at http://www.theoaklandpress.com/articles/2012/05/30/news/nation_and_world/doc4fc5c75dbb622324450798.txt?viewmode=fullstory

New U.S. Forest Service report cautions against making general assumptions about beetle-kill and wildfires

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Summit County Voice 5/31/2012
Excerpt:   “SUMMIT COUNTY — As Forest Service researchers continue to study the dynamics of beetle-killed forests and wildfires, it seems  each new study raises at least as many questions as it answers. One of the latest efforts warns against basing resource decisions on generalized assumptions.

The new study from the Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Research and Pacific Northwest Research stations, and the University of Idaho tries to provide a more complete picture of the effects of the pine beetle, but concludes that there are still key gaps in the research making it hard for resource managers to know exactly what those effects are.  …”
Read entire story at http://summitcountyvoice.com/2012/05/31/new-u-s-forest-service-report-cautions-against-making-general-assumptions-about-beetle-kill-and-wildfires/

Government lines up $1.4 billion for conservation property purchases

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Human Events; 5/29/2012
Excerpt:   “Controversial legislation tucked into a contentious highway-funding bill gives state and federal governments $1.4 billion to buy private property for new conservation efforts and adds even more inventory to the nation’s 635 million acre holding.

Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, says this two-year funding mechanism for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) is “particularly egregious” because the government doesn’t have billions of dollars needed to care for the vast holdings. …”
Read entire article at http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=51793

Shovel Brigade sends a message

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Sierra Vista Herald 5/28/2012
Excerpt:   “A group called the Tombstone Shovel Brigade is planning an event in the Huachuca Mountains in June in an effort to make additional repairs to the city’s water supply.

The City of Tombstone’s waterlines and reservoirs in the Coronado National Forest were damaged by mudslides after last year’s Monument Fire, and the U.S. Forest Service refused to let the city use heavy machinery in some areas, citing the Wilderness Act. Tombstone filed a lawsuit to prevent the Forest Service from interfering with its ability to adequately access the water, but a federal judge recently ruled against the city. ….”
Read entire article at http://www.svherald.com/content/news/2012/05/28/266496

Tension marks Winnemem ceremony on Lake Shasta

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Redding Record Searchlight 5/28/2012
Excerpt:   “A band of six dirt bikers pulled up to the entrance of the McCloud Bridge Campground at Lake Shasta on Sunday afternoon, and a man got up from his folding chair to approach them.

The man, a member of the Winnemem Wintu tribe, told the group the campground was closed because of the tribe’s War Dance ceremony. …..”
Read entire article at http://www.redding.com/news/2012/may/27/tension-marks-ceremony-tribe-ritual-faces-static/?partner=yahoo_feeds

House GOP Uncovers Email Trail That Questions Data That Lead To Ban On Hard-rock Mining Near Grand Canyon National Park

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National Parks Traveler 5/28/2012
Excerpt:   “An email trail uncovered by House Republicans voices the belief that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management relied more on “confusion and obfuscation” than science in justifying a 20-year ban on new hard-rock mining claims on 1 million acres surrounding Grand Canyon National Park.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar pointed to the BLM’s final environmental impact statement in January when he ordered a 20-year moratorium on hard-rock mining on the land to protect the national park and its waters.  …..”
Read entire article at http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2012/05/house-gop-uncovers-email-trail-questions-data-lead-ban-hard-rock-mining-near-grand-canyon-national-p9968

Winnemem Wintu tribe stages war dance as protest

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San Francisco Chronicle 5/26/2012
Excerpt:   “The shadows of the Winnemem Wintu warriors darted and danced through the trees amid the glow of a ceremonial fire as rhythmic chants echoed across the McCloud River.

It was the first day of a remarkable four-day war dance, or H’up Chonas, at the McCloud Bridge Campground in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.

The 125 members of this once-thriving band of river-loving people organized the dance, which began Thursday, in protest of what they consider the federal government’s refusal to protect their traditional coming-of-age ceremonies from the degradations of drunken louts on Lake Shasta.  …”
Read entire article at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/26/MNJE1OLUPQ.DTL

Rogers asks BLM to delay lease auction of forest land

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Anniston Star 5/24/2012
Excerpt:   “ U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Saks, Thursday asked the federal Bureau of Land Management to halt plans to lease 43,000 acres of national forest land in Alabama for potential oil and natural gas drilling.

Rogers said Thursday following a Calhoun County Commission meeting that he is opposed to the bureau’s plans to lease the land on its current schedule. Most of the land is in the Talladega National Forest, much of it in three areas in Calhoun, Clay, Cleburne, and Talladega counties. In a letter dated Thursday, Rogers asked the bureau to freeze the process to give residents in his district more time to discuss the proposals.  …”
Read entire article at http://annistonstar.com/bookmark/18714521

Federal scientists try to guide pine forests through climate change

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Seattle Times 5/26/2012
Excerpt:   “ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK, Colo. — A few modest features distinguish the trunk of the limber pine standing among the trees near abandoned beaver ponds: a white, plastic pouch attached by a removable staple, a numbered metal tag secured with an aluminum nail and a printed warning: “Pouches on trees to repel mountain pine beetles. Pouches contain chemicals. Do Not Touch-Do Not Remove.”

The conifer, with its accouterments, represents a small salvo in the battle against a beetle infestation, fueled partly by warmer temperatures. But it is also a larger symbol of how researchers from the Forest Service — in concert with National Park Service officials and other scientists — are working to steel high-elevation pine forests in the West against the onslaught of climate change. …”
Read entire article at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/text/2018289993.html