Archive for the 'Nature' Category

Our own PJFinn made a pretty important post over at Buzztail recently where he talked about Mr Bush’s plan to open up mountain top mining in light of the recent mining tragedy in Utah. My thoughts are that this is a topic that bears discussion.

As this NYTimes article points out, this would be a ‘ruling’ that would not require congressional approval. It was expected to come down Friday, so it is extremely eminent. If you don’t want this, we need to act now. I have prepared a visual representation of the Mission Mountain Range, before and after. Enjoy.

Don’t think it will be like this? Well, it wont. It will be much uglier. The part of the mountain that is left would be a stripped scabland. My photoshopping skills aren’t good enough to make it look as bad as it really would.

You see, I am from Appalachia. I have seen first hand what mountain top mining does to a mountain. It is not pretty. Here are a few examples:

As PJ points out, there is still some room for public input. I suggest that each of you who cares contact Baucus, Tester and Rehberg.

Sometimes it occurs to me that between the fear and loathing in Helena and the fear and loathing in Washington DC, I forget that there are a lot of other things going on that we are ignoring. A readers letter this week pointed out one of those things; our national parks. You see, these are our treasures. They are our showcases, our history and our heritage. Just like all things of great value, once they are lost they can not be replaced.

The reader’s letter pointed out to me that it might be worth taking a look into how they are doing, particularly our own Big Hole National Park. It did not take too long to find out that there might be some problems in our National Park Service in general.

In 2004 the National Parks Service was instructed to begin cutting services at parks throughout the country. Though the parks budget had actually increased over the years, it was not increasing at the rate of expenses. In short, they were falling behind.

Facing what some people warn is a “crippling” budget shortfall, many national park superintendents are being asked to consider cutting their ranger staffs, services, and visitor center hours—and possibly even closing down completely on certain days.

Several advocacy groups now charge that the entire National Park System is menaced by a hidden crisis, and that Park Service officials are trying to cover it up.

This is a very bad thing people, but at least we found out about it early enough to correct the problems, right? Sure we had. Did we actually do anything? Not a chance.

We see that today park police staffing is at a 20 year low, even as park visitation increases and problems are compounding. President Bush has proposed a 3 billion dollar infusion over the next 10 years called the Centennial Initiative. While this sounds like a great idea, there are always string attached. In this piece, Ann Whisnant points out that Bush’s plan relies on an infusion of private dollars. She see the problem as

giving the administration another privatization wedge is a dubious proposition. No one knows what the quid pro quo will be. Private control of yet another area of public policy? Private interests, rather than public needs, dictating Centennial Initiative priorities? Routine park maintenance neglected in favor of glossier (and more fundable) specialty projects? Parks or park features named for corporations? The Google Grand Canyon, perhaps? Disney’s Dinosaur National Monument? Harrah’s Blue Ridge Parkway?

Far-fetched as these sound, an inescapable lesson of recent years is that things can (and will) get worse than we can possibly imagine in advance.

Read her whole piece for a real historic perspective on why the Centennial Initiative is simply not enough.

We can judge the health of our parks system by looking at our own Big Hole and how it is doing. I remember growing up and reading stories of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce as they fought all across the west, seeking freedom from the government’s reservations. Against great odds, they fought the good fight. The image of Joseph and their stand at Big Hole and the travesty that followed has long been burned into my mind. The phrase “I will fight no more forever” is a part of our national conscience, we all know exactly what it means and what part of the soul it comes from. This is a piece of American heritage, honoring a group that typified the American spirit in a monumental quest for freedom. As a reminder of this spirit, I have pasted Joseph’s speech below the fold.

According to a report by the National Park Conservation Association, Big Hole is having problems. The park only received ‘fair’ ratings and is declining overall. It would be another travesty to let go of this piece of our history. The natural resources of this park are not being minded in the way that we would expect such an important piece of American heritage to be minded and I will remind you, once this is done it can not be undone.

I appreciate the President’s attempt to revamp our parks, but I come at it from another angle. In real dollar terms, 3 billion is simply not enough and it’s reliance on private contributions is bothersome. To be sure, I think that this is a bi-partisan issue if ever there was one and I would like to see a real effort made on both side of the aisle to come up with a working long term solution.

Read the rest of this entry »

Carrying on with the theme of yesterday , sort of. First I found this piece in the Helena IR rather interesting. Montana Democratic Senator Larry Jent of Bozeman has proposed a trio of bills to help law enforcement deal with poaching. The first makes some forms of poaching a felony, the second would use the increased fines collected from poachers to hire two additional investigators and the third would provide money to the Fish Wildlife and Parks to hire additional game wardens.

Game wardens, outfitters and sportsmen from around the state asked lawmakers Thursday for stiffer penalties for poachers.

They told the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee that poachers are “despicable cutthroats” who are robbing Montanans of material and natural wealth. They asked the committee to support three bills by Sen. Larry Jent, D-Bozeman, that they said would boost the state’s efforts to curb illegal hunting and fishing.

Pretty strong words, and rightly spoken I believe. I think there is a special urgency to these laws when, as this article points out, the bears are going to wake up to a different set of circumstances than when they went to sleep. I am not a conservation bilogist, so it is difficult for me to know exactly how to feel about the delisting of grizzles.

“This isn’t only a serious occasion, but an occasion to celebrate the success of the Endangered Species Act and the effort to recover grizzly bear populations,” said Doug Inkley, a senior scientist with the National Wildlife Federation.

I have not seen a lot of opposition to the delisting, so I would suppose that it is not unreasonable to trust that the Endangered Species Act actually worked. Now we are dependent on the powers that be to manage them appropriately. That brings us full circle to why I think that Senator Jent is on the right track.

Here is a great discovery, a new big cat! A rare newly discovered
Leopard! To think, these cats have been on earth for thousands of years, and we just found it. Wonder what other cool animals there is yet find?

Seems that a CAT can change its spots. I think you’ll find the following story from Reuter’s interesting. One other rather interesting fact is that with the clearing of the forests this probably will be argued and brought into political views on the practice of defoliation of our forests. The piece begins by saying:

GENEVA (Reuters) - Scientists have identified a leopard found on the South-East Asian islands of Borneo and Sumatra as a new species of great cat, the global nature protection body WWF reported on Thursday.

Genetic and skin tests on the creature, now dubbed the Bornean clouded leopard, or Neofelis diardi, have shown that it is almost as different from clouded leopards found on the Asian mainland as lions are from tigers, the Swiss-based WWF said…….

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070315/sc_nm/environment_leopard_dc

Honestly, is this what one should expect from one of our nations foremost environmental crusaders? (H/T Fark).

UPDATE:

Saturday’s headline was a teaser for today’s story, and I think it appropriate to expand a bit now that we have more information. First, let it be noted that the mine in question has a good record for generally not exceeding environmental regulations. Still:

Even Gore noted in his letter that, according to Scorecard, “pollution releases from the mine in 2002 placed it among the ‘dirtiest/worst facilities’ in the U.S.”

The letter was sent to the mining operation requesting that they work with an environmental group to ensure “that the mine becomes a global example of environmental best practices” a week after “The Tennessean’s Washington bureau posed questions to the former vice president about his involvement with the mine.” This is all well and good, especially for the new employees of the soon to be re-opened mine. I’m still left wondering about his willful involvement in the thing, as he could have sold it at any time (voiding the lease apparently would have involved legal action, and the Gore’s refused to comment on whether that was an avenue they pursued).

All this new information, however, does not change the gist of my original question.  Take a look at the pictures from the newspaper and tell me this is setting an environmental example.  I don’t believe it is, and considering his breathless proclamations over the years, you’d think he’d have fought a little harder for his so-called beliefs.

I spent more than half the day listening to the House Session. Montana Republicans disgust me. Absolutely and thoroughly disgust me. If the people that voted these idiots into office don’t or won’t speak up, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to speak to a Republican again with out thinking of a swear word. The basic lack of common respect dished out today by the Republican House was appalling.

Then I come home to read that Trout Unlimited’s board has resolution proposed that would “prohibit TU involvement or participation in disputes that pit claims of public stream access against claims of private property rights.”

And then (yes, still) I read that Rove is more of a mastermind than anyone could ever have imagined, and both he and Gonzales contemplated firing all 93 U.S. attorneys en masse – and Gonzales was involved before he was even cofirmed!

There is no escape. What the hell is going on? Seriously?!

This is a subject that has been coming up quite frequently as of late, and I think it is time it is addressed. Why post it on a political blog? Well personal hygiene and products that affect our presentation and reception to the world.

A Few Ground Rules

1. I should not be able to taste your personal fragrance at 10 paces. If you don’t know what I mean, then you have lead a blessed life.
2. Using Cologne or Perfume to replace a shower or bath is never a shortcut that other people will be unaware that you took.
3. Other people actually are allergic to some of the chemicals used in producing fragrances, and it is generally considered good form now-a-days to forgo the dousing when you are expecting to be in the company of people all day.
4. Wearing too much fragrance actually is a TURN OFF to people, they take you less seriously, and tend to disengage from a delightful conversation sooner rather than later.
5. The lasting impression you want to make on people shouldn’t be how much their eyes watered while in your presence.
1. I should not be able to taste your personal fragrance at 10 paces. If you don’t know what I mean, then you have lead a blessed life.2. Using Cologne or Perfume to replace a shower or bath is never a shortcut that other people will be unaware that you took.3. Other people actually are allergic to some of the chemicals used in producing fragrances, and it is generally considered good form now-a-days to forgo the dousing when you are expecting to be in the company of people all day.4. Wearing too much fragrance actually is a TURN OFF to people, they take you less seriously, and tend to disengage from a delightful conversation sooner rather than later.5. The lasting impression you want to make on people shouldn’t be how much their eyes watered while in your presence.When you gleefully unwrap yet another bottle of your favorite eaude d’ toilet this holiday season, remember these simple suggestions:
1. I shouldn’t be able to smell your fragrance unless I am necking with you.
2. A little bit goes a LONG way.
3. Bottled essence actually covers up and wreaks havoc with your natural essence, which believe you me, anyone would rather smell than something that came off of a shelf . . . (that is if you bathe on a regular basis).
4. If you think you might be destroying other’s nasal passages, ask a close friend, a lover, or if single, someone cute but honest, for their opinion. Oh, and remember to take their answer with grace, and thank them for telling you the truth, on such an awkward subject.

My nasal passages, eyes, and tastebuds thank you for your consideration.

If so, I thought I’d pass along some pertinent information regarding dogs and mountain hiking. I received this in an email today, and figured some folks may be interested. I sure wouldn’t know what to do in this situation.

Hi friends,

Join us for a free Pet Emergency Workshop on November 18, 2006, from 1 to 3 p.m., in the Weaver Room of the Emerson Center,
111 South Grand Avenue, Bozeman.

Lethal traps set for wildlife increasingly pose a threat for companion animals.
If your dog got caught in a trap, would you know how to rescue your furry friend? Learn how to at the Pet Emergency Workshop, sponsored by Predator Conservation Alliance (Bozeman), Humane Society of the United States Regional Office (Billings), and The Animal Ethics Coalition (Missoula).

Dave Pauli, of the MT regional office of the Humane Society of the United States, will demonstrate trap release methods. Veterinarian Dr. Patti Prado from Missoula will show emergency first aid techniques for an injured pet.

Be aware of traps. Know how to help your pet! Come to the workshop!