Forest plans different approach to salvage logging
Supervisors from Plumas County and the Plumas National Forest have reached an understanding when it comes to recovering damaged timber from September’s Moonlight Fire.
The Forest Supervisor Alice Carlton was before the Plumas County Board of Supervisors Dec. 18 to update them on salvage and restoration on the Moonlight and Antelope fires, Secure Rural Schools legislation and the off-highway vehicle route-designation status.
While county supervisors were interested in all three issues, it was the timber salvage information they were particularly keen to discuss.
Although forest representatives are still crafting their approach to get approval to log the majority of timber involved in this year’s two major wildfires, approval has been gained for four roadside timber sales for hazard trees through a streamlined approach.
These initial projects are the simplest to get through the federal approval process. By following the National Environmental Protection Act process, the sales are planned requiring less documentation and with fewer regulations to follow than traditional sales… [more]
San Francisco police probe fatal zoo attack
By Jim Christie
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - San Francisco police on Wednesday investigated whether a Siberian tiger had help in escaping its zoo habitat before it killed a teenager and injured two other people on Christmas Day.
Police told a news conference at the San Francisco Zoo that they were treating the city-run facility as a crime scene. Investigators are looking into whether the tiger, which had mauled a zoo employee last year, had been taunted before its rampage. Police also indicated they were considering whether someone might have let the 9-year-old tiger, known as Tatiana, out of its exhibit.
Police shot and killed the tiger after it turned toward them as they attempted to divert its attention from one of the injured victims on the ground.
Zoo spokeswoman Lora LaMarca said zoo officials could not comment on how the tiger got out of its habitat, a grotto surrounded by a 15-foot (4.5 meter) moat and 20-foot (6 meter) wall. “It is an ongoing police investigation and it is still being looked into,” LaMarca said.
San Francisco’s medical examiner identified the victim of the fatal attack as Carlos Sousa Jr., 17, of San Jose, California. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The two other victims, 19- and 23-year-old brothers from San Jose, were reported in stable condition at a San Francisco hospital… [more]
Representative says wolf reintroduction is ‘ineffective’
Rep. Stevan Pearce is expressing his discontent with regards to the direction the Mexican gray wolf recovery program is heading in New Mexico.
“I am disappointed more of my colleagues could not see the wisdom in eliminating an unsuccessful, ineffective program that has not only failed to produce results, but also threatens the lives and livelihoods of New Mexicans,” he said. “We have tried the reintroduction program for 10 years and have seen only growing problems and more wolf-human interactions.”
Pearce said he believes the time has come to concede that wolves cannot successfully be reintroduced into New Mexico, and is disappointed Congress has not yet reached that view.
“I will continue working to ensure that we are protected from these captive-bred habituated wolves,” he said. “The Fish and Wildlife Service must take active steps to better manage problem wolves and guarantee that farmers, ranchers, their families, and their livestock are not repeatedly stalked and attacked.
“I will furthermore continue working to educate my colleagues with regards to the problems associated with this program.”
Pearce said the vote by Congress this past June to continue the recovery program was a setback. The congressman said he intends to put more pressure on those who he believes have only wasted tax dollars and created what he termed “a menace within our communities.”… [more]
Alaska Wolf Attacks
Neither the three women nor their dogs heard the pack of wolves creeping up behind them as they jogged on Artillery Road in the frigid morning air.
Camas Barkemeyer, 26, her dogs Buddy, a 3-year-old American bulldog, and Ginger, a 6-year-old husky, were among that group on Fort Richardson a little after 10 a.m. Thursday. One minute it was peaceful. Then she glanced back and saw the pack of about eight wolves spanning the road, only a few feet behind.
A melee ensued, accompanied by screaming, snarling, blood and pepper spray.
“The thought went through my head: ‘What dog? What dog am I going to let go?’ ” Barkemeyer said. “It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever been through.”
The increasingly emboldened Elmendorf wolf pack is blamed for killing one dog and wounding another in Eagle River this week as Anchorage saw its seventh wolf attack in the past month, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game…
Links to all Alaska wolf attack stories on Wolf Crossing [here]
Task force tackles county payments
SALEM — A new task force brought together county officials from across the state to share some end-of-the-year gloom over their financial woes.
The Task Force on Federal Forest Payments and County Services convened for the first time as it embarks on a yearlong pursuit of a strategy to deal with the inevitable end of federal payments.
Local and state leaders quickly reached a consensus: The job is difficult and the prospects are grim in their quest to secure another congressional extension of federal payments to Oregon counties with a legacy of timber production.
The task force’s first meeting since its formation brought state and county government officials together during a dark time: Congress last week killed a provision that would have extended for four years the so-called timber payments to counties, including Lane County and other rural Northwest counties. Congress probably won’t revisit the issue until February or March, and task force members were pessimistic about whether they could win more than a one-year extension… [more]
Timber payments deal dies in Senate
A deal that would have given Oregon timber counties hundreds of millions of federal dollars fell through Thursday, leaving officials here and in Washington scrambling to find another way to pay for everything from libraries to county lockups.
“We thought we were looking good, and suddenly things look terrible for us,” said Dave Toler, a Josephine County commissioner in southern Oregon. “This is a real roller-coaster ride.”
Last week, the U.S. House approved a four-year, $1.6 billion extension of the federal payment program as part of an overall energy bill. Oregon counties heaved a huge sigh of relief.
But Thursday, the Senate stripped out the county payments as part of a compromise to get more Republican votes for the energy bill…
“We had pinned our hopes on the energy bill,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore. “So this is — well, we’re in Hail Mary pass time.”
The money from what is formally called the Secure Rural School and Community Self Determination Act is spread among 700 rural counties in 39 states. But more than half of it goes to Oregon. The payments are critical to the operation of a number of counties whose revenues dried up when logging in public forests was sharply curtailed in the 1990s…
No one was sure Thursday what would happen next. A one-year extension of the payments expires in June. Meanwhile, counties must continue drawing up budgets, negotiating union contracts and taking care of other fiscal business for the coming year.
Gov. Ted Kulongoski has appointed a task force to study the timber payment issue and look for long-term solutions. But the panel has yet to have its first meeting.
“We have to roll up our sleeves and look at what’s next,” said Kulongoski spokeswoman Patty Wentz. She said there are no proposals to bring up the issue when the Legislature meets for a short session in February… [more]
Final plan less lethal than earlier proposal to cull elk in Rocky Mountain National Park
Rocky Mountain National Park’s final plan to cull the elk herd in the Estes Valley is less lethal than a draft proposal released last year.
Park Superintendent Vaughn Baker laid out the culling strategies as part of the final environmental impact statement of the park’s Elk and Vegetation Management Plan during in a phone conference Tuesday morning.
Somewhere between 2,200 and 3,100 elk live in the Estes Valley and Rocky Mountain National Park, making it one of the highest population concentrations in the Rocky Mountains, Baker said.
Park biologists believe the elks’ foraging habits are to blame for reduced numbers of new-growth aspen and willow trees in the park, sparking a five-year effort to create the plan to reduce the herd size.
The management plan unveiled Tuesday has park officials and “authorized agents” culling 100 elk each winter with mainly rifles over a 20-year period, and no more than 200 animals killed annually. To goal is to achieve a target elk population of between 1,600 and 2,100 animals in 20 years, Baker said.
“That will be a year-to-year decision to determine how much culling is needed for the following winter,” he said.
Some years, no elk could be culled, Baker said, but added that the plan could change if populations aren’t going down.
That’s a dramatic shift from the preferred alternative released in the draft plan in July 2006, which had 200 to 700 elk shot annually to cut the population down to 1,200 to 1,700 animals in just four years. That plan would cost $16 million to implement and had rangers or authorized agents suited out with night-vision devices to corral and kill animals at night using various lethal devices… [more]
Study Increases Concerns of Climate Model Reliability
Newswise — A new study comparing the composite output of 22 leading global climate models with actual climate data finds that the models do an unsatisfactory job of mimicking climate change in key portions of the atmosphere.
This research, published on-line Wednesday in the Royal Meteorological Society’s International Journal of Climatology*, raises new concerns about the reliability of models used to forecast global warming.
“The usual discussion is whether the climate model forecasts of Earth’s climate 100 years or so into the future are realistic,” said the lead author, Dr. David H. Douglass from the University of Rochester. “Here we have something more fundamental: Can the models accurately explain the climate from the recent past?
“It seems that the answer is no.”… [more]
We should give up futile attempts to combat climate change
Open Letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dec. 13, 2007
His Excellency Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General, United Nations, New York, N.Y.
Dear Mr. Secretary-General,
Re: UN climate conference taking the World in entirely the wrong direction
It is not possible to stop climate change, a natural phenomenon that has affected humanity through the ages. Geological, archaeological, oral and written histories all attest to the dramatic challenges posed to past societies from unanticipated changes in temperature, precipitation, winds and other climatic variables. We therefore need to equip nations to become resilient to the full range of these natural phenomena by promoting economic growth and wealth generation.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has issued increasingly alarming conclusions about the climatic influences of human-produced carbon dioxide (CO2), a non-polluting gas that is essential to plant photosynthesis. While we understand the evidence that has led them to view CO2 emissions as harmful, the IPCC’s conclusions are quite inadequate as justification for implementing policies that will markedly diminish future prosperity. In particular, it is not established that it is possible to significantly alter global climate through cuts in human greenhouse gas emissions. On top of which, because attempts to cut emissions will slow development, the current UN approach of CO2 reduction is likely to increase human suffering from future climate change rather than to decrease it… [more]
Challenge of logging project rejected
By Nick Gevock, of The Montana Standard - 12/14/2007
A logging project in the upper West Madison River drainage will continue following a federal judge’s rejection of environmental groups’ request that it be halted.
Missoula Federal District Judge Donald Molloy this week threw out a request for an injunction to halt the Cow Fly timber sale on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest in Madison County. Molloy said in court records that the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Native Ecosystems Council, the groups challenging the project, had little chance of winning their case and therefore the project could proceed.
“Plaintiffs have not demonstrated a likelihood that they will succeed on the merits of their (National Environmental Policy Act) claim,” he said.
The injunction means the 242-acre project, which is well under way, will likely be completed. Mark Petroni, Madison District ranger for the forest, has said it was expected to be completed by the end of the year.
But despite that, Michael Garrity of the Alliance said they plan to appeal the injunction request to the Ninth U.S Circuit Court of Appeals. That’s because the lawsuit, which is still pending, raises questions about the Forest Service following its own rules and federal law that would set a precedent for future cases.
“There are bigger issues,” he said. “We accused them of violating the forest plan, so the issue isn’t moot if it’s all cut.” The project called for logging dead and dying Douglas fir up Meridian Creek, a tributary of the West Madison River. The Forest Service required R and R Connor, from Connor, to use helicopters to remove the logs, and less than half a mile of temporary road to be built.
The size of the project at less than 250 acres allowed the Forest Service to use a “categorical exclusion” from a thorough environmental analysis of its effects… [more]
Antarctica: Warming, Cooling, or Both?
The ice caps are melting – right? If you visit thousands of websites on climate change, watch Gore’s film or many similar documentaries, you would be left with no doubt that the icecaps are warming and melting at an unprecedented rate. However, with respect to Antarctica, you might be surprised when you examine what the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says in their 2007 Summary for Policymakers. Believe it or not, IPCC reports “Antarctic sea ice extent continues to show inter-annual variability and localized changes but no statistically significant average trends, consistent with the lack of warming reflected in atmospheric temperatures averaged across the region.” Furthermore, they note “Current global model studies project that the Antarctic ice sheet will remain too cold for widespread surface melting and is expected to gain in mass due to increased snowfall.”
A major article on this subject appears in a recent issue of the Journal of Climate by William Chapman and John Walsh of the University of Illinois. The two scientists extensively review the literature on temperature trends in Antarctica and conclude “These studies are essentially unanimous in their finding that the Antarctic Peninsula has warmed since the 1950s, when many of the surface stations were established.” They note “Recent summaries of station data show that, aside from the Antarctic Peninsula and the McMurdo area, one is hard-pressed to argue that warming has occurred, even at the Antarctic coastal stations away from the peninsula and McMurdo.” Furthermore, they write “Recent attempts to broaden the spatial coverage of temperature estimates have shown a similar lack of evidence of spatially widespread warming.” Like it or not, over the past four decades, and during the time of the greatest build-up of greenhouse gases, Antarctica has been cooling! … [more]
Antarctica’s penguins threatened by global warming
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Antarctica’s penguin population has slumped because of global warming as melting ice has destroyed nesting sites and reduced their sources of food, a WWF report said on Tuesday.
The Antarctic peninsula is warming five times faster than the average in the rest of the world, affecting four penguin species — the emperor penguin, the largest and the grandest in the world, the gentoo, chinstrap and adelie, it said.
“The Antarctic penguins already have a long march behind them,” Anna Reynolds, deputy director of WWF’s Global Climate Change Programme, said in a statement at the Bali climate talks.
“Now it seems these icons of the Antarctic will have to face an extremely tough battle to adapt to the unprecedented rate of climate change.”… [more]
Biologists revert farmland to wetland to sell credits
MONROE (AP) — As Canada geese bank westward above the green and blue expanse of Muddy Creek Wetland, wood ducks, mallards, pintails and northern shovelers paddle on the shallow ponds below.
The 108 acres near Monroe used to be a rye grass farm and was a cattle ranch before that.
Now low soil berms hold rainwater in ponds and indigenous prairie grasses poke up through the mud.
It’s the work of two wildlife biologists, Chris Kiilsgaard and Jeff Reams who have pooled their money and experience to return this patch of Willamette Valley to its former function.
They’re avid environmentalists, but hope to make some money as well.
If done right, it could pay off in millions of dollars. Muddy Creek is part of Oregon’s growing bank of mitigation banks, wetlands that developers and land managers can buy into when they can’t avoid damaging wetlands themselves… [more]
Post-49: Life in land-use limbo
Those with Measure 37 claims hope they’ll be able to move projects forward, even on Iowa Hill
by the Forest Grove News-Times [here]
On Thursday, Measure 49 will become the land-use law of the land, thanks to Oregon voters who passed the legislative referral by a two-to-one margin a month ago.
The new law brings a long list of new provisions for landowners who successfully made a claim under Measure 37, the 2002 land-use overhaul which Measure 49 replaces. In general, it allows requests for three or fewer homes to go forward, while larger claims will not be allowed…
We asked three claimants about how they’re approaching the new law. Here are their responses…
Andrew Miller, CEO of Stimson Lumber Co.
Situation: Stimson Lumber, which has its mill just west of Gaston, filed Measure 37 claims on more than 57,000 acres of forest land it owns in Oregon, most of it in Washington County. Miller, however, has said from the start that the only claim the company was pursing was a proposal to put 40 houses on a 1,100-acre parcel on Iowa Hill, just south of Cornelius, where the company says nearby development makes it hard to keep in timber production.
Your Iowa Hill claim clearly won’t pass the new M49 tests. Does that mean the project is dead?
Stimson will move ahead with development on Iowa Hill. Our Iowa Hill project was moving forward for business reasons prior to Measure 37. The exact nature of the development may be modified somewhat, and the timeline extended, from that contemplated under our [Measure] 37 claim, but Stimson has a number of avenues for development.
How is that possible after Measure 49?
Oregon’s land-use system is an insider’s game. Large land owners, with financial resources, patience, and expert advice can accomplish a great deal of development, whether it be in rural areas, or urban areas, whereas small land owners without resources and time are frozen out. Some of the loudest supporters of our land-use system are major land owners. The land-use system keeps competitors out of the market, and supports land values. People are fools if they think [Measure] 49 will prevent the type of rural development that is already occurring throughout the Willamette Valley.
Until a few months ago, Stimson was best known as a quietly successful wood products company that gives Portland its Christmas tree each year. Will your high-profile role in this campaign change the way Stimson is viewed?
I do not really care how Stimson is viewed. We do the things we do because we believe they are right – right for our employees, the communities in which we operate the land, and our shareholders. I do not feel compelled to justify any of our actions because we do not engage in them in order to win public praise or support. We are cards-on-the-table kind of people, and accept that some may not like us, or what we do. That is just life. We do not, however, pull punches or deceive people for gain.
Forest Service aims to preserve open space
WASHINGTON — As homes and shopping malls proliferate, the United States loses about 6,000 acres of open space every day — four acres per minute.
Now the Forest Service is developing a national strategy to protect and conserve open space. The plan, announced Thursday, will use partnerships with private landowners and state and local governments to identify areas most in need of protection, said Forest Service Chief Gail Kimbell.
The Forest Service also will work with Congress to create tax breaks and other incentives to promote conservation and reduce development in ecologically sensitive areas, she said. The conservation plan takes effect immediately and does not require congressional approval.
The agency’s vision stretches far beyond the 193 million acres of national forests, Kimbell said, noting that more than half of the nation’s 800 million acres of forest land is privately owned… [more]