Forest, Wildlife, and Climate News

D.C. Metro Police Escorted SEIU Protesters to Bank Of America Executive’s Home

by Archy Cary May, Big Journalism, May 21 2010 [here]

The family of Greg Baer, Bank of America executive, is located in a jurisdiction protected by the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD), which responded promptly to a disturbance call from his neighborhood last weekend.

According to Corporal Dan Friz, an MCPD spokesperson in Rockville, Maryland, the department received a disturbance call from one of Baer’s neighbors at 4:10 pm last Sunday. Four MCPD units arrived at Baer’s Greenville Rd. address at 4:15 pm. At least two Metropolitan Police Department units from the nearby District of Columbia were already at the scene when they arrived.

Why? Because police cars attached to the Washington MPD’s Civil Disturbance Unit had escorted the SEIU [Service Employees International Union] protesters’ buses to Baer’s home. Such cross-jurisdictional escort activity is not uncommon for both departments according to Friz and Metro Police Department spokesperson Officer Eric Frost. Still, the District police did not inform their colleagues of what was about to happen in one of their Maryland neighborhoods. …

Video: A caravan of SEIU buses receive a Metropolitan (D.C.) Police Department escort to a private home in Maryland where the protesters, from all appearances, violate Montgomery County law by engaging in a stationary protest. … [more]

Note: the DC cops as well as many other public employees are members of SEIU. The SEIU sponsored the protests in front of a private citizen’s home because they have a push on to attack Bank of America. The SEIU has another campaign going to ban the American flag from public schools [here]. The ties between SEIU, ACORN, and Obama run deep [here].

New Ice Age to begin in 2014

Russian scientist to alarmists: “Sun heats Earth!”

by Jerome R. Corsi, Climate Realists, May 18th 2010, [here]

CHICAGO – A new “Little Ice Age” could begin in just four years, predicted Habibullo Abdussamatov, the head of space research at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in Russia.

Abdussamatov was speaking yesterday at the Heartland Institute’s Fourth International Conference on Climate Change in Chicago, which began Sunday and ends today.

The Little Ice Age, which occurred after an era known in scientific circles as the Medieval Warm Period, is typically defined as a period of about 200 years, beginning around 1650 and extending through 1850.

In the first of a two-part video WND recorded at the conference, Abdussamatov explained that average annual sun activity has experienced an accelerated decrease since the 1990s. In 2005-2008, he said, the earth reached the maximum of the recent observed global-warming trend. … [more]

Obama Admin Secret Meetings with Enviros

Govt met with environmentalists on land protection

by Frank DuBois, The Westerner, May 21, 2010 [here]

Recently released documents show the Obama administration was getting ideas from environmental groups about setting aside millions of acres in the West, drawing the ire of land users who said discussions were being developed behind their back. In the documents — most of which are e-mail messages — the environmental groups suggest various ways to protect land, such as by creating national monuments, buying private land or through conservation easements. Republicans who submitted an information request to obtain the documents blasted the information as proof that the administration was privately crafting large-scale land use plans. Federal agencies have so far produced only a fraction of the requested documents, they said. The e-mails show detailed discussions that went into brainstorming for the “Treasured Landscapes Initiative.”… [more]

A source who has reviewed the documents says:

“Wanted to point you to Rep. Rehberg’s excellent decision to put the (relatively few) documents Interior has turned over related to the Internal National Monument document request, you can pull up the documents [here].”

I would highly suggest you take a look at them. It is apparent that Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service also had sections with proposals in the Internal Document but the full document is being withheld. CEQ was clearly involved and certain Forest Service and Agriculture people were brought in at a certain point. It was clearly tightly controlled as far as who participated.

Interior is still withholding 2,016 documents.

Global Average Sea Surface Temperatures Poised for a Plunge

by Roy W. Spencer, Ph. D., May 20th, 2010 [here]

Just an update… as the following graph shows, sea surface temperatures (SSTs) along the equatorial Pacific (”Nino3.4″ region, red lines) have been plunging, and global average SSTs have turned the corner, too.

Click on the image for the full-size, undistorted version. Note the global values have been multiplied by 10 for display purposes.

The corresponding sea level pressure difference between Tahiti and Darwin (SOI index, next graph) shows a rapid transition toward La Nina conditions is developing. Click for larger image.

Being a believer in natural, internal cycles in the climate system, I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that global-average SSTs will plunge over the next couple of months. Based upon past experience, it will take a month or two for our (UAH) tropospheric temperatures to then follow suit.

Note: La Nina on top of the negative PDO means cold upon cold. The Pacific Ocean off the coast of the Pacific Northwest will decline to temperatures not seen since the 1960’s. Expect a cold, wet summer — unless you consider “summer” to be the 3 nice days we will get in late July.

Warmer Is Better (I Told You So)

Prominent Princeton Scientist Dr. Happer Testifies to Congress: “Warming and increased CO2 will be good for mankind”

“CO2 is not a pollutant and it is not a poison and we should not corrupt the English language by depriving ‘pollutant’ and ‘poison’ of their original meaning”

By Marc Morano, Climate Depot, May 21, 2010 [here]

Dr. Will Happer’s Testimony Before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming - May 20, 2010

My name is William Happer, and I am the Cyrus Fogg Bracket Professor of Physics at Princeton University. I have spent my professional life studying the interactions of visible and infrared radiation with gases – one of the main physical phenomena behind the greenhouse effect. I have published over 200 papers in peer reviewed scientific journals. I am a member of a number of professional organizations, including the American Physical Society and the National Academy of Sciences. I have done extensive consulting work for the US Government and Industry. I also served as the Director of Energy Research at the Department of Energy (DOE) from 1990 to 1993, where I supervised all of DOE’s work on climate change.

Key Excerpts: The CO2 absorption band is nearly “saturated” at current CO2 levels. Adding more CO2 is like putting an additional ski hat on your head when you already have a nice warm one below it, but you are only wearing a windbreaker. The extra hat makes you a little bit warmer but to really get warm, you need to add a jacket. The IPCC thinks that this jacket is water vapor and clouds. …

The climate-change establishment has tried to eliminate any who dare question the science establishment climate scientists and by like-thinking policy-makers – you are either with us or you are a traitor.

Orwellian: I keep hearing about the “pollutant CO2,” or about “poisoning the atmosphere” with CO2, or about minimizing our “carbon footprint.” This brings to mind a comment by George Orwell: “But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” CO2 is not a pollutant and it is not a poison and we should not corrupt the English language by depriving “pollutant” and “poison” of their original meaning. Our exhaled breath contains about 4% CO2. That is 40,000 parts per million, or about 100 times the current atmospheric concentration. CO2 is absolutely essential for life on earth. Commercial greenhouse operators often use CO2 as a fertilizer to improve the health and growth rate of their plants. Plants, and our own primate ancestors evolved when the levels of atmospheric CO2 were at least 1000 ppm, a level that we will probably not reach by burning fossil fuels, and far above our current level of about 380 ppm. We try to keep CO2 levels in our US Navy submarines no higher than 8,000 parts per million, about 20 time current atmospheric levels. Few adverse effects are observed at even higher levels. …
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Coalition proposes forest restoration in Blackfoot, Clearwater, Swan river valleys

By MICHAEL JAMISON, the Missoulian, May 18, 2010 [here]

KALISPELL - Heal the forest, clear the stream, kill the weeds and build the trails. Pay the logger, help the wildlife, fight the fire, save the mill.

“That’s the way forward, is to look at our forests and our communities at the landscape level,” said Scott Brennan. “That’s the only way out of gridlock.”

Brennan, who works with the Wilderness Society, has been meeting lately with lumbermen and economic developers and U.S. Forest Service officials, and together they’ve assembled an optimistic plan for restoring both forests and local economies.

If successful, their proposal will bring in $90 million over the next 10 years, an ambitious and unprecedented investment in woods work, covering lands in the Blackfoot, Clearwater and Swan river valleys.

It’s possible, he said, because of a new federal initiative focused on collaborative projects that restore overworked ecosystems. The program - called the Forest Landscape Restoration Act - provides $40 million a year for 10 projects around the nation.

To qualify, the Forest Service must grant matching funds to the projects, and Brennan and his coalition have asked for the max - $4 million a year over 10 years, plus $4 million in agency match, plus an additional $10 million to cover agency overhead.

With that, he said, they would go to work on lands stretching east from Potomac to Lincoln, up through the southern Bob Marshall Wilderness complex, past Salmon Prairie nearly to Swan Lake, and down the backbone of the Missions.

Along the way, they’d create more than 150 jobs, contributing an estimated $9 million a year in direct labor income. They’d deliver about 190 million board feet of sawlogs and biomass material, and restore 46,000 acres of forest land. They’d beat back fire risk on 27,000 wooded acres close to homes, and restore about 1,000 miles of streams.

They’d whack weeds on 81,000 acres, tread 280 miles of trails, improve habitat for wildlife finned and furred.

If, that is, they can win the money.

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USSA and Others Seek Great Lakes Wolf Delisting

Black Bear Blog, May 18, 2010 [here]

(Columbus) – Today, the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance (USSA) and other national and state based groups filed a formal petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to remove the Western Great Lakes wolves from the Endangered Species List.

The petition incorporates information regarding the wolves’ population status from similar petitions filed by the Departments of Natural Resources in Minnesota and Wisconsin in March and April, 2010. This information includes population numbers of 3,000 wolves now present in Minnesota, 460-500 in Wisconsin and 430 in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. This is a significant increase in wolf population from the 1970s, when they were placed under Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection.

Once removed from ESA list, the wolves would still be protected under the management plans of each state.

“The numbers of wolves throughout the region have clearly recovered and it is time for the states to regain their rightful management authority,” said Rob Sexton, USSA vice president for government affairs. “Though it’s already been a long road, the USSA and our partners remain committed to ensuring that this delisting happens.”

Joining the USSA in filing the petition are the Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association, Dairyland Committee of Safari Club International Chapters of Wisconsin, National Wild Turkey Federation of Wisconsin, Whitetails of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Firearms Owners, Ranges, Clubs and Educators Inc.

Two previous efforts by FWS to delist the Western Great Lakes gray wolves were reversed as a result of lawsuits filed by anti-hunting groups and some procedural mistakes made by the FWS in the waning days of the Bush Administration.

Scientist Disputes EPA Finding that Carbon Dioxide Poses Threat to Humans

EPA scientists say manmade carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are contributing to a warming of the global climate — and as such represent a threat to human welfare. But a leading climatologist says his research indicates that CO2 poses no threat to human welfare at all, and he says the EPA should revisit its findings.

by Gene J. Koprowski, FOXNews.com, May 18, 2010 [here]

CHICAGO — Carbon dioxide is hazardous to your health, the Environmental Protection Agency says. Oh really?

EPA scientists say manmade carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are contributing to a warming of the global climate — and as such represent a threat to human welfare. Officials went so far as to declare the gas a danger to mankind in early December. But a leading climatologist says his research indicates that CO2 poses no threat to human welfare at all, and he says the EPA should revisit its findings.

“There is an overestimation of the environment’s sensitivity to CO2,” said Dr. Patrick Michaels, senior fellow in environmental studies at the CATO Institute and a past president of the American Association of State Climatologists.

Michaels spoke before a group of about 700 scientists and government officials at the fourth International Conference on Climate Change. The conference is presented annually in Chicago by the Heartland Institute, a conservative nonprofit think tank that actively questions the theory of man’s role in global warming. Last year the Institute published Climate Change Reconsidered, a comprehensive reply to the United Nations’ latest report on climate change.

Michaels described how the U.N. gathers weather information for its computer models, on which the EPA based its ruling. He said data gathering at weather stations in some parts of the world is spotty, and U.N. scientists add new figures to compensate. But in doing so, he said, they also add errors to the final research product.

“There is a systemic bias in the computer models,” said Michaels, whose research suggests that the U.N.’s adjusted computer modeling data, rather than actual observed data, is what connects the rise in temperatures to manmade causes. When one takes away the computerized modeling enhancements, he said, mankind’s contribution to global warming is virtually nil, approximately .03 degrees, rather than .07 degrees, over the last 50 years.

Thus, he said, most of the planet’s warming is not from manmade sources. “This idea that most of the warming is due to greenhouse gases caused by man just isn’t right,” he said. … [more]

Inconvenient Truth: Sea Level Rise is Decelerating

The Hockey Schtick, May 18, 2010 [here]

Despite alarmist claims to the contrary, according to both tide gauge and satellite altimetry data, the rate of sea level rise since 1900 (and over the past 6000 years according to paleologic data) has been decelerating, not accelerating. Carefully selected tide gauge data by Simon Holgate of the UK Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory is shown in his poster below, which notes that the rate of sea level rise decelerated in the second half of the 20th century (despite exponential increases in CO2 emissions):

Click to see entire poster presentation

Furthermore, the rate of sea level rise as determined by satellite altimetry (which is only available since 1992 and is calibrated to tide gauges) has also decelerated over the past 5 years from 3.2 mm/yr to only 1.5 mm/yr, about the same rate as calculated by Holgate for the period 1954-2003. Paleologic data also indicate sea level rise has greatly decelerated over the past 6000 years, and that sea levels have been rising naturally since the last ice age.

Please help review documents on land grab

by Rep. Denny Rehberg, Clark Fork Chronicle, May 19 2010 [here]

Please help me review recently released documents regarding secret plans to declare millions of acres in Montana as national monuments. The Department of Interior has released 383 of their previously secret pages regarding ongoing plans to declare millions of acres as National Monuments. They continue to withhold at least 2,016 pages of documents, including the missing pages of the original “Internal Draft” memo that was discovered earlier this year.

A few hundred pages of documents are just a fraction of what I’ve asked for, and these pages only raise more questions and underline the reasons Montanans are rightfully concerned. We now find references to plans that we were told weren’t in the works. This doesn’t pass the smell test.

These documents clearly reveal that other DOI agencies including the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Reclamation have been involved. Powerful environmental interest groups have also been invited to the table.

The more we learn, the more urgent it becomes to pass legislation preventing a repeat of the gross abuse of power we saw in the waning days of the Clinton Administration. I will do everything in my power to prevent the federalization of Montana land.

Please READ as much as you can [here], and SHARE anything that is interesting, disturbing or suspicious. What did you find? Please be sure to include a detailed description of what you found, the name of the document you found it in and an explanation of why it’s important [here].

Land board OKs using PPL lawsuit money to buy Plum Creek timberlands

By MATT GOURAS Associated Press Monday, May 17, 2010 [here]

HELENA - The Montana Land Board endorsed a plan Monday to use roughly $40 million from a settlement with PPL Montana to buy more state land, over the objections of some lawmakers who say only the Legislature can make such a move.

The money comes from a state Supreme Court order that says PPL Montana needs to pay rent for the land its hydroelectric dams sit on. Part of that order included damages owed the state in excess of $40 million.

The Department of Natural Resources and Conservation said the money would likely best be used by increasing the size of the land trust that generates revenue for the state. It is proposing the state look into buying former Plum Creek Timber Co. land, currently owned by The Nature Conservancy. …

The PPL money - which has not been paid yet and could be subject to an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court - represents a unique windfall. Sexton has said the agency evaluated similar types of payments, along with the broad authority the Land Board has over trust land and other issues, in making its recommendation.

The agency is eyeing a portion of roughly 300,000 acres the Nature Conservancy agreed to buy from Plum Creek back in 2008. The conservancy now wants to sell much of it to the state. … [more]

Rehberg introduces bill to limit executive action

by Jed Link, Clark Fork Chronicle, May 13 2010 [here]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Denny Rehberg (R-MT) and Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD) have joined forces in introducing the bipartisan Limit Executive Actions Suspending Energy (LEASE) Act of 2010. This legislation would prevent the executive branch from circumventing Congress to create laws with regard to climate change regulation. Most recently, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) unilaterally suspended oil and gas leases in three Western states.

“An unelected bureaucrat doesn’t have the authority to make policy over the objections of the American people and Congress,” said Rehberg, a member of the Congressional Western Caucus. “While protecting the environment is important, so is protecting the economy, and the last thing we need is Washington picking winners and losers in an already struggling economy.”

“Once again, we are seeing one-size-fits-all policy being crafted by some in Washington who don’t understand the unique needs and strengths of South Dakota,” Herseth Sandlin said. “This legislation will ensure that until Congress acts, rural communities are protected from agencies acting on their own and issuing regulations that could harm our energy and agricultural producers, and other industries.”

The LEASE Act prevents the head of federal agencies from taking administrative actions to regulate greenhouse gas emissions without express statutory authorization from Congress. Prohibited actions include issuing secretarial orders or regulations and monitoring, mitigating, predicting or documenting so-called greenhouse gas emissions.

Earlier this year, BLM settled a lawsuit filed by several well-funded special interest groups to suspend 61 oil and gas lease sales in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota. The lawsuit alleged that BLM did not analyze the impacts of climate change as would be required by Secretarial Order 3226, which was issued by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt in the final days of the Clinton Administration. BLM also postponed all of its upcoming 2010 lease sales after Interior Secretary Ken Salazar decided to incorporate climate change evaluation into all decision-making at the Department of Interior (DOI). These regulatory decisions were made without consulting Congress. … [more]

Endangered Sea Lions Munch Endangered Salmon

At Bonneville Dam, the sea lions continue to munch endangered salmon, despite hazing — and a lethal injection program

By Scott Learn, The Oregonian May 13, 2010 [here]

BONNEVILLE DAM — Despite a flurry of shotgun-fired firecrackers, rubber buckshot and lethal injections that have killed 10 California sea lions this year, the amount of salmon eaten by sea lions at the first dam along the Columbia River is approaching record levels.

That’s the word from Robert Stansell, a fish biologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who has monitored the sea lion’s often surprising behavior since he started at Bonneville in 1982.

“These animals do learn over time,” Stansell says. “Every time I think I know something, the next year they throw me a curveball.”

The lethal-take program, requested by Oregon, Washington and Idaho, is the first in the nation to kill marine mammals to save threatened or endangered salmon and steelhead since Congress passed the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972. The Columbia is home to a multibillion-dollar salmon restoration effort.

But it’s not easy to rebalance nature at the base of a mammoth hydropower dam, even with observers on the dam from dawn to dusk to track the sea lion dietary preferences, shotgun-armed hazers on boats and along the dam, and four sea lion traps on shore below the dam’s north powerhouse.

Salmon eaten by California sea lions at the hydropower dam — 140 miles upstream but a prime spot for catching salmon before they swim up the fish ladders — are down this year. But the 73 spotted so far are up from last year and newcomers have spiked, signs opportunistic colleagues may be replacing animals trapped and killed at the dam. … [more]

Recovery of one native species deepens struggle of another

by Paul Smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 5, 2010 [here]

The distinctive beep bore bad news for the reintroduction of elk in Wisconsin. Bad, but not unexpected.

The state’s elk biologists had steeled themselves for the day the next mortality signal would sound.

It happened Monday. When Laine Stowell followed the electronic trail to the bank of the West Fork of the Chippewa River, all that was left of the female elk was hair, a few bones and a radio collar.

The elk had fallen prey to gray wolves, probably of the Torch River Pack, reasoned Stowell.

The incident highlights the recovery and burgeoning population of a native predator species long linked to wildness in northern Wisconsin.

It also underscores the challenges facing another native as it struggles to re-establish itself in the Badger State.

The loss was especially noteworthy because it reduced the state’s elk herd to 131 animals - the same place it started last May.

It meant the elk herd, for just the second time in the 15-year effort to re-establish the native animals, would not show annual growth.

Of course, there are still two to three weeks left in what biologists call the “elk year,” before the next round of calves are born and before the herd renews its struggle for growth.

“We could still lose some,” said Stowell, elk biologist for the Department of Natural Resources, his voice indicating such an event was more likely than not.

Only in 2006-’07, when the herd declined by 3%, has an elk year ended in the red.

The herd started in 1995 with 25 elk transferred from Michigan to the Clam Lake area. The project was made possible in large part by funds raised by Wisconsin members of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. …

According to DNR estimates, Wisconsin had 702 to 746 wolves during the winter of 2009-’10, an increase of 75 to 100 animals from the previous year.

Wolves have been the leading cause of elk mortality since reintroduction. According to DNR data, 44 of the 143 known elk deaths since 1995 have been due to wolves. … [more]

Cattle ranchers again must cope with limited grazing

by Scott Sandsberry, Yakima Herald-Republic, May 16, 2010 [here]

ELLENSBURG, Wash. — For the second straight year, the state has withdrawn its livestock grazing plans on state wildlife lands in eastern Kittitas County.

Facing the loss of its sole range ecologist and ongoing litigation from Western Watersheds Project, an Idaho-based conservation group, the state says there will be no cattle grazing this year on the Whisky Dick and Quilomene wildlife areas.

Opponents of the grazing plan, the primary issue being the use of state wildlife lands for livestock, celebrated the state’s decision. But Kittitas cattle rancher Russ Stingley must continue to graze his cattle on already well-thinned pastures. His only alternative is to sell some of his livestock.

“We’ll possibly have to sell off some cattle — probably 100 or so if we can’t find a home for them,” said Stingley, who has about 500 head. “Depends on if this is a drought year — if they shut off our (irrigation) water earlier than usual, we won’t have much choice.”

Stingley’s grazing permit on the Whisky Dick and Quilomene, part of a regional, multi-partner conservation plan, has been off-again, on-again. … [more]