Forest, Wildlife, and Climate News

Chicago Climate Exchange drops 50%, new record low

by Anthony Watts, Watts Up With That, August 31, 2010 [here]

The only lower price than today’s closing price on a ton of carbon is ZERO

Perhaps reacting to the news yesterday about the IPCC getting taken to the woodshed [here], the growing number of stories in the MSM about the IPCC failure, and the recent layoffs at CCX [here], carbon trading has once again been devalued by the market. …

The CCX [Chicago Climate Exchange] end of day table really says it all, 50% off, from a dime to a nickel [per ton] in a day. …

Charcoal briquettes and coal have more value than a ton of CCX carbon instruments these days. [By the way, the spot price for Central Appalachia 12,500 Btu, 1.2 SO2 coal this week was $69.50 per ton. Compare that 5 cents per ton for fiat "market" carbon futures.]

Unless CCX starts making adjustments in single cents, the next downward adjustment is zero. The latest CCX advisory says they will be closed for labor day, and will reopen for trading September 7th. One wonders.

See also: The $10 Trillion Climate Fraud [here]

ICE buying Climate Exchange for over $600 million [here]

Pilot, two Fish and Game biologists killed in Kamiah helicopter crash

By Greg Meyer, KLEW TV, Aug 31, 2010 [here]

KAMIAH - A helicopter crash in Kamiah Tuesday morning claimed the lives of the pilot and two Idaho Fish and Game fisheries biologists.

According to Fish and Game officials, an apparent mechanical malfunction in the helicopter resulted in the crash at about 9:30 a.m.

The pilot and one of the biologists were deceased at the scene. The other biologist was transported to the hospital in Orofino, but Lewis County Public Information Officer Jeannette Dreadfulwater said he also died of his injuries.

Identifies of the victims are being withheld pending notification of families.

Fish and Game said the crash occurred near the Fish and Game office in Kamiah. The biologists were taking salmon redd counts on the nearby Selway River. … [more]

Oregon “Dead Zones” Sheer Quackery

A crab bounty

The Oregonian Editorial Board, August 25, 2010, 10:30 AM [here]

It was four years ago this month that a state marine ecologist described a Dungeness crab carnage off Oregon’s coast. Hal Weeks, after peering into waters off Cape Perpetua, told this newspaper the pileup looked like so many “jellybeans in a jar — you just can’t count them, there were so many.”

The ocean was killing them.

A vast oxygen-starved layer of water had blanketed Oregon’s central coast with a “dead zone” in which few creatures, including crab, could live. Dead zones of smaller magnitude had annually preceded the big killer, but the phenomenon by 2006 fueled fears that the ocean was in a strange and dangerous tailspin.

Happily, that seems now to be history.

Last week could hardly have been a better one in Oregon’s Dungeness crabbing community, which closed out the season punching up some very big numbers. The haul from the past 8 1/2 months is 23 million pounds — a figure that may well hit 25 million pounds once all pots are brought in, by the end of the month.

So far the value of the harvest to more than 400 crabbers exceeds $40 million, with tens of millions more in estimated economic impact in coastal communities. This is the fourth season in a decade in which the haul exceeds 20 million pounds, infusing families and businesses with real income. … [more]

Note: NOAA Chief Calamity Jane “Dead Zone” Lubchenco made her career by issuing Alarmist hysteria about the “death” of the Pacific Ocean. However, she was wrong. The Oregonian has admitted their error; will Jane?

McClintock blasts U.S. Forest Service for “abusive,” “predatory” fees

Special to The Grass Valley Union, August, 26 2010 [here]

Congressman Tom McClintock made the following statement to the Regional U.S. Forest Service Management Roundtable hosted by Congressman Wally Herger in Sacramento on Wednesday, August 25:

There are four general subjects that my constituents have brought to my attention that I feel are important to raise in this forum.

First, some of the most disturbing stories I have heard locally involve the abuse of cost recovery fees by the Forest Service. This has been a source of great frustration and evinces an attitude within the Service that I believe requires immediate correction.

For example, the California Endurance Riders Association had been using the El Dorado National Forest for many years. This time, when they sought a simple 5-year 10-event permit to continue doing exactly what they have been doing without incident for decades, the Forest Service demanded $11,000 in fees.

They paid these fees, but the El Dorado National Forest management nevertheless pulled the approved permit and halted the process on utterly specious grounds. It then demanded an additional $17,000 fee, causing the Endurance Riders Association to cancel what had been a long-term civic tradition that had been a boon to the local economy. In 2010 this outrage was repeated after the group spent $5,800 for the “Fool’s Gold Endurance Run” that had been an ongoing event for more than 40 years. …

Finally – and most importantly, since this affects the safety of entire communities in my district – I remain concerned over the demonstrated disinterest that the Forest Service has recently demonstrated in supporting sustainable timber harvests. The expensive and labor-intensive process of twig removal cannot achieve fuel reductions that reduce the risk and intensity of forest fires. We must restore responsible and sustainable thinning of over populated forests called for in the Herger-Feinstein Quincy Library Group Forest Restoration Act of 1998, and which the U.S. Forest Service is now thwarting in our region.

For generations, the U.S. Forest Service maintained a balanced approach to the management of our forests that assured both healthy forests and a healthy economy. Now, it seems to be following a very different policy of exclusion, expulsion and benign neglect of our forests. … [more]

Note: There’s nothing benign about megafires, Tom. Perhaps less talk, more action on your part might be useful in in saving America’s forests.

Seattle Climate in 40 Years to Be Like LA’s Today

Seattle will become an even ‘hotter’ destination

By Matthew E. Kahn, Guest Column, Seattle Times, August 27, 2010 [here]

IN fall 2050, Pete Carroll will be entering his 41st season as the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. As he walks the streets, he will notice that the outdoor summer temperature reminds him of his days at USC.

Due to climate change, Seattle’s future average temperature will look a lot more like Los Angeles’ today. King County’s average July temperature over the years 1968 to 2002 was 65 degrees. One climate-change model (with the catchy name CCSM) predicts that Seattle’s average July temperature will be 71 degrees in the year 2070. Winter average temperatures will remain roughly what they are now. … [more Alarmist BS here]

Matthew E. Kahn is the author of “Climatopolis: How Our Cities Will Thrive in the Hotter Future” and a professor at the UCLA Institute of the Environment.

Note 1: Matthew Kahn would be much more skeptical of this climate-change model if he had seen the NOAA National Climatic Data Center data indicating that Washington’s annual temperatures have actually been trending downward at a rate of 0.33 degrees F per decade in the 20 years since 1990 and trending downward even more rapidly at a rate of 0.86 degrees F per decade in the last 10 years, all during a period of “ever-rising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse-gas emissions”. — Ken Schlichte

Note 2: Yes, Matt, Warmer Is Better. Kudos for noticing. Unfortunately, the Earth is cooling, not warming. — Admin

The Greening of Godzilla

by Walter Russell Mead, Via Meadia, August 28, 2010 [here]

Watching the colossal and implosive decline of the once mighty green movement to stop global warming has been an educational experience. It’s rare to see so many smart, idealistic and dedicated people look so clueless and fail so completely. From the anti-climax of the Cluster of Copenhagen, when world leaders assembled for the single most unproductive and chaotic global gathering ever held, the movement has gone from one catastrophic failure to the next.

A year ago giddy environmentalists were on top of the world. The greenest president in American history had the largest congressional majority of any president since Lyndon Johnson; the most powerful leaders in the world were elbowing each other for places on the agenda at the Copenhagen conference on climate.

It all came to naught. The continued stalemates and failures of the UN treaty process have fallen off the front pages; as the Kyoto Protocol sinks ineffectually into oblivion, no new global treaty will take its place. The most Democratic Congress in a generation will not pass significant climate legislation before the midterms pull Congress to the right, and there will be no US law on carbon caps or anything close in President Obama’s first term, and there is less public faith in or concern about climate change today than at any time in the last fifteen years.

Has any public pressure group ever spent so much direct mail and foundation money for such pathetic results?

The standard rap on the greens is that they failed because they were too environmentalist. Their pure and naive ideals were no match for the evil, ugly forces of real world politics. Beautiful losers, they dared to dream a dream too gossamer winged, too delicate for the harsh light of day. Bambi, meet Godzilla; the butterfly was broken on the wheel.

Even in defeat, the greens can’t get it right. The greens didn’t fail because they were too loyal to their ideals; they failed because lost touch with the core impetus and values of the environmental movement. Bambi wasn’t crushed by Godzilla; Bambi turned into Godzilla, and the same kind of public skepticism and populism that once fueled environmentalism have turned against it. … [more]

Idaho Fish and Game Commission Threatens Hunters

by Rockholm Media Group, August 28, 2010 [here]

YouTube Video of Idaho Fish and Game Commission making terrorist threats to citizens in attendance at the July 2010 IDFG meeting

Thousands of off-road enthusiasts ride to the Capitol

By Cathy McKitrick, The Salt Lake Tribune, August 28, 2010 [here]

More than 5,200 off-road enthusiasts motored up State Street on Saturday. Their message: “Take Back Utah” — keep the state’s lands open for motorized travel and for use of its natural resources.

The parade ended with a rally at the state Capitol where Governor Gary Herbert and others called for renewed vigor in the fight for access to wilderness lands. …

Almost two-thirds of the land in Utah is owned by the federal government. Herbert laid out three possible actions he and others could take to deal with that fact: legislation, litigation and negotiation.

“We have the ability to negotiate with the Department of the Interior,” Herbert said. “I know it sounds crazy but we’ve had opportunities to work with the administration to find solutions.”

At times, the rally resembled recent tea party events. House Speaker David Clark, R-Santa Clara, took potshots at Washington, D.C., and Democrats.

“On every policy issue that has faced the Reid, Pelosi and Obama administration, there has been a choice between freedom and more government” Clark said. “And on every single issue, they have chosen the path of more government and less freedom.”

Utah’s 1st District Rep. Rob Bishop warned of federal efforts to buy more public lands for national monuments using the so-called Antiquities Act, which he said would enable officials to circumvent Congress.

“They’re talking about trying to control land in great ecosystems,” Bishop said. “I saw the map of their ecosystems — it’s the entire West.”

Randy Parker, a cattle rancher and chief executive officer of the Utah Farm Bureau Federation, took jabs at the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) and other “members of the left-wing environmental Mafia.”

“The radical environmentalists want to lock up Utah into non-use designations like the Red Rock Wilderness bill,” Parker said. “SUWA had to go to New York to get congressional support because they’re so removed from Utah and the people of Utah.” … [more]

More Alarmist Tripe from Steve Running

Playing Fair With Climate Science

By Kevin Drum, Mother Jones, Aug. 24, 2010 [here]

A few weeks ago I wrote about a Nature article that suggested we were in the middle of a long-term decline in the volume of phytoplankton in the world’s oceans. I had a bit of email back-and-forth with Stuart Staniford about whether the results in the paper were really robust, but the upshot was unclear and the paper was, after all, in Nature, not some C-list journal. What’s more, the decline was pretty substantial. It was probably real.

But now comes another climate-related piece of research, this time in the equally respected Science, and this time Stuart’s skepticism is on much firmer ground. For the last decade scientists have been collecting information on terrestrial vegetation coverage using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite. Their conclusion*: vegetation coverage is down, which means plants are pulling less carbon out of the air, which means we have yet another positive feedback loop causing an increase in atmospheric carbon levels.

* Maosheng Zhao and Steven W. Running. 2010. Drought-Induced Reduction in Global
Terrestrial Net Primary Production from 2000 Through 2009. Science 329, 940 (2010)

The problem is that there are only ten annual data points so far, and they bounce around like a pogo stick. The trend over the past decade is slightly down, but the variance is so large that it’s almost impossible to tell if this is just normal noise or a real decline. …

Stuart is unhappy:

Ok. So here we have a statistically non-robust result, that the authors are well aware is not statistically robust, being published because it’s of “high policy significance”. However, and critically, the authors included no discussion whatsoever of the statistical limitations of the evidence. The “-0.55″ in the abstract is not “-0.55 +/- 1.1″ or something like that to give the reader a heads up that there is a lot of uncertainty here. There is no calculation of the “p-value” of that trend (how likely it was to occur by chance), even though the rest of the paper is littered with p-values of subsidiary results. They know perfectly well how to calculate this, they know it’s not statistically significant, but they chose to put their readers in a position where we have to take the data off the graph and do our own statistical analysis to realize what’s really going on.

And the refereeing and editorial process at Science allowed the paper to be published like that.

I think that sucks. … [more]

Note: Neither Zhao nor Running are climate scientists. The “data” used were satellite camera pixels distorted by cloud cover (”cloudy” data). The pixels in no way record terrestrial net productivity. What was “measured” is not even a decent proxy for net productivity. The Science article is full of bizarre assumptions and conclusions. And, as pointed out above, the author’s own analysis is statistically deficient. They found no significant trend in their ersatz data, but report a calamity anyway. Pure Alarmist tripe.

Climate Realism: Not to Be Denied Any Longer

by S. T. Karnick, The American Culture, 27 May 2010 [here]

Last week’s meeting of 700+ scientists, policymakers, and concerned citizens in Chicago to discuss the science and economics of global warming at the Fourth International Conference on Climate Change was a huge success as measured by the intent of its sponsors: to establish once and for all that the climate realist position is increasingly the accepted conclusion among thinking people in the three categories noted above. That position is this: manmade global warming is not a crisis.

Yes, all parties at the conference pretty much agreed that there was a good deal of warming in the 1980s and 1990s, and that the trend stopped and reversed in the current decade. Global temperatures have been falling in recent years, even though the weather stations and other data chosen to represent the official temperature records are in fact skewed to show higher and more-rising temperatures than are actually occurring.

The predictions of a steady, horrifying increase in temperatures have proven false, which should have been a great embarrassment to the climate alarmists who made the claims and set them as the basis for their extravagant power grabs such as emissions limits and cap and trade.

Yet the embarrassment has not been forthcoming from those proven to be wrong, because they are shameless. … [more]

Note: an excellent essay.

Oregon timber harvest near historic low in 2009

By STEVEN DUBOIS, Bloomberg Businessweek, Aug 20, 2010 [here]

Continued weakness in housing construction sent the Oregon timber harvest to near historic lows last year, the state Department of Forestry said Friday.

The 2009 harvest was 2.748 billion board feet, a 20 percent decline from a weak 2008 and the lowest figure since a Great Depression-era harvest of 2.622 billion board feet.

Timber picked up some earlier this year, after a temporary bounce in log prices, but Forestry Department economist Gary Lettman was cautious about predicting a major recovery.

“The earliest would be 2011, but that’s optimistic,” he said.

Oregon’s largest timber harvest was 9.743 billion board feet in 1972. The state maintained levels above 8 billion until the late 1980s, when environmental issues such as the spotted owl prompted sharp cutbacks in logging on federal lands. … [more]

Note: considering economic multiplier effects, a board foot is worth about a dollar. Hence the 7 billion board foot difference between 1972 and 2009 represents about a $7 billion annual shortfall in Oregon’s economy.

DNR says wolves likely killed Jackson County dog

The Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire, August 20, 2010 [here]

Jackson County, Wisconsin - On Monday wildlife officials (Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources) responded to a call of a missing dog from a private landowner in the town of Bear Bluff in Jackson County.

After letting the beagle-mix dog out at 2 AM, the dog did not return. When it became light, the owner discovered wolf-like tracks in the driveway within 40 feet of the front steps. The tracks were mixed with the beagle dog tracks.

After searching the area, no trace of the dog was found. This incident took place 2.5 miles north of an incident where a wolf attack on a dog was verified on July 24.

After review of the evidence, the wildlife officials concluded this was a probable wolf depredation by the Bear Bluff Pack.

Related: DNR Wolf Depredations 2010 [here]

Note: Just forty feet from the steps of a property owner’s home in town, a wolf — part of a wolf pack — views a dog as a menu item. Does the family have children or grandchildren? As wolves are “protected,” people and their property — which includes children, livestock and pets — become the real endangered species by default. - JKS

Note: Thanks for the news tip to Julie Kay Smithson, Property Rights Research [here, here]

Swanson to shutter another Oregon sawmill

The future of mills in Springfield and Noti is unclear; officials blame the government for the cutbacks

By Ilene Aleshire, The Register-Guard, Aug 20, 2010 [here]

The Swanson Group said Thursday it is closing its Glendale sawmill indefinitely and scaling back operations at its studmill in Roseburg, blaming the federal government for conditions it said led to the cutbacks.

Congressman Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., seconded Swanson’s complaints, criticizing the Obama adminstration for a loss in the supply of timber from federal lands and both the Bush and Obama administrations for not protecting the Northwest from what he said were subsidized Canadian imports.

Swanson is based in Glendale, north of Grants Pass, and also operates mills in Noti and Springfield.

The Glendale mill will stop operating as soon as it uses up its current inventory of logs and may never reopen, Swanson officials said in a written statement. Operations at the Roseburg mill will be scaled back from 60 hours a week to 20 hours per week. All told, about 90 employees will be affected by the two actions, the company said. After the cuts, the company said it will have about 650 employees.

CEO Steven Swanson was not available Thursday to discuss the outlook for the Springfield and Noti mills.

While a lot of overlapping factors led to the shutdown of the Glendale mill and cut in operations at Roseburg, including the ongoing recession and housing slump, Swanson officials said they laid much of the responsibility at the federal government’s door.

“Cheap subsidized Canadian imports continue to flow into the U.S., further deflating markets while our government remains unwilling to provide a reasonable or sustainable volume of timber for rural mills and communities,” company officials said.

The federal government’s timber sale program, particularly on Bureau of Land Management properties, “has gone from bad to worse,” Swanson officials said. “The situation in southwest Oregon, where the federal government manages more than 60 percent of the forestland, is dire.”

The Medford BLM district, which has historically provided the majority of logs needed to run the Glendale mill, now provides less than 4 percent, the company said. “Without a significant increase in timber offerings by the U.S. government, this sawmill may never re-open,” company officials said. … [more]

Hoots and hollers: Surprising forest tour with QLG and Legacy along for the ride

by Alicia Knadler, Plumas County news, 8/18/2010 [here]

A forest tour Tuesday, Aug. 10, ended in a hoot, and it wasn’t from an owl.

It was a shout of surprised laughter from Quincy Library Group attorney Michael Jackson.

Along for the ride on the tour were Quincy Library Group members, a Sierra Forest Legacy representative, local landowners, Forest Service officers and other forest stakeholders.

“Just because we’re fighting over the forest doesn’t mean we have to fight over everything,” Jackson said with a huge smile for Jim Brobeck of Sierra Forest Legacy and Butte County Fire Safe Council.

Brobeck, a member of the organization now in litigation with the Forest Service over the 2004 Sierra Nevada Framework, had just finished sharing his thoughts about the Genesee Wildland Urban Interface Fuels Reduction and Black Oak Enhancement Project.

He was impressed by the ecosystem management approach to the project, which was explained in each area of the tour by Ryan Tompkins, silviculturist for the Plumas National Forest Mount Hough Ranger District.

He doesn’t like fiber production to the emphasis of fuel reduction jobs on the forest.

“It was really great to have Michael Jackson sharing Native American stories about historical management of the area,” Brobeck said, and he envisions the project teaching people how to use fire in ways that won’t hurt the land or the people. … [more]

Note: forest restoration should be informed by the historical conditions — which were influenced by the traditional ecological practices of the pre-Contact residents. It is good to see that information finally trickling in. Perhaps a pull back on the lawsuits might aid in getting the job done, eh Jim?

Activist ‘Green’ Lawyers Billing U.S. Millions in Fraudulent Attorney Fees

by Richard Pollock, The Westerner, August 15, 2010 [here]

Without any oversight, accounting, or transparency, environmental activist groups have surreptitiously received at least $37 million from the federal government for questionable “attorney fees.” The lawsuits they received compensation for had nothing to do with environmental protection or improvement.

The activist groups have generated huge revenue streams via the obscure Equal Access to Justice Act. Congressional sources claim the groups are billing for “cookie cutter” lawsuits — they file the same petitions to multiple agencies on procedural grounds, and under the Act, they file for attorney fees even if they do not win the case. Since 1995, the federal government has neither tracked nor accounted for any of these attorney fee payments.

Nine national environmental activist groups alone have filed more than 3,300 suits, every single one seeking attorney fees. The groups have also charged as much as $650 per hour (a federal statutory cap usually limits attorney fees to $125 per hour).

In well over half of the cases, there was no court judgment in the environmental groups’ favor. In all cases, whether there was any possible environmental benefit from the litigation is highly questionable. Most cases were simply based upon an alleged failure to comply with a deadline or to follow a procedure.

A whistleblower who was employed for 30 years by the U.S. Forest Service told Pajamas Media:

Some organizations have built a business doing this and attacking the agencies on process, and then getting “reimbursed.”

This week a bipartisan group of congressional members introduced legislation to end the secrecy of the payments and force the government to open up the records to show exactly how much has been paid to the groups and the questionable attorney fees. The legislation was sponsored by Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming), Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD), and Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah). …

The $37 million figure is considered low. It includes less than a dozen groups and only accounts for cases in 19 states and the District of Columbia. There are hundreds of eco-activist groups in the United States. … [more]

Here is a sampling of the number of assembly line “lawsuits” filed between 2000 and 2009 that have been painstakingly identified by the Western Legacy Alliance and Budd-Falen. Activist group Western Watersheds Project filed 91 lawsuits in the federal district courts; Forest Guardians (now known as WildEarth Guardians) filed 180 lawsuits; the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) filed at 409 suits; the Wilderness Society filed 149 lawsuits; the National Wildlife Federation filed 427 lawsuits; and the Sierra Club filed 983 lawsuits. These numbers do not include administrative appeals or notices of intent to sue.

Even local or regional environmental groups have figured out ways to turn on the taxpayer spigot. WLA found the Idaho Conservation League filed 72 lawsuits and the Oregon Natural Desert Association filed 50. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance filed 88 lawsuits. At last count, just eight local groups in nine Western states have filed nearly 1,600 lawsuits against the federal government.

On the national level, over the last decade nine national environmental groups have filed 3,300 cases against the federal government. As is usual, the vast majority of the cases deal with the alleged procedural failings of federal agencies, not with substance or science. …

Fourteen groups identified as recipients of the Act’s funding are: the Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, Colorado Environmental Coalition, Forest Guardians, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Western Watersheds Project, Defenders of Wildlife, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, WildEarth, Oregon Natural Desert Association, Oregon Wild, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, and Wyoming Outdoor Council. …

Environmental organizations are among the most financially prosperous non-profits in the country. The Sierra Club alone in 2007 reported its total worth as $56.6 million. According to 2007 Internal Revenue Service records, the top ten environmental presidents receive as much as a half million dollars a year in annual compensation. Fred Krupp, the president of the Environmental Defense Fund, Inc reported $492,000 in executive compensation in 2007. The top ten highest grossing environmental executives all received at least $308,000 in compensation.

Environmental activist groups also have been among the most influential in throwing around political money. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, between 2000 and this year activist environmental political action committees have given $3.4 million in campaign contributions to candidates for federal office. About 87% of the money went to Democrats.

Richard Pollock is the Washington, D.C., editor for Pajamas Media and the Washington bureau chief of PJTV.