Dioxin contamination site downstream from Michigan chemical plant could be worst ever in US A dioxin find at the bottom of Michigan's Saginaw River could be the highest level of such contamination ever discovered in a U.S. river or lake, according to a federal scientist involved in cleanup efforts downstream from a Dow Chemical Co. plant. A crew testing the Saginaw and Tittabawassee rivers discovered the sample, which measured 1.6 million parts of dioxin per trillion of water, The Saginaw News and The Detroit News reported last week. That level is about 20 times higher than any other find recorded in the archives of the U.S. environmental agency. "There may be more surprises out there," said Milton Clark, a health and science expert for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "I'd be surprised if there's not more surprises out there." State guidelines require corrective action on contamination above 1,000 parts per trillion....
Mexico Funds Will Protect Butterflies President Felipe Calderon unveiled a sweeping plan Sunday to curb logging and protect millions of monarch butterflies that migrate to the mountains of central Mexico each winter, covering trees and bushes and attracting visitors from around the world. The plan will put $4.6 million toward additional equipment and advertising for the existing Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, covering a 124,000-acre swathe of trees and mountains that for thousands of years has served as the winter nesting ground to millions of orange- and black-winged monarch butterflies. Calderon said it would help boost tourism and support the economy in an impoverished area where illegal logging runs rampant. "It is possible to take care of the environment and at the same time promote development," the president said. The new initiative is part of ongoing efforts to protect the butterflies, which are a huge tourist attraction and the pride of Mexico....
Levee repair leads to Calif. fish kill State and federal officials said Monday they were investigating the death of thousands of game fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta after a federal agency drained the water around a protected island during a levee repair. Masses of fish could be seen floating in shallow water on Prospect Island, a 1,253-acre plot next to Sacramento's Deep Water Ship Channel that is administered by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The bureau stopped draining the remaining water behind the levee Monday and started removing the fish carcasses, spokesman Jeff McCracken said. The agency will add oxygen to the water in hopes of saving some of the remaining fish, he said. The bureau had no estimate on the number of fish killed. Bob McDarif, owner of Cliff's Marina near the delta town of Freeport, estimated the number in the tens of thousands. "It's like a disaster out there," he said....
Trees giving bizarre clues to climate change Suspended 20 stories in the air, Ken Bible looks down on the crown of a 500-year-old Douglas fir and ponders a mystery. It's not the obvious one: How does a man without superpowers hover above the treetops? That's easy. The University of Washington forest ecologist rose to his lofty perch in a metal gondola hoisted by a 285-foot-tall construction crane. The vantage point allows Bible to study the upper reaches of this old-growth forest, where a reproductive orgy is under way. "We've never seen anything like this here," he says, reaching over the edge of the open-air gondola to grasp a limb laden with cones. He counts at least 30. "Normally, a branch like this would have about three," he says. "Why so many this year? We really don't know."....
Ant decline may muddle Lake Tahoe A tiny insect appears to be linked to two big problems at one of the West's most famous lakes. The insect? The aerator ant. Various species range in length from a quarter of an inch to a half-inch and are black or brown. The problems? Clarity, which Lake Tahoe's water is losing, and wildfires, which are a growing threat in the area. Lake Tahoe, which straddles the California-Nevada line, is the country's largest Alpine lake. Its crystal waters are among the biggest attractions for the lake's 3 million annual visitors, according to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. Scientists at the University of Nevada, Reno, are studying aerator ants, and Dennis Murphy, a lead biologist in the research, said the role of the aerator ant reminds him "that we tend to overlook the little things that run the world."....
La Niña bringing a warmer, drier winter The few splatters of rain here and there this fall are testament to what may be a drier than normal winter, according to forecasters at the Climate Assessment for the Southwest, or CLIMAS, at The University of Arizona. The reason is the latest La Niña episode, a stretch of cooler than normal ocean temperatures in the tropical Pacific. La Niña conditions usually portend dry conditions in the Southwest. This is prompting concerns of expanding and deepening drought conditions across both Arizona and New Mexico, according to the latest CLIMAS report. The report also covers changes in recent conditions, such as drought, temperatures, precipitation and area water supplies. There’s also a roundtable discussion of La Niña with several scientists, including Christopher Castro, an assistant professor of atmospheric sciences at the UA, David Gutzler, a professor of earth and planetary sciences at the University of New Mexico, Klaus Wolter, a meteorologist at the Climate Diagnostics Center in Boulder, Colo., and Gregg Garfin, deputy director of outreach at the UA Institute for the Study of Planet Earth, home to CLIMAS....Go here to view the report.
Low timber prices stifle plans to boost logging Bush administration plans to boost logging in Northwest national forests have collided with low timber prices blamed on the housing slump. The U.S. Forest Service is running short of money to draw up new timber sales. Government and industry officials say lumber prices are as low as they have been for years, down by about half from the peak in 2004. Thus the Forest Service earns far less for timber, meaning less money for future logging projects. "We didn't know this was going to happen," said Peggy Kain of the Forest Services regional office in Portland. "The market hasn't been this bad in a very long time." Some mills are cutting back production. "It's probably as bad as its ever been, maybe worse," said Kevin Binam, of the Western Wood Products Association. Without more federal funds, forest experts say, national forest logging will drop off again hampering efforts to thin crowded and flammable timber....
Public loses visitor center officials gain $1.75 million headquarters Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument staffers are about to move into a new, $1.75 million headquarters, just weeks after permanently closing the popular Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center. Monument managers decided to close Coldwater Ridge — which was the only year-round visitor center with a view of the Mount St. Helens crater — because of U.S. Forest Service budget cuts and $2 million in deferred maintenance to the building. Coldwater Ridge opened in 1993 and cost $11.5 million to build. But spending money on the new headquarters, in Amboy, is not the reason Coldwater Ridge closed, said Ron Freeman, acting supervisor of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, which runs the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. The new, energy-efficient headquarters replaces a complex of aging modular trailers that have been used since the 1980 eruption that put Mount St. Helens on the map. "The new monument headquarters has been on our capital wish list for 20 years," Freeman said....
Imagine Mount St. Helens as a new national park There are rumblings around Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, but they have nothing to do with the flow of lava inside the crater. Instead, these rumblings are calls for the National Park Service — the agency that runs Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park and Mount Rainier National Park, among others — to take over Mount St. Helens from the U.S. Forest Service. The Gifford Pinchot National Forest's recent decision to permanently close the Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center — the only year-round visitor center with a clear view of the steaming crater — set off political shock waves. "Mount St. Helens is a national gem," said Sean Smith, northwest regional director of the National Parks Conservation Association. "The volcano deserves the recognition and increased visits that come with national park status."....
BLM wraps up horse roundups Federal wranglers gathered more than 850 wild horses this month in an expedited roundup in southwest Wyoming, according to Bureau of Land Management officials. The roundups from the adjacent Little Colorado and White Mountain wild horse herds on public rangelands in Sweetwater County aim to bring horse numbers down to the BLM's desired population levels, officials said. The roundups in the two herd management units, located north of Green River and west of Rock Springs, were postponed in October due to a shift in the BLM's funding priorities. But gathering operations were later rescheduled for this month after state officials blasted the BLM's controversial decision. "It went well ... it was good," Cindy Wertz, a spokeswoman for the BLM in Cheyenne, said Monday of the roundups. "We heard this morning that it had concluded successfully." Wertz said BLM wranglers captured 856 wild horses during the two-week effort in the Little Colorado and White Mountain herds. The BLM had set a goal of capturing around 725 wild horses during the operations, but mild weather conditions allowed the agency to capture 130 more animals than planned....
BLM's delicate timber dance Under the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's Roseburg District has met only half of its timber sales target. The remaining timber sales -- 48 percent -- were held up in court. Largely presented to industry as regeneration harvests -- clear cuts -- those sales stalled, despite a 70-year-old mandate, the O&C Act, requiring the BLM to sell trees in wholesale fashion. Between 1995 and 2006, the district slowly began shifting from regeneration harvests to thinnings, avoiding lawsuits stemming from potential impacts to at-risk species. For fiscal year 2007, the Roseburg District sold only thinning projects. "That's kind of been our lifeblood ever since," said Steve Niles, forester of the BLM's Roseburg District. With an annual sales target of 45 million board feet of timber under the Northwest Forest Plan, the Roseburg District has sold an average of 25 million board feet since 1995....
Victims Testify in 'Pilgrim' Sentencing The man who called himself "Papa Pilgrim" wanted his children to be illiterate, isolated and obedient to his interpretation of the Bible, says the family who call themselves victims of his sexual and physical abuse. The family is now urging a judge to send the man, 66-year-old Robert Hale, to prison for a long time. Sentencing was set for Tuesday. Hale was convicted of sexually assaulting an adult daughter. His plea agreement calls for a sentence of about 14 years. Hale and his family first came to prominence in Alaska during a feud with the National Park Service. Family members used a bulldozer without permission to clear an abandoned mining road to get to their land. National land rights advocates rallied to their cause and stories featured their plight as a case of big government vs. simple God-fearing, music-loving, live-off-the-land folks. But that rustic image was a facade, Hale's wife testified Monday during a sentencing hearing. Fighting back tears, Kurina Rose Hale compared the family to a city — beautiful to outsiders but plagued on the inside by bad water and barren ground. Robert Hale ruled his family by fear and abuse, she said....
'Wolf' sighting triggers probe Sonya Droguett rolled her eyes when she heard a neighbor tell the tale of spotting a "wolf" in their Olympus Cove neighborhood. Droguett expects the same reaction when she tells her version of spotting the creature last week. While the animal could be a wolf that strayed from reintroduction efforts in Yellowstone National Park or from Idaho, wildlife experts agree it is most likely a hybrid between a wolf and a domestic dog. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) officials are investigating and have placed two motion-triggered cameras in the Olympus Cove neighborhood near the Neffs Canyon Trailhead. A first batch of film developed Monday night from the cameras revealed a variety of wildlife, including deer and a coyote, but nothing resembling a wolf. "Behavioral-wise it is not acting like a wild wolf," said Kevin Bunnell, DWR's mammals program coordinator....
Groups file lawsuit over arctic grayling ruling A group of conservationists wants the courts to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reconsider its decision denying protection to the last remaining native river-dwelling population of arctic grayling in Montana. In April, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service surprised many by deciding the fluvial (river-dwelling) population of arctic grayling in the Big Hole River wasn't genetically different enough from the more common lake-dwelling variety to be considered unique under the federal Endangered Species Act. The decision was a major change of direction. In 1994, the Fish and Wildlife Service concluded the Big Hole River's population of arctic grayling was disappearing and said the situation was dire enough to place the fish on the endangered species list. But other species were in worse shape, FWS officials said, so the grayling's listing was delayed. In 2004, the agency elevated the grayling's status to “high-priority candidate” for listing as its numbers continued to drop. Then, this year, agency officials reversed direction and denied the listing....
Shot from the hip deters bear's charge Fast. Furiously fast. Far faster than he could have imagined. “That bear was just there, all of a sudden, coming hard the whole time, right at me,” said Vic Workman. “If I hadn't had my rifle ready at my hip, he would've got me. “These people who think that they're safe with bear spray, I'm here to tell them it's a false sense of security. It's too fast. Way too fast.” Workman is a member of Montana's Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission, but on Sunday the longtime hunter became, for a few unforgettable seconds, the hunted. A grizzly bear charged from the brush at 30 feet. By 20 feet, Workman was shouting. At 10, shooting. “It was a total surprise,” he said. “I didn't want to shoot it. I love grizzly bears, and I feel very fortunate every time I see one out in the woods.” “I shot from the hip,” he said. “There was no way I had time to get the rifle up to my shoulder.” He hit the bear square in the chest, but “it's a big chest,” Workman said, and the bear kept coming, rushed by 5 feet to his side and blasted back into the brush. Shaken, Workman and Paine started digging around, investigating the area, trying to figure out what had happened. That's when he found the antler sticking up out of the dirt....
Nature Conservancy turning Panhandle ranch into chicken preserve The Nature Conservancy has purchased a 6,000-acre ranch in the South Plains to help protect the state's struggling population of lesser prairie chickens. The ranch about 40 miles southwest of Lubbock had been in the Fitzgerald family for more than 100 years. "It is such rugged, remote territory, there isn't much to do with it," said Melba Fitzgerald, 77, whose family has owned the ranch since 1904. "We never really did anything to it ... other than put up a few windmills." Texas Parks & Wildlife Department biologists have counted more than 300 lesser prairie chickens on the property. The bird has been a candidate for the federal Endangered Species List since 1998. State wildlife officials have been working to double the prairie chicken population in Texas, which is though to be less than 5,000. The chickens are found in 16 counties in the northeastern and southwestern corners of the Texas Panhandle....
It's All Trew: Patience a valuable lesson Of all the things I learned in my early life, I now believe that acquiring patience is appreciated most. As I meet and study my modern-day fellow man and woman, the attribute of patience is sometimes hard to find. Time and again in my early boyhood I heard, "Good things come to all who wait." Another saying was, "Have patience little jackass." My grandparents said, "That man has the patience of Job." Many of the war veterans said, "Hurry up and wait." I think my first lessons in patience came as a little boy when I was forced to wait for the second table after the grown-ups had finished. This usually came at wheat harvest time, cattle shipping or when the preacher came to dinner. I would go to my bedroom and wait so I didn't have to watch him eat my favorite piece of fried chicken. A second patience lesson came at church revivals when the sermons seemed to go on and on forever. The best part came when the preacher yelled and pounded the pulpit and all the old men said "Amen, A-A-Amen."....