Disney launches new nature film label Bambi will soon have lots of new friends at the Walt Disney Co. The entertainment giant on Monday announced the launch of a new film label, Disneynature, dedicated to producing wildlife and environmental documentaries for the big screen, starting with a 2009 U.S. release titled "Earth." The new venture marks one of the most conspicuous moves by a major Hollywood studio to capitalize on growing public fondness for all things green since the 2006 success of Al Gore's global warming documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth." "Our goal is to bring event films, as only nature can tell, to audiences around the world and for generations to come," Dick Cook, chairman of the Walt Disney Studios, said in unveiling the production banner on the Disney lot in Burbank, California. Cook said he expected Disneynature to produce roughly one film for commercial release each year....
Why I Left Greenpeace In 1971 an environmental and antiwar ethic was taking root in Canada, and I chose to participate. As I completed a Ph.D. in ecology, I combined my science background with the strong media skills of my colleagues. In keeping with our pacifist views, we started Greenpeace. But I later learned that the environmental movement is not always guided by science. As we celebrate Earth Day today, this is a good lesson to keep in mind. At first, many of the causes we championed, such as opposition to nuclear testing and protection of whales, stemmed from our scientific knowledge of nuclear physics and marine biology. But after six years as one of five directors of Greenpeace International, I observed that none of my fellow directors had any formal science education. They were either political activists or environmental entrepreneurs. Ultimately, a trend toward abandoning scientific objectivity in favor of political agendas forced me to leave Greenpeace in 1986. The breaking point was a Greenpeace decision to support a world-wide ban on chlorine. Science shows that adding chlorine to drinking water was the biggest advance in the history of public health, virtually eradicating water-borne diseases such as cholera. And the majority of our pharmaceuticals are based on chlorine chemistry. Simply put, chlorine is essential for our health. My former colleagues ignored science and supported the ban, forcing my departure. Despite science concluding no known health risks – and ample benefits – from chlorine in drinking water, Greenpeace and other environmental groups have opposed its use for more than 20 years. Sadly, Greenpeace has evolved into an organization of extremism and politically motivated agendas. Its antichlorination campaign failed, only to be followed by a campaign against polyvinyl chloride....
Too many wells on the Anticline? Depending upon which agency you ask, there might be 850, 940 or possibly even more wells producing natural gas in the Pinedale Anticline field. And the number of producing wells either is, or isn't, in breach of the rules governing the field's development -- depending, this time, on your interpretation of some fuzzy federal language. At issue is whether the Bureau of Land Management's 2000 "record of decision" for gas-field development in the Pinedale Anticline limits the number of wells that can be drilled, or simply limits the number of well pads that can be constructed. BLM officials say the document only restricts well pads, and the intention of the rule was not to limit the number of allowable wells, but to curb the amount of surface disturbance caused by the gas drilling. Opponents say the original plan plainly limits the number of producing wells to 700, and the BLM has willfully disregarded this limitation by authorizing too many wells before completing a required, updated environmental analysis....
Pinedale people fume on ozone This little mountain town has had some big-city-like air pollution in recent winters, and some folks here are fuming. About 170 people showed up Monday for a meeting hosted here by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality at the Rendezvous Pointe Senior Center. And in the end there were more questions and comments from the audience, than there was time for DEQ officials to answer. Audience members, one after another, expressed varying levels of exasperation, frustration and grave concern about the increased levels of air and water pollution that have been monitored here by the DEQ in recent years, most of which can be attributed to the natural gas boom playing out in the nearby Pinedale Anticline and Jonah fields. The DEQ has monitored elevated ozone levels during the wintertime in Sublette County since 2005, and this winter the agency has issued five ozone warnings for the region. Ozone is a potentially poisonous air pollutant created when emissions from combustion engines interact with sunlight....
Petitions opposing prairie dog ban circulate Sprinkled around town, inside businesses that have chosen to participate, petitions opposing another petition can be found. The Colorado Trapper’s Association is collecting signatures to oppose the recent proposal to ban shooting prairie dogs. That effort — a “grassroots, from the ground up” project, said Chris Jurney, a Moffat County outfitter who helped pass out the opposing petitions locally — is alive in Craig. At least eight Craig businesses carry the petition, he said, starting about eight weeks ago. “The main reason is to show the Wildlife Commission they have the support of hunters throughout Colorado,” Jurney said. “We, as sportsmen, support the (Wildlife) Commission and the Division” of Wildlife. At the same time, Jurney worries about the future of hunting in Colorado. The prairie dog ban is another step toward across-the-board shooting bans, he said. Environmental groups “always want to shut down hunting,” Jurney said. “Sportsmen today are tired of having their rights taken away.”....
Environmentalist Bashes Lack of Charges in Wolf Kill Case A conservation group wants Idaho to create a panel to review wolf killings after an eastern Idaho prosecutor decided not to file charges against an Ashton man who earlier this month killed two wolves, one after tracking it for more than a mile on a snowmobile. The Greater Yellowstone Coalition said the decision not to file charges demonstrates how local prosecutors could be hesitant to prosecute wolf killings when it could cost them votes in future elections. "If they won't even prosecute a case this blatantly illegal, there is a problem," Marv Hoyt, a spokesman for the coalition, told the Post Register. On April 1, Bruen Cordingly shot two wolves he said were threatening his horses. He reported the killings and officials with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game investigated. They determined the first wolf was shot within view of Cordingly's home, and the second was killed more than a mile away on property belonging to someone else. The report said Cordingly pursued the second wolf on a snowmobile. Steve Schmidt, a regional supervisor with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game based in Idaho Falls, said the agency recommended that Cordingly be charged for killing the second wolf....
Coyote removal to aid pronghorns The Arizona Game and Fish Department will continue a successful program to help the state's struggling antelope population. The department will conduct lethal removal of coyotes in a small area of Wildlife Management Unit 10, near Seligman, in order to increase fawn survival rates and to secure population gains made following past efforts. Arizona's antelope populations are subject to a number of limiting factors, including extended drought, poor habitat conditions and coyote predation. The department is trying to help antelope in areas where herd declines have been severe. “Research has clearly and repeatedly shown that coyote-caused fawn predation is a significant limiting factor affecting survival and recruitment rates,” said Erin Riddering, a department biologist. “Fawns are most susceptible to predation during the first few weeks of life. Data shows that limited coyote control measures, in concert with the strong winter rains we had in the area, work well in promoting fawn survival.” Pronghorn populations in several areas of Arizona received a boost following coyote removal efforts in 2003 to 2005....
The Truths Shall Set You Free About a year ago, I became convinced that the global warming debate was going the way of other environmental issues during the past 40 years. Dissenting voices were being silenced as America hurtled toward more laws, regulations, and bureaucratic control -- which, "informed" opinion makers insist, are the only solutions allowed to any problems global warming might bring. Sadly, this pattern has repeated time and again on a wide array of environmental issues since the 1960s, when the lawyers of the nascent Environmental Defense Fund began lobbying for local, then national, and then international bans on the pesticide DDT. The results in virtually every case have been disastrous: significant losses of both liberty and prosperity and, in some cases, environmental and humanitarian catastrophe. That's why I wrote my book, The Really Inconvenient Truths: Seven Environmental Catastrophes Liberals Don't Want You to Know About -- Because They Helped Cause Them. I wanted to show how the preferred response of command-and-control is precisely the wrong way to address environmental problems. In a very literal sense, the truths can set you free. I wanted to warn people about the disastrous effects of biofuel policies around the world, and now events have justified my concern far more than I ever imagined. For years, biofuels were a bit player in the farm subsidies game, a losing proposition that politicians kept going to curry favor with the farm lobby. Then, as concern over global warming began to heat up, biofuels came to be seen as an easy solution to loud calls on the political left to decarbonize the nation's energy supply....
No heaven on Earth Day So much for global warming. Earth Day festivities went ahead despite the blast of frigid weather yesterday. Vendors and presenters from various eco-friendly groups, including Bullfrog Power, CO2 Reduction Edmonton and the local solar energy society, crammed into a lone tent in Hawrelak Park after a blizzard forced them to abandon their original locations. Organizers crammed over 40 groups in a space that would normally be occupied by half that number. Presenters' booths were initially planned to have been spread out between at least five tents, with far larger displays. "We're normally here with a lineup of cyclists for our free bike repair service. No bikers came today. Big surprise," said Chris Field of Mountain Equipment Co-Op....
Vegetarian Accused Of Serial-Type Deer Killings Oregon State Police arrested a man Friday for serial-type killing of wildlife, officers said. Ronald A. Livermore, 60, of Prineville, was caught with a sawed-off .22-caliber rifle with a homemade silencer "spotlighting" in the area where more than a dozen deer have been found dead over the last several years. Investigators said they believe Livermore would drive around in the dark shining his spotlight until he saw the glimpse of eyes. At that point, Livermore -- who told police he is primarily a vegetarian -- would shoot at the deer and continue on, leaving the deer that had been killed to waste beside forest service roads, police said. Many of the deer killed were pregnant or had recently given birth, officers said. Police said they found a special compartment in the trunk of Livermore's car used to conceal his custom-modified weapon....I'm sure all those vegetables drove him crazy. I'll be right back, gonna go eat some animal fat and get right with the world.
Man shoots self in alleged road-rage confrontation Police say a man accidentally shot himself in the stomach after waving his gun in anger at a fellow motorist in Tempe, Ariz. Tempe police spokesman Brandon Banks says David Lopez is expected to survive and could face charges including disorderly conduct, reckless display of a firearm and felony flight from police. Banks says Monday that after Lopez shot himself he tried to evade police by driving away but crashed his car and was arrested as he fled on foot....This has gotta be another vegetarian. We are suffering from the three v's - a variety of vegetarian violence.
Wildfire along Arizona-Mexico border 40% contained A wildfire burning in remote and rugged terrain along the Arizona-Mexico border has been 40 percent contained. The Alamo fire had consumed 4,470 acres by Monday morning. Two hundred of those acres were in Mexico. No homes or buildings were in danger, but officials evacuated Pena Blanca Lake, which is about a mile from the fire's northern end. Coronado National Forest officials say the wildfire is in the remote mountains of the Pajarita Wilderness area, making it difficult to attack. Firefighters from the U.S. and Mexico have been burning away fuels, such as light grass and brush, to create a barrier and stop the fire's spread....
On the wolverine's trail It was a Sunday morning in March when Bill Zielinski got the e-mailed photo of what could be seen as California's equivalent of the Ivory-billed woodpecker. After running Oregon State University graduate student Katie Moriarty's picture by other experts, it was clear: They were looking at a wolverine that had wandered into a remote photo station set up in the Tahoe National Forest in the Sierra Nevada. A wolverine hasn't been officially documented in California in nearly 80 years. ”It is with a mixture of joy, and some trepidation, that I share the attached photograph and solicit your help in managing the circumstances it may precipitate,” Zielinski, a U.S. Forest Service Redwood Sciences Lab researcher, wrote to other colleagues the next day. Circumstances didn't just precipitate, they poured down. The sighting of the mammal generated intense public interest, scientific scrutiny, and some serious suspicion. If this was an animal descended from the stock of wolverines long believed to have gone the way of the California grizzly, it was a biological rediscovery of enormous proportion. Or, if it had ventured from even the nearest population outside the state, it was a monumental journey. There is a third, more sinister possibility. The wolverine might have been planted, or even have been a hoax, designed to rock recent science and policy. Interestingly, DNA evidence from the skins of a handful of wolverines trapped between 1880 and 1920 show the California population of wolverines to be more closely related to its relatives in Russia and the far east than to populations in Washington, Idaho, Alaska and the Rocky Mountains, Zielinski said....
For ranchers, SW drought means cuts in herd sizes From the rolling hills lying along the Sonoita highway, rancher Mac Donaldson says drought and climate change have slashed his cattle herd. Across Arizona, the drought has touched dozens of public-lands ranchers such as Donaldson in the past decade. On federal Bureau of Land Management land, the number of cattle has dropped nearly 38 percent statewide since 1998, to about 242,000 animals run monthly. On Forest Service land, the number of cows for which ranchers paid grazing permit fees dropped nearly 32 percent statewide from 2000 to 2007, to about 287,000 head run monthly. The drought was a prime factor knocking down cattle numbers, the agencies' officials say. Another is turnover in the ranching business, in which a rancher sells his private land to a developer or speculator, and the rancher's accompanying public land grazing permit stays vacant for a time. "People are holding these ranches in some cases as investments rather than businesses," says Rick Gerhart, a Coronado National Forest range planner. For Donaldson, land that used to produce 800 pounds of forage per acre now produces 400 pounds per acre. He now breaks even on his ranching where he used to earn money, he says. Additional environmental rules have also forced down cattle herds, says Donaldson, who operates the Empire and Cienega allotments. He runs 1,000 head these days on 72,000 acres of federal land. His permit allows 1,500....
Buckwheat or big bucks The Las Vegas buckwheat seems like a small, unassuming plant. But if conservationists get their way, this little flowering shrub could halt development of some of the last remaining open space in the Las Vegas Valley. Although the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has said the plant deserves government protection, the buckwheat is at the end of a long line of other species that officials say are more deserving. Because the threats to the buckwheat, which grows only in parts of Clark and Lincoln counties, aren’t imminent, the feds have said its designation can wait. Rob Mrowka, the local conservation advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity, a national group that recently opened an office in Las Vegas, disagrees. His group plans to announce today that it will petition the federal government to speed up the process. If the feds list the buckwheat as an endangered species, it will stop homes or parks from being built in several areas in the valley where it now grows, including on federal land set to be sold under the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act. It would become the latest species to become caught up in the fight over what little open space is left in the valley. While homebuilders and city officials think land should be available for development, conservationists are asking whether it might be time to stop expanding and start protecting natural resources such as the buckwheat....
Roan in the deep freeze Like it or not, the clock may run out before energy companies gain access to the massive natural gas supplies beneath federal lands on the Roan Plateau. Unfortunately, the proposal introduced Thursday by Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar and Reps. John Salazar and Mark Udall would place new development on the Roan on hold. It would jeopardize a financial bonanza for the state that could reach $1 billion. At this point, delaying new development may be the same as denying it. Whether the next president is Hillary Clinton, John McCain or Barack Obama, domestic fossil-fuel production is likely to have a lower priority than it has under President Bush. And in the case of Clinton and Obama, probably much lower. Regulators could impose procedural delays that make drilling financially unattractive to energy companies. Investors who have no guarantee where, whether or how soon they can drill on the Roan are likely to sink their capital in locations that are more welcoming to energy production....
Bill addresses Roan Plateau issue Sportsmen and conservation groups have rallied behind a bill introduced in Congress on Thursday that would do more to protect important fish and wildlife habitat on the Roan Plateau in northwest Colorado. The bill was proposed in the U.S. House by John Salazar and in the U.S. Senate by his brother, Ken Salazar. The bill was hailed by the Colorado Wildlife Federation and Colorado Trout Unlimited, both having expressed earlier displeasure at a Bureau of Land Management declaration to lease critical fish and wildlife habitat atop the plateau as early as August. The Bush administration directive would have denied protection of critical habitat for genetically pure populations of Colorado cutthroat trout, a species of concern, as well as key areas of importance for deer herds. The Salazar bill would allow the energy industry to access the Roan's subsurface natural gas reserves, but access would be granted in phases and would require comprehensive reclamation of disturbed land. Concern has mounted with the failure by four drilling companies to contain massive sediment runoff, along with the spill of drilling mud and chemical-laden water at a nearby drilling site....
Bush spotted owl plan faulted for habitat risks The Bush administration's plan to recover the northern spotted owl underestimates the risk that wildfires and logging of large trees will damage the owl's habitat, according to scientific review of the plan released today. The critique also said part of the plan involving owl habitat was "deeply flawed" and said certain parts "do not use scientific information appropriately." The criticism follows earlier claims by a conservationist who helped write the plan that high-level administration officials manipulated the plan to make it friendlier to federal logging in Oregon's Coast Range. Wildlife officials listed the owl as a threatened species in 1990 as its older forest habitat fell to logging. The cutting has slowed dramatically since then, but the owl faces a new threat from aggressive barred owls invading its territory. The recovery plan will influence levels of logging and other development, especially on federal land in the region. The new plan, drafted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, had already been battered by earlier critical reviews. The harsh criticism led the agency to try to rebuild credibility by contracting with Sustainable Ecosystems Institute, based in Portland, for a broader review by top wildlife and forest scientists from around the country....
Wild-horse range preserves pure herd Matt Dillon, who runs the Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center in Lovell, is driving his Jeep Cherokee up a twisted rocky road in the Burnt Timber area. He talks as he steers his rig, theorizing that Crow Indians likely were responsible for the Spanish horses' Pryor Mountain appearance 200 years ago. Many mixed-pedigree wild horses roam the West, descended from missing 19th-Century U.S. Army cavalry mounts or Great Depression-era horses turned out by their masters.
"This is the first public wild-horse area in the United States," Dillon said. With about 150 adults, the Pryor equines are the largest genetically pure herd, with bloodlines dating back hundreds of years. These Spanish mustangs have made their home in the Pryor Mountains of southern Montana and northern Wyoming for 200 years. Their ancestors arrived with the Spanish conquistadors sailing into Mexico in the 16th century. The animals' physical characteristics have been studied by experts, and that is their conclusion. And, given the mountains' natural boundaries, the Pryor herd has, for the most part, remained genetically pure, Dillon said....
Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal reports that some consumers are hoarding grain stocks. At a Costco Warehouse in Mountain View, Calif., yesterday, shoppers grew frustrated and occasionally uttered expletives as they searched in vain for the large sacks of rice they usually buy. “Where’s the rice?” an engineer from Palo Alto, Calif., Yajun Liu, said. “You should be able to buy something like rice. This is ridiculous.” The bustling store in the heart of Silicon Valley usually sells four or five varieties of rice to a clientele largely of Asian immigrants, but only about half a pallet of Indian-grown Basmati rice was left in stock. A 20-pound bag was selling for $15.99. The Patels seemed headed for disappointment, as most Costco members were being allowed to buy only one bag. Moments earlier, a clerk dropped two sacks back on the stack after taking them from another customer who tried to exceed the one-bag cap. “Due to the limited availability of rice, we are limiting rice purchases based on your prior purchasing history,” a sign above the dwindling supply said....
Japan's hunger becomes a dire warning for other nations MARIKO Watanabe admits she could have chosen a better time to take up baking. This week, when the Tokyo housewife visited her local Ito-Yokado supermarket to buy butter to make a cake, she found the shelves bare. "I went to another supermarket, and then another, and there was no butter at those either. Everywhere I went there were notices saying Japan has run out of butter. I couldn't believe it — this is the first time in my life I've wanted to try baking cakes and I can't get any butter," said the frustrated cook. Japan's acute butter shortage, which has confounded bakeries, restaurants and now families across the country, is the latest unforeseen result of the global agricultural commodities crisis. A sharp increase in the cost of imported cattle feed and a decline in milk imports, both of which are typically provided in large part by Australia, have prevented dairy farmers from keeping pace with demand. While soaring food prices have triggered rioting among the starving millions of the third world, in wealthy Japan they have forced a pampered population to contemplate the shocking possibility of a long-term — perhaps permanent — reduction in the quality and quantity of its food....
The Schizophrenia Of U.S. Farm Policy The price of the new farm bill, final details of which are being hammered out by congressional negotiators, has risen to $280 billion over five years, according to news reports. "The proposal includes provisions encouraging investment in biofuels and wind energy, help for retired and disabled farmers, and a faster tax write-off for owners of racehorses, among other things," writes Greg Hitt in the Wall Street Journal. In short, there is something for almost everyone involved in agriculture. But what about consumers? They often pay twice: first, in higher grocery prices, and second, through an array of tax-financed subsidies. Politicians claim to be friends of the small "family farmer," but most government payments go to large farms, with the largest 9% of all U.S. farms (with revenue above $250,000) getting 56% of all payments under the current bill, enacted in 2002. More than half of U.S. farms receive no payments at all, because they don't produce corn, wheat, cotton or other major crops that qualify for commodity payments. As the value of government payments is capitalized into higher farmland prices, entry into farming becomes more costly, hurting young people trying to get into farming....
It's All Trew - Origins of land ownership Surveying and measurement of land boundaries dates back at least 5,000 years to riverside communities in the Middle East and Egypt involving lands irrigated during the annual flooding of the great rivers. Such boundaries did not mean ownership of the land but established plots for which certain persons were responsible. Though individuals or generations might occupy and exploit a parcel of land, it could not be owned nor treated as personal assets for speculation like goods or domestic animals. Actual land ownership was reserved for kings and rulers. Prior to the discovery and settlement of North America, personal ownership of land was inconceivable. The idea that land could be treated as personal property and speculated on like any other commodity required a monumental change in thinking. As this thinking evolved and colonists and others realized that raw wilderness could be transformed into personal assets, America became the destination of the landless of the world. Though land in America was plentiful, the colonists were restricted by the grants allotted by their respective king. Early measurement efforts only established the metes and bounds of those grants. Home sites were parceled out by the colony leaders by a head-right system....