Demarcated Landscapes

Feeling Bearish

2008-05-15T08:13:00.002-07:00

One look at the headlines about the polar bear Endangered Species Act listing this morning is enough to put anyone in a sour mood. Not even the extensive amount of punning that this listing has provoked can cheer me up. My question is this:

IS IT REALLY ALL ABOUT MONEY, PEOPLE?!?

Now, believe me, I am completely aware that the conservation groups who got this cutie listed full well knew that it could shake up the "oiligarchy" that runs this country. Indeed, some might say that was the point.

Of course, it wasn't the only point. If we can wake people up about the polar bear- a fuzzy, endearing species - we could maybe, just maybe, get people to see that we're facing a similar fate.

Alas, even Alaska is less concerned about its long-term fate than it is about short-term oil revenues.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said she's disappointed by a federal decision to list polar bears as a threatened species but relieved by the conclusion that the cause was not petroleum development, the mainstay of Alaska's economy.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne called Palin before his press conference Wednesday announcing the decision.

"It was reassuring to hear Secretary Kempthorne remind me also that he'll be acknowledging to all of America that it is not oil and gas developments that have such an adverse effect as to have led this decision for the threatened listing."

I wish he had called me before his press conference. I would have told him to stand up straight and be proud to do what's right for the planet- not effectively apologize to industry for following the ESA. He acted like his arm was being twisted by the science.

And it was, because the science was so compelling. Which, at the end of the day, isn't very good news at all. For any of us.

Ay! There's the rub! Polar bear listing comes with a twist

2008-05-14T12:21:00.003-07:00

Ah ha! Since the news on this is just filtering out this minute, you'll forgive me for my delusional optimism spawned from the new listing rule for the imperiled polar bear. No, you knew it was too good to be true that the Fish and Wildlife Service's acknowledgment that the polar bear is threatened by sea ice loss and that sea ice is lost by global warming would mean that we would try to stop global warming.

"While the legal standards under the ESA compel me to list the polar bear as threatened, I want to make clear that this listing will not stop global climate change or prevent any sea ice from melting," [Secretary of the Interior] Kempthorne said, adding that he wants to "make certain the [Endangered Species Act] isn't abused to make global warming policies."

No, we must instead continue to "allow continuation of vital energy production in Alaska," i.e. drill for oil in polar bear habitat. Right. Of course we do. Must. Protect. The. Oil. Economy.

Alaska, Iraq, Afghanistan.... all territories conquered by the Army of Big Oil. And we know who is the Commander in Chief of that particular military.

And now back to my regularly scheduled cynicism.

Polar bear listed as threatened!

2008-05-14T12:03:00.002-07:00

WOW!-

WASHINGTON — The Interior Department has declared the polar bear a threatened species, saying it must be protected because of the decline in Arctic sea ice from global warming.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne on Wednesday cited dramatic declines in sea ice over the last three decades and projections of continued losses.

Kempthorne says the designation means the polar bear is a species likely to be in danger of extinction in the near future.

Polar bear decision pending

2008-05-14T09:33:00.002-07:00

This just came across the wires:

The Interior Department has scheduled a news conference for Wednesday to announce a decision on whether to list the polar bear as threatened and in need of protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Wednesday- why, that's today! My, oh, my....

If the polar bear needs arctic sea ice, and the arctic sea ice is melting, and most scientists are alarmed by the changing climate, tell me: Who wants to place bets on how the Bushies will get out of this one?

Happy with the BLM, for a change.

2008-05-13T12:20:00.005-07:00

We could complain that the BLM's finally closing just part of the Sonoran Desert National Monument to ORVs is too little, too late, but hey, it's better than nothing, which is what the BLM usually does. No, instead, we're going to celebrate the BLM's "banning all vehicular traffic, including motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles, from 55,000 acres of the popular desert wilderness because of extensive environmental damage."

Sure, we could note that the environmental damage has gotten so bad that even the motorheads are admitting that it needs to be closed... and that the non-motorheads have been asking for this for years and the slow wheels of bureaucracy have just now cranked into action.... and that the BLM has made it just a temporary closure... sure, we could point out all of those shortcomings but, hey: This is some pro-conservation movement by the BLM, something we haven't seen in Arizona for far too long. Congratulations to those of you who worked hard on this!

When Karen Kelleher, Monument manager, leaves this week for cooler climes in Washington state, she can look back and know that she accomplished something worthwhile to protect the desert lands. Even if it was too little, too late, it's more than we expect from the Arizona BLM and that's saying something.

Help Wanted

2008-05-09T14:50:00.002-07:00

There was a time, not so long ago, when Demarcated Landscapes was populated with many creative pseudonyms and west-wide writers. That time has passed, and now DL seems to be the work of a single, lonely writer preoccupied with Michael Chertoff. For all we know, said writer is Michael Chertoff himself, tangling with his inner demons. But we digress.

The point is this: You're bored. We're bored. We all scream for ice cream.

So, what about you? Have you got an opinion on how the machine that is contemporary (and often, corporate) environmentalism is running? Do you watch the Federal Register like some people track the markets? Are you willing to watchdog issues and, most importantly, Are you snarky?

If so, please send a sample post, a list of news sources upon which you rely, and a sample of your witticisms to demarcatedlandscapes(at)yahoo(dot)com. Applicants with some sense of how to get more than two people a day to read the blog will be favorably considered.

Why can't we all just get along (with wolves)?

2008-05-06T10:30:00.002-07:00

If you've ever wondered if there are simultaneous parallel universes, here's more evidence.

On one hand, you've got this thoughtful writing about wolves published by Swans Commentary. (Scroll down if you go to the link.) It's one of the calmer writings I've seen on wolves lately.

On the other hand, you've got the fear-mongers calling out activists who work on wolf issues by name and insisting that they are, "Anti-human, anti-children, pro-wolf/dog, and unabashedly proud of it," and then adding, "Those are some of the faces of evil in our society today." I won't honor that website with a link from here- just trust me, dear reader: that type of hostility and hyperbole exists aplenty.

Thus, one author is encouraging us to look for the commonality of our humanity, the other, providing a malicious targeting of the very "Other" that the first author wishes to dispel notions of:

...We too have to do a very tough remodeling job on ourselves, do without our accustomed arrogance, feel a greater tolerance toward members of our own species, while at the same time standing tall in defense of principles.

Those principles include The Others, their lives, their existence on this earth, all of them, from Mexican wolves to the flower-loving fly. We might practice not only the art of tuning our ears to the eerie wail of the wolves, but to the words of our opponents, whether we meet them at the mall or on the Blue Range of the White Mountains on the Arizona-New Mexico border. Enough water under the bridge. It's time to make this revolutionary shift.

Full stop.

CNN covers jaguars

2008-05-05T08:43:00.002-07:00

North America's biggest cat is ready for its close-up and this piece, on CNN, caught it on its good side. The article has a slideshow with sexy photos of Macho B, the centerfold of the border wall debate.

Absent from the article is any mention of the lawsuit filed last week to spur a recovery plan for the jaguar. This particular plan is bound to get icky, given that Michael Chertoff has already demonstrated his utter disregard for the ESA. Thus, even if there was a recovery plan, the border wall could doom it anyway.

Big week for wolves

2008-05-01T09:39:00.002-07:00

Let's see here...

Monday, twelve conservation groups sue over the delisting of the northern Rockies gray wolf.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, 800 people called Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal's office to ask the governor to get rid of "the shoot-on-sight policy that is now in effect for nearly 90 percent of the state."

And, on Thursday, southwest conservation organizations file a lawsuit over the mismanagement of the Mexican gray wolf recovery program. The population of these particular critters has been tanking lately, thanks in no small part to a creepy removal policy that was crafted by our "environmental steward" friends, the ranchers.

WOW! Good work, friends of wolves! Here's hoping it all makes a difference and we get back on track recovering this important species.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

2008-04-29T14:45:00.003-07:00

The courts have decided that the big bad Bush Administration has 16 days to decide how to subvert the meaning of "endangered." OK, really, that's not what the article says. Instead, it says this:

The Bush administration has 16 days to decide whether polar bears are now an endangered species because of climate change, a California judge ruled today.

The US court handed a victory to three environmental groups that sued to protect polar bears threatened by melting sea ice, rejecting a plea by the government to postpone its decision until June 30.

An agency of the US interior department was supposed to have ruled by January 9 on whether to designate the polar bear an endangered species. But the agency failed to act, angering green activists who attributed the delay to the Bush administration's sale of oil and gas drilling leases near polar bear habitats in Alaska.

The California judge handling the case, Claudia Wilken, ruled that the administration presented "no specific facts that would justify the existing delay, much less further delay".

I can't wait to see the listing rule.

Meanwhile, Bush is yammering away about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge again pandering to the folks going broke filling their fuel inefficient vehicles. "Cheap oil! Cheap oil! Cheap oil!"

It doesn't matter what gets paid at the pump. Oil is incalculably expensive.

"We're going to unglue the Sonoran Desert"

2008-04-26T11:46:00.002-07:00

- says Sue Rutman, botanist at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, in this piece on global warming's effects in southern Arizona.

Just how much is it heating up? Here are some numbers that might draw a sweat:

● The average temperature in Arizona for the five-year period from 2003 to 2007 was 2.2 degrees hotter than the historical average for the 20th century, according to a report last month by the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

● That rise was more than twice the global average increase of 1 degree for the same period.

● Average annual temperatures in the Southwest, including Arizona, are projected to increase 4.5 to 7 degrees or more during this century, according to a comprehensive report last year by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The sidebars of the article are really informative and cite studies pertinent to different ecological attributes of the desert.

What is also really informative are the comments that the story is logging.

#1. Manmade Global Warming is an invention of the liberal media. Natural warming of the planet is real, but it has been happening for millions of years. I will not believe your lies and half-truths.

Wow. The Intelligent Designer must have given him an extra dose of brainpower. I sure hope the Intelligent Designer has some plans for massive air conditioning units, or southern AZ is going to be mighty unpleasant mighty soon.

Blame

2008-04-23T21:24:00.002-07:00

I heard a comment recently about the posts on DL that I've been too hard on Michael Chertoff. Yep, some folks are feeling bad that he's just a mouthpiece for a crappy Administration and that I should stop with my public ravings about his despicable irresponsibility. True enough that he's a mouthpiece, but what kind of sleazebag would take such a crappy job and do it so well (relatively speaking, of course)?

Nah, I'm too sick of blaming Bush for everything else. Chertoff stays in play.

A call to arms

2008-04-22T14:22:00.003-07:00

"This [border] wall is so asinine, and so wrong, I am one of a dozen scientists ready to lay our bodies down in front of tractors," Healy Hamilton, who directs the Center for Biodiversity Research and Information at the California Academy of Sciences, told colleagues at a recent scientific retreat [in Tucson]. "This is one thing we might be able to stop."

"Make it 13!" said Allison Jones, a conservation biologist at the Wild Utah Project, an advocacy group.

It shouldn't be too hard to boost these numbers, given that anyone with a brain in their head and a heart in their chest knows the border wall will totally screw wildlife, and that this is fundamentally wrong. But thanks, Washington Post, for this great article on the border wall debacle. And thanks, Healy Hamilton, for your boost of optimism and enthusiasm.

What is really amazing is the DHS spokesperson.

"Just because we're using this waiver authority doesn't mean we've not been mindful of our obligation to be stewards of the environment," she said in an interview. "For a number of miles, we've determined that it would have only insignificant impact."

No, in fact, DHS's "stewardship" will have a terribly significant impact on many, many miles.

But, Gee whiz! Lookee here: The DHS is going to mitigate.

Kudwa could not specify which areas would feel the greatest effects from the barrier, but she said Homeland Security is negotiating to give the Fish and Wildlife Service $800,000 to mitigate the wall's impact on the Sonoran pronghorn and the long-nose bat in the Cabeza Prieta refuge, even though DHS has waived its obligation to comply with Endangered Species Act requirements there.

$800,000! WOW! That's like, less money than it costs to build a mile of wall! Such a deal! Thanks, DHS!

Here's a better plan: Keep your stinkin' wall. And your bloodmoney.

Citizen Consumers

2008-04-22T12:10:00.002-07:00

This piece on opening trade agreements with Colombia and G.W. Bush's denial that NAFTA needs reconsideration really underscores how the president sees the world.

"I'm obviously concerned for our consumers," the president said.

Happy Earth Day!

Every tool in the toolbox

2008-04-17T16:10:00.002-07:00

Nicole Rosmarino at WildEarth Guardians had this to say about her organization's lawsuit to get critical habitat for the Chiricahua leopard frog:

The frog is just so imperiled... It really needs to be provided with every tool in the toolbox and a very important tool is critical habitat.

Well, what about this one?

In an effort to bolster the frog's numbers, biologists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in New Mexico have reared 15 frogs in a special tank and will release them next week at a warm spring on private land in central New Mexico.

Sure! The USFWS will just take the non-controversial route and put more back into private land somewhere in New Mexico and then everything will be hunky-dory, right?

"It's a Band-Aid solution," Rosmarino said of next week's release of frogs. "If they don't fix the habitat and protect the habitat, these reintroductions are going to be for nothing."

She's right, of course. Unless we deal with global warming, the spread of chytrid fungus, and the hammering that frog habitat is taking from public lands livestock grazing, reintroductions are an expensive way of spinning our wheels. Recovery is something so much bigger than that.

The War against the Wall

2008-04-15T16:53:00.002-07:00

Now here's a war we want, Bushies: the war against your ill-conceived, ineffective, and outrageously expensive border wall. I'm so happy to see folks joining forces to fight Chertoff's sweeping powers.

Here's a few good media pieces on the battle:

1. The U.S. Supreme Court may get a chance to join the fractious debate over building fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border. Go Team!

2. Texas border cities and counties will join the lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security to halt construction of the border fence. (Not the same lawsuit as item 1, mind you.)

3. And an opinion from Syracuse New York newspaper condemning Chertoff and the wall. Syracuse! Refreshingly far from Mexico (which is only to say that at least other states are catching on that this whole waiver business is a problem).

Downright frightening

2008-04-12T16:41:00.005-07:00

News Round-Up (read: ready to be trucked to the slaughterhouse)

2008-04-11T10:50:00.005-07:00

This week's news has held plenty of grease for my crank:

1. The USDA Forest Service effectively strips the heart and soul out of the National Forest Management Act this week by passing a new set of rules for forest planning that basically read like there won't be any anymore. Don't despair: the are usual going to sue, tie the rules up in court, and hopefully stall it long enough to put the planners out of business until 2009. Unless, of course, Congress suddenly gives the Secretary of Ag ultimate authority to override all laws in order to, "Git 'er done." Which leads me to the next news item...

2. Though I posted about this particular doozy last week, it's worth repeating: Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff gave democracy a big "F*ck you!" when he applied the REAL ID waivers to the entirety of existing border infrastructure projects. Defenders and Sierra Club got a boost when 14 members of Congress announced their intent to file an amicus brief to the Supreme Court on the waiver case. Have we told you lately that we love you, Grijalva?

3. And while we still love Grijalva for his leadership on steering America's newest conservation system through the House this week, we hate New Mexico's Representative Pearce for tacking on a bullshit amendment to the NLCS legislation.

4. And speaking of livestock, bighorn in Montana have suffered a massive die-off from livestock-induced diseases after contact with sheep and goats. The rancher is reportedly free of responsibility for this because he was there first. Huh?

The beauty of this sequence of news stories is it basically sums up the Bush Administration: weakened public participation, industry hand-outs, and an abject failure to acknowledge the inherent rights of living creatures.

Capitalismo, baby. Love it or leave it.

One more doozy from the NY Times

2008-04-03T17:00:00.002-07:00

"Michael Chertoff's Insult"

To the long list of things the Bush administration is willing to trash in its rush to appease immigration hard-liners, you can now add dozens of important environmental laws and hundreds of thousands of acres of fragile habitat on the southern border.

Read it.

Wanted: Responsible ORV user

2008-04-02T08:09:00.002-07:00

We've decided that we want to form some "non-traditional alliances" here at DL, and as such, we're seeking a responsible off-roader who hates cows to help us deliver our message. You know, some "good guy" ATVer who just loves the land and is sick and tired of livestock wrecking it, breaking through fences, hammering private lands, and generally disturbing his "custom and culture" of weekend warriorship.

Someone who has ridden his motorbike with his family for five generations and whose grandson is just learning to ride a three-wheeler. (Photogenic grandson a plus.) Somebody for whom the whir of the engine is his way of life, not just a hobby, whether or not he has to work five days in town to support it.

We need this person to show up in the full ORV regalia- helmet, body suit, gloves- to every forest service planning meeting, claiming that "Every Day is Earth Day." He must be willing to chum up with local enviro groups who will then not speak out about the multitude of crappy off-roaders for fear of insulting their new friend. Instead, they'll take up arms against the cows, sheep, and horses that are devastating public lands across the west.

We'd prefer someone with a lot of money, if possible, who can also line our coffers in exchange for our non-opposition to his "lifestyle." This is a perfect way to protect millions of acres from livestock abuse- use the recreational angle, heavy industry support, and "partnership" model of conservation. If he (or she, we're EOE) is charming enough to make the public forget all the science explaining the degradation his lifestyle induces, all the better.

If enviros could start teaming up with off-roaders, we'd have a powerful hold on the western landscape. Just think of it!

Please send CV, full-sized photo, list of favorite trails, and sample of grant-writing abilities.

Out-freaking-rageous

2008-04-01T20:53:00.003-07:00

Michael M.F. Chertoff invoked the waivers for 470 miles of border fence from California to Texas. That son of a bitch.

The New York Times:

In a sweeping use of its authority, the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday that it would bypass environmental reviews to speed construction of fencing along the Mexican border.

Michael Chertoff, the homeland security secretary, issued two waivers covering 470 miles of the border from California to Texas well as a separate 22-mile stretch in Hidalgo County, Tex., where the department plans to build fencing up to 18 feet high into a flood-control levee in a wildlife refuge.

“Criminal activity at the border does not stop for endless debate or protracted litigation,” Mr. Chertoff said in a statement.

Yeah, yours! This move by DHS is so patently illegal- down to the fundamental core of constitutional law of the separation of powers- that we should demand his job. Tell your Congressperson today to revoke his authority.

“Clearly, this is out of control,” said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife.

No fooling.

Despot of Homeland Security

2008-04-01T07:39:00.004-07:00

While I couldn't find anything to confirm this officially, I had heard rumors that Michael Chertoff was at it again, this time planning a sweeping waiver from sea to shining sea on our southern border. Now this from NarcoNews:

It has come to the attention of the Border Ambassadors network that Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff is once again planning to exercise his dictatorial powers under the Real ID Act. Such a waiver, if filed, would encompass the Continental U.S., specifically from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. That would encompass the entire US-Mexico border.

If such a waiver were filed this week and published in the Federal Registry, the waiver would immediately go into effect for already funded activities. Chertoff & Company would then be set to build the border wall any where along the US-Mexico border they choose.

Good morning!

Friends and I are disputing the significance of such a maneuver. Would Grijalva's Borderlands Conservation and Security Act become moot in light of such a blow? Would there be any chance to post hoc challenge each action as unconstitutional if the Supreme Court finds in favor of justice in the Defenders/Sierra Club case? How much wall can they build between now and next January?

Is there any way to get a restraining order against Chertoff?

Happy Rebirthday Wild Lobos!

2008-03-30T16:32:00.002-07:00

Ten years ago yesterday was the day that Mexican wolves were first released in Arizona. Ten years later, very few breeding pairs exist (three, to be exact) and very few wild wolves are surviving. But, hey, there are 52 wolves in the southwest, which is 52 more than there might have been if not for the protections and provisions of the Endangered Species Act and the conservationists who have held the Fish and Wildlife Services' feet to the fire.

The Washington Post just got this piece up about it. The usual whining rancher can be found talking about how she can't sleep at night for fear of wolves, but the Washington Post did a good job sussing out the statistics:

"I'd really like to see them gone," said Barbara Marks, who chairs the Arizona Cattle Growers' Association's wildlife committee and operates a cattle ranch with her husband that includes 225 acres of private property and 71,775 acres of public land."In the middle of the night you wake up in a cold sweat when you hear your dogs barking, wondering if somethings wrong."

Guess you should just kind of suck it up, Ms. Marks. The majority of Americans, who collectively own those public lands you pillage at a profit, want to save endangered species. When you wake up in the night and worry that something is wrong, think about this: It might be you.

Ah-ooooohhhh!

Even charismatic megafauna are screwed these days

2008-03-27T16:04:00.007-07:00

Well, it certainly does suck for the jaguar in the southwest. It used to be that you could at least save the sexy mammals, if not the lowly insects. Nowadays, not so much. Here's the abbreviated version of the tale of the spotted cat:

1. The jaguar was wiped out at the behest of the livestock industry.
2. The species was considered extirpated in the U.S.

3. A rancher encountered one, snapped some photos.

4. Endangered Species Act protection was gained. (Not as simple as it sounds, but you know...)

5. The U.S. starts putting the economic screws to Mexico under NAFTA, flooding the agricultural markets, ruining the economy and any prospect of Mexicans staying home to make a living.

6. Department of Homeland Security decides to build a fortress in jaguar habitat to thwart the undocumented economic refugees coming for a better life roofing subdivisions in Phoenix.

7. US Fish and Wildlife Service decided (coincidentally) not to designate critical habitat, which allows the walling of its cross-border habitat to continue unmitigated.

8. Probable second extirpation. Don't let the door hit you in the ass, Jaguar!

The longer and more eloquent version of the story can be found here. And while the Reuters article doesn't advocate for removing the border infrastructure, the Bush Administration, or Michael Chertoff immediately, we're just glad that this charismatic researcher of a charismatic species is speaking out. Send your supportive checks to Borderlands Jaguar Detection Project.

You know, while there still are jaguars to detect.

Sad news for bats

2008-03-25T11:00:00.002-07:00

Bats have often gotten a bad rap as blood-sucking omens of evil. Lately, though, a more comprehensive understanding of their significance as pollinators and insect predators has been gained.

So this is not good: Bats Perish, and No One Knows Why.

In what is one of the worst calamities to hit bat populations in the United States, on average 90 percent of the hibernating bats in four caves and mines in New York have died since last winter.

I once saw a mother bat nursing twins while hanging upside-down in a cave. I was amazed then, and now, how like a small flying bear she was, how much of an individual she was among the thousands of bats "just like her" in the same chamber. It's a wonderful sight, awe-inspiring and overwhelming. I can only imagine how the folks who are finding the massive die-offs must feel.

“It’s just that I know I’m never going to see these guys again,” [the scientist studying the bats] said. “We’re the last to see this concentration of bats in our lifetime.”

So sad.

Sorry folks. I know this post is incredibly depressing. I also know that today, that's the news.