Demarcated Landscapes

So glad this guy isn't President....

2009-07-10T17:17:00.003-06:00

...even though Obama is a far cry from perfect. John McCain will

oppose the nominations of Bob Abbey as director of the Bureau of Land Management and Wilma Lewis as Interior assistant secretary for land and minerals management when they are voted on by the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. ....[H]e intends after that to place holds on the nominations when they come before the full Senate for a final confirmation vote.

Now, there may be other good reasons to block Bob Abbey, but why is John McCain acting bratty? Because he's hell bent on giving Resolution Copper over 4,200 acres of the Tonto National Forest.

"There are so many problems with this land swap, it's hard to know where to start," said Sandy Bahr, director of the Sierra Club's Grand Canyon Chapter. "First off, it's a huge ripoff of the taxpayers, which is one of the reasons we think they took it to Congress and tried to get it out of the public eye."

The proposed land swap would include Oak Flat campground, which was put off limits to mining by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. It's a key birding area and is well known for its rock climbing areas. The area is also important to the San Carlos Apache and Fort McDowell Yavapai Indian tribes, which oppose its transfer.

It is also habitat for Arizona hedgehog cactus, a federally-listed Endangered species. Not that we expect McCain to care about Arizona's natural resources.

A border wall we'd wholeheartedly support

2009-07-07T12:09:00.002-06:00

Mexico Builds Border Wall To Keep Out US Assholes

Via.

Beleaguered Mexican wolves

2009-07-03T07:15:00.006-06:00

Photo: www.mexicanwolves.org

First the good news: Wild Mexican wolves, when left alone with packs intact, are reproducing with healthy litters.

Now the not such great news: US Fish and Wildlife had to yank two of a litter of six pups from the wild after three of the others died from unknown causes. (Note that one of those three died in a reunion attempt orchestrated by the agency.) The two that were taken by FWS had been abandoned by the mother.

Nature is a cruel mistress, indeed, but we're supposed to trust that life (and death) has its own wisdom. If we hadn't pushed this species- among others- to the brink of extinction through anthropocentric manipulation, we wouldn't have to keep "managing" it now. But here we are, and so what is the right thing? Hands off? What about the two pups? Is is right to surrender them to their fate, even if that fate is certain death? What about when a species is literally just a few pups away from blinking out entirely? Does the game change? How did humans cause this and what is our responsibility to fix it?

We don't have any answers. We don't expect to. We just know that its an unfortunate and bewildering mess we've created by being so far out of balance with the natural world.

Treeless Australia

2009-06-25T10:29:00.001-06:00

The living dead - Australia's disappearing landscape

Brief, interesting video about the effects of livestock in Australia.

Summer reading

2009-06-22T09:32:00.003-06:00

So far this summer we've been reading voraciously, enjoying the long lazy evenings on the porch with a stack of books and magazines that go untouched during the busier seasons. But, as you can probably guess, we're not really into fluffy romantic novels. Too bad, too, because what we've been reading is pretty heavy.

First, let us just say that Cormac McCarthy's The Road scared the heck out of us.

The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, each the other's world entire, are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.

And they do mean total devastation- there are no birds, all the plants are dead, there is no life in the sea. Post-apocalyptic and depressing, but absolutely riveting. It is also a fast read, so the end comes quickly and one is very grateful for that.

On the flip-side, Alan Weisman's The World Without Us is about a world without any more humans, but the rest of life goes on (depleted as it is by our lasting legacy). It is more optimistic than The Road, but maybe that is because Weisman envisions a world without roads:

The World Without Us reveals how, just days after humans disappear, floods in New York’s subways would start eroding the city’s foundations, and how, as the world’s cities crumble, asphalt jungles would give way to real ones. It describes the distinct ways that organic and chemically treated farms would revert to wild, how billions more birds would flourish, and how cockroaches in unheated cities would perish without us.

So, you know, kind of inspiring. He also references the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement, and urges folks to stop reproducing exponentially. It's also a quick read, though there are enough provocative ideas and references that it is worth a slower second look.

Next up: Cradle to Cradle. (Unless someone has a better idea or recommendation. If so, please leave it in the comments!)

The "Wordle" version of our blog

2009-06-08T17:16:00.003-06:00

Thanks, Wordle. We'd say that about sums us up.

Twitter is the lazy man's blog

2009-06-03T18:53:00.004-06:00

You may have noticed that we started "tweeting" lately, by putting up <140 character responses to whatever we're reading and thinking, etc. We admit: we're being lazy. It's summer and we're ready for vacation or inspiration. Or "field work."

Here's our latest field observation: We just saw a truck with this bumper sticker:

COWBOYS RULE. ALLWAYS HAVE, ALLWAYS WILL.

Indeed, in a parallel universe where "always" is spelled with a double "l," they just might. But in this universe of the western United States, "always" is really not more than 130 years. Just because most folks remember a west dominated by land-degrading livestock use does not mean that this hegemony should or will persist. The rules are changing, cowwboyys.

Ed Abbey's talent for telling it like it is

2009-05-26T17:22:00.006-06:00

Just pulled this from the awesome Buffalo Field Campaign's update from the field:

"Almost anywhere and everywhere you go in the American West you find hordes of [cows].... They are a pest and a plague. They pollute our springs and streams and rivers. They infest our canyons, valleys, meadows, and forests. They graze off the native bluestems and grama and bunch grasses, leaving behind jungles of prickly pear. They trample down the native forbs and shrubs and cacti. They spread the exotic cheatgrass, the Russian thistle, and the crested wheat grass. Weeds. Even when the cattle are not physically present, you see the dung and the flies and the mud and the dust and the general destruction. If you don't see it, you'll smell it. The whole American West stinks of cattle."

~ The late Edward Abbey, conservationist and author, in a speech at the University of Montana in 1985

Yeah, why is that? And how is it that, year after year, we accept cattle in place of wildlife? Support BFC if you can. They are- quite literally- on the front lines of the battle for native species.

The big "oops" on Macho B

2009-05-26T11:43:00.002-06:00

This story in Sunday's AZ Star discusses the legal issues surrounding the "take" of Macho B:

The permit came up in an e-mail exchange among Fish and Wildlife Service biologists in Tucson and Albuquerque on Feb. 20, two days after Macho B's capture. "Uh oh, the AGFD permit with the jaguar language expired in 2006. . . . The new one (good until 2011 . . . ) doesn't include any jaguar language," wrote Erin Fernandez, a biologist in Fish and Wildlife's Tucson office. "Since the capture was incidental to their other authorized activities, are they covered under the permit for future capture?"

In reply, Sarah Rinkevich, service biologist and a University of Arizona graduate student, said she thought the capture may have been covered, based on a state-federal endangered species agreement that is related to the endangered species permit.

"This is a big oops, however," Rinkevich added.

In a follow-up e-mail, Vanessa Martinez, in the service's Albuquerque office, said the federal regulations for endangered species allow any state agency to take an endangered species if there is a state-federal agreement in place, which she believed there was.

But while she thought the regulations left the agencies "covered" legally for an accidental jaguar capture, she still wondered if officials needed to amend the state endangered species permit "to include the jaguar part."

Basically, in plain language, it looks like the AZ Game and Fish Department might be able to finesse an interpretation where they cover their asses, but they probably really didn't have the legal right to do what they did in capturing Macho B. So, maybe the courts will side with the agency, and maybe they won't.

In our opinion, the big "oops" is the agency thinking that capturing and collaring Macho B was a good idea in the first place.

Isn't celebrating "Endangered Species Day" a little creepy?

2009-05-14T18:53:00.003-06:00

Is it just us, or does having a holiday dedicated to Endangered Species seem ontologically problematic? Wouldn't it seem more appropriate to have a national day of mourning instead?

The USFWS has this to say about the paradoxical celebration:

“The Endangered Species Act is the nation’s premier law protecting biodiversity today,” said Acting Fish and Wildlife Service Director Rowan Gould. “Without this law, we would probably not see bald eagles soaring in our skies or grizzlies in Yellowstone. Endangered Species Day provides an opportunity to celebrate our shared successes and look forward to a strengthened partnership with the American public to conserve our natural treasures of fish, wildlife, and plants.”

Sure. If by shared successes, the USFWS means having judges twist their arms into providing even the most minimal protections to species on the brink of extinction.

We're a little PO'ed with the USFWS at the moment. Between painting targets on gray wolves in the northern Rockies and shoving polar bears adrift on melting ice floes, we're pretty sure we don't want to go to any parties the USFWS is throwing in honor of endangered species.

Unless, of course, they are going to have jaguar piñatas. That would be awesome.

BLM

2009-05-10T18:52:00.003-06:00

Here's an oldie but goodie....

The only things missing are an oil derrick and some ATV tracks.

Salazar, Servant of Industry

2009-05-08T11:03:00.014-06:00

Remember how much Dirk Kempthorne sucked when he reluctantly listed the polar bear and left in the big loopholes to benefit Big Oil? Well, looks like Salazar is just as lame.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced this morning he'll keep in place a Bush administration rule that limits government scientists from looking at anything other than the habitat of polar bears as they develop plans to manage them as a threatened species.

So, basically, the feds can look at the disappearing sea ice but not at the causes.

Salazar did note that the White House budget released Thursday includes an increase of $7.4 million for polar bear conservation. Of that, $3.2 million will go to the Fish and Wildlife Service. The money includes a $1.5 million increase for the agencies that must be consulted before oil and gas projects go forward in polar bear territory. It also helps prepare for a Polar Bear Conservation Plan to guide U.S. and international work to conserve and improve the status of the species, Salazar said.

Effectively, the Obama Administration is handing out bandages for a planet that is hemorrhaging internally. It's insulting and irresponsible.

We're all polar bears. We're all on a melting ice floe. Our government isn't willing to do what it takes to save us.

Loud and clear.

Wanna Shoot a Wolf? Come to Idaho!

2009-05-05T08:20:00.003-06:00

Headline taken from this article, which basically sums up yesterday's delisting of Northern Rockies wolves this way:

Fifteen years after gray wolves were successfully reintroduced to Yellowstone and a separate expanse of wilderness in central Idaho, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Monday implemented a decision made previously by the Bush administration to formally remove these wolves from the federal list of endangered species in Montana and Idaho.
...
In Idaho, Republican governor Butch Otter has endorsed a proposal to halve the state's wolf population of 88 packs and more than 1,000 individuals (counting new pups born this spring). Otter has said he plans to apply for a wolf-hunting permit so he can be the first Idahoan to fell a wolf. The governor claims that wolves have taken a huge toll on big game animals, namely elk—even though his own fish and game agency noted recently that elk numbers in Idaho are actually meeting or surpassing population objectives in most areas.

Here's another headline:Wolves officially delisted from endangered list; let the lawsuits begin. Indeed. Assuming there are any wolves left after the 60 day notices come due. The bloodlust/"management" of some of these nutjobs is downright frightening. Read more here, from Ralph Maughan.

Heckuva job, Cowboy Ken. The livestock industry has directed the extermination of many of the West's native predators. And the beat goes on...

More about the folks who captured Macho B

2009-04-29T10:16:00.006-06:00

Yesterday, we briefly posted an article that ran in the Arizona Daily Star last weekend that was about Emil McCain, one of the researchers involved in the likely baiting of Macho B that led to the bungled capture and euthanasia. The gist was:

The biologist at the center of the controversy over the capture of a jaguar in Southern Arizona once was fired from a wildlife research job after being cited for hunting with another person's license.

McCain was only 23 at the time, and hey, we all make mistakes. We're not sure how relevant this old violation is, except to paint a picture of McCain that may or may not help the investigation.

So, upon further reflection, we took our post back down. For one, we started thinking about mistakes we made when we were 23 and wouldn't want anyone to use them against us now! (Oh, but what fun!) For another, it seemed to us that focusing on McCain's character is a convenient scapegoating for the agencies which appear to have known about, authorized, and maybe even participated in the baiting. To say simply that McCain is, "at the center of the controversy," really neglects that there are a lot of people standing right there with him. We're looking at you, Arizona Game and Fish Department.

Moreover, McCain was not involved in the capture, collaring, sedating, or euthanasia decisions; AZGFD was. We'll bet that some of the AZGFD employees have some skeletons in their closets too- and those employees' youthful indiscretions are about as relevant.

Grijalva's Border Bill

2009-04-27T10:43:00.004-06:00

We're a few days late with this news, and we apologize. But that doesn't mean that we're not totally on board with Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva's newly introduced Border Security and Responsibility Act of 2009. The Border Security and Responsibility Act of 2009 will:

* Require the Department of Homeland Security to consult with federal land managers and state, local, and tribal governments in creating a Border Protection Strategy that supports border security efforts while also protecting federal and tribal lands.

* Provide for flexibility, rather than a “one size fits all” approach, to border security by allowing experts at DHS to decide upon best strategies for border security.

* Allow land managers, local officials, and local communities to have a say in border security decisions, requiring full public notice and participation.

* Ensure that laws intended to protect air, water, wildlife, culture, and health and safety are fully upheld.

Sounds pretty good, no? Go here to watch the Sierra Club response. And then call your congressperson and urge her/him to get behind this important piece of legislation.

Grijalva would have been an awesome Secretary of the Interior, btw. Just sayin'.

Somali pirates = Eco warriors?

2009-04-15T12:05:00.004-06:00

Today's story, You Are Being Lied to About the Somali Pirates, in the San Francisco Bay View was interesting:

In a surreal telephone interview, one of the pirate leaders, Sugule Ali, said their motive was “to stop illegal fishing and dumping in our waters … We don’t consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits [to be] those who illegally fish and dump in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas.” William Scott would understand those words.
.....
Did we expect starving Somalians to stand passively on their beaches, paddling in our nuclear waste, and watch us snatch their fish to eat in restaurants in London and Paris and Rome? We didn’t act on those crimes - but when some of the fishermen responded by disrupting the transit corridor for 20 percent of the world’s oil supply, we begin to shriek about “evil.” If we really want to deal with piracy, we need to stop its root cause - our crimes - before we send in the gunboats to root out Somalia’s criminals.

The Somali pirates emerged as a de facto Coast Guard to protect the fisheries from trespass and illegal dumping! Who knew?

Wildlife veterinarians weigh in on Macho B's capture

2009-04-12T15:23:00.006-06:00

AZ Star had this article today, and some of the statements are pretty damning for the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD):

It was "absolutely inexcusable" for the state to not have electric monitoring of the snare traps in a protocol intended for the only jaguar known to live in the United States, said Winston Vickers of the University of California-Davis.

The amount of equipment needed for such monitoring is minimal, he said. Electronic monitors send a radio signal that sets off an alarm.

When using snares on big animals that are likely to injure themselves, such as bears, mountain lions and jaguars, it is standard to use radio transmitters that alert researchers to a capture, said David Jessup a senior wildlife veterinarian for the California Game and Fish Department.

"Allowing a bear or cougar to struggle for 12 hours isn't, in my opinion, professionally acceptable," Jessup said.

There's more- a lot more- in the article, that will turn your stomach. While it's true that the mishandling of Macho B has been particularly tragic, it also calls into question the way the agency handles wildlife in general. AZGFD's Terry Johnson had this to say in their defense:

"These folks hammering us on all this stuff, alleging all kinds of crap, well, we make judgment calls like these every single day," Johnson said in a telephone interview. "Ninety eight to 99 percent of these judgments, decisions and actions turn out right, you get the information you want and no animal is harmed. Then something goes wrong, and everyone is second-guessing everything."

If it's any comfort, Mr. Johnson, we've been second-guessing you for a while now.

UPDATE: Check out this blog post by veterinarian Kris Nelson. Basically, a long list of things that AZGFD should be held accountable for.

Comic Relief: Macho A

2009-04-09T19:17:00.004-06:00

(Thanks Tucson Weekly!)

Video about Mexican wolves

2009-04-07T22:11:00.002-06:00

This website has been getting plugged all over the media lately, from NPR to the NY Times. Hopefully, it will generate some public pressure to stop the federal trapping and shooting of the wolves this spring. Current federal management has been a part of the problem. We're ready for a solution.

Mashup on Macho B

2009-04-07T09:21:00.002-06:00

Discover Magazine online is working with a new format: the mashup. They skim the news and cite from other sources to create compelling aggregates of interesting science news. (How does this differ from a blog?)

Here, they mashup the story of Macho B. From the questions surrounding the circumstance surrounding his capture to his health prior being put down, to the new federal investigation into the whole boondoggle, the mashup pretty much has it all.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department has this statement up on its website:

The circumstances surrounding the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s work with the Macho B jaguar are under federal investigation. We welcome the investigation and will fully cooperate with it. We will not speculate on its outcome. In the event this investigation reveals any inappropriate conduct or actions, the Arizona Game and Fish Commission and Department will take appropriate measures. The Department and Commission did not authorize or condone intentional initial capture of this jaguar.

Notice, however, that they aren't saying that they didn't know about it.

They baited Macho B; so much for "accidentally"

2009-04-02T08:44:00.007-06:00

Today's Arizona Daily Star has this article revealing that a field researcher was directed to bait the snare they used to catch the jaguar, Macho B. She's speaking out because she feels guilty he was killed as a result of this action.

Janay Brun has worked as both a volunteer and paid employee for the project and she has no reason to lie.

Some good news for jaguars!

2009-03-31T12:51:00.004-06:00

After being so darn depressed about the sad state of affairs concerning Macho B, we're delighted today that a federal judge in Tucson struck down the the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s refusal to develop a recovery plan for the endangered jaguar and to protect critical habitat areas in the United States. (Via CBD, one of the plaintiffs) It's a very good ruling and it's linked from the press release; we encourage you to read it.

Hurrah!

They had to kill the jaguar to save the jaguar

2009-03-29T11:48:00.003-06:00

(AZ Star)

Today's Arizona Daily Star has this revealing article about the death of Macho B. It quotes a University of Arizona researcher questioning the decision made by the AZ Game and Fish Department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and others to euthanize the jaguar they "accidentally" caught in a snare last month. The article's title, "Did Macho B have to die?" should be answered with a resounding "NO!" and new non-invasive management policies for monitoring wildlife should be instituted across the board.

The worst part of the article is the revelation that they did a shoddy necroscopy so that they would be able to tan and preserve the hide for "educational purposes."

Sorting truth from opinion will be difficult because officials chose to perform a "cosmetic" necropsy rather than a full one, outside experts said. The zoo conducted the less invasive procedure at the request of the wildlife service and the Game and Fish Department to leave the skin intact for an as-yet-undecided future use, Terry Johnson said. In a cosmetic necropsy, authorities make careful incisions so the skin can be salvaged, he said.

Arizona Game and Fish is considering using the hide to create a "live mount" of Macho B to be exhibited for educational purposes, according to an e-mail from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service supervisor Steve Spangle, obtained through a public records request.

It would have been far more educational to learn how he died. But we're pretty sure we know the answer to that: Gross incompetence.

United States, Norway, Canada, Russia and Denmark

2009-03-22T10:39:00.002-06:00

The five Arctic countries that are bound by a 36-year-old treaty to protect polar bears issued a joint statement today concluding that climate change is the chief threat to the future welfare of the ice-loving predators.(Via.)

This is good news- sort of. The bad news (here) is that polar bears as well as their habitat are already changing as a result of the warming trend in the arctic.

Scientists say the animals are now only two-thirds as big as they were 30 years ago as melting ice makes it harder for them to catch seals, and that they have begun to hunt each other instead.

[Fingers in ears singing "la la la la la." Can't deal.]

Speaking of sea ice, we've started watching the ice charts again. It's more relevant than the Dow. But does anyone else think it's weird that "Arctic Ice" has its own Twitter account? We just wish it was written in the first person. Like, "I'm feeling sort of down today," or, "No one listens to me." That would be awesome.

Solar as it should be

2009-03-13T09:05:00.003-06:00

In today's NYT, there is an article about rooftop solar development. It discusses how Germany and Spain encouraged rooftop renewable energy through "feed-in" programs that pay producers for their clean green.

Sigh. Just yesterday the NYT had a different article: "Obama Admin Faces Power Grid s. Public Lands Conundrum." Some of the new proposed renewable energy projects feature vast tracts of public lands- which doesn't sound very renewable to us.

Katie Fite, biodiversity director for the Western Watersheds Project in Boise, Idaho, said the overall issue has placed the environmental community in an awkward position. While she said the environmentalists support the development of renewable energy, the effort needs to be done in a way that does not create further environmental problems.

"I have no problem in speaking out against a wind project if it destroys beautiful wildlife areas when there are better alternatives," Fite said. "And it will mean the destruction of some beautiful natural areas in some very remote locations if these big power lines are built."

It will mean destruction of a huge number of natural areas and imperiled species habitats if you look at the numbers:

The region's two largest public land managers -- the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service -- are currently evaluating more than 400 applications for wind and solar projects on federal lands. If approved, those projects would cover 2.3 million acres in seven states and generate an estimated 70,000 megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 50 million homes.

Wouldn't it make more sense to put those wind and solar power systems on people's rooftops instead?

Oh, right. There is no incentive to get people "off the grid." No one makes any money that way.