David Welling was up very early, photographing Point Imperial in Grand Canyon National Park, when a thunderstorm came rolling through. “This is what everyone that slept in missed that morning,” David writes.
2011 National Wildlife Photo Contest entry.

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The Grand Canyon

Photo by Flickr member dan.montesi

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La. 2012 Coastal Master Plan Must Be Visionary, Groups Say

January 12 – As the state of Louisiana released its draft 2012 Coastal Master Plan Thursday, conservation groups urged state officials to ensure that the final master plan utilizes the best available science to create a bold, clear vision for the future of Louisiana’s wetlands and communities.

“The disappearance of Louisiana’s wetlands – at about a football field per hour – puts Louisiana’s people, communities and economy at greater and greater risk each year,” said a joint statement from the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, Environmental Defense Fund, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, Louisiana Wildlife Federation, National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation and The Nature Conservancy.

Protection of One Million Acres Near the Grand Canyon is a Victory for Wildlife, Sportsmen and Jobs

January 9 – The National Wildlife Federation applauds Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the Obama administration for recognizing the critical importance of one of our country’s most cherished places, the Grand Canyon. Today, the administration announced a 20-year ban on new mining claims near this great national treasure. The move protects over one million acres near the site, as well as wildlife, water and jobs.

“Increased mining for uranium so close to  the Grand Canyon could very well have undermined water resources in the region, leading to the devastation of wildlife and habitat,” said Todd Keller, senior manager for public lands campaigns at the National Wildlife Federation.

And here are highlights from NWF in the News:

• The Buffalo News: Report raises alert on Asian carp
• Greenwire: Battle over Keystone XL deepens ahead of U.S. Chamber’s push
• National Journal: Chamber Opponents Prebut Donohue Address
• The Hill: Business groups, Republicans launch onslaught on president over Keystone

For more, visit www.nwf.org/News

Yesterday Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced his decision to finalize a 20-year ban on new uranium mining claims on public lands surrounding this national treasure–a move that has drawn praise from water authorities, sportsmen, wildlife advocates, businesses, families looking to go on vacation, and more.  Don’t believe me?  Check out this thank-you video from local leaders across Arizona, including the Arizona Wildlife Federation.

Secretary Salazar signs the 20-year moratorium on new mining claims around the Grand Canyon

At an event at National Geographic to announce the decision, Secretary Salazar said

“Every generation of Americans faces moments when we must choose between the pressures of the now and the protection of the timeless.”

Secretary Salazar and the Obama administration was faced with such a scenario and made a bold decision: to leave the timeless Grand Canyon as it is.

Salazar also said at the event that “conservation is not always popular.”  At the National Wildlife Federation, conservation is always popular, and here are 3 reasons why Secretary Salazar is an early favorite for “Most Popular” in 2012 for his decision to ban new uranium mining around the Grand Canyon.

1. The decision is a win for the drinking water of 25 million Southwest residents

The Colorado River provides drinking water for over 25 million people in the arid southwest United States, including residents of Las Vegas and Los Angeles.  The river also irrigates over 2.5 million acres of farmland.  Increased drought and warmer temperatures from climate change combined with population growth puts the watershed in serious danger: water contamination from uranium ore would turn a serious situation into a crisis.

2.  The decision is a win for wildlife

Uranium mining often results in water contamination, which puts the Colorado River and its tributaries at risk. Wildlife depend on this clean water to drink, and the Colorado River is a unique fishery with world-class trout fishing opportunities.  Mining activities would also result in habitat fragmentation, a major threat to the unique biodiversity of the region.

3.  The decision is a win for jobs

Outdoor recreation and tourism bring in big dollars every year for Arizona.   For example, the Arizona State University recently found that hunting, fishing and wildlife-related recreation in Arizona generates an economic impact of $1.34 billion for the state annually.  In addition, Grand Canyon National Park receives almost 5 million visitors each year and these visitors spent more than $400 million in 2009 alone.  Protecting the area surrounding the Grand Canyon provides a positive economic benefit and supports sustainable long term jobs.

Secretary Salazar is quite fond of quoting President Theodore Roosevelt, and Salazar was definitely heeding TR’s words this time around:

“Leave it as it is.  You cannot improve on it.  The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it.  What you can do is keep it for your children, your children’s children, and for all who come after you, as one of the great sights which every American if he can travel at all should see.”

-Theodore Roosevelt on the Grand Canyon

We tip our hat to Secretary Salazar for taking action to benefit families, residents of the Southwest, sportsmen and women, and wildlife.

If your office is as quiet as mine take a minute to watch this trailer for an amazing new film on Climate Refugees, and check out the website to find a screening near you.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This week’s stories:

1. Highlight of the Week: Fuel Efficiency Rules! Or, Cleaner Trucks Good for Wildlife, Economy
2. Quote: Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
3. Economic Story of the Week: Think Big, Start Small
4. Editorial of the Week: GOP vs. Mother Nature
5. Drilling On Up
6. Feeling Hot Hot Hot?
7. DOE Panel Calls for Action on Fracking Impacts
8. Happening this Week

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Highlight of the Week

Fuel Efficiency Rules! Or, Cleaner Trucks Good for Wildlife, Economy

via Flickr/indiwench

President Obama has unveiled the first-ever fuel efficiency standards for medium and heavy duty pickup trucks, vocational trucks, and combination tractors/semis. The proposed National Heavy Duty Program will save Americans $35 billion in fuel costs, cut 98 million barrels of oil consumption annually by 2030 and clear 246 million metric tons of carbon dioxide pollution from our skies.

“These standards will provide welcome fuel savings, budget relief, and pollution reduction to those who rely on heavy trucks to move America’s goods and people, haul equipment on the job, or tow a boat to the lake,” said Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation.

Coming on the heels of new standards for cars and light duty trucks, the National Heavy Duty Program would cut fuel consumption across all types of trucks from 2014-2018.

The three sets of standards would cut 639 million metric tons of greenhouse gas pollution annually by 2030 – the equivalent of about 10 percent of America’s carbon footprint today. “That’s a critical step in confronting global warming, the single biggest threat facing America’s wildlife,” said Zoe Lipman, the National Wildlife Federation’s senior manager for transportation and global warming solutions. “The standards will also cut America’s oil consumption by 3.4 million barrels of oil every single day – more than we currently import from Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Venezuela combined.”

Check out NWF’s recently released joint report on the economic benefits of fuel efficiency standards.

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Quote:

via Sen. Boxer/Flickr

“They keep trying to overturn the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act. That’s not going to happen.”

-Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA).

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Economic Story of the Week

Think Big, Start Small

zilowatt.org

While Congress continues to squabble over energy efficient light bulbs a California nonprofit called Zilowatt is spreading energy conservation from the bottom up. The Palo Alto based organization is supplying interactive educational kits to schools this fall for outreach sponsored by the city’s utility departments.

The kits are packed with visual tools that allow students to learn at their own pace and use character superheroes Reuse, Recycle, Reduce and TIO (“Turn It Off”) to share lessons. The group’s goal is to provide materials to any school but they must first recruit a sponsor and a champion within the school to promote the program.

More on this story: NY Times

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Editorial of the Week

GOP vs. Mother Nature

(LA Times)

via Paul Fundenburg/Flickr

They loaded up the appropriations bill that funds the Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency with dozens of riders that would encourage deadly pollution of the air and water, set back efforts to reduce greenhouse gases and allow uranium mining near the Grand Canyon, among other things. Such riders are commonplace on annual appropriations bills, but Washington insiders say they’ve never seen such a breathtaking assault on the environment.

If there was any good news from the chaos surrounding this week’s deal to raise the federal debt ceiling, it’s that the drawn-out congressional debate over the issue distracted GOP representatives from passing this monstrosity. (More…)

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Drilling On Up

Arctic Fox, via Billy Linblom/Flickr

The Obama Administration just gave the green light to Shell Oil’s Arctic drilling exploration plan, proving once again that oil companies are held to a different standard than everyone else.

In a statement BOEMRE (the offshore regulatory agency) said that they “found no evidence that the proposed action would significantly affect the quality of the human environment.” The final outcome is contingent on a few more approvals – for safety permits and other things – but most observers believe the point is clear: the government wants drilling to happen and is working hard to make that a reality.

But just this week the British government warned that several hundred tons of oil had likely leaked into the North Sea from a Royal Dutch Shell rig, the 11th reported incident since 2009.

So what’s the big deal? A lot of folks have pointed out the obvious: there’s no way Shell or any other company could control a blowout or clean up an oil spill in these conditions.

More on this story: AP

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Feeling Hot Hot Hot?

via Mr T in DC/Flickr

New data confirms what you already knew – July was incredibly hot, one of the warmest on record. Check out the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climatic Data Center recap of July 2011.

“We’ve had another unusually warm month and are on the way to another unusually hot year, but the reality is that these conditions are the new normals that we all need to get used to,” said Dr. Amanda Staudt, climate scientist with the National Wildlife Federation.

We’re on pace for the 35th consecutive year with global temperatures above the 20th century average. Some members of Congress may find the validity of climate change an inconvenient truth, but many U.S. cities are going above and beyond to mitigate it by lowering their carbon pollution and financing adaptation methods, for example, planting trees to increase shade to counter heat waves and elevating building foundations to account for projected sea level rise.

More on this story: Wildlife Promise, USA Today, NOAA’s State of the Climate

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DOE Panel Calls for Action on Fracking Impacts

Marcellus Shale, via Flickr/Marcellus Protest

The Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) Natural Gas Subcommittee recently called for better enforcement, oversight and transparency for the natural gas industry, including full disclosure of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking.’

“The chemicals used to extract natural gas through fracking are often a mystery for local communities and state and federal regulators, so we applaud the panel for recommending the public disclosure of fracking chemicals,” said Kate Zimmerman, senior policy advisor on public lands for the National Wildlife Federation. “But this recommendation is just a tiny first step. Congress, the Department of Energy, the Department of the Interior and the EPA also need to move forward to close the gaping loopholes in our environmental laws the natural gas industry continues to exploit. Energy companies and government watchdogs need to balance economics and jobs with protecting wildlife, clean water, clean air and human health.”

The National Wildlife Federation is not opposed to the development of natural gas; however, any energy development must be done in an environmentally sound manner that does not place wildlife and people at risk.

More on this story: NWF Media Center

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Happening this Week

Congress is on summer recess until September 6th.

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For more global warming news on Wildlife Promise click here.

The Grand Canyon is one of 58 parks that could close if the government shuts down.

Rafting down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon is a trip few Americans ever get to make. Unless you have the money to pay for a commercial trip, which can cost upwards of $2500 a person, you must possess either a great amount of luck or plenty of patience to obtain one of the coveted private permits handed out by the National Park Service.

These golden tickets, I mean permits, are so hard to come by that before a 2006 transition to a weighted lottery, the National Park Service used to maintain a waiting list of more than 8,000 applicants waiting up to 20 years for a launch date.

For my friend and colleague Dr. Sterling Miller, the chance to ride a raft through one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World has been a lifelong wish. Naturally, when a friend asked him this past December to captain one of three rafts on a private trip this spring, Sterling jumped at the opportunity.

“Going on the Grand Canyon trip is a dream of a lifetime,” said Sterling. “I love being on the water more than anything.”

Unfortunately for Sterling, his 14 trip mates and the thousands of Americans planning to visit to a National Park this spring, the budget showdown in Congress has put into question whether the parks will be open to visitors come March 18.

Attack on America’s Outdoor Economy

In February, the U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of a Continuing Resolution – a bill designed to make sure the U.S. government stays open for business for the rest of the 2011 fiscal year. However, rather than focus on responsible spending cuts, the GOP-led House used the bill as cover to mount a reckless and irresponsible sneak attack on the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act and to slash investment in key land and wildlife conservation programs.

It is now left to the Senate to stand up for our values and stop this shameful attack on the laws that protect our country’s water, air, wildlife and public health. Unless the House, Senate and White House can come to a compromise soon over the budget, the federal government will shut down.

The closing of our National Parks is just one of the ways Americans would be impacted by a shutdown, yet it is representative of what is at stake in this fight. In addition to the campers, hikers, bird watchers, and other outdoor recreationists who may see vacations canceled, the shuttering of National Parks would be devastating for those communities that depend on tourism dollars generated by park goers.

Likewise, if the House-passed version of the Continuing Resolution were signed into law, it would directly impact America’s $730 billion outdoor recreation economy.

By slashing funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, State and Tribal Wildlife Grants, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service — programs that work to  maintain healthy wildlife populations, keep parks running and open new areas to outdoor recreation – the House has essentially launched an assault on America’s outdoor economy. At risk are the livelihoods of the outfitters, guides, restaurants, bed and breakfasts and other family-owned small business that depend on healthy wildlife and wild places.

Take Stand for American Values

I took this photo of Sterling on a recent work trip to Churchill, Manitoba.

The battle over the budget boils down to this: is Congress going to stand up for the things we value as Americans or will they choose to give big polluters free reign at the expense of our health, our wildlife and our public lands?

Essentially, will they help us make our dreams come true — dreams like rafting down a river, opening up a bait and tackle shop, and having safe drinking water for our families — or will they give us a nightmare.

For Sterling, the idea that his whitewater rafting trip could be canceled is not as painful as the idea that Congress might move forward with cuts to our bedrock conservation programs.

“I will be terribly disappointed personally,” he said. “However, it would be worse if the Senate were to destroy decades worth of progress on environmental issues by agreeing with the reckless choices made by the House. The current budget crisis was not the fault of the middle class, but it is the middle class that is being asked to pay for the excesses of the past.”

If you are like Sterling and the rest of us who value clean water, clean air, healthy parks, abundant wildlife and unparalleled outdoor recreation opportunities, please take action today to help stop this attack on America’s conservation programs.

As climate changes, some environments are becoming hostile to the flora and fauna that long nurtured them. Species that can migrate have begun to move into regions where temperatures and humidity are more hospitable. And that can prove a conundrum for officials charged with halting the invasion of non-native species

In some ways, this resembles the discussion about what makes a plant a ‘weed’ in an urban environment, where actual native plants are usually nowhere to be found.

One problem: What’s native? Species move at will as conditions change. What’s native in one century may be gone five generations later. Newly arrived species, meanwhile, may be environmental refugees.

Questions like this have taken on heightened importance with the dawning realization that some of the consequences of climate change are here now, and changing the idea of what makes a species suitable for a given environment.

National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis:

“Policies that are currently in place view those [immigrants] as exotics,” Jarvis says — invading homesteaders that should, at all costs, be evicted. But such species may be on the move simply “because this is their last refuge,” he points out. “So we have to rethink that policy and how we respond to new species that are coming into our parks.”

Of course, it is not advisable to simply ‘welcome’ all wild climate refugee. An influx of new, non-native species can be expected to send ripples through an environment in countless ways, many impossible to foresee. Science News points out just a few possible consequences of this under-discussed global warming effect: new species in a habitat could bring “new predators and parasites, altering soil nutrients and porosity, even changing the amount of moisture and sunlight that reaches ground dwellers. And most of these changes can’t be fully anticipated in advance.”

Jarvis was driving down the southern rim of Grand Canyon National Park, a few months ago, when a group of piglike peccaries — also known as javelinas — crossed the road  in front of him. The park’s superintendent volunteered to Jarvis that “javelinas didn’t used to be here.” Although an American native, these animals are moving into novel, more northerly locations, Jarvis observes. “And I think this is going to be true for a lot of species.”

Scientists will have to figure out how to deal with these new species, many of which will have no other place to go. Will they go so far as to move or resettle some species to more appropriate habitats, sort of a M.A.S.H. operation for climate-victimized wildlife and plants? If they do, what about species like the giant sequoias, which, as Jarvis says, are “feeling the heat and not liking it” yet obviously not able to be relocated?

Even those species not expelled from their habitats may find their homestead moving beneath their feet (or roots): A study from Carnegie Institution for Science late last year found global warming is causing climate belts to shift toward the poles and to higher elevations, forcing ecosystems to move by as much as a quarter mile each year to stay in an acceptable temperature area. Sometimes this puts less adaptable plant and animal species in jeopardy.

“Expressed as velocities, climate-change projections connect directly to survival prospects for plants and animals.  These are the conditions that will set the stage, whether species move or cope in place,” says study co-author Chris Field, director of the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology.

…

Can the planet’s ecosystems keep up? Plants and animals that can tolerate a wide range of temperatures may not need to move.  But for the others, survival becomes a race. After the glaciers of the last Ice Age retreated, forests may have spread northward as quickly as a kilometer a year.  But current ecosystems are unlikely to match that feat, the researchers say. Nearly a third of the habitats in the study have velocities higher than even the most optimistic plant migration estimates. Even more problematic is the extensive fragmentation of natural habitats by human development, which will leave many species with “nowhere to go,” regardless of their migration rates.

We’re already pretty familiar with the projected impacts of climate change on human communities—some estimate that so-called ‘climate refugees’ could number more than 150 million over the next 40 years, and many populations are now actively preparing for the moves they may need to make.

Javelina ( flickr | SearchNetMedia )

Wildlife are a part of this too. Studies earlier this decade found that some animals may lose the ability to adapt quickly to the effects of climate change because those same effects could cause unexpected shifts in their genetic diversity–-”climate change can isolate different groups of animals by affecting the habitats in which they live, in much the same way that the direct destruction of natural land can create ecosystem islands.” In Alaska, shifting climate and loss of tundra could decimate the marmot population and let reed canary grass overwhelm the state in the near future. The pika, furry poster-child for the consequences of worsening climate change, is famously threatened by diminished snowpack and other effects in the American West.

In September, the Fish and Wildlife Service released a new strategic plan (PDF) that calls for federal agencies, states and conservation groups to work together to  ramp up research and response to global warming as part of efforts to conserve threatened species and habitat. This is now priority number one–well, close to it, anyway–and it’s been a long time coming.

While visitors to the Grand Canyon area see impressive vistas, rock formations and wildlife populations, some of these companies see an opportunity for destructive and consumptive land use.

Fortunately, Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, restored protection of this one million-acre area surrounding the Grand Canyon again this July. The ban restricts all new uranium mining projects for a two-year period in which the U.S. Department of the Interior will evaluate mining impacts on the lands.

Mining companies claim that because their projects must follow Clean Water Act and National Environmental Policy Act standards, they are safe. Yet no total assessment of uranium mining in the Grand Canyon area has been undertaken until now.

Although an exploration permit does not guarantee actual drilling will be approved, Grand Canyon admirers and residents of the area have every reason to be concerned with the impacts of mining. The canyon is one of our nation’s most impressive natural destinations and it’s disheartening to think this refuge for wildlife and outdoor activists alike is not free from harmful mining practices.

One tributary of the Colorado River–Horn Creek–is under investigation due to its high radioactive levels. The Colorado River is not just a stream meandering along the Grand Canyon, it also provides water to millions of people and wildlife surrounding the desert area.

Not only is the radioactivity of water a concern, but also the leaching of mercury and arsenic from these mines. Residents relying on water from the Colorado River can’t settle for an answer that its “safe enough” until a proper assessment is done.

There has been an outpouring of support for the ban of new uranium mining from American Indian tribes, Arizona residents and city and county officials, but you don’t have to be a resident of the West to show how much you value the preservation of America’s Grand Canyon lands.

Add your voice today by telling the Bureau of Land Management to approve a long-term ban of new uranium mining projects near the precious lands of the Grand Canyon.

In early January, the U.S. Senate passed sweeping legislation to provide historic protections for millions of acres of America’s cherished public lands. Last week, new Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, canceled 77 leases that would have allowed oil and gas companies to disturb red rock areas in Utah.

We’ve won some great victories.

Now the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act– the same one passed by the Senate– is up for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives. And our sources say the vote could be tight. Furthermore, if the House makes ANY amendments to the bill, it must return to the Senate, where it will be stalled indefinitely.

This bill has already come such a long way. Help make sure it gets to the President’s desk.

And the next time you take a family vacation to Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon, you’ll know that those lands are going to be protected for generations to come.

I should not have been so surprised, the young man fits the sorry statistics for the average American child.  American children are spending more than forty hours a week looking at TV, computers and various gadgets.  As a consequence, they are getting fat and out of touch with nature.  In a sense, they are living in an artificial world that takes preeminence over the real world.

Perhaps it’s more a reflection of all Americans than we would like to admit.  When is the last time you sat on your porch and quietly listened to the night sounds of nature?