But this video of Minnesota moose getting outfitted with “cell phone-like” radio collars was too cute not to share. Up close with adorable moose! The narrator’s amusing accent! (I’m from Boston, so trust me that I laugh with, not at, other regions’ accents.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Learn more about why researchers are so troubled by the decline of Minnesota’s moose.

Moose photo by Rick Libbey

“The state’s moose population has been in decline for years but never at the precipitous rate documented this winter,” said Tom Landwehr, DNR commissioner. “This is further and definitive evidence the population is not healthy. It reaffirms the conservation community’s need to better understand why this iconic species of the north is disappearing from our state.”

The state’s annual hunting season isn’t a cause for the moose’s decline. Researchers last month began an ambitious research project to figure out what’s killing them off. Calves are dying at higher rates than normal and, more significantly, adult moose in their prime are dropping dead.

What was once a healthy population sustainable enough to allow hunting is now in rapid decline. The population in northeast Minnesota has been declining for years, from 8,840 in 2006 down to only about 2,760 counted in January 2013. While just 46 bull moose were harvested in 2012, the population plunged by nearly 1,500 moose from 2012 to 2013. Minnesota’s other population of about 4,000 moose in northwest Minnesota virtually disappeared over 20 years, with fewer than 100 remaining by the mid-2000s.

What’s Driving the Decline?

“This is a tragic collapse, but it isn’t a surprise,” says Dr. Doug Inkley, a wildlife biologist and the National Wildlife Federation’s senior scientist. “There are probably several factors affecting the population, but we know moose have trouble coping with hot weather, which has been on the rise in Minnesota. Stress factors, such as rising temperatures, can cause moose health to decline, making them  more vulnerable to disease and predators.”

The National Wildlife Federation highlighted the climate crisis’ impact on Minnesota moose just last week with the release of a new report, Wildlife in a Warming World:

Biologists attribute most of this decline to increasing temperatures: when it gets too warm moose typically seek shelter rather than foraging for nutritious foods needed to keep them healthy. They become more vulnerable to tick infestations, which have proliferated as the region has warmed. Ticks leave moose weakened from blood loss and with hairless patches where they tried to rub off the ticks. Without protective hair, these animals can die from cold exposure in the winter. Individual moose infested with 50,000 to 70,000 ticks—ten to twenty times more than normal—have been documented.

Signs of Struggle

Nationwide, it’s harder to get an exact gauge on the impact of climate change since moose have only recently returned to their historical range in some areas. Moose were once found as far south as Pennsylvania before over-hunting and habitat destruction wiped them out from much of the eastern United States. Populations in places like Massachusetts are still re-establishing a foothold.

But in New Hampshire, the impact of warmer temperatures on moose are clear and dire. Researchers say New Hampshire moose are literally being eaten alive by ticks. Moose there have to deal with 30,000 ticks at a time in a normal year, but in recent warm years, moose carry as many as 150,000 ticks. The moose die of anemia, a lack of healthy red blood cells. After the unseasonably warm winter in 2011, they think that it’s likely that all calves born the previous year were killed along with 40 percent of adults.

And then 2012 was America’s hottest year on record. In Michigan, where a moose have returned to the Upper Peninsula, efforts to count the population have been hampered by warm temperatures - without a covering of white snow, researchers can’t spot the brown moose from the air.

Time to Confront Climate Change

The climate crisis is already changing the playing field for wildlife and urgent action is needed to preserve America’s conservation legacy. Species that have spent thousands of years or more adapting to their ecosystems are now watching their homes transformed before their eyes. We must act now to cut carbon pollution, speed our transition to clean energy, and safeguard America’s ecosystems and communities.

Congress hasn’t shown much interest in tackling the climate crisis, but the Obama Administration can take a number of steps, like using Clean Air Act authority to limit carbon pollution from new and existing power plants, rejecting the dirty Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, and ensuring the budget fights ahead do not slash critical investments in clean energy.

Speak up for wildlife by urging President Obama to limit carbon pollution from coal-burning power plants.

American White Pelicans in Louisiana's Barataria Bay, March 2012 (NWF staff photo)

Researchers for the state Department of Natural Resources have found evidence of petroleum compounds and the chemical used to clean up the oil in the eggs of pelicans nesting in Minnesota.

Scientists are looking for pollutants on a western Minnesota lake that is home to the largest colony of American White Pelicans in North America. About 34,000 adult pelicans will raise some 17,000 chicks this year on islands in Marsh Lake.

What’s most eye-catching is the high percentage of eggs showing petroleum:

Petroleum compounds were present in 90 percent of the first batch of eggs tested. Nearly 80 percent of the eggs contained the chemical dispersant used in the gulf.

“This high percentage really surprised me,” said Carroll Henderson, the DNR’s non-game Wildlife Program supervisor.

Henderson cautions that the results are still too preliminary to draw any conclusions as there are no tests of eggs before the spill to compare them to. But he said the results raise a lot of questions.

“While many more tests are needed, this is not good news,” says Doug Inkley, senior scientist with the National Wildlife Federation. “Instead of quickly breaking down, oil and dispersant could be entering the food chain, persisting and being passed on to the next generation.”

To be clear, we don’t know if the petroleum found in the pelican eggs is tied to the BP oil spill. However, the National Wildlife Federation continues to find pervasive oil in coastal Louisiana marshes in key wildlife habitat.

Asian carp photo courtesy Jason Lindsey

Unfortunately, these abundant natural resources in Minnesota are the latest victim of Asian carp.

Known to batter boaters and even knock them into the water at the sound of a passing motor, Asian carp are voracious filter feeders that can grow to more than 4 feet long, weigh up to 100 pounds and quickly dominate a body of water by gobbling up the same food that sustains native fish populations.

Asian Carp in the Twin Cities

Earlier this summer, positive eDNA hits of Asian carp were detected(Minnesota Carp eDNA hits map )in the Mississippi, Minnesota and St. Croix rivers near the Twin Cities.  Further elevating the urgency of this crisis, on December 8^th, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MN DNR) officials announced that positive eDNA samples indicated that silver carp are above and below the Coon Rapids Dam – just north of the Twin Cities.

Not good news for those 11,842 lakes. 

While most of the focus remains on stopping Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes via the Chicago Waterway System, we must work to close all the doors across the Great Lakes Basin to carp.  As such, NWF and our state affiliate, Minnesota Conservation Federation (MCF), have pulled together a strong and diverse coalition of sportsmen and women, environmental groups and private property owners in calling for immediate action to stop the northward advance of carp into Minnesota’s waters.

Asian Carp Solutions

Lock #1 downtown Minneapolis

While this goal is similar to our efforts in Chicago, the political lay of the land is more promising in Minnesota.  Unlike Chicago, the state and some federal agencies are moving fast and there seems to be momentum building to prevent carp from advancing up the Mississippi River.  In fact, it is our hope that our efforts in Minnesota can serve as an example for the Chicago Waterway System that achieving a permanent solution is feasible. 

New Nickname for Minnesota?

If we don’t act now and implement a plan of action to stop carp, Minnesota better start thinking of a new state nickname. 

How about this one:  Land of 10,000 Asian Carp Infested Lakes? 

Sad, but possibly true.

Introducing: Choose Your Cause

Because of my personal experience and passion for protecting special places in Minnesota and throughout the Great Lakes, I know first-hand what a profound effect my donations to this program can have.  And, it’s why I choose to continue to support this program through NWF’s newly launched Choose Your Cause online portal.

I know that you care about protecting Minnesota’s vast water resources from Asian carp and other threats.  So, through our new Choose Your Cause site,  Just click on the cause you care about most and enjoy inspiring stories and photos from folks on-the-ground who are working tirelessly to protect the wildlife and wild places we all love.

ALL THE COMFORTS
When my kids were in their twenties I took them on a fall canoe trip in northern Minnesota’s amazing Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW).

One cool, damp afternoon, after paddling and portaging our way through five or six lakes, we were ready to find a good campsite for the night. The map showed several possible spots within a short distance along the left bank of a narrow bay.

Keeping your eyes, ears and other senses open increases your enjoyment of being outdoors far from crowds, calls and cars.

The first campsite we came to looked unoccupied, so I got out to survey it out for the key amenities: a good, flat, root-free spot to pitch our tent, a well-made stone fire pit, enough dead and fallen trees for firewood, a good branch for hanging our food pack beyond the reach of bears, and, of course, a decent Forest-Service-built latrine.

Following the path back into the woods, I found the wooden “throne” to be in good shape. On the way back to the landing, I realized I hadn’t had a “pit stop” all afternoon. Still out of sight of the kids, I stepped off the path, unzipped and watered a large, rotting, moss- covered stump. It’s always nice to have a target.

My kids had already decided the campsite merited only about three stars. So we hopped back into the canoe and paddled a few hundred yards down the shore to the next campsite. Unfortunately this one, with its lumpy tent site and poor landing area, rated only two stars. It was getting late and we were feeling the chill. So, instead of going on to check out a third site, we opted for the far-from-ideal, though certainly adequate, first campsite, and paddled back.

STEAMY SCENE
While the kids put up the tent and unpacked their sleeping bags, I headed into the woods to collect some firewood. In no time, I had a nice double armload and headed back toward the campsite to build the fire.

That’s odd, I thought. Just ahead, next to the trail, I thought I saw a wisp of steam.

On the way, I connected once again with the latrine path. After a few steps, my happy whistling came to an abrupt stop. That’s odd, I thought. Just ahead, next to the trail, I thought I saw a wisp of steam. I slunk a few steps closer. Could it be the breath of a small animal, I asked myself. No, it didn’t come and go like breathing would.

Wait…this looks familiar. I recognized the stump I’d just used as a urinal fifteen minutes earlier. And there on top, in the very center, was a fist-sized pile of still-warm bear scat.

What do you do when a North American black bear acknowledges you in this most personal way? You can run. You can feel insulted. You can ignore it. Or, as I did, you can look around for a big brown-and-black face peeking out from behind a tree and smiling. And then you just laugh out loud.

Tony Hayward testifies on Capitol Hill, June 2010 (via Flickr's EnergyCommerce)

Former BP CEO Tony Hayward reportedly has been hired, and I am not making this up, as the head of environment and safety at Glencore, a multinational mining and commodities trading company. Hayward’s next stop could be in Minnesota, reports MinnPost.com:

Tony Hayward has been recently hired by a company called Glencore. Don’t feel bad if you haven’t heard of it. It has been trying for years to be invisible to the naked eye. It was briefly in the news back in the Clinton years when its founder, Marc Rich, violated federal law by trading oil with Iran and went on the FBI’s most wanted list. Things cooled off fairly quickly because President Clinton pardoned Rich as Bill was on the way out of the White House door. Rich was, well, rich. He gave money to the Clinton campaign. I’m not saying. I’m just saying.

So Glencore ends up being one of the biggest, if not the biggest, commodities traders in the world. It handles everything from metals to fuel and has operations all over the globe. It doesn’t have a very nice record in some parts of the world where it has been accused of mistreatment of workers, pollution and very much worse. Now Glencore is putting its money in northern Minnesota. It is has just become the principal investor in a mining operation planned for Hoyt Lakes. [...]

Iron mining and northern Minnesota have gone hand in glove for a century. But the proposed PolyMet mine in Hoyt Lakes is a different animal. It is called hardrock sulfide mining. It will be going after copper and nickel and precious metals. It promises jobs in a job-starved part of our state. But there are two things you should know about hardrock sulfide mining. The first thing is that the Environmental Protection Agency says hardrock mining generates more toxic waste than any other sector of the U.S. economy. The second thing you should know is that the history of this sort of mining shows that when the metals run out, the companies decamp. The real pollution starts after they leave with the winnings, go broke, or sell out.

To recap quickly: Tony Hayward was at the helm of BP when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank in a preventable disaster that spilled more than 200 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, a disaster that’s still being felt by the Gulf’s communities and wildlife. BP repeatedly misstated the size of the disaster and Hayward become a symbol of British Petroleum’s remarkable combination of arrogance and incompetence, first declaring he wanted the Gulf oil disaster over so he could have his cushy life back, then enjoying a day on a yacht while oil washed ashore in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Hayward was forced out as BP CEO, but the company kept him on and deployed him to Russia. When last heard from,  Hayward was cutting a deal to drill for oil in an Arctic wildlife haven.

Now Hayward is being put in charge of “environment and safety” in one of America’s most toxic industries? What could go wrong?

Via Kate Sheppard

The capital’s famous cherry trees are primed to burst out in a
perfect pink peak about the end of this month. Thirty years ago, the
trees usually waited to bloom till around April 5.

In central California, the first of the field skipper sachem, a drab
little butterfly, was fluttering about on March 12. Just 25 years ago,
that creature predictably emerged there anywhere from mid-April to
mid-May.

And sneezes are coming earlier in Philadelphia. On March 9, when
allergist Dr. Donald Dvorin set up his monitor, maple pollen was
already heavy in the air. Less than two decades ago, that pollen
couldn’t be measured until late April.

Pollen is bursting. Critters are stirring. Buds are swelling. Biologists are worrying.

“The alarm clock that all the plants and animals are listening to is
running too fast,” Stanford University biologist Terry Root said.

Blame global warming.

And here’s where it gets even more interesting:

What’s happening is so noticeable that scientists can track it from
space. Satellites measuring when land turns green found that spring
“green-up” is arriving eight hours earlier every year on average since
1982 north of the Mason-Dixon line.

The key message in all this is that when you’re talking to your friends about climate change, avoid talking about icebergs, glaciers and polar bears. Yes, those are all critical impacts of climate change, but they’re all very far from home (apologies to our Alaskan and Canadian readers … this is me looking north, waving hello).

Instead, try to focus on the impacts in your community:

• If you’re in Seattle, talk about how global warming is making the water too warm for salmon (a major food source for orcas)
• If you’re in Minnesota, talk about how global warming has devastated moose populations
• If you’re in Florida, talk about coral bleaching and the ripple effects on all the species sustained by reefs

NWF.org makes it easy for you to learn more about how your community’s climate is changing. Check out our state fact sheets!

I’m in New York City today for an event called “The 2008 International Conference on Climate Change.” It’s sponsored by the Heartland Institute, one of the leading oil industry-funded deniers of global warming. According to ExxonSecrets.org, Heartland received $561,500 (unadjusted for inflation) from ExxonMobil between 1998 and 2005.

I know what you’re thinking – what better way to start the week than by hanging out at a meeting of global warming deniers? But conservative media outlets like the Wall Street Journal and National Review are doing everything they can to paint a false picture of the event.

They don’t want you to see it for what it is – a gathering of people who may have some science in their backgrounds but have long since sold their soul to the energy industry.

Someone has to be there to see what’s really happening at this event. I joked with my friends that I was going in like Cartman going into San Francisco on South Park – full atmospheric dive suit.

I’m not going to waste time here rebutting every line of global warming denial I hear this week. Trying to win a scientific debate with a global warming denier is like trying to blow out one of those re-lighting birthday candles – it’s a waste of breath.

But I will keep an eye on whether the speakers are being truthful on their resumes. Already, The News Journal of Wilmington, DE has reported David Legates has exaggerated his credentials.

Why haven’t his state employers or local environmentalists made a big deal of it? Says Chad Tolman of the Sierra Club’s Delaware chapter, “I don’t know if the governor or anyone else cares about it enough at this point to press the issue.” Ouch. Much like the climate denial industry in general, looks like Legates has dropped from controversial to irrelevant.

As the event goes on, I’ll also dive into some topics that aren’t on the conference agenda:

1. Global warming isn’t a theory to be debated, temperatures are warming already and impacting species from moose in Minnesota to brook trout in Pennsylvania.

1. Congress isn’t debating warming, it’s taking on climate solutions, including top Republican Senators like Virginia’s John Warner, North Carolina’s Elizabeth Dole, and Minnesota’s Norm Coleman.

1. Where did the money for this lavish event come from? Who paid for the speakers’ travel expenses and honorariums?

Much more to come over the next two days. You can also read more from Kevin Grandia at DeSmogBlog, one of the few true greens allowed to register for the event.

In addition, it lays out a detailed road map of supporting policies and regional partnerships to achieve the following, amongst other things:

• 25 by 25 in renewable energy and fuels (25% by 2025).
• 2% energy from efficiency by 2015 and 2% per year thereafter.
• Carbon pipeline sited and permitted and carbon storage regs by 2012, all new coal plants to capture and store CO2 by 2020.

Six governors (from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, Kansas) and the premier of Manitoba signed the accord. The governors from Ohio, Indiana and South Dakota signed on as observers. There was a strong bipartisan message, and a strong message particularly from Iowa Gov. Chet Culver about how important it was for Presidential candidates to address this issue.

“Our call for a moratorium stems from the fact that the Great Lakes are under attack and Congress has yet to respond,” said Jeff Skelding, campaign director for the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition. “We have solutions. It is time to use them. Congressional delay is exacerbating the problem and costing citizens more money. It is time for elected officials to pass legislation that will slam the door shut on new invasive species in the Great Lakes.”

The call for a moratorium comes as the latest non-native pathogen in the Great Lakes—a deadly fish virus—spreads throughout the region, prompting state legislators in Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York and Ohio to consider bills to curb introductions of non-native species from ballast water—the No. 1 way invasive species enter the Great Lakes and possible source of VHS introduction.

You can view the full press release (pdf) here.

Please also visit the Restore the Lakes homepage.