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Weekly News Roundup- August 16, 2013
What’s happening at National Wildlife Federation this week?
- Drum roll please! NWF’s 43rd Annual Photo Contest People’s Choice Award goes to…*opens the envelope*
- Bottlenose dolphin deaths continue. Why? Read the blog to see what you can do to help.
- What ferocious creature has Today show hosts Natalie Morales and Willie Geist stepping away? Watch David Mizejewski’s recent Today appearance here!
NWF Taking Action
Fisheries Leaders Call For End to Coal Export Fast-Track in Oregon
August 15- Leading Oregon sport and commercial fishing advocates have sent a petition to the U.S Army Corps of Engineers asking leaders to stop fast-tracking coal exports though Oregon.
Oregon’s commercial and sportfishing industry leaders are increasingly concerned that the plans to traffic over 100 million tons of coal along the Columbia River will mean less fish, and less fish will mean less jobs. Yet the leading coal export project in Oregon at the Port of Morrow is on the fast track.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the lead Federal agency reviewing the coal export proposals in the Northwest, while agreeing to perform the more thorough Environmental Impact Statement process for both coal export projects currently proposed on the Washington side of the Columbia River, is refusing to require a complete Environmental Impact Statement for Oregon’s Port of Morrow terminal, and instead is requiring only the shorter and narrower Environmental Assessment study.
VIDEO: Watch Bob Rees discuss coal’s threat to salmon at the North Fork of the Wilson River
August 15- National Wildlife Federation and The Motherhood announced today the publication of Be Out There: Cool Ideas for Hot Summer Days, an e-Book written by 15 mom bloggers and their online communities to help families get their kids outside more.
“Kids spend, on average, fewer than thirty minutes outside playing, and a whopping seven hours in front of a screen each day,” said Meri-Margaret Deoudes, vice president of Be Out There at National Wildlife Federation. “The goal of the e-Book is for real moms to share their tips, suggestions and stories so we can all find new and better ways to get our kids outside more.”
Gulf Sea Turtles Stranding at 5x Normal Rates Since Spill
August 12- The Associated Press is reporting that scientists are concerned over a decline this year in the number of nests along the Texas coast for the endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, the most endangered sea turtle in the world.
The decline in nests could be linked to the five-fold increase in sea turtle strandings in the aftermath of the Gulf oil disaster. Data from the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network indicates that between 1986 and 2009, an average of nearly 100 sea turtles were found stranded annually in the oil spill area. Since the spill, each year roughly 500 sea turtles have been found stranded, most of which were the Kemp’s ridleys.
Read our Wildlife Promise blog about Kemp’s ridley turtles
Take Action! Show you care and symbolically adopt a sea turtle.
Back to School Does Not Have to Mean Back Inside for Kids
August 12- In the coming weeks, parents and children across the country will prepare for the return to school: supplies will be purchased, outfits will be picked out and end-of-summer vacations will be taken. Sadly, for many kids, the return to school also means an abrupt end to outdoor fun. Whereas summer break is synonymous with camping trips, backyard adventures, water activities and outdoor barbeques, school time can mean hours spent indoors, sitting at a desk, under bad fluorescent lighting.
To help bring balance to the lives of school kids (and improve their learning abilities at the same time), National Wildlife Federation has developed several programs to get kids outside and connected to nature at school. These programs get hundreds of thousands of kids outdoors on a regular basis each year, helping NWF meet its goal of getting 10 million kids outdoors on a regular basis by 2015.
And now here are highlights from NWF in the news:
Associated Press: Climate change bus tour comes to Maine
The bus tour is organized by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Center for American Progress, the Environmental Defense Fund, the National Wildlife Federation and other conservation and public-interest groups.
Christian Science Monitor: BP oil spill cleanup: US says the coast is nearly clear. Is it?
“Louisiana has made a very strong case why they don’t want their state taken out of response. They probably have a fear that it’s going to get harder and harder to get anyone to come in and respond because it becomes harder and harder to prove the chemical signature of the material over time,” says David Muth, director of the Mississippi River Delta Restoration Program for the National Wildlife Federation.
MLive.com : ‘Don’t Mess with the Great Lakes’…Federal Funding
That funding cut would really hit our region where it hurts. The Great Lakes are drinking water for 30 million people, the economic engine for our region, and central to our quality of life.
Dallas Morning News: Looking to Attract Hummingbirds to Your Garden?
“The more we develop, the more we pave and the more we replace the native vegetation with stuff that isn’t natural. Whether it be concrete or exotic plant species, the hummingbirds lose their habitat,” says David Mizejewski, naturalist with the National Wildlife Federation.
Nature World News: Hundreds of Panther Sightings Reported in Florida
There are currently about 100 Florida panthers left in the wild. These cats are found in southern Florida in swamplands such as Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve, according to the National Wildlife Federation.
WFMD 930: White House Report: Power Outages Expected To Increase, Get More Expensive
According to Josh Saks, legislative director for the National Wildlife Federation, new protections are critical. “We’ve seen hurricanes in the past ten years push up through Annapolis and parts of Maryland,” Saks recalled. “And I would say Maryland needs to continue to work towards resiliency, because climate change issues are only going to exacerbate.”
