Forest, Wildlife, and Climate News

Mexican growers having big pot year in state

by Peter Fimrite, SF Chronicle, July 28, 2009 [here]

Mexican drug traffickers have expanded their marijuana-growing operations in California parks as state and local governments have tightened spending and slashed jobs and services.

Law enforcement officials say the traffickers, taking advantage of the fact that there are fewer sheriff’s deputies and rangers monitoring parks, are cultivating more pot than ever before. This year’s multibillion-dollar crop is on pace to be the largest in history, said state officials.

“It’s a huge problem,” said Gordon Taylor, the assistant special agent in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. “California is ground zero for domestic marijuana cultivation in the country.”

The illicit crops are believed to be hidden on ridges and in gullies in California’s 31 million acres of forest, with most being grown in state and national parks.

So far this year, more than a million plants have been seized by the state’s Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, or CAMP program, according to Michelle Gregory, the spokeswoman for the California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, and the pot-growing season is not even half over.

“Our whole state is overrun,” Gregory said. “It’s an epidemic.” …

The growers are so brazen that they often return to replant crops in the same plots that were recently raided, authorities said, and they don’t care about the extensive environmental damage they cause by clear-cutting forests, damming up creeks and polluting public land with pesticides and trash.

Legalization is not the solution, Johnson said, given that most of the pot is being grown illegally on public parkland by foreign citizens who cannot be taxed.

“I’ve been doing this for five years, and there just seems to be more and more of it everywhere,” Johnson said. “We don’t even bother with medicinal grows. What we’re concerned about is the destruction of the habitat.” … [more]

Farm Bureaus Join Wolf Delisting Suit

Mountain States Legal Foundation, June 30, 2009 [here]

DENVER, CO. Two western farm bureaus today were granted the right to enter a lawsuit by environmental groups as to whether wolves imported into Idaho and Montana should continue to have protection of the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Montana Farm Bureau Federation and Idaho Farm Bureau Federation, represented by Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF), which also was allowed to intervene in the case, argue that the gray wolf in the northern Rocky Mountains is a distinct population segment (DPS) of the gray wolf and may be removed from ESA protection given state plans by Idaho and Montana regarding the predator. The DPS designation was made by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) as to gray wolf populations in Idaho and Montana in April 2009. An array of environmental groups filed a lawsuit challenging the decision in Montana federal district court on June 2. On behalf of farm bureaus, MSLF challenged the 1994 decision to place Canadian wolves in the Rocky Mountain region. … [more]

Wyoming Groups Enter Protected Mouse Lawsuit

Mountain States Legal Foundation, July 23, 2009 [here]

DENVER, CO. Two Wyoming agricultural groups whose members’ ability to earn livelihoods and use their private property will be affected adversely by the designation of the Prebles’ Meadow Jumping Mouse (PMJM) as eligible for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) today moved to intervene in a lawsuit filed by a host of environmental groups on June 23, 2009, in Colorado federal district court. The Wyoming Stock Growers Association and the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation argue that the decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to remove the PMJM from federal protection in Wyoming is factually and legally correct. The environmental groups argue that the decision is based upon a flawed March 2007 interpretation, by the Solicitor of the U.S. Department of the Interior, of the phrase in the ESA, “significant portion of [a species'] range.”

“All those in southeastern Wyoming, especially those who live on, love, and use the land for their livelihoods, breathed a sigh of relief when the Preble’s was delisted,” said William Perry Pendley, Esq. of Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF), which represents the two groups. “Now comes this lawsuit, which is serious because, if successful, it will place at risk all listing decisions; that is why Wyoming agriculture had to become involved.” … [more]

Algore’s Hometown Experiences Big Chill

Coolest July 21 recorded in Nashville as cool wave continues in Tenn

By Associated Press, July 21, 2009 [here]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Cool weather has broken a previous low temperature for July 21 in Nashville that was set when Rutherford B. Hayes was president.

When the temperature at the National Weather Service station dipped to 58 degrees at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday, it wiped out the previous record low for the date of 60 degrees, which was set in 1877.

NWS forecaster Bobby Boyd noted it was the third consecutive morning when Nashville either tied or broke a daily low temperature record.

Temperatures were cool, but did not break records at several Tennessee cities.

Knoxville dropped to 59 degrees Tuesday morning, Chattanooga had 60 degrees, Tri-Cities recorded 58 degrees and Memphis was 69 degrees.

In wake of death Forest Service suspends rappelling statewide

By Dylan Darling, Redding Record Searchlight, July 22, 2009 [here]

WILLOW CREEK — The U.S. Forest Service has halted its training and use of rappelling from helicopters statewide in response to the death of a firefighter who fell from a helicopter Tuesday in the north state.

Thomas “T.J.” Marovich, Jr., 20, of Hayward, died Tuesday morning after falling about 200 feet during a routine rappelling exercise, said Robin Cole, spokeswoman for the Forest Service. Just after his death about 10:15 a.m., the Forest Service’s regional office suspended rappelling, or sliding down ropes, from helicopters.

Cole said she did not know how long the suspension will be in effect.

“They didn’t put a time on it,” she said.

Marovich, who worked for the Modoc National Forest, was among about 500 firefighters who’d been fighting the Backbone Fire near Willow Creek in the Trinity Alps Wilderness. Started by lightning in July 1, the fire has burned about 6,300 acres and was 85 percent contained this morning, Cole said. The fire is expected to be fully contained by Friday. … [more]

Tester Introduces New Montana Wilderness Bill

Clark Fork Chronicle, July 17 2009 [here]

Standing with loggers, outfitters, conservationists, hunters and fishermen who spent years working together on a plan for Montana’s forests, Senator Jon Tester today introduced his much-anticipated legislation to reform forest management to “make it work” for Montana.

“Our forests, and the communities and folks who rely on them, face a crisis right now,” Tester said today at a news conference at RY Timber in Townsend. “Our local sawmills are on the brink, families are out of work, while our forests turn red from an unprecedented outbreak of pine beetles, waiting for the next big wildfire. It’s a crisis that demands action now. This bill is a made-in-Montana solution that took years of working together and hearing input to create a common sense forest plan.”

He said his 80-page bill, formally called the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, will create jobs, protect clean water and keep Montana’s prized hunting and fishing habitat healthy for future generations. … [more]

Ed Note — Tester’s bill actually:

Thus it will exacerbate the pine beetle and catastrophic megafire crisis. Tester’s bully PR release above is an exercise in political doubletalk. Enactment of Tester’s bill, God forbid, would be a disaster for Montana forests.

NOAA’s and GISS’s Hot Streaks Continue — Despite Satellite Sensed Cooling

By Joseph D’Aleo CCM, AMS Fellow, ICECAP, July 15, 2009 [here]

NOAA has as expected announced that June 2009 for the globe was the second warmest June in 130 years, falling just short of 2005. NASA GISS which starts with NCDC GHCN and then adds their own special touches had this June the second warmest on record just behind 1998.

In sharp contrast, NASA UAH MSU satellite assessment had June virtually normal (+0.001C or 15th coldest in 31 years) and RSS (+0.075C or 14th coldest in 31 years). This is becoming a habit.

NOAA proclaimed May 2009 to be the 4th warmest for the globe in 130 years of record keeping. Meanwhile NASA UAH MSU satellite assessment showed it was the 15th coldest May in the 31 years of its record. This divergence is not new and has been growing. Just a year ago, NOAA proclaimed June 2008 to be the 8th warmest for the globe in 129 years of record keeping. Meanwhile NASA satellites showed it was the 9th coldest June in the 30 years of its record. … [more]

Why Waxman-Markey Is Not A Climate Bill

by Chip Knappenberger, Master Resource, June 29, 2009 [here]

The current debate has proven one thing very clearly. The U.S. climate debate is not about saving the climate. It is about regulation for its own sake in the name of “saving the climate.” This fact should give pause to everyone who really cares about human welfare. Cap-and-trade is at odds with the economic wealth needed to adapt to a future that cannot be centrally planned by politicos.

Saturday’s New York Times headline (print edition) read: “House Backs Bill, 219-212, to Curb Global Warming.” But if the 219 House members who voted for the American Clean Energy and Security Act (HR 2454, aka the Waxman-Markey climate bill) thought they were casting a vote to “curb global warming,” they were sadly mistaken.

As I have shown, the climate impact of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions prescribed under Waxman-Markey is very small—best case it reduces projected global warming by less than one-tenth of a degree Fahrenheit by 2050 and only about one-third of a ºF by century’s end—a reduction that is scientifically meaningless. Many Representatives, in their pre-vote statements on the House floor, pointed this out, and perhaps many of the dissenting vote casters took this fact to heart.

However, while many of the opposition speakers mentioned the paucity of climate impacts from the emissions reduction measures, the great majority of the supporting speeches focused on energy security and domestic job creation (a contention vehemently challenged by the dissenters) and left the influence on the climate out of it! Undoubtedly, they knew full well that it would be inconsequential. … [more]

Ranchers, farmers fed up with mountain lion laws

By Kevin Howe, Monterey Peninsula Herald, 07/09/2009 [here]

HOLLISTER — A revolt is brewing on the rangelands of San Benito and Monterey counties over state game laws that protect mountain lions.
Hunters, ranchers and farmers appear to be fed up with what they see as depredations on deer and livestock by an out-of-control mountain lion population. They are resentful of regulations they say were imposed on them by big-city voters who never saw one of the big cats outside of a television program or a zoo, and distrustful of state Department of Fish and Game enforcement. And they seem to be waging their own guerrilla warfare against the specially protected predators in the Gabilan range.

Wednesday, the San Benito County Fish and Game Advisory Commission held a public forum in Hollister on mountain lions. Officials from neighboring counties, state legislators’ aides and mountain lion supporters attended to talk about the issue.

The state paid bounties for mountain lion kills from 1907 to 1963. The lions were classified as a game animal in 1969, and two sport seasons resulted in 118 mountain lion deaths.

The state Legislature imposed a moratorium on hunting the big cats in 1972, which was still in effect when Proposition 117, which prohibited lion hunting and declared them a specially protected species, was passed by voters in 1990.

Since then, the mountain lion population has grown and the deer population has declined, officials said. [more]

Pickens calls off massive wind farm in Texas

By John Porretto, Ap Energy Writer, Yahoo News, July 7, 2009 [here]

HOUSTON – Plans for the world’s largest wind farm in the Texas Panhandle have been scrapped, energy baron T. Boone Pickens said Tuesday, and he’s looking for a home for 687 giant wind turbines.

Pickens has already ordered the turbines, which can stand 400 feet tall — taller than most 30-story buildings.

“When I start receiving those turbines, I’ve got to … like I said, my garage won’t hold them,” the legendary Texas oilman said. “They’ve got to go someplace.”

Pickens’ company Mesa Power ordered the turbines from General Electric Co. — a $2 billion investment — a little more than a year ago. Pickens said he has leases on about 200,000 acres in Texas that were planned for the project, and he might place some of the turbines there, but he’s also looking for smaller wind projects to participate in. He said he’s looking at potential sites in the Midwest and Canada.

In Texas, the problem lies in getting power from the proposed site in the Panhandle to a distribution system, Pickens said in an interview with The Associated Press in New York. He’d hoped to build his own transmission lines but he said there were technical problems.

Wind power is a big part of the “Pickens Plan,” which was announced a year ago Wednesday. Pickens has spent $60 million crisscrossing the country and buying advertising in an effort to reduce the nation’s reliance on foreign oil. …

Like most industries around the world, the recession has hurt wind turbine manufacturers and wind farm developers. Companies have shelved development plans and laid off workers. … [more]

U.S. Government Scientist’s Shock Admission: ‘Climate Model Software Doesn’t Meet the Best Standards Available’

Plus: Another Gov’t Scientist admits ‘chaotic component of climate system… is not predictable beyond two weeks, even theoretically’

By Marc Morano, Climate Depot, July 06, 2009 [here]

Two prominent U.S. Government scientists made two separate admissions questioning the reliability of climate models used to predict warming decades and hundreds of years into the future.

Gary Strand, a software engineer at the federally funded National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), admitted climate model software “doesn’t meet the best standards available” in a comment he posted on the website Climate Audit.

“As a software engineer, I know that climate model software doesn’t meet the best standards available. We’ve made quite a lot of progress, but we’ve still quite a ways to go,” Strand wrote on July 5, 2009, according to the website http://wattsupwiththat.com/.

Strand’s candid admission promoted Watts Up With That’s skeptical Meteorologist Anthony Watts to ask the following question:

Do we really want Congress to make trillion dollar tax decisions today based on ’software [that] doesn’t meet the best standards available?’”

Meteorologist Watts also critiqued the current climate models, noting, “NASA GISS model E written on some of the worst FORTRAN coding ever seen is a challenge to even get running. NASA GISTEMP is even worse. Yet our government has legislation under consideration significantly based on model output that Jim Hansen started. His 1988 speech to Congress was entirely based on model scenarios.

Another Government Scientist Admits Climate Model Shortcomings

Another government scientist — NASA climate modeler Gavin Schmidt — admitted last week that the “chaotic component of climate system…is not predictable beyond two weeks, even theoretically.”

Schmidt made his admission during a June 29, 2009 interview about the shortcomings of climate models. Schmidt noted that some climate models “suggest very strongly” that the American Southwest will dry in a warming world. But Schmidt also noted that “other models suggest the exact opposite.”

“With these two models, you have two estimates — one says it’s going to get wetter and one says it’s going to get drier. What do you do? Is there anything that you can say at all? That is a really difficult question,” Schmidt conceded.

“The problem with climate prediction and projections going out to 2030 and 2050 is that we don’t anticipate that they can be tested in the way you can test a weather forecast. It takes about 20 years to evaluate because there is so much unforced variability in the system which we can’t predict — the chaotic component of the climate system — which is not predictable beyond two weeks, even theoretically. That is something that we can’t really get a handle on,” Schmidt lamented. … [more]

Wolves in Wyoming

Ranchers dealing with wolf attacks, sheep losses have skyrocketed this year

BY GRANT SMITH, Buffalo Bulletin, July 1, 2009 [here]

Pete Carricaburu feels victimized.

A life-long rancher, Carricaburu has brought his sheep to graze on the same privately owned land near Dull Knife Battlefield in Johnson County since 1988. He’s learned to deal with mountain lions, coyotes and the occasional black bear.

But last Saturday, a savage new element was added to his summer grazing operation when 10 of his sheep fell victim to wolf attacks within hours of being moved to the Big Horn Mountains.

“These are our babies and we take immaculate, good care of these sheep,” Carricaburu said. “Seeing them brutalized was just heartbreaking. We felt we were terrorized and we were. We found a couple of lambs trying to follow the herd with their guts hanging out. It was kind of like a drive-by-shooting.”

Carricaburu’s case isn’t an isolated incident.

Wyoming Game and Fish Department wolf program coordinator Mike Jimenez confirmed that four different ranchers have lost 52 sheep to wolves in Johnson County since May 4. That number has skyrocketed from the two confirmed wolf kills reported in all of 2008.

The area affected is southern Johnson County, in the mountains west of Kaycee. … [more]

Anti-Wolf Meeting in Idaho Falls

By Danielle Grant, Local News 8, April 21, 2009 [here]

Passionate people share their growing concerns about the wolf population in Idaho.

“Two things are on our mind: the economy and how we’re going to stop this Canadian wolf disaster in our state,” said Ron Gillett [chairman of the Idaho Anti-Wolf Coalition] …

“They ran them through 4 fences…took me three days to gather them up…fix the fences,” said Mike Webster, a local rancher and Governor Otter’s field representative.

Fish and game says more than 1,600 wolves live in the Northern Rocky Mountains in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.

However Gillett isn’t buying into their numbers or that they can keep an eye on the population.

“This BS that the Fish and Game puts out that there are only 840 wolves in Idaho is a lie. You can not manage Canadian wolves in Idaho at any number because of the terrain and topography. It can not be done,” Gillett explained.

He claims there are at least 3,500 or more wolves roaming the Gem State and now the elk herds, he says, are living in death zones.

Gillett says so far they’ve lost 50,000 elk in the Northern Rockies to the wolves. … [more]

Climate change is shrinking sheep

By Victoria Gill, Science reporter, BBC News, 2 July 2009 [here]

Climate change is causing a breed of wild sheep in Scotland to shrink, according to research.

Scientists say milder winters help smaller sheep to survive, resulting in this “paradoxical decrease in size”.

Classic evolutionary theory would predict that wild sheep gradually get bigger, as the stronger, larger animals survive into adulthood and reproduce.

Reporting in Science journal, the team says this shows the “subtle interplay” between evolution and the environment.

Scientists first began studying Soay sheep, on the island of Hirta in the St Kilda archipelago, in 1985.

Since then, the sheep have decreased in size by 5% - their legs getting steadily shorter and their body weight decreasing.

This strange phenomenon was first reported in 2007, but the reason for it remained under debate. … [more]

Note: more comic relief. Sheep have evolved since 1985? Darwin’s pocket sheep? Due to “climate change”? Science Mag has descended into buffoonery.