Can Sally Jewell get a new generation involved with public lands?

That is just one of the challenges awaiting the soon-to-be former boss of REI as she takes over leadership of the Department of the Interior. I hope she succeeds. Some of the pro-pollution crowd - mostly Republicans of course - have already been attacking Jewell under the guise of REI's gifting of financial help to citizen conservation outfits. What a bunch. This piece takes a good look at Jewell.

State agency game farming is not compatible with ecosystem integrity

And neither is the very unscientific creation of edge habitat in a state that's full of man-created edge habitat, as I saw on State Game Lands 141 and Nescopeck State Park in Pennsylvania. The machines that did the nasty work were there by order of the Pennsylvania Game Commission. Well, it's been nearly 20 years since it happened and the creation of even more edge habitat in the state marches on. Complicit in this very anti-conservation biology course of events is the whole governmental enterprise, from the township and borough level on up to Harrisburg.
What's wrong with edge habitat? It is the favored habitat of habitat generalists, like white-tailed deer, skunk, raccoons and many more small predators. And it lowers the nesting success of forest-interior species, like wood thrush. Read what conservationist George Wuerthner thinks.

Federal and state/private forests and money (greed)

This is a nice column from the Idaho Statesman's Rocky Barker. But, Rocky, why no mention of the phrase "ecological services?" Yes, you mention fish and wildlife habitat, erosion, roadless vs. roaded, etc., but the great big public still needs to hear about ecological services. Oh, and roaded forest lands always have a much, much larger carbon footprint than roadless land. And which is healthier for wildlfife? Simple. Roadless.

On the scenic Missisquoi,a debate about federal recognition

I was a daily newspaper journalist for 17 years in northeastern Pennsylvania, so I feel qualified to make statements like this: While reporter Candace Page turned out a solid, in-depth piece on a proposal to protect much of northern Vermont's Missisiquoi River under the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers program, the headline writer at the Burlington Free Press chose the easy way out by using the word "debate." Why is it that every little thing in today's "he said, she said" media circus has to be called a "debate?" Simply put, the National Wild and Scenic Rivers program works and works well. This has been proven by more than 40 years of citizen work and involvement on designated waterways nationwide. I feel particularly focused on this because I had the honor, as a student at Idaho State University in the early 70s, of going door-to-door for U.S. Sen. Frank Church, the father of the Wild and Scenic legislation. In any case, click on this link to read Candace Page's report.
Idaho Rivers United, a conservation club, says: "The Wild & Scenic Rivers Act protects more than 11,000 miles of 166 rivers in 38 states. Idaho is home to more than 1,000 miles of America's finest Wild & Scenic rivers, from the famed canyons of the Middle Fork of the Salmon to the St. Joe in North Idaho. These rivers and their corridors provide habitats for wildlife and treasured recreational places for rafters, anglers, campers, cyclists, hikers, and others."

Aransas NWR survey shows Whooping Crane numbers up

The Fish and Wildlife Service's Winter Whooping Crane Survey estimates there's a total of 279 whooping cranes, including 257 found within the primary wintering grounds and 22 beyond that area. Service personnel conducted seven surveys of the primary wintering grounds of the Aransas-Wood Buffalo flock, the last remaining wild flock of whooping cranes. With the help of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's Texas Whooper Watch and other observers, additional sightings suggest at least 22 additional birds outside the primary wintering grounds. Last year, the count was 267 birds. The birds begin arriving at their Texas wintering areas in mid-October and leave for their summer homes the end of March.
You can read about the survey and more at this address.

Shark kills number 100 million annually, research says

Commercial fishing (to fulfill the demand for shark fins) is pushing shark species to oblivion. Damn. This BBC piece offers the stark details.

Idaho shows it's not serious; lets lobbbyists write water plan

Endangered fish species in Idaho waters? Nah. That's the theme underlying the big rewrite of Idaho's statewide water-use plan. As reported here, the plan favors big  business and big polluters, not Idaho's natural heritage. More and more these days, things in my old home state of Idaho get worse and worse. The politicians who take up space in the Idaho capitol are doing just that.