NAU: Bark beetles repelled by own sounds

Researchers at Northern Arizona University may have discovered a viable weapon to use to fight the bark beetle infestation threatening forests across the West. The weapon? Digitally altered recordings of their own calls.

Shaun McKinnon, the Arizona Republic’s environment reporter, has the complete story.

Grand Canyon flood benefits short-lived without steady flows

The sixty hour man-made flood from Glen Canyon Dam in 2008 had limited success replenishing sandbars and fish habitat due to erosion caused by the fluctuating flows that followed. According to scientists, the only way the beaches and habitat improvements will remain for the long term is if the dam is operated with steady flows instead of fluctuating ones.

Both the Salt Lake Tribune and Arizona Daily Sun have stories on the issue today, February 2.

See also the USGS statement on flows from the dam.

Deadline near for free Colorado River rafting trip entries

If you haven’t entered our contest  for a chance at a free Colorado River rafting trip you’ll want to do so soon.  On February 15 we will draw the lucky winner’s name, so enter now for your chance at a big adventure.

Wolves in the crosshairs in Utah. Please help.

The organization Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife has a bill before the Utah legislature that would require the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources to prevent viable wolf packs from becoming established in the Utah portion of the Rocky Mountain gray wolf recovery area. This would mean capturing and returning any that should venture into Utah or killing them. The aim of the bill is to prevent wolves from ever so much as getting a toenail-hold in Utah.

 This egregious bill, identified as S.B. 36 first substitute, would supplant the Utah Wolf Management Plan, which would at least tolerate up to two breeding pairs producing at least two surviving offspring for two consecutive years. I know, this plan is really lame, but it is better than killing wolves to ensure that there are none at all. Furthermore, it was created through a public process that began with and ended with the Utah legislature – a process that involved 13 representatives of a diverse group of stakeholders, including ranchers and sportsmen, working for a year and a half. Even then, the ranching and hunting interests on the working group violated the mutually agreed-upon protocols in order to ensure that the resulting plan is really weak. Not satisfied with that, now they want to lord over the rest of us to ensure that there are never any wild wolves in Utah.

At bottom this is a moral issue: We must stand up for wolves and wild nature and for ourselves. Here’s what you can do:

 If you are a Utah resident, go here and click on ‘Senate’ and ‘House’ to find your senator and your representative, then contact each and let him or her know in no ambiguous terms that you want this bill to fail. This will be particularly important for those of you who live in the Republican-dominated rural parts of the state.

If you live outside Utah and you want to exert influence on this, you might contact the Utah Office of Tourism and express your displeasure over this bill and tell them that, if it passes, it will make you less interested in vacationing and recreating in Utah.

If you would like to be added to the Utah Wolf Forum list serve to receive periodic updates on this and other wolf-related issues, contact lynx@xmission.com and state your request. It is our policy that you also briefly state your reason.

Agriculture Secretary to visit CD1 with Rep. Kirkpatrick

The Four Forests Restoration Initiative, of which the Grand Canyon Trust  is a key participant and supporter, will be the subject of a visit by Secretary Vilsack on January 30.  A press release (below) from Representative Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Az) outlines what’s in store for the Secretary.

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack will join Representative Ann Kirkpatrick in Greater Arizona on January 30th to review two key job creation proposals for District One. The Secretary and the Congresswoman will hear from the communities benefitting from the Copper Basin Jobs Project and meet with a diverse group of interested stakeholders to discuss the Four Forest Initiative.

Rep. Kirkpatrick will be looking to increase Sec. Vilsack’s understanding of the value of these proposals, which could be a shot in the arm for District One. Both projects would help folks get back to work with little or no cost to the taxpayers, but require the federal government to take action.

“I appreciate the Secretary’s willingness to come to Greater Arizona and learn more about these important job creation efforts,” said Rep. Kirkpatrick. “This trip will be a great opportunity for him to hear firsthand from the folks on the ground about the potential of these projects. I am looking forward to what should be a productive and informative tour of the district.”

The Copper Basin Jobs Project would create more than 1,000 well-paying, 21st-Century jobs in Rep. Kirkpatrick’s district and help Arizona realize its full economic potential. The Secretary and the Congresswoman will visit the site of the proposed mine and sit down with the Copper Communities Alliance and other key interested groups from the region. This new organization was formed to ensure that people in the area are empowered and engaged in the decision-making process for this project, and this visit will give them a chance to have their say.

They will then receive an overview of the Four Forest Initiative and its likely impact from members of a coalition of business leaders, environmental groups and local officials that have joined together to support the project. The initiative is a proposal to change the way national forests are managed, helping to protect Greater Arizona communities from wildfires, benefit the environment and revitalize the state’s forestry industry. It should also be an extremely successful partnership between environmental and business interests that could be a model for future projects.

“These are great examples of how we can get our economy back on track without spending millions of dollars. They will create new industry and new opportunities in Greater Arizona now and provide the foundation for more growth in the long run,” said Rep. Kirkpatrick. “I am eager to share our vision for the future of our economy with the Secretary.”

Rep. Kirkpatrick has been a strong advocate for both of these job creation efforts. After consulting with a wide range of stakeholders, she introduced the land exchange legislation necessary to move the Copper Basin Jobs Project forward and she has worked closely with the Copper Communities Alliance so that their views will not be ignored.

The Congresswoman has also been working with the U.S. Forest Service to urge the adoption of the new forest management strategy alongside the broad-based coalition, pointing to its potential to both help develop our economy and preserve our natural resources. She invited Sec. Vilsack to Greater Arizona as part of her work to move these proposals forward.

2010 Grand Canyon Trust Volunteer trip schedule available

Another exciting year is about to begin with the Grand Canyon Trust Volunteer Program.

To learn more, check out the 2010 trip schedule.

Uranium mining resumes near Grand Canyon

Denison Mines, a Canadian company, recently revived operations at the Arizona 1 uranium mine on the Arizona Strip adjacent to Grand Canyon. This industrial activity threatens not only the visitor experience at Grand Canyon National Park, but the water supply for twenty-five million people in Nevada, southern California, and Arizona, as well as seeps and springs in the park. Worse yet is the fact that much of the uranium will be shipped to Korea.

Cyndy Cole  and the Arizona Daily Sun have the complete story.

Job opening: Executive Director for Grand Staircase Escalante Partners

Grand Staircase Escalante Partners, a membership-driven, 501c-3 org., has a full-time opening in Kanab, Utah for a dynamic and outgoing Executive Director responsible for strategic as well as daily operations.

The ideal candidate represents GSEP in public, maintains good working relationships with stakeholders, possesses experience working with volunteer boards, demonstrates fundraising skills, develops and implements strategic plan goals.

For job description and other information visit their web site at www.gsenm.org. (about partners, about us) To apply,  submit your resume to Steve Roberts at steve@escalanteoutfitters.com

CoalSwarm releases first book on battle against coal

CoalSwarm releases “CLIMATE HOPE: On the Front Lines of the Fight Against Coal”

“A powerful chronicle of the grassroots movements to stop the construction of coal-fired power plants and halt mountaintop removal operations.”

– Jeff Biggers, Huffington Post

 In the spring of 2007, after Energy Department analyst Erik Shuster circulated a document revealing that 151 new coal-fired power plants were slated for construction, climate scientists sounded the alarm. Coal is the most carbon-intensive and plentiful of the fossil fuels, with reserves that dwarf those of oil and gas. If these facilities was built, there would be little chance of preventing greenhouse gases from reaching truly dangerous levels. In response to the crisis, hundreds of grassroots groups mounted an intense mobilization to block the proposals, and by late 2009 at least 110 proposed coal plants had been stopped.

 CoalSwarm’s first book, Climate Hope: On the Front Lines of the Fight Against Coal, by Ted Nace, reveals the organizing methods and political tactics that enabled underdog activists in state after state to take on and defeat Big Coal, one of the most politically dominant industries in America. Here are some of the activists, scientists, and political leaders profiled in Climate Hope:

Climatologists James Hansen and Pushker Kharecha, whose calculations identified a moratorium on new coal plants and a phase-out of existing ones as the key measure capable of staunching climate chaos.

Judy Bonds, Bo Webb, Larry Gibson, and hundreds of other Appalachian activists who took a stand against mountaintop removal mining, risking violence and other forms of intimidation.

Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius, who put her career on the line by repeatedly vetoing the Sunflower coal plant.

Organizer Ted Glick, whose Washington, D.C., hunger strike and Vietnam-era organizing skills inspired and instructed a new generation of activists.

Hannah Morgan, Kate Rooth, and scores of other direct action protesters who blockaded mines and coal plants, despite repeated police use of pepper spray, tasers, and pain compliance holds.

Navajo activist Elouise Brown, whose impromptu blockade in subzero weather turned the tide against billionaire Steve Schwarzmann’s Desert Rock power plant.

Attorney Bruce Nilles, who forged the Sierra Club’s pioneering campaign against coal while most other national environmental groups sat on their hands.

Organizers Dana Kuhnline and Sierra Murdoch, whose Power Past Coal campaign sparked over three hundred grassroots protests.

Climate Hope was released on December 7 (ISBN 978-0615314389, 288 pages, $15 paperback, $10 Kindle and other ebook formats). The book is available from Amazon and other outlets, but non-profit groups are entitled to substantial discounts if they purchase directly from CoalSwarm. We’re eager to get get this book into the hands of as many activists and groups as possible. To receive a complimentary copy, email ted@ClimateHopeBook.com.

San Juan Coal Company put on notice by Sierra Club

 Farmington, NM: The Sierra Club today put the San Juan Coal Company on notice for failing to properly dispose of millions of tons of toxic coal ash and scrubber sludge each year. The San Juan Coal Company has dumped more than 40 million tons of coal combustion waste containing pollutants like arsenic, lead and mercury into massive unlined pits at the San Juan Mine, about 10 miles west of Farmington. As a result of the lack of safety precautions, toxins from the coal ash have leaked into nearby waterways and wells, endangering local residents, livestock, and wildlife.

“For years the San Juan Coal Company and others have dumped toxic waste into this mine without regard to what it was doing to those living downstream,” said R.G. “Squeek” Hunt, a local sheep farmer. Mr. Hunt’s water has been polluted by the dumping, causing illnesses in his family and killing hundreds of his sheep. “Thank goodness for the Sierra Club. Finally somebody is going to make the mine accountable for its action.”

Testing has shown that the levels of arsenic, lead, selenium, uranium and many other toxins exceed safe levels in ground and surface water near the coal ash dump site. These pollutants have been shown to increase the risk of cancer, damage the nervous and reproductive systems, and cause other serious illnesses. Previous unsafe dumping of coal combustion waste near the San Juan coal plant caused significant damage, forcing the owners of the plant to pay over a million dollars in damages for livestock killed and families made sick by drinking contaminated water.

Mr. Hunt is testifying today before the US House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment about the sickness and loss of livelihood that his family endured as a result of this pollution. That and other congressional Committees are paying close attention to US EPA’s attempt to develop regulations for this waste.

“The ‘minefilling’ of coal combustion waste in the San Juan coal mine has made it one of the largest illegal open dumps in the national today,” said Jeff Stant of the Environmental Integrity Project. “These notice letters are putting the San Juan Coal Company and the owners of the San Juan coal plant on notice that dumping huge volumes of coal combustion waste every year into the San Juan Mine without meeting basic safeguards such as liners violates federal laws. It must end, and the San Juan Coal Company must cleanup the pollution it has caused.”

Over the past years coal companies have been increasingly dumping coal combustion waste in open coal mines, like the San Juan mine, as a way to avoid the costs of landfill disposal, liners, covers and monitoring to make sure toxins don’t leak out. As a result, the Environmental Protection Agency has found that water supplies in 24 states have been contaminated from coal combustion waste that was disposed of without proper safeguards.

“Filling mines with toxic coal ash is clearly a growing problem and right now it is happening with very little, if any, oversight. Instead of fighting the EPA’s effort to develop responsible national rules to protect communities from the devastating impacts of coal ash, the Office of Surface Mining should be working with EPA and policing its own house,” said Lyndsay Moseley of the Sierra Club. “The San Juan Coal Company needs to be held accountable. It is past time for them to clean up their act.”

The Sierra Club is represented by attorneys Charlie Tebbutt, Walton Morris and the Western Environmental Law Center.