Defenders of Wildlife

We have a right to be upset. We are no longer a Colony that you can control. Our water and land is becoming dangerously toxic. Plants and Wildlife are dying. Our President needs to take control of the situation.

Seismic activity at Mount Redoubt increased at about 1:05 AKDT Sunday afternoon (March 15, 2009) and approximately 4 hours of continuous volcanic tremor ensued. The onset of the tremor was associated with a small explosion that produced a plume of gas and ash that rose to about 15,000 feet above sea level and deposited a trace amount of ash over the summit-crater floor and down the south flank of the volcano to about 3,000 feet. Here is a view of the summit crater of Redoubt Volcano on March 15, 2009, about three hours after a small ash eruption through the ice cap. Continuing vigorous emission of water vapor, volcanic gas is occurring from the 1990 lava dome (dark area at lower right) and the new vent that is obscured by the plume. Ash and other tephra fall from the event is the dark material blanketing the south side of the crater. In the foreground is the dark face of the 1990 lava dome. Volcanic ash consists of tiny jagged pieces of rock and glass. Ash is hard, abrasive, mildly corrosive, conducts electricity when wet, and does not dissolve in water. Ash is spread over broad areas by wind. Falling ash can turn daylight into complete darkness. Accompanied by rain and lightning, the gritty ash can lead to power outages, prevent communications, and disorient people. AVO's 24/7 Recording on the Status of Alaska's Volcanoes: (907)786-7478 http://www.avo.alaska.edu/volcanoes/volcac...;eruptionid=610

Governor Palin does not agree with world's top scientists that global warming is caused by humans: "A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I'm not one though who would attribute it to being man-made." This fits with her decision to sue the Department of the Interior over their long-delayed decision to list the polar bear as an endangered species. Palin’s view is at odds with the GOP platform for 2008. "The same human activity that has brought freedom and opportunity to billions has also increased the amount of carbon in the atmosphere," the document reads. "Increased atmospheric carbon has a warming effect on the earth." Palin's view is at odds with John McCain's view on Global warming. "I believe that climate change is real. It's not just a greenhouse gas issue. It's a national security issue. We have an obligation to future generations to take action and fix it." Forward this message to a friend and contact McCain's office and tell them "Global Warming is Real."

Two years ago, the Service, the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, James River Association, and the Audubon Society joined with hundreds of volunteers from local businesses, area universities, and families from Chesterfield County and the City of Richmond for an ambitious tree planting project on Presquile National Wildlife Refuge, a 1,300 acre island on the James River. Over 3,200 native trees and shrubs were planted, solely through volunteer labor, to improve habitat for birds and other species, as well as to create wildlife corridors. The trees also helped stabilize the banks along the James River and shade out invasive grasses. To date, over 80% of those trees have survived and are thriving. To celebrate those successful efforts at the Wildlife Refuge, several International Migratory Bird Day events are scheduled during the week of May 12th.

A U.S. court has given U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) until 2:00 pm on Thursday, May 15 for a final decision. The agency missed another legally required deadline in January, allowing almost 30 million acres of prime polar bear habitat in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea to be auctioned for oil and gas exploration. Once a species is listed, FWS is required to designate critical habitat and develop a recovery plan, essentially a guide for management actions with the goal of recovering wildlife populations. Citing loss of polar sea ice due to climate change, FWS proposed listing the species as threatened under the ESA in September 2006. The Administration has since refused to issue a formal decision. WWF is the only non-governmental organization working in every Arctic country to protect polar bears and their habitat. WWF scientists from the U.S., Canada, Denmark, Russia, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands are in Washington this week and are also available for interviews.

The Minerals Management Service will hold its first Federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and gas lease sale in the Chukchi Sea since 1991 on February 6, 2008. The agency today issued the Final Notice of Sale for Chukchi Sea Sale 193, which outlines the sale area, terms and conditions for the sale, and requirements for protecting the environment and natural resources of the area. The Chukchi Sea is considered one of the last frontier areas in North America with potential as a significant source for oil and gas. MMS estimates that the Chukchi Sea area could contain 15 billion barrels of oil (mean estimate of conventionally recoverable resources), although exploration is needed to assess what may be commercially available. The Final Notice also includes proposed royalty suspensions on production subject to price thresholds. The Chukchi Sea Sale 193 area contains about 29.7 million acres offshore Alaska from north of Point Barrow to northwest of Cape Lisburne. The sale area extends from about 25 or 50 to 200 miles offshore. Two sales have been held in the Chukchi Sea Planning Area previously. Sale 109 was held in 1988 with 351 leases issued, and Sale 126 in 1991 with 28 leases issued. All of those leases have expired. The Bush Administration made sure that the announcement would come a few days before the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is due to decide if the polar bear should be listed under the Endangered Species Act due to severe habitat loss from melting sea ice in Alaska's Arctic Ocean caused by global warming. If the polar bear is listed, FWS is required to designate critical habitat for the bear, which may include the same waters contained in Lease Sale 193. Lease Sale 193 is scheduled to be held on February 6, 2008, at the Wilda Marston Theatre, Z. J. Loussac Public Library 3600 Denali Street Anchorage, Alaska Public reading will begin at 9 a.m. All times referenced in this document are local Anchorage, Alaska, times, unless otherwise specified. Bidders will be required to submit sealed bids to MMS at the Alaska OCS Region Office 3801 Centerpoint Drive Suite 500 Anchorage, Alaska 99503, by 10 a.m. on the day before the sale, Tuesday, February 5, 2008. If bids are mailed, the envelope containing all of the sealed bids must be marked as follows: Attention: Mr. Fred King, Contains Sealed Bids for Sale 193. Public Comments: Interested parties and the general public may submit in writing any comments concerning the land being conveyed by direct sale, including notification of any encumbrances or other claims relating to the identified land, to Field Manager, BLM Worland Field Office, at the above address. Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment—including your personal identifying information—may be made public at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. Minimum Bonus Bid Amounts: $25.00 per hectare, or a fraction thereof, for all blocks. Refer to the Final Notice of Sale, Chukchi Sea Sale 193 map, and the Summary Table of Minimum Bids, Minimum Royalty Rates, and Rental Rates shown below. Each lessee must pay royalty on production that might otherwise receive royalty relief (in 30 CFR 260) for any calendar year during which the actual New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) annual price for the light sweet crude oil or natural gas exceeds the threshold price ($39 per barrel of oil or $6.50 per million British thermal units (Btu) of gas, adjusted for inflation) in that year. Such production will be deducted from the remaining RSV. For each block bid upon, a bidder must submit a separate signed bid in a sealed envelope labeled ‘‘Sealed Bid for Oil and Gas Lease Sale 193, not to be opened until 9 a.m., Wednesday, February 6, 2008.’’ The total amount of the bid must be in whole dollars; any cent amount above the whole dollar will be ignored by MMS. Details of the information required on the bid(s) and the bid envelope(s) are specified in the document ‘‘Bid Form and Envelope’’ contained in the FNOS 193 package.

Here are the facts: There is not one documented case of a healthy, wild wolf killing a human in the United States. In fact, you are more likely to be killed by a meteorite than a wild wolf. Wolves enjoy broad public support in the Southwest. A recent poll from Northern Arizona University found that 4 out of 5 Arizonans support letting wolves roam over a wider area of the Southwest -- 86% said wolves bring a natural balance to the Southwest landscape. Wild wolves are a part of a balanced ecosystem. They provide natural culling of old, young, sick and weak prey animals like elk and dear. Wolves also move elk and deer, preventing overgrazing and destruction of habitat -- and creating healthy habitat for fish and songbirds. Wolves could be a huge economic benefit to local communities. A study in of the Yellowstone region has found that wild wolves bring in millions of dollars to the local economy. We’re just beginning to see the potential in the Southwest: People are already paying guides and outfitters to go out into the Gila National Forest to try and catch a glimpse of wild wolves. There are only about 50 wolves in the wild in Arizona and New Mexico. And they account for less than one percent of cattle loss in these states (less than 0.21% in Arizona and less than 0.65% in New Mexico). Disease, weather and other wildlife account for more livestock loss than wolves, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Defenders pays compensation to ranchers for confirmed wolf-related livestock losses. Wolves haven’t had a detectable effect on big game populations in the Southwest. The five year review of the Mexican wolf reintroduction project found that “to date, no detectable changes have occurred to big game populations as a result of wolf reintroduction. No changes in the number of permits issued for big game hunts have been made as a result of wolf presence, either.”

High Country News reported in an article, Last Chance for the Lobo, that a ranch hand working on the Adobe-Slash Ranch in New Mexico abandoned a pregnant cow that was about to give birth in an area wolves were known to inhabit, in order to lure wolves into attacking livestock which would provide an excuse for removing the wolves. According to the article, the ranch hand knew where the wolves were by using radio-tracking data provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), which is meant to help ranchers avoid livestock losses. As the article reports, this baiting incident resulted in the lethal removal of the Durango pack’s alpha female. Below is Defenders of Wildlife’s reaction to this news and a brief background on the efforts to restore the Mexican wolf to the Southwest. “If the accusations detailed in Last Chance for the Lobo are true, it is deeply disturbing that someone would use the very tools offered to help them avoid conflict with wolves as a means to derail the recovery of the Mexican wolf. Defenders of Wildlife has worked hard to help ranchers coexist with wolves through compensation, cooperation and trust. It appears that ranch hand Mike Miller abused that trust and deliberately sacrificed livestock under his care to force the removal of endangered wolves. “If the Mexican wolf is to remain a vital part of the Western landscape, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must stop unethical individuals from abusing federal recovery programs and baiting the Mexican wolf into extinction. It’s time for the service to step up and recommit to their mission to recover endangered and threatened species. A good first step would be to re-double their efforts to monitor and manage this program. “Right now, one Mexican gray wolf, or lobo, is killed or removed from the wild for every 1.1 confirmed livestock depredations in the Southwest. At this rate, the lobo could once again become extinct in the wild in a few short years.” BACKGROUND: The Mexican gray wolf once roamed throughout the Southwest, but by the early 1970s, the lobo had been almost completely exterminated. In 1976, the lobo was listed as an endangered species, and shortly thereafter the few remaining wolves were brought into a captive-breeding program involving FWS and more than 40 North American zoos. In 1998, the service reintroduced three family groups of wolves back into the Apache National Forest in eastern Arizona. FWS has released almost 100 Mexican wolves since 1998. Unfortunately, a limited recovery area, heavy-handed management by the service, illegal poaching, and opponents who take advantage of the flexibility of the program have left us with only about 60 wolves in the wild today, and far too few breeding pairs to sustain the population

The loss of deep-sea species poses a severe threat to the future of the oceans, suggests a new report publishing early online on December 27th and in the January 8th issue of Current Biology, a publication of Cell Press. In a global-scale study, the researchers found some of the first evidence that the health of the deep sea, as measured by the rate of critical ecosystem processes, increases exponentially with the diversity of species living there. An extensive climate anomaly, which occurred in the Eastern Mediterranean, caused a significant deep-sea biodiversity change. These results indicate that temperature shifts of 0.05-0.1 °C in the deep sea are sufficient to induce significant changes in species richness and functional diversity. Deep-sea fauna are highly vulnerable to environmental alteration, and that very minor temperature shifts in deep-water masses can rapidly and significantly alter both structural and functional deep-sea biodiversity. .

John Dingell is selling out to the interests of Big Oil. This Democrat Congressman is working hard to lower the Democratic bill that requires auto manufacturers to fuel economy standards to 35 miles per gallon. Dingell thinks 30 miles per gallon is much more reasonable. If that is not bad enough, Congressman Dingbat is trying to get our federal government to thwart California's strict automobile-emissions standards. This just shows everyone that Democratic Party needs to get their act together and start thinking more green.

A British submarine just back from a cruise under the North Pole measured the ice. "They said there is now evidence that the polar ice cap could disappear in as little as 13 years if global warming continues at its current pace." Now remember, the area of the ice cap is shrinking at an accelerated rate, 27,000 sq. miles a year and and it's on the rise. That means that there is way less than 50% of the ice that was there in 1960. At some point all of this melt water is expected to shut down the thermalhaline ocean circulation, and you know what happens then.? Maybe you don't want to know. References: Ice cap getting thinner, 4/10/07 http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp Arctic Region As Global Warming Barometer, 1/25/07 http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Arctic_R...ometer_999.html

Awaken from your slumber fellow Americans! A gas cloud in New York and dozens of dead birds in Austin, Texas and Australia happened. while there may be no conection at all, we must think and reason that it is possible intentional human acts may have not worked as intended. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200701/s1820773.htm http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/sha...d_congress.html http://www.villagevoice.com/blogs/powerpla..._that_smell.php

Many people have expressed a desire to donate to Wildlife Warriors Worldwide in memory of Steve. All donations will be greatly appreciated and applied directly to saving animals in the wild. Steve’s legacy will live on in the continuation of his life’s work. http://www.wildlifewarriors.org.au/make_a_donation/

Steve Irwin, the environmentalist and star of The Crocodile Hunter, died on Monday after an accident with a stingray near Cairns, Queensland in Australia, according to local Australian media. He was 44. Irwin was filming an underwater documentary for his daughter's television show, by Port Douglas, Queensland around 11 a.m. Eastern Australian Time (0100 UTC) when he was struck by a stingray barb in the chest. While the stingray barb had penetrated the left side of his chest, the exact cause of death is still offically unknown. Steve Edmondson, a local diving operator, listed cardiac arrest from the injury as a possibility. John Stainton, producer of Steve Irwin's Film Company, disclosed the information. "Steve decided to shoot a couple of segments for a new TV show that he's doing with his daughter Bindi and, with the cameramen, went out on to the reef at Batt Reef to do a little segment on stingrays. He came over the top of the stingray... and the stingray's barb went up and went into his chest and put a hole into his heart." Ross Coleman of the University of Sydney Institute of Marine Science said it was rare for someone to die from contact with a stingray barb, and that he does not remember hearing of any similar incidents. He says that stingrays are "dangerous if provoked," and "as a recreational diving instructor you hear of people getting injured by standing on them ... but they rarely die." The Queensland Ambulance Service said a call was received about 11 a.m. local time on Monday and an emergency services helicopter was flown to a boat on Batt Reef. Irwin was dead before medical attention arrived, and was pronounced dead at the scene. Irwin's body is being flown to a morgue in Cairns where he will remain until he is formally identified. He is survived by his wife Terri, who was believed to be exploring Cradle Mountain in Tasmania, as well as his children Bindi Sue, age 8, and Bob, age 2. They have been notified of Irwin's death. Reactions Steve Irwin's death was considered to be very unexpected; Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he was "quite shocked and distressed at Steve Irwin's sudden, untimely and freakish death." "It's a huge loss to Australia. He was a wonderful character. He was a passionate environmentalist. He brought joy and entertainment and excitement to millions of people," continued Howard. Similarly, Mark O'Shea, a British zoologist, said that Irwin's death will "leave an immense hole," while Jeff Wilks of the University of Queensland called Irwin "a great ambassador." John Stainton, Steve Irwin's manager, claimed he always feared that Irwin would lose his life while working in nature. He also stated that he's gotten into "close shaves" with Irwin, but regardless always feared that this day would come. "You think about all the documentaries we've made and all the dangerous situations that we have been in, you always think 'Is this it, is this a day that maybe is his demise?'," asked Sainton, "We've been in some pretty close shaves. [but] nothing would ever scare Steve or would worry him. He didn't have a fear of death at all." John said on Croc One today “The world has lost a great wildlife icon, a passionate conservationist and one of the proudest dads on the planet. He died doing what he loves best and left this world in a happy and peaceful state of mind. Steve would have said, ‘Crocs Rule!’”

This weekend’s accident is just one in a long history of substantial spills seen on Alaska’s fragile North Slope since development began there. In fact, despite industry hype about the safety of development and new technology, the Prudhoe Bay oil fields and Trans-Alaska Pipeline have caused an average of 504 spills annually on the North Slope since 1996, according to the Alaska’s own Department of Environmental Conservation. Past spills have included a 300,000 crude oil spill from the Trans-Alaska pipeline that was detected as far as 166 miles away; a 110,000 gallon crude oil spill caused by a bulldozer which created a geyser that spewed oil over 20 acres of tundra wetlands; the infamous 285,000 gallons of crude oil that spilled into the boreal forest after a local hunter shot the pipeline with a high powered rifle; and the disastrous 675,000 gallons that were leaked after a saboteur exploded a two inch hole in the pipeline just a few miles north of Fairbanks.