Bush On The Environment: Top 5 Stupidest Things Said Today

Bush On The Environment: Top 5 Stupidest Things Said Today. By Olivia Zaleski. Huffington Post.
Five stupid (or at least) wrong things about the President’s plan to increase oil leasing on the public lands (sea bed) off shore.

Ninth Circuit orders Bureau of Land Management to evaluate wilderness values on public lands

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 15, 2008
CONTACT:
Brent Fenty 541-330-2638
Jon Marvel 208-788-2290

PORTLAND, ORE. — The Bureau of Land Management must rewrite its land use plan for southeast Oregon due to a landmark decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday. The BLM wrongly refused to evaluate impacts to wilderness values on the public lands in the challenged plan, according to the decision, which overturned a district court decision upholding the plan.

The ruling will have a profound impact on BLM’s management of the public lands it is charged with protecting. The court specifically rejected BLM’s disavowal of “the very idea of wilderness” as one of many resources and values for which the agency must manage. Finding that the law, including BLM’s own guidance documents, unmistakably requires BLM to analyze impacts to a landscape’s wilderness characteristics, the court vacated the plan and ordered BLM prepare a new plan.

Read the whole Press Release

UPDATE: Read a Copy of the Decision

Can Las Vegas water grab of Spring Valley still be defeated?

Perhaps it’s not a done deal. We will soon see.

Forces set to resist bid for rural water. Snake Valley — and its ranches, tribes and park — has chance of defeating Water Authority request. By Phoebe Sweet. Las Vegas Sun.

Wheeler Peak in the distance from a spring in Spring Valley, Nevada. Copyright © Ralph Maughan

Logging industry is misleading us on forest fires and global warming

The following “guest essay” in New West is by Dr. Chad Hanson,  a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of California at Davis.

My view is that the logging industry has always used forest fires to try to stampede people into supporting policies that are bad for the forests, the environment, and most people except the logging company executives.

Logging Industry Misleads on Climate and Forest Fires. By Chad Hanson, Ph.D. New West.

The net effect of most logging is to increase the release of greenhouse gases.

Regrowth after a forest fire results in more update in carbon dioxide than regrowth after logging.

History and Recovery of Yellowstone grizzly bears: a complete story

The latest issue of Yellowstone Science is completely devoted to articles (five) about the management of Yellowstone grizzly bears from the era of garbage dump bears, desperate bears after the dumps were closed, listing as a threatened species, recovery, delisting and current management.

The issue is filled with photos and interesting tables and graphs. For the grizzly enthusiast, this issue is a must. For example it even has a long discussion of the August 2007 “adoption” of 2 grizzly COY (cubs of the year) by another female grizzly.

Part I of the issue.

Part 2 of the issue.