Minerals Management Service to undergo reform?

Salazar claims he will solve problems by dividing the oil leasing/revenue collecting agency-

It’s an obscure agency in the Dept of Interior to some, but not to the oil companies or the federal treasury. It collects more money than any federal agency except the IRS. It has been the seat of a number a scandals in recent years from undercollecting royalities, lax safety and environmental oversight, and giving out oil and gas leases for sex from oil lobbyists.

When Salazar took office he said these days were over.  He hopes splitting the environmental oversight and safety part of the agency from the leasing and royalty collection will help.

In other news, public support for more offshore drilling is collapsing in the polls. So is perception that Obama is doing a good job handling the situation.

Here’s a story from the Washington Post. Minerals Management Service to undergo radical overhaul. By Juliet Eilperin and Ed O’Keefe:

New major book on wolves

I assume this replaces “Wolves: Behavior, Ecology and Conservation”, ed. by Mech and Botiani-

The above is a very important book that I consult often and learned a great deal from. It is time for an update given all the recent research.

The new book is The World of Wolves: New Perspectives on Ecology, Behavior and Management. Edited by Musiani, Botiani, and Paquet

I just preordered it from Amazon.com for only $24. It will be $35 when it comes out later this month.

Update: Amazon has canceled pre-orders on this book. Larry Zuckerman posted in comments that these men have another new book out:  “A New Era for Wolves and Men”
see: http://www.amazon.com/New-Era-Wolves-People-Environment/dp/1552382702. I ordered that one instead.

Moose declines puzzling. Habitat, malnutrition, predators play roles

I think the studies show Jackson Hole moose are slowly starving-

There is a story in today’s Jackson Hole News and Guide. Moose declines puzzling. Habitat, malnutrition, predators play roles. By Cory Hatch, Jackson Hole, WY

I don’t see much evidence of direct population depression from predation, especially wolf predation, here.  Predators do disproportionately take animals that are starving.  Both Joel Berger and later Scott Becker found that by far the largest mortality source of female moose in Jackson Hole was starvation.  The poor condition of female moose is also shown by the reduction in the number of twins produced from 10% to less than 5%.”

As far as much quoted B.J. Hill,  local outfitter,”[who] thinks habitat loss is exaggerated and says “I’ve watched moose literally live off of pine needles,” I say everyone knows that moose eat conifer in the winter in deep snow areas.  First, however, moose need a balanced diet the entire year and second, the conifer are dying.  Article after article after article has appeared about the vast disease and beetle kill of pines and other conifers from the Yukon to New Mexico.

Hill claims to live in the mountains every day. Why then didn’t he notice that beginning in 1988 and a number of years thereafter, most of Teton Wilderness burned? The conifers are gone. I wrote two guides to the Teton Wilderness — one came out in the early 1980s and second in 2000. Many more pine have died of insects since then.  Any damn fool that has spent time there can see that the ecology of the place has been transformed.

Interior Science Has Integrity Issues, Inspector General Says

Politics still reigns supreme in the Interior Department

A new report outlines how very little has changed under Obama and Salazar. Science is being ignored and managers manipulate it to support predetermined political outcomes.

In my experience, I would say that the Interior Department under Obama and Salazar is as bad or worse than under Bush and Kempthorne.  Substantial changes need to be made to protect the environment and imperiled species.

It seems that Obama appointed Salazar simply because a westerner is traditionally appointed due to the fact that the West has most of the public lands.  Well, as we can see with the Gulf oil spill and endangered species, there is much more to it than that. A Secretary of Interior needs to have a greater understanding of science rather than a simple understanding of politics and cattle ranching.