Category Archives: Human Impact

Forest Service stalls on Wolf Creek land trade order

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The U.S. Forest Service continues to delay the release of records related to a controversial land trade in southwestern Colorado.

Last week, a federal court granted the agency’s request for a 30-day extension to turn over letters, memos and other documents from a long-running review of the Wolf Creek land trade — a swap that would enable a massive resort development in the middle of an important wildlife area.

In September, U.S. District Court Judge Wiley Daniel ruled that the Forest Service violated the Freedom of Information Act and ordered the agency to release the documents on the controversial land trade by Oct. 30. Conservation groups critical of the trade say the paper trail may show that the decision-making process was tainted by political influence.The land trade was approved earlier this year by Rio Grande Forest Supervisor Dan Dallas. It would give the developer, Leavell-McCombs Joint Venture, a way to access a parcel of private land that’s nearly surrounded by public national forest lands by swapping 205 federal acres for 177 acres of private land. If it stands, the trade would enable construction of a resort village for up to 8,000 people.  More at:   summitcountyvoice.com

GR:  From past experience, it is reasonable to suspect the U. S. Forest Service of improper conduct.  Now let’s see what the documents show.

Summit County Citizens Voice

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Commercially managed honeybee colonies may be speeding the spread of disease to wild bee populations, according to a new study by a University of California, Riverside entomologist.

“Even in cases when the managed bees do not have a disease, they still stress local wild bees, making them more susceptible to disease,” said Peter Graystock, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Entomology and the lead author of a paper published online last week in the International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife. Continue reading → summitcountyvoice.com

GR:  The human destruction of nature comes in many forms. With so many humans on the planet, everything we do is multiplied to the level of catastrophe.

Study documents high rate of reproductive failure in dolphins hit by Deepwater Horizon oil spill

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There’s already a wealth of research showing that the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico was very bad for coastal dolphins. One study, for example, showed dolphins in Barataria Bay exposed to BP’s oil suffered lung disease and hormone deficiencies.

In a report released this week, a team of researchers led by National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration scientists is reporting a high rate of reproductive failure in dolphins exposed to the 2010 spill. The biologists monitored bottlenose dolphins in heavily-oiled Barataria Bay for five years following the spill.  More at:  summitcountyvoice.com

GR:  Apparently, the clean-up was incomplete.  Neither the abusers (BP in this case) or the politicians really care about the impact of extractive industries on nature.  As this report shows, BP was allowed to do a partial job.  Then the company continued on drilling, pumping, and polluting as usual.

A Leading Cause Of Climate Change That No One Is Talking About

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“Raising animals for food consumption uses 30% of the world’s water, 45% of the world’s land, and is responsible for 91% of the destruction of the rain forest. Among these shocking figures, animal agriculture is also the leading cause of the oceans dead zones, the leading cause of habitat destruction and the leading cause of species extinction.”  More: www.collective-evolution.com

GR:  Worth repeating.

Protected and intact forests lost at an alarming rate around the world

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“In Australia and Oceania, as well as North America, the loss in protected forests exceeded 5%. Worryingly, in parts of Africa, Central Asia, and Europe, the relative forest loss was higher inside protected areas than outside. However, in several countries of South America and Southeast Asia, protection was found to substantially prevent forest loss.”  phys.org

GR:  Despite occasional positive statements about the slowing rate of deforestation, forest loss continues.  Now that have destroyed more than half of Earth’s wild animals, shouldn’t we stop destroying habitat lest we end up with a silent planet?  Why can’t we stop?  What’s the problem?  Answer:  Those 7 billion hungry mouths of ours aren’t interested in anything beyond today.  Solution:  Yep, you guessed it; the unavoidable conclusion is that it’s time to get to work on a fleet of Ark B’s.

How does ecotourism affect ecosystems?

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“Ecotourism has been hailed as a sustainable economic driver and a force for environmental conservation, but a new report says we also need to account for the possible adverse effects of visitation to relatively wild spaces.

“In a new report published in Trends in Ecology & Evolution, researchers said all of those interactions between wild animals and friendly ecotourists eager to snap their pictures may inadvertently put some animals at greater risk of being eaten.

“It’s clear that the ecotourism business is booming.”  summitcountyvoice.com

GR:  Leopold (1949) wrote about some of the harmful effects of ecotourism under the heading “recreation.”  Few people have heard of Leopold, or have enough respect for animals and nature to care.

See on Scoop.it – GarryRogers NatCon News

At site of world’s worst nuclear disaster, the animals have returned

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“In 1986, after a fire and explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant released radioactive particles into the air, thousands of people left the area, never to return. Now, researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on October 5 have found that the Chernobyl site looks less like a disaster zone and more like a nature preserve, teeming with elk, roe deer, red deer, wild boar, and wolves.

“The findings are a reminder of the resilience of wildlife. They may also hold important lessons for understanding the potential long-term impact of the more recent Fukushima disaster in Japan.

“It’s very likely that wildlife numbers at Chernobyl are much higher than they were before the accident,” says Jim Smith of the University of Portsmouth in the UK. “This doesn’t mean radiation is good for wildlife, just that the effects of human habitation, including hunting, farming, and forestry, are a lot worse.”  phys.org

GR:  Other researchers have also reported that wildlife numbers are increasing around Chernobyl despite the prevalence of high radiation levels.  Radiation sickness is less harmful than human presence.

Where We’re Headed

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Images worth thousands of words!

Exposing the Big Game's avatarExposing the Big Game

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Why the Pope is wrong about climate. #climatechange #nature

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Pope Francis is now the world’s most influential climate activist.  www.politico.com

GR:  It really doesn’t make sense to write that reasonable statements are “wrong” simply because we’ve heard the arguments before.  Also, it is inaccurate to write that statements are “wrong” because they depart from the normal arguments of the day. Is this reporter just using the headline and argument to get readers?  Nah…, the media is not that irresponsible.