Recently in Public lands Category

Aldo Leopold was one of the great conservationists of the 20th century. I remember very clearly discovering A Sand County Almanac in the visitors center at Dinosaur National Park during a family vacation when I was in high school. I was already a fan of Thoreau and Muir, but here were essays by a biologist that showed as much reverence for the natural world as Thoreau or Muir and were infused with the understanding of a professional biologist. The Land Ethic spoke to me deeply, as did Thinking Like a Mountain, especially this paragraph:

We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes - something known only to her and to the mountain. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters' paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view.

Tonight the Edwin Way Teale Series on Nature & the Environment opens its 2011-2012 season with a showing of Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for our Time. Curt Meine, who wrote the definitive biography of Aldo Leopold, and Ann and Steve Dunsky, the filmmakers, will join us to answer questions from the audience after the showing. The showing is free to everyone who is interested. Please join us.

Time:  7:00pm
Place: Konover Auditorium, Dodd Center, University of Connecticut

Landscapes: Volume Two from Dustin Farrell on Vimeo.

Gizmodo friend and amazing filmmaker and photographer Vincent Laforet
says that calling this time lapse video of Utah and Arizona
"breathtaking" is an understatement. He adds "Holy cow". Make sure to watch this at full screen and HD. (Source)

"Breathtaking" is an understatement. "Mind boggling" is more like it. The images with the night sky as a backdrop are beyond stunning. Thank you, Dustin Farrell and www.crewwestinc.com.

If the name Donald Molloy doesn't ring a bell, let me remind you. He's the judge for the Federal District Court for Montana who let wolf hunts go forward in Idaho and Montana last September, and who a few weeks later ruled that Yellowstone grizzlies should be returned to the endangered species lists.

Molloy has been busy. On Tuesday, he ruled that the U.S. Forest Service violated the National Environmental Protection Act  when it determined that use of chemical fire retardants had only a minimal environmental impact.

Molloy ordered the Forest Service to comply with the federal laws by Dec. 31, 2011, threatening contempt sanctions if the agency fails to do so.

He also ruled that the critical habtiat designation for lynx wrongly excluded large amounts of habitat.

In particular, the court ruled that tens of thousands of acres in southwest Montana, north and central Idaho and throughout Colorado should have been considered for protection.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Judge orders tougher look at fire retardant drops (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Judge Rejects Forest Service's Plan on Fire Retardant (nytimes.com)
• Judge: FWS plan excluded possible lynx habitat (sfgate.com)
• "Federal judge: US Fish and Wildlife Service's lynx plan excluded possible 'critical habitat'" and related posts (taragana.com)
• Judge: FWS plan excluded possible lynx habitat (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Date:   November 20, 2009
From:   Dominick A. DellaSala, Ph.D., Chief Scientist and President
            National Center for Conservation Science and Policy, Ashland OR

Dear Kent,

Calling all scientists!  President Obama has signaled his interest in upholding the national Roadless Area Conservation Rule of 2001, which would protect 58.5 million acres of our National Forests.  But in the meantime, the fate of these roadless areas and the national rule that protects them is unclear.  I'm headed to Washington D.C. in ten days, where I will be hand-carrying a letter from scientists nationwide that promotes roadless area protection.  Please sign on by Wednesday, Nov. 25.

Until there is clarity on the national rule, all Forest Service proposals for roadbuilding and logging in roadless areas are subject to a case-by-case decision by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.  We were recently disappointed when he approved a timber sale on Alaska's Tongass National Forest with nine miles of roadbuilding in a roadless, old-growth rainforest.  Two more such sales on the Tongass are now being considered.

Scientists like you can help keep vulnerable areas like these off the table.  Roadless areas are critical for wildlife, clean water, and as strongholds for biological diversity and carbon storage.

PLEASE JOIN SCIENTISTS NATIONWIDE BY SIGNING a letter urging President Obama to uphold the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule until new and lasting protections are in place.  It has already been signed by Michael Soule, Reed Noss, James Karr, and Richard Hutto.  See the letter at  http://www.nccsp.org/files/national-roadless-signon-letter.pdf

Thank you for reading further, and my apologies for any cross-postings.  Also, please help by sharing this with your colleagues who may be interested!

DEADLINE:  Please sign on by Wednesday, November 25, 2009.

SIGN-ON PROCESS.  Just fill in the fields at  http://www.nccsp.org/national-sign-on-letter/   If you have questions, contact my assistant Julie Norman (julie@nccsp.org, 541/482-4459 x305).

Signatures will appear as typed signature blocks, in alphabetical order.  The letter signifies that "affiliations are listed for identification purposes only," or you may opt out of including an affiliation.  Your contact information will not be added to any general outreach lists.

BACKGROUND.  On January 12, 2001, President Clinton approved the Roadless Area Conservation Rule (see footnote 1) following three years of analysis and unprecedented public support.  Since then the roadless rule has been upheld by the 9th Circuit Court, despite legal challenges and attempts by the Bush administration to weaken it.  President Obama supported the national rule both as a senator and during his presidential campaign.  With input like yours, we are hopeful his administration will endorse full roadless area protection nationwide.

Please help us send a strong message that the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule remains the most effective strategy for managing the nation's roadless areas, particularly in the face of climate change and state level challenges.

Thank-you for your consideration,

Dominick A. DellaSala, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist & President
_____________________
Footnote 1:  The link to the USFS Roadless Area Conservation website is:

http://fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1K1L?ss=119930&navtype=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&navid=091000000000000&pnavid=null&ttype=roadmain&cid=FSE_003853&position=RELATEDLINKS&pname=Roadless-Home