The Conservation Report

BATS: Deadly Bat Disease Linked to Cold-Loving Fungus: Scientists have pinpointed the fungus linked to white-nose syndrome, the mysterious ailment that has wiped out large populations of bats in the northeastern United States.

BEES: Beekeepers protest outside Downing Street: Britain will suffer “agricultural disaster” unless more money is put into discovering what it killing the nation’s bees, the Government has been warned., Bush officials plan to dial back environmental protections, International Pollinator Conference Highlights Importance of Bees: U.S. continues efforts to protect declining pollinator populations , Whither The Honey Bee?, What’s Killing the Honeybees?, Whither The Honey Bee?, Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis

CLIMATE CHANGE: Dried Mushrooms Slow Climate Warming In Northern Forests: The fight against climate warming has an unexpected ally in mushrooms growing in dry spruce forests covering Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia and other northern regions, a new UC Irvine study finds.

DEFORESTATION: Unknown Deforestation Exposed

DEREGULATION: Bush administration gives 10 days for species comments, So Little Time, So Much Damage , Bush team rushes environment policy changes, Bush’s parting moves on the environment, Bush officials plan to dial back environmental protections, To Gut Species Protection, Interior Calls “All Hands on Deck”

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Australia plans electric vehicle network

ENDANGERED SPECIES: Rare, Prehistoric-Age Reptile Found in N.Z.: A rare reptile with lineage dating back to the dinosaur age has been found nesting on the New Zealand mainland for the first time in about 200 years, officials said Friday.

EXTINCTION: Asking ‘Why Do Species Go Extinct?’

FISHERIES: There’s no need for more flawed fisheries data: The National Saltwater Angler Registry that is being touted by some as a vital saltwater management tool cannot be expected to deliver any more accurate information than the present data-gathering mechanism.

HYDROELECTRICITY: 99 Year Old Hydroelectric Plant Coming Back Online

HUMAN-WILDLIFE CONFLICT: Minnesota farmers: Wolf ruling threatens livestock

LED LIGHTS: New LED Bulbs Look Weirder, Save More Energy

NUCLEARIZATION OF ENERGY SOURCES: Nukenomics No Longer Add Up - Expert

POLITICS: Hackers and Spending Sprees: Highlights from NEWSWEEK’s special election project

SALMON: Hearings slated on protecting salmon: BANGOR - Two public hearings are scheduled this week on a proposal to designate Atlantic salmon in the Penobscot, Kennebec, and Androscoggin rivers as an endangered species.

SCIENCE: ‘Junk’ DNA Proves Functional; Helps Explain Human Differences From Other Species: In a paper published in Genome Research on Nov. 4, scientists at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) report that what was previously believed to be “junk” DNA is one of the important ingredients distinguishing humans from other species.

SOLAR ENERGY: Solar Cells Set New Performance Mark

T. BOONE PICKENS: Pickens Plan Reality Check: Energy Freedom or Farce?

WAL-MART: WAL-MART SELLING LEAD PAINT…TO PUT ON YOUR KID’S FACE!

WHALING: Japan Accuses Animal Planet of EcoTerrorism Prior to “Whale Wars” Premiere

WILDLIFE: Hawk Kills Owl At Montrose Beach: Bird Watchers At Fault?

“Environmental News Picks” are made possible with help from Kevin.

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Photo source for attribution. The author or licensor of this image does not endorse my work or me and their image is protected under an attribution license.

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AGRICULTURE: SCIENTIST AT WORK | NORMAN T. UPHOFF: Food Revolution That Starts With Rice

ANIMAL WELFARE: Boy fed zoo reptiles to crocodile: A seven-year-old boy has been filmed going on the rampage at a popular zoo in Australia, killing rare reptiles and feeding live ones to a crocodile

ARCTIC MELTING: Arctic Ice in “Death Spiral,” Is Near Record Low

AUTO INDUSTRY: No “Revolting” the Volt: Chevy Battery Does Not Recharge While Driving

BUSHMEAT: Bush-Meat Ban Would Devastate Africa’s Animals, Poor?

CARBON: Heat Hinders Ground’s Ability to Absorb CO2

E-WASTE: 7 Hurdles to Electronics Recycling

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: 19 Electric Car Players Pitch San Francisco, 30 electric cars companies ready to take over the road, China Planning Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

ENERGY: Researchers Developing the “Internet for Energy”, New Energy Project Will Be Even Larger than the Pickens Plan: Move over, T. Boone Pickens. You’re about to be overshadowed by Babcock and Brown

ENDANGERED SPECIES: Croc Hunter’s ‘Bum-Breathing’ Turtle Faces Extinction

EVOLUTION: Scientists Discover Fish in Act of Evolution in Africa’s Greatest Lake, From the Onion: Dolphins Evolve Opposable Thumbs ‘Oh, Shit,’ Says Humanity

FUEL CELLS: First Fuel Cell-Powered Plane Presented in Germany

GOOGLE: Google search finds seafaring solution

GREEN CONSTRUCTION: 15 Inspiring Glimpses into the Future of Green Housing, The First LEED Platinum Skyscraper Nearly Completed, Lost middle-class tribe’s ’secret’ eco-village in Wales spotted in aerial photograph taken by plane, Paint it white: Cool roofs save cash and carbon, New experimental homes will heat themselves

HIV/AIDS: Colonial clue to the rise of HIV: The arrival of colonial cities in sub-Saharan Africa at the dawn of the 20th Century may have sparked the spread of HIV

HYBRID TECHNOLOGY: Honda Takes on the Hybrid Motorcycle, Mercedes-Benz S400 BlueHYBRID unveiled

HYDROGEN FUEL: Scientists Reach Hydrogen Storage Milestone

INVASIVE SPECIES: State wildlife commission seeks tougher rules for owning pet snakes, Stop slithering intruders: Asian swamp eels are an invasive foreign species that is dangerously prolific and adaptive, threatening fish and other native creatures

NATURAL GAS-POWERED VEHICLES: Pickens Overlooks Existing Natural Gas Cars in Energy Plan: Reality Check

NEW SPECIES: New Iguana Species Revealed

OFFSHORE WIND POWER: Huge Offshore Wind Farm Wins Approval, Offshore Wind To Supply 15% of Rhode Island Electricity

PHEV: Plug-In Hybrids Aren’t Coming — They’re Here, Houses passes bill with $5k Volt tax-credit, mandatory alternative fuel pumps

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: California’s 220 MPH High-Speed Train Will Be Emissions-Free

RECOMMENDED IMAGE(S): Earth From Above comes to NYC, Yup, still a pig, Monk Seal

RECOMMENDED MAP: USA National Gas Temperature Map

RECOMMENDED YOUTUBE: SOUTH CENTRAL FARM - PART 1, The End of Suburbia - 52 minute documentary on oil, McCain’s YouTube Problem Just Became a Nightmare, Sarah Palin Gibberish

REDISCOVERED SPECIES: Rare Plant Thought Extinct Re-discovered in Upstate New York

SCIENCE: Sciencedebate2008: Presidential answers to the top 14 science questions facing America, Japanese Scientists Plan to Build Space Elevator

WASTE-TO-ENERGY: Indiana will get $227 million waste to fuel plant

WATER AVAILABILITY: When Will Los Angeles Run Out of Water? Sooner Than You Think, Cactus Goo Makes Water Safe: The slimy ooze inside prickly pear cactuses that helps the plants store water in the desert can also be used for scouring arsenic, bacteria and cloudiness out of rural drinking water, according to research at the University of South Florida in Tampa

WATER CONSERVATION: Harvesting Rainwater by Not Letting It Go to Waste

WTF?: Cheney: Wildlife Conservation Has Been A ‘High Priority’ Of Bush Administration

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK: Yellowstone seeks to balance nature, cell phones, Judge refuses to let snowmobiles roam Yellowstone

ZOONOTIC DISEASES: Hamsters, Exotic Pets May Put Young Children At Risk, Doctors Say

I’ve heard of marine mammals and sea turtles interacting or becoming entangled with fishing gear or ingesting plastic trash such as helium balloons, but I never realized that chicken wire, Christmas lights, hammocks, soccer goals, and other anthropogenic materials can be so problematic for moose (Alces alces). More images showing moose entanglements can be found here.

In the ocean, entanglement or interaction with anthropogenic materials or marine debris is a serious problem for marine mammals and sea turtles, because interaction or entanglement with these materials can prevent them from reaching the surface to breathe air. Entanglement can also result in tissue damage and starvation. Ingesting plastic can result in impaction within the gut, thus starvation. So, if you can’t recycle your trash, make sure it reaches the landfill by placing it in the garbage.

Hat tip to Kevin.

Residents and parents of the Miami Neighborhood, Coconut Grove are being overwhelmed by peacocks. Not rats or cockroaches but peacocks. Personally, I’ve kept peacocks and they are charming creatures, but some residents of Coconut Grove don’t think so. Besides complaints of noise pollution residents of Coconut Grove are complaining about peacock droppings staining their expensive sport utility vehicles, kids stepping in peacock droppings, and the peacocks mating in public are prompting kids to ask questions that overwhelm parents. Authorities are afraid that some residents of Coconut Grove will resort to “animal vigilantism.” However, the peacocks are considered protected, because they roam in an official bird sanctuary. From the NYTimes.com:

Because this city has designated itself a bird sanctuary, peacocks and peahens cannot be legally trapped or killed. And so far, officials are siding with the animals.

.       .       .

[Guano] frequently ended up on the shoes of their two children, ages 6 and 8. The children like the birds, she added, but they wonder, during mating season, what they are doing.

“We get a lot of questions like, ‘Why is that one on top of the other one?’ ” Mrs. Goggins said.

.       .       .

Before the peacocks arrived as the pets of a neighbor and started mating from January to April, Mr. Conner said, he used to sleep with his windows open. He listened to the crickets, frogs and owls, shutting his book when he heard the local raccoon climb up his oak tree.

“But you know what, I don’t do that anymore,” he said. “I sleep with my windows locked tight shut, in the nicest part of the year, simply because the peacocks on my roof will wake you up out of a dead sleep. And I’m a strong sleeper.”

He added, “It’s degraded my quality of life.”

Sarah Palin promotes and supports the aerial hunting of wolves. However, having a bounty on animal parts is archaic, cruel, and completely wrong. Such policies highlight misconceptions of predators, and how they should be managed. The justification for Palin’s so called predator control policy is that wolves take too many elk and reindeer.

Blaming predators and not humans for an out of whack nature is excessively anthropocentric and arrogant. Furthermore, blaming predators is turning a blind eye to the facts, and such policies display backwardness and ignorance.

Predators such as wolves help keep populations of caribou or reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) at equilibrium. Furthermore, there are several factors that can affect prey populations: climate change, disease, food availability, pipelines, poaching, and weather. Certainly, anthropogenic influence results in an unbalanced nature, which can result in too many or too few prey species, and predators are often blamed when there are too few prey to hunt. Furthermore, folks will complain that there aren’t enough predators when there are too many prey species. The equilibrium, which is easily disrupted by human influence, is described by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service – Alaska:

Wolf populations in caribou winter ranges can increase in response to higher levels of other prey such as moose. When caribou return to the winter range they are preyed on more heavily by the increased number of wolves. On the other hand, when arctic foxes reach a high in their population cycle, they sometimes spread rabies to neighboring wolves. This results in reduced wolf predation on caribou.

The Idaho Mountain Express discusses the claim that wolves decimate elk herds:

There is no evidence that wolves have decimated elk populations throughout Idaho, according to two scientists who have been studying the predator for several years.

“At this point there is very little evidence that the presence of wolves has caused a decline in elk numbers anywhere, especially in Central Idaho,” said Jim Peek, a retired professor of wildlife biology and a member of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation board of directors.

Peek, who also helped write Idaho’s wolf management plan, said elk populations fluctuate naturally and that the impacts of 1996’s particularly harsh winter, which killed hordes of elk, are still being felt.

“When that happens, people like to blame the predators,” Peek said during a teleconference with regional wildlife experts Thursday.

The Bush Administration’s last minute changes to the ESA are pro-corporation and will impair and upset endangered species protection. Dissents can be found at the IdahoStatesman.com, ID:

Dirk Kempthorne has wanted to rewrite the Endangered Species Act for 15 years.

Now, in his final four months as the Bush administration’s interior secretary, he is pushing changes that could weaken the law.

.       .       .

Kempthorne and the Bush administration are targeting the “consultation” rules that really lend muscle to the law. The section of the law requires federal agencies to consult with wildlife managers to determine whether a road, power plant or any other project or policy will jeopardize “the continued existence of endangered species.”

Kempthorne says he wants to streamline the regulations to ensure that the consultation process isn’t used to address global warming issues. He also wants to help federal agencies avoid “unnecessary” consultations. “We need to focus our efforts where they will do the most good,” Kempthorne says.

But let’s be blunt. The Bush administration carries no credibility when it comes to this rule-making process. This is a White House that once argued - unabashedly but unsuccessfully - that man-made hydroelectric dams are part of the natural environment confronting the Northwest’s migrating salmon. It’s hard to take the administration seriously when it says it wants to merely clarify the process.

and the Billings Gazette, USA:

The administration wants these agencies to be able to determine for themselves whether mines, dams, roadways and other construction projects might do harm

 to threatened plants and animals. If these agencies don’t have concerns, there would be no need for the automatic review of the project by scientists from the National Marine Fisheries Service or Fish and Wildlife Service. These independent reviews, mandated since the act was passed in 1973, would be dramatically reduced

.       .       .

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne defends the changes. He said he fears the act will be increasingly used as a tool to regulate gases blamed for global warming. He raised this concern in May when polar bears were listed as a threatened species because climate change is threatening their Arctic habitat.

We’re troubled by the proposed changes. The timing, coming at the end of this administration’s term, is suspect. The rules would give federal agencies too much discretion in deciding whether a review is warranted. The agencies’ vested interests could likely trump species protection.

and the Kansas City Star:

The Interior Department last week set a 30-day public comment period on an administration proposal that would allow federal agencies approving or funding dams, highways and other projects to decide for themselves — without input from government experts — whether endangered species are likely to be harmed.

That is half the time that was originally scheduled in a draft obtained by The Associated Press. A shorter time frame would give the administration a better chance of imposing the rules before the presidential election.

Group representatives urged Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez in a letter Friday to extend public comment from 30 to 120 days.

An Interior spokeswoman Friday said requests for more time were always considered, but 30 days was not unusual.

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Photo source for attribution here (Endangered species sign), here (Burrowing owl), here (Flycatcher), here (Hand next to fish), here (Manatee warning) and here (Nene geese). The authors or licensors of these images do not endorse my work or me and their images are protected under an attribution license.

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY: $800 Million Prize for Alternative Energy to Power Africa’s Villages

ANIMAL WELFARE: Wheeled Tortoise Gets Around

ANTARCTIC MELTING: “New” Killer Whale Types at Risk From Antarctic Warming

ARCTIC MELTING: Shellfish May Invade North Atlantic As Ice Melts, Hungry Musk-Oxen, Caribou Could Help Warming Arctic

AUTO INDUSTRY: Shaq buys smart fortwo, wears as shoe, Saudi Arabia threatens Nissan boycott over Israeli ad

BIG OIL: ExxonMobil owns the media’s convention coverage Oil Expansion Plans In L.A. Rile Residents

BIOPLASTICS: Biodegradable Plastics Are Good for Atmosphere, Too

BIOPRODUCTS: Dandelion Rubber Could Replace Rare Sources, Silk-Based Optical Lenses Green Enough to Eat

BLOGGING: What Makes for a Good Blog?

CARBON SEQUESTERING: Cattails Shown to Be Effective CO2-Eaters

CHINA: MINI Clubman Rickshaws running around Beijing

CLIMATE CHANGE: Climate Change Caused Widespread Tree Death In California Mountain Range, Study Confirms, West Africa’s coastline redrawn by climate change: experts

COMPOSTING: Human Waste Used by 200 Million Farmers, Study Says

ENERGY MIX OF THE FUTURE: Smokestack heat: Fuel of the future?

ENVIRONMENTALISM: ARE WE ALL STILL ENVIRONMENTALISTS?, The Death of Environmentalism?, FREE & GREEN: A NEW APPROACH TO ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, Green but Anti-Government, Pro-Environment, Not Pro-EPA

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW: Appeals Court OKs Oil Firms’ Billion-Dollar Award, Companies to end lead wheel weight use in Calif.

EXTINCTION: Extinction Threatens Half of Primate Types, Study Says

FOOD: Half of All Food Produced Worldwide is Wasted

FUEL ECONOMY: Sweden Requires Fuel-Efficient Driving Lessons, Billions of gallons of gas could be saved by “Smart Intersections”

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY: Oregon Tech To Be Powered Entirely By Geothermal Energy, Google Investing Over $10 Million in Geothermal Energy

GIANT SQUID: Colossal Squid Ripped, Stitched, Hoisted and Moved

GLACIAL MELTING: Huge Greenland Glacier Disintegrating

GLOBAL WARMING: Will Grasslands Overtake U.S. Forests Due to Warming?, Dead Penguins Found Closer to Equator Than Ever Before, Birds Thrown Off by Global Warming, Arctic Tundra Holds Global Warming Time Bomb

GREEN: Colorado Creating US’s First Fossil Fuel-Free Community

GREEN CONSERVATISM: Gingrich Cites Big Oil And Right-Wing Intern To Claim That All Economists Support Drilling, Extreme anti-environment Cheney aide up for top Energy Department post, McCain: ‘I Have Not Missed Any Crucial Vote’ On Energy Legislation

GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS: Kangaroo Meat Could Help Australia Cut Gas Emissions

GREENWASHING: Shell rebuked for ‘greenwash’ over ad for polluting oil project

HUMAN-WILDLIFE CONFLICT: People vs. Monkeys in Singapore

HYBRID TECHNOLOGY: Calif. Requires Hybrid Cars To Make Some Noise

INVASIVE SPECIES: Invasive Lionfish Explode

MARINE CONSERVATION: NASA Tool Helps Track Whale Sharks, Polar Bears, Bush Seeks to Protect 3 Pacific Island Chains

MARINE MAMMALS: “Ugliest Dolphin” Finally Filmed, Mexico Invests to Save Endangered Porpoise

NANOTECHNOLOGY: Nanomaterial Cleans up Broken Fluorescent Bulbs

NEW SPECIES: Newfound Monkey Species “Rarest in Africa,” Expert Says, New, “Chubbier” River Dolphin Species Found in Bolivia

OCEAN DEAD ZONES: Ocean ‘dead zones’ expanding worldwide: study

PLASTIC: Did Big Plastic Pay Off The FDA???

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Amtrak Gets Funding Boost To Meet Record Demand, Sweden Rolling Out 183 MPH High-Speed Green Train

RECLAIMED OR RECYCLED WATER: Recycled Sewage: Coming to a Tap Near You?

RECYCLING: Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle, gets trashy, Old tires make new roads, No Economic Slowdown For Reusable Bags

RENEWABLE RESOURCES: Colorado to Ditch Two Coal Plants, Moving to Solar and Wind, 13 Magnificent Renewable Energy Successes and Failures

SOLAR: IKEA Solar Panels on the Horizon, Miami Gets 600 Solar Bus Shelters, Coal Power Plant Retrofit With Solar, Solar Efficiency Record Broken, Oregon Launching First Solar Highway in the US, Want Solar? Head to Sam’s Club, 2 Large Solar Plants Planned in California, Will Each Be 10 Times Bigger Than Largest Now in Service, Solar-Powered Plane Flies for Nearly 83 Hours, Doubles World Record, Hot Asphalt as Better Energy Collector than Solar Panels?

SUSTAINABILITY: Wal-Mart Pares Costs By Selling Local Produce

WALL-E: Wall*E + Kleenex = Iron*E

WATER POLLUTION: AP: Drugs found in drinking water

WATER WARS: McCain’s Colorado River Gaffe Might Cost Him Key Western States

WETLANDS: Australian Wetlands Threatened

WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING: 14 Tons of Frozen Scaly Anteaters Seized in Indonesia

WIND POWER: New Study Says City-Based Rooftop Wind Power Doesn’t Pay Off, Kites Could Become Major Source Of Wind Power, Wind Turbines Give Bats the “Bends,” Study Finds

ZOOLOGICAL CONSERVATION: Huge Insectarium Opens, Lonesome George a Father?

Area or seasonal restrictions are a fair compromise. However, the issue should have been resolved long before, and the Bush Administration shouldn’t have attempted to circumvent environmental regulations. The Bush Administration’s attempt to cherry pick and ignore certain laws sends a dangerous message to corporations and future politicians that environmental regulation isn’t an important or necessary tool for environmental management. These conservatives believe that the markets are infallible and can solve everything, which isn’t true. Regulation is very much needed. Furthermore, litigation is important in environmental regulation because it promotes accountability, solutions, and remedies. From the San Francisco Chronicle, USA:

Scientists say sonar damages the hearing organs of sea mammals, disrupts their lives and has caused many whale species to strand themselves on shores. The Natural Resources Defense Council, a plaintiff in the suit, said Navy studies have found that low-frequency sonar can disrupt whale behavior more than 300 miles away.

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a dispute over President Bush’s attempt to exempt the Navy from environmental laws restricting its use of mid-frequency sonar in training exercises off Southern California. Mid-frequency sonar travels shorter distances, but environmental groups say it is more harmful to sea creatures than low-frequency pulses.

Under Tuesday’s settlement, the Navy can use low-frequency sonar only in certain areas near the Philippines and Japan, with seasonal restrictions, and in another region 50 miles north and south of Hawaii, far removed from two Hawaiian sanctuaries for marine life.

AL GORE: Al Gore places infant son in rocket to escape dying planet

ARCTIC MELTING: Robot planes getting bird’s eye view of shrinking Greenland Ice Sheet

AUTO INDUSTRY: Going small: A smart experience: With $4-a-gallon gas and waiting lines nine months long, the Smart Fortwo is becoming the car for informed Americans wanting to make a statement, The Cars.com true mileage index

BIG OIL: Big Oil’s biggest quarter ever: $51.5B in all

CARBON TAX: South Africa pushes climate change plan: Ambitious proposal includes carbon tax

CHINA: China fails to keep promises it made to win Olympic game

ECOSYSTEM IMBALANCE: Jellyfish invasion bothering beachgoers: The stinging creatures showing up on sand and in water in unusually high numbers

ECOSYSTEM SERVICES: Incredible fish armor could suit soldiers

ENERGY CONSERVATION: Energy conservation: Starting at home, Maryland residents asked to cut energy use

E-WASTE: Electronic e-waste to be e-cycled: How to greenly recycle your gadgets

FISHERIES: Killer herpes decimates young French oysters

GREENWASHING: Insidious Examples Of Greenwashing

HUMAN-WILDLIFE CONFLICT: Pelican vs. trout: Who wins in Idaho?

HYBRID TECHNOLOGY: Things go better with Coca-Cola hybrids

MARINE MAMMALS: Belugas troubled by tourism?

NEGLECTED DISEASES: Nigeria’s neglected diseases: Making the case to fight schistosomiasis

NEW SPECIES: Aptostichus stephencolberti: Stephen Colbert gets a spider named after him, Dolphin find may make marine history: A DIMINUTIVE dolphin called “Snubby” may make history in marine science if DNA samples taken this week from animals off the northwest Kimberley coast prove they are the world’s newest dolphin species or sub-species, New catfish species found, Crew films rare species of dolphin:
A camera crew has filmed a rare species of dolphin that has only been known to scientists for three years near Broome, Western Australia

OFFSHORE DRILLING: Drilling is up, prices are up, Bush rips Democrats for opposing offshore drilling

SCIENCE: ‘Gravity tractor’ could deflect asteroids

SHARKS: Blue sharks beat the odds, by tasting bad, Shark avoids suffocation by turning off electricity

SOCIAL ISSUES: Attenborough alarmed as children are left flummoxed by test on the natural world

SOLAR: Utah’s solar fired furnace to power California for less than the cost of coal or gas

WIND POWER: World’s largest wind farm planned in Oregon

ANIMAL WELFARE: Wild horses may face death sentence

ANTARCTIC MELTING: At Antarctic Peninsula, Fast Change

BIODIVERSITY: Bat bonanza: 100+ species found in 5 acres of jungle

CARBON: McCain flips flops on flip flop re: CA CO2, The world’s wetlands, threatened by development, dehydration and climate change, could release a planet-warming “carbon bomb” if they are destroyed…

CARPOOLING: It’s time to start thinking in terms of PMPG, people-Miles-per-gallon

CLIMATE CHANGE: Glacier tunnel collapses, Yellowstone geysers may stop erupting, study suggests, Some European grasslands may resist warming, Rare Argentina winter ice break

CORALS: Coral-wrecking starfish curbed by fishing regs, Tainted African dust clouds harm U.S., Caribbean reefs, A third of reef-building corals at risk of extinction

CONSERVATION: McCain turns back on Grand Canyon: GOP hopeful talks like Teddy Roosevelt but doesn’t act like him, Fatal attack on conservationists’ truck in gorilla park

DEVIL FACIAL TUMOUR DISEASE (DFTD): Cancer causing Tasmanian devils to breed younger

ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT: N. Rockies wolves get federal protection restored

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW: Stanford Environmental Law Clinic announces Ninth Circuit upholds case requiring U.S. EPA to regulate invasive species pollution, 9th Circuit Court tells EPA to close loophole for ballast water

EVOLUTION: Bug-eyed flatfish evolution revealed

FISHERIES: Mexican resorts destroying mangroves, dooming fisheries

FUEL ECONOMY: Smart ForTwo MHD stop-start system is claimed to reduce petrol consumption by eight per cent

GIANT SQUID: Giant squid dissected in public

GREEN CONSTRUCTION: 7,000 square foot home has zero carbon footprint

HUMAN-WILDLIFE CONFLICT: Planes, machinery and car traffic are so noisy now in many cities that some birds must tweet louder and alter their songs in an attempt to be heard over the near-deafening urban din, new research has determined…., Badgers, rabbits undermine England’s ancient monuments

HYBRID TECHNOLOGY: Honda’s hybrid-only Prius fighter!, Nissan, GM and Ford agree to build hybrid taxis for New York City

MINING: MSHA: Poor engineering left Crandall mine primed for killer collapse

NATURE: 8 Natural wonders added to UN heritage list

NEW SPECIES: Mystery bug invader stumps museum experts

NUCLEAR POWER: A renegade against Greenpeace: Why he says they’re wrong to view nuclear energy as ‘evil’

NUCLEAR WEAPONS: Pentagon: Over 1000 nuclear weapon parts missing?

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Discounts help bus travel thrive in some cities

SCIENCE: Yellow submarine probes undersea world, New maps to help tap ocean winds, Magnets can deter sharks: research, Northern lights mystery exposed by scientists

SYNGAS: Ottawa building North America’s first gasification facility

WIND POWER: Whales, dolphins inspire wind turbine tech

Tessa Horan was a Peace Corps Volunteer on the South Pacific island of Va’vau in the Kingdom of Tonga. While swimming in Tongan bay, a tiger shark pulled her underwater and severed her leg. As a result of the encounter, she bled to death. Her story will be featured on Discovery Channel’s Shark Week: Day of the Shark as an educational opportunity.

As a former Peace Corps Volunteer, my heart goes out to her family and their efforts to continue Tessa’s spirit of helping others. From the Aspen Times, CO :

On Monday, July 28 [2008], her story will be featured in a prime-time segment entitled “Day of the Shark” as part of “Shark Week” on the Discovery Channel.

The show was produced to reveal “the science behind what triggers sharks to attack at certain times of day, and what rules humans should follow to avoid incident,” according to the Discovery Channel website.

But for Horan’s mother, Kristena Prater, the Discovery Channel taping was another step in the long grieving and healing process.

“You never get over losing a child, but it gives me solace to be able to continue her work with her family and friends,” Prater said. “Even in her death she has accomplished so much and been such an inspiration.”

In the wake of the attack, Horan has become a “universal symbol” for inspired young people like her, Prater said.

And Horan’s two brothers and sister as well as her father, Kevin Horan, other family members and friends have done everything from building the library in Tonga that
Horan dreamed of to creating community gardens around the U.S. and in Tonga.

See more Shark Week on The Conservation Report

Due to a fatal injury sustained by a great white attack in April, lifeguards patrolling San Diego beaches are developing a shark response manual. The aim of the new initiative is to provide uniform policies that address shark encounters. The lack of a policy is due to the rarity of shark attacks.

The April attack was apparently a mistake, because the animal – estimated to be anywhere from 12 to 17 feet in length – attacked once without pursuing further. The shark was probably expecting more suitable marine prey such as a pinniped, and pinnipeds were reported swimming in the area at the time of the fatal encounter. The victim died from a “single giant bite across both legs in the ocean”. The incident was considered a freak accident due to the sheer infrequency of shark attacks. From NBC Sandiego.com, CA:

Lerma said the Solana Beach attack, which took the life of triathlete Dr. David Martin, was an eye-opener, even if it was a freak accident. And it served as a wake-up call to get a uniform policy in place to deal with sharks.

Lifeguards said they have been getting more sightings this summer, but they said usually it turns out to be something else, like a dolphin or a seal. One of the things on which the action plan focuses is what kind of questions to ask.

See more Shark Week on The Conservation Report

IMAGE: Loss of the Lisbon Rhinoceros by Walton Ford.

I have recommended Walton Ford before. He is no doubt my favorite artist amongst a group that I have come to appreciate, which includes Alexis Rockman, Christopher Wood, and Tomás Sánchez.

Some argue that the watercolors of Walton Ford reflect Audubon’s work but Ford’s work is substantially different for several reasons in my opinion. When it comes to drawing nature his work is detailed like Audubon’s, but Ford’s watercolors are more eye catching and muscular. His work is like being next to Nature. Furthermore, his work seems somewhat more threatening to the human conscious, because his work reveals our true relationship with Nature. He achieves this characteristic by infusing his watercolors with historical and political references that are related to the living things he paints. These references do not reflect a positive relationship between humans and nature. Nevertheless, his work is beautiful and evokes emotion, thought and wonderment. Humanity should be proud to have such an individual telling its story since his watercolors should reflect lessons learned.

I do not want much in life but I certainly would not mind having a copy of Walton Ford: Pancha Tantra. However, $1800.00 is out of my range but given the beauty of his watercolors within the book, $1800.00 is a steal for anyone who could afford the cost.

The following YouTube video was filmed at Walton Ford’s Studio in The Berkshires. TASCHEN 2007 (www.taschen.com):

Image Found Here

A vaccine that acts as birth control for elephants is promising to ease the tension between park resources, human expansion and an ever increasing but still very vulnerable African elephant population.

However, I believe family planning initiatives for Homo sapiens should be taken into consideration as appropriate throughout rich or poor areas of the world because there just aren’t enough natural resources to go around today. Both rich and poor nations are squandering what little precious natural resources remain.

Additionally we are failing at policies that truly address the real issues. For example, the policy to invade Iraq does nothing about a region where poverty and water availability no doubt oppresses people. Such oppression throughout these regions condemns deprived and underprivileged individuals toward extremism.

Along with feral dogs, goats and pigs, feral cats have a huge impact on the environment. Cats are extraordinary hunters and survivalists. As a result, I believe that a feral cat colony shouldn’t exist anywhere. I also believe that a trap, neuter and release program is humane and works. The federal government can withhold funds from a city if the city doesn’t comply with federal law. Here we have a conflict of interest between cat lovers and the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The ESA will win and should win because piping plovers or Charadrius melodus are much more important ecologically than Felis domestica. From Newsday, NY:

“I really don’t want to take that chance,” he said. “We have a responsibility to hold up our end of the law. It’s an oath we took when we became councilmen. We can’t just have one species.

“There are a lot of cat lovers here, and I count myself among them,” he added. “I know this is an emotional issue, but this is the responsible course of action. We have to move (the cat colonies.)”…

Becky Robinson is president of Alley Cat Allies, a national cat advocacy group based in Maryland that has entered the fray. She said Cape May’s trap, neuter and release program has succeeded in reducing the city’s population of feral cats from 450 to about 100 over the past decade, and said that program should be given time to continue to work.

IMAGE: Piping plover chick by Richard Kuzminski

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Fishers always claim that there needs to be more research. However, when science lacks research or data they must take a conservative position to prevent damage.

It is fact that the horseshoe crab population has declined from years of overfishing and it is also a fact that Red Knots feed on the eggs before completing their daunting migration to the Arctic. The fishers are right that there could be other factors like environmental degradation or even climate change. But the issue must be handled holistically and not narrowly.

Fishers have taken some steps to mitigate the use of too many horseshoe crabs. The pot and trap fisheries may use horseshoe crabs as bait when targeting certain species. Some fishing areas require that bait bags be used which allow the bait to be used for a longer period of time instead of having the bait sit naked with in the pot. The image above illustrates bait bags and the first two images illustrate what a horseshoe crab looks like without a bag versus in a bag. A bait bag allows the fisher to use the horseshoe crab for a longer period so scavengers and the trapped targeted species do not damage the bait too much. From Newsday, NY:

The red knot, about the size of a dove, flies from the southernmost tip of South America in the spring to the Delaware Bay, where they feast on horseshoe crab eggs laid on the sand. They put on weight before flying on to the Arctic.

DEP officials and environmental groups say overfishing of the crabs means there’s not enough of the fatty eggs for the birds to eat, and since they don’t gain enough weight for their northward journey, they’re dying off.

DEP officials say the birds could go extinct in five years if nothing is done.

The fishermen contend that not enough research has been done on the birds and that other reasons could be to blame for the birds’ decline, such as problems at their traditional wintering grounds in South America.

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The more we develop and the more we consume the more we will makes species endangered. More conflicts with endangered species results in more conflicts with the Endangered Species Act. Natural resources such as water and timber will become more endangered too.

The problem here seems to be that the landowner did not consider endangered species before planning to develop. In addition, more of the public are beginning to accept that green spaces are better than developed concrete spaces.

Do we really need another water park or indoor ski mountain thingy that wastes natural resources? From the Conservation Report essay ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT: To Act or not to act:

Before starting a project landowners should be proactive from the beginning by contacting the appropriate regulatory agencies to investigate any environmental concerns. This gives the landowner more flexibility and options. Another law professor through conversation noted that greatest conflicts occur when people do not contact their regulatory agencies and have already spent a great deal of money, thought and time on the project. He also noted that the greatest number of conflicts occur when non-residents try to develop land because the appreciation and insider knowledge as found with residents does not exist. Planning and including regulatory agencies in development not only produces a win-win situation but it prevents the landowner from being penalized. The 1995 Babbitt, Secretary Of Interior v. Sweet Home Chapter Of Communities For A Great Oregon United States Supreme Court decision determined that habitat modification, which kills endangered species is equivalent to harm as defined by the ESA.

From Newsday.com:

Riverhead’s efforts to develop the 2,900-acre Calverton site have led to repeated clashes with environmental groups and state officials, who say more caution is needed to protect vulnerable species and the underground aquifers beneath the property. Last week the town sued the DEC over Commissioner Alexander “Pete” Grannis’ decision to grant his own agency lead status for an environmental review of the water park being built there.

The DEC documented the owls’ presence - along with that of the threatened northern harrier - at Enterprise Park earlier this week, after several reports from birders last month that groups of three and four owls were foraging near the runways. It is the largest group of short-eared owls to show up on Long Island in several years, said Trish Pelkowski, Pine Barrens site director for the Nature Conservancy on Long Island, who photographed the owls there last week.

Richard Amper, of the Pine Barrens Society, said the site can still be developed. Still, he said, if Riverhead “looked at the property instead of the projects, they might have discovered endangered species [such as the owl] and known better what would or would not be acceptable.”

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IMAGE: High in an old growth tree, a juvenile marbled murrelet waits on its nest. Tom Hamer photo.

Julie MacDonald was the deputy assistant secretary at the United States Department of the Interior but resigned on May 1, 2007 because of her involvement in manipulating science, species protection plans, violating the Endangered Species Act in addition to using her governmental authority to intentionally sabatoge conservation work in the United States. For example, she leaked undisclosed government information to impose the Bush Administration’s agenda upon conservation efforts. She assisted the timber industry’s fight against the marbled murrlet or Brachyramphus marmoratus, an interesting sea bird that nests in old growth forests. For some time it was unknown where these little sea birds of the auk family raised their young until in 1974 a tree climber discovered a chick. Since then along with the Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis, this species decline has been attributed to the decline of old growth forests. Many species rely on old growth forests. For example, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, Campephilus principalis needs or needed old growth forests. Its demise is attributed to the logging of America during colonial and postcolonial times.

It is important to maintain old growth forests because the forests are aged by hundreds of years and therefore contain hundreds of years of unique and fascinating ecological communities and connections. This very old ecological structure is destroyed by a chainsaw in quickly. The forest is forever lost and never to be reclaimed. Reforestation will not recreate the distinctive and irreplaceable landscape. The answer is not logging old growth forests but sound forestry policies since logging our history is not very sensible. From ENS:

Judge John Bates found that the timber industry had failed to petition the Fish and Wildlife Service to delist the murrelet. Failing such a petition, the federal agency had no duty to implement delisting or any other proposal resulting from its regular five year review of the murrelet’s conservation status, the judge ruled.

In 1992, the Fish and Wildlife Service listed the marbled murrelet population in Washington, Oregon, and California as a threatened species due to logging of its old growth habitat.

The timber industry began its courtroom campaign against the murrelet more than seven years ago. The industry was assisted in 2004 by Julie MacDonald, a senior official in the Department of the Interior who resigned last May amid scandal over political interference with biological decisions.

MacDonald had ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to report that murrelets did not deserve protection in the lower 48 states. This finding reversed the opinions of government scientists who had concluded the birds continued to need protection.

Although currently under investigation by the Interior Department’s Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office, the MacDonald decision formed the basis of the timber industry’s lawsuit.

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It is a shame when large carnivores such as wolves endure the most of human perception. It is also a shame when large carnivores are managed like large herbivores such as elk. The social structures between the two species are not alike therefore require different management initiatives. The decline of elk populations are most likely not due to wolves but in my opinion is due to climate change or some other general anthropogenic cause(s). Once again we are mistaken because we take a very narrow interpretation of a complex problem that requires a more holistic and sophisticated approach. In terms of nature preservation it is important to understand that when a human-wildlife conflict exists it is due to human err not nature. From the Billings Gazette:

Environmental groups, though, said the rule could open the door to trimming the wolf population by half, especially in Wyoming and Idaho, where there’s been ongoing public pressure to reduce the wolf populations.

“State agencies are under a lot of pressure from hunters that don’t get their elk to blame it on wolves and then kill wolves,” said Mike Leahy with Defenders of Wildlife in Bozeman.

“I think it could be used to kill hundreds of wolves,” said Louisa Willcox of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Officials at NRDC and Defenders of Wildlife said Thursday that they planned to challenge the new rule in court. Legal challenges are also expected next month when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to announce that it’s removing wolves in the Northern Rockies from the endangered-species list.

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An anthropogenically induced environmental conundrum no doubt. The image shows a federally protected endangered Stellar Sea lion consuming an endangered white sturgeon in the Columbia River. The sea lions are also feasting on precious wild steelhead and salmon. No doubt, humans have caused both species of sea lions and white sturgeon to decline and poor management is probably causing the current dilemma. From Bend Weekly, OR:

Officials said one of the main facets of the problem is that the [Steller] sea lions have targeted egg-bearing sturgeon.

“These fish are essentially the anchor for the entire species on the West Coast of North America,” sturgeon biologist Blaine Parker said.

Wildlife experts say stronger measures need to be taken against the sea lions for the sturgeon to survive.

“I’m not going to dispute the fact that Stellers need protection, also,” Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association Executive Director Liz Hamilton said.

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Will people choose whales or submarines? Will people choose environmental or national security concerns? We cannot choose what part of the environment or environmental concerns we want to protect just because certain plans fit into a better anthropogenically usable model. The environment is too complex and unfortunately, we are still at Nature’s mercy even if we have much influence over it. From the New York Times, United States:

The ruling, issued Thursday by Judge Florence-Marie Cooper of the United States District Court for the Central District of California, orders the Navy to limit its use of medium-range sonar to an area beyond 12 nautical miles from shore. Closer to the shore, marine mammals have exhibited frenzied and disoriented behavior during the emissions of sonar blasts as part of the Navy’s practice missions.

Judge Cooper’s order also outlined safeguards, which include a monitoring session one hour before a military exercise to detect the presence of marine mammals, the use of trained aerial lookouts throughout exercises and a mandatory sonar shutdown when mammals are spotted within 2,200 yards of training maneuvers.

The ruling stems from a long-running legal battle between environmental groups, led by the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Navy, which has argued that mid-frequency sonar is vital to the training of submarine seamen and other crews who now face a new generation of quiet submarines that cannot be detected by traditional passive sonar waves.

A spokesman at the Pentagon said Friday that the Navy was reviewing the judge’s ruling to determine its next move, which could include an appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

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1. RENEWABLE RESOURCES: Swedes to use body heat to warm offices @ Yahoo! News
2. POLITICAL ECOLOGY: Critics Say Oil Interests Delaying Polar Bear Endangered Species Ruling @ DigitalJournal.com
3. ZOONOTIC DISEASES: Man in China got bird flu from contact with infected son: officials @ breitbart.com
4. EVOLUTION: Kids paying for holy war over evolution @ MiamiHerald.com, FL
5. RENEWABLE RESOURCES: Crematorium may use its heat to warm mourners @ Reuters
6. OCEAN DEAD ZONES: 400-Plus Coastal Zones Are Dying @ thedailygreen.com
7. ECO-DRIVING: Driving with the Eco Driving Indicator: Helping You Get Better Fuel Economy @ Toyota Open Road Blog
8. BOTTLED WATER: New Year brings bottled water tax @ chicagotribune.com
9. ECOTAX: Food and beverage retailer alliance plans to sue Chicago over bottled-water tax @ chicagotribune.com
10. HUMAN-WILDLIFE CONFLICT: Wolf hunt possible in Montana
    @ KPAX-TV

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