House Bills Remove Protections for Public Lands

By Bob Marshall

FieldandStream.com

Do you think companies making billions drilling on your land should be required to abide by regulations to protect fish, wildlife, and habitat?

Do you think the billions that sportsmen have invested in protecting and managing these lands and the huge industries and millions of jobs that depend on sensible regulations are important?

Well, the answer from many in the House of Representatives to those two questions the week of November 18 was a very loud “No!”

That was the message when House passed two bills—H.R.s 1965 and 2728—turning back reforms on public lands energy development that sportsmen’s groups spent years fighting to get passed.

The votes were largely on party lines, with Republicans leading the charge for the drillers. You can find out how your rep voted on H.R. 2728 here and on H.R. 1965 here.

H.R. 2728 would allow state regulations on fracking to supersede federal regs—on federal lands! In other words, the rules for digging wealth out of property owned by all of us would be determined only by a relative handful of people living in that state—and the companies they work for.

Among the many targets are regulations protecting fish and wildlife habitat by determining how the fracking may be done, what and how much drilling material can be left behind, what kind of shape the public land should be left in when the wells run dry--and how many wells can be drilled at one time.

Notice that none of these regulations say the fracking can’t be done. They only set the terms on how it can be done—something any property owner should be able to do. But the drillers and their friends in the House say you shouldn’t have that right.

Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development knows why companies want the state regs only.

“Where state regulations exist, enforcement is often inconsistent or even nonexistent,” said Ed Arnett, director of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership’s Center for Responsible Energy Development. “For example, 3,691 violations have been documented at well sites in New Mexicosince 2010, but a lack of enforcement authority has resulted in zero fines.

“H.R. 2728 fails to recognize that energy development on federal public lands mandates a different level of public involvement than most states are required to provide.”

Arnett pointed out the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, or FLPMA, requires federal lands to sustain uses other than energy production and specifically to conserve, ecological, environmental and water resources. Meeting these legal requirements, he stated, necessitates that the Interior Department have strong regulations in place.

Of course, that’s just why the friends of oil and gas in the House want those federal rules out of the way.

Giving the energy industry what it wants was also the purpose behind H.R. 1965, which would roll back reforms put in place in 2010 after the Deepwater Horizon disaster polluted the Gulf of Mexicowith hundreds of millions of gallons of crude oil—oil still showing up in Louisiana’s marshes. It would cancel rules that require advanced environmental and economic analysis of energy leases and greater public input in the leasing process. The industry says that takes too much time away for making billions.

Trout Unlimited disagrees.

“Hunters and anglers support responsible production of oil, gas, and renewable energy on public lands,” said Brad Powell, senior policy director of the Sportsmen’s Conservation Project at Trout Unlimited.

Unfortunately, H.R. 1965 would undoubtedly result in more appeals and litigation, harm fish and wildlife, and threaten hunting and angling opportunities on public lands.”

Underscoring the depth of some members’ unflinching loyalty to oil and gas, Environment and Energy publishing (a subscription-based website that reports on environmental and energy policy and markets) reported this: “Before the final vote, the House voted 188-232 to reject a Democratic motion to add tougher requirements that gas drillers disclose the chemicals they use in fracking. Also voted down…amendment to block exports of gas extracted from public lands, which fell 142-276.”

In other words, they don’t want to have to tell you what they’re pumping into your land.

And when these petro-patriots tell you they’re only trying to make the nation energy independent, ask them why they’re selling it overseas.

Sportsmen aren’t asking to stop drilling everywhere. They’re only asking that it be done responsibly and that the property owners—us—be able to set some of the rules.

These bills are now in the Senate for consideration. Go to contactingthecongress.org to find how to get in touch with your senators and let them know your thoughts.

Birds at Your Feeder Provide Clues to Scientists

Birds at Your Feeder Provide Clues to Scientists

House Finches may be found at feeders across much of North America and if you see these little birds, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology would like to know about it. Scientists specifically want to know if the birds you see appear healthy or if they have redness and swelling around the eyes-signs of a bacterial disease (Mycoplasma gallisepticum) that first appeared in 1994 and is now found in House Finch populations from coast to coast.

This special push to track both sick and healthy House Finches is being carried out through the Cornell Lab's Project FeederWatch, an annual winter survey of feeder birds that runs from November through April. New participants are invited to sign up to help at www.FeederWatch.org. Making the correct ID is important, so there's additional help provided in distinguishing among similar species, such as the Purple Finch and Cassin's Finch.

"House finches are providing a unique window into disease dynamics," says Wesley Hochachka, Assistant Director of Bird Populations Studies at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. "We want to understand how this disease is spreading, if cases are more or less severe than they used to be, and how the birds' immune systems are adapting to fight this threat." Though this disease does not affect people, understanding how it's transmitted provides insight into how human diseases are spread.

House Finch eye disease first appeared in the eastern United States and arrived in parts of the West in 2003. There is evidence suggesting that western bacteria could cause more severe disease now than in the past.

"Collecting reports from western states is especially important because the disease is still spreading there," says FeederWatch project leader Emma Greig. "We hope to encourage participation in states such as Utah, Colorado, and Nevada, because the data they provide are extremely valuable."

To learn more about FeederWatch and to sign up, visit www.FeederWatch.org or call the Cornell Lab toll-free at (866) 989-2473. In return for the $15 fee ($12 for Cornell Lab members), participants receive the FeederWatcher Handbook and Instructions with tips on how to attract birds to your feeders, an identification poster of common feeder birds, and a calendar. Participants also receive Winter Bird Highlights, an annual summary of FeederWatch findings, plus the Cornell Lab's quarterly newsletter. This year participants will also receive a coupon for 75-cents off a product from sponsor Bob's Red Mill. One thousand new FeederWatchers will receive an additional coupon for a free Bob's Red Mill product (up to $7.99 value).

Project FeederWatch is a joint research and education project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Bird Studies Canada. 

Landmark Study Reveals Low National Rate of Frog Abnormalities on Wildlife Refuges

Landmark Study Reveals Low National Rate of Frog Abnormalities on Wildlife Refuges

An unprecedented 10-year-study by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) shows encouraging results for frogs and toads on national wildlife refuges. The study, published November 19 in the peer-reviewed online journal PLOS ONE, finds that on average, less than 2 percent of frogs and toads sampled on 152 refuges had physical abnormalities involving the skeleton and eyes - a lower rate than many experts feared based on earlier reports. This indicates that the severe malformations such as missing or extra limbs repeatedly reported in the media during the mid-1990s were actually very rare on national wildlife refuges.

"Frogs and toads are strong indicators of wetland and environmental quality. What affects them affects a broad range of other species," said Service Director Dan Ashe. "This research significantly advances our understanding of amphibian abnormalities while amassing one of the world's largest datasets on the issue."

The study also highlights areas of the country with more abnormal frogs than expected. These areas, termed "hotspot clusters", warrant further research to determine their causes.

Concern about amphibian abnormalities became widespread in 1995 when middle school students discovered frogs with misshapen, extra or missing limbs at a Minnesota wetland. Since then, scientists have continued to report frogs and toads with severe abnormalities and documented global amphibian population declines, disease outbreaks and an increased rate of species extinctions.

In 2000, Congress asked agencies within the Department of the Interior, including the Service and U.S. Geological Survey, to address growing concerns about the health of amphibians in the United States. In response, the Service launched a 10-year study, the largest ever of its kind, to determine the distribution and severity of amphibian abnormalities within the National Wildlife Refuge System. The research effort - called the National Abnormal Amphibian Program - sampled more than 68,000 frogs on 152 refuges, and in the process, compiled one of the world's largest databases on amphibian abnormalities.

On average, only 2 percent of the frogs and toads were classified as having skeletal or eye abnormalities, the types of abnormalities most commonly studied. The expected background range of zero to 2 percent skeletal/eye abnormalities was found at many refuges. Extra limbs were exceedingly rare: just 0.025 percent of all frogs sampled.

However, consistent with other, prior studies, the Service's study detected areas where sites with higher rates of abnormalities tend to cluster together geographically. Within these regional hotspot clusters, which were found in the Mississippi River Valley (northeast Missouri, Arkansas and northern Louisiana), in the Central Valley of California, and in south-central and eastern Alaska, abnormality frequency often exceeded the national average of 2 percent, affecting up to 40 percent of emerging amphibians in some individual samples.

Analysis of the data showed that the location where the amphibians were collected was a better predictor of whether or not they would be abnormal than was their species or the year they were sampled. There was virtually no evidence that some species were more likely to be abnormal than others or that more abnormal frogs were found in some years than in others.

Although this study was not designed to investigate the reasons behind amphibian abnormalities, the results strongly implicate localized causes. This is consistent with other research, some of which has identified contamination, predators, parasites or the interaction of these as potential factors.

The complete dataset from the study is being made available online at the Dryad Digital Repository (http://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.dc25r ) to facilitate future research to aid in the conservation of amphibians and their habitats. To view the journal article, please visit http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0077467.  

Forest Service Now Offers Digital Maps for Mobile Devices

Forest Service Now Offers Digital Maps for Mobile Devices

The U.S. Forest Service now offers access to a variety of visitor maps for people using Android and iOS devices.

"This mobile app makes it easier than ever to plan your visit to a national forest or grassland," said U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell. "By putting important forest information right at your fingertips, it will encourage more Americans to get outside and explore their forests."

The digital maps are part of USDA's work toward reaching President Obama's initiative to create a paperless government that also provides the American public with better, more accessible information. Online customer surveys also indicated a desire for more online products and information, such as maps. The Forest Service is currently working on the first phase of a website redesign, expected to debut early in 2014, which centers on a map-based tool for planning trips onto our nation's forests, grasslands and other special places.

The PDF Maps Mobile App, developed by Avenza Systems Inc., is available as a free download from iTunes and the Android Play Store. The app provides access to Forest Service maps, such as motor-vehicle-use maps, which are free while pages from national forest atlases are 99 cents and forest visitor maps are $4.99. Prices are pending for other agency maps.

The maps are geo-referenced with the user's location appearing as a blue dot. The app works on iPhones (3GS or newer) and iPads with WiFi+3G. It also works with Android 4 or newer operating systems on devices with at least 1 gigabyte of memory.

Through the app, users can purchase and download professionally created maps that are stored on their devices. They can use the maps based on their location when GPS is available. The maps also will allow users to measure distance and area, find coordinates, open a current view in Google maps, plot place marks, add notes, enter their own data and add photos as attributes. Almost 700 Forest Service maps are available through the app.

In areas of national forests and grasslands where Internet connections are unavailable, the app and static maps work well if users download the maps prior to their visit. The apps and maps also will be useful for wildland firefighters.

In geographic areas with Internet availability users will be able to use the products with live data. The interactive map is expected to be available on a limited basis starting in March 2014.

Paper maps are still available for purchase online at the National Forest Store.

The Forest Service differs from other federal government agencies in how the Forest Visitor map is funded. The Agriculture Adjustment Act of 1938 calls for the sale of maps as the funding mechanism to revise and produce maps for the public. In 1999 the Act was amended to include products available through the web as "geo-referenced data."

The Cimarron National Grasslands near Elkhart, KS is a Forest Service property and should have a digital map available.

2013 Conservation Achievement Program Awards Nominees Sought

Do you know someone who has volunteered countless hours towards a particular wildlife project or someone who has devoted themselves beyond normal expectations for conservation?

 It is important for conservationist to give credit to those who deserve it. It demonstrates that we hold these activities in high regard and gives some appreciated recognition to folks who work very hard for something they love. Do your part and consider those you work with or know who have performed beyond the call of duty, someone who deserves to be recognized for their contributions toKansas’ wildlife. Let’s not let them go unrecognized for their dedication and sacrifices.

            Please make an effort to identify folks who have made special efforts for wildlife in 2013. Those who have received Conservation Achievement Program (CAP) awards in the past can attest to the pride they felt in being bestowed such a noteworthy recognition. Do your part and make certain we recognize those most deserving at the CAP banquet February 22, 2014 in Salina.

            To nominate someone simply e-mail a nomination of 2,000 words (more or less) todrrkidd@gmail.com. Make sure you put full contact information for yourself and the nominee, including mailing and e-mail addresses and phone numbers. Do it now! E-mail me if you’d like a cyber copy of the form. Thanks for your help with this very noteworthy program for wildlife conservation in Kansas.  Get your nominations to us by December 10 using the Official Entry Form below and refer to any of the categories.

Randy Kidd

CAP Chair

16879 46^th St.

McLouth, KS 66054-4125

drrkidd@gmail.com

Ph. 785-863-3425

Official Entry Form

2013 Kansas Wildlife Federation

Conservation Achievement Award

  The Kansas Wildlife Federation’s CAP awards recognize outstanding accomplishments in Kansas’s conservation.  Nominations should be made for efforts worthy of state recognition. The accomplishment should reflect a long-time commitment to natural resources with a significant effort during the past year.  A nominee must be a Kansas resident and have accomplished the meritorious work in Kansas.  Nominees may be any professionals, lay people, clubs or business.  Past years’ winners are not eligible for nomination in the same category.  Current KWF officers are not eligible.

Wildlife Conservationist

  For outstanding achievement in fish or wildlife resource management.  Nominees should have demonstrated leadership in management, restoration or research of habitats or wildlife species.

Water Conservationist

  For outstanding achievement in water pollution control, conservation and protection of rivers and wetlands, prevention of degradation of water quality through effective planning and management or other activity aimed at maintaining or improving water standards.

Land & Soil Conservationist

For outstanding achievement in watershed protection, wetlands development, erosion control, habitat improvement or other management practices that improve land so as to benefit wildlife.

Conservation Education

 For outstanding achievement in educating others in conservation.  The process may be formal or informal.  The nominations may be for leadership, which, by example or demonstration, aids in the environmental/wildlife education of others.

Forest Conservationist

  For outstanding achievement in forest and woodlands management, including reforestation, preservation of wilderness areas and wildlife habitat development.

Conservation Communicator

  For outstanding achievement in effectively conveying the conservation message and creating public awareness of conservation issues in the news and other  media.

Youth Conservationist

  For outstanding conservation efforts for someone under 21 during the contest year.  Winners should have demonstrated ability and accomplishment in some phase of conservation.  Youth groups are eligible as well.

Conservation Organization

  For outstanding achievement by an organization for work in some phase of conservation during the contest period.  May include civic clubs, conservation groups, garden clubs, sportsman’s clubs, businesses, professional organizations and others.

Stream Team or Stream Monitor

  For outstanding efforts by a group of citizen volunteers or individual in monitoring and contributing to the protection of our state’s waterways.  Nominees should have demonstrated leadership in stream monitoring, protection and educational efforts.

Conservation Legislator

  For outstanding achievement by a legislator in conservation legislation, that took place in or culminated in the contest year.  Competition is open to state or federal legislators and their staff members.

Farmer/Rancher Wildlife Conservationist

    This award is to recognize special efforts of a farmer and/or rancher who have made extra efforts towards conserving wildlife.

Outdoor Skills Instructor

  This award recognizes wildlife, nature, shooting, and outdoor instructors for their superior involvement in educating others.

Conservationist of the Year

  The Conservationist of the Year will be selected from all the nominations submitted in all categories.  This award will be based on exemplary service to Kansas’s fish, wildlife and environmental conservation efforts.

                                  CAP Nomination Form

To make a nomination, send this form with all attachments to: Randy Kidd, CAP Chairman, preferably electronically to drrkidd@gmail.com. By December 10^th.

Name of Nominee: _________________________________________________

Address: ­­­­­­­­­_________________________________________________________

               _________________________________________________________

Phones: _________________________________________________________

Award Category (Please specify one of the categories listed above):

Nominator’s Name:_________________________________________________

Address: ­­­­­­­­­­_________________________________________________________

               ________________________________________ ZIP _____________

Phones: _________________________________________________________

Email: ___________________________________________________________

Attach a typewritten description, not to exceed three pages, detailing specific acts for which award is recommended. Include such other information as past recognitions, organization memberships, affiliations, past achievements, etc. as nominator feels pertinent. When a company or organization is involved, include the name of the president, chief executive officer, sponsor, editor or appropriate representative.