News Archives

Week of July 11, 2004

EPA Declares Victory in Gray Wolf Recovery

The EPA is proposing to delist the Gray Wolf in the eastern portion of its range, stating their belief that the wolf is no longer in danger of extinction. Last year the wolf was moved from "endangered" to "threatened", which gives somewhat less protection to the species. De-listing would remove the wolf from federal protection, although the EPA would still supervise state management of the species for several years. At a press conference today, Gale Norton declared the gray wolf to be one of the great success stories of the Endangered Species Act.

Although the wolf occupies less than five percent of its original range, the total number of individuals is more than ten times what it was when the species was listed. Plans for reintroducing wolves in places such as Maine and New York would now be left up to individual states, if the proposal becomes fact. This announcement kicks off a 120-day comment period, and lawsuits are expected after that.

The National Wildlife Federation criticized the decision to remove protection, even in areas where wolf populations have not yet recovered.

“Wolf recovery in the Great Lakes represents a tremendous wildlife success story, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should not abandon efforts to recover the wolf in the Northeast,” said Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. “This proposal will remove protection for wolves far beyond the states where wolf recovery is actually taking place. It’s illogical to prescribe identical management regimes for both areas when the population in one is thriving and the other doesn’t even exist yet.”

Posted by Jennifer on Friday, July 16 2004, 6:46 PM

Changing Polarity

You may have heard that the earth's magnetic field is weakening, and seems to be in the process of reversing polarity. That would mean, for example, that compasses would begin to point south instead of north, birds and animals might lose their ability to migrate correctly, and electrical systems might fail. This switch in polarities has happened in the past, so it wouldn't be surprising to have it happen again.

Apparently this deterioration of earth's magnetic field is accelerating rapidly, so such a reversal may happen sooner than we expected. The link leads to a New York Times article which lays out all the details.

No need to panic, though. Such a reversal might still take a couple thousand years to happen, giving us all plenty of time to adjust.

Posted by Jennifer on Tuesday, July 13 2004, 4:08 PM

Bush and the Environment, again

Once again the Bush administration has taken aim at the nation's forests, proposing to lift entirely the rule against logging 58.5 million acres of national forests, instead saying that the decision about whether to allow roads should be left up to each state governor. "Everything could be up for grabs," says the director of Earthjustice, one of several environmental groups up in arms about this proposal.

Of course, as we have seen time and time again, this administration supports state's rights only when it fits their political agenda.

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Posted by Jennifer on Monday, July 12 2004, 8:07 PM

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