Idaho Conservation League Legislation Update on SB 1085 - Weakening of testing requirments for chronic wasting disease

Elk, Deer and Moose at Risk
A hearing was held yesterday in the House Agriculture Affairs Committee on SB 1085, which puts Idaho’s wild elk, deer and moose at risk. Unfortunately, the committee has sent the bill to the House floor, which is the last stop before heading to the governor. Most of the testimony was in opposition to the bill. This bill would weaken the testing requirements for chronic wasting disease. Similar to mad cow disease, this devastating disorder is always fatal and there is no cure. This is your last chance, so please take action today to stop this bad bill!

Idaho Conservation League Action Update

Take Action

Idaho's Elk and Deer Are at Risk

A bill just passed out of the Idaho Senate that would weaken inspections at game farms for deadly chronic wasting disease. The Idaho House Agriculture Committee is voting on this bill this Thursday at 1:30. Please contact your representatives and tell them to oppose this bill. Chronic wasting disease can devastate native elk, deer and moose herds.

Week 9 In Class Updates

Point Allocation

• Topic Submission and Blog Entries account for 30% the year end project
• The actual presentation accounts for 20% 
• Evaluations, including peer review account for 50%

Topic Submission Total Available Points = 12 (15 by 6 p.m. Monday 21 of March)
Current topic submission point standings:

Ways to capture lost TOPIC SUBMISSION points - attend and write up a one summary of an event listed in the "Events" page of this blog.

Number of BLOG ADDRESSES received = 25
Blog Entries Total Available Points = 15
Current blog entry point standings:

 Guest Speaker Pam Elkovich from Trout Unlimited

Interactive Water Map

Curious about where your water comes from? The Nature Conservancy has an interactive map to show you... Boise isn't currently on its map - by visiting and posting what you know about our water resources, you can help the Nature Conservancy map 75 water sources by March 22. More Information Here

How much water do you REALLY use?

From Feb. 22 to March 22, The Nature Conservancy will be raising awareness of just how much water we really use in our daily lives through our 30 Days of H20 campaign, culminating in a celebration or World Water Day on March 22.

Find Out Here

Gov. Otter's Analysis of Economic Impact of the Frank Church Wilderness Area

Philip sent the following information to my attention - This is something that our entire class might take interest in...

Recently the Idaho Statesman interviewed Governor Otter - Otter had a lot to say about the economic impact of the Frank Church Wilderness Area (and its current use) compared to the Lake Coeur d'Alene area. One quote in particular caught Philip's attention: 

"The point the governor was making was that while tourism is important, it should not be the only consideration in this discussion,” said Hanian. “He was trying to reinforce multiple use." (Full Article). 

Questions to ponder:

• Can Otter legally change the wilderness designation of the Frank Church Wilderness Area to an "multiple use" area? 
• What environmental impacts could occur?
• Would there be potential for political backlash?

Week 7 In Class Dynamic Discussions...

“I was thinking about the difficulties related to repopulating native plant species in a burned area or newly undeveloped area. This would entail the service learning experience with a few of the chapters from the text book regarding the complexities of environments, biomes, micro climates etc. and invasive species. The project might entail researching various on going efforts to "re-engineer/ re-establish" a damaged environment, such as an industrial site, burned area, OILS SANDS area and showing case studies of successful reintegration rather than focusing on the failures and difficulties but possibly identifying some complexities? Re-hab of the oil sands might be interesting and how it might be accomplished since the soils have been disturbed as well as many macro and micro climates.”

Hans Glenn

The way that I looked at this topic in connection with local environmental events, ENSTD121, and service leaning or as Dr. Ball has said (bringing sensible science to everyone - activation through awareness) began with: 

1. The topic submission
2. The text Principles of Environmental Science; Inquiry & Application by William P. Cunningham and Mary Ann Cunningham Chapter 11, subsection 4 - "Environmental Effects of Resource Extraction"
3. The local environmental activist groups, what they have to say and how they say it

Difficulties relating to the re-population of native plant species - Rehabilitation of the oil sands tailings  

Successful case studies: ?

Canada Week Feb 14-17, 2011 at BSU - Canada Week Explores US Connections to Northern Neighbor

Thursday, Feb. 17 Topic:
“Canada as an Energy Superpower: Providing Energy while Addressing Environmental Concerns”

(Positive information on oil sand) - thank you Hans for bringing this video to my attention.

·     
        1^st Tailings Pond Reclaimed  (Positive)

   One more for (GOOD) measure (Hans)

 

Fort Chipewyan - Alberta (Negative) 

• H2Oil
• H2Oil PDF 

More (Negative) (Hans)

 
Water:

"Human impact on our environment, especially due to increased population and human sprawl. My major concern in a global perspective would have to be access to clean, potable drinking water, and how urban sprawl and our desire for an "easier" way of life is effecting our existing groundwater resevoirs. What I am thinking of specifically is not only the over-flowing landfills leaching toxic chemicals into the ground and what can be done about them (ie...the Thermal Gasification article I sent you), but also activities such as the planned Gold mining operations near Idaho City using Mercury to extract the gold from the ore, and the proposed gas/oil drilling taking place in Payette County and the effects of Hydraulic Fracturing ("fracking") or "mini-fracking" on existing groundwater supplies. Pennsylvania has been having major issues with their groundwater supply becoming contaminated from this same process(es)."
CJ McCurdy 

Accessible clean, potable drinking water - Effects of extraction on our water system - Policy

(ICL Blog RSS Feed, Water Quality: Slip Sliding Away + Times-News Valley.com)

• Fracking
• CNN - 'Fracking' Threatens Local Water Supply - Video  

• 2009 Channel 7 Video - CuMo - Mosquito Gold Company - Upper Boise River Watershed

Open pit mining video to watch at your leisure. For more information on The CuMo Mine Project, visit the USDA Forest Service, the Idaho Conservation League, and Mosquito Consolidated

Webcast Part 2 - US Forest Service Research & Development

Understanding & Adapting to Climate Change in Aquatic Ecosystems at Landscape and River Basin Scales: A Decision Support Workshop for Integrating Research & Management

Topics Include:

• Integrating Climate Change Effects with Management by: Bruce Rieman, USFS, retired
• NetMap - a Tool for Land Management Decisions by: Gordie Reeves, USFS & Lee Benda, Earth Systems Institute
• Introduction of Spatially Explicit Climate Scenarios for the Bull Trout Example
• Bayesian Belief Networks, a Potential Tool for Decision Support by: Doug Peterson, USFWS

On Demand Video

Idaho Rivers United shared this opportunity with me and I signed up to hear about the effects of climate change on aquatic life in our area.