What Really is at Stake in the Fight over Public Lands
By Steven Rinella/themeateater.com
Photo by USFS Region 5/flickr
Last week, we all witnessed the beauty of democracy in a vivid way when Utah congressman Jason Chaffetz
withdrew a piece of proposed legislation
called H.R. 621. If passed, this bill would have instructed the Secretary of the Interior to begin disposing of your federally managed public-land hunting and fishing grounds in ten western states. Hunters and anglers came out in such rabid defense of our public lands that Chaffetz rightfully canned the whole idea. I was so moved by the victory that I actually choked up and shed a tear, which is usually something reserved for the birth of my children.
As good as it felt, it's important to understand that our victory over H.R. 621 was really only a skirmish in the broader war over America's public lands. As I write this, two related bills are making their way through Washington D.C. One is
H.R. 622
, which was introduced by the same guy who brought us the defeated H.R. 621. This bill has the goal of eliminating the law enforcement functions of the National Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. The second bill,
H.J. Res. 44
, which scuttles the recently revised BLM land management planning process, called Planning 2.0, was passed by the House of Representatives on February 7. It will go up for a Senate vote in a week or so.
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In Michigan, a Battle Rages Over a Fabled Trout Stream
By James Card/The New York Times
Photo by larrysphatpage/flickr
The greatest sign posted at a public fishing access spot in the United States is on the South Branch of the Au Sable River at a place called the Mason Tract. It reads: "Sportsman slow your pace ... ahead lies the fabled land of the South Branch. Here generations of fisherman have cast a fly on one of the great trout streams of America. Hunters, too, have roamed these hills in the solitude so bountifully offered. The land is rich in tradition and stands ready to renew your soul. Tread lightly as you pass and leave no mark. Go forth in the spirit of George W. Mason, whose generous gift has made this forever possible."
George Mason
was a
Michigan
industrialist who upon his death in 1954 donated 1,500 acres along the Au Sable River to the state with the caveat that it never be sold or developed. It was just as he left it: a pristine trout stream flowing 138 miles through the north country woods of the northern Lower Peninsula until it finally dumps into Lake Huron.
However, there is great worry about the health of the Au Sable, and many people believe the river is threatened by, of all things, more trout.
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How Badly Does Email Affect the Environment?
By Hayley Tsukayama/The Washington Post
Photo by miniyo73/flickr
A story started making the rounds recently about French energy regulators asking companies to cut back on email in order to save energy. It sort of sounds like a satirical piece - it did, in fact, end up in
Reddit's "Not the Onion" subsection
- but the suggestion
really does come
from the French regulator RTE.
Which got us thinking: How do our tech habits affect how much power we use and the environment? Finding an answer is harder than you may think. After all, the energy you use at your desk writing a typical email isn't all the energy that an email uses. As the French warning indicates, there's a whole infrastructure behind every message, which includes not only the electricity you use but also the energy it takes to store and transmit that information through data centers.
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To Save the Birds, We Must First Save Louisiana's Marsh
By Wayne Curtis/Garden and Gun
Timmy Vincent stands in front of a reproduction of a John James Audubon painting of a Louisiana heron that hangs in the rustic camp he calls home. "The water reached here," he says, pointing to the tea-colored stain that neatly bisects the print at chest height.
For two decades, Vincent has lived deep in the marsh at the National Audubon Society's Paul J. Rainey Wildlife Sanctuary, where he serves as manager. The private preserve's 26,000 acres provide a crucial resting and nesting stop for some two hundred species of birds, from the kingfisher to the endangered whooping crane (one of which, in 2016, went on to hatch the first chick born in the Louisiana wild in seventy-five years). Varieties such as the prothonotary warbler descend during spring and fall to bulk up while awaiting the right winds to push them onward. "It's the last place they see on their way south," Vincent says, "and the first place they see on their way back."
Today, that legacy is at risk, as the preserve's land dwindles. The Louisiana coastline at large is washing away at the average rate of a football field an hour due to issues such as rising sea levels, saltwater intrusion (caused in part by man-made navigational canals), and powerful storms-Hurricane Rita left that high-water mark on the Audubon print in 2005. Now the sanctuary's caretakers are developing ways to not only save the marsh but bring it back.
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10 Women Who Changed the Way
We Look at Nature
By Josh Lew/Mother Nature Network
Photo by orionpozo/flickr
They don't always get a proportional place in the history books, but women have played a vital role in wilderness exploration, conservation and our understanding of nature and wildlife.
The following women thrived on being in the wilderness and brought us a new level of understanding about the natural world. Not only were they interesting characters with compelling life stories, many were also writers who crafted exciting accounts of their exploits or wrote eloquent arguments for the preservation of the environment.
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