Bald eagles rebound from near extinction
Eric Mortenson, The Oregonian
A bald eagle glides low, curving with the meandering sloughs of Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge in Southeast Portland. At the former St. Johns landfill northwest of downtown, workers track a breeding pair that has nested in a black cottonwood tree for the past four years. An estimated 500 to 700 bald eagles winter in southern Oregon’s Klamath Basin, where they feast on waterfowl that have likewise migrated south down the Pacific flyway. Bald eagles are back, baby. read more >
Mature & Old-growth Forests Hold Keys to Adapting to Climate Change
Contact: Dominick A. DellaSala, Ph.D., Chief Scientist, Geos Institute, 541-482-4459 x 302; 541-621-7223 (cell); Reed Noss, Ph.D., Prof. of Conservation Biology, Univ. of Central Florida, 407-489-5778
Ashland, Oregon – Scientists released new findings today on the importance of mature and old-growth forests in preparing the Klamath-Siskiyou region of southwest Oregon and northern California for global climate disruptions. Published in the January edition of The Natural Areas Journal (Volume 32: 65-74) by the Natural Areas Association, the study calls on regional land managers to protect mature and old-growth forests as an insurance policy for fish and wildlife facing mounting climate change pressures from rising temperatures, declining snow levels, and reductions in fog along the coast.
Owl vs Owl
As one encroaches more and more on the habitat of the other, scientists and federal officials consider multiple alternatives.
by Paul Fattig, Medford Mail Tribune
Wildlife biologist Paul Henson acknowledges the prospect of killing even one barred owl doesn’t sit well with him. “I’m a bird person — to be put in a position to have to shoot one charismatic and beautiful bird to save another charismatic and beautiful bird is very difficult,” said Henson, who heads the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s northern spotted owl recovery program in Oregon. “But the alternative is letting the spotted owl go extinct,” he said of what amounts to a Sophie’s choice. read more>
U.S. Proposes to Save Spotted Owl with Chainsaws and Shotguns
by Erik Stokstad, ScienceInsider
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) today formally proposed several actions, some of them controversial, to aid the iconic northern spotted owl, an endangered species in the Pacific Northwest whose population continues to shrink. The proposals include designating more critical habitat, encouraging logging to prevent forest fires, and an experiment to shoot a competing owl species. read more>
Centers Track Global Deforestation, Ashland-based Geos Institute Will Help Launch Web Database
By Paul Fattig, Medford Mail Tribune
The Ashland-based Geos Institute and the Conservation Biology Institute in Corvallis are teaming up to create an online center to track deforestation around the world. Known as the Global Forest Information Center, it will be on the Internet in a data-sharing system known as Data Basin — databasin.org.
The conservation institutes recently received a $50,000 grant from a private foundation to start building the cyberspace center, initially focusing on intact forests in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. The information, including maps, is expected to be available to policy makers, land managers and the public beginning this fall. read more >
New Global Forest Information Center
Contacts:
Dominick A. DellaSala, Ph.D., Chief Scientist & President, Geos Institute, 541-482-4459 x302
James Strittholt, Ph.D., President & Executive Director, Conservation Biology Institute, 541-757-0687 x 1
Ashland, OR – Scientists from the Geos Institute, Ashland and Conservation Biology Institute, Corvallis are building a first of its kind global forest-tracking center designed to monitor and call attention to the world’s alarming deforestation footprint. The Global Forest Information Center will be housed in a state-of-the art and Internet-based conservation data-sharing system developed by the Conservation Biology Institute (CBI) that was publicly launched in 2010. Known as Data Basin (databasin.org), the system already contains over 8,000 conservation spatial datasets for environmental monitoring.
Plan Needed for Southern Oregon Coho Salmon
Oregon Wild Takes Legal Action for Coho Salmon
KOBI Ch. 5 TV (Medford, OR) news story by Travis Koch
To see the TV news commentary by Brian Barr, coordinator of the Freeways for Fish Program at Geos Institute … click here and then click on the center of the video image.
New Forest Management Plan Weakens Wildlife Protection
By Renee Schoof, McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — Back in the 1980s, when conservation advocates were trying to stop logging in old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest, they relied on a 1982 regulation that required the National Forest Service to protect wildlife such as the spotted owl throughout its range. They won, and a new Northwest forest plan in 1990 greatly reduced logging in the region’s old-growth forests on federal land. Read more>
Water and science strengthened in NFMA Rule, jury still out on enforceability
Contact: Dominick DellaSala, (541) 482-4459
Geos Institute on Obama’s New National Forest Rules
Washington, D.C. – the Forest Service released its long anticipated final planning rule for the nation’s 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, covering nearly 200 million acres (http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/planningrule/home/?cid=stelprdb5349164).
According to Randi Spivak, Vice President of Government Affairs at the Geos Institute, a science-based climate change organization in Ashland and Washington D.C., “the Forest Service gets credit for a bold vision for protecting and restoring the nations’ fish and wildlife at a time of unprecedented change and for responding to scientists and public concerns by improvements made in the final rule. Enforceability and accountability still remain a concern.”
Dominick A. DellaSala, Chief Scientist and President, also gave the Forest Service high marks for requiring best science to be used in forest plans. “The Forest Service took a major step forward in preparing the nation for a changing climate by emphasizing the role of the nation’s forests in reducing climate change and providing drinking water to millions of Americans. However, the agency needs to do more to ensure wildlife populations are well-distributed to avoid potential extinctions from ongoing resource extraction and climate change.”
Conservationists Offer Own County Payments Fix
From KTVZ.COM News Sources
EUGENE, Ore. — As Oregon county governments receive their last checks from federal taxpayers under the expired county payments program, a coalition of six local, state and national conservation organizations unveiled Wednesday what they called “a balanced, three-pronged strategy to solve the looming county funding crunch.” Oregon lawmakers, however, said their proposal wouldn’t work. Read more…
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Robert Macnee, Ph.D. is Deputy Director of Resilience Services at Climate Resilience Consulting, where he helps governments, institutions, and communities reduce climate risk in equitable and practical ways. He holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Management focused on climate change impacts on health and communities, and brings over a decade of experience spanning economic development, resilience planning, and implementation.
Samantha Medlock is President of Climate Risk Advisors, helping communities and organizations advance equity, sustainability, and resilience. Her career began chasing floods as a local official in Texas Flash Flood Alley—a hands-on experience that still shapes her approach to climate and disaster risk management.
Jim is a multilingual world traveler. Based in Bavaria during the 1970s, Jim spent most of this period in India, Afghanistan and Nepal, where he founded and operated a charitable medical clinic serving Tibetan Refugees. He settled in Oregon in 1983 on a forested ranch in the Umpqua National Forest.
Dr. Micah Hahn is an Associate Professor of Environmental Health in the Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies at the University of Alaska-Anchorage. She received her joint PhD in Epidemiology / Environment and Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her MPH in Global Environmental Health from Emory University. Subsequently, she was a postdoctoral fellow for the CDC Climate and Health Program, and in this position worked collaboratively with the CDC Division of Vector-borne Diseases and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Her research focuses on understanding the health impacts of climate change and working with communities to develop locally-relevant adaptation and resilience-building strategies. Dr. Hahn is also on the Management Team of the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center.
Michael is a former Founding Principal of Resilient Cities Catalyst, a global non-profit helping cities and their partners tackle their toughest challenges. He is currently the Executive Director of Climate Resilience Academy at the University of Miami.
Dr. Quintus Jett is a consultant, educator, and strategist for public causes. He has a doctorate in Organizations & Management from Stanford University, and a two-decade faculty career which spans schools, departments, and programs of business, engineering, liberal studies, divinity, and public and nonprofit management. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Dr. Jett launched a volunteer project in New Orleans, which enlisted residents, students from over a dozen colleges and universities, and hundreds of others to field map the city’s Gentilly district, Lower Ninth Ward, and New Orleans East. Dr. Jett is an innovator in higher education, bridging the divide between academic research and the other priorities of the modern university, including student access and diversity, community engagement, and providing foundations for life-long learning in today’s rapidly changing world.
Scott is Monfort Professor of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University. He has written about 100 publications in the peer-reviewed climate literature, is a former editor of the Journal of Climate, and served for five years as founding Science Chair of the North American Carbon Program.
Linda has many years of experience in disaster preparedness and resilience. She has been an elected official on the Linn County Iowa Board of Supervisors, Chair of the Metropolitan Planning Organization, the East Central Iowa Council of Governments, the statewide Mental Health Developmental Disability and the Linn County Board of Health. Langston is a former president of the National Association of Counties (2013-2014).
Ken works with families and organizations as a mediator, organizational consultant, trainer and facilitator. Along with his passion for helping people prepare for and reduce climate change, Ken also volunteers as a mediator through Mediation Works and is passionate about supporting youth through mentoring with Boys to Men of Southern Oregon.
Matthew is a retired high school teacher who was once honored as Oregon High School Social Studies Teacher of the Year. Before his teaching career he was in the restaurant business in Portland. He is also a lawyer who has been a member of the Oregon State Bar Association since 1980.
Andrea is the Resilience Policy Advisor for the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency. She works across state agencies and with local governments to increase the state’s resilience to the impacts of climate change.