And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
SMALL BOOK CREATES BIG HEADACHE FOR AUSTRALIAN FOREST INDUSTRY
By Bob Burton
CANBERRA, Australia, April 15, 1999 (ENS) - Attempts by the Australian
National Association of Forest Industries (NAFI) to use legal threats to
stop the sale of a book advising consumers on alternative timbers to those
from logging native forests, have backfired.
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 1999
For Full Text and Graphics Visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/apr99/1999L-04-15-01.html
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POACHERS CAUSE 2ND EXTINCTION OF ARABIAN ORYX
GLAND, Switzerland, April 15, 1999 (ENS) - The Arabian Oryx could become
extinct in the wild in Oman for the second time in 30 years, according to
Ralph Daly, adviser for conservation of the environment in the Diwan of the
Royal Court in Oman.
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 1999
For Full Text and Graphics Visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/apr99/1999L-04-15-03.html
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EUROPE'S PVC INDUSTRY FIGHTS POSSIBLE LIMITS
BRUSSELS, Belgium, April 15, 1999 (ENS) - Europe's plastics industry has
made a pre-emptive strike against possible future European Union (EU)
restrictions on the manufacture and use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
Published in cooperation with ENDS Environment Daily, Website:
http://www.ends.co.uk
For Full Text and Graphics Visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/apr99/1999L-04-15-04.html
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NEW DISCOVERY: WORLD'S LARGEST BACTERIUM
BREMEN, Germany, April 15, 1999 (ENS) - A newly discovered bacteria visible
to the naked eye has been discovered off the coast of Namibia, an African
country bordering the Atlantic Ocean.
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 1999
For Full Text and Graphics Visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/apr99/1999L-04-15-05.html
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AmeriScan: April 15, 1999
ALASKA NATIVES DELIVER CLIMATE WARNING TO BP AMOCO
Alaska Natives today told BP Amoco shareholders at the oil
giant's Annual General
Meeting that the company's "insatiable drive for new oil
worldwide threatens their
culture and livelihood in the Alaskan Arctic." Three Natives
of the Yup'ik and
Gwich'in people travelled to London, UK to make their plea.
Their peoples are
campaigning with Greenpeace to highlight the threats from
climate change and oil
exploration. The Western Arctic is warming three times
faster than the global
average, the natives told BP Amoco directors and
shareholders. Scientists have
reported that the Arctic ice pack has been declining at a
rate of 4.5 percent in the
past decade, and threatening native wildlife including polar
bears, walrus and
caribou, they said. Allan Hayton, a Gwich'in Athabascan from
Arctic Village,
Alaska said, "For countless generations the Gwich'in people,
my people, have
relied on the land to provide for our survival. Already we
are witnessing dramatic
changes in our Alaskan climate from the burning of fossil
fuels, and an oil spill on
the North Slope would effectively destroy our abundant
wildlife and our native
cultures in the process. Sir John Browne, respectfully I ask
you, will you cancel
Northstar, and commit your company to not drilling in the
Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge?" BP's $500 million Northstar development is the
first offshore
development in the Arctic Ocean. The natives have the
support of former
President Jimmy Carter who sent a letter to President Bill
Clinton on April 9,
encouraging him to support permanent protection for the
Arctic Refuge Coastal
Plain. President Carter wrote, "the Arctic Refuge coastal
plain will remain
imperiled until it is permanently protected." He told
Clinton that he views the
historic protection of Alaskan parks and refuges as "one of
the most important
and enduring achievements of my presidency."
* * *
FIVE ARRESTED AS BISON CAPTURED FOR BRUCELLOSIS TESTING
Tuesday, buffalo protection volunteers counted 63 bison out
of Yellowstone
National Park grazing on the spring grass next to the newly
constructed buffalo
trap on the Gallatin National Forest. On Wednesday, the
Montana Department of
Livestock (DOL) hazed with snowmobiles and captured over 60
buffalo in their
new capture facility on Horse Butte, bringing the total
number of buffalo captured
this year to over 100. Molly Karp, 17, of New York, used
handcuffs and James
Blakely, 19, used a steel pipe lockbox to lock themselves to
a cattle guard on
Forest Service Road 610 in an attempt to prevent the capture
of more buffalo on
Horse Butte. Allison Lovejoy, 21, of Missoula, was arrested
as she stood on the
road and watched the arrest. Jeremy O'Day, 22, of Missoula,
was arrested on
Horse Butte as he drove a snowmobile. Robert Laitman was
also arrested as he
stood on the road. No charges have been brought at this
time. More then twenty
law enforcement officers from the DOL, U.S. Forest Service,
Montana Highway
Patrol, and Gallatin County Sheriff's office were there to
assist with the capture
operation. "Despite the inaccuracy of their testing process
and the inability of
these buffalo to transmit brucellosis, these agencies
continue to waste taxpayer
money on the capture and slaughter of America's last wild
herd of buffalo," said
Pete Leusch, Buffalo Field Campaign spokesperson.
Environmentalists across
the country are protesting the capture and slaughter of the
Yellowstone bison to
protect Montana cattle ranchers.
* * *
HAWAIIAN WHALE WATCHING & RESEARCH GROUP FINED
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
has charged the
Pacific Whale Foundation based in Maui, Hawai'i with seven
civil violations under
the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species
Act. NOAA
assessed a civil penalty of $13,000 against the Foundation
for actions that
occurred between January and May of 1998. The charges
include one count of
failing to allow inspection of research records by providing
a federal agent with
falsified documents; one count of unauthorized approaches to
within 100 yards of
humpback whales; three counts of failing to include various
data resulting from
their research efforts in their annual report; one count of
allowing unauthorized
personnel to operate a vessel during research activities;
and one count of failing to
keep complete and accurate records of research activities.
The case resulted from
an investigation into the Foundation's research activities
during the 1998 whale
research season after the agency received information that
the Foundation had
begun its research without the required permit authorizations.
* * *
FISHERIES SERVICE ISSUES REPORT ON SNAKE RIVER DAM
OPTIONS
In a draft scientific analysis released Wednesday, the
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS) offered a biological evaluation of options
that could help in the
recovery of threatened and endangered species of salmon
along the Snake River.
The Lower Snake River was placed at the top of the
endangered list this week by
American Rivers in its annual report on troubled U.S.
rivers. American Rivers and
a coalition of 230 groups are urging partial destruction of
four federal dams on
the river to assist salmon recovery. All five species of
Lower Snake River salmon
have been listed under the Endangered Species Act. The NMFS
study suggests
that under the widest set of assumptions, the drawdown or
breaching of the four
federal Snake River dams may be the most "risk-averse"
alternative, but points out
uncertainties. "The task of any scientific report of this
nature is to evaluate, as
clearly as possible, the effects of options available to
policy makers," said Terry
Garcia, U.S. Commerce Department's assistant secretary for
oceans and
atmosphere. "This draft options report does just that, no
more, no less. It doesn't
recommend a preferred course of action nor does it reflect a
policy decision. It
remains for the region, the administration and the Congress
to consider this and
other factors before any policy determination is made." The
report, "An
Assessment of Lower Snake River Hydrosystem Alternatives on
Survival and
Recovery of Snake River Salmonids," analyzes the likely
biological effects of the
two options for the dams: drawdown or breaching of the lower
Snake to its
natural river level by removing the earthworks adjacent to
the dams, or leaving the
dams intact and continuing the transport of juvenile fish
around them by barging
or trucking. Under certain scenarios, there is little or no
improvement from dam
breaching. The report says further research into the
biological consequences of
transportation can reduce uncertainties, but cautions that
delay itself could pose a
risk to the salmon.
* * *
FLORIDA LICENSE PLATES RAISE FUNDS FOR WILD DOLPHINS
The newly created "Protect Wild Dolphins" specialty license
plate, approved by
the Florida state legislature last year is now available
statewide. Revenues
collected from sales of the plate will fund ongoing wild
dolphin research and
education programs. The internationally acclaimed Harbor
Branch Oceanographic
Institution based in Fort Pierce will administer the
program. One aspect of Harbor
Branch's Dolphin Educational Program will be to foster a
better understanding of
Florida's coastal areas and the interdependence of its
aquatic plants and animals.
Harbor Branch's dolphin research director, Marilyn Mazzoil
said, "Clean water
promotes healthy seagrasses, which harbor the food supply of
the dolphin."
Finprinting is a means by which each dolphin can be
identified and catalogued. A
specialized software program now in development similar to
the FBI's fingerprint
matching system, will allow researchers to input dolphin
images for immediate
identification of individuals, expediting the process of
comparative photo-id
analysis in Florida the eastern seaboard. Dolphin program
director Stephen
McCulloch said, "Since 1974, there have been more than 3,100
recorded marine
mammal strandings throughout the state of Florida." Funding
from sales of
"Protect Wild Dolphins" license plates will help provide
funding to non-profit
organizations and agencies involved in the rescue,
rehabilitation and release of sick
or injured dolphins.
* * *
MELATONIN HELPS SONGBIRDS CELEBRATE SPRING
New research shows that the hormone melatonin, the same
hormone sold as a
sleep enhancer, is a critical regulator of brain plasticity
in birds, controlling
mating-related song bursts and fine-tuning the profound
effects of testosterone.
Gregory Ball, a professor of psychology at The Johns Hopkins
University who
studies the interrelation of hormones, brain and behavior in
song birds, has
identified the hormone melatonin as a critical ingredient.
Working with castrated
songbirds, Ball found that melatonin, even without
testosterone, the hormone
removed by castration, allows birds to produce the songs of
spring. "There is a
lot of interest in melatonin, particularly in mammals, but
there has never been any
indication that it affects brain plasticity like this. The
fact that it would have a
direct effect on a brain area in birds and influence its
volume, as we have just
found, has never been addressed in other species," said
Ball. The findings,
co-authored by Ball and George Bentley, also of Johns
Hopkins, and Thomas
Van't Hof, of the Max Planck Institute, have just been
reported in the most
recent issue of the "Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences."
* * *
A NEW SHARPSHOOTER THREATENS CALIFORNIA PLANTS
An insect that has recently invaded California is creating
serious problems for
both agricultural and ornamental plants. The glassy-winged
sharpshooter’s
greatest threat is its ability to spread the bacterium
Xylella fastidiosa, which
induces Pierce’s disease in grapevines, almond leaf scorch
disease, and a new
disease known as oleander leaf scorch. If oleander leaf
scorch were to kill all the
oleanders along the state’s freeways, Caltrans would suffer
a $52 million setback.
Because the glassy-winged sharpshooter feeds on a broader
variety of plants than
other insects that carry X. fastidiosa, University of
California scientists say other
diseases caused by different strains of the bacterium may
hurt even greater
numbers of crops and ornamental plants.
* * *
CONTRIBUTE TO INTERNATIONAL POLLUTION PREVENTION
TRAINING
The pollution prevention/cleaner production training offered
internationally by the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is under revision
and public input is
requested. Jill Engel-Cox, Science and Engineering Fellow
from the American
Association for the Advancement of Science now working with
the EPA plans to
incorporate a variety of sustainability concepts beyond
pollution
prevention/cleaner production, including energy efficiency,
industrial ecology,
design for environment, and use of Internet resources.
Engel-Cox is trying to
collect and find examples of pollution prevention/cleaner
production training
classes that have been successful. She also needs input on
the terms "pollution
prevention" and "cleaner production." "I am trying to find
out is if "pollution
prevention" is a standard international term, or is it
"cleaner production," she says.
"What is the most clear terminology for a global audience?
What translates most
easily?" Ideas, creative thoughts, advice, or words of
warning are welcome. What
would you be interested in for your region? What would be
useful for you? What
would be completely worthless? Contact: Email:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
* * *
FEDERAL AGENCY COULD ALLOW CORMORANT EGG DESTRUCTION
Wildlife agencies in New York and Vermont are asking the The
U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service to allow limitation of cormorant
reproduction beginning May 1.
Ronald Lambertson, northeast regional director for the
Service, says the permits
would allow the states to oil cormorant eggs, but not to
destroy adult birds or
chicks, on Little Galloo Island in eastern Lake Ontario, New
York, and Young
Island in Lake Champlain, Vermont. The New York State
Department of
Environmental Conservation requests a permit to destroy 300
adult birds and to oil
the eggs of 7,500 nesting pairs of cormorants on Little
Galloo Island this spring.
By the year 2003, the state would like to decrease the
number of breeding pairs of
cormorants on Little Galloo Island from 7,500 to 1,500
pairs. The Vermont
Department of Fisheries and Wildlife wants to oil the eggs
of 3,000 nesting pairs
of cormorants on Young Island and kill any chicks that
hatch. The application
includes a request to oil the eggs of ring-billed gulls on
the island if the population
numbers more than 8,000 pairs. Lambertson says the Service
supports the state's
proposal to oil cormorant eggs but not the oiling of
ring-billed gull eggs as the
population on the island is known to be stable at 5,000
pairs of gulls. The Service
will not permit the euthanization of chicks. Because
cormorants are protected
under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the birds,
their nests and eggs
cannot be disturbed or destroyed without a permit from the
Service. Public
comment is welcome. Contact U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
Migratory Bird
Permit Office, 300 Westgate Center Drive, Hadley,
Massachusetts 01035. Tel:
+413-253-8643; Fax: 413-253-8424; Website:
http://www.fws.gov/r5fws
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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