Canada’s government on Tuesday approved a proposed pipeline to the Pacific Coast that would allow oil to be shipped to Asia, a major step in the country’s efforts to diversify its oil industry.
The approval Tuesday was expected. Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been a staunch supporter of Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline after the U.S. delayed a decision on TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline that would take oil from Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Enbridge’s pipeline would transport 525,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta’s oil sands to the Pacific to deliver oil to Asia, mainly energy-hungry China.
There is fierce environmental and aboriginal opposition to the project and legal challenges are expected. About 220 large oil tankers a year would visit the Pacific coast town of Kitamat and opponents fear pipeline leaks and a potential disaster on the pristine Pacific coast.
Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford said in a statement that Enbridge must meet the 209 conditions Canada’s regulator imposed on the pipeline. The company has previously said it would.
“The proponent clearly has more work to do in order to fulfill the public commitment it has made to engage with Aboriginal groups and local communities along the route,” he said in a statement.
The Keystone XL pipeline and the Northern Gateway project are critical to Canada, which needs infrastructure in place to export its growing oil sands production. The northern Alberta region has the world’s third largest oil reserves, with 170 billion barrels of proven reserves.
Harper has said Canada’s national interest makes the pipelines essential. He was “profoundly disappointed” that U.S. President Barack Obama delayed a decision on the Texas Keystone XL option, and spoke of the need to diversify Canada’s oil industry. Ninety-seven percent of Canadian oil exports now go to the U.S.
Enlarge Photo FILE – This Sept. 23, 2012 file photo shows buffalo in Custer State Park in western South Dakota. U.S. senators from the Dakotas and other areas are making another attempt at having the bison declared the national mammal. Sens. Tim Johnson and John Thune of South Dakota and John Hoeven and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota are among those introducing the National Bison Legacy Act on Wednesday, June 11, 2014. (AP Photo/Amber Hunt, File)
By DIRK LAMMERS, Associated Press
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – Senators from the Dakotas are among those making another attempt to have the bison declared the national mammal, citing the animal’s historical significance and importance to Native Americans.
South Dakota’s Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson said the goal is to recognize its cultural, ecological and economic impact.
“The bison has played an important role in our nation’s history, holds spiritual significance to Native American cultures, and remains one of our most iconic and enduring symbols,” Johnson said in a statement.
Johnson, along with Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., are among the co-sponsors of the National Bison Legacy Act set to be introduced Wednesday. The bill is backed by the Rapid City-based Intertribal Buffalo Council, which includes 57 tribes, and the National Bison Association.
If passed, the largely ceremonial designation would give the animal more recognition but not any added protection. Similar legislation introduced in 2012 stalled in Congress.
Tens of millions of bison once roamed most of North America but overhunting reduced the population to about 1,000 animals by the turn of the 20th century. Conservationists including President Theodore Roosevelt created the American Bison Society in 1905 to save the species from extinction, re-establishing herds in Oklahoma, Montana and South Dakota.
About 400,000 bison now roam pastures and rangelands across North America. Johnson also noted that bison production has become an important agricultural endeavor as demand for the meat rises.
Keith Aune, bison program director at the Wildlife Conservation Society, said buffalo helped shape the vegetation and landscape when they dominated the prairie grasslands. Bison were also important to many American Indian tribes, who killed the animals for food and materials to make clothing and shelter.
“They were a force of nature,” Aune said. “They weren’t animals just wandering around eating grass. Bison are woven into the fabric of our society in many, many ways.”
Hoeven said North Dakota’s history is closely associated with the bison, largely because of Roosevelt’s influence.
“His efforts to protect these majestic animals helped to retrieve them from the brink of extinction and established them as one of the most powerful and inspiring symbols of the American spirit, for Native Americans and settlers alike,” Hoeven said in a statement.
A resolution co-sponsored by Johnson designating November 2, 2013, as “National Bison Day” passed the Senate last year.
It’s a sunny June day and I’m standing in a lovely meadow. Birds are singing, flowers are in bloom, and the temptation to lay out a blanket and have a picnic is strong. In fact, if not for the occasional roar of a 747 overhead, you would never guess that you were right next to one of the busiest airports in the country.
Seattle’s Sea-Tac Airport boasts up to 855 takeoffs and landings a day. But just a few hundred feet away, thousands of teeny-tiny takeoffs and landings are also happening on a strip the size of a ruler.
Meet the superbees of Sea-Tac.
It’s pretty clear by now that bees are in peril: Threatened by colony collapse disorder, their long-term survival is in jeopardy. So the Port of Seattle has joined forces with local nonprofit Common Acre to establish Flight Path, a project that will turn the unused green spaces on the south end of Sea-Tac into native pollinator habitat — and in the process, produce a breed of bees that will be better suited for survival in the coming years.
Beekeeper Bob Redmond, the founder and executive director of Common Acre, sees a lot of parallels between bees and airports. Take the bee’s waggle dance: “That’s their navigation system,” Redmond says. Forager bees use the waggle dance to direct other bees in the hive toward food sources. “It’s like the air traffic controller giving instructions. It’s their way of saying, ‘Use runway 16!’”
Bees also have complex systems of transportation, collection, delivery, and warehousing. “All of these things humans have figured out — but fairly late in the game, evolutionarily speaking — the bees have been solving for eons,” he says. “Like, it’s all here, in these boxes.”
The boxes he is pointing to are just a few of the 25 hives on green space surrounding the airport that can house up to 1.25 million European honeybees at the height of the season.
“They’re pretty mellow today,” Redmond says. “Right now they’re totally disinterested in everybody. But it’s good that you have your hair up, because they might get stuck in there.”
“Oh. Sure. Ok,” I reply, trying to play it cool while thinking back to painful stings of summer camps past, and really beginning to regret washing my hair the night before with lavender-scented shampoo.
Amber CortesBob Redmond tends to the beehives.
After stints working in the nonprofit and arts world, Redmond became intrigued by the plight of the bees after reading about colony collapse in the newspaper. “It sounded really serious,” he says. “It was a food system issue. And at the same time, bees are fascinating, and the more I read about them the more I got drawn in.”
After starting with a couple of hives in his yard, Redmond founded the Urban Bee Company, which produces local and sustainable honey and serves as an information hub for other urban beekeepers. Redmond became inspired by the bee apiary project at Chicago’s O’Hare airport in 2011. Noticing all the green space while flying over Sea-Tac one day, Redmond thought he could try a similar project here. Redmond called the Port of Seattle with his idea and the Flight Path project was quickly born.
Surrounding Sea-Tac is about 116 acres of wildlife and wetlands. Port of Seattle’s wildlife biologist Steve Osmek sees the honeybees as the hook that gets people interested in the wider conservation effort at the airport that addresses the declining numbers of all sorts of local pollinators — not just bees, but also butterflies and hummingbirds.
“The airport is 3,000 acres, and granted 13 million square feet of that is concrete,” he jokes. “But what we’re working on is to really transform the south end of this airport right now into something that’s valuable for pollinators.”
Amber CortesThe bees of Sea-Tac airport.
But what really sets the Sea-Tac pollinator initiative apart from other airport apiaries is that this is a full-fledged conservation effort: they’re actually trying to selectively breed more genetically vigorous bees that are adapted to the regional Pacific Northwest area.
“It’s easy to set up a few colonies, and just say, ok, now we have some honeybees,” Osmek says. “We’re contracting Bob to not only establish the honeybee colonies, but also to think more into the future. You know, how can we provide a good resource of queens that are specifically acclimatized to the Pacific Northwest, to increase their robustness and genetic diversity.”
And according to Bob Redmond, an airport’s green space is the perfect place to control the breeding area for building a better bee. So how will it work? Pump some Barry White into the hives and get this party started?
“I prefer Al Green myself,” Redmond laughs. Actually, it’s balancing act of introducing the bees to other, heartier species. “We like wild bees. And feral bees, because those are survival colonies who are already attuned,” Redmond explains.
“To Be or Not To Bee” by L Kelly LylesOne of the pieces at the Sea-Tac exhibit in Terminal B.
In addition to its conservation efforts, the Flight Path project aims to educate and inspire travelers in the airport via an art exhibit (in Terminal B, of course!). There’s also the Sing for the Bees benefit concert and recent bee hackathon, where techies developed a prototype for an app that travelers can use to compare their flight miles with the bees’.
Redmond hopes it will be an opportunity for travelers to connect with the world of bees and learn from them. “The thing that we can learn from the bees is the collective spirit of cooperation — and consumption,” he says. “Like each of us ‘in the hive’ has to realize that there’s an overall community ethic at work, and we can only eat what the hive can support. So that’s something that is not as easy to swallow, but vital to understand for our own future.”
You may now feel free to cue up Flight of the Bumblebee. Or maybe queue up this video and start a bee breeding revolution of your own:
Infrastructure easements, land leasing efficiency, and market improvements part of package to strengthen Tribal self-determination and create jobs
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior
WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of President Obama’s commitment to support tribal self-governance and self-determination, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today announced a package of regulatory initiatives intended to help tribal leaders spur investment opportunities and economic development in Indian Country.
Highlighted by the President during his historic visit to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe last week, the Department’s actions will help remove regulatory barriers to infrastructure and energy development in Indian Country; increase tribal community access to expanded, high-speed Internet resources via broadband; eliminate leasing impediments to land development; and support the growth of new markets for Native American and Alaska Native businesses.
“Over the 14 months on the job, I’ve had the great privilege of visiting just as many tribal reservations,” said Secretary Jewell, who chairs the White House Council on Native American Affairs. “Last week, on the heels of the President’s visit to Indian Country, I joined Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman David Archambault on a tour of his tribal lands. As Secretary, I have seen first-hand both economic success stories and the dramatic challenges tribes still face to generate employment and develop infrastructure within Indian Country.”
Jewell further said, “While some tribes are experiencing economic progress in recent years, many others continue to face formidable economic hardship. Providing greater deference to tribes under the principles of self-determination and improving our federal regulations to meet the needs of the 21st century means we can help remove some of these barriers to economic development on tribal lands and lay a solid foundation for economic development as well as improve the quality of life for American Indians and Alaska Natives in their homelands.”
The package of Interior regulatory initiatives includes:
Facilitating Indian Country Infrastructure Development
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is proposing new regulations for issuing “right-of-way” approvals on Indian land for all purposes. The rule would modernize and streamline the process for obtaining BIA approval for infrastructure development, providing tribal leaders, private companies, utility firms and energy developers greater certainty when designing or implementing infrastructure, including expanded Internet capacity through broadband access, transmission lines, and water, road and energy projects.
The new regulations propose strict timelines for BIA approval of all requests; eliminate the need for BIA approval of pre-development surveys, and limit the situations in which BIA may disapprove a right-of-way, all in an effort to provide faster approvals of right-of-way applications, facilitating economic development and greater deference to tribal priorities.
Removing Barriers to Land Development through Increased Tribal Self-governance
The BIA will conduct a series of training sessions to help tribal leaders implement the Helping Expedite & Advance Responsible Tribal Homeownership (HEARTH) Act. When a tribal business needs to build a factory or a family wants to purchase a new home on a reservation, the lease generally requires BIA approval. Since 2012, however, the HEARTH Act provides tribes the opportunity to establish and enforce their own land leasing regulations in order to expedite the process for long-term leasing of tribal trust lands for residential, business, renewable energy and other purposes. Twenty-one tribes have submitted proposals to assume leasing responsibilities, and 12 have already received approvals for their regulations. The new BIA training supports tribal self-governance by helping to increase the number of tribes able to control leases on their land without BIA approval. This builds on Interior’s progress in strengthening tribal control over tribal resources.
Supporting the Growth of New Markets for Native American and Alaska Native Small Businesses
Interior’s Indian Affairs bureaus and offices will increase federal procurement opportunities by issuing a new directive improving implementation of the Buy Indian Act and increasing Indian Affairs’ procurement purchases from Native American-owned small businesses by 10 percent. The Buy Indian Act authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to set aside certain qualifying acquisitions for American Indian-and Alaska Native-owned and controlled small businesses. These purchasing contracts issued by Indian Affairs offices and the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Bureau of Indian Education will help increase economic activity and provide greater employment opportunities in Indian Country.
“Underlying these initiatives is the Administration’s firm belief that tribal leaders must have a seat at the table,” said Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Kevin Washburn. “These initiatives we are announcing are part of a coordinated federal effort outlined by the President that builds on the significant progress this Administration has made in partnering with tribes on a nation-to-nation basis to promote prosperous and resilient communities.”
By Alastair Lee Bitsoi and Terry Bowman, Navajo Times
After three days of charring approximately 1,000 acres, the Asááyi Lake Fire has reached the summit of the Chuska Mountains and the inferno is moving in a northeastern direction toward the communities of Naschitti and Sheep Springs, N.M.
The fire will be categorized as a Type II National and State Level Fire, according to the Southwest Area Incident Management Team.
“I got scared,” said Eleanor Largo, who had to evacuate her summer sheep camp near the area locals call Green Meadows.
Green Meadows, which is about 11 miles west of Naschitti, is on the part of the Chuska Mountains known as Biita’dah in Navajo. It’s a region of the mountain where locals have summer camps, and consists of canopies of pinion, juniper and pine trees.
Largo reported to the Navajo Times Sunday night that the fire was north of her summer residence, before she was told by fire officials to depart the mountain. She left her dog and cat behind and sought refuge at the command center and shelter in Naschitti.
“My daughter was crying,” she added, while wiping away tears from her face and having her vitals checked by a first responder.
“Sparks were going toward my house,” she added.
More than 250 firefighters from Bureau of Indian Affairs, including the Navajo Scouts and Navajo Hotshots are battling the blaze. They are being assisted by the Navajo Volunteer Fire Department and the Helitrack Crew.
Fire crews from all over the Navajo Nation and Southwest region of the U.S. are also helping manage the blaze.
According to the Southwest Area Incident Management Team, about close to 1,000 acres have been consumed by the fire that started Friday afternoon north of Asááyi Lake in Crystal, NM.
Dangerous high winds reaching to up to 60 mph in the Chuska Mountains have played a key role in keeping the fire alive.
In response to the growing fire, emergency management centers have been set up at Crystal and Naschitti Chapter Houses.
Once seeing the fire reach the summit and moving down from Biighaadi, the very top of the mountain, Gloria Dennison, of Naschitti, knew the fire was “very serious.”
A wild land firefighter, right (in yellow), can be seen walking in the direction of the fire as a helicopter drops water onto the flames Friday evening on the Chuska Mountains near Asaayi Lake, which is east of Navajo Pine, N.M. Fire officials said they did not know what caused the fire. It is continuing to be investigated.
“Some people left their livestock up there,” she said.
She added that the way fire has shifted with the wind is scary.
“This is not going to stop because of the wind,” the former chapter president said.
Melvin Stevens, a community member and president of the Authorized Local Emergency Response Team in Naschitti, said that the fire is between Whiskey Lake and Sand Springs, N.M., an area where locals also have summer sheep camps.
There is “heavy smoke and flames,” Steven said, adding that the fire has also moved down from the summit, or Biighaadi, to the region of the mountain known as Biita’dah.
“We’re trying to get organized to get people off of the mountain and keep them away from where the fire is at,” Stevens said.
“You can see the flames on our side of the mountain,” Steven said, adding, “This is one of the largest fires we had and its pretty dry up there.”
Residents are advised to stay out of the Crystal/ Asááyi Lake area. Highway 31 from Crystal to Sheep Springs is closed, as well as Highway 30 going to Mexican Springs. Route 321 coming down from Crystal Chapter to Asááyi Lake is also closed.
People are asked by the SWA Incident Management Team to avoid these roads because the dangers of the fire and the unnecessary traffic for fire crews.
The cause of the fire is still unknown at this time, and authorities aren’t ruling out the possibility of it being human caused, said Regional Fire Management Officer Dale Glenmore, who added the fire is currently being investigated by Navajo Nation authorities.
Glenmore, who briefed fire crews at the SWA Incident Management Team command center at Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock Sunday afternoon, explained that fire crews from Zuni, Fort Apache, Black Mesa, Mount Taylor, Prescott, Morman Lake, Globe and Blue Ridge are fighting the blaze.
The Southwest Region Team 3 will take over control of fire operations Monday morning. The fire crews will began work at 6 a.m. according to a Bea Day, Instinct Commander of the Southwest Region Team 3.
For more info, call the Bureau of Indian Affairs Division of Forestry and Wildland Fire Management (928)729-23007 or the Navajo Nation Police Department (928) 871-6111.
Source: Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs
WASHINGTON, D.C. – On the heels of President Obama’s historic visit yesterday to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North and South Dakota, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today announced the implementation of a new initiative to hire more American Indian and Alaska Native veterans to work for Indian Affairs.
“In building a 21st century workforce, we recognize the importance of attracting and retaining veterans in this organization,” said Assistant Secretary Washburn. “Individuals who have served in the Armed Forces have a proven track record for integrity, discipline and leadership, and are highly qualified candidates in a variety of occupations throughout Indian Affairs.”
To achieve the goal of hiring more American Indian and Alaska Native veterans throughout Indian Affairs offices and bureaus, Washburn announced plans to increase the number of Indian veterans hired from the current rate of 9 percent to 12.5 percent.
Indian Affairs bureaus, regional offices and agencies provide a wide range of direct services to American Indian and Alaska Natives and already utilize an Indian Preference policy in hiring. Nearly 100 percent of the positions in the Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Education are staffed with American Indian and Alaska Native employees through Indian Preference. Indian Affairs officials are interested in hiring veterans prior to their discharge from the Armed Forces and are actively seeking members of the National Guard and reserves who are looking for careers that serve Indian Country.
Steps that will be taken to achieve the new initiative include:
Increasing participation in job fairs targeting veterans;
Establishing a presence on the Fedshirevets.gov website to highlight success stories of veterans already working in Indian Affairs;
Utilizing social media such as Facebook and Twitter to promote accomplishments of veterans in Indian Affairs and alert prospects of the availability of open positions;
Leveraging resources with other DOI agencies that have been successful in recruiting veterans to develop new strategies for attracting veterans to employment opportunities within Indian Affairs;
Working with local veterans groups, especially Native American veterans groups, in the field to publish employment opportunities with Indian Affairs;
Using the USAJobs.gov website to highlight positions of interest to veterans that will utilize their skills gained in military service; and
Developing a Senior Executive Service (SES) performance element targeting increases in veteran hires in positions within Indian Affairs offices and bureaus.
For more information about the DOI Indian Affairs’ hire the American Indian and Alaska Native Veterans Initiative, please visit our website at http://www.bia.gov/jobs/Veterans/ or call:
Nancy Nelson, Human Resources Specialist, Indian Affairs Office of Human Capital Management, at (202) 208-6175.
The Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs assists and supports the Secretary of the Interior in fulfilling the United States’ trust responsibility to the federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes, villages and individual trust beneficiaries. The Office of Human Capital Management (OHCM) oversees human resources management, policy and operations for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Indian Educationand the Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs. The Office of Human Capital Management reports to the Deputy Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs – Management within the Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs.
Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission Habitat restoration efforts such as removal of the Elwha Dam, shown here in process on October 8, 2011, have helped bring back salmon spawning grounds.
Indian Country Today
Three tribes are among the recipients of the Green Apple Awards given for environmental education initiatives by the not-for-profit group E3 Washington, a professional group that provides education on environmental development and stability.
The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, President Fawn Sharp of the Quinault Indian Nation and State Senator John McCoy of the Tulalip Tribes will receive awards, E3 announced on June 11. In addition, Billy Frank, Jr., Nisqually tribal elder and longtime chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, will be honored at a gala and awards ceremony to take place on June 26.
E3 is an outgrowth of the Environmental Education Association of Washington (EEAW), the state’s professional association for environmental and sustainability educators and stakeholders. The initiative was established in 2005, when the Governor’s Council on Environmental Education asked the association to take the lead in planning environmental education, according to the EEAW website. “E3” stands for education, environment, and economy. The EEAW is in turn affiliated with the North American Association for Environmental Education.
The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe was chosen to receive the President’s Award for both honoring elder wisdom and teaching youth self-respect, said retired teacher Marie Marrs, who nominated the tribe.
“The annual paddle journeys, alcohol and drug free, are strong signs of cultural revival,” Marrs said, according to the E3 statement. “The Klallam language is taught at local high schools, as a foreign language. Tribal leaders are visible, and honored, at many community events. Native youth are enrolled in natural resource programs at the area Skill Center, as well as Peninsula College, acquiring specials skills and internships with local economic and environmental power bases such as Battelle, Olympic National Park, NOAA, Merrill Ring, the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, and the Feiro Marine Science Center, as well as their own natural resource/fisheries programs. Skill Center classes are co-taught with a tribal culture specialist as part of the team. Peninsula College has a Longhouse, a House of Learning, for special gatherings and ceremonies, the first in the nation to be built on a community college campus.”
Noting that the very aim of the E3 Washington Lead Green goal is to use every location as a teaching tool, E3 Washington board president Tom Hulst—who selected the Llower Elwha Klallam for the award—said that numerous sites managed by the tribe reach this ideal.
“The E3 Washington Lead Green goal is that every place, be it a building or other site becomes a ‘learning laboratory’ for the shift to sustainability,” Hulst said. “In the case of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe multiple sites under its management meets this goal!”
Sharp will accept the Green Apple Award, which recognizes awareness of indigenous knowledge, language and values, as well as encourages a multicultural approach to environmental and sustainability education, all while exemplifying E3’s Lead Green goal, according to the release. Sharp, who is also president of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians and area vice president of the National Congress of American Indians, was nominated by Olympia-based businessman Steve Robinson.
“President Sharp is a very dynamic leader whose incredible energy level is matched only by her skill as a leader and her enthusiastic approach toward serving her people as well both Indian and non-Indian people, particularly in such fields as sustainability, environmental education and health and human rights,” Robinson said in his nomination. “She has long been active in environmental education at all levels, providing leadership in the classroom, the outdoors and the intergovernmental arena. Just one example of many major successes resulting from her leadership was last summer’s Paddle to Quinault—a highly successful canoe journey that brought traditional canoes from near and far to the Quinault homeland. It was a major cultural event enjoyed by thousands, and was a huge historic achievement in helping to build bridges of understanding between tribal and non-tribal communities.”
For his part state Senator John McCoy, Democrat, will receive the 2014 Diversity in Action-Individual E3 Washington Green Apple Award, which “recognizes an individual, organization, tribe or program that demonstrates cultural awareness and encourages a multicultural approach to environmental and sustainability education programs while exemplifying the Lead Green goal,” the E3 statement said.
“Senator McCoy has been a tireless leader in many capacities which have served environmental education, multiculturalism and diversity well,” said Robinson, who nominated McCoy as well as Sharp. “His presence on ‘the hill’ in Olympia has provided an immeasurable amount of benefit to both tribal and non-tribal people and governments. He has sponsored phenomenal, far-reaching legislation, ranging from bills to integrate Indian culture and history into the classroom to a bill to establish Indian Heritage Day. Senator McCoy is one of the hardest working legislators in Olympia and he is committed to the protection and restoration of a healthy, vibrant environment for all.”
Frank, who passed away on May 5, was involved in E3 and will be honored at the awards ceremony, which will take place The awards will be presented at E3’s Summer Evening Awards Event 2014, A Summer Celebration of Environmental and Sustainability Education, on June 26.
“Billy Frank, who was E3’s honorary co-chair, was a friend to, and tireless advocate for, all people and species,” said Ruskey. “His spirit lives in us and continues to guide us, as he always will.”
Redwood burl poaching has long been an issue in the Redwood National Park in California. But now a conservation group says it’s spotted evidence of this type of tree damage in a national forest in Oregon.
Burls are the knobby growths sometimes found at the base of towering redwood trees.
They’re highly valued for their intricate designs. Cross-sections are used to make furniture or artwork.
There’s been an uptick in the theft of redwood burls from public lands in northern California’s redwood region.
The group’s Steve Pedery said that a redwood usually survives having its burl removed.
“When you hack these chunks out of the tree, you’re leaving the tree open to disease, to insects,” Pedery said. “You’re weakening it structurally in case there’s a storm or a wind event in the future. And if there’s a drought, you’re making it very unlikely that that tree will survive.”
Forest Service spokesman Tom Knappenberger said the agency is taking the report seriously. He said theft of redwood burls is potentially a felony violation.
Gov. Jay Inslee directed the state Thursday to tackle mounting public safety concerns and develop a spill response plan as oil train traffic continues to increase, particularly in Southwest Washington.
“The Pacific Northwest is experiencing rapid changes in how crude oil is moving through rail corridors and over Washington waters, creating new safety and environmental concerns,” the directive reads.
The governor asked the Department of Ecology to work with other state agencies, the Federal Railroad Administration and tribal governments to “identify data and information gaps that hinder improvements in public safety and spill prevention and response.”
Specifically, the governor’s directive asks agencies to: – Characterize risk of accidents along rail lines. – Review state and federal laws and rules with respect to rail safety and identify regulatory gaps. – Assess the relative risk of Bakken crude with respect to other forms of crude oil. – Identify data and information gaps that hinder improvements in public safety and spill prevention and response. – Begin development of spill response plans for impacted counties. – Identify potential actions that can be coordinated with neighboring states and British Columbia. – Identify, prioritize, and estimate costs for state actions that will improve public safety and spill prevention and response.
He set an Oct. 1 deadline for agencies to respond.
He also said he’ll reach out to other states to develop coordinated oil transportation safety and spill response plans, and pledged to ask the 2015-17 Legislature for money for oil train safety.
The directive comes as the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council is reviewing an application by Tesoro Corp. and Savage Cos. to build an oil shipping terminal at the Port of Vancouver. Bakken crude would arrive at Vancouver by train and leave by ship or barge on the Columbia River.
As governor, Inslee will have the final say on the Tesoro-Savage permit. “We will make the right decision at the right time,” he said, without tipping his hand.
The first-term Democrat is in Vancouver all day today. He presented awards to Washington State Department of Transportation employees, and is scheduled to visit a local technology firm, Smith-Root, that is expanding. This evening he will give the commencement address at the Washington School for the Deaf’s graduation ceremony.
A teenager finishes her cigarette in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood. Darren McCollester/Getty Images
Cigarette smoking among U.S. high school students has dropped to the lowest level in 22 years, federal health officials Thursday.
The percentage of students who reported smoking a cigarette at least one day in the last 30 days fell to 15.7 percent in 2013, according to the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a large federal survey that has been tracking youth smoking since 1991.
That’s the lowest rate since the survey began, and it means the United States has met the federal government’s of cutting teen cigarette use to 16 percent or less, officials said.
But officials say the fight against tobacco use remains far from over.
“We’re encouraged to see high school students are making better choices in some areas, such as smoking,” , director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters during a briefing Thursday. “But we still face big challenges in reducing overall tobacco use.”
Too many kids still smoke cigarettes, and there are other disturbing trends in tobacco use, Frieden said. More kids are using hookahs, for example, and more are using electronic cigarettes. In addition, too many still use smokeless tobacco, and the decline in cigar use among teens has slowed.
In addition to the decline in cigarette smoking, the survey also found the percentage of kids getting into physical fights has dropped, as has the percentage who are sexually active. But 41 percent reported texting or emailing while driving, and condom use among those who are sexually active has fallen.
