Happy Earth Day

Happy Earth Day, everyone. I'm Jake, your latest blogger, and I hope to regularly post at least every Wednesday with news and notes from the latest developments in the Conservation fight, amongst the Mountaineers and anything I may find interesting in the paper, on TV, or on the internet. without further ado, lets get the ball rolling:

Raging River preservation fills "donut hole" in I-90 Greenway (link to Seattle Times)

Recently brought to the attention of the CEC is the impending wolf slaughter in Idaho. The de-listing of Idaho and Montana Grey Wolves was approved by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, a decision based largely on what Salazar called "good science," and an apparent endorsement of wolf management at the state level (Wyoming wolves are still protected). It hardly inspires confidence in conservationists when the Governor of Idaho, C.L. "Butch" Otter proclaims he would like to be the first person to kill a wolf when the hunt opens. Idaho's Dept. of Fish and Game will target 26 packs, and the de-listing is scheduled to take effect May 4th.

plenty has been written and editorialized, here is but a sampling:
NY Times, April 12th
Daily Camera (Boulder CO) April 14th
Idaho Statesmen April 15th

The sad reality is that, without federal protection, there seems to be very little standing in the way of Wolves being hunted to near extinction, just as they were before they were re-introduced to the Northern Rockies in '95/'96

Lastly, there is, of course, some "good news" on the front of Climate Change as a result of human activity, as much as such a thing can exist concerning this 900-pound gorilla that haunts seemingly every aspect of modern industrialized civilization. The EPA has officially ruled that Greenhouse Gases are a "threat to human health and the environment." Although to most eco-/enviro-conscious folks, such a decision at this late a stage may seem strangely naive, it nonetheless represents a huge leap forward in allowing the EPA to mandate reductions in CO2 and other Greenhouse pollutants (such as methane and Nitrous oxide). Getting Federal, state, and local governments to recognize greenhouse gasses as a pollutant, just as PCBs and Lead, will be a major battle victory in the war against Global Warming.
Seattle Times Article, April 18th