June, 2006
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Video Q&A with Al Gore on climate change and the new movie
Saturday, June 17th, 2006Ted Nugent: Call Him Chickenhawk
Friday, June 16th, 2006Fantastic article on someone who plays a huge role in spreading misinformation amongst the outdoors community.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060528/NEWS/605280335/1017/FEATURES08
And how Ted managed to avoid the draft makes President Bush look like a war hero.
In that 1990 interview with the Free Press and from information collected from the Chickenhawk Web site, Nugent told about how he avoided the draft: “He claims that 30 days before his Draft Board Physical, he stopped all forms of personal hygiene. The last 10 days he ingested nothing but junk food and Pepsi, and a week before his physical, he stopped using the bathroom altogether, virtually living inside his pants caked with excrement and urine. That spectacle won Nugent a deferment.”
It says volumes about the character of a man who calls himself the Motor City Madman. The Detroit native went out of his way to avoid the defining experience of his generation, then has the gall to talk about how eagerly he would have killed, “if” he had served.
The BWCAW: 25 Years Later
Thursday, June 15th, 2006Fantastic article and audio on the great Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. This is quite a hot topic these days as controversy ( some real, some forced ) lingers. Some folks want to see the BWCAW turned into nothing but motors and sold off to private development. Thankfully, the BWCAW was created with the help of people who were not shortsighted in that regard.
audio link:
http://www.publicradio.org/tools/media/player/news/features/2003/10/21_kelleherb_bwca
article link:
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2003/10/21_kelleherb_bwca/
Ely, Minn. — This time of year, Sawbill Lake’s mirror surface reflects an impenetrable wall of pine green, maple red and aspen gold. The air carries a a cool, Christmasy blend of balsam and sweet fresh water. And sometimes when the wind drops, there’s almost no sound at all.
Canoe outfitter Bill Hansen has lived much of his life on the banks of Sawbill Lake, a southern access to the one million-acre Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
“I can’t believe it’s been 25 years already,” he says.
Chris Matthews talks conservation with Robert Redford (video)
Monday, June 12th, 2006I can’t remember the last time I saw Matthews discuss conservation.
http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?g=8d66d17e-86ac-4507-bf7a-479de896d0dd&f=00&fg=copy
Who’s Ruining Our National Parks?
Sunday, June 11th, 2006A fantastic article on just what is happening to our great national parks. A must read.
http://www.vanityfair.com/features/general/articles/060607fege04
Take the Montana FWP bear identification test
Friday, June 9th, 2006A pretty interesting experience which tests how well you can differentiate between black and grizzly bears in the field.
Cougars back in Kentucky? Sightings reported, but unconfirmed
Friday, June 9th, 2006http://www.topix.net/content/kri/1015149083361874024605258844683481972028
The wildcats may have lost their title as the biggest cats in Kentucky. Mammoth Cave National Park has notified the public about an increase in reported cougar sightings on its land in Western Kentucky.
In the past nine months, the park received three unconfirmed sightings of cougars — who outweigh their smaller cousin by about 100 pounds — two of which came from Mammoth Cave rangers. Park officials have no photographic or natural evidence of the large cats, which haven’t been native to Kentucky for over 150 years.
Superintendent Patrick Reed said the park has posted safety tips. The advisory includes information about how to best avoid a dangerous encounter with a cougar, and what hikers should do if they find themselves face to face with one of the cats.
Campers, leave your firewood at home
Monday, June 5th, 2006http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/local/14729031.htm
For many campers, the routine is ingrained.
Pack the gear and cooler. Count heads. Make sure the kids are buckled in. And for good measure, grab some firewood from the back yard and toss it in a spare corner of the car or truck.
But with invasive pests like emerald ash borers and gypsy moths threatening Minnesota’s borders, a new line of thinking is taking root: Leave the firewood at home.
Beaverhead-Deerlodge national forest – a solution?
Monday, June 5th, 2006Recently, several conservation groups ( TU, NWF , and MWA among others) met with local industry in and around the Beaverhead-Deerlodge national forest in Montana. The goal was to craft a “compromise” solution for the management of the BH-DL.
The final agreement created a bit of controversy, with some environmental groups and off-road vehicle groups displeased with the proposed outcome. Here are the basic agreements according to the Montana Wilderness Association:
In an effort to break the gridlock over Wilderness that has existed in Montana for more than 20 years, MWA has joined with two other statewide conservation groups and five Montana timber companies to create a new vision for the management of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. The agreement, if adopted by the Forest Service, could start us on the path to 573,619 new Wilderness acres in Montana.
The following PDF map shows the proposed land designation in the agreement:
http://www.ecosystemrg.com/beaverhead-deerlodge/press/AppBFinalLandDesig_11x17.pdf
The main contention for some environmental groups is that it seems we are “trading” 700,000 acres of high quality habitat for 570,000 acres of ice and rock wilderness. They may have a point. But the planners involved also have a great point – new wilderness is always a good thing. And designation has been non-existent in Montana for years.
Roger Ebert’s review of ” An Inconvenient Truth”
Friday, June 2nd, 2006http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060601/REVIEWS/60517002
When I said I was going to a press screening of “An Inconvenient Truth,” a friend said, “Al Gore talking about the environment! Bor…ing!” This is not a boring film. The director, Davis Guggenheim, uses words, images and Gore’s concise litany of facts to build a film that is fascinating and relentless. In 39 years, I have never written these words in a movie review, but here they are: You owe it to yourself to see this film. If you do not, and you have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you decided not to.
