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The Mountain Chickadee
Newsletter of the Sangre de Cristo Audubon Society
Volume 45 Number 3, September, 2016
Photograph by Tom Taylor
Upcoming Activities
Mark your Calendar
Illustrated Evening
Programs
Wednesday, September 14
Monarch Butterflies and the
Southwest Monarch Study
Steve Carey
Wednesday, October 12
TBA
Wednesday, November 9
TBA
Check the Sangre Website for
information. Note the new location
at the Randall Davey Audubon Center
and time: 6:30 PM.
Field Trips
Saturday, September 10
Las Vegas National Wildlife
Refuge and Environs
Sunday, November 6
Back Roads of Las Vegas Wildlife
Refuge
A Century of Saving Migratory Birds
A field station popped up last month amid the famous monuments framing
Washington, D.C.'s National Mall. Ornithologists set up nets to briefly
capture some of the park's flying residents, including Gray Catbirds, Song
Sparrows, and Mourning Doves. But the scientists' real objective was to
draw attention to a landmark in bird conservation, the Migratory Bird Treaty
Act.
One-hundred years ago this August, the Migratory Bird Treaty was signed by
the United States and Great Britain (acting on behalf of Canada) to protect
the millions of birds that were being killed each year, primarily for feathers
to adorn ladies’ hats. So called “plume hunters” were following in the path
of earlier hunters, who had already wiped out the Passenger Pigeon,
Carolina Parakeet, Great Auk, Labrador Duck, and Heath Hen by the end of
the 19th Century. Mexico later joined the pact, and the United States also
struck deals with Russia and Japan.
Birds that migrated to and from their breeding grounds had to run a
gauntlet of threats to their very existence. But the fledgling Audubon
Societies being founded in various states were starting to exert national
political and economic influence against this slaughter. As early as 1900,
women were being encouraged to boycott hats that used bird bodies,
plumage, or nests. In 1900 Audubon had conducted the first Christmas Bird
Count which sought to replace the tradition of people going out to shoot as
many birds as possible on Christmas Day simply as a pastime with counting
and recording the species and numbers of birds seen.
Audubon was also a pioneer in pushing politicians to protect the habitat
that birds need to live and reproduce. Even before President Teddy
Roosevelt began creating National Wildlife Refuges, Audubon Societies had
established wildlife refuges on private lands. But the profit to be made from
bird plumage was so great that three game wardens hired by Audubon were
murdered in the line of duty. The murders of game wardens made headlines
throughout the country and helped engender the political will necessary to
move Congress to authorize the Migratory Bird Treaty.
But while the Treaty was signed in 1916, it wasn’t until two years later that
Congress passed the enabling legislation to enforce it with the Migratory
Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). is made it illegal to “pursue, hunt, take, capture, kill,
or sell” a migratory bird or any of its parts including nests, eggs and
feathers. Further laws expanded the protection of birds, especially raptors.
Thanks to the MBTA, many birds no longer face the threats of a century
ago, and for that the centennial of the Treaty and the Act are celebrated.
Every year since the early 1990s, people all over North, Central, and South
America have been participating in the Migratory Bird Count on the second
weekend of May
Thanks to the citizen science being conducted on migratory birds, we have a
better picture of their state and threats to their existence, now primarily
habitat loss and climate change. Audubon continues to lead the way, as it
did a century ago, to tell the world about the threat to birds and to point to
actions humans can take to help ensure that no more species go extinct.
Audubon Activities
Illustrated Evening Programs
Wednesday, September 14
Wednesday, October 12
Wednesday, November 9
Monarch Butterflies and
the Southwest Monarch
Study
TBA
TBA
Steve Carey
Steve, the Butterfly Guy, will talk about
Monarch butterflies, summarizing our
state of knowledge (and ignorance) for
New Mexico specifically. He also will
highlight ongoing tagging efforts during
the southward migration for winter as a
means of learning more about New
Mexico's role in that unique, nternational,
continent-scale phenomenon.
Check the Sangre Website Check the Sangre Website
for information. Note the
for information. Note the
new location at the Randall new location at the Randall
Davey Audubon Center.
Davey Audubon Center.
Meetings are held on the second Wednesday of September–November and February–April at 6:30 PM in the Education building at the Randall Davey
Audubon Center at the end of Upper Canyon Rd. in Santa Fe. Abundant parking is available. Everyone is welcome. There is no charge; the building is
wheelchair accessible. A short update of environmental issues and chapter activities precedes the program.
Field Trips
Saturday, September 10
November 15-20
Las Vegas National Wildlife
Refuge and Environs
Festival of the Cranes
Bosque del Apache NWR
The festival offers many tours, classes,
This trip has been canceled for lack of a trip exhibits, and even a wildlife art show. The
leader.
Bosque is an Audubon Important Bird Area.
For information call the Bosque del Apache
National Wildlife Refuge at 575-835-1828 or
visit the website.
Sunday, November 6
Back Roads of Las Vegas
Wildlife Refuge
Leader: Roy Stephenson, 505-500-6413,
[email protected]
This half-day trip will focus on the rarelyopened back roads of Las Vegas NWR.
Contact leader for meeting time and place.
Christmas Bird Counts
The National Audubon Society began the
Christmas Bird Counts (CBC) in 1901.
These counts provide important
information about wintering bird
populations.
There are close to 30 counts held in the
state of New Mexico and the Sangre de
Cristo Chapter participates in 10 counts in
its area. The CBCs will be held between
mid-December and mid-January. Novices
are welcome and will be paired with more
experienced birders.
For information, check the web sites:
Sangre de Cristo Audubon,
The New Mexico Audubon Council,
Audubon New Mexico, or
New Mexico Ornithological Society.
Contact the leaders of each count you
want to participate in to make count
arrangements.
Sangre de Cristo Audubon Society Field Trips are designed to promote understanding and appreciation of wildlife and their habitats. Our aim is to cultivate awareness of
outdoor ethics in an atmosphere of friendly companionship. Field trips are free and open to the public. Some area entry fees are required and driving costs are shared.
Participants are expected to carpool whenever possible. On all field trips, wear walking shoes and clothing appropriate for the weather. Bring water, lunch, and binoculars.
No pets, please. Always call the trip leader before the trip. Trips may be cancelled for a variety of reasons.
Audubon New Mexico
Randall Davey Audubon Center and
Sanctuary
The grounds at the Randall Davey Audubon Center are open
Monday to Saturday, 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM, closed Sundays. Stroll
the gardens as birds visit the birdfeeders, or walk the trails and
enjoy the natural beauty and serenity of the 135-acre wildlife
sanctuary. The grounds also house a nature store with a complete
selection of field guides, bird-related items, and more.
Additionally, we are an environmental education center and offer
a variety of educational events. Please check our new website
randalldavey.audubon.org or call (505-983-4609) for information
or to register for events.
The Center is located at the end of Upper Canyon Road on the far
east side of Santa Fe.
Historic House
Tours
Step back in time as you stroll
through the old Santa Fe style
home (originally a lumber mill
built in 1847 by the U.S. Army), of
the artist Randall Davey
(1887-1964). This docent-led tour
will give you an opportunity to
view some of Davey’s most
spectacular works of art, as well
as a beautiful collection of
Spanish Colonial and European
antiques. Tours are held each
Friday at 2:00 PM. Reservations
are recommended. Cost is $5 per person. For information call
505-983-4609.
New participants are sent a Research Kit with complete
instructions for participating, as well as a bird identification poster
and more. You provide the feeder(s) and seed. Then each fall
participants receive our 16-page, year-end report, Winter Bird
Highlights. Participants also receive access to the digital version of
Living Bird, the Cornell Lab’s award-winning, quarterly magazine.
There is a $18 annual participation fee for U.S. residents ($15 for
Cornell Lab members). Canadians can participate by joining Bird
Studies Canada for CAN$35. The participation fee covers materials,
staff support, web design, data analysis, and the year-end report
Project Feederwatch
Help Audubon Track Climate Change
Audubon’s Birds and Climate Report predicts that over half of
North American bird species will lose more than 50% of their
current climatic range by 2080. To test these predictions Audubon
is piloting the new citizen science project Climate Watch. Climate
Watch aims to document species’ responses to climate change by
having volunteers in the field look for birds where Audubon’s
climate models project they should be in the 2020s. This is a pilot program between the National Audubon climate
team and participating chapters. In 2016, the Central NM Audubon
Chapter participated and Audubon is looking for more participants
in the next phase of the program in 2017.
Climate Watch will focus on species for which our climate models
have strong predictions and which have a high detectability in the
field. The 2017 pilot focuses on three species of bluebird: Eastern,
Mountain, and Western. Bird Walks
Every Saturday at 8:30 AM
Project Feederwatch: Count Birds for
Science
Project FeederWatch is a winter-long survey of birds that visit
feeders at backyards, nature centers, community areas, and other
locales in North America. FeederWatchers periodically count the
birds they see at their feeders from November through early April
and send their counts to Project FeederWatch. FeederWatch data
help scientists track broadscale movements of winter bird
populations and long-term trends in bird distribution and
abundance.
Anyone interested in birds can participate. FeederWatch is
conducted by people of all skill levels and backgrounds, including
children, families, individuals, classrooms, retired persons, youth
groups, nature centers, and bird clubs. You can count birds as
often as every week, or as infrequently as you like: the schedule is
completely flexible. All you need is a bird feeder, bird bath, or
plantings that attract birds.
Climate Watch will occur over two distinct fifteen-day periods each
year, in the winter and in the breeding season. The first phase of
the pilot occurs in January and the next phase covers the breeding
season; June 1—June 15. Participants may choose to conduct their
point counts on one or more days of the count period. We ask that
you conduct your point counts in the morning (before noon)
whenever possible.
If you are interested in participating in our area, go to the
Audubon Climate watch page or contact Beth Bardwell, Director of
Conservation for Audubon New Mexico.
Amazon Smile
Sangre de Cristo Audubon Society is now registered with Amazon
smile. We have already received some donations through this
program and will receive more if eople use the Sangre de Cristo
portal for their Amazon purchases. Amazon will donate 0.5% of
the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to Sangre De
Cristo Audubon Society whenever you shop on AmazonSmile.
Simply click here to register Sangre as your favorite charity.
Environment News
Pesticides Are Really Bad for Bees
Affluence Attracts Biodiversity
New research has provided some of the strongest evidence yet
that pesticides can do serious, long-term damage to bee
populations. And the findings may help fuel the ongoing debate
about whether certain insecticides should be permitted for
agricultural use at all.
When you’re rich, you can have more of everything—more
opportunities for travel, more flashy gadgets, more house, and
now, something else: more bugs. A new study suggests that
people in affluent neighborhoods have a richer variety of
arthropods in their homes, something they call the “luxury
effect.” It works like this: People in wealthy zip codes tend to
have more extensive landscaping with a greater variety of plant
species. That means, in turn, that the arthropods they attract—
creepy crawlies including spiders, flies, and millipedes—are also
more diverse. To see whether this idea had legs, a team of
entomologists strapped on kneepads and headlamps and scoured
50 different homes in Raleigh for any arthropod they could find.
They collected 10,000 specimens from more than 300 different
families, from the humble pill bug to the panic-inducing paper
wasp. They found that houses in neighborhoods with the highest
average incomes had more species than those in the lowest
income breacket., they reported in Biology Letters. For example, a
house in a neighborhood with an average annual income of
$33,510 had members of 74 arthropod families living inside,
whereas a house in a neighborhood with an average annual
income of $176,289 had members from 105 families. Houses in
nice neighborhoods didn’t have more of any one particular
species, though—they just had a whole lot more species.
Understanding of how these arthropods fit into the indoor
ecosystem could shed light onto how pests like bedbugs and
termites thrive—and how other species might be able to keep
them in check. The next challenge after that? Getting people to
befriend their tiny, many-legged roommates.
Reviewed in Science 5 August, 2016
The new study, published in the journal Nature Communications,
examines the question of whether the use of a common (and
highly controversial) class of pesticides called neonicotinoids can
be linked to wild bee declines in England. The results suggest that
this could be the case.
Using 18 years of data collected on more than 60 bee species in
England, the researchers found that species foraging on pesticidetreated crops have experienced much more severe losses
than species foraging on other plants. The study provides some of
the first evidence that the effects of neonicotinoid exposure can
scale up to cause major damage to bees.
In the meantime, scientists from Bayer Crop Science, a major
manufacturer of neonicotinoid pesticides, took issue with the
study’s correlational findings, which they’ve pointed out cannot
be used to argue with certainty that pesticides cause declines in
bees.
The authors of the new study acknowledged that pesticides are by
no means the only factor contributing to bee declines. “Bees have
been undergoing declines for a long time and it’s been linked to a
number of things — habitat fragmentation, climate change,” said
the lead author of the paper. “This is a contributing factor to bee
declines, it’s not the sole cause. If you stop using neonicotinoids
tomorrow, you wouldn’t solve the problem.” But many experts
feel that limiting their use would certainly help.
Washington Post, 18 a\August 2016
Sperm Whale Foreheads Designed for
Ramming
Ever since a sperm whale head-butted and sank a whaler's ship in
1821, whalers and scientists have theorized that the mammals'
boxy foreheads might be adapted for use as battering rams—
possibly for male-on-male battles over access to females. But
skeptics point out that structures key to the whale's clicking
communication would be front and center in such an impact. In a
new study, researchers tested the idea by running virtual crash
tests: They simulated ramming impacts on a sperm whale's skull,
and recorded where the impacts produce the most mechanical
stress. The simulations showed that vertical tissues that divide up
the large, oil-filled organ—called the “junk” by whalers—help
spread the force of impact over the skull; removing those
compartments increased overall stress on the skull by 45%, the
authors report. Male ramming behavior has only been observed
once in sperm whales—but, the authors say, these contests may
be occurring below the surface.
Science, 9 April 2016
Cloud-gliding Frigate Birds
Frigate Birds are among the highest fliers in the avian world.
Researchers have shown that Great Frigate Birds stay aloft for
months at a time, using a variety of strategies that take
advantage of atmospheric conditions. Locally, they exploit uplift
and favorable winds, but for long-distance transoceanic travel,
frigate birds fly up to 4000 m high to exploit low-pressure
conditions within clouds for gliding. Understanding the strategies
of these impressive voyagers increases our understanding of longdistance migration and our appreciation for the extremes that
flight adaptations can reach.
Science 1 July 2016
Nature Helps Calm—Even Inmates
Inmates at a prison who watched nature videos several times a
week over a year committed 26% fewer violent infractions
relative to inmates who didn't watch the videos, scientists
reported in August at the American Psychological Association's
annual meeting.
Science 12 August 2016
Climate Corner
Boreal Forest Fires
Scientists have been warning for decades that climate change is a
threat to the immense tracts of forest that ring the Northern
Hemisphere, with rising temperatures, drying trees and earlier
melting of snow contributing to a growing number of wildfires.
The near-destruction of a Canadian city by a fire that sent almost
90,000 people fleeing for their lives is grim proof that the threat
to these vast stands of spruce and other resinous trees,
collectively known as the boreal forest, is real. And scientists say a
large-scale loss of the forest could have profound consequences
for efforts to limit the damage from climate change.
Global warming is suspected as a prime culprit in the rise of these
fires. The warming is hitting northern regions especially hard:
Temperatures are climbing faster there than for the Earth as a
whole, snow cover is melting prematurely, and forests are drying
out earlier than in the past. The excess heat may even be causing
an increase in lightning, which often sets off the most devastating
wildfires.
The forests of the world are helping to offset rising human
emissions of greenhouse gases, absorbing a significant portion of
the carbon dioxide that the burning of fossil fuels throws into the
air. So far, even as fires and other disturbances increase, the
forests are growing more than enough to compensate.
But scientists see a risk that if the destruction from fires and
insects keeps rising, the situation will reverse, and some of the
carbon that has been locked away in the forests will return to the
atmosphere as carbon dioxide, accelerating the pace of global
warming and further magnifying the stress on the forests — a
dangerous feedback loop. Read more here: Boreal Fires
NY Times, May 11, 2016
How a ‘Godzilla’ El Niño Shook Up
Weather Forecasts
The 14-month El Niño climate event that ended this June brought
impacts across the globe, from wildfires in Indonesia to drought in
Peru. The main drivers of El Niño conditions, ocean temperatures
in the central and eastern Pacific, were as high as 3°C above the
average, making this event one of the three most intense El Niños
on record. For the most part, forecasts of its impacts on weather
patterns were borne out, but forecasters fared relatively poorly in
California, which relies on El Niños to deliver rains to parched
areas. Along the U.S. West Coast, the jet stream was shifted
hundreds of kilometers north last winter, which had the effect of
dousing the Pacific Northwest with extraordinary precipitation
while Southern California experienced its fourth straight year of
drought. Now, scientists are analyzing why their climate models
were blindsided and how they can be improved.
Science 24 Jun 2016
Earth's Lakes Are Warming Faster
Than Its Air
The world's lakes are warming faster than both the oceans and
the air around them, a global survey of hundreds of lakes
shows. The rapid temperature rise could cause widespread
damage to lake ecosystems, say scientists who presented the
findings in December, 2015. The global effects could be even
more serious, because higher lake temperatures could trigger
the conversion of billions of tons of carbon stored in lake
sediments to methane and carbon dioxide (CO₂), in a feedback
effect that could accelerate global warming.
The temperature increase—a summertime warming of about a
third of a degree per decade over 25 years—is pretty modest,
but you don't need 2° to 3° increases in lake temperatures to
have profound impacts.”
On average, lakes warmed 0.34°C per decade, more than twice
the 0.12°C warming per decade measured in the oceans over a
similar period. That the oceans lag isn't unexpected, given their
enormous mass. But many lakes are warming even faster than
surface air temperatures, which rose an average of 0.25°C per
decade between 1979 and 2012.
The rapid summertime warming bodes ill for lake species.
Freshwater fish that like the cold, such as lake trout, could
suffer. So could species that rely on increasingly threatened lake
ice. The Baikal seal in Russia's Lake Baikal gives birth on the ice.
Large changes in our lakes are not only unavoidable, but are
probably already happening.
Warming lakes may have global implications as well. As aquatic
organisms die, their carbon-rich remains fall into the water
column, where they can be stored in sediments or broken down
by micro organisms into gases. “Lakes are already massive
furnaces for processing terrestrial organic matter” and creating
greenhouse gases, one researcher says. “Warming these regions
further is likely to increase their role in combusting carbon to
CO₂.”
Science, 18 December, 2015
Carbon Sequestration Demonstrated
Atmospheric CO2 can be sequestered by injecting it into basaltic
rocks, providing a potentially valuable way to undo some of the
damage done to the atmosphere by fossil fuel burning.
Researchers in Iceland injected CO2 into wells
that pass
through basaltic lavas at depths between 400 and 800 meters.
Most of the injected CO2 was mineralized in less than 2 years.
Carbonate minerals are stable, so this approach should avoid
the risk of carbon leakage inherent in some other deep injection
schemes.
Science 10 June, 2016
However, because the Hunt partnership does not include PNM,
there is no provision for the removal of the existing—and soon
to be obsolete—115 KV line. In this case two transmission lines is
definitely not better than one. Sangre de Cristo Audubon Society
has recommended that the proposal be approved only if removal
of the old line is part of the package, something that should be
obvious.
We are also recommending that the Rio Grande
crossing and that of the Pojoaque river be undergrounded to
reduce its effect on the riparian areas (although this is pretty
unlikely).
President’s Column
We are in the waning months of a Presidential Campaign that
has been less than edifying. For all the mud that has been
slung, there has been precious little attention paid to
environmental issues so far. But as the articles on the next
page demonstrate, what the Congress and the President do—or
don’t do—can be important to the protection of the natural
world that we so cherish.
Both Presidents Clinton and Obama have protected large areas
through the power of the Antiquities Act. While George W.
Bush did create large protected marine reserves, the Republican
party has been associated with attempts at the state and
federal levels to privatize federal lands or turn their
management over to individual states.
So My message is to VOTE in November despite the angry
rhetoric. It is important to the environment!
Verde Transmission Project
Earlier this year, Hunt Power, L.P., a developer of electrical
transmission lines, contacted Sangre de Cristo Audubon about a
proposed transmission project along the Rio Grande. The
proposed 30 mile, 345 kilovolt (KV) line would connect PNM’s
Ojo and Norton substations. It would approximately parallel
an existing PNM 115 KV line connecting these substations and
would provide a high capacity connection that would increase
system stability to disturbances such as lightning strikes and
other outages. PNM is seen as the eventual customer for the
power this line would provide.
This proposal can be thought of as “son of OLE”, the 30-50 mile
Ojo Line Extension proposed in the 1980s that would have
gone through the Jemez Mountains and the Valles Caldera. At
the time, the obvious question that was asked was why the line
could not follow the existing right of way. That proposal was
finally defeated by a sustained public outcry.
Because the proposal avoids San Ildefonso Pueblo lands, it
follows a different corridor to the east of the existing 115 KV
line south of the Rio Grande crossing just north of San
Ildefonso and farther from the Rio Grande.
Moving the
corridor farther from the river would be an improvement, as
would the fact that the river crossing would be directly
perpendicular to the river, both reducing the exposure to birds
migrating along the river.
We have two avenues to press our case. The BLM will soon
begin an environmental analysis of the project since it crosses
BLM land, and presumably the Public Regulatory Commission
will have to approve the project. We plan to use both of these
avenues to try to make the project less harmful to birds.
Burrowing Owl Shot Near Santa Fe
Driving across the Caja del Rio plateau the morning of June 27,
Julie Luetzelschwab photographed two burrowing owls on
federal land, peering out from tall grass dotted with cacti, their
yellow eyes wide and unblinking. Less than a foot tall, their
bodies were half obscured by the brush.
Three days later, one of the owls was spotted again, but its mate
was missing. That owl’s body was discovered nearby, its feathers
clumped together and wings splayed wide, as if it were struck
down midflight. One leg was missing. X-rays confirmed the bird
had been hit by shrapnel embedded in its left wing and shoulder
blade.
Burrowing owls are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act,
which prohibits the hunting, capture, killing or transporting of
migratory birds on federal land. Killing an owl is punishable by up
to six months in prison and a $500 fine, according to the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service.
Luetzelschwab said she set up her wildlife camera near the area
where she had first sighted the birds, and when she retrieved the
film, she discovered three small chicks being fed on the hour by a
lone parent. She was worried that whoever shot the owl would
come back for the chicks. And when she went back to check on
them, she said, she heard gunshots.
Killings of the burrowing owl are rare. In 2015, just one
burrowing owl was intentionally killed in the nation, according
to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, although nearly 50 were
relocated for various reasons in four states.
Donna Hummel, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Land
Management in Santa Fe, said this incident was the first of its
kind to be reported in recent years. Hummel said the BLM
continues to monitor the area where the burrowing owl was
killed and hopes to work with other conservation groups to
create signage, especially for those who might not know that it
is illegal to kill the birds. “Our job on public land is to protect
them to the best of our ability,” she said. “And we do that with a
lot of help from the community.”
Advocacy groups are offering a $5,000 reward for information
leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who shot and
killed the owl.
Santa Fe New Mexican 5 July 2016
Political Issues
GOP and Democratic Platforms
Highlight Stark Differences on Energy
and Climate
If there was any lingering confusion on how America's two major
political parties differ over climate and energy policy, platforms
released by the Republican and Democratic Parties during this
summer’s national conventions made their often polar-opposite
views exceedingly clear.
Today's designation builds on the President's strong record of
protecting our nation's natural resources. To date, he has
permanently protected more than 265 million acres of America's
public lands and waters -- more than any other president in
history.
The White House
The National Park Service at 100
Republicans would dismantle the Environmental Protection
Agency as it currently exists and abolish the Clean Power Plan, the
centerpiece of the Obama administration's plan to rein in
greenhouse gas emissions.
Democrats called for a price on carbon, implementation of the
Clean Power Plan, which was stayed by the Supreme Court in
February, as well as other regulatory measures to reduce
greenhouse gases, and prioritization of renewable energy over
natural gas.
While platforms are more outline of party beliefs than binding
policy, they nonetheless offer a picture of the widening gulf
between the increasingly conservative Republican Party and a
Democratic Party that has adopted many more progressive
policies.
The GOP platform states "coal is an abundant, clean, affordable,
reliable domestic energy resource" and questions the scientific
integrity of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change, the global authority on climate science.
Democrats say climate change is an "urgent threat" and call for an
80 percent cut in carbon emissions.
Inside Climate News 26 July 2016
President Establishes New National
Monument
In honor of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service in
late August, President Obama designated the Katahdin Woods
and Waters National Monument.
In honor of this anniversary, President Obama is designating the
Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument -- a site that
encompasses awe-inspiring mountains, forests, and waters of
north-central Maine. Land for the Monument was donated to the
United States by Roxanne Quimby, a founder of Burt’s Bees. The
gift included $40M to endow operation of the new Monument.
The new national monument will protect approximately 87,500
acres, including the stunning East Branch of the Penobscot River
and a portion of the Maine Woods. In addition to protecting
spectacular geology, significant biodiversity and recreational
opportunities, the new monument will help support climate
resiliency in the region. The protected area -- together with the
neighboring Baxter State Park to the west -- will ensure that this
large landscape remains intact, bolstering the forest’s resilience
against the impacts of climate change.
About 6,000 people gathered under the Roosevelt Arch at the
Yellowstone National Park’s north entrance in August to hear
federal officials and governors extol the virtues of what’s hailed as
“America’s best idea,” a system started in 1916 by then-President
Woodrow Wilson that now includes more than 400 sites on 85
million acres in the 50 states and territories.
But these days, the views at the parks aren’t all pretty. The
system faces a $12 billion maintenance shortfall that has left such
entities as bridges and restrooms in disrepair. Yellowstone’s
backlog alone is $603 million with crumbling roads, buildings and
wastewater systems. Congress has declined to provide funding
needed for fixes that have lingered for more than a decade.
The Interior Department has appealed to Congress, and for years
lawmakers have declined to increase the services appropriation
above a standard of about $3 billion. Republican members instead
called on the Government Accountability Office to investigate the
Park Service to determine whether it was collecting enough visitor
fees and membership dues to address the problem on its own.
In a December report, the GAO concluded that Congress’s $3.1
billion appropriation over about a decade amounted to an
8 percent funding drop when adjusted for inflation. Lawmakers
who called on the service to create a higher revenue stream
overlooked one major obstacle: Congress. It virtually barred the
agency from increasing rates and must pass a law to change that.
But even if the service could increase rates, will there be enough
visitors to pay them a few decades from now? A significant group
of park visitors are older than 65, and at that age, entrance is free.
The bulk of paying visitors are between 50 and 60, paving the way
for a revenue crash from fees in the next decade. The Park Service
desperately needs new visitors as it moves into its new century.
Washington Post, 25 August, 2016
Sangre de Cristo Audubon Society
P. O. Box 22083
Santa Fé, NM 87502-2083
Sangre de Cristo Audubon Board of Directors 2016
Officers:
President
Tom Jervis
Vice President
Vacant
Treasurer
Carlyn Jervis
988-1708
Program
Tom Jervis
988-1708
<[email protected]>
Joe Fitzgibbon
662-7707
Secretary
Nancy Brandt
982-2776
Field trips
Membership
Publicity
Vacant
Tom Eglehoff
Vacant
988-1708
Committee Chairs:
Conservation
Newsletter Editor
Members at Large: Sheila Gershen
Adele Caruthers
Mary Ristow
Tom Taylor
988-3143
984-3279
820-0906
424-3238
Vacant
699-8838
New Mexico Audubon Council Delegates:
Mary Ristow
820-0906
Tom Jervis
988-1708
Sangre de Cristo Audubon Society on the World-Wide Web
Audubon en Español
New Mexico Rare Bird Alert
Matt Baumann, Compiler
The New Mexico Rare Bird Alert
is on the Web
Audubon ha lanzado su sitio web en español para conectar
con las audiencias hispanas y disfrutar juntos de la
naturaleza y la protección de las aves y sus hábitats. Visita
Audubon en Español.
Report sightings to
505-264-1052 (leave a message) or contact the compiler
Contact your Congressional Representatives
Let them know that protecting the environment is important to you!
Senator Martin Heinrich
U. S. Senate
840 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202 224-5521 (office)
202-224-2841 (fax)
Toll free 1-800-443-8658
Santa Fé Office 988-6647
www.Heinrich.senate.gov/
Senator Tom Udall
U. S. Senate
110 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202.224.6621 (office)
202.228.3261 (fax)
Santa Fe Office 988.6511
www.TomUdall.senate.gov/
Congressman Ben Ray Lujan
U. S. House of Representatives
502 Cannon HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
202-225-6190 (office)
202-226-1331 (fax)
Santa Fe Office 984-8950
www.Lujan.house.gov/