In Texas, you could have a full-out appliance party at your house — with the dishwasher whirring, oven broiling, and laundry spinning — and as long as it’s after 9 p.m. and you’re on the right electricity plan, the extra energy use won’t cost you a thing.
More than 50 Texas utility companies are offering plans that give away free electricity at night, thanks to bountiful wind power, among other factors.
Texas has more wind power than any other state, accounting for roughly 10 percent of the state’s generation. Alone among the 48 contiguous states, Texas runs its own electricity grid that barely connects to the rest of the country, so the abundance of nightly wind power generated there must be consumed there.
Wind blows most strongly at night and the power it produces is inexpensive because of its abundance and federal tax breaks. A shift of power use away from the peak daytime periods means lower wholesale prices, and the possibility of avoiding the costly option of building more power plants.
For utilities, the giveaway is hardly altruistic. Deregulation in Texas has spurred intense competition for customers. By encouraging energy use at night, utilities reduce some of the burdens, and costs, that the oversupply of wind energy places on the power grid.
It’s no surprise that veterans have a long history of serving as stewards of the American outdoors, and with our public lands under pressure from development and other threats, their voices are more important than ever. Our wildlands provide an excellent place for self-centering or connecting with family and friends. This is true for people from all walks of life, but it is especially important for veterans.
Often haunted by the horrors of war and the loss of unit comraderie, many combat veterans find that extended time in the great outdoors allows a space for healing. Post-service feelings of isolation can be reduced through outdoor experiences that build comraderie or allow veterans to use their outdoor survival skills.
WWII veterans understood this decades ago when they took to camping and hiking after the war, and today Iraq and Afghanistan vets benefit from organized programs that use nature as the key element.
Even during military service, nature can be a helpful source of inspiration. Some service members say that dreams of getting back and relaxing at a favorite camping or fishing spot helped them get through the endless ups and downs of a deployment. For all of these reasons, thousands of veterans rely on our public lands to provide the setting for hope and healing.
Outdoor programs for returning veterans are critical for helping our service men and women transition from combat service. Veterans who have served in warzones often experience a profound sense of isolation after returning home. The sense of camaraderie, adventure, intense team work, and commitment to a cause larger than oneself is often replaced by mundane tasks of day-to-day life.
Between 2000 and 2012, the world lost forest area and gained forest area. But the losses exceeded the gains, according to U.S. Forest Service researchers and partners who compared tree cover data from those years and estimated a global net loss of 1.71 million square kilometers of forest — an area about two and a half times the size of Texas. That’s only part of the story, though.
“In addition to the direct loss of forest, there was a widespread shift of the remaining global forest to a more fragmented condition,” says Kurt Riitters, a research ecologist and team leader with the Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center and the lead author of a study describing the phenomenon, recently published in the journal Landscape Ecology. “Forest area loss alone underestimates ecological risks from forest fragmentation. The spatial pattern of forest is important because the same area of forest can be arranged in different ways on the landscape with important consequences for ecosystem processes.”
To understand where risks from forest fragmentation might be greatest, the researchers evaluated the loss of interior forest — core areas that, when intact, maintain critical habitat and ecological functions. (In contrast, non-interior forest edge areas are subject to impacts from invasive species, pollution, and variation in soil moisture, for example.) Using global tree cover data, researchers mapped the forests of 2000 and 2012 and examined the patterns of change across ecological regions and biomes. Their analysis revealed a net loss of 3.76 million square kilometers of interior forest area, or about ten percent of interior forest — more than twice the global net loss of forest area. The rate at which interior forest area was lost was more than three times the rate of global forest area loss.
Over the next several months, the U.S. Forest Service will be conducting several prescribed burns across the four National Forests in North Carolina – Croatan, Uwharrie, Nantahala and Pisgah. The agency will notify the public when the decision is made to conduct prescribed burns in their area. The Forest Service may close area trails and roads the day before the prescribed burn.
“The safety of the public and firefighters is the number one priority,” said Riva Duncan, Fire Management Officer with the National Forests in North Carolina. “The public is asked to heed signs posted at trailheads and roads and to stay away from burn areas and closed roads and trails.”
Prescribed burning is an important and versatile forest management tool that can mimic historically natural fire disturbances, reduce hazardous fuels buildup, and improve habitat for a variety of wildlife. Prescribed burns promote the growth of herbaceous plants that provide food, such as fruit, for wildlife including important game animals such as deer and turkey. Prescribed fire is an essential ecological process for restoration and maintenance of longleaf pine ecosystems.
All prescribed burns are analyzed by a team of specialists to ensure the wildlife, fisheries, rare plants and historic sites are not harmed. Burning days are fluid because the proper weather conditions are needed to achieve desired results. Prescribed burning will only occur when environmental conditions permit; wind and relative humidity are key factors in fire behavior, safety and smoke control. The Forest Service is required to meet state air quality requirements and will conduct smoke modeling to reduce the possible effects of smoke emissions. The proper personnel and equipment will be on site during the prescribed burn.
Duke Energy announced it’s controversial plan to build a 45-mile transmission line from Upstate South Carolina to Western North Carolina has been dropped in favor of building two smaller gas units in Asheville.
The company announced November 4, 2015 that it will replace it’s coal plant in Asheville with two smaller gas units rather than building one large one. Duke Energy says that would mean the proposed transmission lines – from the Campobello area to Asheville – are no longer needed.
Duke Energy officials held a series of public meetings throughout the area to hear concerns from people about building such a transmission line. The impact on the natural scenery was one of the major concerns expressed.
“The new plan balances the concerns raised by the community and the very real need for more electricity to serve this growing region,” said spokesman LLoyd Yates.
Duke Energy says it’s coal units are still scheduled to be retired at the Asheville Power Plant by 2020. Two natural gas units will be built at the site. A third unit could be built at that site in 2023.
The grizzly bear population in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, which includes Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, is growing and not suffering from a loss of genetic diversity, according to a report from the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team.
The analysis shows that the bear population in the ecosystem has continued to grow since the 1980s, as well.
Results indicate that the effective population size of Yellowstone grizzly bears, or the number of individuals that contribute offspring to the next generation, has increased 4-fold over a 25-year period. This provides evidence that Yellowstone grizzly bears are approaching the effective size necessary for long-term genetic viability, the study said.
“The increase in effective size of the Yellowstone grizzly bear population over the past several decades, with no significant change in genetic diversity, supports evidence of population growth based on traditional surveys,” said Pauline Kamath, USGS ecologist and lead author of the study. “This is a key genetic indicator of a population’s ability to respond to future environmental change.”
They found estimates of effective population size increased from approximately 100 bears in the 1980s to 450 in the 2000s. These numbers are smaller than estimates of total population size because not all animals in the population breed. Although an isolated population, grizzly bear genetic diversity remained stable and inbreeding was relatively low, 0.2 percent, over the time period.
The creation of the Parque Patagonia conservation area – the brainchild of a billionaire US couple – is a step to creating one of the world’s largest national parks. But what’s the hiking like?
“Pain?” asks Jorge Molina, my hiking guide. Yes, there is a little pain, but it’s too late for cold feet. Or, more accurately, it’s too late not to get cold feet, because we’re already shin-deep in a swift icy river.
“We’ll cross 20 of these rivers today,” Jorge warns. I won’t complain. These cold rivers, flowing down from the glaciers and mountains of Lago Jeinimeni national reserve in Chile’s Aysén region, will supply drinking water on our four-day trek into Parque Patagonia. And things could be far worse. “Sometimes these rivers come up to the waist,” says Jorge. Parts of my body are thankful the water isn’t that high now.
There has also been a little pain in the birth of this new park – which opened fully this year, and may soon become a major new national park. American billionaire Doug Tompkins (founder of the North Face and Esprit clothing brands) and his wife Kristine (former CEO of clothing company Patagonia) have been working on it for years. The ambitious plan was to unite land they bought in the Chacabuco valley in 2004 with the neighbouring Jeinimeni and Tamango national reserves, to create a 650,000-acre public access park. They hope it will get national park status in 2016, though it could take longer.
Wolves faced with a scarcity of potential sexual partners are not beneath lowering their standards. It was desperation of this sort, biologists reckon, that led dwindling wolf populations in southern Ontario to begin, a century or two ago, breeding widely with dogs and coyotes. The clearance of forests for farming, together with the deliberate persecution which wolves often suffer at the hand of man, had made life tough for the species. That same forest clearance, though, both permitted coyotes to spread from their prairie homeland into areas hitherto exclusively lupine, and brought the dogs that accompanied the farmers into the mix.
Interbreeding between animal species usually leads to offspring less vigorous than either parent—if they survive at all. But the combination of wolf, coyote and dog DNA that resulted from this reproductive necessity generated an exception. The consequence has been booming numbers of an extraordinarily fit new animal spreading through the eastern part of North America. Some call this creature the eastern coyote. Others, though, have dubbed it the “coywolf”. Whatever name it goes by, Roland Kays of North Carolina State University, in Raleigh, reckons it now numbers in the millions.
The DNA from both wolves and dogs (the latter mostly large breeds, like Doberman Pinschers and German Shepherds), brings big advantages, says Dr Kays. At 25kg or more, many coywolves have twice the heft of purebred coyotes. With larger jaws, more muscle and faster legs, individual coywolves can take down small deer. A pack of them can even kill a moose.
Coyotes dislike hunting in forests. Wolves prefer it. Interbreeding has produced an animal skilled at catching prey in both open terrain and densely wooded areas, says Dr Kays. And even their cries blend those of their ancestors. The first part of a howl resembles a wolf’s (with a deep pitch), but this then turns into a higher-pitched, coyote-like yipping.
Numerous primitive runs for skiing or snowboarding have been illegally cut in a national forest in northern New Mexico, including part of a wilderness area, with a federal investigator estimating that those responsible cut down approximately 1,000 trees. The Forest Service is trying to find those responsible for the cutting spotted this fall by hikers in a high-altitude area of the Santa Fe National Forest.
The cutting of the dozen or so runs hundreds of yards long may have been going on for several years, said Mike Gardiner Jr., assistant special agent in charge for law enforcement and investigations for the southwest region.
The illegal cutting would be a misdemeanor punishable by six months in jail and a fine of $5,000, said Forest Service spokesman Mark M. Chavez.
The Forest Service previously has found illegal cutting or other work for trails for snowmobiles and mountain bikes elsewhere in the country.
Trees have been cut on both sides of a border of the Pecos Wilderness Area. The cutting is near Lake Peak and a privately-operated ski area on leased forest land.
“This is national public land and it belongs to everybody and nobody has the right to take it up themselves to do this kind of damage for their own narrow selfish interest.”
One of the worst eco-disasters on the planet is currently unfolding in Indonesia. Over the past two months, thousands of forest and peatland fires have been raging out of control, covering the entire region in thick, toxic haze and smoke.
The fires have been a public health nightmare, forcing widespread evacuations, killing at least 19, and triggering respiratory illnesses in more than half a million people.
The crisis has also been terrible for climate change. So far this year, Indonesia’s fires have released more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than all the fossil fuels burned annually in Germany. On at least 38 days in September and October, Indonesia’s fires were releasing more daily CO2 than the entire United States economy.
Fires in Indonesia are nothing new. They break out every year in the dry season that runs from July to October. But this season is on track to be one of the worst ever recorded, with nearly 120,000 active fires detected already.
In front of a roomful of energy executives, the president of Appalachian Power declared that the war on coal was over, and coal had not emerged victorious. This is in West Virginia, a state where coal mining is the largest industry and employer.
Charles Patton, president of Appalachian Power, told energy executives that coal consumption is likely to remain stagnant whether or not federal regulations like the Clean Power Plan are allowed to go forward. He also said that in the national debate about coal and climate change, the public has largely settled on the side of climate change.
“You just can’t go with new coal [plants] at this point in time,” Patton reportedly said. “It is just not economically feasible to do so.”
Regardless of how the Clean Power Plan — President Obama’s signature climate effort placing limits on carbon emissions from power plants — shakes out, Patton estimated that Appalachian Power’s use of coal could drop 26 percent by 2026.
“With or without the Clean Power Plan, the economics of alternatives to fossil-based fuels are making inroads in the utility plan,” Patton said. “Companies are making decisions today where they are moving away from coal-fired generation.”
A much anticipated hearing before the House Natural Resource Committee arrives October 28, 2015, and the outcome could be higher fees for national park visitors.
Among the potential outcomes outlined in the draft legislation written by U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, (R-UT): motorcyclists and snowmobilers in national parks would face the same entrance fees charged motorists; shuttle buses such as those in Zion and Acadia national parks that now are free to ride might require a paid ticket, and; “destination” visitor centers or interpretive centers on national forest lands could charge a fee for entrance.
However, if Congress does not pass the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Modernization Act beyond the current law’s scheduled expiration date of October 2017, fees collected by the National Park Service would go directly to the U.S. Treasury, not to the Park Service for use in the National Park System.
Along with requiring the land-management agencies to seek public comment on proposed fee increases, as currently is done, the measure if enacted would require the agencies to seek comment from gateway communities as well.
Foreign visitors would no longer be able to purchase an America the Beautiful – the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass under the legislation. Too, the cost of the passes, currently $80 for most, would be recalculated every three years to reflect changes in the Consumer Price index. Language in the measure also would give the Interior secretary the authority to provide passes free to members of the U.S. military.
Two of the most popular national parks in England, the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District, are set to expand their territory to create the largest area of protected and continuous land for a national park in the country.
In 2012, Natural England, the government’s legal adviser on the protection of England’s nature, released variation orders to extend the land coverage of these two parks. After thorough analysis and public inquiry, the expansion is scheduled to start in August 2016.
The Yorkshire Dales, an upland area of the Pennines in Northern England, will be increased by almost 24 percent while Lake District, a mountainous region in North West England, will be increased by 3 percent. This extension will bring the parks near the M6 corridor.
The national parks have less than a year to make the changes and extend their territory.
“We’re going to think about what kind of improvements we might want to make to the rights of way network, to make sure that visitors to these fantastic new areas that have been announced today can walk with the same expectations that they have for rights of way in the rest of the Lake District National Park,” said Richard Leafe of Lake District National Park.
Despite climbing global temperatures, sea ice coverage around the Antarctic has been increasing in direct contrast to the Arctic ice sheet, which gets smaller each year.
Scientists say this is due to a vortex of winds around the South Pole that have gradually strengthened and converged since the 1970s. These winds are pushing and compressing ice into thick ridges that are slower to melt, even in the face of rising global temperatures.
But in 2015 the maximum extent of ice decreased for the first time in three years.
“After three record-high-extent years, this year marks a return towards normalcy for Antarctic sea ice,” said Dr. Walt Meier, a sea ice scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre.
“There may be more high years in the future because of the large year-to-year variation in Antarctic extent, but such extremes are not nearly as substantial as in the Arctic, where the declining trend towards a new normal is continuing.”
After an investigation found that ExxonMobil has been funding climate-denying organizations—despite the findings of its own scientists on climate change—the world’s fourth-largest oil company is now going after the journalists who revealed it.
Evidence that ExxonMobil has been deliberately leading a campaign of misinformation about climate change for decades began cropping up after InsideClimate News, a Pulitzer Prize-winning publication, led an investigation into the company.
Shortly after the investigation was released, Exxon released a statement denouncing the reports, saying that the they “wrongly suggest definitive conclusions were reached decades ago by company researchers.”
Exxon also called InsideClimate News an “anti-oil and gas activist organization,” and claimed that that site and the Los Angeles Times, which also reported on the documents, “ignored evidence provided by the company” about climate change research.
Ken Cohen, ExxonMobil’s vice president of public and government affairs queued up a series of tweets and sub-tweets and proceeded to blast them out at InsideClimate, political figures, journalists, and anyone who would listen.
The U.S. Department of the Interior has granted permission for the release of Mexican wolves into the state despite objections by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and the Socorro County Board of Commissioners.
Last week the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service notified the director of New Mexico Department of Game and Fish that the Mexican Wolf Recovery Program is being exempted from the DOI Fish and Wildlife policy to comply with New Mexico’s permitting requirements.
“The Mexican wolf is still at risk of extinction,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Public Affairs Specialist Jeff Humphrey. “It is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s obligation under the law to recover this species, and reintroductions into the wild from the more genetically diverse captive population are an essential part of that recovery process. Our preference is always to work collaboratively with states and we ask New Mexico to reengage with us in these efforts. We look forward to continuing our productive species recovery work with New Mexico Department of Game and Fish on a host of other threatened and endangered species in the state.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service applied for permission with the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish earlier this year. The department denied the request last month. The Socorro County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution last week opposing the release and is considering an ordinance making it illegal to release wolves on ranch land in the county.
He calls himself the “Ranger of the Lost Art.” Like Indiana Jones, the adventurous archaeologist who partially inspired the moniker, 69-year-old Doug Leen, of Kupreanof, Alaska, has an all-consuming passion for recovering lost history for the public.
For the next 14 months the veteran national park ranger and amateur historian will travel the country on a mission to stir up interest in an 80-year-old public art project designed to promote America’s National Parks as part of the park system’s 2016 centennial celebration.
The story starts in post-Great Depression America. Franklin D. Roosevelt established The Works Progress Administration, or WPA, in 1935 as part of the New Deal. In a largely successful effort to curtail unemployment the WPA put more than 8 million American citizens to work on government projects from 1935 to 1943. This included the construction of more than 115,000 buildings, some 78,000 bridges, and roughly 650,000 miles of roads.
But the WPA took on much more than construction. About 7 percent of the administration’s budget went to art initiatives. One could argue the silk-screened posters of the Federal Art Project defined American pop art in the 20th century, producing more than 2 million posters from 35,000 unique designs.
It was the travel posters that stuck in the American collective consciousness across time, especially an iconic series promoting U.S. National Parks. Posters from this campaign remain instantly recognizable to this day thanks largely to none other than the Ranger of the Lost Art.
Coral reefs cannot seem to catch a break this year. Between a particularly strong El Niño, ocean acidification and increasing ocean temperatures, links between overfishing and reef collapses, and the declaration of a massive coral bleaching event expected to affect 95 percent of U.S. coral reefs by the end of the year, the current state of the global environment has been particularly detrimental to coral reefs.
And now, research has shown that a chemical found in almost every chemical-based sunscreen used in the United States is linked to coral destruction.
Researchers conducted the study in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Hawaii — areas that attract large amounts of tourists each year to swim in reef areas. They found that the chemical oxybenzone affects coral in three different ways: it alters its DNA, makes coral susceptible to potentially fatal bleaching, and acts as an endocrine disruptor, which causes baby coral to encase itself in its own skeleton and leads to its death.
To make things worse, it does not take a large amount of this chemical to upset coral. According to the research, concentrations of oxybenzone as low as 62 parts per trillion — equivalent to a drop of water in six and a half Olympic-sized swimming pools — are deemed harmful.
Between 6,000 and 14,000 tons of sunscreen lotion make their way into coral reef areas each year, and much of that sunscreen contains oxybenzone.
I am Jeff Clark, founder of Internet Brothers, producer of this blog, and passionate about hiking. I live in Western NC near the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains. Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests are just out my door, so the content will focus on these areas, but let me know what you would like to see on the site. 
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