The Western Bluebird (click here)
There is a lot 'going on' in the USA regarding the return of its natural areas, including the reexamination of the policies for the last eight years on every venue and the removal of 'invasive species' that threaten wildlife.
The invasive species issue is an interseting one and involves the use of commerical landscaping of foreign species that 'are not contained' in the landscaping it was intended, but by many vectors, including over population of deer, the foreign ornamental species have found their way into the wilderness areas of our nation and are destroying the 'natural ecosystems' that support our native wildlife.
But, in addition to the invasive species issues, there are those issues surrounding commercial logging as well as ethanol production for USA consumption and its potential to destroy foreign forests when the demand for ethanol exceeds the corn production of the USA. Currently, land owners in the USA have destroyed private vineyards and forest to turn it into agricultural lands to produce biomass for ethanol. That is creating a huge CO2 problem as agricultural lands are not as sustainable as forests and vineyards, more susceptible to drought, parching and desertificaiton.
It is estimated today, if the USA used all the nation's corn production for ethanol it would meet ONLY 2% to 3% of the country's demand. It is easy to see, when approaching ethanol from that perspective how electric cars and hybrids need to be perfected and manufactered. Ethanol is only a temporary fix.
Not only that, but, USA ethanol is being exported to places like Europe where it sells for marginally higher prices. When ethanol is NOT produced locally and transported locally its CO2 content goes up. Not the CO2 content that comes out of the tailpipe, but, the CO2 content that goes into its manufacturing. Those transportation issues alone nearly eliminate ethanol as a viable solution to CO2 emissions. If the USA were to convert its entire consumption of automobile fuels to ethanol today, it would require Brazil to turn the Rainforest into cropland to produce sugarcane, which is somewhat occurring already.
The Bush 'idea' of importing ethanol from South America is forcing Brazil to change their E85, which is an 85% mixture of ethanol, to 50% ethanol. This 'idea' of importing ethanol is not a good one for the USA. I would debate it is a poor idea for any ethanol importing country. The CO2 produced in transporation negates the benefits to a good extent of ethanol.
But, at any rate, this ruling by the US Department of Agriculture is along the lines of the EPA ruling to stop the use of forests, both domestic and abroad, from use in ethanol. The Bush/Cheney policies were based in 'profits' ONLY and never took into consideration the damages they caused to our efforts to stem Human Induced Global Warming that has lead to Climate Change.
The hope today is to stem Climate Change by rolling back any and all CO2 emissions. The role of scientists and evironmentalists is very complicated to say the least and they are finding it a challenge to educate the public to the reasons why any opposition to what seems like a better alternative such as ethanol is prudent.
This is the Montane Forest of the Alaskan Tongass. The Montane Forest is also a Rainforest in Alaska. Yes, indeed, Rainforests exist at high elevations, too. They are very important forests. These type of forest 'ecosystems' occur at various elevations in the Rocky Mountains of North America, in Central America, and in eastern Asia as well. They are known as subalpine and are dominated by combinations of pine, spruce, and fir species.
Posted on Fri, May. 29, 2009
U.S. calls timeout on 'roadless' forest projects (click title to entry - thank you)
By David A. Fahrenthold
Washington Post
WASHINGTON - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack issued a temporary order yesterday governing development in "roadless" areas of national forests, requiring all new projects to be approved by him personally.
Vilsack's order, which will be in effect for a year, is the latest turn in an eight-year-old battle over 58.5 million acres of pristine woods. President Bill Clinton made these areas off-limits in 2001, but President George W. Bush effectively reopened some in 2005. That led to a series of court cases that ultimately replaced the national policy with a patchwork of regional rules.
Vilsack, whose purview includes the U.S. Forest Service, did yesterday what environmental groups had been urging: call a "timeout."
Agriculture Department officials said that while the temporary order is in effect, the Obama administration and Congress would try to create a permanent policy on roadless regions. They said Vilsack's caseload was not expected to be large: Over the last eight years, one official estimated, 30 to 40 projects have been proposed in these areas.
"We're raising the level of scrutiny," said Chris Mather, a spokeswoman for Vilsack. "From this moment ... we are going to make sure that our forests are protected in all projects we approve."...
