Wild Wealth

In researching this concept, I came across a poster issued by National Park Service.  Thought it was interesting.

The title is Wild Wealth: riches of native plants.

http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/gpc/id/2111/rec/6

From FT Magazine, I found this link interesting  http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/168acd56-967a-11e2-9ab2-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz2P2GIoj9t

In part it says:

“Investing in nature is one of the smartest investments you can make,” says Mark Tercek, a former Goldman Sachs banker currently heading The Nature Conservancy, the world’s largest conservation organisation with more than $5bn in assets.

"The author of Nature’s Fortune, to be published next month, Tercek is a champion of the idea of “natural capital” – putting an asset value on nature. His controversial approach is to work alongside some of the world’s biggest polluters to jointly preserve the environment, because “business objectives and those of environmentalists can overlap”.

The noted book sounds like an interesting read.

Hunchback Mountain Land Exchange

The USFS press release is confusing as they mix several land exchanges.  For us in the Mt Hood Corridor, the Hunchback Mountain Land Exchange was trade between public lands held by USFS and Clackamas County.  Clackamas County gained some timber land in the Wildcat Mountain area.  Thus, the Hunchback Mountain Area is now officially in The National Wilderness Preservation System and all that entails for recreation and environment.  Our viewshed will also be protected. Hunchback Mountain Land Exchange Adds Parcel to Salmon Huckleberry Wilderness Area Release Date: Jan 11, 2013   Contact: Laura Pramuk:   503-668-1791 (office) or 503-314-2036 (cell) Mt. Hood National Forest Supervisor Chris Worth is pleased to announce the completion of the Hunchback Mountain Land Exchange.  This legislated land exchange added 171.75 acres to the Salmon Huckleberry Wilderness on the Mt. Hood National Forest with the Hunchback Mountain Property and 276.14 acres of valuable estuary habitat to the Siuslaw National Forest with the Lower Drift Creek Property.  “The National Wilderness Preservation System and future generations of Oregonians will benefit from increased recreation opportunities from access to the Wilderness, conservation of lands with wilderness qualities, and from the protection of fish and estuary habitat on the Siuslaw,” said Worth. This land exchange was part of the 2009 Omnibus Public Land Management Act which mandated three separate land exchanges for the Mt. Hood National Forest. These parcels are located in the vicinities of Cooper Spur/Government Camp, Port of Cascade Locks, and this recently completed exchange in the Hunchback Mountain area just south of the Zigzag Ranger Station. Hunchback Mountain is now protected under a Wilderness designation and will provide highly accessible routes to the Salmon Huckleberry Wilderness from the Zigzag and Welches communities. The Lower Drift Creek parcel contains bald eagle and spotted owl habitat, tidal marsh and estuary habitat, which supports coastal coho salmon (threatened), Chinook, steelhead, and sea-run cutthroat trout.  The addition of this parcel also provides recreational opportunities and economic benefit to local fishing communities.  The U. S. Forest Service would like to thank our outstanding partners in this exchange—Clackamas County and Western Rivers Conservancy.  We would also like to thank the Oregon Congressional Delegation for enabling this land exchange to take place by passing the legislation that allowed it to move forward.

Natural Sights

Early Spring

The snow melts to expose the rich earth
The tree hugging clouds of our rain forest recede
Tall foothills proudly show their dark, evergreens
Trilliums are our benchmark for the coming wildflowers
And it gets easier to get up and move about the country.

Here are some ideas to see some of our country

A new web-site  http://www.backyardforests.org/  shows some of Oregon's favorite spots.  However, it fails fails to show our very popular, local Wildwood Recreational Site http://www.blm.gov/or/resources/recreation/files/brochures/Wildwood_brochure07.pdf

also another article crossed my laptop
http://news.discovery.com/adventure/montana-tourism/top-10-western-river-floats-130320.htm

Governors of WA & OR Take Stand on Coal Exports

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber said in a letter sent Monday that the federal government must “undertake and complete a thorough examination” of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions before any decision on turning Northwest ports into terminals for exporting coal to China.

The governors wrote:

“Coal will inevitably play an important part in the global energy supply in the short term.  However, before the United States and our trading partners make substantial new investments in coal generation and the infrastructure to transport coal, extending the world’s reliance on this fuel for decades, we need a full public airing of the consequences of such a path.

“Coal is the major source of global greenhouse gas emissions, and its share is increasing rapidly.  Increasing levels of greenhouse gases and other pollutants resulting from the burning of coal, including pollutants other than CO2, are imposing direct costs on people, businesses and communities in the U.S. and around the world.

The source http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2013/03/25/govs-to-feds-clear-the-air-before-exporting-coal/

It's unclear how the federal government will respond and how long this process will take.

Supreme Court and Forests

The Supreme Court has made several recent decisions that impact forest land in Oregon (and other western states).

Our first decision was NOT to hear an appeal of the Ninth Circuit Court which ruled that small mines must also meet EPA guidelines.  Thus the lower decision stands.  Here is a link to that story from Mineweb  http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/content/en/mineweb-political-economy?oid=182609&sn=Detail

The other decision was heard at the Supreme Court which overturned the Ninth Circuit Court on the regulation of logging roads.  The Court decided that logging roads are to be regulated like farming roads rather than industrial roads.  Here is the OregonLive link http://www.oregonlive.com/today/index.ssf/2013/03/supreme_court_sides_with_timbe.html