Melissa Waage's Blog: Saving Wildlife and Wild Places

One hundred thousand speak out for a strong Endangered Species Act

2008-10-14T14:12:08Z

On Friday, the NRDC Action Fund joined allied groups to deliver more than 100,000 public comments opposing the Bush administration's recent proposal to weaken key Endangered Species Act regulations. The administration refused to accept comments via e-mail or fax for the comment period that ends today, so we went with hand delivery. The Action Fund, whose members submitted over half of those comments, joined the Endangered Species Coalition, Earthjustice, the National Audubon Society, and the Sierra Club.

Before heading out with the team to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Arlington, Virginia office to deliver these comments, I hadn't really thought about what 100,000 public comments physically look like. See for yourself in the video below, which documents our journey to Arlington.

And just remember that the more than 20 ream-sized boxes you see us lifting (phew, democracy is heavy!) all contain individual comments from many, many individual Americans who care about imperiled plants and wildlife and their recovery. Will the Bush administration listen to the individuals, organizations, members of Congress, and scientists urging it to withdraw its proposal?

Bees disappear and honey bee theft spreads east

2008-04-23T14:49:06Z

A few weeks ago I wrote about a rash of honey bee thefts in California, triggered by a shortage of bees and commensurate rise in their dollar value as pollinators. Now it looks like bee theft is moving east.

Some enterprising thief just stole $4,000 worth of bees from Savage, Maryland beekeeper Don Kolpack--an unusual event in Maryland, where bee thefts have been quite rare. Kolpack, interviewed on NBC4 News, says that honey bee pollination is vital for growers on Maryland's eastern shore.

With colony collapse disorder affecting beekeepers and farmers nationwide, the enhanced incentives for "beejacking" are an issue everywhere. And so are the possible costs to food production. NRDC scientist Gabriela Chavarria recently discussed the latter for radio listeners in Ohio.

Arctic herds in a new kind of trouble

2008-03-05T19:03:39Z

I remember reading about ice-age musk oxen as a kid and being thrilled to learn that these strange, tough creatures still exist in a corner of the world. I would have been no more surprised to hear about live wooly mammoths on exhibit at the zoo.

Sadly, it turns out that musk oxen, along with caribou and reindeer (another creature of childhood lore) are facing a mysterious new threat triggered by global warming.

Researchers are starting to look at the potentially disastrous effects of the “rain on snow” phenomenon, which occurs when warm air suddenly turns arctic snows to rain or slush. The rain freezes and forms a hard layer of ice on top of the snow, which prevents musk oxen, caribou, and reindeer from grazing.

The result? National Geographic News reports:

“In October 2003 on Banks Island in Canada's Northwest Territories, a rain-on-snow event caused the deaths of more than a quarter of the musk-ox population—20,000 animals. Some native people reported the unusual sight of musk-oxen walking onto floating sea ice in search of food, drifting to watery graves.”

The rain-on-snow effect highlights what the polar bears already know: the Arctic is feeling the pressure of global warming more intensely than other parts of the planet. Temperatures there are rising twice as quickly as in the rest of the world.

Just something to reflect upon while we're waiting for the Bush administration's overdue decision on protecting the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act.