Urban Wildlife Conflicts

Usually we read about urban wildlife conflicts between humans and coyotes.  But here is an interesting article about Bald eagles and Great blue herons.  Obviously, the idea is we should be looking at what is happening in the larger landscape for answers on why  the Bald eagles are seeking out heron chicks as a food source.

Biofuels from Slash

An excellent article here about the complexities of creating biofuel from forest slash.

Stewart Udall -- Am American Hero

 

I grew up watching and listening to Stewart Udall.  Like Aldo Leopold, Gifford Pinchot, Bob Marshall, John Muir, Udall was a true patriot, loving this land as much as loving the people who are in it's boundaries.

Nuclear Power?

Several days ago there was a fabulous program about nuclear power on the local public radio station.  As the current Administration emphasizes increasing our nuclear power capacity, the debate over safety, cost, and eventual storage of waste for thousands of years should be examined closely.  These licensing decisions are not just decisions of a lifetime, they are decisions about the lifetime of Earth.

Small Farmlands

Several years ago we did a proposal for clustered housing around a "working forest" that would be owned by the homeowner's association and perhaps managed as a "family forest." This idea on Pope & Talbot's former timberland, to incorporate a small farm, is as good, if not better!

Biomass in Washington

Looks like Washington State is on it's way to finding long term contracts for small pole timber and slash to be used as biofuel.  This legislation will allow the head of Department of Natural Resources to sell small pole timber on state trust lands, which could be another way for schools and universities (the true owners of the state trust lands) to earn income.

Water Wars

There is an old saying: "Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting."  And there is no place like the arid west where water is a major battlefield.

And the biggest wars are now between farmers and other stakeholders who view agriculture's demands for water too costly to fish, urban water needs, and hydro power.  

This is a case, again, of whether technological fixes, such as new irrigation systems and reservoirs can increase available water for farmers, or whether the legacy of complex water laws competing with modern demands on the resource will result in innovative ways to think about water.

In Washington State it's an issue governmental agencies constantly visit and re-visit, without many solutions in sight.