Diverse plants and wildlife call World Peace Wetland Prairie home on August 29, 2008

Please click on images to ENLARGE photos of butterflies and flowers and tall grass on August 29, 2008, on World Peace Wetland Prairie.



First and second photos above feature a monarch butterfly nectaring on native thistles on World Peace Wetland Prairie. Native thistles are NOT outlawed and are exceptionally valuable to butterflies, bees and numerous species of birds.
The following two photos (below) feature Centaurea Americana, the American basketflower, surrounded by Demaree's gaura or Gaura demareei, and Dematree's gaura is seen up close in the fifth photo.




Gaura demareei above.
A small, pale butterfly rests on tall grass in the sixth photo (below).





Florida lettuce above (Latuca floridana) above.

Benton County Quorum Court votes FOR watershed protection

The Morning News
Local News for Northwest Arkansas

Quorum Court Approves Curtis
By Scarlet Sims
THE MORNING NEWS
http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2008/08/28/news/082908bzqurmcrt.txt
BENTONVILLE -- The Benton County Quorum Court appointed environmentalist Mark Curtis to the Planning Board on Thursday night over the objection of property-rights advocates.
Curtis, 57, of Rogers will begin serving next month.
"I'm very happy," said Planning Board member Bill Kneebone. "He's going to be a good addition."
The Quorum Court rejected County Judge Gary Black's recommendation last month 6-5. Black decided to ask the Quorum Court to reconsider Curtis after receiving calls from supporters.
Several residents spoke for and against appointing Curtis on Thursday.
Black picked Curtis from about 19 applicants who submitted resumes last year after a board member resigned. Curtis works in public and private finance, according to his resume. He has a degree from University of Minnesota in urban geography. He studied city and regional planning at Memphis State University from 1977 to 1979, according to his resume.
Curtis is the Association for Beaver Lake Environment treasurer. The group is dedicated to preserving the lake's quality.
Curtis supported a watershed ordinance about two years ago opponents say would have greatly restricted property owners' ability to use their land. He also sued Benton County after the county approved 15-story condominiums to be built on the lake.
Curtis said Thursday the watershed ordinance is a tool to protect the lake. As the county grows, the county must plan to protect agriculture, residents and resources, he said. Planning may mean more regulations or changing current regulations, Curtis said.
He said he had opinions but would change his mind if his opinion is proven wrong. Other planning board members have opinions, Curtis said. He said he stood by his past decisions.
Beaver Lake association members said wanting to protect Beaver Lake should be an asset, not a drawback, to the Planning Board.
"How is it that someone who is interested in protecting the environment should be disqualified when Planning Board regulations promote protecting Beaver Lake?" asked Doug Timmons, Beaver Lake association president.
Opponents worried Curtis has an agenda to increase regulations around the lake and push the association's issues.
"We do not need a man as polarized as Mr. Curtis on the Planning Board," said Bob Kossieck, a property-rights member.
Whether to appoint Curtis to a board that may influence land use ideas that go before the Quorum Court is at the heart of the issue. In the days leading up the Quorum Court meeting, property rights advocates pressured justices of the peace to vote against Curtis, while environmentalists pressed justices of the peace to vote for him.
Justice of the Peace Frank Winscott, R-southeastern Benton County, said whether to approve Curtis is a "lightning rod issue." The nuisance abatement ordinance is the only other issue that provoked so much response among constituents, he said.
Winscott voted against Curtis both times. He made a motion to table the vote early in the meeting but the motion failed.
"My concern was: Can he be objective on the board due to his past with land-use issues?" Winscott said. "I want him to be objective."
Justice of the Peace Debbie Hobbs, R-Rogers, voted against Curtis in July but changed her vote to support Curtis on Thursday. She said she is still concerned about potential bias on the board but pointed out developers can appeal the board's decision. Curtis is only one of seven on the planning board, Hobbs said.
Justice of the Peace Bobby Hubbard, R-northwestern Benton County, and Justice of the Peace James Wozniak, R-Bella Vista, left the meeting shortly after the Quorum Court approved Curtis. Hubbard said the Quorum Court made a mistake in approving Curtis.
Curtis supported the watershed ordinance that included fees for homeowners and would have hurt farming communities by not allowing farmers to move dirt on their property, Hubbard said. What a committee or board recommends to the Quorum Court is usually approved, which could mean more or increased building or planning fees, he said.
"This county is taking a step backward in helping agriculture in this county -- especially on the western side," Hubbard said. "(Curtis) is an extremist, I don't care what anybody says."
How They Voted
The Benton County Quorum Court voted Thursday to appoint Mark Curtis to the Planning Board. Justices of the peace Frank Harrison, R-Rogers, David Hill, R-Bentonville, Debbie Hobbs, R-Rogers, Kurt Moore, R-southwestern Benton County, Bob Stephenson, R-southwestern Benton County, Beverly Williams, D-Bella Vista, Tim Summers, R-Bentonville, and James Wozniak, R-Bella Vista, approved Curtis. Justices of the peace Bobby Hubbard, R-northwestern Benton County, Craig Brown, R-Rogers, Chris Glass, R-northeastern Benton County, and Frank Winscott, R-southeastern Benton County, voted against Curtis. Justice of the Peace Marge Wolf, R-Rogers, was absent.

A new proposal by the Bush/Cheney Administration would gut the law that protects polar bears, wolves and other endangered species

CREDO Action from Working Assets is proud to bring you an urgent alert from our friends at Defenders of Wildlife.

The Bush administration has announced a new proposal that would gut the Endangered Species Act — one of America's most important environmental laws. Now Defenders of Wildlife needs our help to preserve the vital checks and balances that protect our polar bears, wolves and other imperiled animals.

I urge you to read the message below from Defenders of Wildlife's president, Rodger Schlickeisen, and take action today to save our endangered species.

Michael Kieschnick
President, CREDO Mobile
Emergency Action
A new proposal by the Bush/Cheney Administration would gut the law that protects polar bears, wolves and other endangered species.
Urge your Representative and Senators to help stop the Bush/Cheney plan to gut the Endangered Species Act.
Dear Wildlife Supporter,
With less than 160 days left in power, the Bush/Cheney Administration has launched an unprecedented backdoor assault on America's endangered species!
Don't let them get away with it. Urge your Representative and Senators to do everything in their power to stop the Bush/Cheney Administration's eleventh-hour assault on America's wildlife.
For more than 30 years, the Endangered Species Act has protected wildlife at risk of extinction. Now the Bush/Cheney Administration wants to eliminate vital checks and balances that are crucial to protect our polar bears, wolves and other imperiled wildlife.
Please help protect endangered animals from the Bush/Cheney Administration's attack. Take action now.
Announced earlier this week, the Bush/Cheney proposal would severely limit scientific review by the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service of projects that could harm imperiled wildlife. And it would explicitly limit the ability of these expert agencies to consider how greenhouse gas emissions from such projects could impact polar bears, wolverines and other wildlife that may go extinct due to global warming.
Instead, agencies proposing projects such as highways, dams, mines, oil or gas drilling and virtually any other activity would be allowed to decide for themselves whether a project is likely to impact any of the nearly 1,400 species currently protected by the Endangered Species Act — without the crucial independent review now provided by scientific experts at the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Many of these agencies do not even have biologists or other qualified staff to make such a determination.
Even worse, the new regulations would impose a brief 60-day review period for agencies, making it even less likely that anyone involved in the process will have the time or expertise to fully evaluate the potential harmful effects of a given project on sensitive wildlife or the habitat it needs to survive.
Help stop the Bush/Cheney Administration's assault on protections for our endangered species. Please take action now.
There are less than 160 days left in the Bush/Cheney Administration — and even less time for your Members of Congress to act. Please take action now to help stop the Bush/Cheney Administration's last-minute attempt to eliminate effective protections for the wildlife that you and I love.
Sincerely,
Rodger Schlickeisen
President
Defenders of Wildlife

P.S. Two years ago, Defenders of Wildlife led the fight that stopped Congressional legislation that would have gutted the Endangered Species Act. Now we need your help to stop the Bush Administration from trying to do the same thing. Please take action now!

Monarchs mating now produce generation that goes to Mexico in October

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/monarch/AboutFall.html
Monarchs migrate south in fall


Please don't mow or cut your milkweed. If the leaves are being eaten away, that means that a new generation of monarch butterflies will be appearing in time to migrate to Mexico in October and return in spring to produce next year's monarchs. Their caterpillars must have some species of milkweed to survive on!


PLEASE CLICK on image to ENLARGE photo of a pair of monarch butterflies mating in the Town Branch neighborhood on August 26, 2008. The flower is a rose of sharon bush, a favorite of many pollinators and, when allowed to grow strong and at least 6 feet tall provides nesting habitat for cardinals and other species of songbirds in Northwest Arkansas. Although nonnative, it is a valuable and harmless species, especially outside a bathroom or kitchen window because bird nests in these bushes may be easy to watch from indoors without disturbing parents or baby birds This plant is on Don Hoodenpyle's property and is only 150 feet from the stream. Hoodenpyle has a south American native milkweed in the vicinity and the caterpillars resulting from the mating of these two monarchs are likely to eat the leaves of the milkweed and be ready to head southwest in October.

Links to learn about and discuss Jim McGinty's candidacy for Fayetteville board of education at-large seat

James McGinty's campaign for school board Web site
A site for discussion of James McGinty's campaign for school board Web site

Oil-drilling madness continues to dominate political thinking

The Drill of It All
Did you know that oil companies are already sitting on 68 million acres of leases that they aren't even drilling? Which kind of makes you wonder: Why are Big Oil and its allies suddenly desperate to get their hands on the last few places that are still protected -- our natural treasures, wildlife refuges, and pristine coastlines? They wouldn't use the concerns caused by high gas prices as an excuse to grab it ALL, would they?

Check out our map showing how much of our country Big Oil has already got and spread the word by forwarding it to friends who agree: Enough is enough.

So far, one woman has stood up to Big Oil. Let's thank Speaker Pelosi for keeping a cool head and holding out for real solutions.

| Discuss |




Make Your Travel Matter
Sierra Club founder John Muir believed deeply that conservation begins with experiencing nature's grandeur firsthand, and that's still the guiding principle of Sierra Club Outings. Sure, you could spend another vacation in a high-rise at an overcrowded beach. Or, you could study retreating glaciers from your kayak in remote eastern Greenland, maintain hiking trails in Puerto Rico, or support grassroots environmental efforts in Costa Rica.

Travel with us, and you'll have much more than a vacation. We've just launched our 2009 lineup of international trips, plus a few select domestic itineraries.

Our most popular trips fill up quickly, so have a look now and discover your next life-changing experience.

| Discuss |



The Thirty Percent Solution
Homes and other buildings are America's largest consumers of energy and a major contributor to global warming. That's why the Sierra Club's Cool Cities Campaign is joining with local governments, businesses, and energy-efficiency advocates to support a bold new proposal to adopt "green" building codes for new homes: the Thirty Percent Solution.

Next month, building-code officials from around the country will meet in Minneapolis to vote on whether to strengthen building-code energy-efficiency standards in new homes by 30 percent. By 2030, that would save an estimated 8 quadrillion BTUs of energy and $88 billion in energy costs; reduce CO2 by 464 million metric tons; and create new clean-energy construction and service jobs in the building trades and energy-efficiency product industries.

Make sure your community will be represented at the meeting -- contact your mayor or county leader today.

| Discuss |

Winds of Change in West Virginia
The residents of the Coal River Valley of West Virginia, with the support of the Sierra Club and other environmental groups, are proposing the development of a 440-megawatt wind farm as an economically viable alternative to a planned mountaintop-removal coal-mining operation. If the mountaintop-removal coal-mining proceeds as planned, it will destroy ten square miles of the mountain, pollute waterways, devastate the surrounding communities, and eliminate the vast wind potential the mountain now holds.

Add your signature to the petition asking West Virginia Governor Manchin to protect Coal River Mountain and bring clean energy and green jobs to West Virginia!




EXPLORE


Stand Up to Skeptics
The Sierra Club has joined forces with the Natural Resources Defense Council in smacking down global-warming skeptics at a new website called OpposingViews.com.

Take a look at all sides of the argument, recommend your favorite ones, and post comments.


"Staring Down Doomsday"
From Sierra Magazine: High school students from the Bronx hit the Appalachian Trail and face their fears.

PROTECT


Support the No Child Left Inside Act
Tell your Representative to support the No Child Left Inside Act to provide students with quality environmental education.

If we act now, we can ensure more American children become adults ready to face the environmental challenges that lie ahead.

Sierra Club
85 Second St.
San Francisco, CA 94109
insider@sierraclub.org
http://www.sierraclub.org/

Firewood taken to camp sites can infect local timber with insects and other problems

GREENTIPS - Going Camping? Don't Bring Firewood (8/08)‏
From: Greentips - Union of Concerned Scientists (greentips@ucsaction.org)
Sent: Tue 8/19/08 10:28 AM

Going Camping? Don't Bring Firewood
August 2008
Read this issue of Greentips online

Did you know that by transporting firewood you may unintentionally spread invasive insects and diseases that can destroy trees and reshape entire forests? State and federal quarantines attempt to prevent such damage by prohibiting firewood transport into or out of certain areas, or limiting transport to a specified radius.

Examples of invasive species that can travel in firewood include:

The emerald ash borer, a beetle from Asia that kills American ash trees within one to four years of infestation. It is spreading throughout the Midwest and some southern and mid-Atlantic states, but has also shown up at campgrounds outside of these regions.

The Asian longhorned beetle, whose larvae kill mature trees by feeding on the heartwood and inhibiting the trees’ vascular system. It has been found in Illinois, New Jersey, and New York, and poses a tremendous threat if it spreads.

Sirex noctilio, a wood-boring wasp that can kill trees (mainly pine) in a matter of months by injecting a fungus into the wood to feed its larvae. An adult wasp can carry the fungus as far as 100 miles. It has been found in Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.

Sudden oak death, a forest disease caused by the fungus Phytophthora ramorum, which has affected several tree species in California and Oregon.
While each of these infestations is currently limited to specific regions, this is a national problem. Therefore, in addition to following whatever quarantines or regulations are in place, be sure to adopt the practices listed below when using firewood. Because the pests described here can survive cold temperatures, these tips apply throughout the year:

Purchase locally harvested firewood at your destination rather than bringing any with you. This has the added benefits of saving you money through increased fuel economy and reducing the amount of pollution generated in delivering firewood to retail outlets.

If you must transport firewood look for a U.S. Department of Agriculture label that certifies the wood is safe to move.

Lumber that has been processed for building material (“two-by-fours,” for example) is safe to move and burn because the bark has been removed and the wood has been dried. Lumber that has been stored outside, however, or wooden packing materials such as pallets, skids, or crates may harbor pests and should not be transported. Pressure-treated wood and particleboard should also be avoided because they can release harmful fumes when burned.

If you have already transported firewood that does not meet these criteria, burn it as soon as possible.

Let others know about this issue and encourage them to sign our pledge to avoid transporting firewood (see the related links).
Related Links

Don’t Move Firewood Campaign

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources—Firewood Facts, Rules & Advice

Continental Dialogue on Non-Native Forest Insects and Diseases

Union of Concerned Scientists—Firewood Pledge

Ward One meeting views project planning in Beaver Lake watershed

The desiginated Fayette Junction area is south of the Town Branch neighborhood starting at 15th Street. Old maps actually show Fayette Junction as including the southwest portion of the Town Branch neighborhood along the railroads that historically joined in that area.

Please click on images to ENLARGE:

In the top photo, the Stonebridge Meadows project is shown with north to the right and west at the top. The project is near the West Fork of the White River and drains to the stream.
In the second photo, developer Hank Broyles has turned the concept drawing to put north at the top. Dead Horse Mountain Road runs north and south along the left side in this photo.
Fayetteville City Council members Adella Gray (left) and Brenda Thiel listen to presentations by the developer after hearing an explanation of the city planning division's rationale for its proposed master plan for the Fayette Junction area of south Fayetteville in the third photo. A series of meetings has been scheduled in south Fayetteville to familiarize residents with the concept and to hear public comment.

Waste Management to Dedicate Arkansasʼ First Landfill Gas to Energy Plant and

WASTE MANAGEMENT NEWS RELEASE

Waste Management to Dedicate Arkansasʼ First Landfill Gas to Energy Plant and
Announce New Partnership with Audubon Arkansas

Senator Blanche Lincoln, Governor Mike Beebe and Congressman Vic Snyder Scheduled to Attend Event


State and local leaders will join Waste Management executives on Tuesday, August 12, 9:30 am at the Two Pine Landfill to officially dedicate Arkansasʼ first and only landfill gas-to-energy plant. This plant is part of Waste Managementʼs sustainable commitment to Arkansas as well as North America, unveiled this past October as part of Waste Managementʼs 2020 plan.
Additionally, Waste Management officials will announce a new first-of-its-kind partnership with Audubon Arkansas.

What: Landfill Gas to Energy Plant Dedication and Announcement of New Partnership with Audubon Arkansas
When: Tuesday, August 12 at 9:30 am
Where: Two Pine Landfill
100 Two Pine Drive
North Little Rock, AR 72117
Who: Senator Blanche Lincoln
Governor Mike Beebe
Congressman Vic Snyder
Waste Management Executives
Arkansas Audubon Director Ken Smith
The Two Pine Landfill gas-to-energy plant is a 4.8 megawatt facility, providing power for approximately 4,500 homes in North Little Rock. Consisting of six large engines, it was constructed in 2006 and recently achieved full generation. The engines are powered by methane gas, which forms in the landfill as a result of the decomposition of waste.
Approximately two years ago, Waste Management and Audubon Arkansas began discussions regarding the development of a wildlife management plan for the Two Pine Landfill. This first-of-its-kind program between Waste Management and Audubon Arkansas has the potential to expand to other Waste Management landfills. At Tuesdayʼs event, Waste Management officials and leaders from Audubon Arkansas will unveil the vision for Two Pine Landfill.
This past April, Waste Management received the stateʼs approval to expand the Two Pine Landfill. In the coming years, Waste Management plans to build an additional landfill gas-to-energy plant in the expanded landfill area.
These two projects are part of the companyʼs environmental sustainability initiative. Waste Management has committed to the following actions by 2020: doubling its waste based energy generation from the equivalent of generating enough energy for one million to two million homes, quadrupling the number of its sites certified by the Wildlife Habitat Council to 100 as well as set aside 25,000 acres for conservation, nearly tripling the amount of recyclables it manages to 20 million tons; and reducing its vehicle fleet emissions by 15 percent and increasing fuel efficiency by 15 percent.
Waste Management, based in Houston, Texas, is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America. Our subsidiaries provide collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery, and disposal services. We are also a leading developer, operator and owner of waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. Our customers include residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers throughout North America.
For more information, visit www.wm.com or www.thinkgreen.com

Monarch butterfly on World Peace Wetland Prairie on August 10, 2008

Please click on image to ENLARGE photo of monarch butterfly August 10, 2008, on World Peace Wetland Prairie.

Grand Prairie irrigation projects continues despite environmental drawbacks

 
Bird monitoring keeps a legal lid on water project
BY DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Posted on Saturday, August 9, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/233708

Wildlife groups haven’t proved that the stalled Grand Prairie Irrigation Project will harm the environment if it proceeds, but the government’s method for deciding that it won’t harm the ivory-billed woodpecker needs more explanation, a federal judge said Friday.
The ruling came in a 3-yearold lawsuit aimed at putting a stop to the $ 420 million project, which is designed to pump water out of the White River in north Arkansas to irrigate eastern Arkansas farmland.
The project, authorized by Congress in 1996, has been stalled for several years, most recently because of a ruling handed down two years ago by U. S. District Judge Bill Wilson Jr., who ordered federal agencies to determine if it could interfere with the bird’s habitat.
The woodpecker had been considered extinct for 61 years until it was reported sighted in 2005 in the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge. Its existence hasn’t been proved, but it is considered to exist for purposes of the lawsuit.
The lawsuit filed by the National Wildlife Federation and the Arkansas Wildlife Federation followed the dismissal of an earlier lawsuit by the same groups, on different grounds, and dismissed in 2004 by U. S. District Judge G. Thomas Eisele.
Eisele found that the project wouldn’t adversely affect the White River or its basin. His dismissal of the case was upheld in 2005 by the 8 th U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, shortly before reports of the bird’s possible existence.
In a written order released Friday, Wilson generally deferred to decisions made by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the project’s impact on the environment and the bird’s habitat.
Wilson said the Fish and Wildlife Service had no rational reason for changing previously agreedupon methods of monitoring tree cavities that might provide nesting sites for the bird.
The monitoring was carried out as part of a study on how the irrigation project might affect the woodpecker, whose existence has been challenged by some in the science world.
Wilson ordered the agency to correct deficiencies in the administrative record over why the interval for monitoring tree cavities in the woodpecker habitat was changed.
The ruling did not indicate that the irrigation project would be blocked in the long run.
Defendants in the suit are the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Corps. They argued at a May hearing for the judge to lift an order halting the work while he considered the case.
On Friday, Wilson declined to issue a permanent injunction stopping the project, as the wildlife groups had asked. But he also declined to allow work to resume until the Fish and Wildlife Service modifies the record to explain changes made in monitoring the tree cavities.
The suit stemmed from scientific reports that the ivory-billed woodpecker had been sighted in the swampy lowlands of east Arkansas. But the same scientists have been unable to get a picture of the bird to confirm its existence, despite thousands of hours of searching and monitoring its likely habitat.
The Corps and the Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to evaluate the Grand Prairie project for any possible effect on the bird and its habitat, as required by the federal Endangered Species Act.
A 2006 letter from the wildlife agency to the Corps had said that holes in trees that might provide nesting sites for the bird must be monitored for ivory-billed woodpecker activity for the final two hours of daylight on five consecutive days, according to Wilson’s ruling. But, instead, researchers were allowed to monitor the cavities for a reduced period, on two separate days in separate weeks, Wilson said.
Wilson said the Fish and Wildlife Service did not explain why this change was made except to cite the researchers’ thousands of hours of monitoring experience. The judge said it’s not at all clear what logic was followed in reducing the monitoring time.
“An agency must cogently explain why it has exercised its discretion in a given manner — the [Fish and Wildlife Service ] has not met this burden,” Wilson wrote.
His ruling ordered the wildlife agency to modify the administrative record to explain why the change was made.
Once that explanation is provided, the federal agencies will likely ask Wilson to review it and lift his order halting work on the water project.
No comment could be obtained after business hours Friday from either plaintiffs or defendants in the case. A message left at a home telephone number for a Corps spokesman at West Memphis was not returned. An attempt to page David Carruth, president of the Arkansas Wildlife Federation, using his cell-phone
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