Today the Center for Biological Diversity announced that the winner of its third annual Rubber Dodo Award is Michael Winer, portfolio manager for Third Avenue Management, LLC (”TAREX”).

The Center for Biological Diversity awards the Rubber Dodo each year to the person who has contributed the most to driving endangered species extinct. Winer was selected this year for his leadership role in Third Avenue Management, LLC (”TAREX”), a giant real-estate investment firm responsible for unsustainable sprawl in California and Florida - and the driving force behind the proposed destruction of Tejon Ranch with a luxury development known as Tejon Mountain Village.

Last year’s recipient was former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

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Now that the polar bear is about to receive over 128 million acres of critical habitat designation, the state of Alaska is taking legal action to challenge the decision.

Following the announcement that threatened polar bears are set to receive over 128 million acres of critical habitat designation, Alaska Governor Sean Parnell and Attorney General Dan Sullivan responded by taking legal action against federal protection of polar bears.

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Aerial sharpshooters with the U.S. Department of Agriculture have killed four wolves in Montana for preying on sheep in the secretive Sheep Experiment Station.

The last four wolves of the Sage Creek Pack were gunned down this week by USDA aerial sharpshooters, after the wolves had been targeted for preying on sheep in the 100,000+ acre USDA Sheep Experiment Station (USSES) west of Yellowstone National Park.

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Tejon Ranch Company (TRC) has received the Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award (GEELA) for its PR scheme designed to distract the public from condor-killing real estate development plans.

Apparently, in Schwarzenegger’s California, the development of a luxury mountain resort in the middle of designated California condor habitat is an award-winning event.

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Local governments in Nevada are seeking a permit from the Department of the Interior to kill endangered species so they can “develop” 200,000 acres of desert habitat.

Nevada’s Clark County and the cities of Boulder City, Henderson, Las Vegas, Mesquite, and North Las Vegas were authorized in 2001 to destroy 145,000 acres of fragile desert habitat. That is, they have permission to “take” 78 species of animals and plants - including the threatened desert tortoise - in order to further develop the overbuilt Nevada desert.

But they want more.

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The Army’s proposal to move 1,000 desert tortoises has been placed on hold by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, amid concerns over the Army’s previous plan that resulted in the death of 252 out of 600 tortoises.

The Center for Biological Diversity announced that a plan by the Army to move over 1,000 federally and state-listed threatened desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) from their Fort Irwin habitat to Bureau of Land Management lands has successfully been halted.

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The Kern County Planning Commission has approved development plans for an exclusive gated community featuring luxury homes, golf courses, and hotels in the middle of designated California condor habitat.

Thanks to an elaborate marketing and PR campaign by Tejon Ranch Company (TRC), a massive development project in the heart of California condor habitat has been given the green light by the Kern County Planning Commission.

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Finally, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reviewing the status of the Pacific walrus to determine whether or not the marine mammal will receive Endangered Species Act protections.

The Center for Biological Diversity stated that the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) is facing a double threat to its ice habitat: Global warming and increased oil development.

A petition seeking protection for the Pacific walrus was submitted by the Center back in February 2008. After the USFWS failed to respond to the petition, the Center filed a lawsuit - prompting the USFWS to take action.

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One of only three wolf pairs in Oregon was killed by U.S.D.A. Wildlife Services with approval from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The Center for Biological Diversity announced today that Oregon’s wolf recovery program suffered a serious setback when a pair of wolves residing in the Eagle Cap Wilderness in eastern Oregon were killed over the weekend by wildlife authorities.

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed the re-designation of 74,223 acres of critical habitat for the endangered California tiger salamander population in Sonoma County.

The action is in response to a lawsuit brought by the Center of Biological Diversity (CBD) to reverse the Bush administration’s illegal reduction of the California tiger salamander’s (Ambystoma californiense) habitat to zero in 2005. According to a CBD press release, the action is part of a larger campaign to overturn decisions made by the Bush administration regarding endangered species. The Cleaning up the Bush Legacy Campaign has so far addressed 8 million acres of critical habitat designation decisions in 28 states for 46 species.

Many of the illegal decisions, including the decision over critical habitat for the tiger salamander, were engineered by former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Julie MacDonald, who resigned in disgrace following a scathing investigation by the inspector general of misconduct at the Department of the Interior.

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The Mexican gray wolf population continues to struggle at just 52 wolves. However, listing the species as a “distinct population segment” may hold the key to recovery.

The Center for Biological Diversity issued a press release today to announce that they have filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to formally separate the Mexican gray wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) from other wolf populations in the United States and list it as either an endangered subspecies or a “distinct population segment.”

Although a 1982 reintroduction effort along the Arizona-New Mexico line hoped to result in at least 100 wolves in the wild, and 18 breeding pairs by 2006, the most recent survey - conducted in 2008 - found only 52 wolves. Unfortunately, illegal shootings, combined with complaints by ranchers who claim to have lost cattle to wolves (wolves that have been involved in three livestock kills in a year can be killed or trapped by federal agents), have taken their toll on the reintroduction plan.

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Dow AgroScience’s proposed use of sulfuryl fluoride to sterilize soil in farm fields would release large amounts of a potent greenhouse gas, increasing the global warming effects of agricultural practices, says a group of scientists and activists.

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In southeast Utah rests a peaceful town located on the banks of a peaceful river. Here the Green River flows between two canyons, Gray and Labyrinth, allowing for farming and ranching in an arid desert. Driving through Green River, Utah doesn’t take but a few moments, including a stop to purchase some mouth-watering melons, for which Green River is famous. But Green River now has a new claim to fame.

Transition Power Development LLC (TPD) has proposed construction of a 2 unit nuclear power plant known as the Blue Castle Project situated just outside of the peaceful town. In order to maintain the 2 unit nuclear power plant, massive amounts of water would be required. The Kane County Water Conservancy District (KCWCD) has filed a water-rights application in order to facilitate the project. The application requests 29,600 acre-feet of water, which would be diverted from the Green River, a part of the Colorado River drainage.

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It’s also important because it deals with the naming of carbon dioxide as a pollutant - something currently being contested by a “smoking gun” White House memo. The lawsuit has been brought up under the Clean Water Act, which regulates pollutants in water. From how I see it, this means that if EPA is found to be in the wrong under the Clean Water Act here, then CO2 will have been legally deemed a pollutant.

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The Center for Biological Diversity has won a lawsuit against the US Department of the Interior to force the government to consider listing the American pika as threatened or endangered.

The tiny rabbit-like rodent has been in steep decline in recent years, which many blame on climate change. The animal has thick fur and can’t survive in temperatures higher than 80 degrees.

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A suit filed today in a D.C. federal court charges six federal agencies with refusing to establish national regulations that will speed up the recovery of endangered species and take global warming into account in decision-making processes.

“Global warming is the fastest-growing threat to endangered species. It is pushing hundreds of species, including the polar bear, walrus, black abalone, elkhorn coral, staghorn coral, American pika, Sonoran pronghorn, woodland caribou, and wolverine to extinction.” - Bill Snape, senior counsel for the Center for Biological Diversity.

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CEQA requires greenhouse gas emissions resulting from a project to be quantified, as well as, THPs must identify ways to avoid or mitigate the emissions. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the conservation group calling for the greenhouse gas requirements of CEQA to be followed:

Requests to clear-cut thousands of acres of California’s forests are currently before the state Department of Forestry . For example, the Swamped Timber Harvest Plan would alone clear-cut 424 acres. None of the requests address carbon emissions, however, as required by CEQA. This is an especially serious problem given that the published science shows that clear-cutting can remove more carbon from the forest than any other disturbance, including fire.

Buildup of microtrash

“Microtrash” consists of bottle caps, pop-tops, small pieces of glass, plastic and metal (including pennies, etc.). Biologists believe that these items are mistaken for bone chips by adult condors who feed them to their chicks.

Adult condors usually regurgitate these materials, but it is another story with condor chicks. The baby condors cannot digest or regurgitate microtrash, and are dying of microtrash impaction.

Ventana Wildlife Society reported in July that a condor chick was found dead from ingesting microtrash. The chick’s stomach was clogged with shards of glass, a metal fragment, and a penny.

Appendix C of the Tejon Ranch California Condor Conservation and Management Plan prepared for Tejon Mountain Village LLC and TRC by Bloom Biological includes the following carefully-worded gem:

Development and ongoing operations of TMV could result in the buildup of microtrash associated with the development of residences and other structures within condor foraging areas. Associated Ranch activities such as film production, passive recreation, repair and maintenance of roads, and visits to backcountry cabins in areas of the Ranch outside of TMV after initial project development could also result in the leaving of microtrash that could be ingested by adult condors in areas frequented by the species. An increase in microtrash in areas accessible to condors would represent a potentially significant impact under CEQA and could result in take (harm) of condors. Measures are included in this plan (discussed further below) that would avoid and/or minimize impacts and potential “take” due to microtrash.

And those “included measures”?

TMV LLC will retain, or cause to be retained, professional environmental education specialists to create and disseminate a condor educational curriculum that will include information concerning the life history of the California condor, where condors potentially occur within TMV, prohibited behaviors related to condors such as the pursuit, capture, harassment, and all other potential direct interaction of the species. The information will also identify types of microtrash that could be ingested by adult breeding condors and describe measures to eliminate microtrash on and near all construction sites, recreational areas, outdoor filming projects, roads, and back-country areas where human presence has occurred. The education program will include training of key personnel at the Ranch, appropriate signage at trailheads or entrances to Open Space areas, and dissemination of pertinent information at on-site nature centers or other public areas.

And if hiring consultants to tell the residents and guests of Tejon Mountain Village not to litter condor habitat with microtrash doesn’t work?

If it is determined that condors are either ingesting microtrash within TMV or elsewhere on Tejon Ranch, Tejon Ranch and the FWS shall evaluate potential remedies to reduce, and, if possible, eliminate microtrash ingestion. Such remedies may include increased education and awareness to Tejon residents, guests, staff, and workers regarding the dangers of microtrash, increased monitoring of events and activities that are potential sources of microtrash, and more frequent collection of microtrash.

The bottom line:

More people = more microtrash. More microtrash = more dead condor chicks.

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kainroadculdesac/ / CC BY 2.0

Project location

The location of Tejon Mountain Village in relation to condor feeding and nesting areas will disrupt crucial chick-rearing activities.

A study by Dr. Christopher Cogan - California Condor Activity in the Tejon Ranch Region - confirms that the Tejon Mountain Village is planned in a condor “commute” area - a flight path that connects condor feeding grounds with nesting areas.

Human disturbances

Nesting condors are extremely sensitive to human activity. Dr. Cogan also cited the following from an earlier research report:

One man can keep a pair of condors from the egg all night or prevent the feeding of a chick for an entire day merely by exposing himself within 500 years of a nest for a few minutes at one or two critical times of the day. Loud noises can alarm condors at distances of over one mile. Individuals or groups of persons moving about must keep at least one-half mile from condor nests in order to avoid disturbance of the parent birds.

Referring again to Appendix C of the Tejon Ranch California Condor Conservation and Management Plan prepared for Tejon Mountain Village LLC and TRC by Bloom Biological, let’s look at “Human disturbances”:

The intentional or inadvertent harassment of condors feeding on carcasses, roosting in trees or on rock outcrops, or that are otherwise using areas within the TMV Planning Area or adjacent areas could cause significant disruption of normal feeding or roosting behaviors at temporary roost sites in individual condors. Such disruption could occur as a result of noise, nighttime lighting, and activities associated with film production, passive recreation, and occupancy of backcountry cabins. Human disturbances to condors would represent a potentially significant impact under CEQA and could result in take (harassment) of condors. Measures are included in this plan (discussed further below) that would avoid and/or minimize impacts and “take” due to human disturbances.

Again, TRC expects to “avoid and/or minimize the potential for human disturbances” with a “condor education curriculum.”

A condor educational curriculum, as provided above, will be created and disseminated that will include information concerning prohibited behaviors related to condors such as the pursuit, capture, harassment, and all other potential direct interaction of the species …

Recreational activities, particularly organized events, and filming projects in areas where condors are known or expected to occur will be closely regulated to minimize any effects that could disturb feeding or roosting condors.

How will TRC ensure that “the potential for human disturbances” will be avoided and or minimized?

Compliance with condor protection measures will be enforced by means of CC&Rs …

CC&Rs to enforce protection of critically endangered California condors?

Map image: Cogan, Christopher B. 2009. California Condor Activity in the Tejon Ranch Region. Center for Biological Diversity Report, 12 June 2009. San Francisco, CA, USA. 22pp.

Wind turbines

Prop-style wind turbines are killing birds at an alarming rate. Some biologists believe that even these numbers are under reported.

It has recently been estimated that the 13,000 wind turbines operating in Spain are killing nearly 2,000 Griffon vultures every year.

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area (APWRA) has caused a severe environmental impact to raptor populations due to wind turbines.

The APWRA has the highest numbers and rates of raptor kills of any wind facility in the world. The bird kill fiasco at Altamont Pass is a result of poor planning that allowed wind turbines to be built along a major raptor migration corridor in an area with high wintering concentrations of raptors and in the heart of the highest concentration of golden eagles in North America. Wind turbines at Altamont Pass kill an estimated 880 to 1,300 birds of prey each year, including up to 116 golden eagles, 300 red-tailed hawks, 380 burrowing owls, and additional hundreds of other raptors including kestrels, falcons, vultures, and other owl species. The APWRA is an ecological sink for golden eagles and other raptor species and may be having significant impacts on populations of birds that are rare and reproduce infrequently.

Biologist Jim Wiegand believes that several dozen missing captive-bred California condors have perished due to the Tehachapi Pass wind farm where 5,000 wind turbines are situated.

And according to Wiegand, wind projects are planned for property owned by Tejon Ranch Company.

It is called the PdV Wind Energy Project. A few miles away another new wind farm, the Alta Oak wind project is in front of the same planning department in Kern County that approved the PDV Wind farm. It too will kill free flying Condors. Several more undisclosed prop wind farms are also being planned for the southern slopes Tehachapi Mountains on land owned by Tejon Ranch Company.

Appendix C of the Tejon Ranch California Condor Conservation and Management Plan prepared for Tejon Mountain Village LLC and TRC by Bloom Biological does mention wind turbines.

No wind farms will be constructed anywhere on the Covered Lands (and TRC agrees to expand the ban to all Ranch lands). However, individual wind turbines, which have the primary purpose to serve electrical generation needs on site, may be constructed if, after review and approval by the FWS, such turbines are of a design and in a location that would not pose a threat to condors.

Jim Wiegand - who supports the development of vertical shaft turbine wind power - says that Tejon Ranch is sitting on one of the very best wind resource areas in California. The area reportedly has two to three times the wind speed and is more than 20 times the size of Altamont Pass.

Are we supposed to believe that TRC is just going to sit there on this potential gold mine of wind energy and do nothing with it?

How will TRC explain such waste their shareholders?

The loophole lurks in the “review and approval by the FWS.”

Wind farm location image provided by Jim Wiegand.

“A substantial positive impact”?

Appendix C of the Tejon Ranch California Condor Conservation and Management Plan prepared for Tejon Mountain Village LLC and TRC by Bloom Biological concludes with the following:

… the author and the Condor Panel believe that implementation of the plan proposed in this report would have a substantial positive impact on the long-term survival and recovery of condors in Southern California.

Such a statement brings to mind a recent OnEarth Magazine article in which environmental consultant Robert Moran was interviewed. Moran used to consult for big mining companies, and now he works with the nonprofits fighting against them.

It’s a kind of natural progression you see in a lot of scientists. As you mature, you look a bit more carefully at the consequences of what you’re doing. When I said controversial things about projects I was working on, the companies would put them in reports and lock them in a safe somewhere, and they’d never see the light of day. I got tired of that. It was clear that the public-interest side was being outgunned time after time. So I did make a conscious effort to switch sides.

How to help California condors

On Monday, October 5, the Kern County Board of Supervisors will decide the fate of the condor in the southern San Joaquin Valley.

The Center for Biological Diversity has set up a link for you to send a letter to the Kern County Board of Supervisors to stop Tejon Mountain Village.

You can voice your opposition to this development to the Kern County supervisors and ask them to deny the plan as proposed and get the development out of condor critical habitat:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2167/t/5243/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1519

For more information, visit:

• Center for Biological Diversity
• Save Tejon Ranch

Image source: Wikimedia commons.

We predicted that the translocation of tortoises from Fort Irwin’s expansion would be disastrous, and unfortunately, we were proven right. The loss of so many tortoises is certainly not helping this threatened population. The Army must minimize the death rate. If relocation really is necessary, it needs to be done much more carefully.

Image: USGS

Via: World-Wire

Buildup of microtrash

“Microtrash” consists of bottle caps, pop-tops, small pieces of glass, plastic and metal (including pennies, etc.). Biologists believe that these items are mistaken for bone chips by adult condors who feed them to their chicks.

Adult condors usually regurgitate these materials, but it is another story with condor chicks. The baby condors cannot digest or regurgitate microtrash, and are dying of microtrash impaction.

Ventana Wildlife Society reported in July that a condor chick was found dead from ingesting microtrash. The chick’s stomach was clogged with shards of glass, a metal fragment, and a penny.

Appendix C of the Tejon Ranch California Condor Conservation and Management Plan prepared for Tejon Mountain Village LLC and TRC by Bloom Biological includes the following carefully-worded gem:

Development and ongoing operations of TMV could result in the buildup of microtrash associated with the development of residences and other structures within condor foraging areas. Associated Ranch activities such as film production, passive recreation, repair and maintenance of roads, and visits to backcountry cabins in areas of the Ranch outside of TMV after initial project development could also result in the leaving of microtrash that could be ingested by adult condors in areas frequented by the species. An increase in microtrash in areas accessible to condors would represent a potentially significant impact under CEQA and could result in take (harm) of condors. Measures are included in this plan (discussed further below) that would avoid and/or minimize impacts and potential “take” due to microtrash.

And those “included measures”?

TMV LLC will retain, or cause to be retained, professional environmental education specialists to create and disseminate a condor educational curriculum that will include information concerning the life history of the California condor, where condors potentially occur within TMV, prohibited behaviors related to condors such as the pursuit, capture, harassment, and all other potential direct interaction of the species. The information will also identify types of microtrash that could be ingested by adult breeding condors and describe measures to eliminate microtrash on and near all construction sites, recreational areas, outdoor filming projects, roads, and back-country areas where human presence has occurred. The education program will include training of key personnel at the Ranch, appropriate signage at trailheads or entrances to Open Space areas, and dissemination of pertinent information at on-site nature centers or other public areas.

And if hiring consultants to tell the residents and guests of Tejon Mountain Village not to litter condor habitat with microtrash doesn’t work?

If it is determined that condors are either ingesting microtrash within TMV or elsewhere on Tejon Ranch, Tejon Ranch and the FWS shall evaluate potential remedies to reduce, and, if possible, eliminate microtrash ingestion. Such remedies may include increased education and awareness to Tejon residents, guests, staff, and workers regarding the dangers of microtrash, increased monitoring of events and activities that are potential sources of microtrash, and more frequent collection of microtrash.

The bottom line:

More people = more microtrash. More microtrash = more dead condor chicks.

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kainroadculdesac/ / CC BY 2.0

Project location

The location of Tejon Mountain Village in relation to condor feeding and nesting areas will disrupt crucial chick-rearing activities.

A study by Dr. Christopher Cogan - California Condor Activity in the Tejon Ranch Region - confirms that the Tejon Mountain Village is planned in a condor “commute” area - a flight path that connects condor feeding grounds with nesting areas.

Human disturbances

Nesting condors are extremely sensitive to human activity. Dr. Cogan also cited the following from an earlier research report:

One man can keep a pair of condors from the egg all night or prevent the feeding of a chick for an entire day merely by exposing himself within 500 years of a nest for a few minutes at one or two critical times of the day. Loud noises can alarm condors at distances of over one mile. Individuals or groups of persons moving about must keep at least one-half mile from condor nests in order to avoid disturbance of the parent birds.

Referring again to Appendix C of the Tejon Ranch California Condor Conservation and Management Plan prepared for Tejon Mountain Village LLC and TRC by Bloom Biological, let’s look at “Human disturbances”:

The intentional or inadvertent harassment of condors feeding on carcasses, roosting in trees or on rock outcrops, or that are otherwise using areas within the TMV Planning Area or adjacent areas could cause significant disruption of normal feeding or roosting behaviors at temporary roost sites in individual condors. Such disruption could occur as a result of noise, nighttime lighting, and activities associated with film production, passive recreation, and occupancy of backcountry cabins. Human disturbances to condors would represent a potentially significant impact under CEQA and could result in take (harassment) of condors. Measures are included in this plan (discussed further below) that would avoid and/or minimize impacts and “take” due to human disturbances.

Again, TRC expects to “avoid and/or minimize the potential for human disturbances” with a “condor education curriculum.”

A condor educational curriculum, as provided above, will be created and disseminated that will include information concerning prohibited behaviors related to condors such as the pursuit, capture, harassment, and all other potential direct interaction of the species …

Recreational activities, particularly organized events, and filming projects in areas where condors are known or expected to occur will be closely regulated to minimize any effects that could disturb feeding or roosting condors.

How will TRC ensure that “the potential for human disturbances” will be avoided and or minimized?

Compliance with condor protection measures will be enforced by means of CC&Rs …

CC&Rs to enforce protection of critically endangered California condors?

Map image: Cogan, Christopher B. 2009. California Condor Activity in the Tejon Ranch Region. Center for Biological Diversity Report, 12 June 2009. San Francisco, CA, USA. 22pp.

Wind turbines

Prop-style wind turbines are killing birds at an alarming rate. Some biologists believe that even these numbers are under reported.

It has recently been estimated that the 13,000 wind turbines operating in Spain are killing nearly 2,000 Griffon vultures every year.

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area (APWRA) has caused a severe environmental impact to raptor populations due to wind turbines.

The APWRA has the highest numbers and rates of raptor kills of any wind facility in the world. The bird kill fiasco at Altamont Pass is a result of poor planning that allowed wind turbines to be built along a major raptor migration corridor in an area with high wintering concentrations of raptors and in the heart of the highest concentration of golden eagles in North America. Wind turbines at Altamont Pass kill an estimated 880 to 1,300 birds of prey each year, including up to 116 golden eagles, 300 red-tailed hawks, 380 burrowing owls, and additional hundreds of other raptors including kestrels, falcons, vultures, and other owl species. The APWRA is an ecological sink for golden eagles and other raptor species and may be having significant impacts on populations of birds that are rare and reproduce infrequently.

Biologist Jim Wiegand believes that several dozen missing captive-bred California condors have perished due to the Tehachapi Pass wind farm where 5,000 wind turbines are situated.

And according to Wiegand, wind projects are planned for property owned by Tejon Ranch Company.

It is called the PdV Wind Energy Project. A few miles away another new wind farm, the Alta Oak wind project is in front of the same planning department in Kern County that approved the PDV Wind farm. It too will kill free flying Condors. Several more undisclosed prop wind farms are also being planned for the southern slopes Tehachapi Mountains on land owned by Tejon Ranch Company.

Appendix C of the Tejon Ranch California Condor Conservation and Management Plan prepared for Tejon Mountain Village LLC and TRC by Bloom Biological does mention wind turbines.

No wind farms will be constructed anywhere on the Covered Lands (and TRC agrees to expand the ban to all Ranch lands). However, individual wind turbines, which have the primary purpose to serve electrical generation needs on site, may be constructed if, after review and approval by the FWS, such turbines are of a design and in a location that would not pose a threat to condors.

Jim Wiegand - who supports the development of vertical shaft turbine wind power - says that Tejon Ranch is sitting on one of the very best wind resource areas in California. The area reportedly has two to three times the wind speed and is more than 20 times the size of Altamont Pass.

Are we supposed to believe that TRC is just going to sit there on this potential gold mine of wind energy and do nothing with it?

How will TRC explain such waste their shareholders?

The loophole lurks in the “review and approval by the FWS.”

Wind farm location image provided by Jim Wiegand.

“A substantial positive impact”?

Appendix C of the Tejon Ranch California Condor Conservation and Management Plan prepared for Tejon Mountain Village LLC and TRC by Bloom Biological concludes with the following:

… the author and the Condor Panel believe that implementation of the plan proposed in this report would have a substantial positive impact on the long-term survival and recovery of condors in Southern California.

Such a statement brings to mind a recent OnEarth Magazine article in which environmental consultant Robert Moran was interviewed. Moran used to consult for big mining companies, and now he works with the nonprofits fighting against them.

It’s a kind of natural progression you see in a lot of scientists. As you mature, you look a bit more carefully at the consequences of what you’re doing. When I said controversial things about projects I was working on, the companies would put them in reports and lock them in a safe somewhere, and they’d never see the light of day. I got tired of that. It was clear that the public-interest side was being outgunned time after time. So I did make a conscious effort to switch sides.

How to help California condors

On Monday, October 5, the Kern County Board of Supervisors will decide the fate of the condor in the southern San Joaquin Valley.

The Center for Biological Diversity has set up a link for you to send a letter to the Kern County Board of Supervisors to stop Tejon Mountain Village.

You can voice your opposition to this development to the Kern County supervisors and ask them to deny the plan as proposed and get the development out of condor critical habitat:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2167/t/5243/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1519

For more information, visit:

• Center for Biological Diversity
• Save Tejon Ranch

Image source: Wikimedia commons.

Wal-Mart recognizes that our customers care about the quality of their jewelry and its potential impact on the world. With Love, Earth, customers are getting an affordable and beautiful piece of jewelry that also helps sustain resources and strengthen communities.

Unfortunately for Wal-Mart, the Center for Biological Diversity disagrees the mines are sustainable and busts the company for greenwashing:

“The mines in Utah and Nevada and the factories in Peru and Bolivia where Wal-Mart claims its gold for Love, Earth is ’sustainably mined and manufactured’ are not monitored or certified by any credible independent agent,” says a Sept. 11 statement from Global Response, which is based in Boulder. The retail giant is “taking advantage of people’s genuine concern for the planet and luring them into purchasing a product that … is extracted at great cost to the earth and to human communities.”

Image:  Daylife

Buildup of microtrash

“Microtrash” consists of bottle caps, pop-tops, small pieces of glass, plastic and metal (including pennies, etc.). Biologists believe that these items are mistaken for bone chips by adult condors who feed them to their chicks.

Adult condors usually regurgitate these materials, but it is another story with condor chicks. The baby condors cannot digest or regurgitate microtrash, and are dying of microtrash impaction.

Ventana Wildlife Society reported in July that a condor chick was found dead from ingesting microtrash. The chick’s stomach was clogged with shards of glass, a metal fragment, and a penny.

Appendix C of the Tejon Ranch California Condor Conservation and Management Plan prepared for Tejon Mountain Village LLC and TRC by Bloom Biological includes the following carefully-worded gem:

Development and ongoing operations of TMV could result in the buildup of microtrash associated with the development of residences and other structures within condor foraging areas. Associated Ranch activities such as film production, passive recreation, repair and maintenance of roads, and visits to backcountry cabins in areas of the Ranch outside of TMV after initial project development could also result in the leaving of microtrash that could be ingested by adult condors in areas frequented by the species. An increase in microtrash in areas accessible to condors would represent a potentially significant impact under CEQA and could result in take (harm) of condors. Measures are included in this plan (discussed further below) that would avoid and/or minimize impacts and potential “take” due to microtrash.

And those “included measures”?

TMV LLC will retain, or cause to be retained, professional environmental education specialists to create and disseminate a condor educational curriculum that will include information concerning the life history of the California condor, where condors potentially occur within TMV, prohibited behaviors related to condors such as the pursuit, capture, harassment, and all other potential direct interaction of the species. The information will also identify types of microtrash that could be ingested by adult breeding condors and describe measures to eliminate microtrash on and near all construction sites, recreational areas, outdoor filming projects, roads, and back-country areas where human presence has occurred. The education program will include training of key personnel at the Ranch, appropriate signage at trailheads or entrances to Open Space areas, and dissemination of pertinent information at on-site nature centers or other public areas.

And if hiring consultants to tell the residents and guests of Tejon Mountain Village not to litter condor habitat with microtrash doesn’t work?

If it is determined that condors are either ingesting microtrash within TMV or elsewhere on Tejon Ranch, Tejon Ranch and the FWS shall evaluate potential remedies to reduce, and, if possible, eliminate microtrash ingestion. Such remedies may include increased education and awareness to Tejon residents, guests, staff, and workers regarding the dangers of microtrash, increased monitoring of events and activities that are potential sources of microtrash, and more frequent collection of microtrash.

The bottom line:

More people = more microtrash. More microtrash = more dead condor chicks.

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kainroadculdesac/ / CC BY 2.0

Project location

The location of Tejon Mountain Village in relation to condor feeding and nesting areas will disrupt crucial chick-rearing activities.

A study by Dr. Christopher Cogan - California Condor Activity in the Tejon Ranch Region - confirms that the Tejon Mountain Village is planned in a condor “commute” area - a flight path that connects condor feeding grounds with nesting areas.

Human disturbances

Nesting condors are extremely sensitive to human activity. Dr. Cogan also cited the following from an earlier research report:

One man can keep a pair of condors from the egg all night or prevent the feeding of a chick for an entire day merely by exposing himself within 500 years of a nest for a few minutes at one or two critical times of the day. Loud noises can alarm condors at distances of over one mile. Individuals or groups of persons moving about must keep at least one-half mile from condor nests in order to avoid disturbance of the parent birds.

Referring again to Appendix C of the Tejon Ranch California Condor Conservation and Management Plan prepared for Tejon Mountain Village LLC and TRC by Bloom Biological, let’s look at “Human disturbances”:

The intentional or inadvertent harassment of condors feeding on carcasses, roosting in trees or on rock outcrops, or that are otherwise using areas within the TMV Planning Area or adjacent areas could cause significant disruption of normal feeding or roosting behaviors at temporary roost sites in individual condors. Such disruption could occur as a result of noise, nighttime lighting, and activities associated with film production, passive recreation, and occupancy of backcountry cabins. Human disturbances to condors would represent a potentially significant impact under CEQA and could result in take (harassment) of condors. Measures are included in this plan (discussed further below) that would avoid and/or minimize impacts and “take” due to human disturbances.

Again, TRC expects to “avoid and/or minimize the potential for human disturbances” with a “condor education curriculum.”

A condor educational curriculum, as provided above, will be created and disseminated that will include information concerning prohibited behaviors related to condors such as the pursuit, capture, harassment, and all other potential direct interaction of the species …

Recreational activities, particularly organized events, and filming projects in areas where condors are known or expected to occur will be closely regulated to minimize any effects that could disturb feeding or roosting condors.

How will TRC ensure that “the potential for human disturbances” will be avoided and or minimized?

Compliance with condor protection measures will be enforced by means of CC&Rs …

CC&Rs to enforce protection of critically endangered California condors?

Map image: Cogan, Christopher B. 2009. California Condor Activity in the Tejon Ranch Region. Center for Biological Diversity Report, 12 June 2009. San Francisco, CA, USA. 22pp.

Wind turbines

Prop-style wind turbines are killing birds at an alarming rate. Some biologists believe that even these numbers are under reported.

It has recently been estimated that the 13,000 wind turbines operating in Spain are killing nearly 2,000 Griffon vultures every year.

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area (APWRA) has caused a severe environmental impact to raptor populations due to wind turbines.

The APWRA has the highest numbers and rates of raptor kills of any wind facility in the world. The bird kill fiasco at Altamont Pass is a result of poor planning that allowed wind turbines to be built along a major raptor migration corridor in an area with high wintering concentrations of raptors and in the heart of the highest concentration of golden eagles in North America. Wind turbines at Altamont Pass kill an estimated 880 to 1,300 birds of prey each year, including up to 116 golden eagles, 300 red-tailed hawks, 380 burrowing owls, and additional hundreds of other raptors including kestrels, falcons, vultures, and other owl species. The APWRA is an ecological sink for golden eagles and other raptor species and may be having significant impacts on populations of birds that are rare and reproduce infrequently.

Biologist Jim Wiegand believes that several dozen missing captive-bred California condors have perished due to the Tehachapi Pass wind farm where 5,000 wind turbines are situated.

And according to Wiegand, wind projects are planned for property owned by Tejon Ranch Company.

It is called the PdV Wind Energy Project. A few miles away another new wind farm, the Alta Oak wind project is in front of the same planning department in Kern County that approved the PDV Wind farm. It too will kill free flying Condors. Several more undisclosed prop wind farms are also being planned for the southern slopes Tehachapi Mountains on land owned by Tejon Ranch Company.

Appendix C of the Tejon Ranch California Condor Conservation and Management Plan prepared for Tejon Mountain Village LLC and TRC by Bloom Biological does mention wind turbines.

No wind farms will be constructed anywhere on the Covered Lands (and TRC agrees to expand the ban to all Ranch lands). However, individual wind turbines, which have the primary purpose to serve electrical generation needs on site, may be constructed if, after review and approval by the FWS, such turbines are of a design and in a location that would not pose a threat to condors.

Jim Wiegand - who supports the development of vertical shaft turbine wind power - says that Tejon Ranch is sitting on one of the very best wind resource areas in California. The area reportedly has two to three times the wind speed and is more than 20 times the size of Altamont Pass.

Are we supposed to believe that TRC is just going to sit there on this potential gold mine of wind energy and do nothing with it?

How will TRC explain such waste their shareholders?

The loophole lurks in the “review and approval by the FWS.”

Wind farm location image provided by Jim Wiegand.

“A substantial positive impact”?

Appendix C of the Tejon Ranch California Condor Conservation and Management Plan prepared for Tejon Mountain Village LLC and TRC by Bloom Biological concludes with the following:

… the author and the Condor Panel believe that implementation of the plan proposed in this report would have a substantial positive impact on the long-term survival and recovery of condors in Southern California.

Such a statement brings to mind a recent OnEarth Magazine article in which environmental consultant Robert Moran was interviewed. Moran used to consult for big mining companies, and now he works with the nonprofits fighting against them.

It’s a kind of natural progression you see in a lot of scientists. As you mature, you look a bit more carefully at the consequences of what you’re doing. When I said controversial things about projects I was working on, the companies would put them in reports and lock them in a safe somewhere, and they’d never see the light of day. I got tired of that. It was clear that the public-interest side was being outgunned time after time. So I did make a conscious effort to switch sides.

How to help California condors

On Monday, October 5, the Kern County Board of Supervisors will decide the fate of the condor in the southern San Joaquin Valley.

The Center for Biological Diversity has set up a link for you to send a letter to the Kern County Board of Supervisors to stop Tejon Mountain Village.

You can voice your opposition to this development to the Kern County supervisors and ask them to deny the plan as proposed and get the development out of condor critical habitat:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2167/t/5243/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1519

For more information, visit:

• Center for Biological Diversity
• Save Tejon Ranch

Image source: Wikimedia commons.

The Center for Biological Diversity recently awarded Governor Sarah Palin her first award since becoming Vice Presidential running mate with Senator-turned-Republican Presidential nominee John McCain.

Here is part of explanation for the decision to award Ms. Palin with this year’s dubious honor:

“Governor Palin has waged a deceptive, dangerous, and costly battle against the polar bear,” said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. “Her position on global warming is so extreme, she makes Dick Cheney look like an Al Gore devotee.”

Click here to read the full press release issued by the Center.

Source: Center for Biological Diversity

Buildup of microtrash

“Microtrash” consists of bottle caps, pop-tops, small pieces of glass, plastic and metal (including pennies, etc.). Biologists believe that these items are mistaken for bone chips by adult condors who feed them to their chicks.

Adult condors usually regurgitate these materials, but it is another story with condor chicks. The baby condors cannot digest or regurgitate microtrash, and are dying of microtrash impaction.

Ventana Wildlife Society reported in July that a condor chick was found dead from ingesting microtrash. The chick’s stomach was clogged with shards of glass, a metal fragment, and a penny.

Appendix C of the Tejon Ranch California Condor Conservation and Management Plan prepared for Tejon Mountain Village LLC and TRC by Bloom Biological includes the following carefully-worded gem:

Development and ongoing operations of TMV could result in the buildup of microtrash associated with the development of residences and other structures within condor foraging areas. Associated Ranch activities such as film production, passive recreation, repair and maintenance of roads, and visits to backcountry cabins in areas of the Ranch outside of TMV after initial project development could also result in the leaving of microtrash that could be ingested by adult condors in areas frequented by the species. An increase in microtrash in areas accessible to condors would represent a potentially significant impact under CEQA and could result in take (harm) of condors. Measures are included in this plan (discussed further below) that would avoid and/or minimize impacts and potential “take” due to microtrash.

And those “included measures”?

TMV LLC will retain, or cause to be retained, professional environmental education specialists to create and disseminate a condor educational curriculum that will include information concerning the life history of the California condor, where condors potentially occur within TMV, prohibited behaviors related to condors such as the pursuit, capture, harassment, and all other potential direct interaction of the species. The information will also identify types of microtrash that could be ingested by adult breeding condors and describe measures to eliminate microtrash on and near all construction sites, recreational areas, outdoor filming projects, roads, and back-country areas where human presence has occurred. The education program will include training of key personnel at the Ranch, appropriate signage at trailheads or entrances to Open Space areas, and dissemination of pertinent information at on-site nature centers or other public areas.

And if hiring consultants to tell the residents and guests of Tejon Mountain Village not to litter condor habitat with microtrash doesn’t work?

If it is determined that condors are either ingesting microtrash within TMV or elsewhere on Tejon Ranch, Tejon Ranch and the FWS shall evaluate potential remedies to reduce, and, if possible, eliminate microtrash ingestion. Such remedies may include increased education and awareness to Tejon residents, guests, staff, and workers regarding the dangers of microtrash, increased monitoring of events and activities that are potential sources of microtrash, and more frequent collection of microtrash.

The bottom line:

More people = more microtrash. More microtrash = more dead condor chicks.

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kainroadculdesac/ / CC BY 2.0

Project location

The location of Tejon Mountain Village in relation to condor feeding and nesting areas will disrupt crucial chick-rearing activities.

A study by Dr. Christopher Cogan - California Condor Activity in the Tejon Ranch Region - confirms that the Tejon Mountain Village is planned in a condor “commute” area - a flight path that connects condor feeding grounds with nesting areas.

Human disturbances

Nesting condors are extremely sensitive to human activity. Dr. Cogan also cited the following from an earlier research report:

One man can keep a pair of condors from the egg all night or prevent the feeding of a chick for an entire day merely by exposing himself within 500 years of a nest for a few minutes at one or two critical times of the day. Loud noises can alarm condors at distances of over one mile. Individuals or groups of persons moving about must keep at least one-half mile from condor nests in order to avoid disturbance of the parent birds.

Referring again to Appendix C of the Tejon Ranch California Condor Conservation and Management Plan prepared for Tejon Mountain Village LLC and TRC by Bloom Biological, let’s look at “Human disturbances”:

The intentional or inadvertent harassment of condors feeding on carcasses, roosting in trees or on rock outcrops, or that are otherwise using areas within the TMV Planning Area or adjacent areas could cause significant disruption of normal feeding or roosting behaviors at temporary roost sites in individual condors. Such disruption could occur as a result of noise, nighttime lighting, and activities associated with film production, passive recreation, and occupancy of backcountry cabins. Human disturbances to condors would represent a potentially significant impact under CEQA and could result in take (harassment) of condors. Measures are included in this plan (discussed further below) that would avoid and/or minimize impacts and “take” due to human disturbances.

Again, TRC expects to “avoid and/or minimize the potential for human disturbances” with a “condor education curriculum.”

A condor educational curriculum, as provided above, will be created and disseminated that will include information concerning prohibited behaviors related to condors such as the pursuit, capture, harassment, and all other potential direct interaction of the species …

Recreational activities, particularly organized events, and filming projects in areas where condors are known or expected to occur will be closely regulated to minimize any effects that could disturb feeding or roosting condors.

How will TRC ensure that “the potential for human disturbances” will be avoided and or minimized?

Compliance with condor protection measures will be enforced by means of CC&Rs …

CC&Rs to enforce protection of critically endangered California condors?

Map image: Cogan, Christopher B. 2009. California Condor Activity in the Tejon Ranch Region. Center for Biological Diversity Report, 12 June 2009. San Francisco, CA, USA. 22pp.

Wind turbines

Prop-style wind turbines are killing birds at an alarming rate. Some biologists believe that even these numbers are under reported.

It has recently been estimated that the 13,000 wind turbines operating in Spain are killing nearly 2,000 Griffon vultures every year.

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area (APWRA) has caused a severe environmental impact to raptor populations due to wind turbines.

The APWRA has the highest numbers and rates of raptor kills of any wind facility in the world. The bird kill fiasco at Altamont Pass is a result of poor planning that allowed wind turbines to be built along a major raptor migration corridor in an area with high wintering concentrations of raptors and in the heart of the highest concentration of golden eagles in North America. Wind turbines at Altamont Pass kill an estimated 880 to 1,300 birds of prey each year, including up to 116 golden eagles, 300 red-tailed hawks, 380 burrowing owls, and additional hundreds of other raptors including kestrels, falcons, vultures, and other owl species. The APWRA is an ecological sink for golden eagles and other raptor species and may be having significant impacts on populations of birds that are rare and reproduce infrequently.

Biologist Jim Wiegand believes that several dozen missing captive-bred California condors have perished due to the Tehachapi Pass wind farm where 5,000 wind turbines are situated.

And according to Wiegand, wind projects are planned for property owned by Tejon Ranch Company.

It is called the PdV Wind Energy Project. A few miles away another new wind farm, the Alta Oak wind project is in front of the same planning department in Kern County that approved the PDV Wind farm. It too will kill free flying Condors. Several more undisclosed prop wind farms are also being planned for the southern slopes Tehachapi Mountains on land owned by Tejon Ranch Company.

Appendix C of the Tejon Ranch California Condor Conservation and Management Plan prepared for Tejon Mountain Village LLC and TRC by Bloom Biological does mention wind turbines.

No wind farms will be constructed anywhere on the Covered Lands (and TRC agrees to expand the ban to all Ranch lands). However, individual wind turbines, which have the primary purpose to serve electrical generation needs on site, may be constructed if, after review and approval by the FWS, such turbines are of a design and in a location that would not pose a threat to condors.

Jim Wiegand - who supports the development of vertical shaft turbine wind power - says that Tejon Ranch is sitting on one of the very best wind resource areas in California. The area reportedly has two to three times the wind speed and is more than 20 times the size of Altamont Pass.

Are we supposed to believe that TRC is just going to sit there on this potential gold mine of wind energy and do nothing with it?

How will TRC explain such waste their shareholders?

The loophole lurks in the “review and approval by the FWS.”

Wind farm location image provided by Jim Wiegand.

“A substantial positive impact”?

Appendix C of the Tejon Ranch California Condor Conservation and Management Plan prepared for Tejon Mountain Village LLC and TRC by Bloom Biological concludes with the following:

… the author and the Condor Panel believe that implementation of the plan proposed in this report would have a substantial positive impact on the long-term survival and recovery of condors in Southern California.

Such a statement brings to mind a recent OnEarth Magazine article in which environmental consultant Robert Moran was interviewed. Moran used to consult for big mining companies, and now he works with the nonprofits fighting against them.

It’s a kind of natural progression you see in a lot of scientists. As you mature, you look a bit more carefully at the consequences of what you’re doing. When I said controversial things about projects I was working on, the companies would put them in reports and lock them in a safe somewhere, and they’d never see the light of day. I got tired of that. It was clear that the public-interest side was being outgunned time after time. So I did make a conscious effort to switch sides.

How to help California condors

On Monday, October 5, the Kern County Board of Supervisors will decide the fate of the condor in the southern San Joaquin Valley.

The Center for Biological Diversity has set up a link for you to send a letter to the Kern County Board of Supervisors to stop Tejon Mountain Village.

You can voice your opposition to this development to the Kern County supervisors and ask them to deny the plan as proposed and get the development out of condor critical habitat:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2167/t/5243/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1519

For more information, visit:

• Center for Biological Diversity
• Save Tejon Ranch

Image source: Wikimedia commons.