Eric Dinerstein is the chief scientist at World Wildlife Fund, and a UW alum. Written up by SEFS’ Cecilia Paul, this story overviews his work to conserve habitat for endangered species around the world. Notably, he has found that none of the preserves set aside for tigers is big enough to provide suitable habitat. Dinerstein will be giving a lecture on campus on March 1, hosted by SEFS and the College of the Environment. Read more here.
 A giant armadillo moves through grass and brush cover of the Cerrado region in Brazil. (Image courtesy of Carly Vynne) In the biodiverse Brazilian cerrado, protected areas are swiftly surrounded by agriculture, leaving the larger animals in parks with not enough space to roam – or even survive. A law in Brazil that requires keeping 20% of your farm’s original vegetation intact creates a matrix of natural and worked land that allows many animals to use the land. Read more about this study, published by Carly Vynne during her doctoral research at the Center for Conservation Biology, and others. Read the original article here. According to a study done by OSU, forest thinning to prevent catastrophic fires may actually decrease carbon storage capacity more than the fire itself would. Read this story here. Privately owned land used for conservation purposes play an important role in landscape- to regional-scale maintenance of ecological properties. With the economic downturn, these lands have seen huge increases. Read more here. Under a bill signed last week by President Obama, ski resorts on public land across the country – including 30 in the Pacific Northwest – are now eligible for year-round recreation. Read about this development here. America’s Best Idea – the national parks – gets even better with several fee-free days at more than 100 national parks that usually charge entrance fees. Mark your calendar for the final fee-free days in 2011, November 11-13. Read here for 2012 dates The Wild Olympics Campaign to add private lands to federal wilderness protection could cost Clallam and Jefferson counties as many as 72 jobs in the forest industry, according to an economic report released at Monday’s Port of Port Angeles commissioners’ meeting. If the plan by an environmental coalition based in Seattle were fully implemented, losses could be as much as $3.5 million in wages, said Dan Underwood, who teaches economics and environmental science at Peninsula College. The Wild Olympics Campaign proposes a long-term series of purchases that could add 37,000 acres — mainly on the West End — to Olympic National Park, 450 miles of wild and scenic-designated rivers and 134,000 acres of other wilderness additions to the Olympic Peninsula. According to the plan, parcels of land purchased under a “willing seller” agreement over the next 40 years could become additions to Olympic National Park and other wilderness designations with the approval of Congress. Wild Olympics leadership is currently working to draft a bill to present to Congress for consideration. The port commissioners have stated that they will not support any plan that will cost jobs in the region. |
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