Thomas Fraser
Indigenous people could provide a path to global land and water preservation
NYT: Global effort under way to protect 30 percent of the world’s remaining natural areas
The “30x30” plan, led by Britain, Costa Rica and France, aims to preserve at least 30 percent of the Earth’s remaining natural terrestrial and aquatic habitats. A convention of dozens of nations in China later this year will outline and streamline possible methods to meet this goal. Some countries want to increase the goal to 50 percent.
One good reference point may be the lands controlled by indigenous people, who, research shows, do a remarkably good job of maintaining biodiversity in the native habitats in which they live. Their careful methods of resource extraction provide economic benefits while preserving the natural integrity of their native lands.
The U.S. is the only country aside from the Vatican to not agree to the convention’s goal, though President Joe Biden has floated a similar plan to preserve 30 percent of the country’s remaining natural areas.
NC authorities mulling relaxed regulations on Pigeon River pollutants
Knox News: Sam Venable: Now is not the time to backslide on Pigeon River health
Good piece here on a renewed threat to the Pigeon River, which threads from North Carolina into Tennessee. Your friendly neighborhood Hellbender Press editor was a raft guide there for a while — people loved to be on that river, and it is a true environmental and economic success story.
But after years of environmental improvements to the river and accompanying economic gains, the state of North Carolina is considering relaxing standards for a nearby paper mill’s pollutants.
The state is considering loosening the discharge standards for the paper mill’s current owner. A public hearing on the matter is set for April 14.
Park service introduces permit system to protect Whiteoak Sink wildflowers
A visitor to Whiteoak Sink in Great Smoky Mountains National Park photographs a wildflower. Courtesy National Park Service
Park managers hope new rule will limit trampling of the flowers people flock to photograph. Meanwhile, there’s sad news about the sink’s resident bats.
Large groups of spring visitors to the geologically and ecologically unique Whiteoak Sink area near Cades Cove will have to obtain permits in an ongoing effort to prevent damage to the sink’s plant and animal habitats.
The sink is home to vivid wildflower displays in the spring, and the 5,000 people who come to see the annual spectacle stray off trails and destroy or damage some plant species.
“The intent of the trial reservation system is to better protect sensitive wildflower species that can be damaged when large groups crowd around plants off-trail to take photos or closely view blooms,” according to a release from Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Whiteoak Sink is off the Schoolhouse Gap Trail between Townsend and Cades Cove.
“This trial project will allow managers to determine if better coordinating group access can reduce trampling and soil compaction around sensitive plant populations.”
Knoxville Urban Wilderness poised for expansion
Compass: Urban Wilderness could expand with city/bike club deal
UPDATE: This resolution was passed March 9 by City Council.
Our friends at Compass report that Knoxville City Council will consider a memorandum of understanding tonight with the Appalachian Mountain Bike Club to expand the William Hastie Natural Area by 28 acres.
The club and city would split the purchase price of the property off Margaret Road, and the club would maintain planned bike trails, according to Compass.
Compass is a subscription-only news site, but you should subscribe anyway, so check it out.
A Resolution authorizing the Mayor to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Appalachian Mountain Bike Club providing that the City pay an amount not to exceed $100,000.00 toward the purchase of 28 acres of property to expand the William Hastie Natural Area in the Urban Wilderness, and expressing appreciation for the donation of property to the City. (Requested by Administration).
Hellbender Press will let you know how the vote went.
Biden appointees may move TVA in more sustainable direction
News Sentinel: Biden poised to name four new TVA board members
Georgiana Vines has a good overview of the changing of the guard at TVA as Biden takes the reins on the giant public utility.
Environmental groups are hopeful that new appointees could steer TVA toward more sustainable energy sources and put a focus on the role of power production in climate change.
Right whale entangled in ropes and debris dies off Myrtle Beach
Post and Courier: Right whale meets sad end off Myrtle Beach
An endangered North Atlantic right whale monitored by researchers died off the northern South Carolina coast.
Right whales got their name from the fact they were the “right” whale to hunt. The species was almost hunted to extinction and its revival is faltering.
“Cottontail” was entangled in “ropes and other gear” and suffered its way from the Florida coast to Myrtle Beach, where it succumbed to its injuries.
Great white sharks reportedly fed on the carcass off the shore of the popular tourist destination.
UT professor pens book on origin of animal rights
DAILY TIMES: UT professor chronicles rise of animal rights movement
A University of Tennessee professor traces the origins of the animal rights movement in the 19th century U.S. in a new book, “A Traitor to His Species: Henry Bergh and the Birth of the Animal Rights Movement.”
Ernest Freeberg, head of the history department, chronicles how the action of one man who stopped the whipping of a trolley horse in New York City ultimately led to the modern animal welfare movement and the advent of laws punishing cruelty to animals.
Henry Bergh, who founded the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in 1866, was derided as an extremist and misanthrope by his contemporaries, but his philosophy and moral approach to animal welfare eventually became prevalent in American society.
Update: Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials postpone controlled burn in Wears Cove to reduce wildfire fuel
Park service postpones 175-acre controlled burn
Citing low humidity and dry conditions, park officials postponed the planned burn until at least Tuesday along the park boundary in Wears Valley in the Metcalf Bottoms area. Another burn is planned near Sparks Lane in Cades Cove later in the week, depending on weather conditions.
Park managers plan a controlled burn along the park boundary in Wears Cove starting Monday. Don’t freak if you see heavy smoke in the area. March is an opportune time to conduct controlled burns for hazardous debris removal and habitat improvement in the interface between rural habitation and protected natural areas.
Fire prevention practices have become more widespread in Great Smoky Mountains National Park since a devastating and deadly November 2016 wildfire that spread into populated areas of Gatlinburg and Sevier County.
Here’s the straight skinny from the park service, per a release:
“Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Appalachian-Piedmont-Coastal Zone fire management staff plan to conduct a 175-acre prescribed burn along the park boundary in Wears Valley to the Metcalf Bottoms Picnic Area. The burn will take place between Monday, March 8 through Thursday, March 11, depending on weather. Prescribed burn operations are expected to take two days.
A National Park Service (NPS) crew of wildland fire specialists will conduct the prescribed burn to reduce the amount of flammable brush along the park’s boundary with residential homes. This unit was burned successfully in 2009 and is part of a multi-year plan to reduce flammable materials along the park boundary with residential areas.
“A long-term goal of this project is to maintain fire and drought tolerant trees like oak and pine on upper slopes and ridges in the park,” said Fire Ecologist Rob Klein. “Open woodlands of oak and pine provide habitat for a diverse set of plants and animals, and the health of these sites benefits from frequent, low-intensity burning.”
200 wolves killed in Wisconsin after ESA restrictions are lifted
NYT: Gray wolf hunters sued state to move season up; first state wolf hunt since 2014 following delisting
Hunters killed 212 gray wolves during a three-day frenzy in Wisconsin after the gray wolf was removed from the Endangered Species List by the Trump administration.
State wildlife officials had wanted to delay the hunt until November so a science-based and fair game plan could be finalized. Wolf-hunting advocates sued to move the hunt up to last week; biologists and indigenous groups said they hunt occurred during breeding season, so the full effects on gray wolf populations could be far-reaching.
The state estimated there were about 1,200 wolves in Wisconsin prior to the hunt.
New Jarvis Park in Maryville could total nearly 50 acres
Go check out the ancient oaks in Maryville’s new park
Jarvis Park is 1.5 miles southeast of downtown off South Court Street and includes nearly 10 acres owned by Maryville doctor Craig Jarvis that were protected under a conservation easement via Foothills Land Conservancy in 2018 and transferred to the city a year later.
Park highlights include two 250-year-old oak trees, a mile of walking trails and a creek near Duncan Spring.
An additional 37 acres, consisting of two lots adjacent to the park, will be transferred for preservation to the city in the future, per current expansion plans, according to a conservancy digital newsletter. That acreage would adjoin the park.
“Jarvis Park ... is one of the few remaining intact woodlands in the area,” according to the conservancy, which added it was “bordered by open farm fields, residential development, and a rock quarry operation.”
The park is one of 20 other such easements held by the conservancy that total more than 4,000 acres in the immediate Blount County area.