Appalachia Restoration Act

Exciting news! There is a new bill going through Congress right now that would prohibit coal companies from dumping waste into streams in Appalachia mountaintop removal mining. Please follow this link to the NRDC to read about the act and to send a message to your representatives asking them to support this bill. This would be a great stride toward protecting our water and the communities in the vicinity of these mining operations.
Consider it a belated Earthday action!

Beautiful memorial of the Battle of Little Bighorn

Frosty morning

3 degrees!

More time spent in Baker, Montana! Craig and I are continuing to conduct sage-grouse and sharp-tailed grouse lek surveys. I love seeing these birds on the lek. I'm attaching a video of the sharpies, to give you an idea of what fun it is to see them in action!
We were briefly in Sheridan, Wyoming last week to trap grouse and on the way there drove past the site of the Battle of Little Bighorn (aka Custer's Last Stand). Its been made into a park and is also a national cemetery. There's a neat museum with lots of things found on the battlefield. I learned each cavalry company had a specific horse color, I suppose for organization.
We hope to finish up around the beginning of May, then we'll take a couple days off at home in Fort Collins. After our lek surveys we have a lot of time to kill, and we've spent some of it watching interesting videos on the TED website. Thought you guys might want to check it out.

Baker, Montana

I'm back in the field and grateful to be here! Although it was nice having time off and a chance to work from home for a few months, it's wonderful to be out in the wider world again. Craig and I are working together for the next few weeks which is especially nice.
We headed up to Laramie, just in time to encounter snow and bad weather and had to spend the night there before taking advantage of a few days break in the weather to head up north, first to Sheridan and then on to Baker.
Baker is a very small town in southeastern Montana, and hasn't yet escaped the grasp of

winter. We got about 8 inches of snow yesterday and so can't go out today. I did get to see a few sage grouse on the lek before we got snowed in though, so I've attached a video (its using my little camera, through the spotting scope, so the quality isn't the best, but you get the idea!). It is so incredible to see these birds on the lek! The noises they produce are so cool and the males are so striking.

What else can I say about Baker? Prom was this weekend and our supervisor went out the next morning at 5am and found a couple who'd gotten stuck in a snow drift on the dirt roads and had to sleep out there. He said their truck was surrounded by empty 40's and .22 shells!
That might give you an idea of the options for fun in Baker...

Thoughtful Talk About Healthcare

So as I've confessed before, I am an NPR junkie, and tonight's Fresh Air just reinforced all the reasons why. Where else have I heard healthcare talked about in depth without histrionics and catch-phrases? Nowhere. Thank you NPR. If you missed the show or aren't a listener, but would like to check it out go to:

http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=13

and click on the link titled "Listen to Wednesday's show"

This link may move next week, but by searching www.npr.org for Fresh Air (and perhaps the date it aired - March 11 2009) I'm sure you can find it.

Sprout update

They have real leaves now!

Baby Instruction Guide

Thanks Chrissy!

"Clean" Coal

This new tv ad really gets to the point (not to mention it's hilarious):



When the coal industry talks about clean coal, they are talking about the use of a technology that doesn't yet exist and by some estimates will not be developed for decades (Businessweek, Peak Oil Challenges and Responses, 22nd Annual Public Programs, Fort Collins government, Kyle Saunders CSU prof) to sequester the CO2 that's emitted through the burning of coal. Methods of coal mining aren't even addressed by this technology. Take a look at some photos of mountain-top removal practices that are happening DAILY in the United States, some of these are on the scale of 10 square miles :








The argument is often made that the coal industry provides much-needed jobs to economically-depressed areas. But I would argue that the industry provides only temporary employment at the cost of irreplaceable natural resources (eg. Reuters).

If you want your voice to be heard on this issue, or any issue you hold dear here is a link to find your state and federal representatives. Remeber, lobbyists are paid to put pressure on elected officials to further special interests groups - often industries with millions of dollars to spend to ensure legislation will be written in a way that benefits them. Industry does not have your best interest in mind, we must speak out on things that are unethical and impoverish us in the long-term (our health, our natural resources, our communities).

http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml