My Page: Matthew H. Davis
New West Roundup
Post-Flood Mosquitoes: Just How Bad Will They Be This Year?
As flood waters recede throughout the Rockies, another problem has begun to plague parts of the region: swarms of mosquitoes.
Several mosquito control groups throughout the region have observed an increase in the blood-sucking bugs and have taken steps to try and curb them.
Many mosquito species in the region can lay eggs that can last several years, said Joe Conlon, a technical adviser for the American Mosquito Control Association. Larvae lay in dry places, waiting for water, and when the water comes, a bumper crop of mosquitoes is often the result. Mosquitoes in some parts of the Rockies could be an even bigger problem later this summer, Conlon said.
“The mosquitoes that you find in the Rocky Mountain region are adapted to colder temperatures and elevations that you’d be surprised to see breeding,” he said. “The point is that you if you go past 10,000 to 12,000 feet, you’re not necessarily going to be mosquito-free.”
[more]New West Feature
Eastern Bat Disease Brings New Regulations to the West
Last month the U.S. Forest Service granted short-term access to 17 caves in Colorado’s White River National Forest. The move granted access to the caves for the National Speleological Society’s (NSS) annual convention.
Caves in the area—near Glenwood Springs, 150 miles west of Denver—have been closed since last July to prevent the spread of white-nose syndrome, a disease that has decimated bat populations in the eastern United States.
The disease causes a fungus to grow on the wings, nose and ears of infected bats and disrupts normal hibernation. Infected bats arouse too frequently during the winter, which leads to starvation. Since being discovered in 2006 in New York, scientists have observed the disease in 17 states and four Canadian provinces and estimate it has killed more than a million bats.
But what the short-term permits and blanket cave closures signal are the levels of precaution the poorly understood disease has raised, leaving conservationists and the caving community with different viewpoints on what should be done.
[more]New West Feature
How Bark-Beetle Infestations Could Intensify Spring Runoff
As the spring runoff leaves behind a trail of destruction in parts of the the northern Rockies, a new University of Colorado study points to how beetle-infested trees—which have affected more than 4 million acres in Colorado and southern Wyoming alone—could lead to deeper snowpack and speed up snowmelt in the future.
Faster snowmelt season has the potential to intensify runoff, which in turn could help fill reservoirs, said geological science doctoral student Evan Pugh, who led the study.
Pugh and his team studied trees near Grand Lake, Colorado, on the western side of Rocky Mountain National Park, over a three-year period. They selected eight pairs, including healthy trees and nearby groups of “red-phase” trees on roughly one-acre parcels. The red phase begins about nine months after infestation, when the needles begin turning a rusty, brick color and are likely to retain needles for another 18 months.
During the course of the study, some trees entered the “gray phase,” when they slowly lose all needles, twigs and smaller branches, leaving a tree skeleton, of sorts. Six of the eight healthy tree stands studied were made up primarily of lodgepole pines, while two were made up of mixed conifer trees.
[more]New West Feature
Plan Preserves Habitat in Colorado’s San Juan Basin
The Colorado Division of Wildlife and BP America Production Company earlier this month announced an agreement to mitigate the effects of energy drilling in the Sun Juan Basin in Colorado’s southwestern corner, near Durango.
The proposed plan would offset habitat loss caused by the impact of 68 new or expanded drilling sites that would directly affect about 190 acres. The plan also sought to conserve habitat for 20 species of plants and animals—including mule deer, raptors and groundhogs, as well as several grass species—in a study area covering about 2,700 square miles.
The majority of the drilling project sits on private lands, with BP only owning mineral rights. The plan allows the DOW to advise BP as to which lands would be suitable for mitigation. Then, BP will work with land owners to develop conservation easements and other methods for protecting the lands. At the moment, the exact acreage of land conserved under the agreement hasn’t been determined.
“The agreement shows that it is possible to develop natural gas resources and preserve Colorado’s wildlife,” state Division of Wildlife Director Tom Remington said. “This is an ideal model for planning natural resource development and conservation on a landscape scale.”
[more]New West Feature
Will New Legislation Make Way For An Oil Shale Boom?
U.S. Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming introduced the American Energy and Western Jobs Act in May in an attempt to streamline the leasing process for the oil shale industry in the Rocky Mountains.
The bill would repeal onshore leasing reforms proposed by Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar last year, and would also force Salazar to open 10 more research and development parcels for lease in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado. (The bill also called for repealing the 2011 Wild Lands Order, though Salazar backed away from that policy earlier this week.)
The language of the bill is leaving some energy industry watchdogs uneasy.
The proposed legislation—cosponsored by fellow Wyoming Republican Mike Enzi and Utah Republicans Mike Lee and Orrin Hatch —would also streamline the permitting process by speeding up lease issuance after purchase, while requiring the DOI to set onshore oil and gas production goals that maintain or ramp up production levels. Simply put, it would be a return to the oil shale regulations of the Bush Administration.
[more]New West Feature
Why Salazar Backed Down on ‘Wild Lands’
After strong opposition from several Western states and a pending lawsuit, Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is backing down from his controversial “Wild Lands” policy.
The announcement comes on the heels of a law suit proposed by Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, which was also supported by governors from Wyoming and Alaska, as well as the recent budget deal which prevented the Interior Department from funding the plan.
“I am confirming today that the Bureau of Land Management will not designate land as ‘Wild Lands,’” Salazar said in a memo to Bob Abbey, director of the Bureau of Land Management.
Instead, Salazar said he would work with locally supported efforts to preserve wilderness.
[more]
