Friday, January 31, 2020

He was protecting the monarch butterfly from Mexico's illegal loggers, but he was the one in danger

As millions of monarchs made a 3,220-kilometre journey from Canada to Mexico each October, Homero Gómez González tried to protect them

Leading Mexican conservationist Homero Gómez González
 has been found dead.Twitter
National Post Staff and Reuters January 30, 2020He was tasked with taking care of Mexico’s vulnerable monarch butterfly population. In the end, he was the one in grave danger.

Leading conservationist Homero Gómez González, 50, was found dead Wednesday, floating in a well in the municipality of Ocampo in the violent western Mexican state of Michoacán.

His presumed crime? Protecting migrating monarch butterflies from local industries, such as illegal logging, which threatened their winter habitat.

The BBC reports the dead activist managed a new sanctuary that had just opened in November, with the aim of combatting the effects of the local black market timber trade. After reportedly being threatened by a local gang, he was last seen alive at a meeting in an area called El Soldado on Jan. 13.

His disappearance kicked off a widespread search, and last week 53 regional police were taken in for questioning — the entire force of Ocampo and a neighbouring town. Phone calls seeking ransom money had been made to Gómez’s family, who are also reported to have received death threats of their own. Two weeks on, Michoacán’s attorney general has now confirmed Gómez’s death, with one source at the state attorney’s office telling Reuters the cause had not been determined. The official said an initial review had found no signs of torture.

En el Santuario El Rosario Ocampo Michoacan “ El más grande del mundo “ pic.twitter.com/WlCJuOcG4Q— Homero gomez g. (@Homerogomez_g) January 12, 2020

Gangs

Michoacán is home to many rival drug gangs who battle to control smuggling routes through often-arid terrain to the Pacific and Mexico’s interior. But its hills are also home to millions of monarchs, who settle in its pine forests and can be seen swarming there in their droves.

The monarchs make a 3,220-kilometre journey from Canada to winter in central Mexico’s warmer weather each October, but the insects are facing new challenges linked to extreme weather and changing habitat.

Gómez, though himself a former logger from a family of loggers, had fought tooth and nail to protect the species. Leading the El Rosario sanctuary in the world famous Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, he gained a degree of fame for posting mesmerizing videos and photos of the orange and black butterflies on social media. The region, a big draw for tourists, is on UNESCO’s World Heritage list.

En el Santuario El Rosario Ocampo Michoacan miles de Monarcas buscando agua …..El más grande del mundo pic.twitter.com/hXgAYk1Ztb— Homero gomez g. (@Homerogomez_g) January 13, 2020

In its online literature, UNESCO says that the, “millions of monarch butterflies that return to the property every year bend tree branches by their weight, fill the sky when they take flight, and make a sound like light rain with the beating of their wings. Witnessing this unique phenomenon is an exceptional experience of nature.”

But the exposure Gómez brought to the area is feared to have drawn the ire of illegal logging interests, who had grown tired of his efforts to highlight their shadow trade. Mayte Cardona of the Human Rights State Commission of Michoacán told Reuters that “he was probably hurting the interests of people illegally logging in the area.”

Gómez worked locally for decades on sustainability issues, Miguel Angel Cruz, a co-worker, told the Washington Post. Last month, Gómez had told the Post himself about the everyday challenges he had faced.

“It’s been a fight to maintain it,” he said of the sanctuary. “And it hasn’t been easy.” He said that although he grew up in a logging family, he realized that conservation was his calling.

“We were afraid that if we had to stop logging, it would send us all into poverty,” he said, adding that he later saw the monarchs needed minding, and found that their beauty could be a tourist draw.

Defenders

Global Witness — an NGO that tracks killings of environment and land defenders — said in a July 2019 report that at least 18 such activists were killed in Mexico in 2018 alone. Activists are often targeted for undertaking preservation efforts that are seen, by criminal groups, to be an obstacle to their enrichment.
Police officers guard a sawmill in Michoacan, Mexico on 
May 20, 2004. Luis Jimenez/The New York Times

Gran espectáculo en el Santuario El Rosario Ocampo Michoacan pic.twitter.com/yIlMVM6Bgl— Homero gomez g. (@Homerogomez_g) January 11, 2020

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Thursday, according to the Guardian:

“This is a very regrettable act, very painful. It’s part of what makes us apply ourselves more to guarantee peace and tranquility in the country.”

As well as drugs and logging conflicts, in recent years Michoacán has seen increasingly violent clashes over the local avocado trade, which brings in hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

Mexico registered 34,582 homicide victims in the country in 2019, a record. The startling figures, and a series of audacious cartel attacks on state forces, have placed enormous pressure on the government of López Obrador.

He assumed the presidency in December 2018 pledging to pacify the country with a less confrontational approach to security, but violence has continued rising, with the number of homicide victims 2.5 per cent higher in 2019 than a year earlier, according to security ministry data. Separate ministry figures, using an older methodology that refers to the number of homicide investigations, showed an increase to 29,401 last year from 29,100 in 2018.

Mexico has used its military in a war on cartels since late 2006. But, despite the arrest or killing of leading capos, the campaign has not succeeded in reducing drug violence and has led to more killings as criminal groups fight among themselves.


Outpouring of Grief After Missing Mexican Monarch Butterfly Defender Homero Gómez González Found Dead

Human rights advocates and the conservationist's family raised concerns about threats from the illegal logging industry and organized crime.
gomez
Two weeks after Mexican conservationist Homero Gómez González was 
reported missing, authorities found his body in a well Wednesday. 

Mexican conservationist Homero Gómez González was found dead Wednesday, about two weeks after he was reported missing, provoking a wave sorrow from allies and advocates worldwide as they honored his work running a butterfly sanctuary in the state of Michoacán.
"Authorities found Gómez González's body floating in a well in the community of El Soldado de Ocampo, not far from the butterfly sanctuary," according to the Washington Post. "Authorities told local media outlets that his body did not show any obvious signs of violence. But Gómez González's friends didn't have any details."
As Common Dreams reported last week, human rights advocates have expressed fears that Gómez González may have been targeted because of his activism by those involved in the local illegal logging industry, and the 50-year-old butterfly defender's family told the media that he had received threats from a criminal organization.
Gómez González was reported missing by his family on Jan. 14, a day after he attended a meeting in the village of El Soldado. BBC News noted Thursday that "more than 200 volunteers had joined the search for the environmentalist and, last week, the entire police forces of Ocampo and neighboring Angangueo were detained for questioning."
The conservationist often posted videos to Twitter from the El Rosario sanctuary, which is located in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Millions of monarch butterflies travel thousands of miles across North American to arrive each autumn in the mountainous region of Mexico, where they remain until spring. Local illegal logging has long threatened the butterflies.
A Global Witness report from last year named Mexico the world's sixth-deadliest country for eco-defenders, part of "a worrying global trend" of environmentalists risking their safety by facing off against "governments, companies, and criminal gangs [that] are routinely stealing land and trashing habitats in pursuit of profit."
Some responses to Gómez González's death on social media highlighted the rising threats to those involved in conservation work and environmental activism.
"Illegal logging is one of the most lucrative environmental crimes. It's also one of the biggest drivers of killings of #environmentdefenders," tweeted Ali Hines, a land campaigner at Global Witness. "Homero Gómez González's death must be independently investigated."

Mexican conservationist found dead two weeks after disappearance

AFP/File / Yuri CortezMonarch butterflies travel up to 
4,500 kilometers (3,000 miles) each year from Canada 
and the United States to establish their colonies in the 

temperate oyamel and pine forests of west-central Mexico

A Mexican conservationist known for championing the protection of monarch butterflies was found dead two weeks after his disappearance, authorities said.

Homero Gomez, 50, who ran a sanctuary for the iconic orange and black insects, had been missing since January 14. His body was found at the bottom of a well in the western state of Michoacan, where monarch butterflies often spend the winter.

The cause of death was not immediately known.

Michoacan is home to several crime gangs and their presence has helped prompt the formation of self-defense groups in recent years.

Other conservationists in the region said Gomez's death could be linked to his opposition to illegal logging in the area.

Monarch butterflies travel up to 4,500 kilometers (3,000 miles) each year from Canada and the United States to establish colonies in the temperate oyamel and pine forests of west-central Mexico.

The butterfly (Danaus plexippus) faces threats from deforestation, the use of herbicides -- which targets the milkweed on which monarchs lay their eggs -- and climate change.

Mexican butterfly activist found dead

Chiara Giordano, The Independent•January 30, 2020
Environmental activist Homero Gomez Gonzalez pictured at El Rosario butterfly sanctuary in Michoacan state, Mexico: Homero Gomez Gonzalez/Twitter

The body of an environmental activist who fought to protect the famed monarch butterfly has been found in a well two weeks after he went missing, officials say.

Homero Gomez Gonzalez, 50, was reported missing on 14 January amid fears he had been targeted by criminal gangs and illegal loggers in the central Mexican state of Michoacan.

The cause of death has not yet been determined, however an initial investigation found his body showed no apparent signs of violence.

Last week, prosecutors questioned 53 local police officers over Mr Gomez’s disappearance.

As the manager of El Rosario butterfly reserve and a former communal land officer, he led efforts to preserve the pine and fir mountaintop forests where the monarch butterfly spends the winter.

Millions of monarchs come to the forests of Michoacan and other areas after making the 3,400-mile migration from the United States and Canada.

They need healthy tree cover to protect them from rain and cold weather.

Mexico has clamped down on illegal logging, which was once a major threat to the reserves but which has fallen to about one-third of last year’s level.

But there have been reports of increased “salvage” logging of supposedly sick trees.

In an interview in November last year, Mr Gomez said the butterfly sanctuary had worked to eradicate the felling of trees and planted more than a million new firs and pines in four years.

Disputes over water from mountain springs have also occurred in the region, and avocado planters have long coveted the area, which has near-ideal growing conditions for the valuable fruit.

Mr Gomez was last seen at about 7pm on 13 January in the town of El Soldado, Ocampo, and was reported missing the next day.

More than 200 volunteers helped search for him, along with officials from the municipal police, land authority and security ministry.

Additional reporting by agencies.

Mitsubishi Motors denies emissions test fraud after German raids

CRIMINAL CAPITALISM 
TWO OF THE BIGGEST CAR SCANDALS ARE THE AIR BAGS AND THIS

Mitsubishi Motors denies emissions test fraud after German raids

AFP/File / Behrouz MEHRIMitsubishi Motors has denied equipping engines with devices to make them appear less polluting during tests

Mitsubishi Motors denied Thursday equipping engines with devices to make them appear less polluting, after raids by prosecutors in Germany probing suspected diesel emissions cheating.

The probe focuses on Mitsubishi diesel vehicles with 1.6- and 2.2-litre engines that were given Germany's highest Euro 5 and Euro 6 ratings on emissions standards.

Prosecutors suspect they are equipped with a so-called "shutdown" or "defeat" device that makes engines appear less polluting in tests than they are on the road.

In a statement, Mitsubishi said the 1.6-litre diesel engines examined in the January 21 raid were manufactured by PSA Group, which owns brands such as Peugeot and Citroen.

It did not specify who was responsible for making the 2.2-litre engines, but said "no engines manufactured by Mitsubishi Motors are equipped with a so-called 'defeat device'".

The firm said it had been "fully disclosing" its engines and control systems to German authorities and "making improvements whenever any indications are made".

"We have found no reason to believe that there was any fraud as suspected by the Frankfurt Public Prosecutor authorities," the statement added.

The Mitsubishi probe is the latest twist in the "dieselgate" scandal that erupted in 2015 when the Volkswagen group admitted to installing software in 11 million vehicles worldwide to dupe pollution tests.

The "defeat devices" allowed the affected cars to spew out up to 40 times more harmful nitrogen oxide than legally allowed.

The scandal has since ensnared a string of car companies, although Mitsubishi Motors had so far avoided being dragged into the controversy.

But the Tokyo-based firm did in 2016 admit to falsifying fuel-economy tests for 25 years to make the cars seem more efficient than they were.

12-foot-tall exoskeleton awarded Guinness record in Canada



Jan. 29 (UPI) -- A Vancouver man who spent more than 10 years designing a giant, four-legged robot has been awarded a Guinness World Record for the world's largest tetrapod exoskeleton.
Jonathan Tippett said his exoskeleton, which he dubbed Prosthesis, measures 12 feet, 11 inches tall; 16 feet, 18 inches long; and 18 feet, 1 inch wide.
The four-legged machine, which requires a pilot to operate, weighs in at 3,527 pounds.
Tippett said he constructed Prosthesis from Chromoly steel tubing, which is often used for aerospace and racing vehicles.
"The heart of the machine is a 96 vault 36 kWh lithium-ion battery pack, custom engineered," Tippett said. "That runs two AC electric motors which drive two hydraulic pumps and provide fluid flow to the hydraulic cylinders, which put out as much as 12,000 pounds of force each."
Tippett said he spent over a decade designing the exoskeleton and less than a year building the final design.

Pilot-strapped-in-and-ready.jpg
exo-skeleton-thumbnail-sunset.jpg

Trump lawyer Cipollone after ‘damning’ Bolton book leak reveals his ‘conflict of interest’

SMOKING GUN

Legal experts pound Trump lawyer Cipollone after ‘damning’ Bolton book leak reveals his ‘conflict of interest’

January 31, 2020 By Sky Palma

According to a new bombshell report from the New York Times this Friday, one of President Trump’s lead attorneys in his impeachment trial was present in the Oval Office for a conversation in May where Trump asked former national security adviser John Bolton for his assistance in pressuring Ukraine to investigate the Bidens.
According to Bolton’s upcoming tell-all book, White House counsel Pat Cipollone and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney were present in the Oval Office between Trump and Bolton

The fact that a member of Trump’s legal team may now actually be a fact witness in his trial was not lost on many legal experts on Twitter:



New #BoltonBook revelations add pressure to #BoltonMustTestify
1. Changes Timeline as we know it
2. Trump "directed" Bolton "to help with his pressure campaign to extract damaging information on Democrats from Ukrainian officials"
3. Implicates Cipollone, lead impeachment lawyer
— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) January 31, 2020

Note the new relevant witness : Cipollone. Seems like that should have been disclosed. https://t.co/HZy2TVmOug
— Michael R. Bromwich (@mrbromwich) January 31, 2020


Statements made to further conceal A CRIME or perpetuate A FRAUD are not protected.
Which mean Cipollone CAN be asked to testify, on this limited issue.
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) January 31, 2020


“I’m shocked that it implicates Cipollone,” said no one who watched the president’s lawyers lie to the American people repeatedly both before and during the Impeachment Trial. https://t.co/sK3ZMOCpdf
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) January 31, 2020

If this were true, then Cipollone would clearly be a fact witness in the matter in which he's currently participating as a lawyer. https://t.co/Nlh781gIzN
— Nancy Leong (@nancyleong) January 31, 2020
#Cipollone must come clean.

Stephen Gillers' prescient piece analyzes House Manager's letter to Cipollone warning him of ethical breach and saying, "At a minimum, you must disclose all facts and information as to which you have first-hand knowledge."https://t.co/yEVWaDUDVp
— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) January 31, 2020

This is so damning. And if confirmed, Cipollone has been deliberately misleading throughout the defense, with a massive conflict of interest. https://t.co/T3Hcxvg0bP
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) January 31, 2020

This puts Cipollone’s letter declaring Trump would not cooperate in a whole new light. He wasn’t just trying to cover up Trump’s wrongdoing, but also his own exposure. https://t.co/xcGgfksB7K
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) January 31, 2020


SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/01/why-have-witnesses-when-you-can-order.html
The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir by [Bolton, John]

‘They’re done’: CNBC’s Jim Cramer says fossil fuel industry ‘In the death knell phase’

HEY KENNEY ITS TOO LATE FOR YOU AND YOUR WAR ROOM FOR BIG OIL

‘They’re done’: CNBC’s Jim Cramer says fossil fuel industry ‘In the death knell phase’
January 31, 2020 By Common Dreams

“You can tell that the world’s turned on them, and it’s actually kind of happening very quickly,” said Cramer.

Climate campaigners drew attention to CNBC‘s Joe Cramer’s comments Friday that he’s “done with fossil fuels” because they’re “in the death knell phase.”

Cramer added that “the world’s turned on” the industry as they did with tobacco.


“They’re done,” Cramer said of fossil fuels on the network’s “Squawk Box.” “We’re starting to see divestment all over the world. We’re starting to see… big pension funds saying, ‘We not going to own them anymore.”

“The world’s changed,” Cramer continued. While companies like BP still mark profits, “nobody cares,” because “new money managers want to appease younger people who believe that you can’t ever make a fossil fuel company sustainable.”

“You can tell that the world’s turned on them, and it’s actually kind of happening very quickly,” said Cramer. “You’re seeing divestiture by a lot of different funds. It’s going to be a parade… that says look, ‘These are tobacco, and we’re not going to own them.'

Oil stocks are in the death knell phase, says @jimcramer. “The world is turning on them…new kinds of money managers who frankly want to appease younger people who believe you can’t ever make a fossil fuel company sustainable.” pic.twitter.com/PV63RSudrf
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) January 31, 2020

Author and climate activist Naomi Klein said Cramer’s comments showed the power of fossil fuel divestment

Watch this entire thing: it doesn’t matter how well oil stocks are doing, the next generation sees them as toxic and doesn’t want them. Everyone involved in the fossil fuel divestment movement, and that is thousands upon thousands of mostly young people, made this happen. Wow. https://t.co/cDaD9VjBD2
— Naomi Klein (@NaomiAKlein) January 31, 2020


350.org founder and author Bill McKibben had a similar takeaway, writing on Twitter Friday, “Thanks to all who fight so hard.”

Oil Change International also weighed in on Cramer’s comments.

We’re glad to see @JimCramer calling out fossil fuel companies as bad investments. Another good reason to ditch: they happen to be destabilizing the climate
https://t.co/k6KZn3C6ih
— Oil Change International (@PriceofOil) January 31, 2020

Cramer’s comments on “Squawk Box” came two days after he tweeted that he was “taking a hard pass on anything fossil”—a comment welcomed by Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune.

Smart call, @jimcramer. The @SierraClub agrees! https://t.co/YJkeSJD6yF
— Michael Brune (@bruneski) January 30, 2020

Lindsay Meiman, a spokesperson for 350.org—which has spearheaded the global movement to demand pension funds, university endowments, and other institutions divest from oil, coal, and gas companies—said Cramer is only confirming what many market observers already understand.

“The financial tides are turning away from fossil fuels. Coal, oil, and gas companies are not only the perpetrators of the climate crisis we’re now experiencing, but have also dangerously underperformed markets over the last decade,” Meiman told Common Dreams. “As we enter the climate decade, we’re demanding polluters pay for their destruction, and that all institutions and politicians cut ties from toxic fossil fuels to reinvest in a world that puts our health and safety first.”

Man accidentally buys identical Powerball tickets, wins twice

THERE ARE NO SUCH THINGS AS ACCIDENTS
Man accidentally buys identical Powerball tickets, wins twice

A Delaware man won $100,000 when he accidentally bought two identical Powerball tickets that each won $50,000. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
Jan. 22 (UPI) -- A Delaware man who accidentally bought two identical Powerball tickets for the same drawing had the mistake pay off when they each won him a $50,000 prize.
The 61-year-old Newark man told Delaware Lottery officials he asked his son to fill out some playslips for the Jan. 18 Powerball drawing, but when he got to Malin's Market in Newark he realized he only had enough money to buy three of his intended four tickets.
The man returned the next day for his fourth ticket and accidentally used the same numbers as one of his other tickets.
"When I returned to the store after the drawing, I couldn't believe I had won when I scanned the first ticket," the man said. "A few hours later, when I scanned the second ticket and saw it had also won, I was shaking. It was unbelievable."
The man ended up winning $100,000 -- $50,000 for each winning ticket.
The winner said he plans to use some of his winnings to pay off his bills and put the rest into savings.

Ancient shark found inside Kentucky's Mammoth Cave

Scientists found the fossilized remains of an ancient shark head, including portions of its jaw, cranial cartilage and several teeth, embedded in the wall of a remote chamber of Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Photo by the National Park Service

Jan. 30 (UPI) -- Scientists have identified the 330-million-year-old remains of an ancient shark inside Kentucky's Mammoth Cave National Park.

While exploring and mapping Mammoth Cave's many remote chambers, expert spelunkers Rick Olson and Rick Toomey happened upon a fossilized jaw and several teeth embedded in a cave wall.

Olson and Toomey took pictures of the fossils and sent them to Vincent Santucci, senior paleontologist with the National Park Service. Santucci reached out to John-Paul Hodnett, a paleontologist and expert in the study of Paleozoic sharks.

Hodnett, program coordinator at the Dinosaur Park in Maryland, came to visit the Mammoth Cave fossil. He was excited by what he found. There was enough fossil evidence to identify the ancient shark species as Saivodus striatus.




"Though fossil shark teeth have been discovered at Mammoth Cave before, they have never been scientifically documented until now," Hodnett told UPI Thursday in an email. "The discovery of fossilized cranial cartilage associated with teeth of the Saivodus striatus, a species of shark previously only known from teeth, just added some important anatomical information that can help us better understand how this ancient shark lived and who it was related to."
Scientists found the fossilized remains of an ancient shark head, including portions of its jaw, cranial cartilage and several teeth, embedded in the wall of a remote chamber of Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Photo by the National Park Service


Scientists aren't sure if the remains are part of a full skeleton. So far, researchers have only identified and documented parts of the jaw and cranium, along with several teeth. But the size of the ancient shark head suggests the specimen was similar in size to a great white shark, measuring somewhere between 11 and 21 feet.

It's possible more fossils are hidden in the walls of the cave.



Saivodus striatus remains have been previously identified at a number of Late Mississippian dig sites in the United States and Europe. During the Late Mississippian, some 330 million years ago, Kentucky was covered by a large shallow sea of warm water.

"Forests of sea lilies, a relative to starfish, dominated the sea floor, along with early solitary corals and bivalved animals called brachipods," Hodnett said. "The most common fish at this time were sharks and their kin."

Though scientists were thrilled to find the ancient shark head, Mammoth Cave National Park boasts a rich fossil heritage. Scientists with the National Park Service have recently begun a paleontological resource inventory at the park.

Scientists found the fossilized remains of an ancient shark head, including portions of its jaw, cranial cartilage and several teeth, embedded in the wall of a remote chamber of Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Photo by the National Park Service



"We are just beginning this effort and already had some exciting discoveries," Santucci told UPI. "We have two categories of fossils that we are focusing on at Mammoth Cave National Park, including: one, fossils which are preserved in the Paleozoic marine limestones in which the caves actually developed. These are largely marine invertebrates and some rare fossil vertebrates such as the sharks."

"Two: there are also ice age fossils from Mammoth Cave National Park," Santucci said. "These are largely Pleistocene mammals who either inhabited the caves periodically or the remains of organisms that were dragged in by predators or somehow transported into the caves."

As Santucci and his colleagues continue to investigate the national park's paleontological treasures, they plan to publish and present a scientific paper detailing the discovery and identification of Saivodus striatus.

The team of scientists also hope to find a way to share information about the new shark discovery through both a website and potentially a public display at the park itself.


upi.com/6980494

Montana ranchers, conservationists lock horns over free-ranging bison

SINCE THEY WILL BE IMPORTING THE BISON (WOOD BUFFALO) FROM ALBERTA WHERE THEY ARE PROTECTED AT ELK ISLAND NATIONAL PARK AND WOOD BUFFALO NATIONAL PARK, THEY COULD ASK FOR OUR HELP

Montana ranchers, conservationists lock horns over free-ranging bison
By Jean Lotus


Montana state wildlife officials approved a plan that might allow bison to be categorized as wildlife outside of Yellowstone National Park. Photo courtesy of the National Park Service

Jan. 31 (UPI) -- A new state plan to allow bison to be categorized as wildlife has pitted Montana ranchers and livestock producers against conservationists.

Wildlife organizations believe restoring the national mammal on large tracts of public lands would bring back the most iconic wild beast of the historic Great Plains. Ranchers, however, say wild bison would destroy property, endanger people and consume grass on public land now allocated for cattle.

In January, Montana's Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks announced a policy that could send herds of wild bison onto private, public or tribal land.

The state wildlife agency's new ecological impact statement said the agency will consider public proposals for site-specific bison restoration plans after input from local stakeholders.

RELATED Yellowstone bison hunt generates controversy, court battle

No current proposals have been submitted to the state, but visions of large herds of free-roaming bison in vast prairie landscapes in eastern Montana have excited visionaries -- and infuriated the locals -- since the late 1980s.

While livestock bison herds exist nationwide, Yellowstone National Park has the only free-roaming wild population of plains bison in the United States. Derived from a tiny herd that survived extinction in the 1800s, the animals are prized for having no cattle DNA.

"Some people have tears running down their face when they see bison for the first time. It's almost a spiritual experience," said Pam Knowles, who with husband Craig runs an ecotourism bison ranch near Townshend, Mont.

RELATED Heritage Yellowstone Park bison to join Montana tribal herds

Groups such as Yellowstone-based Buffalo Field Campaign believe free-roaming bison should be part of the ecosystem, like elk. The Yellowstone bison are allowed to leave the west entrance of the park in the winter to find grass, but are chased back into the park in the spring.

"We definitely support the restoration of wild, free-roaming bison in free habitats," said James Holt, the field campaign's executive director and a former member of the Nez Perce tribal executive committee.

"We need those buffalo fulfilling the Yellowstone ecosystem. The federal lands around the park need bison for soil and plant health, and for the viability of other wildlife species," Holt said.

RELATED Herd of 75 escaped bison evades capture in New York state

But some of the state's agricultural and ranching interests oppose the idea.

"I don't see why we should force other landowners to have wild bison on their property," said Chuck Denowh, policy director of a ranching and farmer group, United Property Owners of Montana. "Bison restoration is already underway in Montana and it's being done responsibly, mitigating for risks, disease and damage."

Denowh cited media mogul Ted Turner's 2-million acre private Montana bison ranch as an example of heritage bison raised on private property as livestock. His group strongly opposes the aspirations for bison of the billionaire-financed American Prairie Reserve, founded in 2001.

In eastern Montana's vast empty counties, where population has been falling since the 1930s, the reserve has purchased 30 local ranches from willing sellers and wants to buy about 20 more to create a vast "American Serengeti" on private and public lands.

"Research shows that the 3.2-million-acre fully intact prairie ecosystem we are hoping to accomplish one day could sustain a herd of 10,000 bison," said Beth Saboe, the reserve's spokeswoman.

Even though the reserve has about 850 genetically pure bison, and they're being raised as livestock, opponents worry the scale of the reserve's plans would effectively create an unmanageable wild herd that would cause havoc on surrounding agricultural land.

Those worries are unfounded, Saboe said.

"We've never been pushing for a wild herd. If one day the state of Montana decides they would like to see a wild herd of bison in the state, we'd contribute some animals to that effort."

Bison on the loose

A sixth-generation Montanan, Sierra Stoneberg Holt, has a ranch that sits across the fence from the reserve. Stoneberg Holt, no relation to James Holt, said she disagrees with the reserve's long-range plan to recreate the empty Great Plains filled with free-roaming bison and little hands-on management.

"[American Prairie Reserve] will mismanage the grasslands and cause animals to go extinct," she said.

A loose bison bull once prevented a neighbor from leaving his house for a doctor's appointment, she said. Another bison got mixed up with a neighbor's cattle and hurt a cow.

For bison producers who have kept their herds relatively wild, it's not so hard to imagine what a wild herd might look like.

Bison rancher Craig Knowles said the 80 animals at Wild Echo Bison Ranch never damaged the house or any other structures on the 450-acre property. Bison stay behind barbed wire fences on the ranch.

"We don't touch our animals at all. Bison are easy to manage as long as you don't apply livestock handling techniques to them," Knowles said. The animals would "consider it abuse" if they were driven into a squeeze chute, castrated or branded like cattle are.

"They're very intelligent animals, capable of holding a grudge and seeking revenge," he said.

A wildlife biologist, Knowles predicted wild bison herds might be managed like wild bighorn sheep -- in small herds.

"What is a wild bison is a good question, and is it even possible to have wild bison?" Knowles asked. "Probably a better question is how are we going to fit bison back into a human-dominated landscape?"

Belgrade, Mont.,-based retired wildlife biologist Jim Bailey, of the Montana Wild Bison Restoration Coalition, has proposed restoring a small wild herd of bison on 100 square miles of U.S. Forest Service land in the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Montana.
Greta Thunberg puts Africa’s climate activists in media spotlight

January 31, 2020 By Agence France-Presse


After a racism debate in Davos on the invisibility of African climate activists, Greta Thunberg held a ress conference Friday with eco warriors from Kenya, Uganda and South Africa to stress the importance of their voices.

Vanessa Nakate of Uganda was at the heart of a viral debate at the World Economic Forum in Davos after she was cropped out of a news agency photo of young activists, including Thunberg, taken after a press conference.

A 23-year-old graduate in business administration, Nakate was the only black person and only African in the photo shoot.
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She accused the Associated Press of racism in cropping her out.

The agency said the photographer had modified the photo for composition purposes.

“We’re doing this press conference today so that people who need to be heard can share their stories to the media,” Thunberg told journalists at Greenpeace Sweden’s offices.

“Today we will be focusing on Africa as the African perspective is always so under-reported,” she added.

So far, Africa is essentially blameless when it comes to climate change.

The continent is home to 17 percent of the world’s population and more than a quarter of its nations, but only accounts for about five percent of the greenhouse gas emissions pushing the planet toward runaway warming.

The Swedish teen activist, who has become a household name since beginning her “School Strike for the Climate” in August 2018, said she would only answer a few questions before giving the floor to the African activists, who took part via video link.

Nakate, on camera from Kampala, was the first to speak out.

“This is the time for the world to listen to the activists from Africa and to pay attention to their stories… This is an opportunity for media to actually do some justice to the climate issues in Africa,” she said.

Nakate, joined by Ayakha Melithafa and Ndoni Mcunu of South Africa and Makenna Muigai of Kenya, then spent the next hour answering journalists’ questions.

Mcunu said “Africa only contributes about five percent to global greenhouse gas emissions, yet we are the most impacted” by climate change.

“Almost 20 million people have fled the continent due to these changes” and major droughts have caused “almost 52 million people to become food insecure,” said Mcunu, a PhD student at Johannesburg’s Witwatersrand University.

But she said that Africans have begun to adapt, using “indigeneous knowledge systems” incorporating “the knowledge that we have as Africans into the international research science and climate data awareness”.

“How is it that we’re not being spotlighted in these stories, that’s the main challenge we have as a continent,” she said.

© 2020 AFP


  Trump tells Iowans AOC and Democrats ‘want to kill our cows’: 
‘That means you’ll be next’

President also mocks ‘sleepy’ Joe Biden and ‘crazy’ Bernie Sanders

Andrew BuncombeDes Moines @AndrewBuncombe
Friday 31 January 2020 07:38

Donald Trump made a wild claim before a packed rally in the rural heartland state of Iowa, alleging that Democrats including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, wanted to kill cows and “that means you’re next”.

During a campaign rally day before Democrats hold their first vote of the 2020 political cycle, the president launched in a blistering attack on his political rivals.

Yet he went even further, telling the audience in which agriculture is a crucial aspect of the economy and community, that Democrats wanted to kill cows

“During this campaign season, the good people of Iowa have had a front-row seat to the lunacy and the madness of the totally sick left,” Mr Trump said.

As he often does at his rallies, Mr Trump name-dropped the Green New Deal, a plan introduced by the New York congresswoman that calls for a drastic drop in greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels to curb global warming.

But he ratcheted up his fear-mongering of the deal on Thursday, warning that Democrats would go after people after they get rid of cows. The plan does not call for getting rid of cows.

“The Green New Deal, which would crush our farms, destroy our wonderful cows. They want to kill our cows. You know why, right? You know why?” he asked, laughing.

AOC explains Democratic party is center or centre-conservative

“Don’t say it. They want to kill our cows. That means you’re next.”

While deriding Democrats and their ideas, he bragged of his own policies saying, “I think I’m the smartest person.”




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Trump also talked up the new U.S. trade agreement with Canada and Mexico in an effort to win over Iowa farmers caught up in his tariff wars and take the focus off his impeachment trial in Washington.

“You’re going to have to get bigger tractors and a hell of a lot more land,” Mr Trump told a packed house at the city’s Drake University.

Additional reporting by Associated Press