Science News
ScienceDaily (June 24, 2009) — While cancer touches the lives of many humans, it is also a major threat to wild animal populations as well, according to a recent study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Click headline for full story.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
As World Warms, Water Levels Dropping In Major Rivers
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Safeway launches "locally grown" campaign
Staff - the Co-Operator - 6/16/2009 4:28:00 PM
Please click on headline.
Please click on headline.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Cargill and the Priest: Priest Stands Up Against BigAg and Deforestation
Polly Cook - the Ecologist -
19th June, 2009
In the Brazilian town of Santarem, one brave priest is the only thing standing between multi-national grain trader Cargill and the rest of the Amazon. Click headline for full story.
19th June, 2009
In the Brazilian town of Santarem, one brave priest is the only thing standing between multi-national grain trader Cargill and the rest of the Amazon. Click headline for full story.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Mother Nature Doesn't Do Bailouts
Globe and Mail - Climate change heavyweight Al Gore has delivered that message to 500 business elite in Copenhagen, where a critical world meeting on the crisis is scheduled for late this year.
Click on headline for full story.
Click on headline for full story.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
To Graze or not to Graze. Do Cattle Belong in Riparian Areas? In Some Cases, Yes, say Experts.
by Larry Powell
While mixed messages seem to be emerging about the wisdom of grazing cattle near rivers, streams and lakes, experts say, not so.
Courtesy of Water's Edge
The Lake of the Prairies Conservation District, (LPCD) for example, is now offering ranchers along waterways such as the Shell and Assiniboine Rivers, up to $5,000 each if they take certain steps. They'll be eligible for up to $3,000 if they install "offsite" (away from shorelines) watering systems and additional incentives for building fences to keep their livestock back, or repair areas already destabilized by cattle, such as cattle crossings and river banks.
The main purpose is to benefit water quality but it's hoped it will also encourage the preservation of natural vegetation for wildlife.
A recent series of workshops in the Roblin area may have seemed, on the surface, to be delivering quite a different message about riparian usage; that it is acceptable to graze and water cattle in natural waterways, as long as it is done properly.
It's called "riparian management."
A riparian specialist with the Alberta-based group, "Cows and Fish," Michael Gerrand, took at least a dozen people on a tour of such a place, on the Beasley cattle ranch north of Roblin near Boggy Creek on Tuesday. Those taking part did an inspection of an area along a lake where cattle had previously grazed and watered.
Gerrand told the group, "These areas are meant to be grazed."
After the inspection, he had the group do a step-by-step assessment of the impact of the practice on plants, shrubs, trees and shoreline there.
The conclusion - the area had been only lightly impacted.
And he advised the owners to graze cattle in that spot again to, among other things, ensure that invasive plant species are contained.
Another workshop in the area heard similar testimony later from a Manitoba group called "Managing the Water's Edge." It has published a brochure in which five Manitoba ranchers (including one along the Shell River) tell of favourable experiences in which they use natural shorelines to feed and water their herds.
They believe riparian areas not only offer them economic value, but can be managed without compromising their ecological integrity.
Eric Busch of the Lake of the Prairies Conservation District doesn't believe there is really any contradictory advice here at all.
Mr. Busch told Paths Less Travelled, "While it may seem that there are mixed messages coming out, I don’t think it takes a lot of investigation to realize that there aren’t. The main message that has never changed is that riparian areas are important, and that a degraded riparian area will have a negative effect on your watercourse. The rest of the discussion really comes down to how you want to ensure the health of your riparian area. Fence posts and barb wire are not environmental saving objects on their own, they never were. They are and will continue to be a tool that producers have the option of using for ensuring the condition of their riparian areas. The Cows and fish Workshop is saying that although fencing is a tool, it is not the best one. They are saying (and I tend to support this) that selective and carefully managed grazing is the best tool. You may then ask why we have a fencing program and not a selective grazing program. The answer is, you can’t purchase selective grazing techniques, they are learned and then applied at the producers discretion. Hence, grant programs for the tool that can be purchased, and education events such as the one you were at yesterday for the tools that cannot be purchased, only learned. We will continue to offer our fencing program until it is no longer a preferred tool for managing riparian areas while pursuing more educational events on grazing management. I suspect that where most of our producers are approaching retirement age grazing system changeover will not be prevalent and fencing will be more popular. As newer producers join the game we will likely see fencing decline."
Mr. Gerrand of "Cows and Fish" also discounts any suggestion that advice coming out on this issue has been contradictory.
"Regarding fencing there are no mixed messages. I think the CD's and anyone associated with govt grants would agree that riparian areas can be grazed and in most cases the overall riparian health can be be maintained and even improved with properly managed grazing (adhering to the four principles of range management; timing, distribution, effective rest and balancing stocking rate with available forage).
Fences are provided to producers to use as a distribution tool. In some situations fences can provide exclusion for a short period of time (2-3 years) in order to rest a recovering riparian area. But after the rest a skim graze would be beneficial (as we discussed on Tuesday).
In many cases fences do exclude cattle from riparian areas but often it is due to other reasons (for example preventing cattle from crossing the river to the neighbours place or drowning)."
Kelsey Dawn Beasley of the Beasley ranch, meanwhile, calls the Cows and Fish workshop there "A great learning experience. It is always a good thing when you are given more options & tools to utilize in ranch management."
While mixed messages seem to be emerging about the wisdom of grazing cattle near rivers, streams and lakes, experts say, not so.
Courtesy of Water's Edge
Courtesy of the Upper Assiniboine
River Conservation District
Above - The pretty and the ugly sides of riparian management.
For years, the Government of Manitoba and Conservation Districts have promoted the idea of keeping livestock away from these so-called "riparian areas." Financial incentives, grants and even tax breaks have been offered to producers who keep their cattle away from shorelines.
The main purpose is to benefit water quality but it's hoped it will also encourage the preservation of natural vegetation for wildlife.
A recent series of workshops in the Roblin area may have seemed, on the surface, to be delivering quite a different message about riparian usage; that it is acceptable to graze and water cattle in natural waterways, as long as it is done properly.
It's called "riparian management."
A riparian specialist with the Alberta-based group, "Cows and Fish," Michael Gerrand, took at least a dozen people on a tour of such a place, on the Beasley cattle ranch north of Roblin near Boggy Creek on Tuesday. Those taking part did an inspection of an area along a lake where cattle had previously grazed and watered.
Gerrand told the group, "These areas are meant to be grazed."
After the inspection, he had the group do a step-by-step assessment of the impact of the practice on plants, shrubs, trees and shoreline there.
The conclusion - the area had been only lightly impacted.
And he advised the owners to graze cattle in that spot again to, among other things, ensure that invasive plant species are contained.
Another workshop in the area heard similar testimony later from a Manitoba group called "Managing the Water's Edge." It has published a brochure in which five Manitoba ranchers (including one along the Shell River) tell of favourable experiences in which they use natural shorelines to feed and water their herds.
They believe riparian areas not only offer them economic value, but can be managed without compromising their ecological integrity.
Eric Busch of the Lake of the Prairies Conservation District doesn't believe there is really any contradictory advice here at all.
Mr. Busch told Paths Less Travelled, "While it may seem that there are mixed messages coming out, I don’t think it takes a lot of investigation to realize that there aren’t. The main message that has never changed is that riparian areas are important, and that a degraded riparian area will have a negative effect on your watercourse. The rest of the discussion really comes down to how you want to ensure the health of your riparian area. Fence posts and barb wire are not environmental saving objects on their own, they never were. They are and will continue to be a tool that producers have the option of using for ensuring the condition of their riparian areas. The Cows and fish Workshop is saying that although fencing is a tool, it is not the best one. They are saying (and I tend to support this) that selective and carefully managed grazing is the best tool. You may then ask why we have a fencing program and not a selective grazing program. The answer is, you can’t purchase selective grazing techniques, they are learned and then applied at the producers discretion. Hence, grant programs for the tool that can be purchased, and education events such as the one you were at yesterday for the tools that cannot be purchased, only learned. We will continue to offer our fencing program until it is no longer a preferred tool for managing riparian areas while pursuing more educational events on grazing management. I suspect that where most of our producers are approaching retirement age grazing system changeover will not be prevalent and fencing will be more popular. As newer producers join the game we will likely see fencing decline."
Mr. Gerrand of "Cows and Fish" also discounts any suggestion that advice coming out on this issue has been contradictory.
"Regarding fencing there are no mixed messages. I think the CD's and anyone associated with govt grants would agree that riparian areas can be grazed and in most cases the overall riparian health can be be maintained and even improved with properly managed grazing (adhering to the four principles of range management; timing, distribution, effective rest and balancing stocking rate with available forage).
Fences are provided to producers to use as a distribution tool. In some situations fences can provide exclusion for a short period of time (2-3 years) in order to rest a recovering riparian area. But after the rest a skim graze would be beneficial (as we discussed on Tuesday).
In many cases fences do exclude cattle from riparian areas but often it is due to other reasons (for example preventing cattle from crossing the river to the neighbours place or drowning)."
Kelsey Dawn Beasley of the Beasley ranch, meanwhile, calls the Cows and Fish workshop there "A great learning experience. It is always a good thing when you are given more options & tools to utilize in ranch management."
-30-
The War over Eco-Certified Wood
When it comes to buying nature-friendly wood, two stamps of approval vie, with vast forests at stake. Which will win out? Big timber firms back the one critics call greenwashing. A Tyee special report. (Just click on headline.)
By Christopher Pollon
Published: June, 2009
By Christopher Pollon
Published: June, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
The Fight for Pollution Controls at a Manitoba Wood Products Plant
- by Larry Powell
Battle lines are drawn again between environmentalists, the Government of Manitoba and a subsidiary of an American logging giant over the same issue which flared up in the mid-'90s; the pollution abatement equipment at the wood products plant of Louisiana Part of LP's log inventory.photo by Larry
Pacific Canada Ltd. in the Swan Valley of western Manitoba. That equipment has been shut down since early this year. That's because the provincial government granted "LPs" request to do so, at least temporarily.
The environmental group, "Concerned Citizens of the Valley," fought long and hard when "LP" first opened its plant in 1995, to force it to install the equipment in the first place.
Now, several years later, is that struggle going to prove to have been in vain?
Members of "Concerned Citizens" have regrouped to make sure it will not.
Manitoba has instructed its Clean Environment Commission to hold a "hearing" into the matter in July and recommend whether the controls should remain shut down, permanently.
But "Concerned Citizens" worry the format of the hearing will not really be democratic. While it will hear from expert witnesses, it will not allow members of the public to cross-examine those witnesses.
Meanwhile, the group warns that increased levels of toxic substances have been escaping from the plant since the shutdown, posing unknown health risks to residents of the area.
(See announcement of hearings in post, below.)
l.p.
Battle lines are drawn again between environmentalists, the Government of Manitoba and a subsidiary of an American logging giant over the same issue which flared up in the mid-'90s; the pollution abatement equipment at the wood products plant of Louisiana Part of LP's log inventory.photo by Larry
Pacific Canada Ltd. in the Swan Valley of western Manitoba. That equipment has been shut down since early this year. That's because the provincial government granted "LPs" request to do so, at least temporarily.
The environmental group, "Concerned Citizens of the Valley," fought long and hard when "LP" first opened its plant in 1995, to force it to install the equipment in the first place.
Now, several years later, is that struggle going to prove to have been in vain?
Members of "Concerned Citizens" have regrouped to make sure it will not.
Manitoba has instructed its Clean Environment Commission to hold a "hearing" into the matter in July and recommend whether the controls should remain shut down, permanently.
But "Concerned Citizens" worry the format of the hearing will not really be democratic. While it will hear from expert witnesses, it will not allow members of the public to cross-examine those witnesses.
Meanwhile, the group warns that increased levels of toxic substances have been escaping from the plant since the shutdown, posing unknown health risks to residents of the area.
(See announcement of hearings in post, below.)
l.p.
Louisiana Pacific Strandboard Plant Air Emissions Public Meeting dates announced
----- Original Message -----
From: Johnson, Cathy (CON)
Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 9:11 AM
The dates for the public meetings regarding Louisiana Pacific Strandboard Plant Air Emissions have been set.
For more information on the place and time and registration procedures just click on headline.
Cathy Johnson
Secretary, Clean Environment Commission
305-155 Carlton St.
Winnipeg, MB R3C 3H8
(204) 945-7091
www.cecmanitoba.ca
From: Johnson, Cathy (CON)
Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 9:11 AM
The dates for the public meetings regarding Louisiana Pacific Strandboard Plant Air Emissions have been set.
For more information on the place and time and registration procedures just click on headline.
Cathy Johnson
Secretary, Clean Environment Commission
305-155 Carlton St.
Winnipeg, MB R3C 3H8
(204) 945-7091
www.cecmanitoba.ca
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Caribou, Reindeer Numbers Show Dramatic Decline
ScienceDaily (June 12, 2009) —
Caribou and reindeer numbers worldwide have plunged almost 60% in the last three decades. Click on headline for full story. Also please read a related story by clicking on the "endangered species" category of this blog.
Caribou and reindeer numbers worldwide have plunged almost 60% in the last three decades. Click on headline for full story. Also please read a related story by clicking on the "endangered species" category of this blog.
Reindeer. Photo courtesy of U.S. National Park Service.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Green Party of Manitoba Believes Now is the Time to Bring "CAFOs" to an End.
News Release - June 13 - '09
--------------------------------
In light of the current outbreak of H1N1 influenza, or Swine 'Flu, the Green Party of Manitoba is calling for an immediate halt to the development of any new confined animal feeding operations, or "CAFOs," in the province. Large numbers of hogs and chickens are fed in these facilities, also referred to as "factory farms." The Government of Manitoba has allowed the development of many such operations, especially in the southeast and central areas.
While it has placed a freeze on any new developments in these regions, vast areas of the province are still eligible for new ones. It is a style of industrialized agriculture which has for years, drawn growing concern from around the world.
The Green Party leader, James Beddome says, "The preponderance of scientific evidence implicating such operations in the spread of serious infectious diseases, is just too convincing to allow them to multiply."
Not only that, Beddome adds, "Operations housing both hogs and chickens in close proximity, already up and running in parts of Manitoba, (notably the RM of Hanover) pose a potentially dangerous combination. These must be phased out as soon as possible."
The Green Party's spokesperson on food security, Larry Powell, notes that several huge hog and chicken "CAFOs" also operate near the small Mexican town where the Swine 'Flu outbreak apparently began. Some local people there believe a virus from those barns infected the little boy who became the first known victim.
Powell says "Premier Doer seems not to be aware of the body of medical research and scientific evidence pertaining to this issue." For example;
• The World Health Organization, Canadian Public Health Association, American Public Health Association, Canadian Medical Association, and American Medical Association have, for years, all raised alarms about the public health risks of "CAFOs."
• In 2006, research teams from the Universities of Iowa and Wisconsin, with help from the Centres for Disease Control, warned that pigs play an important role in the transmission of the 'flu virus back and forth from animals to humans. Their study found that farmers, veterinarians and meat processors exposed to hogs in their jobs, ran a greatly increased risk of coming down with H1N1, the flu strain involved in the current outbreak.
• In 2007, another research team with the (U.S.) National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences concluded, "Because 'CAFOs' tend to concentrate large numbers of animals close together, they facilitate rapid transmission and mixing of viruses. There is a concern that increasing the numbers of swine facilities adjacent to avian facilities could further promote the evolution of the next pandemic."
Beddome says, "Since the current outbreak is still cropping up disturbingly in unexpected places in Manitoba, steps such as the ones I'm suggesting, are essential as a precaution against a full-blown pandemic which some medical authorities say is not only possible, but probable in the future.
But more steps should also be taken. These could include improved bio-security measures at "CAFOs" and stepped up-medical monitoring of people involved in their operation.
"The government must also be mindful of any economic hardships these policy changes might have on the industry. So it should consider appropriate financial aid to any operators adversely affected by them."
Beddome concludes, "Manitoba should also provide assistance and encouragement to smaller, straw-based, organic, family livestock farms in this province as well as the establishment of new ones."
=======
Please also read "H1N1 - The First Legal Action Targets a Pig Farm."
=======
COMMENT;
Hello Larry;
Great release; one can only echo the valid info and realize that in many cases (if not all)that Pandemics and outbreaks stem from concentrated operations. No doubt that these present operations have to be curbed. The Moratorium and Bill 17 did nothing to prevent the previous existing operations from polluting. Business as usual. Our Governments of the day far and wide don't operate even with a minimum of any Conscience !
Regards,
Joe Leschyshn
--------------------------------
In light of the current outbreak of H1N1 influenza, or Swine 'Flu, the Green Party of Manitoba is calling for an immediate halt to the development of any new confined animal feeding operations, or "CAFOs," in the province. Large numbers of hogs and chickens are fed in these facilities, also referred to as "factory farms." The Government of Manitoba has allowed the development of many such operations, especially in the southeast and central areas.
While it has placed a freeze on any new developments in these regions, vast areas of the province are still eligible for new ones. It is a style of industrialized agriculture which has for years, drawn growing concern from around the world.
The Green Party leader, James Beddome says, "The preponderance of scientific evidence implicating such operations in the spread of serious infectious diseases, is just too convincing to allow them to multiply."
Not only that, Beddome adds, "Operations housing both hogs and chickens in close proximity, already up and running in parts of Manitoba, (notably the RM of Hanover) pose a potentially dangerous combination. These must be phased out as soon as possible."
The Green Party's spokesperson on food security, Larry Powell, notes that several huge hog and chicken "CAFOs" also operate near the small Mexican town where the Swine 'Flu outbreak apparently began. Some local people there believe a virus from those barns infected the little boy who became the first known victim.
Powell says "Premier Doer seems not to be aware of the body of medical research and scientific evidence pertaining to this issue." For example;
• The World Health Organization, Canadian Public Health Association, American Public Health Association, Canadian Medical Association, and American Medical Association have, for years, all raised alarms about the public health risks of "CAFOs."
• In 2006, research teams from the Universities of Iowa and Wisconsin, with help from the Centres for Disease Control, warned that pigs play an important role in the transmission of the 'flu virus back and forth from animals to humans. Their study found that farmers, veterinarians and meat processors exposed to hogs in their jobs, ran a greatly increased risk of coming down with H1N1, the flu strain involved in the current outbreak.
• In 2007, another research team with the (U.S.) National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences concluded, "Because 'CAFOs' tend to concentrate large numbers of animals close together, they facilitate rapid transmission and mixing of viruses. There is
Beddome says, "Since the current outbreak is still cropping up disturbingly in unexpected places in Manitoba, steps such as the ones I'm suggesting, are essential as a precaution against a full-blown pandemic which some medical authorities say is not only possible, but probable in the future.
But more steps should also be taken. These could include improved bio-security measures at "CAFOs" and stepped up-medical monitoring of people involved in their operation.
"The government must also be mindful of any economic hardships these policy changes might have on the industry. So it should consider appropriate financial aid to any operators adversely affected by them."
Beddome concludes, "Manitoba should also provide assistance and encouragement to smaller, straw-based, organic, family livestock farms in this province as well as the establishment of new ones."
=======
Please also read "H1N1 - The First Legal Action Targets a Pig Farm."
=======
COMMENT;
Great release; one can only echo the valid info and realize that in many cases (if not all)that Pandemics and outbreaks stem from concentrated operations. No doubt that these present operations have to be curbed. The Moratorium and Bill 17 did nothing to prevent the previous existing operations from polluting. Business as usual. Our Governments of the day far and wide don't operate even with a minimum of any Conscience !
Regards,
Joe Leschyshn
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Larry Powell Powell is a veteran, award-winning journalist based in Shoal Lake, Manitoba, Canada. He specialize in stories about agriculture...