Field Notes

For Northeasterners affected by this week’s record flooding, it’s been a hard rain indeed. North of Binghamton, NY, two truckers died as they drove into a 25-foot deep chasm cut across Interstate 88. In Livingston Manor, NY, searchers found the body of 15-year-old Jamie Bertholf, carried off by Cattail Brook after her house collapsed, as she waited on the porch to be rescued. And in western Maryland, three young adults were saved from their inundated car only to be washed from the bed of the rescue vehicle and swept away to their deaths. All told, at least 16 people are dead across four states. New York Gov. George Pataki put the costs within his state at near $100 million. Among the hardest hit areas is the cradle of American flyfishing, where the famed Beaverkill, Willowemoc, and Upper Delaware Rivers (among others) suffer the third damaging deluge in less than 2 years. On the Delaware in particular, U.S. Geological Survey experts are calling it a record flood, posting the highest water levels ever recorded—assuming the gauges weren’t broken by the torrent. Rightfully among the lesser concerns for the moment, there’s is no telling yet exactly how the floods will affect the area’s celebrated trout fishing.
http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2006/06/30/news-bsdayafter-06-30.html
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4014806.html
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Northeast_Flooding_Glance.html

It may seems like the job of a forest ranger is a relatively peaceful  one, but the latest figures say otherwise. Only eleven years ago, Forest Service workers reported just 34 confrontations with the public. In 2005, according to government documents, they reported a whopping 477, by far the most in any year including everything from gun shots to verbal abuse. Why the sudden increase? “Things like off-road vehicles are taking people into the backcountry to get away from all rules of civilization,” says Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility executive director Jeff Ruch, “and trouble appears to be ensuing.”
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/14904530.htm

It’s one of those discoveries where you slap yourself in the forehead and wonder, Why didn’t I think of that? According to this All Headline News article, a new study reveals that fish blood may be the key to low-fat ice cream. It seems so obvious now, and think of all the tempting flavor combinations: Cherry Gar, Double Chocolate Chub, Chunky Musky. . . .
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7004016148

According to Ron O’Dor, head of the Ocean Tracking Network to be set up at Dalhousie University in Canada, "we know less about our marine life -- how these animals live, where they go -- than we know about the back side of the moon." To change that, scientist want to use electronic tags to basically bar-code salmon, tuna, sharks, sturgeon, penguins, or perhaps polar bears. The animal’s movements would then be read by devices similar to supermarket scanners on the floors of the oceans or via satellite. Let’s hope this version of the technology works better than what’s at the local market, where (canned) tuna has to pass by the scanner six times before it’s counted. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L26701912.htm

Bruno, a 2-year-old bear that migrated from Italy recently became the first bruin to be seen in the wild in Germany in 170 years. Now, he’s the first to killed there in that time. While Bavarian government officials say they usually welcome the return of predators, Bruno had killed 11 sheep, broken into a chicken pen, and was a danger to the human population, in their estimation. After several weeks of trying to catch the bear alive, authorities gave hunters the green light to take Bruno out. 
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000100&sid=acQ_URE6_Rlg&refer=germany

We love our labs, praise our pointers, revere our retrievers. But lets be honest, can any of them save our lives by dialing 911? No, it takes a specially trained beagle named Belle to do that. Check out this heartwarming story, in which Belle saves owner Kevin Weaver as he suffers a diabetic seizure. The heroic pooch later wins the 2006 VITA Wireless Samaritan Award.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/orl-asecpets19061906jun19%2C0%2C4557486.story?coll=orl-news-headlines

Prasad Kariyawasam, chairman of the June 26-July 7 UN conference on the illegal trade of small arms, has received more than 100,000 letters from American gun-owners arguing that the upcoming event threatens their rights. Many of the correspondences contained an NRA form letter complaining that the conference will take place on America’s Independence Day and contending that its real purpose is a global arms ban. To be fair, Kariyawasam offers answers to both charges in this CNN article.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/06/21/un.us.small.arms.ap/

After seeing our Supreme Court justices recently pave the way for developers to turn waterways into strip malls (see Bob Marshall’s 6-21 post), it’s nice to see that at least some federal judges are not so accommodating. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill has sentenced an eastern Idaho developer to 18 months in prison and $9,000 in fines for draining wetlands and bulldozing a stream bed, which incidentally  polluted a spawning bed for Yellowstone cutthroat trout.
http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2006/06/21/news/regional/ab18f258d0946a4d872571930075e171.txt

If you’ve been thinking about taking up birdwatching, but have been waiting for the right time, this is it. With officials from The Nature Conservancy and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission offering $10,000 to anyone who can provide information that leads biologists to an ivory-billed woodpecker’s nest, roost cavity or feeding site, the sport has never been more tempting.
http://www.todaysthv.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=30216

The Senate unanimously approved a bill to overhaul national marine fisheries management and strengthen protections against overfishing. The bill mandates annual catch limits, reauthorizes the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, and makes West Coast salmon fishermen eligible for disaster assistance. Speaking to the Associated Press, Executive Director of the Marine Fish Conservation Network Lee Crockett called the bill a step forward, and an improvement over the House version which “almost ensures that fish populations will continue to decline.”
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153AP_Congress_Fisheries.html