Hey Folks,
Here’s a look at the effects of global warming on the arctic shoreline. The coastline here is disappearing, rapidly, due to the melting permafrost underneath. 2 years ago there was a reasonably wide swathe of sand along this shoreline. Now the shoreline has collapsed, and the sandy beach is gone.
Cheers
Carl
Hey Folks
Here’s another view of this little pond, this time without my ugly self cluttering up the photo. From the coastal plain in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Looks a whole lot nicer to me without a drilling pad in it.
Cheers
Carl
Hey Folks,
One evening I set out from camp to find a nice place to play the flute. This little pond was really cool, there weren’t too many bugs, and it had a peaceful reverie about it that I enjoyed. I ended up playing for an hour or more here. See what I mean – this coastal plain isn’t all as ugly and revolting as some people would have us believe.
Cheers
Carl
Hey Folks,
We all hear about how barren and ugly the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is. The coastal plain is a desolate wasteland, we’re told. Well, I don’t agree with that. I think it’s a beautiful place, and well worth our respect. Here is a field of Alaska Cotton Grass in full bloom along the coastal plain, east of the Canning River, in Section 1002, the section proposed to be opened for oil drilling. Trust me – the photos you see posted across websites and emails doing the rounds that suggest the place is ‘ugly’ are simply bad photos.
Continue reading
Hey Folks,
By now, you’ve all heard the rumors, I’m sure. How the massive oil fields, despoiling the pristine earth lying deep beneath the frozen, barren tundra of the lonely coastal plains of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (known by its acronym ANWR), could save our planet. How, if only those whacko enviro-freaks, who are bent on ruining the lives of countless hard-working patriotic Americans, have consistently and ruthlessly undertaken to bully the American Congress and the oil industry into submission, and not allow the oil and natural gas that is currently being wasted underground to be extracted and delivered to gas stations across America.
I’m sure you’ve read the facts, and seen how, if the estimated 10 billion barrels of ANWR oil could be drilled and refined, gasoline prices at the pump would plummet; but not just the gas prices, Continue reading
Hey Folks,
One reason I really looked forward to getting down to this area was to see the Tongass National Forest. The Tongass is one of the last great forests remaining in the US, and probably the great temperate rainforest of the world (along with the forests of Pumalin and surrounding area, central Patagonia, Chile). I’ll try to write more on the Tongass as I get time.
What this shows is why the expectation is that someone will soon rename the forest, “Tong National Forest” – as clear-cutting and intensive logging continue to literally tear the ass out of the forest.
This kind of stuff is SO destructive, and heartbreaking to see.
Fortunately, much of the clear-cutting is no longer undertaken, and the older cut areas have started to grow back – but to regenerate an ancient forest and all its glory takes centuries.
Cheers
Carl
Hey Folks,
I just saw this article on CNN’s website. From the first paragraph, ‘President Bush said Saturday that the Saudis’ modest increase in oil production “doesn’t solve our problem,” ‘ – The whole tone of the article is an acknowledgement that such a relatively small increase in oil supply, for the US, is meaningless. This increase could bring gas online to the American market almost immediately. At the same time, the current US administration is arguing for the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and gas extraction. The US Govt’s own studies yield a mean peak in oil supply from the Refuge of under 900 000 barrels a day. That peak would arrive about 10-12 years AFTER the oil supply came online – and the oil is expected to take 10-15 years to come online after any legislation allowing drilling their might be passed. In other words, it is expected, under optimal conditions, to be 25 years before that peak in supply is reached. So if the Govt decides next year to open the Refuge to drilling (fortunately the US Senate just voted it down, again, for this year), we could hope for fewer than 900 000 barrels a day to come forth in the year 2033.
The second point about this is that one of the lines being touted most strongly for drilling in the Wildlife Refuge (ANWR): Continue reading
Hey Folks,
Well, it seems those pesky wolves are in the news up here yet again.
This time it’s not the F&WS and their infinite wisdom declaring a population to be ‘experimental’, or a bunch of anti-wolf people shooting wolves from airplanes.
This time, the news is about the National Park Service tracking down a wolf in Denali National Park, anesthetizing the animal, and removing a snare from its neck. You can read more about the story (the pictures are pretty gross, don’t visit these links if you might be upset by some nasty wounds on a wolf) here and the update here.
Basically, 2 wolves had been trapped this past winter, and escaped, but with the snares on their necks. The snares dug in deep, and caused some ugly wounds. The park service, getting ready for the opening of the park and influx on countless visitors, has no interest in having a bunch of tourists see wolves in this condition, so they’ve been hunting high and low for these 2 wolves, to try to remove the snares. Continue reading
Hey Folks,
The last 10 days have been pretty busy, as I’ve been doing the Wilderness First Responder course (note to self: don’t let your certifications lapse in the future).
One of the primary goals of the course is to teach participants basic life support in backcountry and wilderness settings.
Here my friend Lisa is holding her patient’s head stable to protect the patient (Jason) from spine injury.
Both hands on the head, holding it still and steady, are critical. You can see in this simulation Lisa, with help from her other rescuer, has the patient warm and dry in a sleeping bag, on a foam pad to help insulate him.
Jason was found lying in the pool you can see near his feet.
Lisa and Taylor did a safety drag, where the spine is immobilized and Jason was dragged out of the water, on to the pad, they cut his wet clothes off, rolled him onto his side, placed a sleeping bag under him, rolled him back down and zipped up the bag.
In no time at all, he was dry and warm.
That’s a HUGE deal, as any treatment in this situation is going to (in all probability) be a minimum of several hours, and hypothermia will most likely set in.
Hypothermia can affect people even when the ambient temperature is 65?F (18.3? C) – so for someone with a possible major injury, lying flat on the ground for a short period of time even in mild weather can easily induce hypothermia.
Get the patient dry, off the ground, and in a bag.
Cheers
Carl
Hey Folks,
Recently some of the environmental news has be regarding the delisting of the Gray Wolves in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Hence you can see, I post a picture of a wolf from Denali National Park.
As you can see from the image, the wolf was collared by the Park Service biologists, to track and record her movements and to help them learn more about wolves. She’s dead now, apparently killed by wolves in another pack last winter, wandering onto some turf that didn’t belong to her. Such seems to be the way with wolves. Continue reading