In the June issue of Field & Stream, and on our main site soon, you will read a story about Canada's Boreal Forest, a sportsman's paradise that is under attack from the development of oil refineries that are separating oil out of the sand pits in northern Canada.

Pretty ironic since CNN is reporting that about 500 ducks landed on a lake owned by oil-sands company Syncrude Canada Ltd in Alberta, and are dying or dead because the lake is toxic.

Click here for the full story.

My favorite part of the story:

Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach was visibly angry Tuesday as he questioned why noise-making cannons were not deployed to scare the waterfowl away from the pond filled with oil-sands wastes.

I think I'm more worried about why there's a lake that toxic in Canada to begin with, not that there wasn't a noise maker to keep birds away.

Field & Stream magazine is looking to honor the conservation efforts of Boy Scouts across the country. With the help of the Boy Scouts of America, the Hudson Valley Council, and Boys' Life magazine, Through their Heroes of Conservation program, Field & Stream profiles the grassroots efforts of everyday outdoorsman and women to preserve our natural resources.

If you or your troop has performed any conservation work this past year, please fill out the nomination form and send it in. The editors of Field & Stream will select three scouts and feature them in the magazine and one Boy Scout will win the Boy Scout of the Year Award, presented at the Heroes of Conservation Awards Gala in New York City this September.


Click Here to Download the nomination form:
FSHeroesEntry08_scouts.doc

Conservation easements have been around since 1974, and have been widely popular with states, businesses, and large land owners. While their benefit to wildlife is fairly obvious (you cannot develop the land and local fish and wildlife agencies usually monitor the health of the habitat and wildlife populations), I can't help but wonder whenever I read about an easement if it's a company really trying to give back to hunting and fishing or if they're looking for a tax write-off and a way to prevent anyone from encroaching on their property.

Case in point, in an area near Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, Appalachian Power (AP) has just agreed to place nearly 5,000 acres in an easement. The tract of land will protect the Smith Mountain Wildlife Area and still be open to hunting and fishing. It also happens to be adjacent to AP's hydroelectric dam. This is part of Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's larger plan to have 400,000 acres of conservation easements in his state by 2010 (a little over 1 percent of the total land mass of Virginia).

So, do you think those involved in easements are in it for the wildlife, the money, or a little of both?

Labels: Discussion Topics

Just got an update from 2007 Heroes of Conservation finalist, Chris Scalley. Chris has been documenting the macroinvertebrate live in the Chattahoochee River, and is looking for volunteers in the Atlanta area to help him out this spring.

Here's the information:

Greetings from the Chattahoochee Cold Water Fishery Foundation. On Tuesday May 13th Chris Scalley invites you to join Don Pfitzer and other volunteers to make their quarterly 2008 Spring benthic macro invertebrate collection at six established sites throughout the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area since 1998. We will meet at the Buford DNR hatchery at 7AM and begin our arduous sampling journey beginning at Bowmans Island and continue down stream via automobiles to five other sampling stations at Settles Bridge, Jones Bridge, Island Ford, Morgan Falls and lastly Cochran Shoals. Each sampling site is accessed from public land and chest waders are needed to really check out our sampling methods but folks can watch from the shore if they choose. This is a great opportunity to discover more wade access points along the river and to see where exactly these critters call home. On the following day Wednesday May 14th we will sort and analyze each of the 33 samples at my house located at 710 Riverside Rd Roswell, GA 30075 at 9AM. Each day will conclude at 2PM. These dates are tentative and are subject to change depending on weather and river conditions. If you can just pop in to see what we are up to for a half hour or stick with us the entire two days will be great!

Labels: Call to Action