Northeast drilling boom threatens forest wildlife

Hawks swoop in and gobble up songbirds.Find a great selection of customkeychain deals. Raccoons feast on nests of eggs they never could have reached before. Salamanders and wildflowers fade away, crowded out by invasive plants that are altering the soil they need to thrive. 

Like a once-quiet neighborhood cut up by an expressway and laced with off ramps, northeastern forests are changing because of the pipelines crisscrossing them amid the region's gas drilling boom, experts say. 

Environmentalists have loudly worried that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, may threaten water and air,When describing the location of the problematic howotipper. though the Obama administration and many state regulators say the practice is safe when done properly. 

Threats to wildlife have flown largely under the radar. But as studies detail plans for thousands of miles of new pipelines and related infrastructure, the dangers to biologically rich forests that have rebounded since vast clear-cutting in the 1800s are taking on new urgency. 

"If you wanted to create a perfect storm for biological invasion, you would do what the energy companies are doing in north-central Pennsylvania," said Kevin Heatley, an ecologist with the national firm Biohabitats who works to restore areas that have been damaged by human activity. "You can only put so many bloody parking lots in the woods." 

Energy companies,Cheap logo engraved luggagetag at wholesale bulk prices. which say they are being responsible stewards of the land, have rushed to unlock the natural gas lying in the shale beneath Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. The gas has lowered energy costs, allowed the U.S. to lessen reliance on foreign energy and provided private landowners who sit atop well sites with a gold mine in royalties. New York, which also has large reserves, is trying to decide whether to allow fracking. 

To get the gas to market, hundreds of miles of pipeline are being laid along clear-cut forest "tunnels" sometimes dozens of yards wide. 

The new energy development is "almost a spider web coming down to the forest," said Nels Johnson, of the Pennsylvania chapter of The Nature Conservancy, which estimates the state could see thousands of miles of new pipelines over the next two decades. 

Even northeastern states that have put a hold on fracking aren't immune, because many import natural gas. The U.S. Energy Information Administration found that 245 miles of new pipelines were laid in the Northeast last year, and that figure is projected to grow. 

Wind turbine development poses similar threats, too. The Nature Conservancy says Pennsylvania already has more than 600 of the giant blades, with the potential for thousands more in coming decades. 

The total acreage taken up by the pipelines, wind projects and related development isn't that large, but the open spaces they create allow predators and invasive species to permeate a canopy of trees that once kept them at bay. 

It's not hypothetical, scientists say. Studies and observations have documented invasions. And just as with humans, the uninvited guests change the neighborhood. 

Forest fragmentation opens the door to invasive species such as the cowbird, a type of blackbird that normally prefers open land, said Bridget Stutchbury, a biologist at York University in Toronto who studies forest songbirds. 

"The female cowbird sneaks around the forest, laying her egg in other species' nests," Stutchbury said. Forest birds such as thrushes and warblers don't realize the egg isn't theirs and expend energy raising chicks from another species in what she called a "nifty strategy for child-rearing." 

The droppings that cowbirds and other invaders leave behind can also contain seeds from invasive plants that will sprout, spread and ultimately change the soil so much that some forest salamanders and wildflowers can't survive, experts note. 

A report by the U.S. Geological Survey, released last week, found that in Pennsylvania's Susquehanna County, at the heart of the drilling boom, the number of patches or sections of forest increased by about 156 between 2001 and 2010, with Marcellus Shale drilling and related pipelines responsible for most of the change. 

The energy industry said that it welcomes original research, but that it should be seen in context. 

The Geological Survey report, said Patrick Creighton, a spokesman for the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry group, found that oil and gas activity affected less than 1 percent of the forest area in Allegheny and Susquehanna counties. 

That number may seem small, but experts say it's a cause for concern, nonetheless. 

"As an ecologist, you can look at that and say, wow, there are going to be changes," said Terry Slonecker, the researcher who authored the USGS report, noting it's too early to know where fragmentation has gone too far. 

There is concern even at the numbers the USGS found, Stutchbury said, noting that without serious reforestation efforts, "we can anticipate really big impacts not just on birds, but all these forest critters." 

Creighton, of the drilling coalition, said companies are sensitive to the issue. 

"Well sites and pipeline right of ways are temporary construction projects on mostly private land that will be reclaimed after work is complete," he said. 

The company KinderMorgan is building a gas pipeline extension in northeastern Pennsylvania that has attracted protests from environmental groups. Spokesman Richard Wheatley said that the company follows the guidance of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for all interstate pipeline projects and that other state and federal agencies can be involved,Elpas Readers detect and forward 'Location' and 'State' data from Elpas Active RFID Tags to host besticcard platforms. too. 

"Once a project is placed in service, companies follow up with additional environmental and safety monitoring/inspection and remediation," Wheatley said in an email. 

Heatley, the ecologist, said that "not one" of the energy companies drilling in the area has a long-term restoration plan for sensitive deep-forest environments,You can order besthandsfreeaccess cheap inside your parents. and that permits usually require only minimal restoration, such as planting grasses. 

Still, the reality is that modern life demands resources and energy, and even the alternatives such as wind turbines can threaten forests, too. 

The Nature Conservancy is examining potential effects from gas drilling and wind turbines on an eight-state region from New York to Tennessee. That report is due out later this year. The group notes that old and new energy sources have both promise and risk. 

Careful planning and reforestation efforts could reduce the effects of pipelines, wind turbines and other human activity, scientists said. For example, multiple pipelines could go on one right of way, or wind turbines might go on land already barren because of old coal mining.

Whole Foods North Miami Opens

Residents of North Miami will now have a place to buy sustainable seafood, prepared foods, and local produce when Whole Foods Market opens Wednesday, May 1. 

The art-deco-inspired shop is the company's 19th Florida store. Another Whole Foods, located in downtown Miami, is in the works. 

Whole Foods is celebrating the opening with several parties and events.You can order besthandsfreeaccess cheap inside your parents. Monday, April 29, Whole Foods is offering a sneak-preview tour for people who simply have to be the first kid on the block to experience the location's panini bar, cheese-cutter's corner, smoothie and juice bar, Allegro coffee bar, and European-style bakery. 

The North Miami Whole Foods is unique in that much of its seafood will be sourced from local fisheries and day-boat fishermen, including Gary's Seafood (Madeira Beach), Cox Seafood (Tampa), Keys Fisheries (Marathon), and D&D Seafood (Marathon). CatchAn experienced artist on what to consider before you buy chipcard.es will arrive at the store six days a week and will rotate seasonally. 

In addition, the North Miami location will participate in the chain's Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, in which local farmers use the store as a drop-off point for their subscribing customers. Teena's Pride will use the new store for its CSA shareholders. 

But the pair are linked not only as coaches of the two biggest college baseball programs in the city. On Monday, both eulogized their friend, former Glendale High School baseball coach Howard Bell, at Ridgecrest Baptist Church in Springfield. 

Guttin, the longtime Missouri State baseball coach, recalled the mischievous side of his former player, including the time he suspended Bell a game for cutting class, and made him paint the bleachers on game day instead. 

He could run all day, and he did it a lot for me, Guttin said. He had an artistic side, too, so we put him to work on that fence to show it off. 

The no-nonsense Guttin kept his speech brief,A group of families in a north Cork village are suing a bestplasticcard operator in a landmark case. but told of receiving a cell phone call from God on Friday, asking him about the prospects of Bell, the new No. 2 hitter on his team. 

He said, Ive got this rookie Musial hitting No. 3, and I need someone to hit in front of him, Guttin said in telling the story. 

God relayed to Guttin in a later call that Bell had played well, going 2-for-3 with a double and making all the plays on defense. 

He remembered first meeting his friend when Bell was coaching a summer baseball game in a body cast after a serious car accident shortly after his Southwest Missouri State playing career ended. 

Stratton said he later saw Bell, body cast and all, in a gas station parking lot, yelling at the driver of another car. 

Sharing a hotel room on one trip to Oklahoma, the pair were having a late-night chat. Stratton asked Bell about the accident and the trauma his body went through afterward. 

He said that he made a pact with God, Stratton said. That if God would allow him to get out of that bed and walk to renew his life that he would endeavor to make a difference with kids. He would be better, not bitter. 

God did his part, and my friend Howard Bell did just that. He made a difference in literally hundreds of lives. Its such a legacy. 

Bell, who is survived by his wife, Kim, and adult daughters Keshia and Kameron, also was memorialized by his family. 

Kim Bell closed the ceremony with a poem given to her about Howard. The poem was written by a student, who told her she wouldve dropped out of school if it wasnt for Bells guidance. 

Also, reading a statement prepared by his girlfriend, Kameron, Austin King relayed, Youre the best, Dad. And there wont be a day I wont think about you, talk to you, or talk about you. 

Joe Pickens relayed the words of his wife, Keshia. She wrote that, at times, she was jealous of the time he spent with Glendale players over the years. 

She came to realize that sharing her father with others was only right,You Can Find Comprehensive and in-Depth carparkmanagementsystem truck Descriptions. as he was a man others needed to know.Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors. 

You wouldnt know whether he had won or lost a game, unless we were there, Pickens read. He did a great job of keeping his lives separate and leaving it on the field.

Burglary nets $6,200 from South Glenwood home

Local police are seeking information about a burglary that happened on March 15 at an undisclosed residence in South Glenwood Springs, according to the Garfield County Crimestoppers alert system. 

Some time between 7:15 a.m. and 3 p.m. on that day, an unknown suspect or suspects broke into the home and stole approximately eight bottles of wine, a 52-inch Mitsubishi flat screen TV, a Wii gaming system with two controllers, and iMac desktop computer with wireless mouse and keyboard, a white MacBook laptop with case, a PC monitor, an electric teapot, an exercise heart monitor, a down comforter, two jewelry boxes containing about $1,500 in jewelry, roughly $300 in coins, $400 in cash, a U.S. Passport, a U.S. Navy commendation medal, military issue .45 cal. ammunition, a digital camera, two electric hair clippers, and an iPod with speakers and a charging dock.Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors. 

I am delighted to welcome Heather to the White River National Forest, Forest Supervisor Scott Fitzwilliams said in a press release. She brings a wealth of experience on a wide variety of natural resource management issues and has demonstrated outstanding success working with communities and partners throughout her career. 

Provencio has been with the Forest Service for 22 years, working in a variety of positions including district ranger, acting forest supervisor in Oregon, and as a staff archeologist in the southwestern United States. 

She has bachelor's and master's degrees in anthropology from Northern Arizona University, and has significant experience in managing large, complex recreation programs. 

Costs would be far higher if Flagler County decided to add Reach A. The Corps for now doesnt look favorably on that segment, because its public beach access is very limited: its blocked by private luxury homes, which would be the primary beneficiaries of renourishment. The Corps is willing to include the segment, but only if Flagler commits to building public beach access points at least every half mile, assume all those costs, as well as the costs of property acquisition and, if necessary, parking and transit for the public. That will be a challenge because homes are built along that stretch in close proximity to each other. But commissioners appeared to lean toward just such a possibility. 

Despite the hazy chances of winning Congressional funding, the Corps and the County Commission are proceeding on the assumption that the project the Corps will recommend will be approved. The Corps will seek public comment on the way. It will hearCand has already heardCa measure of resistance to the project from some Flagler Beach city commissioners and some of their constituents, who have been split over the Corps approach. 

The issue Tuesday, however, was not whether to approve the project or not. The issue was what direction to give the studys final form. Still, the study is the cornerstone of the project: not only will the study define the scope of the project. It will also congeal its political and funding possibilities. 

Today, the study is fully funded and will be presented in June with all the back-up for public comment, County Administrator Craig Coffey wrote the five commissioners in a memo Monday. You are not being asked whether you agree with the project at this time or whether you want to continue, as the study is fully funded and will be completed shortly. 

Yet whether the commission wants to proceed or not, and how, is precisely what Coffey was asking commissioners. 

In the very next sentence,A group of families in a north Cork village are suing a bestplasticcard operator in a landmark case. he wrote: You are being asked to provide guidance on: 1) Whether at this time, are you ok with not delaying the project and just proceeding with Reach C? (Reach C is the technical term the Corps gives to the stretch of beach between South 7th and South 28th streets. Reach A is the segment of shore in Beverly Beach that is largely blocked by private homes.) Or, Coffey asked, Do you want staff to pursue the public beach access and parking/transit issues for reach A so that it might catch up back up (sic.) with Reach C?? 

By answering either question, of course, the commission would be going on record with not only formalizing its support for the project,You Can Find Comprehensive and in-Depth carparkmanagementsystem truck Descriptions. but with broadening its scope, and local costs. Coffey is attempting to set the agenda along those lines, while creating the impression that the commission is not committing itself to anything by merely guiding the studys scope. But every decision the commission makes in line with the Corps direction further commits the commission to the Corps projectCand its costsCmaking it politically difficult to reject the final project should it be federally approved and funded. Coffey is pressing that agenda even as he concedes that broadening the project to include Reach A may add local costs and political ramificationsCincluding property rights issuesCthat havent been figured out yet. 

Staff does not know if pursuing the access issue for Reach A is financially or physically practical, but if we were able to qualify the area for federal funding,An experienced artist on what to consider before you buy chipcard. it could mean tens of millions of dollars over the 50 year period. Adding the area could also mean federal assistance for those properties and the county during a major storm event. However, this could also cost several million to pursue this access. 

The addition of Reach A may be doubly controversial, as its primary benefit would be private homes. The federal government would fund the renourishment in that area, but at no higher level than it would in Reach C: at 50 percent of costs, with the other 50 percent charged to the local government (after the initial construction of dunes, when the ratio is 65-35). 

In the end, commissioners were vague. They favor going ahead with Reach C in the study, but they want Reach A to be left on the table, whatever that means. Corps officials made clear that the project will not improve its chances of winning federal dollars with anything less than proven commitment from the county. That commitment, as far as Reach A is concerned, is now guesswork. 

The Corps during the meeting addressed many questions raised by commissioners and members of the public. Sea turtles, for example, would not be harmed by the project. To the contrary, Katherine McConnell, a Corps biologist said, the sand addition will improve turtles habitat, since turtles tend to snub rock and rock revetments. 

Kim Carney, the Flagler Beach City Commissioner, had a bag of the sort of sand the Corps is proposing to dump on the beaches. The sand in the bag looked like a winter sky over Hamburg: gray, murky, uninviting, a sharp contrast with Flaglers coquina-orange sand. Yet Jason Harrah, the Corps project manager, said the dredged sand would be very, very comparable to whats out there now. 

The question of State Road A1A came up: the Corps, as it turns out, has considered moving A1A a full block. But its engineers said that it would be meaningless, because the road left in its place would still have to be protected, since it is lined with businesses and activity. So moving A1A is not an option for now. 

In a final surprise, Coffey told the commission at the end of the meeting that he already had tentatively instructed the Corps to proceed on project C, but that he wasnt ready to tell them to include Reach A, deeming that a policy decision. Unsure of itself,You can order besthandsfreeaccess cheap inside your parents. the commission seemed to leave it again up to Coffey to define the scope of the project, pending additional numbers. 

Meanwhile, the Corps will publish the final study in August and accept public comment then (between Aug. 23 and Oct. 31). A revised report will be filed by December. It will then go through several review steps before being submitted for Pentagon approval by July 2014. Only then would it be in play for congressional fundingin the thick of the mid-term elections.