And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Activist Mailing List - http://get.to/activist
1) Struggle to protect land along Missouri River in South Dakota
2) State of the World's Forests 1999
3) Intersexed rodents found at Kesterton National Wildlife Refuge
4) Vote for Jet Skis as Worst Idea of the Century
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Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1999 19:19:02 -0600
From: Paul Robertson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: struggle to protect land along Missouri River in South Dakota
Dear Earth First,
We are struggling to stop the largest ever turnover of treaty land
(currently under federal control) to the state of South Dakota per Title
VI of the 1999 Omnibus Appropriations Act enacted in October 1998.
There is a spiritual camp on LaFramboise Island just south of Pierre SD
on the Missouri River and five tribes are working to stop this transfer
to SD which has a terrible record of destroying the environment. Land
to be transferred is delicate and contains cultural remains and
burials. All will be more in danger than now if the minimal federal
protections are lost, which will happen if the transfer to state of SD
goes through. Please consider adding our site to your link list. We
are at www.fireonprairie.org
Pilamaya (thank you),
Eileen H. Iron Cloud and Paul Robertson for the Black Hills Sioux Nation
Treaty Council Committee Against the Mitigation Act and Fire on the
Prairie.
===========================================
Date: Fri, 11 Jun 1999 18:37:57 -0600
Sender: "Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
From: David Inouye <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: State of the World's Forests
3. State of the World's Forests 1999 (SOFO) [.pdf, 154p.]
http://www.fao.org/fo/sofo/sofo99/default.htm
The latest edition of this biannual publication from the United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (last reviewed in the May 9, 1997
Scout Report offers one of the most comprehensive and up-to-date reviews of
new developments in forestry and the condition of forests worldwide. SOFO
1999 reports on a number of significant events and developments of 1997-98,
including "the latest figures on global forest cover; current efforts to
assess forest resources; the forest fires of 1997 and 1998; recent trends
in forest management; the significance to forestry of the Kyoto Protocol of
the Framework Convention on Climate Change; current and projected forest
products production, consumption and trade; recent trends in forest policy,
legislation and institutions; and the international dialogue and
initiatives on forests, among other topics." Aimed at policy-makers,
academics, and the informed public, the report is offered in .pdf format,
broken down into numerous sections. While this presentation strategy speeds
initial download, it can slow navigation within the document. [MD]
From the Scout Report.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/hotnews/stories/11/
kest
Intersexed rodents found at Kesterton
Friday, June 11, 1999
By Eric Brazil
OF THE EXAMINER STAFF
Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge, already infamous as the
place where selenium poisoned thousands of birds, has just
presented scientists with a startling environmental puzzle: an
outbreak of hermaphroditic rodents.
A third of the 87 field mice, house mice, deer mice and
California voles trapped during the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation's annual biological monitoring study at the Merced
County refuge had both male and female reproductive organs.
Although all of the rodents examined had elevated levels of
selenium in their livers, scientists doubt that the element
caused the duplication of their reproductive systems. Studies
of selenium's effect on laboratory mice have not induced
similar deformities.
The number of intersex mammals "was something we found very
unexpectedly, and we're not sure what to make of it yet," said
biologist Gary Santolo of the Sacramento consulting firm of
C2HMHill, who headed the Kesterson field study.
What makes the discovery even more mysterious is that it
was evidently not caused by genetic mutation, Santolo said.
"If the intersex abnormality was seen across four species,
it is unlikely that it is the result of a genetic mutation, and
it is probably the result of environmental influences," the
report said.
Hermaphroditism is a condition only rarely encountered at
Kesterson in the annual biological monitoring studies that have
been under way for more than a decade. "Why did we see more in
'98 than in other years? What was different? It's going to take
us a while to figure that out," Santolo said.
Because Kesterson is a fairly closed system and no longer
receives drain water from San Joaquin Valley farms, it has no
obvious contaminant sources. Consequently, the report says,
"naturally occurring agents should also be considered as having
a role in this phenomenon."
"It's fair to say that if it happened in four species and
happened suddenly, it's indicative of an environmental cause of
some sort," said Dr. Richard Auchus, an endocrinologist,
pediatrician and assistant clinical professor of medicine at
UCSF.
Birth deformities can also be caused by endocrine
disrupters, such as DDT, but Auchus said that such a cause in
the case of the Kesterson rodents is unlikely.
Trapping program launched
A mouse and vole trapping program is being launched outside
Kesterson to learn whether intersex rodents are proliferating
elsewhere, said Michael Delamore, chief of the Bureau of
Reclamation's drainage program in Fresno.
"Rarely if anywhere do folks look at critters like we do at
Kesterson," Delamore said. Hermaphroditism has rarely
been observed in Kesterson's rodent population, Santolo said.
It last appeared in 1995, when 3 percent of the rodents trapped
showed intersex characteristics.
In 1998, 15 of 33 house mice, seven of 30 deer mice, five
of 17 harvest mice and two of seven voles showed those
characteristics. Deer mice and house mice also had enlarged
left testes. Those numbers may be conservative, because the
test animals were examined when female reproductive structures
had not yet enlarged.
Technically, Santolo said, the rodents seem to be
pseudo-hermaphroditic. They appear to be males from the outside
but have a fully developed set of female organs internally,
although they lack a vagina, he said.
Kesterson is located 14 miles north of Los Banos in Merced
County off Highway 140. For six years, beginning in 1979,
Kesterson's 1,300 acre reservoir - part of the 80-mile San Luis
Drain, managed by the Bureau of Reclamation - was a sump for
toxic runoff from farms in the Westlands Water District on the
west side of the San Joaquin Valley. It has since been filled
in. Gary Zahn, manager of the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge
of which Kesterson is a part, describes it as "dry upland,"
except during heavy rains, when some standing water
accumulates.
In 1985, an investigation into the cause of the death and
deformation of thousands of birds at the refuge disclosed that
selenium, a naturally occurring byproduct of agricultural
runoff, was being deposited in the ponds in massive quantities.
It was responsible for poisoning and causing birth defects in
the refuge's birds.
The same year, then-Secretary of the Interior Donald Hodel
invoked the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and closed Kesterson's
evaporation ponds. The San Luis Drain was plugged. In 1988,
Kesterson was drained. The bureau has spent about $50 million
cleaning up Kesterson, which is the only part of the San Luis
National Wildlife Refuge that does not allow cars. The
just-published report disclosed that the refuge still shows
higher-than-normal levels of selenium in both invertebrate and
vertebrate wildlife in its soil and water, but that the
environment no longer is the toxic sump it was in 1985.
1999 San Francisco Examiner
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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Thu, 10 Jun 1999 22:52:47 EDT
Subject: vote against jet skis at Time's website
---------------- Begin Forwarded Message ----------------
Date: 6/9/99 2:41 PM
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Time Magazine is taking a vote on the 100 worst ideas of the century, and
the jet ski is listed. Currently, the thrill-craft has about 52% of the
vote...well above aerosol cheese and thong bathing suits for men.
To show your support for the belief that jet skis are the worst idea of
the century please visit Time's webpage at:
http://cgi.pathfinder.com/time/time100/worstideas2.html
Once the page comes up, click the circle next to jet ski which is in the
far right column, fourth from the top. To register your vote be certain
to click the submit button.
I don't know how long they will be taking votes, but take moment and have
some fun.
Thanks!
David Orr
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
doctrine of international copyright law.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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