Voters Approve of Protecting Open Space

The following appeared in The New York Times. Looks like protecting open space with public money is important to the voters!

Editorial

A Resounding Vote for Open Space

Published: November 18, 2008

Almost unnoticed in the election results was some very good news for the environment — and for land preservation in particular. Despite the financial crisis, voters made it clear that they want to increase spending on preserving open land, even at the cost of higher taxes.

Across the nation, voters approved $7.3 billion in new spending for parks and open-space preservation. Sixty-two of the 87 referendums to acquire or otherwise protect open space were approved. And the support came in rural, Republican areas, as well as in those that lean toward the Democrats.

California and Florida said yes to more than $700 million in new spending on open space. In Minnesota, voters increased the sales tax by three-eights of a cent to generate $5.5 billion over the next 25 years for land preservation and environmental protection. It was the largest open-space state referendum in the nation’s history.

Despite especially tough economic times, New Jersey voters showed that they feel strongly about acquiring open space before it is all eaten up by strip malls and McMansions. The state is reeling from high property taxes, unemployment and a budget deficit. But voters still approved 14 of 22 county and municipal referendums to increase or extend property taxes dedicated to acquiring or preserving open space.

These votes are an explicit rebuke to President Bush, who failed miserably to honor his 2000 campaign promise to fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the government’s main vehicle for buying open space. They should give Congress a strong push to approve a public lands measure that, among other things, would grant permanent wilderness protection to two million acres of public land.

We had hoped that Congress would approve the legislation in the current lame-duck session. On Monday, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, withdrew it from the calendar after Senator Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, threatened to filibuster the bill. Mr. Coburn called it a waste of money and an unnecessary expansion of federal control over public lands.

Mr. Reid said the Senate needed to focus on the economic crisis, but he promised to bring the measure up for immediate action early next year.

Old business tends to get lost in the early days of a new Congress, especially when there is a new administration. Come January, we will remind Mr. Reid of his promise and of the voters’ clear commitment to preserving open spaces.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/opinion/19wed2.html?_r=2&ref=opinion&oref=slogin

Montana, Google, and Android

Congratulations, Jeffrey Sharkey!

You put your brain to work and it paid off!

With a 2008 master’s degree in computer science from Montana State University in your hand what are you going to do next?

Right…win a $275,000 cash prize from Googleland!

When Google announced a design contest for their new cell phone operating system, Android, Jeffrey Sharkey heard the call.

Creating a system that uses a cell phone to read a product’s bar code and then using the phone’s Internet connection to read reviews, prices, product availability, and other information on the Web, Sharkey developed his entry, Compare Everywhere.

Compare Everywhere earned Sharkey a place in the top 50 out of approximately 1,800 applicants. With the top 50 placement, Sharkey was given $25,000 and the summer of 2008 to refine his entry. In August, Compare Everywhere was one of the final 10 entries to earn the top prizes in the Google contest.

Way to go, Jeffrey!

And people think Montana is just about mountains and cowboys.

Shocking Choice by John McCain

The following is from The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 29, 2008

Shocking Choice by John McCain

WASHINGTON– Senator John McCain just announced his choice for running mate:  Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska.  To follow is a statement by Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund.

“Senator McCain’s choice for a running mate is beyond belief. By choosing Sarah Palin, McCain has clearly made a decision to continue the Bush legacy of destructive environmental policies.

“Sarah Palin, whose husband works for BP (formerly British Petroleum), has repeatedly put special interests first when it comes to the environment. In her scant two years as governor, she has lobbied aggressively to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, pushed for more drilling off of Alaska’s coasts, and put special interests above science. Ms. Palin has made it clear through her actions that she is unwilling to do even as much as the Bush administration to address the impacts of global warming. Her most recent effort has been to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the polar bear from the endangered species list, putting Big Oil before sound science. As unbelievable as this may sound, this actually puts her to the right of the Bush administration.

“This is Senator McCain’s first significant choice in building his executive team and it’s a bad one. It has to raise serious doubts in the minds of voters about John McCain’s commitment to conservation, to addressing the impacts of global warming and to ensuring our country ends its dependency on oil.”

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The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund (www.defendersactionfund.org) provides a powerful voice in Washington to Americans who value our conservation heritage. Through grassroots lobbying, issue advocacy and political campaigns, the Action Fund champions those laws and lawmakers that protect wildlife and wild places while working against those that do them harm.

Net neutrality: Why you should give a damn

Guest author and friend, Michael Janover, contributes an interesting and thought provoking blog today on Net Neutrality. You may also find Mike’s article published in the Rocky Mountain News.

Net neutrality: Why you should give a damnBy Michael Janover

OK, I’m old. I was around when Channel 2 went on the air in Denver in the early 50’s and brought us Blinky the Clown. It was exciting. Television. In Colorado!

In the mid-60s, cable TV and the dish staked their claims, and folks in the mountains could finally see Star Trek and Mary Tyler Moore. A whole new world was opening, no longer limited by four or five basic channels. Cable and satellite promised real choice. Hundreds of channels! Wow! You could see anything!

So what happened to all the choices?

Why is it that TV and the movies are always the same old, same old?

For one thing, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) made it possible to merge control of the television and film industries into fewer and fewer networks. What started out as infinite possibilities gradually became three super networks. These entities gobbled up the studio system and the cable channels. Creative decisions were gradually assumed by corporate boards that prefer safe, tested and bland to innovative, daring and dramatic. It’s one of the reasons hard news became infotainment, and rich, life-changing drama is now “reality” programming.

Too much creative control is in the hands of too few people who aren’t creative.

The beginning of the 80s was the start of the Computer Age. I went out and bought a Kaypro, a clunky box, with black screen and glowing green text. It was great. Totally cutting edge.

Computers became more wonderful with color graphics and the mouse thingy, but the most amazing and subversive change was INTERNET. In a few short years, it turned the planet into one big neighborhood; and with broadband access, it also offered interactivity.

We are no longer simple couch potatoes in front of the living room TV. Today, we’re interactive potatoes and use computers to communicate, shop, or read and comment about everything from elections to Dancing With the Stars. We converse with people around the country and world as if they lived across the street. How quaint and microscopic those “hundreds of channels” seem now.

Blogs and YouTube are the new political language. They were vital in the Writer’s Guild’s recent successful struggle with management - the very people who own the mainstream media. Truth is, the Internet does more to democratize the world than any of the wars currently being waged. It truly offers an infinity of choices that TV can’t deliver, and freedom of interactivity that telephones only dream of.

Something this massive and good just begs for someone to control it, don’t you think?

Well, that group has surfaced. It’s not the Chinese government, not even your government. No, it’s the telecommunications companies. The same folks who offer you three-tiered packages of programming instead of just charging you for the shows you want to see; the same people who offer expensive long distance packages when you can do better for next to nothing over the Internet; and the same people who want immunity from prosecution for accidentally illegally wiretapping millions of our phone conversations.

Since the telecoms deliver the Internet to you, they think the government should grant them the power to control how you use it. They want to make more money and put limits on what you see and how you see it. In their world, websites should be charged for the privilege of being seen by their customers. And sites should pay extra for making it possible for consumers to download their material faster (– by removing the telecom’s artificial restraints). Failure to pay these tolls results in your site not being seen, or in ultra-lengthy download times that drive impatient users elsewhere.

Imagine going online to CNN or to download music or watch an old TV show, but the feed is so slow that it no longer works properly. The grass on your lawn is growing faster. Why? Because someone didn’t pay tacked-on fees to the local cable or phone company, and the feed was restricted.

The Telecoms are spending millions to convince Congressional candidates that giving them control makes for a less expensive, better Internet. As you read this, they’re donating money like there’s no tomorrow, because after this election, the new Congress will be forced to decide if Telecoms should be given this power.

“Net Neutrality” basically means “Leave the Internet alone,” and it’s the battle cry for those who think handing over management and control of information to a few mega-corporations is the worst possible idea.

Net Neutrality isn’t another “nutty left wing crusade.” Internet giants like Google and Microsoft, consumer advocates such as Consumer Reports, small businesses who might be relegated to the slow lane, and iPod users who might find it harder to download tunes — all want to maintain Net Neutrality.

“Maintain” is the magic word. Net Neutrality doesn’t ask for new regulations; it only wants to be sure that the freedom we already have is preserved. If you believe in a true open market and don’t want to give your freedom of choice to some corporate Big Brother, if you don’t want your Internet experience censored or restricted, if you enjoy watching YouTube or visiting Facebook without limitations - you probably support Net Neutrality without even realizing it.

It’s time for you to speak up and ask a few questions. Now is when you have the clout. Does your Senate candidate support maintaining freedom of the Internet - or increasing profits for the Telecoms? If you don’t know, find out.

For more detailed information on the fight to save the Internet, please check out www.freepress.net/files/nn_fact_v_fiction_final.pdf, a fact sheet put together by Free Press, the Consumers Union, and Consumer Federation of America.

Michael Janover grew up in Denver and went to school and graduated from CU in Boulder in 1967. He’s been a WGA writer since 1978, worked for HAWAII 5-O, Wide World of Disney and wrote THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT while in Hollywood. He also helped start the Colorado Film School in Aurora.

Tommy Spaulding: Up with People Vision for the 21st Century

Up with People is alive and well! Enjoy this video of Tommy Spaulding, CEO/President, sharing his vision for Up with People in the 21st Century.

more about “Tommy Spaulding: Up with People Visio…“, posted with vodpod

Vital Ground: A Partner in History-Making Conservation Deal in Canada

As a member of the Board of Advisors for The Vital Ground Foundation, I am happy to promote the following news item out of Missoula, Montana:

Vital Ground is proud to announce that it is a fundraising partner in the largest single private land conservation acquisition in Canadian history.

The effort is being lead by the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), which has made the bold commitment to protect 212 square miles of remote valleys, mountains and lakes in an area known as Darkwoods in south-central British Columbia.

Vital Ground has entered into a memorandum of understanding with NCC, and will be providing a grant and other fundraising assistance over the next two years.

“This is a unique and immediate opportunity to conserve a landscape roughly the size of the entire Island of Montreal,” says John Lounds, President and CEO of the Nature Conservancy of Canada. “Darkwoods is a conservation initiative of global significance. It’s part of a greater vision that will set new standards for conservation success.”

Darkwoods is situated between the towns of Nelson, Salmo and Creston in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia. The previous owners, the Pluto Darkwoods Forestr y Corporation, had owned and operated the land since 1967. The property connects a network of protected lands and wilderness management areas to create a vast tract covering more than 250,000 acres—enough for wide-ranging animals such as grizzly bear and caribou to roam freely.

The project cost is more than $125-million, which includes not only the purchase of the land but the endowment funds needed to ensure Darkwoods will be cared for in generations to come.

Darkwoods supports a tremendous range of biologically rich habitats: rare old-growth forests, sub-alpine meadows, serene valley bottoms, productive creeks and lakefront lands. These habitats are home to 29 provincially-listed species at risk, such as bull trout, red-tailed chipmunk, western screech owl and a streamside orchid called giant helleborine.

“Conserving Darkwoods is essential to the recovery of the South Selkirk caribou population,” says biologist Trevor Kinley. “It could also significantly affect the viability of the local grizzly population, and it will definitely influence the retention of natural biodiversity.”

Because of its great scale and topographical diversity, Darkwoods offers sensitive plants and animals a chance to adapt in the face of global climate change. Species will be able to migrate to different latitudes or elevations as temperatures fluctuate.

The Darkwoods announcement comes on the heels of an announcement by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and The Trust for Public Land (TPL) of a landmark agreement to purchase approximately 320,000 acres (500 square miles) of western Montana forestland from Plum Creek Timber Company for $510 million.

Dubbed the Montana Legacy Project, the effort will keep forests in productive timber management and protect the area’s clean water and abundant fish and wildlife habitat, while promoting continued public access to these lands for fishing, hiking, hunting and other recreational pursuits.

The lands to be purchased also offer habitat for wide-ranging big game animals, grizzly bears, lynx, wolverine, bull trout and numerous other wildlife. These lands are also some of the most popular recreation areas in the western United States.

The plan is for the purchased lands to be transferred into a mixture of private, state and federal ownership. The lands sold into private ownership will be subject to conservation easements that will restrict subdivision and home development.

Vital Ground is working closely with TNC and TPL and other stakeholders as the project unfolds.

“This has been an incredible month for conservation,” says Vital Ground’s executive director, Gary Wolfe. “Darkwoods is the largest private land conservation transaction in

Canada’s history, and the Plum Creek deal is the largest private land conservation project in

U.S. history. It’s exciting that Vital Ground is aligned with both of these efforts.”

Mad Men

How could I forget Mad Men ??

My apologies to the fans of Mad Men

And

To all of you who emailed me to ask why I didn’t include Mad Men on my list of this summer’s television shows to watch.

Mad Men most definitely should have been on the list!

For those of us with childhood memories of the 1960’s, this show is truly like stepping back in time. While Jon Hamm’s portrayal of Don Draper is absolutely deserving of his Golden Globe win, all of the other actors in Mad Men are equally engaging and deserving of a sweep at both the Emmy’s and the Golden Globe’s. Mad Men premieres Sunday, July 27 on AMC at 10PM.

Vital Ground Protects Wetland Acreage

As a member of the Board of Advisors and the Development Committee for The Vital Ground Foundation, I am happy to share the following news:

Missoula, MT - The Vital Ground Foundation announced today that it has acquired 90 acres of crucial grizzly bear habitat at northern Idaho’s Bismark Meadows. Located just west of Priest Lake, Bismark Meadows is an 1,100-acre complex of meadows and wetlands that features a dramatic array of rare flora and fauna. It supports several endangered plant species and provides habitat for moose, elk, deer, black bear, wolves, lynx, westslope cutthroat trout, and eagles, as well as grizzlies.

The project complements a 19-acre parcel bordering State Highway 57 ─ a location especially vulnerable to commercial development ─ that the organization purchased in 2005. Both projects fall under Vital Ground’s Selkirk Grizzly Bear Habitat Conservation Initiative, which is designed to help bolster the “Threatened” grizzly sub-population. It is estimated that the Selkirk Grizzly Bear Recovery Zone hosts only 40-50 animals.

“The greatest threat to wildlife today is human intrusion into their habitat,” states Gary Wolfe, Vital Ground’s executive director. “Our conservation efforts in Bismark Meadows provide an increasingly rare wild refuge for imperiled animals and plants in a growing sea of development.”

As the surrounding Selkirk Mountains are often snowbound until early June, grizzlies must seek food in lower elevations when they emerge from hibernation. “This makes the meadowlands vitally important for the bears,” continued Wolfe. “Without continued access to these and other low elevation food sources in spring and again in autumn, the Selkirk population may fail.”

During 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Idaho Fish and Game Department biologists received reports indicating that up to three grizzly females with cubs were utilizing the meadows during the spring season. One female had two cubs and the other two females reportedly had three cubs each.

Vital Ground’s work in the Selkirks is supported in part through a grant from the Canmore, Alberta-based Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y). Through this partnership, Vital Ground is contributing to Y2Y’s Grizzly Bear Conservation Strategy, which is designed help strengthen ecosystem connectivity so that grizzlies in the Idaho Panhandle and northwestern Montana can move about safely and intermingle with the more robust populations in Canada.

Vital Ground is also negotiating an option to purchase a third parcel within Bismark Meadows in 2010 and has already completed a 1,647-acre conservation easement near Bonners Ferry, Idaho and additional acquisitions near the U.S./Canada border.

With the grizzly bear as its compass, Vital Ground works to reconnect fragmented landscapes in the U.S. and Canada critical to wildlife movement and biodiversity. Since its founding in 1990, Vital Ground has helped to protect and enhance more than 467,000 acres of habitat crucial to grizzly and other wildlife in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Alaska, and British Columbia.

For more information, visit www.vitalground.org or phone 406-549-8650.

Jericho and America’s Deployed Troops

I’ve written it before and I’ll write it again…I LOVE these people!

Here’s the latest from the Jericho fandom:

SECOND ROUND OF DVDS HEADED TO DEPLOYED TROOPS

Thank-you messages from Jericho execs to accompany DVD shipment

There’s more to fans of the serial post-apocalyptic show Jericho than shipments of nuts. They’re also good for hundreds of DVDs being shipped to deployed service men and women who need a little entertainment and relief while serving their tours of duty in harm’s way. It is just the latest in Jericho fans’ continuous drive for humanitarian efforts via the Internet, while they also forge ahead in the quest for a new home for their canceled show and a more accurate ratings system to measure TV viewership.

On the heels of a successful DVD campaign that garnered more than 100 Jericho Season 1 DVDs for members of the military over the last Christmas holiday season, Jericho fans — intent on reminding our brave soldiers that they are never far from their hearts or minds — have come together in the second leg of their efforts to double their first-time total. With $5,380 in donations gathered through an Amazon.com gift wish program, Jericho fans, or Rangers, as they are often called, wrapped up the DVDs for the Troops 2 campaign last week with 219 Jericho Season 2 DVDs. They will be shipped directly to the troops from the Staten Island Project Homefront (SIPH), a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting U.S. troops with frequently requested items such as snacks, CDs, books, and personal items.

As with the first effort, the DVDs will be accompanied by messages of support from Jericho fans all over the
country. As a special additional treat, each DVD also will include words of encouragement and gratitude from writers and producers of Jericho. They’ll hear messages, such as Co-Executive Producer Dan Shotz’s: “Jericho, at its core, is a show about hope. You guys define hope. Thank you for all you do,”or from Executive Producer Jon Turteltaub (“National Treasure,” National Treasure: Book of Secrets”): “You’re an
inspiration to all of us.”

Of the 219 total Season 2 DVDs, 21 of them came from a middle school classroom in Boca Raton, Florida, where teacher Susan Oyer challenged her students to help make a difference. Through money earned by doing chores and hunting for spare change on schoolroom floors, they raised nearly $450 for the cause. The Jericho4Kids site (www.Jericho4Kids.com), created for and by young Jericho fans, raised $267 for the effort, and an auction of show memorabilia obtained and donated by Jericho on-set dresser Mike Loomer produced an additional $975 for the campaign.

Beyond the DVDs for the Troops effort, Jericho fans have made an impact with other humanitarian fundraising efforts as well, including:

• A $20,667 donation in 2007, with the assistance of www.Nutsonline.com, to Greensburg, KS to aid in a massive rebuilding effort following a catastrophic F5 tornado;

• A charity auction at Jerichon, the annual convention hosted by www.guardiansofjericho.com that produced nearly $4,000 for Greensburg and VFW efforts;

• Ongoing care package shipments of toiletries, games, books, DVDs, etc. to a designated military contact and Jericho fan on behalf of other troops serving in Iraq;

• The current Spreading the Nutty Love campaign, in which nearly $1,080 worth of peanut butter (378 jars) and other food essentials are being donated to the Kansas Food Bank (in a state especially hard-hit by tornadoes); and,

• Various smaller efforts on behalf of individual Jericho fans who suffered various medical and/or financial difficulties.

It is estimated that Jericho Rangers have raised at least $32,000 total in the past year for philanthropic endeavors, though the figure is probably much higher.

If you would like more information about DVDs for the Troops and plans for further expansion of those efforts, please visit www.jerichorangers4ourtroops.com.

With Record High Gas Prices, What’s a Family to do this Summer?

Old Faithful geyser, Yellowstone National Park

With record high gas prices, what’s a family to do for a summer vacation?

How about planning your family fun time around any one of America’s 391 National Park Sites?

Covering more than 83 million acres, national parks can be found in every state.

To learn more about America’s national parks, view slide shows and pictures, or to find that right destination for you and your family, visit the National Parks Conservation Association website.