Mitaku ye oyasin (All my relations)… I would like to pass along a very important message, from a sister who walks the Lakota path as I do, concerning our Sacred Earth. Prayers are needed, as well as action from those who know what to do, to help save the land from unnecessary desecration. Please look into your hearts and find the time to send out a message to preserve our lands… Pilama ye for your time in this urgent matter.

“Good Morning,

Carolyn Gray”

EarthWorks takes Action

Rio Tinto and BHP – Billiton have created a subsidiary that is proposing to mine a rich copper vein more than 7,000 feet below sea level east of Superior, Arizona. As a first step, Rio Tinto is currently shopping around a land exchange bill that would end an executive order banning mining from Oak Flat Campground and privitize more that 3,000 acres of public land.

Concerned citizens are worried about the loss of Oak Flat Campground, a very popular recreation area. Birders, climbers, campers, canyoneers, bikers, and hikers enjoy the area throughout the year, all of whom would be greatly harmed if these lands were forever taken from public access. Western Apache people have traditionally used the area for cultural, spiritual, and subsistance. The land exchange would include Apache Leap, a cliff where more than 80 Apache warriors chose to leap to their deaths rather than surrender to the US calvary.

Both the San Carlos Apache Tribe and the White Mountain Apache Tribe has passed unanimous reslutions opposing the mine and land exchange. In addition, the Concerned Citizens and Retired Miners Association in Superior, AZ has been meeting regularly opposing the land exchange and is circulating a petition.

Why is it that we have such a sneaky and conniving President? One would think that our President would have the greater good of the planet, as well as the people in mind when making important and far reaching decisions. To rape and plunder the Earth is a crime beyond belief, and I feel quite strongly about our wild and natural places enough to declare my outrage in hearing about the Bush administrations latest travesty against nature. I firmly believe we have at our disposal the intelligence and scientific data that can give us a solution to our supposed fuel issues, which will keep nature in balance and free from pollution and destruction.

Phew! Here I am again feeling like I am running against the wind, and I am quite distressed at the lack of intelligence and foresight our President and his administration present in their crimes against nature, and the people they are supposed to take care of. Well I will not turn a blind eye, and I do feel it is all of our responsibility to steward this planet with compassion, wisdom and common sense. We can survive without turning the world upside down, and greed just begets greed, no matter how you look at it. These people who think to reshape this planet and harvest all of her resources will be gone soon enough, and what will be left? I do care what our planet becomes, as well as loving all the beautiful wild places that this Earth has for us to enjoy.

I wanted to share a message from a fellow Earth lover, and I did not want to take away from the original content as written by Robert Redford. Please read the following and add your voice in objection if you feel as so many do about this underhanded tactic…

Dear Teri,

No one voted on Election Day to hand over Utah’s Redrock wilderness to oil companies.

But the Bush Administration cynically chose that very day to advance an outrageous plan that will sell off leases for some 300,000 acres of spectacular Utah canyonlands to oil and gas speculators.

While America was voting for Barack Obama and his vision of a clean energy future, Bush and Cheney’s underlings were conspiring to plunder one of the crown jewels of our natural heritage for their fossil fuel cronies.

Please register your own opposition right now.

The auction of Redrock country will take place on December 19. At stake are world-renowned vistas near Canyonlands and Arches National Parks, as well as near Dinosaur National Monument. The highest bidders will earn the right to turn vast tracts of pristine wilderness into industrial wastelands.

It’s bad enough that Bush officials went behind the backs of the American people with this disastrous scheme. But what’s worse, they didn’t even tell their own National Park Service until after the fact.

In my mind, this theft of our heritage goes beyond the cynical — it’s criminal. What will be left to give to our children and their children if we allow this administration, in a parting shot, to destroy our legacy of public lands for short-term gain?

I hope you’re as angry as I am about this blatant land grab, because we’ve got to stop it — and we have to act fast. The NRDC Action Fund is mobilizing more than one million Americans in an outpouring of protest over the coming days.

Send your own message of opposition immediately. Tell the Bush Administration that you will not allow it to destroy one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

We’ll automatically send copies of your message to your two senators, your representative and to the Obama transition team, which has signaled their opposition to this disastrous attack on our Redrock heritage.

The Bush Administration is racing to complete the auction of our lands before Inauguration Day, which will make sales difficult to reverse.

We must fend off this land grab now — before the oil and gas companies can lay claim to the spoils.

Those spoils include stretches of Desolation Canyon, which has been proposed for national park status. Bush’s own Interior Department describes the canyon as “a place where a visitor can experience true solitude — where the forces of nature continue to shape the colorful, rugged landscape.”

The very idea of oil and gas operations invading these remote sanctuaries — which have remained untouched for millennia — is deeply upsetting. Once the dirty deed is done, our wilderness can never be restored. That’s why I’m asking you to help us sound the alarm and organize now.

Tell the Bush Administration to cancel the Redrock auction. Remind them that we the people are the rightful owners of this majestic wilderness and that we won’t stand for its destruction.

And thank you for joining with me and the NRDC Action Fund to save these beautiful wildlands for all future generations.

Sincerely,

Robert Redford
NRDC Action Fund

P.S. After you send your own message of protest, I’ll let you know of an easy way to spread the word to your friends and family. With only 10 days to mobilize one million Americans, I’m counting on you to rally everyone you know to speak out and save this precious wilderness from destruction.

In honor of my love for nature and all things natural, I am always curious to find places which represent the natural world in ways meant to benefit all, while providing quality education to help nurture a love of the wonders of nature in children. It is so very important to allow these young minds a chance to explore their natural environments, while encouraging them to learn how they too can become responsible and good stewards.

I would like to take this moment to direct those who feel as I do to a wonderful place which opened to the public on March 11th, 2008. Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center really impressed me with their history, as well as their current mission. Originally developed more than 60 years ago, through the vision of H.J Lutcher Stark, a prominent philanthropist who resided in Orange, Texas. Inspired by the mystical retreat represented in the book Lost Horizon, Stark sought to create his own haven of indescribable beauty where time would stand still. His vision became a reality in 1937 when he began creating Shangri-La Botanical Gardens within significant acreage owned by him along Adams Bayou in his hometown of Orange, Texas. Shangri La Gardens and Nature Center represents a place of enlightenment, peace and beauty.

Nestled within 252 acres in the heart of Orange, Texas, Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center is the first project in Texas and the 50th project in the world to earn the U.S. Green Building Council’s Platinum certification for LEED®-NC, which verifies the design and construction of Shangri La reached the highest green building and performance measures.

As one of the most earth-friendly projects in the world, Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center offers a glimpse of how people can live in harmony with nature. The combination of gardens and nature at Shangri La presents a serene oasis for retreat and renewal, as well as the opportunity to explore, discover and learn. I strongly encourage you to visit the Shangri La website to learn more about the wondrous history, the tragic events which caused this beautiful place to close down for 50 years, and the current mission of this magical place of nature. You will discover an ancient Pond Cyprus tree which is at least 1,200 years old, situated within Shangri La. Don’t miss this! I will be taking my daughter on a visit real soon, you can be most certain.

Have you ever wondered the role of the Wolf in the Balance of Nature? The Creator placed everything on this planet for a reason. There are important roles to be played out by each and every creature from the tiniest microbe and insect, to the largest mammal. As intelligent beings on this Living planet, it is our responsibility to learn and understand how to nurture this Balance in Nature, and not destroy it. The Wolf has an important role and is Sacred to the Creator. My love for wolves has led me down many paths. Most recently I found an interesting article about the relation between Wolves and Trees, and I would like to share this with you. Please note that this is simply one small example of how the Wolf fits into the ecosystem.

‘Wolves linked to tree recovery’
By MIKE STARK

Reintroduced wolves appear to be playing a major role in the resurgence of streamside trees and shrubs in certain portions of in Yellowstone National Park, according to two new studies by scientists at Oregon State University.

When wolves were absent from the park, from the 1920s until the mid-1990s, elk grazed heavily and repeatedly on young cottonwoods, aspen and willows. Since wolves have returned, the elk have been forced to be more mobile, which has meant easing up on certain feeding spots.

“Wolves are the top of the food chain,” Bill Ripple, an OSU forestry professor who has been studying aspen and other species in Yellowstone since 1997, said Tuesday. “Wolves affect elk and elk affect species like aspen.”

In recent years, young cottonwoods and willows have been especially robust in areas where elk may have once browsed but now feel the threat of wolves, including places where they have few ways to escape, Ripple said.

“If they’re boxed in against a canyon wall or a cutbank on a river — those seemed to be the places which are showing more growth,” Ripple said.

Meanwhile, low-risk sites for elk are still being consumed and show little growth, according to the studies.

The findings of the studies were recently published in the journals Ecological Applications and Forest Ecology and Management.

The idea behind the studies is to examine the effect that wolves are having in the Yellowstone ecosystem beyond simple predation on elk and other prey.

“With the restoration of wolves in Yellowstone, for the first time we have the full suite of top carnivores,” Ripple said. “That is a grand experiment for us to take notice of what the connections are between different animals and plants.”

Ripple acknowledged that the results of the studies are still “somewhat preliminary” because wolves have only been back in Yellowstone since 1995. Still, researchers say it’s hard to ignore the hypothesis that there’s a strong connection between the return of wolves and the revival of certain plants and trees.

“The data show a clear and remarkable linkage between the presence of wolves and the health of an entire streamside ecosystem,” said an announcement from OSU about the studies.

In some areas on wintering range for elk, researchers found hundreds of short cottonwood seedlings among cottonwoods that were 70 years old or older, but very few trees that had not been chewed off before they passed the seedling stage.

“Long-term elk browsing has been preventing any seedling from getting taller,” Robert Beschta, a forestry professor emeritus at OSU, said about one area along the Lamar River.

Scientists said they were able to see a clear connection between the removal of wolves in late 1800s and early 1900s and a decline in species such as cottonwoods and aspen.

“I considered a variety of potential reasons that might explain the historical decline of cottonwoods that began in the 1920s and have continued up to the last couple of years,” Beschta said in a statement Tuesday. “I looked at climate change, lack of floods, fire suppression, natural stand dynamics, and numbers of elk. But none of those factors really explained the problem. Ultimately, it became clear that wolves were the answer.”

Without fear of wolves, the elk were allowed to browse anywhere they liked for decades, the scientists said. Killing off cottonwoods, willows and other streamside shrubs allowed for increased erosion and effects on birds, insects and other wildlife, they said.

“Before the wolves came back, it was pretty clear that in some areas we were heading toward an outright extinction of cottonwoods,” Beschta said.

Streamside shrubs and cottonwoods in places such as the Lamar Valley have rebounded since the reintroduction of wolves, growing taller and becoming more prevalent, the scientists said.

“There’s this domino effect from wolves to elk to trees,” Ripple said.

The OSU researchers caution that their studies aren’t an encompassing look at Yellowstone and the effects of wolves, but it is an indication that the wolves appear to have stopped a major decline in the survival rates of cottonwoods and willows.

“One point that should not be missed is this is actually great news for the potential recovery of cottonwood trees and mature willows in Yellowstone National Park,” Ripple said. “We now have a pretty good idea why they were in decline and the return of wolves should help pave the way for their recovery. Even though it may take a very long time, for a change it looks
like we’re headed in the right direction.”

Please Visit Defenders of Wildlife to learn more facts about the Wolf and how you can help

The vast swampland of the Big Cypress National Preserve is key habitat for one of the last populations of Florida panthers, one of America’s most endangered animals. But running through this lush landscape is U.S. 41 — a deadly road that has claimed the lives of several of these magnificent creatures.

Fortunately, help is on the way for Florida panthers and other wildlife in the Big Cypress. Thanks to Defenders, the Florida Department of Transportation will construct a wildlife crossing point at one of the most lethal parts of U.S. 41.

Defenders is a leading advocate for wildlife crossings in transportation planning, securing millions of dollars in federal funding since 1998 to give our wildlife safe passage.

Learn More about efforts to protect this Amazing Cat