Using revenue generated by recreation fees Grand Canyon National Park has reopened the South Rim and Desert View entrance stations to provide information and safety messages to visitors.  https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/park-accessibility-possible-with-rec-fee-dollars-and-az-state-support.htm

On April 3, 2019, Grand Canyon Railway, in consultation with the National Park Service (NPS), will be applying herbicide along the railroad tracks including those within Grand Canyon National Park. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/grand-canyon-railway-herbicide.htm

Each year in the spring (March - June) Grand Canyon National Park experiences an increase in turbidity in the drinking water. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/spring-snow-melt-causes-annual-turbidity.htm

From April 15 to 30, 2019 the Grand Canyon National Park Division of Science and Resource Management (SRM) will be applying cut-stump and occasional spot spray treatments of herbicide to invasive plants along the banks of the Colorado River to aid in the control of several invasive plant species for which mechanical removal is ineffective. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/grca-apply-herbicide-along-co-river-2019.htm

From Tuesday, May 16 to Wednesday, May 17 the Grand Canyon National Park Division of Science and Resource Management (SRM) will apply minor spot spray treatments of herbicide around the Grand Canyon Lodge and campground in the North Rim Developed Area to aid in the control of an especially invasive grass species for which mechanical removal is ineffective. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/grca-apply-herbicide-on-nr-2019.htm

Due to water turbidity and maintenance issues, some of the water filling stations and flush toilets normally available along the North Kaibab and Bright Angel Trails at this time of the year will not be open until water conditions change and/or water line repairs are made. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/backcountry-users-advised-of-changes-to-water-availability-on-north-kaibab-and-bright-angel-trails.htm

An international team of paleontologists has united to study important fossil footprints recently discovered in a remote location within Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. A large sandstone boulder contains several exceptionally well-preserved trackways of primitive tetrapods (four-footed animals) which inhabited an ancient desert environment. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/newly-discovered-fossils.htm

On Tuesday, June 4 and Wednesday, June 5 staff from the Division of Science and Resource Management (SRM) will be applying herbicide to the traffic islands on South Entrance and Yavapai Roads to remove grasses that attract elk in these congested areas of the Grand Canyon Village. The intent of the removal is to minimize conflicts between wildlife (elk) and both visitors and residents along the road corridors. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/south-entrance-and-yavapai-herbicide-use.htm

Grand Canyon National Park invites the public to celebrate the National Park Service’s 103rd birthday by visiting the park for free on Aug. 25, 2019. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/grand-canyon-national-park-invites-the-public-to-celebrate-the-national-park-service-s-103rd-birthday-by-visiting-the-park-for-free-on-aug-25-2019.htm

Grand Canyon National Park joins multiple national parks across the country by offering an official park app. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/grand-canyon-free-mobile-app.htm

Grand Canyon National Park is implementing its pilot bison reduction activities on the North Rim this month through live capture and removal of approximately 60-100 animals. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/grand-canyon-relocates-bison.htm

Grand Canyon National Park has received confirmation that two bats collected along the Colorado River in the park last month tested positive for rabies. The rabies-positive bats, both Canyon Bats, were deceased at the time of collection and did not come in contact with any visitors or staff. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/bats-found-in-grand-canyon-national-park-test-positive-for-rabies-20190912.htm

National Park Service staff closed the doors on livestock trailers yesterday, securing 31 bison inside to transfer them to the InterTribal Buffalo Council who will take them on the journey to join their new herd with the Quapaw tribe in Oklahoma. The transfer of the bison concluded the Grand Canyon National Park's pilot program for corralling and relocating bison from the North Rim. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/31-bison-from-the-north-rim-are-relocated-20190919.htm

HELPLESSLY watching her newborn son Colton fight for his life just hours after she nearly died in childbirth is something mother-of-three Kaila Stace will never forget.

The actor who played ‘Gollum’ in The Lord of the Rings, Andy Serkis, will give a LIVE reading of The Hobbit, from cover to cover, for charity May 8.

The post ‘Gollum’ Actor Andy Serkis Plans a Live Reading of ‘The Hobbit’ –There And Back Again– Friday For Charity appeared first on Good News Network.

Swarup Bhunia and engineers at the University of Florida, Gainesville are envisioning mobile vehicle-to-vehicle charging for EVs.

The post Not Science Fiction: Can We Charge EVs With Car-to-Car Mobile Recharging? appeared first on Good News Network.

Portugal is aiming to leap out of their COVID-19 lockdown by launching a series of clean energy projects that could generate 5.5 billion Euro in investment.

The post Portugal Preparing Several Billion-dollar Clean Energy Projects for Post-Coronavirus Future appeared first on Good News Network.

NextGen Cup, led by Starbucks and McDonald’s, launched a pilot program to create a green alternative to the 250 billion discard paper coffee cups.

The post Starbucks and McDonald’s Aim to Replace 250 Billion Paper Coffee Cups with Recyclable Alternatives appeared first on Good News Network.

Bike stunts, pet birthdays and a baby names which stumped the world are some of the trending topics on social media in Australia.

Cofiring wood and coal at Fairbanks, Alaska, area electrical generation facilities represents an opportunity to use woody biomass from clearings within the borough's wildland-urban interface and from other sources, such as sawmill residues and woody material intended for landfills. Potential benefits of cofiring include air quality improvements, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, market and employment development opportunities, and reduction of municipal wood residues at area landfills. Important issues that must be addressed to enable cofiring include wood chip uniformity and quality, fuel mixing procedures, transportation and wood chip processing costs, infrastructure requirements, and long-term biomass supply. Additional steps in implementing successful cofiring programs could include test burns, an assessment of area biomass supply and treatment needs, and a detailed economic and technical feasibility study. Although Fairbanks North Star Borough is well positioned to use biomass for cofiring at coal burning facilities, long-term cofiring operations would require expansion of biomass sources beyond defensible-space-related clearings alone. Long-term sources could potentially include a range of woody materials including forest harvesting residues, sawmill residues, and municipal wastes.

We conducted an experimental study of infection, transmission, and persistence of a nucleopolyhedrovirus (NPV) of Douglas-fir tussock moth (Orgyia pseudotsugata) to better understand mechanisms determining the efficacy of the virus when it is used as a microbial control agent. In a field experiment, we quantified infection rates of larvae exposed to either Tussock Moth Biocontrol-1, the strain currently used for control by the U.S. Forest Service, or a wild-type strain isolated from a natural population. We first allowed each pathogen to decay on experimental branches for 0, 1, or 3 days before allowing uninfected larvae to feed on the branches, and then we fit both a generalized linear model and an epidemiological model of virus transmission to the infection data. Longer decay of the NPV resulted in lower infection rates, but evidence that overall virus transmission differed between wild and pesticide isolates of NPV was weak. The short persistence time of the virus suggests that it does not last long on foliage, in turn suggesting that application of TM Biocontrol-1 must be carefully timed to ensure maximum mortality.

There are two new sites, one in Cranleigh and the other in Farnham

The Chugach and Tongass National Forests are changing, possibly in response to global warming.

Higher global temperatures are changing ecosystems in the Arctic. They are becoming greener as the climate and land become more hospitable to taller vegetation.

Land use and climate change are two key factors with the potential to affect stream conditions and fish habitat. Since the 1950s, Washington and Oregon have required forest practices designed to mitigate the effects of timber harvest on streams and fish.

Martens are small forest carnivores associated with dense, mature forests.

With the passage of the Multiple Use Sustained Yield Act of 1960, the U.S. Forest Service has managed its 193 million acres of forest and grassland for multiple uses, including timber, watersheds, and wildlife. Using today’s terminology, some of these purposes are considered ecosystem services, which encompass a breadth of benefits provided by forests, including their ability to absorb and store atmospheric carbon, a greenhouse gas linked to climate change.

Resource managers have long mapped biophysical forest data. Often lacking, however, is relevant social science data for understanding the variety of human needs a given landscape fulfills.

Air quality is a critical issue affecting the health of billions of people worldwide, yet often little is known about what is in the air we breathe. To reduce air pollution’s health impacts, pollution sources must first be reliably identified. Otherwise, it is impossible to design and effectively enforce environmental standards. However, urban networks of air quality monitors are often too widely spaced to identify the sources of air pollutants, especially for pollutants that do not disperse far from their sources. Developing high-resolution pollution maps with data from these widely spaced monitors is problematic.

This publication describes the bird communities of major mainland rivers of southeast Alaska and is based on a review of all known relevant studies as well as recent fieldwork. We synthesized information on the composition, structure, and habitat relationships of bird communities at 11 major mainland rivers. Information on current management concerns and research needs are also included.

We describe a food-based system for quantitatively evaluating habitat quality for deer called the Forage Resource Evaluation System for Habitat and provide its rationale and suggestions for use. The system was developed as a tool for wildlife biologists and other natural resource managers and planners interested in evaluating habitat quality and, especially, comparing two or more patches of habitat or the same patch at different seasons or under different conditions. It is based on the quantity (of biomass) and quality (digestible energy and digestible protein) of the habitat's food resources in relation to user-specified metabolic requirements of deer (which differ with species, age, sex, season, and reproductive status). It uses a linear programming algorithm to determine the suitable forage that can sustain deer at the specified requirements.

A single level dropdown menu aimed at the Safari Mobile browser (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch).

A single level slide down menu aimed at the Safari Mobile browser (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch).

A multi-level flyout menu aimed at the Safari Mobile browser (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch).

A droplist menu with delay action aimed at the Safari Mobile browser (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch).

A flyout list menu with slide action aimed at the Safari Mobile browser (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch).

A flyout set of social network icons with slide action aimed at the Safari Mobile browser (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch).

Using CSS3 to produce an expanding stack of image links, suitable for the iPad etc.

Using CSS3 with perspective to animate a three image billboard. For Safari ONLY at the moment

A method of closing an open dropdown menu by tapping anywhere in the screen

A method of closing an open flyout menu by tapping anywhere in the screen

A full screen slide show with permanent image changes for all modern PC browsers and Safari Mobile browsers.

Version 1.1 of my BIG! Slideshow with additional features for all modern browsers.

Changes in forest management have detrimentally affected the economic health of small communities in the Blue Mountain region of Oregon over the past few decades. A build-up of small trees threatens the ecological health of these forests and increases wildland fire hazard. Hoping to boost their economies and also restore these forests, local leaders are interested in the economic value of timber that might be available from thinning treatments on these lands.

In rural Alaskan communities, high economic, social, and ecological costs are associated with fossil fuel use for power generation.

Increasingly large and severe wildfires threaten millions of forested acres throughout the West. Under certain conditions, mechanical thinning can address these hazardous conditions while providing opportunitiesto create renewable energy and reduce our carbon footprint but how do land managers decide whether thinning is a good idea? How do they decide where to begin, and what to do with the removed trees? Prioritizing treatment areas and determining the most effective techniques for fuel hazard reduction depends on various factors such as owner objectives, forest types, and the availability of processing facilities.

Edge-glued panels could become a natural extension for the birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh.) lumber industry in Alaska, resulting in greater utilization of the birch resource while allowing producers to explore a wider variety of products and markets.