Los grupos en favor de la conservación y la recreación interpusieron una moción para intervenir en una demanda presentada por los usuarios de vehículos todo terreno, quienes se oponen a los límites para conducir a campo traviesa. Los grupos argumentan que exigir que los vehículos motorizados usen las veredas y los caminos designados es crucial para proteger el bosque de un mayor daño ambiental.

Las acciones legales de los defensores de las tierras públicas buscan defender un plan del Servicio Forestal que sacaría a los vehículos de las áreas naturales vulnerables en el Bosque Nacional de Tahoe. Los grupos insisten en que es crucial mantener alejados a los vehículos motorizados de las 2,000 millas de veredas y caminos protegidos para prevenir un daño ambiental mayor.

Barbara Rivenes, directiva de silvicultura del Sierra Club, capítulo Motherlode, vive en Nevada City, cerca del bosque Tahoe; dice que ha visto el daño que pueden provocar los vehículos de motor.

"Es un bosque grande - y precisamente ese es uno de nuestros puntos. Cambiar todo el plan administrativo de rutas, porque algunas veredas no fueron incluidas, es una propuesta muy seria para quienes usamos el bosque."

Los grupos pro conservación y recreación dicen que los vehículos todo terreno destruyen la vegetación, provocan erosión en el lecho de los arroyos y amenazan la vida silvestre en las zonas delicadas. Los usuarios del vehículo para campo traviesa declaran que el bosque es suficientemente grande para todos.

Stan Van Velsor, representante regional de conservación en The Wilderness Society (la Sociedad de la Vida Silvestre), dice que pese a sus limitados recursos, el Servicio Forestal de los Estados Unidos ya tomó como reto mantener las 2,000 millas de caminos protegidos en el nuevo plan para Tahoe.

"Eso aumenta el potencial de erosión. También resulta en la inhabilitación de muchos amantes de la recreación para usar los caminos y llegar a los lugares donde quieren divertirse."

El abogado de Earthjustice, Christopher Hudak, quien presentó la moción para intervenir, dice que es crucial actuar ya.

"Si pueden deshacer este pequeño progreso en el Bosque Nacional de Tahoe, entonces otros bosques nacionales de California y del resto del país quedarán vulnerables ante la misma amenaza del tráfico ilimitado de vehículos todo terreno."

En 2010, el Bosque Nacional de Tahoe aprobó el plan administrativo de rutas que incluía unas 2,000 millas de caminos, 385 millas de veredas y 244 acres de áreas de juego abiertas a los vehículos de motor. Este verano, varios clubes de campo traviesa demandaron al servicio forestal por haber anulado el plan administrativo.



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An environmental group is suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the Arkansas mudalia snail under the Endangered Species Act.

In Arkansas and Missouri, including along the North Fork River, mudalia are critically endangered freshwater snails.

Trisha Sharma, legal fellow at the Center for Biological Diversity, emphasized the need to save the snail from vanishing entirely. She said freshwater mollusks are the most endangered group of animals in North America, and snails are the most endangered mollusks.

"We've already lost more than 70 species of freshwater snails," Sharma pointed out. "The Endangered Species Act has a very high success rate. So if we can get it listed and protected under the ESA, it's highly likely that the species will survive and be able to continue playing its important role in the ecosystems where it's found."

Sharma noted areas where the Arkansas mudalia can be found have decreased by 90% and the main threat to the species is habitat degradation, primarily from dam construction and operation along the rivers.

Sharma emphasized mudalia is also threatened by habitat loss from grazing, logging and mining. She added climate change is also expected to threaten the species.

"Part of what can make a species more resilient to climate impacts is its ability to disperse as its habitat becomes unsuitable, and to essentially relocate to areas where it can survive," Sharma explained. "But snails have a pretty narrow set of habitat requirements and very limited dispersal capabilities."

Sharma said freshwater snails play a crucial role in managing nutrients by consuming detritus and plant matter, preventing their decay and subsequent disruption of water quality, and snails are vital for food webs, converting unusable food sources into usable ones for birds and turtles.


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Today is Earth Day, and one initiative in southern Arizona is helping build public gardens providing beneficial habitat for pollinators, from Monarch butterflies to bees and bats.

Emily Bishton, founder and coordinator of the Arivaca Pollinator Pathway Project, said the human population depends on these animals and insects, as many of our foods and plant-based products require pollination. But human activity and climate change have put pollinators in jeopardy and Bishton wants to increase awareness of how crucial they are.

"The best chance you have for attracting and nurturing pollinators is with the species that they've co-evolved with," Bishton explained. "They will instinctively know that is food for them, or a place they can lay their eggs. They also are more likely to be able to put up with the way our climate is now and the way it is changing."

Bishton pointed out one focus of the project is to get Arizonans to plant more native species like milkweed, which is especially critical for Monarch butterflies. She would also like people to reconsider the use of pesticides since they do kill pests but also other beneficial insects. She suggested contacting a local county extension service or master-gardener program for alternative methods.

Madian Romero, technical assistant supervisor for the Caviglia-Arivaca Library, has been responsible for getting teenagers in the area to participate in the Arivaca Pollinator Pathway Project. They not only help build garden spaces around town but grow their knowledge behind the importance of pollinators, as well as community building.

"The teens, they've come up with ideas on how to fundraise for the projects," Romero emphasized. "Each business that agrees to have a garden, it can be free."

Romero added the project has also been a character-building exercise for the young people of Arivaca, and hopes it is an experience they will cherish.

The state Department of Natural Resources and Iowa State University are looking for volunteers to help create a new Bumble Bee Atlas.

Bees are an important part of the ecosystem, and scientists are figuring out their habitats to help them thrive.

Iowa is home to at least 14 species of bumble bees that help pollinate native wildflowers and flowering crops in farm fields and backyard gardens.

Iowa State University University Professor of Sustainable Agriculture and plant pathologist Matt O'Neal said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently listed several bee species as endangered.

"And that includes the Rusty Patch bumble bee," said O'Neal, "20% of what it used to be, and that includes parts of Iowa. There is also evidence that other bumble species are in decline and so, this survey will give us a chance to see where those bees are and how abundant they are."

With that information, O'Neal said scientists can work to protect the bees' habitats and create Iowa's Bumble Bee Atlas.

It's part of a larger project to map the bees and foster bee development nationwide. Sign up online to volunteer.

The national project is part of a collaboration with the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.

Some 900 people have volunteered for the national atlas project, and counted more than 20,000 bumble bees - which O'Neal said face several major threats.

"Pesticide exposure, parasite and pathogens," said O'Neal, "and then the last 'P,' and probably the most important, is poor forage."

The researchers will work to alleviate those threats by knowing where the bees are.

Volunteers have discovered species thought to be gone from their states, contributed to new field guides, and improved scientists' understanding of bumble bee populations across the country.




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