Without steps to curb global warming, plants, animals we need for food, drugs will vanish

This saguaro, standing like a sentinel in silhouette, is among the "iconic, charismatic mega flora" that could be endangered by climate change, says a scientific panel's recent report.

Friday marked the third annual national Endangered Species Day, a day set aside to recognize our nation’s efforts to safeguard our rarest fish, wildlife and plants.

But this year, one fact is clear: Global warming is changing everything we know about protecting wildlife and natural resources.

Luckily, thanks to U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva and other members of Congress, we also have an opportunity to finally tackle global warming and ensure that our wildlife heritage is protected for future generations of Americans.

In our warming world, habitats around the globe are shrinking and being destroyed while plants and wildlife are forced to adapt, migrate – or perish.

While the iconic polar bear gets most of the press, few species are immune, and many are in peril – including Arizona’s trademark saguaro cactus.

A recent report by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program warns that due to the warming climate “. . . the probability of loss of iconic, charismatic mega flora such as saguaro cacti and Joshua trees will greatly increase.”

The world-class scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change have summed up the challenge in stark figures:

Without strong, rapid action to address global warming, 20 to 30 percent of the world’s plant and animal species will be at increased risk of extinction.

Stopping extinction is more than the right thing to do – it’s the smart thing to do. By safeguarding wildlife and natural resources, we keep our communities healthy and sustainable.

We all depend on diverse eco-systems for many life-sustaining services. These “ecosystem services” help produce and maintain clean water and air, and supply a variety of foods and medicines.

In arid Arizona, for example, our water flows in part from the healthy forest ecosystems along the Mogollon Rim and in the White Mountains.

Birds and insects pollinate our crops at no cost – just imagine what it would cost to do this by hand!

Wildlife activity are not only essential for our well-being, but also are an enormous boon to our economy.

According to the newest National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife Associated Recreation, 87.5 million Americans spent more than $122 billion in 2006 on wildlife-related recreation.

This spending supports hundreds of thousands of jobs. In Arizona, for example, it is estimated that hunting and fishing contribute $1.3 billion to the state’s economy each year.

We rely upon nature, and nature relies upon us. But we need to act fast to make sure that we don’t lose our wildlife and the natural resources we all depend upon.

By taking steps to curb our nation’s carbon pollution, we begin the transition to a sustainable green economy by lifting the burden off taxpayers and placing it squarely upon the polluting industries responsible for causing global warming.

But there is more to be done. Comprehensive climate and energy legislation must also include funding and strategies specifically aimed at safeguarding our wildlife and natural resources.

Grijalva has recently introduced a bill, the Climate Change Safeguards for Natural Resources Conservation Act of 2009 (HR 2192), that will help bolster the resilience of natural ecosystems in the face of global warming.

The legislation would create strong, coordinated national and state plans to put the best possible tools and strategies in the hands of state, federal and tribal land managers.

The bill would also boost scientific capacity to ensure that management decisions are informed by the best available science and monitoring.

Of course, it’s vital that Grijalva’s bill be backed with enough funding to do the job right.

Congress should dedicate 5 percent of the total revenues generated by a federal climate program to safeguard wildlife and ecosystems in a warming world.

It’s a small investment to ensure that the world we leave our children is as close as possible to the one that we have been fortunate enough to inherit.

The phrase “extinction is forever” is a potent reminder of what we have to lose and what must be done.

We all rely on nature for survival, so we must strengthen our efforts to address the negative impacts of global warming.

When we reduce pollution that contributes to global warming and invest in ways to safeguard nature and wildlife, we are not only helping nature, we are helping ourselves.

Scotty Johnson, a native Arizonan and Tucson resident, is the senior outreach representative for Defenders of Wildlife – a national conservation organization. For more information about the effects of climate change on wildlife and natural resources, see the Defenders’ new report “Beyond Cutting Emissions” at www.defenders.org.

Scotty Johnson

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ON THE WEB

Climate Change Safeguards for Natural Resources Conservation Act of 2009 (H.R. 2192): tinyurl.com/qv3wum

FLAGSTAFF – A group of environmentalists is appealing a plan by the U.S. Forest Service to log an area north of the Grand Canyon.

It’s the second logging plan on the Kaibab National Forest that conservationists have challenged this year. Both sites are within an area where 58,000 acres burned in 2006.

The plan approved in March calls for logging on 9,100 acres and the planting of conifer trees on nearly 10,000 acres in an effort to restore forest conditions.

Conservationists say the plan makes no sense economically or ecologically. They say it would erode soil, damage habitat for the threatened Mexican spotted owl and increase the potential for wildfires.

The Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club and WildEarth Guardians signed on to the appeal filed Thursday.

FLAGSTAFF – A federal appeals court has ruled that a woman who started part of the largest wildfire in Arizona history must exhaust remedies in a tribal court.

Valinda Jo Elliott was lost on White Mountain Apache land for two days in 2002 when she started a blaze to get the attention of a television news helicopter. That fire merged into the Rodeo-Chediski fire.

She wasn’t criminally prosecuted, but the tribe brought a civil case against her.

After she tried unsuccessfully to have the case dismissed in tribal courts, she turned to a federal district court.

That court held that Elliott must exhaust her tribal court remedies and dismissed the case without prejudice.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ruling Thursday.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – A new round of dry, windy weather could cause a week’s delay in full containment of the Santa Barbara wildfire that destroyed dozens of homes, firefighters said Wednesday.

Wind gusts reached 45 mph in the Montecito hills Wednesday evening and humidity dropped, forecasters said. Wind warnings were in effect until Thursday morning, with temperatures to reach the 80s in the foothills.

The wind could push flames into areas where about 45 homes are still threatened, said Harry Hagen, a Santa Barbara County emergency operations center spokesman. Those homes were evacuated last week and more than 100 residents have not been allowed to return.

“We are on full alert, expecting that the disaster and our preparedness will continue,” Hagen said.

Crews were able to contain about 80 percent of the fire before the forecast of unfavorable weather led them to move the estimated date of full containment back to May 20.

The blaze has been essentially static through days of cooler, humid weather marked by morning coastal fog.

The fire started on May 5 and blackened more than 13 square miles, destroyed 80 homes, damaged 15 and injured 29 firefighters. Investigators said it may have been caused by someone clearing brush with a power tool.

The fire has been contained in the most populated areas. About 30,000 people were forced out of their homes during the firefight and thousands more were warned to be ready to go. Most evacuation orders were lifted late last week.

“The area that’s left to contain is the most difficult … extremely steep and very tall brush,” Sadecki said. “The crews that are in there are having a very difficult time.”

Meanwhile, a wildfire near Homer, Alaska, blackened about half a square mile Wednesday after being sparked the night before by a downed power line. The fire, which was fanned by a steady breeze, forced about 40 people from their homes.

Homer is about 150 miles southwest of Anchorage.

MANADO, Indonesia – Rising sea levels, warming waters and spiraling acidity caused by global warming are threatening the world’s oceans and the communities they support, governments warned Thursday, as they sought to include protection for the seas in a new U.N. climate treaty.

Not only marine ecosystems, but the lives of tens of millions of people could be affected as they are forced to leave inundated coastal communities and find new jobs, they said.

“We must come to the rescue of the oceans,” Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at the opening of high-level government talks at the World Ocean’s Conference in the northern city of Manado.

“We must preserve them as our legacy for our future generations so that they may live free from the shackles of poverty,” he said.

Scientists have long warned that higher temperatures will melt polar ice and cause sea levels to rise, wiping out island communities and destroying coastal ecosystems. Rising emissions of carbon dioxide are also making oceans increasingly acidic, eroding sea shells, bleaching coral and killing other marine life.

But many questions remain about oceans — which can also play an important part in absorbing carbon — partly because the technology to study them is relatively new.

Participants at Thursday’s meeting want negotiators at U.N. climate change talks, scheduled to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, this December, to discuss the world’s waters including concerns about the affect of greenhouse gas emissions on oceans when replacing the Kyoto Protocol in 2012.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in recorded remarks Thursday that the world must “do more to protect our oceans and preserve the long-term health of our planet and its people,” noting that the two are closely linked.

The effects of climate change, she said, “can be seen not only in melting glaciers and dying coral reefs, but also in damaged homes, falling wages, rising poverty, diminished opportunities.”

The two-day meeting in Manado, which brings together ministers and high-level officials from more than 80 countries, was preceded by a series of symposiums on science, technology and policy makers. It wraps up Friday.

A similar gathering will be held next week in Washington, D.C., with the focus on the need for improved marine conservation.

“The fact that less than 1 percent of the world’s oceans are covered by marine protected areas is a catastrophe waiting to happen,” Dan Laffoley of the International Union for Conservation of Nature said in a statement.

“Just because these places are under water and not highly visible does not mean they should be ignored,” he said. “It’s time to expand marine protected areas and save our oceans from threats like overfishing and climate change.”

An overturned car sits in the lot of Jim Robertson's car dealership after it was hit by a tornado on Wednesday in Kirksville, Mo. Multiple tornados hit the area as severe storms tore through the state.

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – Violent storms tore through four Midwestern states, killing three people in northern Missouri, damaging dozens of homes and leaving thousands without power.

Kirksville apparently took the hardest hit Wednesday night. Police Detective Sgt. Ron Celian said the storm damaged 30 to 40 homes and flipped cars and shattered windows at a car dealership. One home was destroyed.

“It just tore everything up,” said Don Williams, who rode out the storm in his basement with his wife and four children. “It was just a blur. Insulation and trees blowing everywhere. I could see stuff just flying through my house.”

Sullivan County Emergency Management director Rick Gardner said a woman was killed Wednesday night when what appeared to be a tornado struck a mobile home east of Milan in Sullivan County.

Two other people died in a neighborhood near the car dealership, said Adair County coroner Brian Noe. Authorities did not release the victims’ names pending notification of family members.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Brent Bernhardt said the Adair County sheriff flew over the area to inspect the damage and said in some places the tornado was only 500 feet wide.

“It was not wide,” Bernhardt said. “It would be on the ground and then come back up and be on the ground again.”

In Gillespie, northeast of St. Louis, school was canceled Thursday because much of the town was without power and some school buildings were damaged.

In Caddo County in southwest Oklahoma, where a possible tornado tore roofs off homes and businesses in Gracemont and Anadarko, school officials canceled classes for the day because of widespread power outages.

Dozens of inmates were evacuated from the Caddo County jail because of a gas line break, said Caddo County Emergency Management Director Larry McDuffey.

In northeast Oklahoma, a 100 mph wind gust was recorded west of the Bartlesville airport in Washington County, authorities said. The high winds downed trees and power lines, temporarily cutting power to thousands.

Central Indiana saw wind gusts of up to 60 mph and street flooding was reported in Vincennes, Linton and Rockville, authorities said. Utilities reported 8,000 were without power in and around Indianapolis early Thursday.

In Illinois, a range of windy storms dumped as much as 3 inches of rain within 50 minutes. National Weather Service meteorologist Ed Shimon called the accumulation “unbelievable,” comparing it to heavy rainfall in the tropics.

The storm was continuing in southern Illinois early Thursday, with lightning, heavy rain and strong wind gusts, Shimon said.

The latest storms come less than a week after another batch of severe weather, including at least a dozen confirmed tornadoes, ravaged parts of southern Missouri. Those storms killed four people and damaged or destroyed several hundred homes.

TUCSON – A wildfire burning in eastern Arizona near the New Mexico border is 15 to 20 percent contained. The fire started Tuesday afternoon located north-northwest of Springerville.

The Arizona State Forestry Division says the fire has burned 5,000 acres. Unburned interior islands will continue to flare up throughout the night with visible flames, officials said.

The fire started along the north side of U.S. 60 and is burning grassland and shrubs.

Winds have begun to decrease and will likely continue decreasing to 10 mph or less Wednesday morning. Very dry conditions will continue into Wednesday and Thursday. Lighter southwest breezes are expected with continued above average daytime highs.

Motorists are advised to exercise extreme caution within the vicinity of this fire due to the presence of multiple emergency response vehicles.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Firefighters worked Tuesday to surround the remnants of a wildfire that has gutted 78 homes before gusty winds returned that could drive it once more into wealthy neighborhoods.

The week-old blaze was 80 percent contained and there was little but smoldering remains after several days of cooler, more humid weather and morning fog.

However, the National Weather Service forecast winds to pick up in the later afternoon with gusts to 40 mph in the evening. A fire watch for blustery winds and low humidity was in effect from late afternoon through Thursday.

Although the fire was expected to be fully contained on Wednesday, dozens of homes still were considered threatened Tuesday and about 360 evacuees were not being allowed back home.

Sparks from a power tool being used to clear brush is suspected of igniting the fire on May 5 near the Jesusita Trail above Santa Barbara on slopes of the Santa Ynez Mountains.

The fire moved slowly through dry brush until sundowner winds a day later drove it into explosive action.

The 8,733-acre fire — equal to about 13 1/2 square miles — destroyed 78 homes and damaged 22 others, according to county estimates. Sixty outbuildings were also destroyed and 69 others were damaged.

The fire injured 28 firefighters. Most of the injuries were minor but a two Ventura County firefighters were burned and a third suffered smoke inhalation when they were trapped in a burning home they had tried to protect.

Firefighter Robert Lopez, 44, of Port Hueneme, was the only one still hospitalized. He had second- and third-degree burns over 15 percent of his body and was scheduled to undergo surgery on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON – The head of the U.S. Forest Service said she is reluctant to overturn a policy that caused tanker planes to fly extra distances while fighting a California wildfire because the agency did not yet have a contract in place to use a nearby airport.

The tankers had to fly an additional 120 miles round trip to obtain supplies — delaying response to the fire, which burned 100 homes in Santa Barbara, forced more than 30,000 people to evacuate and torched more than 13 square miles.

Forest Service Chief Gail Kimbell said the agency will review the specifics of the Santa Barbara blaze, but added that she would not want the agency to have year-round contracts with private companies to help fight wildfires.

“A permanent fire season? I hope we never get to that,” she told The Associated Press.

Setting up agreements to provide retardant and other supplies “is an expense of public money. We want to be mindful before we commit to anything,” Kimbell said.

At the same time, she acknowledged that global warming and other factors have led to longer fire seasons that now stretch well beyond mid-May to November.

“Fire season keeps expanding on both ends,” Kimbell said, adding that the length of the fire season is a key factor as officials set up contracts with private companies and airports to assist the government in what has become a billion-dollar-a-year battle against wildfires.

“We try to be prepared … should events occur, and we use the best data we have, but you’ll never have all the answers,” particularly when most contracts are signed a year in advance, Kimbell said.

Three aircraft were able to resupply once at an airfield in Santa Maria, Calif., 60 miles north of the blaze, but they were later diverted to another airport about 120 miles away after officials realized a supply contract wasn’t in place at the Santa Maria airport. State and federal officials say it’s impossible to know what effect the airport confusion had on efforts to stamp out the Santa Barbara blaze, but said that being able to land at Santa Maria would have saved time.

Planes made multiple trips to Porterville, Calif., last week before the Santa Maria airfield was opened to the aircraft on May 6, cutting the length of resupply missions in half. The Forest Service had not completed a contract, which usually runs from May 15 to Nov. 15, with two service providers at the airport, said spokesman Jason Kirchner.

The 8,700-acre Santa Barbara fire destroyed 78 homes and damaged 22 others, fire officials said. The week-old blaze was 80 percent contained as of Tuesday, with costs totaling more than $12.2 million.

The Arizona Trail Association is requesting help in winning a $50,000 grant for a trail project in Saguaro National Park-Rincon Mountain District.

Through midnight May 31, citizens may vote twice daily among five national finalists for this Redwood Creek Greater Outdoors Project grant. Redwood Creek, a California winery, will give the money to the project receiving the most votes.

Anyone may vote once a day online and once a day by text message. To vote online, visit www.blazethetrail.com/greatoutdoors/vote. Send text message votes to 39668 with the voting code “trail.”

The grant money would fund the Saguaro National Park Connector Trail, a five-mile stretch of the Arizona Trail into the park that must be constructed by hand due to its remoteness and the rugged landscape.

The trail would allow access into backcountry areas and protect a sensitive riparian area.

For more information, visit www.aztrail.org.

Felicia Cody wasn't able to salvage much from her grandmother's burned house on Monday, which was destroyed by the Jesusita wildfire in Santa Barbara, Calif. Situated at the end of Tunnel Road, the home was among the first of many to be destroyed by the wind-driven wildfire. The home had been rebuilt after being destroyed by another wildfire in 1964.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Firefighters rushed to wipe out the last remnants of a wildfire that destroyed dozens of homes in the hills above this scenic coastal city, racing against winds that might whip the blaze back to life.

The 13-square-mile blaze was 70 percent encircled after several days of good weather over the Santa Ynez Mountains and full containment was expected Wednesday.

But the National Weather Service issued a “fire weather watch” for the local mountains and south Santa Barbara County from late Tuesday afternoon through Thursday morning due to gusty north winds and low relative humidity.

The area’s “sundowner” winds typically appear during evening hours or late afternoons in certain conditions, blowing from north to south down passes and canyons just above Santa Barbara and adjacent communities.

Roberta LaRocco, a Santa Barbara County spokeswoman, said there was concern “but we are optimistic.”

Firefighters were mainly dousing hot spots and carving containment lines in wilderness areas north of the city in Los Padres National Forest, Santa Barbara County spokeswoman Sarah Gibson said.

“There is no open flame,” Gibson said.

The 8,733-acre fire – equal to about 13 1/2 square miles – broke out May 5 and destroyed 77 homes and damaged 22 others, according to county estimates. Sixty outbuildings were also destroyed and 69 others were damaged.

Approximately 145 homes remained evacuated, affecting some 360 people, down from 30,500 people at the fire’s height. It has cost $10.8 million to fight and has injured 28 firefighters.

Most people returned Sunday to unscathed homes.

“We were very, very, very lucky, and we always keep knocking on wood,” said Marty Conoley, 57, rapping on a coffee table in his undamaged home. “Who would have thunk a fire at this time of year?”

Others weren’t as lucky. Robert Pratini, an 88-year old retired teacher, stood with relatives on heaps of blackened debris where his hillside house once stood. His wife. Faye, 79, said they doubt they will rebuild.

“You always have a glimmer of optimism,” said Pratini, who had lived there since 1960. “You build up a lot of memories, and a lot of attachments.”

Officials said the blaze apparently was started by someone using a power tool to clear brush last Tuesday on private land near the Jesusita Trail. They asked the public for help in identifying the tool user.

Officials declined to comment further about the type of power tool that may have been used, or if anyone could face charges.

During the weekend, fire officials praised residents for aggressively cutting back brush that could have fueled the blaze.

MANCHESTER, N.H. – Just in time for Mother’s Day, a mother duck has been reunited with two of her babies who fell into a storm drain in Manchester, N.H.

The mother was crossing the street with 11 ducklings parading behind her Thursday when two of the little ones tumbled through a grate. Workers at a nearby hair salon called police, who sent a crew from the city water works department. While salon workers corralled the upset mother duck and other ducklings in a box, the city workers opened the grate, climbed into the drain and rescued the two ducklings.

The salon owner told the New Hampshire Sunday News that when all 12 were taken to the Merrimack River, they were met by a male duck who led the family into the water.

Mountain becomes ‘inferno’

A DC-10 tanker drops fire retardant on an unburned area Friday as efforts to fight the Jesusita fire continue in the mountains above Santa Barbara, Calif..

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Turning the horizon a lurid orange and raining embers on roofs as it advanced, a raging wildfire that has destroyed scores of homes in the hills menaced this celebrity enclave and other coastal towns Friday, and the number of people ordered to flee climbed to 30,000.

Authorities warned an additional 23,000 to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice.

Columns of smoke rose off the Santa Ynez Mountains as the 4-day-old blaze – fanned by “sundowner” winds that sweep down the slopes in the evening – blew up from 2,700 acres to 3,500 acres in less than a day, creating a firefighting front five miles long.

“It’s crazy. The whole mountain looked like an inferno,” said Maria Martinez, 50, who with her fiance hurriedly left her home in San Marcos Pass, on the edge of Santa Barbara. The couple went to an evacuation center at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

An unknown number of homes were destroyed in the blowup that began Thursday night, in addition to the estimated 75 houses that burned the night before on the ridges and in the canyons above Santa Barbara.

No deaths or serious injuries were reported.

The number of people ordered to evacuate rose from 12,000 the night before as the blaze pushed west toward neighboring Goleta and east toward well-to-do Montecito.

“Last night, all hell broke loose,” Santa Barbara Fire Chief Andrew DiMizio said Friday morning, recounting firefighters’ efforts to put out roof fires and keep flames out of his section of the city.

The eight-member Wasjutin family arrived at the university campus in three cars and a trailer packed with four dogs, eight baby chickens, two cockatiels, an iguana, a rat named Cutie and an African spur tortoise. They fled their 40-acre San Marcos Pass property after watching the flames grow closer. They left three horses and three hens behind.

“We drove down through fire on both sides,” Silvia Wasjutin, 48, a speech pathologist, said.

In a scene of strange contrasts, students bicycled to classes and midterms as ash fell on campus, and boats bobbed in Santa Barbara’s harbor as smoke rose from the mountains above town.

The Santa Barbara area has long been a favorite of celebrities. Oprah Winfrey has an estate in Montecito, where Charlie Chaplin’s old seaside escape, the Montecito Inn, has stood since 1928. A ranch in the mountains that Ronald and Nancy Reagan bought became his Western retreat during his presidency.

A U.S. Forest Service fire engine is in place at a home that is threatened by an approaching wildfire in Santa Barbara, Calif.

700 evacuate into old Capitol building

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Torrential rains and flooding likely killed one person Thursday in central Alabama, and lawmakers had to evacuate the statehouse after the basement filled with four feet of water and collapsed a wall.

Some 700 people had to evacuate, and legislators continued their work at the old Capitol building across the street – where Jefferson Davis was once sworn in as president of the Confederacy. They had to make due without computers and other modern conveniences, including air conditioning, in the building that now serves as a museum. Regular business hadn’t been conducted there in more than 20 years.

Weather officials also confirmed that a Wednesday tornado caused damage across two counties in north Alabama. Michael Coyne of the weather service office in Huntsville said the tornado left a path of destruction nearly 11 miles long that was up to 75 yards wide in places.

More than 100 homes and businesses were damaged in the South on Wednesday by strong winds, heavy rains and golf ball-size hail. Strong winds damaged homes in Arkansas and North Carolina, and debris blocked roads and damaged houses in north Mississippi. No serious injuries were reported.

Officials also increased the flow of water through dams to ease swollen rivers, including the Mississippi.

SIERRA VISTA — Fire officials say winds cooperated Thursday in holding down a wildfire in southeastern Arizona and the blaze near Sierra Vista should be contained Saturday.

Incident management team spokeswoman Jonetta Holt says officials estimated the Canelo fire would be 80 percent contained by nightfall. It burned 4,208 acres as of Thursday, having destroyed three homes and burned a man listed in critical condition at the Maricopa Burn Center in Phoenix.

Crews focused on mopping up interior hot spots.

Holt says the blaze that began in grass and brush Tuesday, also burning five outbuildings and six vehicles, no longer threatened any structures.

Residents evacuated from a subdivision near Fort Huachuca returned home Wednesday.