Niagara River IBA

Originally published in the Buffalo News and redOrbit December 20, 2005

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/335344/niagara_river_globally_significant_bird_corridor_but_it_needs_protection/

Niagara River Globally Significant Bird Corridor, but It Needs Protection, Understanding

Posted on: Tuesday, 20 December 2005, 09:00 CST

By Jay Burney

Each autumn, beginning in late November, a spectacular and globally important natural occurrence unfolds on the Niagara River.

The event is the annual gull migration that brings as many as 19 species of gulls, in one of the world's largest concentrations of these birds, literally to our doorsteps. This is a significant ornithological event. On the entire continent of Australia, only three species of gulls have been recorded. In the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, only 11 species of gulls have ever been seen. Remarkably, some of these same gulls that breed in the Arctic refuge travel through the Niagara River Corridor.

The river and the surrounding corridor have been identified as a part of the broad Atlantic Flyway and have been designated as a "globally significant" Important Bird Area by a broad coalition of regional and international conservation organizations, citizen groups and government agencies.

Dr. Robert F. Andrle, a long-time officer of the Buffalo Ornithological Society and formerly an Important Bird Area adviser to the National Audubon Society, says the river is "a major Great Lakes waterway bordered by diverse land and aquatic habitats. The region is a wintering area for thousands of waterfowl and gulls. The area provides a variety of breeding and stopover places for many resident and migrating land and water bird species, some of whose populations are of global significance, and all is at risk."

Jennifer Nalbone, habitat and biodiversity coordinator for Great Lakes United, says,"Preserving biodiversity and habitat in the Niagara River is a key component of restoring the Great Lakes."

Clearly, recognition of the uniqueness and significance of this natural and fragile ecological asset and the continuing threats to habitat demand that local and regional leadership focus on appropriate development choices along the river and lake and in the surrounding corridor. These choices and the leadership that makes these choices are of great consequence.

The Great Lakes, adjacent lands and water bodies, especially the Niagara River, are important natural resources with global implications. The lakes contain nearly 20 percent of all the fresh surface water on the Earth. Only the polar ice caps contain more fresh surface water. The river is a major drainage channel for the Great Lakes watershed. The river and the surrounding corridor offers an exciting and important window on the world of birds, bird behavior and bird migration.

Amazing and surprisingly biodiverse habitats provide for numerous plants and wildlife, including fish, mammals, amphibians, reptiles and insects, as well as birds.

Species that can be found here include numerous migrating and resident butterflies, including endangered regal fritillary, monarchs, red and white admirals, painted ladies and the Baltimore; a wide variety of amphibians and reptiles, including the threatened Jefferson salamander, the blue-spotted salamander, pickerel and chorus frogs, grey tree frogs, box turtles, and red-eared and painted turtles.

Rare plants in the corridor include recently identified old- growth forest trees such as 1,000-plus-year-old cedars along the Niagara escarpment and the remnants of a primeval red, white, and black oak forest on the former DeVeaux Campus in Niagara County.

In addition, there are is a rich diversity of marsh, meadow and forest plants throughout the corridor, including wild ginger, orchids, the rare cliff brake found in the Niagara Glen, and the extremely rare hart's-tongue fern, which is found in a few protected locations along the escarpment.

There are about 100 species of native fish still left in the Niagara, including the rare lake sturgeon, and numerous species of darters and minnow species, including the emerald and spottail shiners, which are excellent food sources for both the larger fish and some of the fish-eating birds.

People are surprised to learn that there are at least 43 species of non-domestic mammals that can be found in the corridor, including at least eight species of bats, all of which are protected by federal law. One bat, which is suspected to be here, the Indiana bat, is on the endangered species list.

The health of the river and our stewardship of this resource is a critical responsibility. Stewardship of these resources is a fundamental responsibility that the newly established Erie Canal Harbor Development Commission, the Niagara Greenway Commission and the development efforts of the Buffalo waterfront by Congressman Brian Higgins, must address.

Important Bird Area

In 1996 an international consortium of conservation and nature organizations, citizen activists and government agencies named the Niagara River Corridor as the first internationally recognized "globally significant" Important Bird Area (NRIBA).

These organizations include Bird Life International, the Canadian Nature Federation and the National Audubon Society, as well as the Canadian Wildlife Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the state Department of Environmental Conservation and a wide variety of local and regional groups, including the Buffalo Audubon Society and the Buffalo Ornithological Society.

The NRIBA stretches roughly from one mile out into Lake Erie along both sides of the border in a strip approximately 3.5 miles wide on each side, to approximately 1 mile into Lake Ontario. A conservation plan for the NRIBA was completed and published by these groups in 2002.

The Important Bird Area is a widely recognized conservation tool that has helped to focus the eyes of the world on a network of valuable natural resources. These resources are recognized because they support both birds and biodiversity, and are threatened by things such as habitat loss, inappropriate development, and contamination.

A wide variety of bird species travel through the corridor or breed here, including waterfowl, raptors, songbirds, shorebirds and others. The corridor provides essential habitat. Over 30 species of endangered birds, threatened birds or birds of special concern are found here, including the bald eagle, the peregrine falcon, the black tern and the common tern.

Many fish, mammals, amphibians, insects and plants that are on the state Endangered, Threatened, or Species of Special Concern lists also can be found in the corridor. At least four species of birds occur in globally significant numbers. These are: Bonaparte's gull (Larus philadelphia), herring gull (Larus argentatus), canvasback duck (Aythya valisineria) and common merganser (Mergus merganser).

Most IBAs do not carry the "globally significant" designation. This means the health and well being of our local area affects populations and conservation of birds and wildlife on a global basis.

The Bonaparte's gull, which is known to breed in and around the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, migrates through here on its way to winter habitat in the Atlantic. This beautiful bird can be found here in numbers representing as much as 25 percent of the entire global population. As many as 100,000 Bonaparte's gulls have been observed here in a single day.

Serious problems

The area, however, is threatened. You could characterize it as facing a barrage of serious problems. Continuing habitat loss linked to inappropriate development and historic contamination issues, including chemical contamination from industry, poorly treated sewer outflow and urban runoff, continue to impact the waters. These are issues that will affect the future of the NRIBA and the species, including humans, that are supported by it.

This is where the Buffalo Harbor Development Commission, the Niagara Greenway Commission and Higgins' waterfront planning come into play. It is essential that the NRIBA designation is understood and addressed by all planning agencies and decisions. Appropriate development that recognizes both the fragility of the area and the global conservation consequences related to its stewardship and development should become a baseline indicator from which all planning grows.

Some leadership eyes are wide open. State Assemblyman Mark Schroeder, whose 145th Assembly District includes lake and river waterfront, says, "This 'globally significant' Important Bird Area designation is a part of our planning and stewardship toolbox and reminds us that we have a tremendous responsibility regarding bird and wildlife conservation, and the promotion of global biodiversity in our own community.

"In fact, we use some of the guiding principles of the NRIBA conservation plan in our current decision making regarding a wide variety of projects and programs, including the Times Beach Nature Preserve and several important parks in the district that are being developed along the Buffalo River."

Conservation planning and promoting stewardship is not a unique approach, nor does the IBA exist as an issue or a tool, in a vacuum.

The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, a treaty between the United States and Canada, expresses the commitment of each country to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the Great Lakes Basin ecosystem. This agreement has identified the Niagara River and the Buffalo River as two of 43 Great Lakes Areas of Concern.

Areas of Concern are places where there is a significant impairment to the natural habitat. In the Niagara River, impairment comes from chemical contamination and habitat loss. The designation of an AOC encourages planning agencies to pay attention to the sources of contamination and to begin to develop plans to identify and remediate problems.

Because of contamination, and the accompanying impairments, the state Department of Health and Canadian counterparts have long- standing fish consumption advisories that affect the kind and number of fish that individuals can eat from the Niagara and Buffalo rivers.

Basically, these advisories state that eating fish from these water bodies can be hazardous to your health. Especially if you are young, elderly, pregnant or have existing health problems. The birds in the corridor, like many of the people who fish there, aren't aware of these fish advisories.

Another important but little recognized tool comes from the city of Buffalo itself. In 1998, the Common Council passed a resolution recognizing the area. It states in part that the designation means "that the ecology of the Niagara River Corridor must be carefully integrated into the city's plans, laws, projects and processes." This is a significant law, and a critical tool for planners and developers.

It is clear that inappropriate industrial, commercial and urban development in the corridor, especially along the shorelines, such as development without a formal commitment to understanding and restoring habitat, will have natural and human consequences that will last for generations.

This affects continued efforts at the Lakeside Commerce Park adjacent to the Union Ship Canal, the Bethlehem Steel site, the NFTA/ Buffalo Lakefront LLC Outer Harbor Development projects, and virtually all development planning in and adjacent to the Niagara River Corridor.

The Erie Canal Development Commission, the Niagara Greenway Commission and Higgins have a unique opportunity to act as stewards and help point the way to a future that not only protects and restores nature resources and promotes sustainable economic development but also promotes planning for a future that works.

There are remarkable efforts throughout the corridor that address both habitat loss and contamination remediation and recognize the boost to biodiversity that restoring and protecting habitat represent.

Pragmatic solutions

Remedial action plans and a broadening awareness of contamination and habitat loss issues in planning organizations, governments and in the media on both sides of the Niagara River have brought attention to pragmatic solutions.

Positive remediation examples include the restoration of Buckhorn Marsh on Grand Island, the creation of Woodlawn Beach State Park on Lake Erie, the remediation of the Cherry Farm on the Niagara's shore in Tonawanda and efforts by Erie County to create habitat in new parks and trails along the Buffalo River. In Niagara Falls, at Niagara Reservation State Park and along the gorge in the lower river, much attention has been paid to restoration efforts.

Very importantly, the recent creation of the Times Beach Nature Preserve adjacent to the Coast Guard Station in downtown Buffalo protects dramatically important habitat that is within view of Buffalo's City Hall. Some 240 species of birds have been recorded here, including all of the globally significant species identified by the area designation. The area played a great role in helping to focus attention on restoration issues in these projects.

Still, in Buffalo and south along the waterfront, habitat loss is still a critical threat. Proposed developments along Buffalo's outer harbor, the gateway to the habitat, are hardly focused on restoration.

The shoreline corridor south of Times Beach, which is threatened by industrialization at the Lakeshore Commerce Park, where a new PVC factory has grown, and the Buffalo Lakefront LLC outer harbor high- density development plans are shameful examples of poor planning and a lack of understanding of the ecological integrity of our globally important resources.

Surely with a new emphasis on conservation and hunting and fishing, as exemplified by the Bass Pro deal, we can find a way to promote economic development that has a focus on ecological integrity.

Higgins, the Greenway Commission and the coalition that has formed around the Niagara Greenway campaign must find ways to promote habitat restoration and link this with economic development. They must work closely with the Erie Canal Harbor Development Commission, the NFTA and the various government agencies that are investing public money for waterfront development.

Economic impact

This brings us back to the birds. One can go bird watching year round and enjoy rewarding and exciting experiences at Dunkirk Harbor on the American side of Lake Erie, Long Point on the Canadian side, all along the river to Fort Niagara and Niagara-on-the-Lake and all points between and beyond.

This is an incredible and rare natural resource that we have in our own back yard. Bird watching can be fun and educational. And recreational activities such as bird watching and ecotourism are rapidly growing economic engines. Perhaps we should invest public monies toward the support of the ecosystems that characterize the NRIBA.

Perhaps, for instance, along the South Buffalo/Lackawanna shoreline, again, the gateway to the Niagara River globally significant important bird area, Higgins and the Greenway Commission could entertain the concept of creating an Outer Harbor National Shoreline Recreation Area.

Development tools beyond the whole Bass Pro hunting-fishing- camping concept could include habitat restoration as opposed to commercial and industrial development. Why reindustrialize when we can go directly to the original reason that people came to live here -- the natural waters and wildlife and the rich habitats that support these things?

This would serve to support a recreational/tourism economy, including sport fishing, hiking, bird watching, camping, sailing and boating. I see lots of jobs in this scenario. I see a cleaner environment, a healthier planet and a quality of life that would become a magnet for investment.

Throw in history, architecture and a local economy based on natural heritage (including Niagara Falls and the gorge) and our region could become an economic tourism engine that would drive our economy for years. Talk about signature projects.

Jay Burney is a Buffalo writer who focuses on outdoor and travel topics.

Source: Buffalo News

The Vanishing of the Bees

The Vanishing of the Bees-Everyone Should be Concerned

August 2010

 Jay Burney w/ thanks to Judy Einach

As many people know, honeybees and other pollinators worldwide are struggling to survive in our modern world of agricultural chemicals and practices. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) which is resulting in a disappearance of bees, has become a major concern for growers, scientists, and the USDA.  It should be a concern of everyone.

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is the name of the stunning decline of honeybees around the world.  First noticed in North America in 2006, reports of vanishing bees have been reported in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Central and South America, Australia, and Asia.

According to the USDA Agricultural Research Service  (USDA ARS) in 2009, for the fourth year in a row, more than 1/3 of 551,000 of U.S. honeybee hives failed to survive the winter.  Some northeast beekeepers have reported as much as 2/3 of their population failed to survive between May 2009 and April 2010. Some American beekeepers have reported losses of 100%.

Honeybees as pollinators are an especially significant part of our food system.  They have a consequential economic and ecological value.  As honeybees and other pollinator species continue to disappear, our food security is at risk.  For instance, about 90% of all crops in North America and in WNY rely on honeybee pollination. That is a huge chunk of our food supply.  According to the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the bee pollination business is responsible for $15 billion in added crop value nationwide. Beekeeping and pollinating is a big business.

Ecologically, pollinators are responsible for the reproduction of many of our native plants, which are food sources for a variety of beneficial native animals including butterflies and birds. Loss of these pollinators means habitat loss and the potential collapse of ecosystems. Without pollinators, many plants cannot reproduce, provide food sources, and promote the biodiversity of which our planets health, ecology, and food systems depend upon.

The specific causes of CCD have been linked to human made toxins that are ingested by honeybees as part of their natural life cycle. These toxins include commonly used pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, paints, solvent, yard and farm chemicals, and GMO’s (genetically modified organisms).  They get these poisons from plants, flowers, nectar, pollen, leaf litter, water, hives, dirt, other animals, and a wide variety of other sources.

More and more it is becoming obvious that the toxics absorbed by pollinators, often in unknown combinations, have created weakened immune systems and biological collapses that leave the pollinators vulnerable to viruses and other predators.

A recent study conducted by Penn State University published in the Public Library of Science (High Levels of Miticides and Agrochemicals in North American Apiaries: Implications for Honey Bee health) found widespread and “remarkably high” levels of pesticides and other toxicant contamination of beehives and food sources including fungicides in pollen.  Dr. Chris Mullen, lead author of the study said “The pollen is not in good shape.  The study reports that 121 pesticides and metabolites have been found in wax, pollen, bee, and hive samples.

These toxins, combined in unexpected ways may be leading to pollinator’s with weakened immune systems that are allowing disease to infiltrate bodies and colonies. 

In recent decades global agribusiness has ushered the emergence of large, concentrated, single crop farming operations. This has hastened the decline of the small family farm and its multiple crops and often more diversified approach as a fundamental part of the food industry. Increasingly growers large and small have come to rely on chemical and GMO strategies to increase yield and to keep up with the demands of agribusiness.  Mix in the fundamental management technique involving pollination and bees and we begin to see substantial conflict.

Today it is becoming increasingly clear that chemical and GMO strategies are having unanticipated consequences regards pollinators. If we lose our pollinators, we lose our food supply. Food safety and security issues linked to these strategies are rapidly rising in our sustainable agricultural agenda.

What can you do?

Individuals and organizations can get involved in many ways.

-If you have a garden, whether you are urban or rural based, consider using less chemicals. We encourage the creation of organic pollinator pastures where pollinators can obtain food relatively free of contamination.

-Purchasing organic products and becoming aware of the widespread toxics contamination of many of our consumer oriented products are good steps.  Promote decreased use of Ag, lawn and garden chemicals, and encourage planting gardens and green space with insect friendly plants and gardening techniques. NYSAWG would be pleased to offer resources including staff interview and connections to WNY beekeepers and honey producers on these significant issues.

Injustice in America, States Rights and the return to a poll tax.

GreenWatch

Injustice in America, States Rights and the return to a poll tax.

By Jay Burney

If you thought that the modern Republican Party is just about being anti-women with anti-contraception and invasive vaginal probe legislation tied to women’s medical decisions, you are wrong. Think again. They are anti-education, anti-environmental, anti labor, and anti-democracy. They are also against the historic civil rights that transformed America in the 1960’s.  Modern republicans are ushering us back to a time of Jim Crow.

Between 1876 and when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the voting rights act of 1965 were implemented by the Federal government, the United States, especially many of the southern states, made racial segregation the law of the land.  The civil rights and liberties of African Americans were targeted by what are known as Jim Crow laws that codified racial segregation of public schools, public places, transportation, restrooms, drinking fountains, bank lending, job discrimination, and military segregation. Among the Jim Crow laws were “poll taxes” collected by several southern states from residents that wished to vote. These highly discriminatory “taxes” heavily and disproportionately impacted minorities especially African Americans, Native Americans, and the poor. If you couldn’t pay the taxes you couldn’t vote. You were disenfranchised. The Civil rights and Voting Rights Acts helped to put an end to that injustice.

If you do not know about this stuff, you really don’t know much about American history including the legacy of  Martin Luther King. He died fighting the institutional racism that characterized ( and often still characterizes) America.

You may have heard of the “southern strategy”. This is an American political term that has long characterized how national leadership has dealt with discrimination and segregation issues.  During the Civil Rights movement, democrats were able to both embrace the civil rights movement and to empower a newly emerging class of voters in the south. The strategy resulted in national and local election victories that were embodied in a 90% democratic enrollment by southern black voters.

This strategy helped lead a transformation of America into a place of more hope, more justice, and more equality. The world seemed a better place and America was taking the lead.

Today, the Republican Party is turning back the clock. Among other things they are returning to a “southern strategy” that is predicated on the exploitation of anti-African American racism, misogyny, fear, and the characterization of “States rights” as a panacea for the perceived evils that infest the Federal government. This is a thinly disguised but effective attack on women, minorities, the poor, the elderly, labor, education, students, economic and environmental regulations, and the fundamental freedoms, rights, and liberties that so many have fought and died for. It is a disingenuous and cynical strategy at best. The fundamentalist republican’s use the argument of  “potential voter fraud” as the foundation for requiring voter ID. This despite the fact that studies done in the past decade by the Federal Government find that less than .003% of voter fraud has been found nationwide. Despite that 38 states have advanced bills requiring voter ID.

In recent months, several states including Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, Indiana, Tennessee, Kansas, South Carolina, and Wisconsin have passed discriminatory voting practices, including voter ID laws. All of these come with real cash costs to the voters whom have to purchase the ID’s, purchase paperwork supporting the ID’s, and often travel great distances to access places where the ID’s are sold.

The Brennan Center for Justice estimates that if fully enacted, these laws could prohibit as many as 5 million otherwise eligible voters from participating in the next Presidential election. A preponderance of those affected will be people of color.

Because of this countries historic racial discrimination including voter rights atrocities traced back to Jim Crow and the prohibitive poll tax requirements, states that are trying to reintroduce new discriminatory voting regulations have to be approved by either the Justice Department or a Federal Judge.  Despite fundamentalist attempts to disembowel the federal government it still plays a role protecting our rights and liberties.

The states rights lie embodied in voter ID legislation is an attempt at a political power grab backed by an oligarchic empire that has outsourced, downsized, and disenfranchised the American dream. And they still like to refer to this dung heap of an idea “a shining city on a hill”.  American Exceptionalism indeed.

Here are profiles of some of the states that have enacted voter ID legislation.

Mississippi

Mississippi’s population is 59 % white and 37% black, and 2.7% Hispanic.  In November Mississippi voters approved a state constitutional amendment requiring all voters to have an approved photo ID such as a drivers license before they could vote.  The “make voting harder” amendment to the Mississippi State Constitution passed with a 62% plurality.  Opponents of the amendment say that the ID requirement will make it harder for the elderly, the disabled and poor and African American residents to vote. Among other issues is the actual cost of a driver’s license or photo ID and access to agencies that can provide these items to a fundamentally rural poor population, which is disproportionally African American.

Election results show that the amendment was very popular amongst white voters, and not so popular amongst African Americans.

Many thousands of people, including ¼ of all Mississippi African Americans in Mississippi do not have photo ID’s or easy access to them.

The law had not been enacted by the March 13 Republican Presidential primary election where 97% of the voters were white.  The Republican controlled Mississippi legislature decided not to pass the rules that will govern the voter ID process until after the Republican primary.  Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, a white republican and the states chief election officer said that it is the goal of legislatures to make sure that the rule is in effect for the Presidential elections, when African Americans are sure to try to vote. Hoseman was asked by a reporter on Republican primary day what he would say to opponents of the law and he said with a laugh “get over it”. The Justice Department or a Federal Judge will have to approve the new rules before they go into effect.

Texas

The federal government is also scrutinizing a new texas law that requires photo id in order to vote.

According to the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice, the new Texas law will prohibit up to 800,000 otherwise legally entitled voters from participating in the Presidential election. Other critics put that number well over 1 million.  According to Texas own data, a Hispanic voter in Texas is almost 50% more unlikely to meet the requirements to obtain the id, which include a minimum of $22 to purchase the documentation to get the Voter ID. The DOJ asked the State to offer some proof of voter fraud in Texas, and the state could nor provide any evidence On March 12 the Justice Department decided that the Poll tax made the Texas law illegal. Texas Governor Rick Perry is now suing the Federal government and seeks immediate implementation of the new law.

South Carolina

Just before Christmas the Justice Department rejected a South Carolina Law making it difficult for minorities to vote. The state is now challenging the Federal ruling and attorneys handling the case for the state have declared that it will cost South Carolina taxpayers more than $1million to prosecute the case, especially if it has to go to the Supreme Court. The return to Jim Crow is costly, but apparently the good white folks in South Carolina are glad to anti up to pay the piper.

Wisconsin

Almost 150 years after the United States fought the Civil War, and this is not just an issue of the south.

According to state democratic leaders, more than 250,000 Wisconsin voters are disenfranchised by the voter ID law.

Republican Gov Scott Walker’s administration who initiated anti-union legislation that turned the state inside out also initiated voter ID requirements.  Recently a State Judge placed a permanent injunction on the law.  The Judge said that over a quarter of a million Wisconsin voters who would other wise be eligible to vote, many of whom are democrats, would be prohibited from voting under the new rules, which would cost the individual voters money. Besides the photo id costs, the costs of transportation and lost wages for a day spent chasing down paperwork could cost individuals more than $100 each. 

Selma to Montgomery

You may have heard that Al Sharpton recently led a march with his National Action Network recreating the historic civil rights Marches between Selma and Montgomery Alabama to protest the new making it harder to vote laws.  Sharpton calls the new laws Jim Crow on steroids, saying that they are more polished and sophisticated and pretend to fix a problem that does not exist.  Sharpton says that the underlying rhetoric promoting these laws focus on voter fraud, are themselves fraudulent arguments designed to disenfranchise voters and not to strengthen the democratic process.

It seems that fundamentalist Republicans have no qualms about exploiting racial fears with a new radicalism that will bring our country to its knees. The game plan here is becoming more obvious with each passing day.

If you are wondering what this all has to do with you, and you live in Buffalo, there is a good chance that you are not a person of color. According to 2011 US Census data, the Buffalo Metro area is the 6^th most racially segregated area in the United States.  Our African American population is concentrated in the urban core of Buffalo while almost all of the suburban and rural areas are white.  This puts us on the cutting edge of the future of civil rights in America.  You may not know that the Jim Crow laws that have been inspired by the republican fundamentalists are making their way into your life today, but if they get a hold in the southern strategy states it wont be long before you will be asked to take a position. Much of Buffalo’s urban population has experienced a lifetime of racism.  As America rapidly descends into its Jim Crow past, what will you do?

ALEC The American Legislative Exchange Council

ALEC is a powerful corporate funded action organization that is behind all of the voting laws discussed in this article.  ALEC authors and promotes legislation in local and federal legislatures that further a corporate agenda reflecting smaller government, tax breaks for the rich, and legislation that is anti –environmental , anti-labor, anti-education, and a wide plethora of issues that  benefit the conservative agenda.

ALEC is organized across the America, has introduced bills in every State legislature, and is funded secretly by private corporate interests organized by the Koch Brothers. According to the organization Media and Democracy which revealed over 800 ALEC sponsored bills in July of 2011, ALEC is reshaping our democracy by financially supporting legislators that take the model bills created by ALEC and introducing them and or voting for them in the political bodies that they represent.  

For more on ALEC and voting Rights:

http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/Democracy_%26_Voting

http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed

ALEC Exposed, Rigging Elections, The Nation, July 2011

http://www.thenation.com/article/161969/rigging-elections

Boom and BUST

GreenWatch

Boom and BUST

The Lies About Jobs

The legacy news media has a lot to say about the positive impacts of natural gas development in New York State. Like many others, you may be convinced that the economic upside of shale gas includes many jobs and a resurgent economy.

You are very wrong if you believe this. Most of the economic projections come from industry oriented propaganda. Industry that stands to profit dramatically if New York State allows hydrofracking. Not by creating jobs, not by building local economies, but by extracting wealth and leaving behind a legacy of destruction.

Last summer the New York State DEC published a draft generic supplemental environmental impact statement that was paid for by taxpayer dollars. A local WNY company, Ecology and Environment (E&E), which has extensive ties to the oil and gas industry produced an economic assessment that was contained in the publically funded document.  In it E&E stated that an average NYS shale gas development scenario would bring 53,969 jobs.  Food and Water Watch, an organization opposed to hydrofracking published an independent analysis last November entitled “New York State Exaggerated Potential Job Creation from Shale Gas Development.”  It states that the E&E projections are “deeply flawed“ and that “in the first year of an average scenario only 195 new jobs would be created for NYS residents and that “after 10 years only 600 jobs”. After the 10^th year there would be almost no more new jobs created”.

The E&E analysis mirrors industry claims and has been repeated over and over while the Food and Water Watch report, and many other independent assessments that support the critical analysis have been ignored by legacy media. “Truth” and fair and balanced information is a commodity bought and sold to the highest bidder and delivered into your living room by uncritical “news” operations that have a bottom line that does not often include investigation, analysis, or even critical thinking.

Boom

Generally speaking, the gas boom can be characterized as a short term accelerated production cycle. The initial development activities are massive and carry many real and environmental costs that are borne by the local communities.  Impacted communities are always unprepared to adjust to increased and cyclic populations. North Dakota experienced a significant boom due to natural gas operations in 2011 and has also experienced a dark side.

Williston ND saw its population grow from 14,500 people in 2010, to over 20,000 in late 2011. According to a Bloomberg report published this last January, “North Dakota Oil Boom Brings Blight with Growth as Costs Soar” the sudden boom created a housing shortage.  Rents for a two-bedroom home without utilities skyrocketed from $350 a month to over $2,000.  Five hotels and 1,200 new apartments are being built.  Meanwhile some workers and their families are living in their cars, while others are gathering in what are being called “man-camps” – temporary shelters including tents and trailers. Some counties have banned these man camps citing lack of sewer, electrical, and water systems, increased crime rates, and increased prostitution among other social issues.

While the Oil and Gas industry provided Williston with $1.5 million “oil extraction tax”  in 2011, infrastructure costs continue to soar.   The community is looking at spending $87 million to provide three new schools for the approximate 1,500 new students this year. This is an approximate 57% increase in what the local schools were designed to hold. Roads designed to handle 10 tractor trailer trucks a day now are being used by over 800 a day. Montrail County’s road system which has been so completely overburdened by the enormous truck traffic needs $600 million just to keep the roads open. Calls to Montrail County volunteer ambulance and fire services has tripled since 2009.

Bust and Despair

Imagine a ghost town with its ruined and abandoned buildings and streets inhabited by the wretched ghosts of its former residents.  This well-known scenario is based on oil and mineral extractions.  The rush and boom is always followed by collapse. Collapse stays forever. Whatever residents remain pay for the boom with expansive poverty and the inability to maintain basic services and infrastructure. The resultant cultural collapse is a Santorum (google it) scenario that we should all be prepared for if NYS allows fracking.

The long-term bust is characterized by broken and impoverished rural communities. According to Chris Burger of the Sierra Club Atlantic Gas Task Force one of the principle downsides of economic impacts in a fracking area is a loss of diversity of jobs.  Tourism and recreation jobs almost completely disappear as those industries are devastated by the blight caused by gas drilling sites and infrastructure.  Agriculture is seriously impacted by drilling activities and studies have shown that in communities that allow fracking up to 50% of family owned farms are put out of business.

A Cornell University report “Marcellus Shale Gas Drilling: What does it mean for Economic Development concludes that short term boom is always followed by long term bust. Good long-term jobs are not created in drilling communities. Other good jobs migrate away.  Economic diversity declines, as communities cannot attract investment from non-extraction industries.

Add these economic development lies on top of the catastrophic environmental issues created when the waters that we depend on become contaminated, and undrinkable. Your drinking water will be affected. Add this to the costs of the remediation, the lack of remediation, and the to costs of the consequences of human health impacts. Add these inevitable consequences of the depravation and predation by the few that will gain economically to the many that will suffer long term economic consequences and you have to wonder how on earth, we has a culture can have the political, social, or moral will to allow hydrofracking.

Mabel James

Mabel James

compiled from various resources

Mabel James was the founder of both the Conservation Trail and the Foothills Trail Club.

By all accounts she was a remarkable woman, and a remarkable conservationist. She worked with the Nature Conservancy and with the Buffalo Audubon Society regarding various Nature Sanctuaries including Beaver Meadow in Java. 

She was Born June 14, 1887 on a farm Mansfield, Connecticut but lived most of her life in the Town of Holland.  Much of her childhood was spent outdoors looking at plants and animals.  An avid hiker and while at Holyoke College in Mass she obtained permission to take walks instead of going to gym class.  She became a science and math teacher and it was here that she began introducing her students to her favorite places in the woods and fields.

In 1918 she moved to western New York noticed the difference in plants and this caused her to want to know more about plants and she would walk in the woods to study them.

In 1935 she was a naturalist for the Garden Center Institute of Buffalo and she would take people on Sunday nature trips to Holland.  She would charter a bus for $10.00 a day, filled it with people who were interested in the outdoors and went to Holland to hike.  Each person paid 50 cents for the bus fare; 5 cents for all the coffee they wanted and each brought their own bag lunch.

She then wanted longer – all day – hikes and realized for that she needed foot trails.  She thought of the Long Path in Vermont and wanted to use this as a pattern.  So the trail from Lewiston to Allegany State Park was her dream.   To her delight Art and Olga Rosche were willing to help, along with boy and girl scouts.  Thus the birth of the Conservation Trail.

On May 5, 1962, the first section of the Conservation Trail, Humphries Road to Vermont Street, was dedicated, with 250 people in attendance.  The first sign was uncovered revealing the words: THE CONSERVATION TRAIL, MABEL H. JAMES SECTION.  This dedication took place at the Becker Pond.

In a 1969 interview Mabel James mentioned that “people hike because they have a feeling for beauty and a wonder for the outdoors.  People seem to feel right when they are in the woods or on the trail.  Many people drink in the wonders of nature and it is this “sense of wonder”, the magic to be found outdoors on a hiking trail that was something very precious.”

Mabel passed away on March 18, 1974.

The Conservation Trail in Sardinia

Headline: The Conservation Trail in Sardinia

Footpath is part of almost 6000 miles of linked trails across seven States and into Canada

There are some pretty well kept secrets places in Sardinia.  The Erie County Conservation Club on Miller Road that we wrote about in our July 2007 Issue is one of them. The Erie County Forest tracts now burdened with the consequences of county budget cutbacks are another. Programming and activities not related directly to extractive logging has made these forests, -enormously important public recreational resources, all but invisible.

Many Sardinians and our neighbors from surrounding towns may not be aware that we have some of the most important natural areas of the whole region right here in our town.  Let’s start with the Cattaraugus Creek and its watershed which forms the southern boundary of Erie County and the Town of Sardinia. Did you know that the Cattaraugus Creek Watershed is the largest intact watershed in the Eastern Great Lakes?  This means that this watershed is one of the most valuable natural resources in New York. Perhaps even in the entire Great Lakes. The watershed provides clean water and important biodiverse habitat that protects both wildlife and humans. It is a great resource for Sardinia.  We also have some of the shining natural jewels of Erie County here. Several tracts of spectacular Erie County Forest lie within Sardinia and in adjacent communities.

One “best kept secret” of Sardinia is The Conservation Trail. You can enjoy the great outdoors in all seasons, breathe in the fresh air, watch birds, study wildlife and plants, or just exercise and or relax all compliments of the Conservation Trail.  This 177 mile footpath is a branch trail of the well known Finger Lakes Trail. The Conservation Trail connects south west of Sardinia to the main Finger Lakes Trail (FLT) near Ellicottville.

The main FLT runs approximately 562 miles and is the longest continuous foot trail in New York State.  The whole connected FLT system has five branch trails (including the Letchworth Trail) and 15 loop trails and covers approximately 880 miles in New York.  The western end of the FLT is at the Pennsylvania Border in Allegany State Park. Here the FLT connects to the North Country Trail (NCT) which spans seven states from New York to North Dakota. Several sections of the main FLT have been certified by the National Park Service as official components of the North Country National Scenic Trail.

The eastern end connects to the Long Path in the Catskill Forest Preserve. Along the way the path goes through the Finger Lakes, Hornell, Bath, and Watkins Glenn.

The other end of the Conservation Trail, traveling north from Sardinia, connects to the world famous Bruce Trail in Canada. The Bruce Trail is Canada’s oldest and longest footpath and is the only public access point to the Niagara Escarpment which is a UNESCO World Biosphere Preserve.

Where to Find the Trail in Sardinia

You can enter the Conservation Trail from several access points in Sardinia. From these access points you can take a short family hike through some of the most exquisite natural areas of Sardinia and the still beautiful terrain of the Erie County Forest tracts located in Sardinia. And should you be ambitious enough, you can walk from Sardinia to Letchworth State Park, or Niagara Falls, or North Dakota, or Vermont.  You can even walk to Georgian Bay in Canada. In addition, you may encounter guests that are walking through our community on their way too and from distant destinations.

The Conservation Trail traverses Sardinia from the Cattaraugus County line at Cattaraugus Creek to Holland near the end of South Protection Road.

Sardinia has about 8 miles of trail, which like the FLT passes through both public and private lands.

The Trail enters Sardinia on Rt 39 near Van Slyke Rd. where it crosses Cattaraugus Creek bridge.  It goes north along Van Slyke Rd, and then into a forested area along an old rail line.  It eventually crosses Middle Road near Hyler Creek.

On the North Side of Middle Rd the trail enters Lot 2 of the Erie County Forest.  Lot 2 is a whopping 852 acres that lies between Middle Rd and Genesee Rd.   It is the largest block of forestry in the county.  A full 810 of the lot’s acreage is covered by hardwood and conifer trees (mostly red and white pine) that make for terrific scenery.

“Old Starbuck Trail” is the name given to the hiking path that is part of the Conservation Trail. This portion runs a few miles through Lot Two in two loops, one on either side of the gravel creek bed that cuts through the property.  There’s a kiosk near the Genesee Road entrance that contains a painted map of the trail.  It’s a fairly easy-going hike and is quite suitable for all members of the family, young and old.

The Conservation Trail crosses Genesee Road and enters Lot 1 of the Erie County Forest as the Silent Wood Trail. It continues north through and beyond this portion of the forest and eventually crosses Allen Rd, Matteson Corners Rd., Warner Gulf Rd, and then crosses into Holland near Savage Rd and Rt. 16 just north of South Protection Rd. 

The trail continues on through Holland where there is a section dedicated to Mabel James. The Conservation Trail then continues through South Wales, and eventually on to Niagara Falls at the Rainbow Bridge where it connects with the Bruce Trail.

March 2009 Sardinia Standard Editorials

March 2009 Sardinia Standard

Masthead:

The Sardinia Standard is proud to stand by its commitment to Respecting the Truth, Reporting the Facts.  If any reader finds that the Standard has reported inaccurate facts, we would be pleased to print a correction or a retraction.  The Standard is pleased to consider your letters to the editor, opinion editorials, calendar announcements, articles, advertisements, and announcements including weddings, obituaries, memorials, graduations, and retirements.  Please send your information to Jay Burney, Managing Editor, Sardinia Standard, PO BOX 79, Sardinia NY.

Editorial A

Chaffee Sardinia Volunteer Fire Company Awards Program Passes Town Wide Referendum 369-357.

The Standard offers its hearty congratulations to the members of the Chaffee Sardinia Volunteer Fire Company and to all residents and businesses of the Sardinia area that are served by that mutual aide company. The town wide referendum held in Sardinia on February 24 in which Sardinia voters were asked to authorize the establishment of a Fireman’s Award Package. That award program is essentially a retirement benefit package and is designed to help recruit new membership and maintain the roster of current members. Volunteer organizations and especially volunteer fire departments around America have been struggling in recent years as economic pressures and have shifted the capacity of individuals to invest time and effort into voluntary activities. As the cost of living increases, volunteer time becomes more precious.  A volunteer fireman can be called on to commit hundreds of hours each year in emergency response, training, and organizational activities.  The Fireman Award Package, which is based both on years of service and includes requirements that individual members meet certain monthly service goals, is an important step toward insuring that the Town of Sardinia will benefit from the essential services that the CSVFC provides.  We are all winners with this “yes” vote!

Editorial

The Sardinia Republican Committee (SRC) Lets Loose an All Out Assault Against the Chaffee Sardinia Volunteer Fire Company.

Voters Reject SRC Campaign of Lies and Deceit

We aren’t sure when or why Sardinia Republican Committee Chair Mike Hannon, his wife, Town Councilman Mary Hannon, and others associated with the SRC decided to make the town wide referendum on the Fireman’s Benefits Package a partisan Sardinia Republican Committee issue, but we do know that not all Republicans in the Town of Sardinia are pleased. We also know, judging by the high vote count, voters turned out.  We also know that the SRC let loose with both barrels of their reeling cannon.  They unleashed an ugly personality driven smearfest that has characterized many recent local elections under SRC Chair Mike Hannon's reign. And oh yes, the voters saw through it this time, and Hannon and the SRC, lost.

The way we see it, this assault on our volunteer fire department tried to make losers out of all of us.  Let’s be honest. Fair minded people have to be questioning Hannon and the SRC’s strategies, thinking, and tactics.  This terrible campaign included elements that are all too familiar to observers of recent local elections. These include vicious personal attacks, the spreading of malicious rumors, the presentations of lies as facts, and an attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of long time Sardinia Republicans, residents, and taxpayers.  The campaign also featured the familiar electioneering and the gathering of “absentee ballots” by an employee of a well known large corporation that has in recent years been a substantial financial supporter of the SRC.  The last minute circulation of the anonymous and nasty “Taxpayer’s Newsletter” did more harm than good. Republicans, which for generations have formed the core of voters and voter values in this area, should be outraged that they were so cynically mislead and abused by the Hannon lead SRC.

The SRC campaign against the firemen began shortly after the November election when newly elected Republican Sardinia Councilman David Montgomery announced that the Volunteer Fireman’s Award Program was a “Cadillac program.” He said that taxpayers could not afford it and that had not been adequately thought about by the Town Board or anyone else.  This was a surprise to the many that had actually been working on defining the program for a long while. When he was told that it had been researched for eight years he arrogantly ignored the substantial material that was available to him. When he and the rest of us were shown by facts and figures showing that this was hardly a “Cadillac” program, and more of a low to middle end program, he blustered and fumed.  Frankly, it was difficult to understand his criticism. Hannon and Montgomery’s economic arguments were unpersuasive and lacked any authorative references. Their constant objections seemed more rooted in politics than common sense or community good. Then they came up with the false accusation that several current firemen, including current Town Board member Norm Uhteg, would be eligible for a $10,000 “lump sum” payment within a year of the plans adoption.  This was immediately shown to be false by Chaffee Sardinia Fire Department President Danny Heinemann and by the Tompkins Insurance Agency that proposed to administer the program.  “There just are no lump sum buy-outs, period”, Heinemann told Montgomery and anyone else that cared to listen. The truth didn’t stop Montgomery and others that pursued the SRC’s political buffoonery.

Last month we described how the Town of Sardinia’s “official” newspapers, the Arcade Herald and the Springville Journal, joined in the smear campaign by publishing letters that repeated the lies about the lump sum payments and fostered fear that Sardinia firemen would not respond to calls from voters that had voted against the firemen. These ridiculous rumor mongering and untruthful letters, signed by Clint Salmon and Robert Church, apparently passed the smell test of the editors of those papers.  Next, the lies about the lump sum payments were repeated in an editorial by Judy Kessler Rix. By the time the referendum rolled around, there had been no retractions or corrections in these papers, and the voters of Sardinia that read those “official papers” were left with false ideas about Fireman’s Award Program.

There is much more

-During February the SRC and others purporting to represent Sardinia Republican interests continued to act against the Firemen.  Schroder Joseph Associates, a law firm that Mike Hannon has publically described as his “personal attorneys”, and whom he hired to represent the ZBA in legal actions against the Town Board when he was still chair of the ZBA, (at $220 per hour) apparently is now engaged to represent the SRC in actions against the Town and the Firemen. They have been getting a lot of work.  This time they sent a letter as attorneys for the SRC to the Town Board demanding that the referendum be canceled. And we thought that Mike Hannon wanted to stop “all the lawsuits”.

-Carole Morrell, public relations consultant affiliated with Waste Management, a long time major financial supporter of the SRC, collected and delivered a number of absentee ballots, some of which she acted as agent for. She is well known for this kind of election activity and absentee ballots have often made a critical difference in close Sardinia elections.

-Both the Arcade and Springville Pennysavers ran paid advertisements the weekend before the election admonishing voters to vote against the Sardinia Volunteer Fire Department. The ads were menacing, misleading, and claimed ominously to have been paid for by the “Concerned Taxpayers of Sardinia.” It didn’t take a whole lot of research to discover that they were in fact paid for by “Hannon Excavating and Lands”. This is a gravel business owned by Mike and Mary Hannon.

-The coup-de-grace came just two days before the election when every registered voter in Sardinia received in their mailbox, the newest version of the anonymous “Sardinia Taxpayers Newsletter.”  This one, part of a series that began early last year allegedly from concerned Sardinia taxpayers, is aimed at smearing the Fireman. It contains personal attacks, promotes divisiveness, and presents outright lies that the previous “editions” have been known for. The language of this letter is familiar and repeats misinformation that we have heard from the Hannons, Montgomery, Salmon, Church and the few others that have engaged in this deceitful campaign.  Among other things, this letter lists the names of everyone on the fire department roster, and repeats the pay-out lie by pretending to show what each member will receive in “lump sum payments.” 

This whole campaign by Hannon and the SRC is political pornography. They must think that the voters of Sardinia are really dumb.  The lies and disinformation that they distribute makes losers of everyone in Sardinia, especially those that are registered Republicans. Especially those that want a better future, or any future for their party and their values in Sardinia. The current leadership of the SRC have chosen a path of shady deception that has visited everyone’s homes.  That cannot sit well with honest people.

Editorial

SRC Bankrupt?

Many of us are Republicans. Many lifelong. And so it was disturbing to read the January Board of Elections disclosure forms filed by the Sardinia Republican Committee that indicates that the Committee has a deficit of almost $1,000.  The same disclosure form indicated a debt to Schroder Joseph Associates of $648.91 for unspecified activity that took place prior to the January disclosure deadline. Since that time we know that this law firm has continued to represent the SRC, as it has tried to bring legal action against the Town preventing the February 24 fireman’s referendum.  We are glad to see that the SRC engaged in a fundraising activity at Sprague Brook Casino on February 22, and we hope that the good Republicans of Sardinia are committed to rebuilding the Republican Party’s coffers here.  We are not sure if honest people can remain committed to funding Mike and Mary Hannon’s and the Montgomery’s many endeavors such as deceitful campaigns and especially the lawsuits that this group advocates.  Donors to the SRC should be beginning to ask pointed questions, especially now that the SRC is in debt. Sardinia Republicans need to make sure that the SRC remains a vital force in our town, and not a financially and morally bankrupt group of self interested “deciders”.

editorial

Compromise with Gernatt? Mary Hannon Lets a Confession Slip Out?

At the February 2009 regular Sardinia Town Board meeting, held on February 11, during a discussion which resulted in a resolution by the Town Board to remove Mike Hannon from the ZBA, newly elected Councilman Mary Hannon, Mikes wife, stated to the Town Board “You don’t know what you are doing, you don’t know what you are opening up here.”  She then went on to say “The ZBA “compromised” with Gernatt Gravel “to prevent problems”. “This vote (to remove Mike from the ZBA) is going to cause a lot of trouble.”

What exactly was this “compromise” and what business does a ZBA have compromising the community’s future? Why the threatening language by Mary Hannon? In addition, it raised more than a few eyebrows when during this discussion, Councilmember Hannon invoked the name of former Town Board member Carla Fuller. Hannon said that Fuller told her that the 2004 Town Board action creating the illegal term of office for Mike Hannon was “deliberately done”.  Mary Hannon said that someone should talk to Carla Fuller because she is “someone that knows”. This needs a little more clarification.

Mike Hannon’s tenure as ZBA Chair was controversial and many residents complained that their voices were not heard during the process of granting Gernatt Asphalt a variance to mine the Gabel Thomas site.  Subsequently, his leadership caused the Town to have to pay for both sides of a lawsuit. The Town Board chose to bring legal action against the ZBA because of the board’s narrow decision to grant the variance, which legally could have gone either way. Because of the way the decision by the ZBA was constructed, Gernatt was left out of paying for the lawyers. The fact that Mike Hannon was removed from office by the Town Board to correct a legal violation of the term of office should not be part of the problem, as Mary Hannon wants us to believe, but instead it should be a part of the day lighting of the solution. We hope that Mary Hannon will be able to better explain what she has described as a “compromise” with Gernatt. 

Editorial

New Truck for the Highway Department? How about an Audit?

We were as shocked as anyone when newly elected Councilmembers Mary Hannon and Dave Montgomery, and Town Highway Supervisor Walt Baker announced at the February Town Board meeting that Baker needed a new $190,000 plow and truck. It was even more disturbing that the trio insisted that the Board had to vote on the expenditure immediately, that night!  When Supervisor Balus and Councilmembers Uhteg and Phelps indicated that this was the first that they had heard of this problem, Balus asked Baker why he had not anticipated the expenditure during the recently concluded yearly budget process. Baker announced that he had not been a part of the Department’s budget process, and that “someone else had handled it”.  Baker, Sardinia’s highest paid regular employee at $45,066 annually, plus benefits, who has had well known personal health problems, runs a department with a nearly half million dollar budget.  It would seem that there may be some serious problems with the highway department if one of Sardinia’s relatively new trucks (purchased in 2006 after an emergency appropriation of $130,000 by then Supervisor Bill Hare) has become so unusable as to need total replacement.  Baker, who said that the department “really beats up the trucks”, is still being paid to keep on top of things, right?  We sympathize with his personal health problems, but someone has to still have to be accountable to taxpayers.  Perhaps it is time to consider an audit of the Highway Department. This is not intended as any kind of reflection on Walt Baker, who by all accounts has been an outstanding Highway Superintendent and has very ably served the Town of Sardinia during his years of service. However, in this new era of accountability which has included on going State audits of the Supervisors accounts and an about to be released audit of the Towns financial relationship with Waste Management it would seem prudent and fiscally wise to have a look at the highway department.  Given this year’s election cycle which will include Sardinia Highway Supervisor, this would be the perfect time to engage in a real audit of Sardinia’s most expensive government operation.