Gender: Male
City: Anchorage
State: Alaska
Country: US
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11/06/05
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Monday, February 11, 2008
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Say Goodbye to Nanook - Letter to the Editor & Followup
Category: News and Politics
The following is the letter to the editor that was published on February 7 in the Juneau Empire. An abridged version was published on the same day in the Anchorage Daily News.
There were many comments to my letter, most of which were opposed to listing polar bears as threatened, and/or refusing to accept scientific evidence of global climate change. So, I wrote a response that immediately follows the first letter.
All the best.
Bill
www.WatkinsNaturePhotography.com
Say Goodbye to Nanook
The Palin administration (BOG) has used the excuse of not waiting for a scientifically proven, ecological emergency in justifying its wide ranging aerial wolf and grizzly/black bear killing plans. Yet, a future ecological emergency can be projected for polar bears that leading polar bear biologists and climatologists concur on due to global warming. It appears the state by disputing these expert's findings, wants an ecological emergency before it is willing to do something about it.
The Bush administration has created the template for manipulating, altering, deleting, and/or obscuring scientific findings that the Palin administration is merely following. The continuation of scientific manipulation by political and industry representatives does serious damage to the public, to the environment, and most certainly to the wildlife and people that are dependent upon it.
While the Palin administration continues its fight against a threatened species listing for polar bears with it dubious denials of peer reviewed science, the ice is still melting for the bears and the arctic ecosystem that they, seals, walrus, and other animals and natives are dependent upon.
We are the only species that can project impacts caused by our actions, yet the Palin administration wishes us to ignore these projections due to political, economic, and industry pressures. If they succeed, we and our children can say goodbye to Nanook and the arctic ecosystem that Nanook is dependent upon.
The costs of ignoring these projections along with their impacts when we were warned by warming temperatures, melting permafrost, melting glaciers and sea ice, more intense fire seasons, habitat degradation and changes in wildlife distribution and habits which is occurring in the present, is lunacy at best.
Being a proper steward of the environment is paying attention to these warnings signs and developing a progressive policy to avoid the nightmare of environmental/economic/esthetic and spiritual consequences that will occur if the arctic sea ice disappears. Such a radical ecosystem change would not be restricted to the arctic and the polar bear's habitat, but all of Alaska would suffer a significant change in its climate that would have a rippling of impacts throughout the state, some of which could be predicted, others could not.
Those politicians and industry representatives, who subvert peer reviewed science in the name of short term profits, rob the rest of us and our children of our Alaskan heritage and of the Alaska that we love.
Followup Response to the above letter
The responses to my letter to the editor are interesting to say the least. The goal of any writer is stir the pot, challenge beliefs, and hopefully have people research and think for themselves.
In the case of declining sea ice and other symptoms of climate change that impact polar bears, other sea mammals and natives, there are many who reject scientific evidence because it warns them of things that they do not wish to hear. Corrections may involve changing human behavior that they do not wish to change.
In other words, if the polar bear is analogous to the canary in the coal mine and its song is warning us of detrimental climatic changes not only to wildlife but to people as well, then there are those who would rather snuff the life out from the bear, than listen to the warning signs and change behavior. They won't say this, but their actions speak far louder and truer than any words to the contrary.
No scientific evidence has been found to show that polar bears can adapt without sea ice to hunt from. If there were, it would have been evident from the bears of Churchill, Manitoba (the most southerly population of polar bears) whose average weights are declining, where mortality is increasing among both adults and cubs, where there is less cub production, and where the bears are having to wait and fast for longer periods time before ice develops to support them.
If the state of Alaska Fish and Game Department can demonstrate such peer reviewed studies and evidence to the contrary, I would be very interested in reviewing it. In fact, if there is such evidence then Fish and Game should provide it to the Alaska's major newspapers and news outlets for publication.
Furthermore, demonizing the messengers of global warming whether it's Al Gore or others, doesn't mean the overwhelming evidence isn't true. Over two thousand scientists participating in peer reviewed studies for the United Nations have come to consensus on the validity of climate change. The causes are primarily due to the development of the industrial revolution, begun in the 18th century that is continuing today.
Climate change is not a partisan issue, even though it has been portrayed as such, it will impact both republicans and democrats equally. This is why it is in everyone's interest to address this issue.
Last year, the National Park Service in Denali National Park gave a briefing that included photographs of melting/collapsing permafrost in the northern portion of the park. If this melting of permafrost continues and increases in more industrialized locations of the state how will it impact current infrastructure as well as planned infrastructure (proposed gas line)? Well if your interested, check this link out: US National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change Educational Resources Regional Paper: Alaska
http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/nacc/education/alaska/ak-edu-3.htm
http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/nacc/education/alaska/ak-edu-4.htm
http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/nacc/education/alaska/ak-edu-5.htm
http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/nacc/education/alaska/ak-edu-6.htm
http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/nacc/education/alaska/ak-edu-conclusion.htmhttp://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/nacc/education/alaska/ak-edu-conclusion.htm
What it means is that it isn't good for Alaska's future economy, its wildlife and wilderness, its subsistence lifestyle, culture, etc.
I encourage everyone to do their own searches on the internet from valid news sources (not talk radio) and peer reviewed studies and come to their own conclusions.
If interested, one can check out the following links to various articles: Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35233-2004Nov8.html;
Union of Concerned Scientists - http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science/arctic-climate-impact-assessment.html;
New York Times - http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/02/science/earth/02cnd-climate.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp
Newsweek: The Global Warming Deniers - http://www.newsweek.com/id/32482
The National Wildlife Federation - http://www.nationalwildlife.org/nationalwildlife/article.cfm?issueID=65&articleID=999
Oxford Journals – Polar Bears in a Warming Climate - http://icb.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/44/2/163
Anchorage Daily News: Walruses need Federal Protection Group Says - http://www.adn.com/237/story/308363.htmlhttp://www.adn.com/237/story/308363.html
Anchorage Daily News: Lacking Studies, State Still Disputes Polar Bears Doom - http://www.adn.com/polarbears/story/295420.htmlhttp://www.adn.com/polarbears/story/295420.html
6:21 PM
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Thursday, February 07, 2008
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Letters to the Editor Published
Category: News and Politics
Hi Everyone,
I just wanted to let you know that the letter the editor in regards to polar bears that I wrote was published in today's Juneau Empire and the Anchorage Daily News.
The Empire's letter is more complete as they allow for a longer letter.
The links are: Subverting Science & Robbing Alaska http://juneauempire.com/stories/020708/let_244737663.shtml and
Governmental fiddling sacrifices Arctic to politics, development http://www.adn.com/opinion/letters/story/307548.html.
Those are not the titles I would have chosen, my title of choice was: Say Goodbye to Nanook.
The following is a link to a recent article in the Anchorage Daily News on the state of Alaska's fight against a threatened species listing for polar bears http://www.adn.com/polarbears/story/295420.html.
Hope you all are having a great winter and if in the lower 48, are enjoying the sunshine.
All the best.
Bill
www.WatkinsNaturePhotography.com
7:45 AM
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Monday, February 04, 2008
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The Greatest Super Bowl Victory....Ever!!!
Category: Sports
First off, I am not a New York Giants fan; I'm a Jacksonville Jaguars fan. Before the Jags, I grew up being a Cowboy fan but became disillusioned with Dallas after Jerry Jones fired Jimmy Johnson a two time Super Bowl winning coach, shortly after he had won Super Bowl 28.
I continued to cheer for Jimmy's Cowboy's up to their last Super Bowl win in SB 30, which they won in spite of having Barry Switzer as a coach. They had a great team in that era, as well as the earlier eras, as I grew up with Bob (The Bullet) Hayes, Craig Morton, Bob Lilly, Too Tall Jones, Randy White, Harvey Martin, Roger (The Dodger) Staubach, Preston Pearson, Tony Dorsett, Calvin Hill, Drew Pearson, Tom Laundry, and the rest. I loved those teams.
And of course during this history, the New York Giants were an intense rival of Dallas. So, no I can't say I have ever been a Giant fan. But this year something happened.
In the last regular season game between the Giants and Patriots, I found myself cheering the Giants on to beat the Patriots. And I was disappointed when they didn't. Before the Giants, I had been cheering on for anyone to beat the Patriots with the exception of Jerry Jones's Cowboys.
Needless to say, I was overjoyed when New York knocked ..:NAMESPACE PREFIX = ST1 />..:NAMESPACE PREFIX = ST1 />Dallas out of the playoffs in Dallas. It must have been sweet to see the expression on Jerry Jones's face. I can only imagine.
When they played Green Bay in the NFC title game, I was actually rooting for Brett Farve and Green Bay, just because I thought it would be great to see Brett get another chance at scoring another ring near the twilight of his career. But the Giants played well, outplayed the Pack and deserved the win.
After New England beat San Diego, the odds makers had the Patriots initially at a 14 point spread. Many in the media continued the greatest team ever drum beat for New England. Many discussed how the Giants could never beat the Patriots, how the Patriots were too loaded offensively, how Brady was such a great quarterback, blah, blah, blah.
Once the press starts to coronate a team as the greatest ever (Indianapolis is an another example in previous years), or assume that they cannot be beat, or that they are certain to have an undefeated season, it is like the kiss of death for my support of that team.
This is just a natural reaction I have to the press falling over themselves to coronate a team before it has played on the field to determine the winner. I like some mystery in my life and I really hate having the press predetermine the champion of the Super Bowl before the game is even played.
Prior to this year, I liked the Patriots, as I had supported them in their previous Super Bowls, but I questioned this team; this team that the press loved soooooo much.
This team that the press said was the greatest ever; with the greatest quarterback…..ever. This team that was going to be 19-0 and that the Giants were just to be used as canon fodder to reach 19-0.
The entire country owes the Giants a huge debt of gratitude from saving us from the never ending media platitudes as to how great the all mighty Patriots are, or I guess I should say, were supposed to be. They saved us from the endless comparisons to previous Super Bowl winners which is just speculation as the Giants proved (once again) that any team can beat another on any given day.
The Giants succeeded where no other football team did in 2007, by beating the Patriots on the greatest stage in football. Where for many of the Giants it was their first Super Bowl, they persevered under pressure as the Patriots took the lead with a little over two minutes left in the game. They kept their poise; they made huge plays especially the incredible catch by David Tyree, and they scored the final and winning touchdown by Plaxico Burress.
No other Super Bowl winner has ever beaten an undefeated team in the previous 41 Super Bowls. And they did it with an outstanding defensive effort and a final drive within the last minute of play. Amazing.
The media constantly forgets – that defense wins championships. Offense gets the glamour, but defense is what rocks. Make no mistake, the Giant defense is what gave Eli Manning and the offense the opportunity to win the game.
Usually, the Super Bowl loser is lost to memory and can only be found in history. But New England has also found football immortality and will always be remembered: by being the only 18-0, veteran team in Super Bowl history to choke and lose in the final 2:30 in the football game. For this, they will always be remembered and New York fans should take great joy in this.
Perhaps that is being too harsh on New England, certainly the positive media attention (and almost coronation) lavished on this team engenders downright hostility for many fans. New York's win was not only a win for the team, city, and state of New York, but it was also a win for those who despise media coronations of football teams or any other sporting or even political events. This was a win for the fans of football against the media who predicted and wanted a Patriot's win.
18-1 is a great record, but it doesn't mean jack, when you lose the Super Bowl.
Lastly, I would like to congratulate the New York Giants for playing an incredibly exciting game and by renewing the faith in underdogs; that they can win against any given team.
All the best.
Bill Watkins
Watkins Nature Photography
3:33 PM
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Monday, January 28, 2008
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Earl graces Myspace and the WNP website
Category: Art and Photography
On the cover of my myspace page and my website is Earl, a 25 year old McNeil River male grizzly (as of 2002) who I feel, best represents what an old grizzly should look like. No pretty male bears here.
Since Earl could never grace the covers of a major publication due to media bias against old, scarred, arthritic, and torn up bears, I decided to honor him and all the other old grizzlies out there with an essay and with being on the front page of my website.
If interested you can check out Earl at: www.WatkinsNaturePhotography.com
All the best.
Bill
5:03 PM
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Thursday, February 08, 2007
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Update on Denali's Wolves
Category: News and Politics
I just finished discussing Denali's wolves at Café' du Mundo with Dr. Gordon Haber, an independent scientist who studies wolves in Denali and elsewhere in ..:NAMESPACE PREFIX = ST1 />Alaska.
East Fork/Toklat Wolves
According to Gordon, the East Fork/Toklat wolves are still subsisting on the declining snowshoe hare population. And because of the young age in which they wolves were orphaned (spring of 2005 –
The Targeting & Trapping of Denali's Wolves) they have never learned to hunt moose and especially sheep which are prevalent in the area. This is a significant shift in their historical behavior when both moose and primarily sheep were preyed upon.
Additionally, Gordon showed two maps of where radio collared wolves were found. The map before these wolves were orphaned showed extensive usage of their territory from the Sanctuary River to the beyond Stony Hill and from beyond the northern park boundary to the Alaska Range.
The current map beginning after the six young wolves were orphaned (spring 2005) to today, shows a tremendous reduction in territorial usage, the wolves are primarily concentrating their use in the Sanctuary and Teklanika River drainages, south of the park road. This would explain why we are seldom observing these wolves.
According to Gordon, these wolves never learned the full extent of their territory, and are not even traveling up to the higher ridge tops to hunt sheep. At some point, things are going to dramatically change for these wolves when the hare population crashes to the point where it can't support them. And there is no predicting what will happen then.
Grant Creek/Toklat West Wolves
The big news for these wolves is that the alpha female and a pup were killed by the East Fork wolves after they were caught deep in East Fork's territory last October. It is unknown whether there is a female of breeding age (at least 2 years old) in the family group and if there is, whether she and the alpha male will breed and produce pups.
So, whether we will have a chance to view and photograph this family group at its den site south of the park road west of the Toklat River and it coming and goings is completely up in the air.
Trapping
Also, according to Gordon, Coke Wallace of Denali Saddle Safaris has his traps and snares set up again just north of the park boundary and is taking wolves at an unprecedented rate from previous years. He is primarily, taking other wolves some which have traveled over 100 miles from the western portion of the park to hunt the caribou in the Stampede area. But, if the eastern wolf family groups (those most likely to be viewed) East Fork, Mt. Margaret, or Grant Creek travel north outside the park, they to, would be exposed to his snares and traps.
Additionally, because of the poor snow conditions, Gordon claims that Coke cannot check his traps in a timely manner, leaving any wolves trapped or snared to suffer an agonizing death.
Lastly, Gordon also brought up the issue of why Princess Hotel, McKinley Park Chalets, and other businesses refer their guests to Denali Saddle Safaris (Coke's business), when Coke is targeting park wolves and consequently, attempting to deny park visitors a chance to view them. The only way to force Coke not to target Denali's wolves is to economically choke off his summer business.
I would encourage all Denali businesses to uphold the ideals of Denali National Park and the protection of its wildlife, even species that temporarily, foray outside the park. Furthermore, I would advocate that they do and refer business to other companies who likewise uphold and respect these principles.
Those businesses whose actions are opposed to these ideals, yet wish to profit from them parasitically, should ideally, be denied any referrals.
If anyone has any questions, feel free to contact me, although I will be traveling from February 15th to March 10th.
All the best.
Bill
Watkins Nature Photography
10:53 AM
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Friday, February 02, 2007
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New essay and images posted on the WNP website
Category: Art and Photography
Hi Everyone,
I have finally finished and posted a new essay and images on elephant seals and human interactions with them at Piedras Blancas, CA.
If you are interested, you can check it out at: http://www.nancyscans.net/billwatkins/Templates/Free1.asp
Furthermore, I have posted additional images from Montana de Oro State Park, Piedras Blancas, and Malibu in California.
You can check these out in the Denali Zone at: http://www.nancyscans.net/billwatkins/Templates/HTML1.asp
All the best.
Bill
www.WatkinsNaturePhotography.com
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Monday, December 18, 2006
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Dr. Tom Meiers Response to Denali Roadside Study Comments
Category: News and Politics
Bill,
Unfortunately, when we learned that the traffic modelers wanted to add the
data loggers to the study,so they could better understand traffic flow, we
also learned that drivers are assigned to different buses every day. We
looked into the idea of having portable data entry screens that could stay
with a driver, but learned that that wasn't practical, and the only way to
do it was to install the devices in 20 buses and have them be used (or not
used) by a steady rotation of different drivers. Joint Venture indicated
that they were interested in the data from the screens, particularly an
understanding of dropoff and pickup of hikers from VTS buses. I would hope
that drivers would be interested in the road study getting accurate
information about their jobs, but understand that some drivers will never
be placated or convinced that some evil scheme isn't afoot. We should
probably make it clear that drivers have the option of turning the thing
off if they want to. It will cut into our sample size, but is better than
getting poor or bogus data. I hope that when we meet with drivers in the
spring we can convince most of them to give the panels a try. You suggest
that we should not trust the drivers to have an influence on the road study
because they might provide biased data. I don't think we have any choice,
so we'll just have to try to convince some of them.
We are using the wildlife sighting information that has been collected for
many years, to make the basic model of the park road that will be used by
the traffic modelers. That data will determine the probability that
traffic will stop at any particular spot on the road, in the model. In
order to use that data, it's true that we'll have to work with the data,
and Laura has been doing that (she's on furlough for a month right now).
She's been dealing with the problem of mapping the odometer readings in the
database to actual road miles. Given the brushfire nature of government
work, we're not always able to analyze all of the data that we take in as
promptly as we'd like. There's always some other crisis that distracts us.
But by continuing to collect long-term data sets like the wildlife sighting
data, we at least provide continuity and the chance for someone to learn
from it in the future.
Tom Meier
Wildlife Biologist
Denali National Park and Preserve
P. O. Box 9
Denali Park, AK 99755
(907) 683-9572
3:00 PM
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Friday, December 15, 2006
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Update from NPS roadside study from this past summer
Category: News and Politics
Last summer, NPS had installed on some of the VTS and Tour buses in Denali National Park Alaska, computers where drivers would punch in the reason why they had stopped their buses. These reasons could be for wildlife, and if so, what kind, photo stops, picking up passengers, etc. Presumably, this will be expanded next summer in 2007.
By doing so, NPS introduced the potential for widespread human error into their roadside study. Not to mention, that if you would like cooperation within a study (especially from those who are highly sceptical and some who are opposed), you would generally ask for it. No such volunteer request occurred from NPS to the drivers of Denali to be actively involved. In fact, I think it came as a surprise to many drivers that their cooperation would be required and/or expected.
This is a significant flaw within the study, and to be honest, with the amount of sceptism and opposition that this study has generated among many drivers, no such requirement should be mandated. NPS should only ask for volunteer cooperation, assuming they want non-biased information.
Prior to this study, drivers on a volunteer basis would give information on wildlife sightings and distances from the road where those sighting occurred. In fact, they had been doing so for years. The drivers found out afterwards and prior to this study, that NPS didn't compile and make any use of this information until this study was orchestrated.
That strikes at NPS credibility. If you are going to ask for someone's help, you had better use it and not let the effort stagnate for years or worse, go wasted.
For myself, I was sceptical of this study in the beginning but was willing to give it a chance as long as it was independent of outside influences. Well, drivers are an outside influence and I can see the results of their information ranging from accurate to inaccurate, to non-cooperation.
And that kind of information lacks consistency and in my view is worthless.
All the best.
Bill
http://www.WatkinsNaturePhotography.com
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Monday, December 11, 2006
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New Article & Older Denali Images Reposted
Category: Art and Photography
Greetings Everyone,
After I long layoff from writing, I finally felt "In the Mood" to write something again. So, with this in mind and with many photographers consumed with equipment: camera fetishes and lens obsessions, I decided to write an essay called: A Camera Question That Misses the Point. You can find it at: http://www.nancyscans.net/billwatkins/Templates/Free1.asp.
I have also reposted some other images that were taken in previous years with brief explanatory text. These images are in the Denali Zone at: http://www.nancyscans.net/billwatkins/Templates/HTML1.asp.
If you have the time, feel free to drop by and check it out, other wise I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.
Merry Christmas
Bill http://www.WatkinsNaturePhotography.com
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Thursday, August 24, 2006
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The Struggle for Survival - Essay
Category: Art and Photography
Hi Everyone,
I have re-posted on older essay on my website describing the most intense interaction between wolves and grizzly bears that I have witnessed and photographed.
If interested, you can view Part one of this essay at: http://www.nancyscans.net/billwatkins/Templates/Free1.asp and Part two at: http://www.nancyscans.net/billwatkins/Templates/HTML1.asp.
All the best.
Bill http://www.WatkinsNaturePhotography.com
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