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Saddam Hussein Polluted Habitat Of Thousands Of Marsh Arabs They were bigger than the everglades, older than the Bible -- until Saddam Hussein set out to decimate the cradle of civilization. Now wetland experts in Wisconsin are helping restore historic wetlands in Iraq, reports News 3's Joel DeSpain. Joy Zedler, who holds the Aldo Leopold chair in Restoration Ecology at the UW, and Dr. Rich Beilfuss, a hydrologist with Baraboo's International Crane Foundation, head the uncommon international restoration mission. "It's an amazing area," Beilfuss said. "The Mesopotamian wetlands are probably something we all know a little bit about from childhood....

The eight salamanders found on the site of the new Ann Arbor high school are not endangered Smallmouth Salamanders [Ambystoma texanum] as originally thought. Instead, they are hybrids, part Blue-spotted Salamander [Ambystoma laterale] and part Jefferson Salamander [Ambystoma jeffersonianum], said James Ball, a York Township research scientist in herpetology who did some of the testing on the amphibians. Neither the Blue-spotted nor the Jefferson Salamander are on the threatened and endangered species list in Michigan, and hybrid salamanders do not qualify as threatened or endangered in the state, either. District officials, who learned of the salamanders' lineage on June 8,...

We need more protection for the California Tiger Salamander and its habitat, the vernal wetlands of Sonoma County. It is a hard, scientific fact that a great deal of the planet's life depends directly on the existence of wetlands ( visit http://ceres.ca.gov/wetlands/ ). California has lost 95% of its vernal wetlands, and Sonoma County has lost 85% of its vernal wetlands habitats. Vernal wetlands function, among other things, as flood control, they filter and recharge our groundwater, and in Sonoma County, they feed the Petaluma and Russian Rivers and the Pacific Ocean, and they form the headwaters of the Laguna...

Magazine Admits Writer Paid By U.S. Agency By Anthony Thornton The Oklahoman The Outdoor Oklahoma article read like an advertisement for a federal wetlands program, and with good reason: It was. In the September/October edition of the state-owned publication, former Oklahoman Dave Smith heaped accolades on the government's Wetlands Preserve Program, administered by the National Resources Conservation Service. Turns out, the eight-page article was among five Smith was hired to write by the conservation service, a division of the U.S. Agriculture Department. This week the Agriculture Department, in response to Freedom of Information requests, made public a September 2003 contract...

I was recently invited to speak to C-Fact, a conservative environmentalist group at the University of Minnesota. To some this might sound about as weird as saying I was invited to speak to a group of Socialist Yachtsmen in Monaco. Of course, there are plenty of yachtsmen who are more or less socialists (whether they meet in Monaco, I have no idea - but I will gladly go speak to them there). And, there are conservatives who love the environment - more of them than you might realize. More importantly, young conservatives are willing to fight for the environmentalist label,...

SANTA BARBARA — Plans to build luxury homes on a mesa overlooking the Bolsa Chica wetlands in Huntington Beach won approval Thursday from the California Coastal Commission, ending a 30-year battle that saved the salt marsh from development. Hearthside Homes will build 349 houses and a park on 105 acres overlooking the 1,100-acre Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, which is undergoing a $65-million restoration — the largest such undertaking in Southern California. The project — which has been reduced in size and scope over the years — represents what is expected to be the final skirmish over the wetlands after the...

Tomorrow John Rapanos will stand before a federal judge for sentencing. The purported crime of this mid-Michigan builder is violating the federal Clean Water Act by moving sand in a cornfield he owns and had hoped to develop. Having investigated the scene of the "crime," I can attest that Mr. Rapanos' possible incarceration is absurd. Unfortunately, it is but one example of the current abuses of federal "wetlands" law. Mr. Rapanos' cornfield was deemed a wetland by state and federal authorities despite being surrounded by drainage ditches mandated by county drain commissioners in the early 1900s. When I visited the...

Promising signs for Iraq marshes By Paul Rincon BBC News science reporter, in Washington DC Local people reflooded the marshes after the fall of Saddam Iraq's devastated marshlands can be partially revitalised, says a team writing in the journal Science. Saddam Hussein ordered the extensive draining of the wetlands, in part to punish the native Marsh Arabs who opposed his rule. But the quality of water now flowing into the marshes is better than expected and researchers say 30% of the former wetlands could be restored. Details were presented at a major science conference in Washington DC. The marshes...

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/29614/story.htm Careful Flooding May Restore Iraq Marshes USA: February 21, 2005 WASHINGTON - Wetlands that once sheltered Marsh Arabs and a host of wildlife in southern Iraq are being partly restored and could offer a haven once again if it is done right, experts said on Saturday Luckily, water coming into the area from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is unexpectedly clean, washing away toxic salts that built up when the area was drained under Saddam Hussein's regime, the international team of experts reported. Bird species are starting to return, including pelicans, cormorants and wading species. The area was also...

WASHINGTON - Water and new life are returning to an ancient Iraqi marsh considered by many as the cradle of Western civilization. Saddam Hussein drained the area after the 1991 Gulf War to retaliate against the people who had lived there for thousands of years. International and Iraqi experts are now restoring it. For more than 5,000 years, the Marsh Arab culture thrived in the 8,000 square miles of wetlands fed by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The marshes boasted hundreds of species of birds and fish, and periodic flooding created fertile farm lands. Some scholars believe the flooded, flat...

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) -- Property rights advocates are asking the Supreme Court to reconsider the case of a Michigan landowner who faces prison time and millions in fines for destroying wetlands on his property. The Pacific Legal Foundation wants the high court to use the case of John A. Rapanos to settle the nationwide debate over the extent of government power to protect privately owned wetlands - something the justices refused to do a year ago. Rapanos, a Midland developer, has been feuding with regulators since the late 1980s. "This case isn't about protecting wetlands. It's about federal power,"...

RUSKIN - Mangrove marshes and wetlands rise gently to upland hammocks of live oak and pine in this wilderness area along the tidal flats of the Little Manatee River. Many Ruskin residents say the 167-acre tract is a natural wonder and should remain so. But without a lot of money and a little luck, the land is fated to be just another wild place leveled by bulldozers in Hillsborough County. Little Manatee Bay Associates, a Fort Myers-based development company, wants to rezone the property in the Bahia Beach area for up to 538 single- and multifamily homes and up to...

Onerous wetlands legislation passed the Assembly without opposition on April 19, and went to the Senate, where the Conservation Committee later passed the bill (A7905/S4480-A). The passage by the Senate Conservation Committee was deemed to be a political calculation under the assumption that the bill would be tied up in a subsequent committee, but the unanimous [Yes] vote in the Assembly by minority Republicans who had introduced bills to add protections for landowners was a surprise. Click here

Jurors decided a wetlands designation imposed by Santa Barbara County violated the rights of an Orcutt vegetable grower so the county must pay about $5.5 million to the farmer. The Superior Court verdict on Monday represents the largest-ever land-use judgment against Santa Barbara County. After a nearly three-week civil trial before a visiting judge, the jury unanimously agreed that county planners preparing the Orcutt Community Plan recklessly violated the rights of Adams Brothers Farming Inc. when 95 acres along Highway 1 were designated as protected wetlands. The jury assessed actual damages of $5.47 million collectively against the county Planning and...

Scientists funded by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), used Landsat 5 satellite data to look at changes in wetlands areas in south Florida, particularly south and west of Lake Okeechobee. Using satellite data, land-cover change history, computer models, and weather records, the researchers found a link between the losses of wetlands and more severe freezes in some agricultural areas of south Florida. In other areas of the state, changes in land use resulted in slightly warmer conditions. They concluded, based on the study, the conversion of wetlands by itself may be enough of a trigger to enhance damage...

John Rapanos may go to prison for moving sand, and civil libertarians care more about terrorists. A mere land owner does not present as attractive a cause for civil libertarians these days as some al Qaeda operative getting his three squares a day down in Gitmo. But when an American citizen faces prison time for moving dirt on his property, we say it's time to break out the editorial torches and pitchforks--especially when even the judge doesn't want to sentence the man. Mr. Rapanos's "crime" is to have moved sand on his own property without a federal permit

Willis to Pay $21,000 for Violation Fri Aug 27,10:40 AM ET Actor Bruce Willis will pay a $21,000 fine for violating federal wetlands protection laws by clearing a half-acre island in a pond at his central Idaho home. Willis was cited last October for clearing the small island, installing a sprinkler system, and adding topsoil to level depressions so sod could be laid. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials claimed he also dumped 10 cubic yards of fill material in a stream to provide access to the island. The wetlands had been part of a spring-fed tributary of the Big Wood...

Tuesday, August 17, 2004 How 'wetlands' bureaucratscrush private-property rights Posted: August 17, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern By David Stirling © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com On Aug. 18, 2004, 68-year-old Michigan resident John Rapanos is scheduled to be sentenced for the third time by Federal District Court Judge Lawrence P. Zatkoff. Following conviction of Mr. Rapanos for violating the federal Clean Water Act by filling wetlands on his 175-acre parcel without a federal permit, Judge Zatkoff set aside the conviction because of deficiencies in the prosecution's presentation. The federal appellate court reversed Judge Zatkoff's action and ordered him to sentence Rapanos. At the sentencing hearing –...

    Army engineers helping restore Iraqi wetlands WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Aug.4, 2004) -- The Mesopotamian Marshlands, considered by many to be the cradle of civilization, were largely drained by Saddam Hussein’s regime. Now the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is helping restore the historic wetlands. Located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the marshes were once among the world's largest wetlands. Within this 8,000-square-miles area, the 5,000-year-old culture of the Madan, or Marsh Arabs, developed the first alphabet. Before their destruction, the Mesopotamian Marshlands spanned an area roughly twice the size of the Florida Everglades. They were known...

Blanco vows to help Kerry campaign By MARSHA SHULER mshuler@theadvocate.com Capitol news bureau Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. John Kerry must talk directly to Louisiana residents about their problems -- problems the Bush administration has done little to resolve, Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Thursday. And the governor said she will help the anointed Democratic contender do the talking, and support the Kerry-Edwards ticket "when and where I can." Blanco said she will join vice presidential candidate John Edwards when he campaigns Tuesday in Baton Rouge at an 8 a.m. Old State Capitol rally. "We are just trying to make it...