Urge Border Governors to say NO to the Border Fence! 
The natural recovery of Mexican black bears in the Chisos Mountains of Big Bend National Park would suffer a major setback if a fence is built on the U.S.-Mexico border.  The bear population on the US side is very small and dependent on bears being able to cross back and forth across from Mexico.  Photo courtesy Tom Bean.

A major disaster for wildlife and parks along the U.S.--Mexico border may soon become reality if concerned citizens can not rally enough support to stop the construction of 700 mile fence.  On April 1, for the fourth time in the past 2 years, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff used his authority to waive more than 30 environmental laws to expedite building 370 miles worth of new fencing along the U.S. Mexico border, including 57 miles of continuous wire mesh fencing and 21 miles of high-powered lighting from El Paso downstream along the Rio Grande.  Being faced with growing and unexpectedly fierce opposition, DHS is cutting every corner in an attempt to complete 700 miles worth of fencing before the Bush Administration is out of office.

More
 

National Park Service hires nearly 10,000 employees

Since its founding in 1916, the National Park Service has been dedicated to the preservation and management of the country’s outstanding natural, historical and recreational resources.  Today, the NPS encompasses more than 391 sites across the United States and in Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. 

Every year, millions of people visit our beloved national park areas.  To meet the needs of visitors and help manage and protect park resources, the NPS hires approximately 10,000 temporary and seasonal employees annually.  While temporary positions are available in a range of career fields, most jobs available are in the following categories: 

• Visitor Use Assistants
• Park Guides
• Biological Science Technicians
• Park Rangers
• Seasonal Maintenance Positions

Some seasonal positions are advertised and filled centrally (call 1-888-279-9193).  Many others are advertised directly by NPS Human Resources Offices around the country.  Either way, all job openings can be found on http://www.usajobs.gov, the official job site for the United States Federal Government.  Just go to the site, click on Basic Search and type in “NPS” to find a complete listing of job opportunities and application procedures.  Hint: Check back often, as new positions open regularly.

Yellowstone Bison Update

May 1, 2008.
This week on the Yellowstone National Park's western  boundary, the largest buffalo slaughter since the 18th century continues, even after Montana governor Brian Schweitzer promised two weeks ago that no more buffalo would be killed this season. The Montana Department
of Livestock blatantly ignored the governor's statement, capturing
three bull buffalo at the Duck Creek trap on Monday and shipping them to slaughter without testing on Tuesday morning.

The continuation of the buffalo slaughter this week by the Department of Livestock adds insult to injury, with more than a third of the Yellowstone bison population having been eliminated since November, with no signs of stopping. The "historic announcement" issued by governor Schweitzer on April 17th, allowing buffalo more room to roam outside of the park boundaries, apparently has no merit along the
park's western boundary.

More

Rare leopards found in Siberia’s Kedrovaya Pad Reserve

April 25, 2008.  A camera trap in Kedrovaya Pad reserve has captured rare footage of one of the world’s most endangered cats.

Eight Far Eastern (Amur) Leopards were photographed in the reserve, located in the Primorsky Krai, during a census being conducted by WWF-Russia and the Institute for Sustainable Use of Nature Resources.

For Pavel Fomenko, coordinator of the biodiversity conservation program at the Armur branch of WWF-Russia, “the confirmed stability of the leopard population living in the territories of Kedrovaya Pad biosphere reserve and Barsovyi wildlife refuge warm our hearts and give hopes.”

“But this is only a small part of the leopard’s habitat in the southwest Primorsky. The remaining 70 per cent of leopard’s habitat are in precarious conditions.”

“The goal of utmost importance to create a unified federal protected area for the Far Eastern leopard has not yet been achieved in Primorsky”, said Fomenko.

Over the past years, scientists have been monitoring the rare cat’s plight using camera traps to develop effective measures to its conservation.

As tigers and leopards’ coloration is individual, the pictures are a way to compare and identify specimen. “The information we receive from camera traps can be processed through mathematic methods. So, by comparing the different photographs taken at different intervals, we can estimate the real number of leopards living in a certain area”, said Vladimir Aramilev, Head of the Institute for Sustainable Use of Nature Resources.

Copyright and Disclaimer

All content on this site including photographs, graphics, text and design is protected by copyright by either ILoveParks.com or the owners of the web pages linked to from this site.  By providing links to other sites, we do not guarantee,  approve or endorse the information or products available at these sites nor does a link indicate any association with or endorsement by the linked site to ILoveParks.com.