james edward mills, author at planet forward - 克罗地亚vs加拿大让球

trackways national monument

thu, 26 aug 2010 14:25:05 +0000

at trackways national monument, experts have excavated the best examples of paleozoic era plants and animals on the planet.

“these different types of fossils are the best preserved and the most significant of their kind in the world,” said jerry macdonald of new mexico museum of natural history.

macdonald has made his life’s work searching for and excavating pre-historic fossils in the robledo mountains just outside las cruces new mexico. his discoveries, starting in the early 1980s helped to establish the area as the 5,200-acre trackways national monument in 2009.

“it’s a concentrated fossil deposit that not only has track-ways but it has petrified wood, fossil leaves, marine fossils, he said and all of these things represent a window to the past.”

this public land in the american southwest desert is one of the few places on earth where evidence of the permian period is exposed. the creatures who left these tracks in the mud almost 300 million years ago occupy a much different version of new mexico.

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red rock canyon nca

wed, 14 jul 2010 19:23:57 +0000

las vegas nevada is a lavish playground with casinos, bright lights and entertainment in the middle of the mojave desert. just minutes from
the strip there’s a little known national and natural treasure that offers a different kind of vegas experience, red rock canyon conservation area.

“well it’s really convenient. it’s only 15 miles outside of las vegas, which is an easy place for us to fly into,” said andy boyles, a tourist from halifax, nova scotia. “the views here are just as good as you’d get in virtually any national park.”

red rock canyon is 195,000 acres of sandstone and limestone cliffs, pristine desert, riparian areas and juniper forests. it’s a spectacular backdrop for outdoor recreation and a quick escape from the hustle of vegas. here hundreds of volunteers help to conserve and protect both wildlife and signs of ancient culture before they disappear forever.

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fossil finds at grand staircase escalante

tue, 06 jul 2010 21:25:16 +0000

in the rugged canyons of america’s last frontier, modern explorers search for signs of ancient history. covering nearly 2 million acres of southern utah and northern arizona grand staircase escalante national monument is attracting attention. recent discoveries here date back 80 million years.
“this is a huge 1.9 million acre laboratory,” said melanie boone of grand staircase escalante partnership. “everything from paleontology, etymology, biology, historical resources, archeology, it is a huge place with untapped resources all over the place.”

area scientists are finding new information that’s making them rethink long held beliefs about pre-historic earth while providing denver school children with science education live via
satellite.

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the everglades: when water runs through it

mon, 28 jun 2010 14:47:12 +0000

for millennia, water has spread across the broad expanse of the florida everglades. but in the last 100 years or so man has blocked its path with roads and dug canals to drain and reroute its course. now some parts of the everglades have too much water and some have too little.

“the problem is the everglades are our water supply.” said eric buermann of the southern florida water management district. “and there’s only 40 percent of the natural everglades left after man’s drainage and decimation of the natural environment.”

investing almost $1 billion the state for florida has instituted a research program to correct the growing problem. engineers hope to apply what scientists learn to get water running again where there’s too much of it and let it flow into places where there’s much too little of it, like the everglades national park.

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florida everglades monster snakes

mon, 21 jun 2010 16:21:30 +0000

big snakes in the everglades are posing a big problem. with no natural predators pythons not only compete with native panthers and alligators for food, but they also prey on endangered species like storks and wood rats.
pythons are an invasive species that are often dumped by pet owners in the national park once they grow too big. others are escapees from nearby reptile farms where breeders nationwide have raised as many as 1 million of these giant snakes since 1980. an equal number have been imported from overseas.
to help get rid of big snakes the florida fish and wildlife preservation commission is letting sportsmen hunt pythons on 700,000 acres of state land next to the everglades national park.

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florida everglades dying of thirst

tue, 15 jun 2010 12:42:06 +0000

a $2 billion initiative to create the world’s largest fresh water reservoir aims to clean up pollutants and restore the everglades as a habitat for several bird and mammal species.

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alaskan natives witness gulf oil damage

wed, 09 jun 2010 16:18:07 +0000

a group of tribal leaders from alaska tour the gulf spill area and ponder what might happen to their homelands if offshore oil drilling is approved for arctic seas.

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dust and snowmelt in the colorado mountains ae

tue, 25 may 2010 12:57:51 +0000

scientists find the effect of dust on mountain snowpack can be the dominant driver of snowmelt and water supplies downstream, an important discovery for water managers in the drying southwest.

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protecting montana’s wild legacy-forests

tue, 25 may 2010 12:54:53 +0000

the montana legacy project buys 310,000 acres of prime timber holdings to prevent real estate development and save the lands for public use and sustainable forestry.

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mumbai coastal trauma

tue, 25 may 2010 12:49:07 +0000

industrial pollution and overfishing have devastated fish and lobster species in the arabian sea off the coast of mumbai, an ecological disaster and economic catastrophe for traditional fishermen

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