Historic Agreement Preserves California Treasure Monday, August 11, 2008 Largest, Most Ecologically Crucial Land Acquisition in State History A coalition of environmental groups, private landowners, and developers are celebrating a historic land-use agreement for the 240,000 acre Tejon Ranch. The Planning and Conservation League (PCL), the California affiliate of National Wildlife Federation, is part of the coalition which actively negotiated for several years to save the ranch from development. "There is probably no more important property for the future of the California Condor" - Graham Chisolm, director of conservation for Audubon California. Photo courtesy of USFWS. The Tejon Ranch is the largest private landholding left in the state, located along Interstate 5 just north of Los Angeles. The unique ecosystem--eight times the size of San Francisco--is a diverse and biologically rich landscape that combines desert, mountain and valley habitat, and is a multi-layered wildlife corridor that is home to a wide variety of birds and wildlife, including the California condor and the kit fox. It encompasses parts of the Sierra Nevada, Mojave Desert, Coastal Range, and San Joaquin Valley -- the only place in California where four distinct ecological regions converge. This precedent setting Conservation and Land Use Agreement ensures the land is protected and that the public will be granted access to this remarkable treasure. The 37-mile segment of the Pacific Crest trail will be rerouted to go through the ranch. Vast tracts of wilderness will be open to the public and will create a natural corridor that will help wildlife adapt to the changes to their habitat caused by global warming. We would like to extend our gratitude to everyone involved in making sure that Tejon Ranch will remain a sanctuary for the plant and wildlife communities that thrive there. To learn more about Tejon Ranch, visit: http://www.tejonpreserve.com/, and to learn more about The Planning and Conservation League, please visit their website: http://www.pcl.org/.

Nature - You Know It's Good For You, Now Find Out Why Friday, July 18, 2008 By: Anne Bikle National Wildlife Federation Urges Parents and Policymakers to Help Kids "Go Outside and Play" Take a moment, close your eyes, and go back to when you were 10 years old.  It’s summertime, you’re outside playing with friends, or maybe by yourself.  Do you remember your favorite outdoor spaces and how you used them?  Was it to play tag, or other made up games? Build a secret fort? Or, just do plain old exploring?  For most of us who are now adults, outdoor experiences like these are among our most vivid and common childhood memories.  Recent research on this topic also reveals that whether you grew up in the country, the suburbs, or the city, unstructured outdoor play was once the norm.  It turns out that aside from having fun, those of us who had this type of childhood were reaping some other benefits too.  It fed our growing brains and spurred our curiosity and awe about the natural world.  We learned the difference between a minnow and a tadpole; an oak tree and a cottonwood; and a flicker and a robin.  All that scrambling and running around on uneven terrain honed our sense of balance and built our physical strength and stamina.  For the tree climbers, we learned about danger, risk, and thrill through near-falls and real falls.  We were constantly on the move because of how we played and where we played, allowing us to easily maintain a healthy childhood weight.  Playing like this helped build our mental and social confidence, initiated our ability to assess and navigate difficult situations, and set the stage for our ethics and behavior toward the natural world as we transitioned from childhood to adulthood.  For today’s average 10-year old, childhood is quite a different proposition.  In the last 20 years the amount of time kids spend interacting with nature has declined by almost half.  This phenomenon, coined by author Richard Louv in his book, "No Child Left Inside" has an unofficial name:  "nature deficit disorder".  Public health and medical professionals are linking less time outside learning, playing, and moving in natural settings as significant factors underlying some of today’s most critical children’s health issues.  These include rising rates of overweight and obesity and related lifetime chronic diseases, anxiety-related disorders, and altered cognitive development. The National Wildlife Federation has made reversing nature deficit one of its top three priorities.  We are highlighting nature deficit in our recently released report, "Connecting Today’s Kids With Nature, A Policy Action Plan" (www.nwf.org/kidsoutside).  NWF is planning to push for policy action in the areas of education, the built environment, transportation, public health, parks and recreation, and conservation that will influence the choices and opportunities that kids and parents have when it comes to connecting with nature.  Today’s kids should have access to the same benefits from nature and natural settings as previous generations.  One effort currently underway is proposed legislation calling for environmental education to be better integrated into school curricula.  You can help -- click here to contact your Representative. To learn more about nature deficit and related topics, check our site for periodic updates at both the national level and in our 4-state region (CA, HI, OR, WA).  In the meantime, here are some informational resources if you are new to this topic and want to learn more: http://www.greenhour.org/ http://www.nclicoalition.org/ http://www.neefusa.org/health/children_nature.htm http://www.childrenandnature.org/ To view outdoors activities specifically in your region, go to: http://www.greenhour.org/section/about/naturefind

Salmon and Global Warming Monday, April 14, 2008 By: Maia Eisen An icon of the Pacific Northwest, salmon suffer seven distinct climate change impacts. From high mountain streams to broad rivers, to estuaries and the ocean, salmon are our "canary in the coalmine", alerting us to the impact of climate change on the health of our entire ecosystem. The Salmon and Global Warming Slideshow shows the seven impacts of climate change on salmon. Find out what you can do to help save this iconic species. 1. Loss of snowpack Loss of snowpack and shrinking glaciers mean reduced stream flows in summer and fall. This makes it difficult for returning salmon to reach spawning grounds and for juvenile fish to reach the ocean. Lower stream volumes mean warmer water. 2. Warmer Water Optimum water temperature range for most salmonids is 55-64 degrees Fahrenheit (12.8-17.8 degrees Celsius). Warmer summers are also raising stream temp-eratures, making salmon more susceptible to predators, parasites and disease. Massive fish kills have occurred at or above 71.6 degrees Fahrenheit (22 degrees Celsius). 3. Forest Fires Warmer, dryer conditions have resulted in a 400% increase in the number of major fires and 600% increase in the average area burned since the 1980’s. Intense forest fires can completely burn out root systems, contributing to erosion and siltation of nearby rivers. 4. More Severe Storms and Floods Increasingly heavy winter floods wash away salmon eggs, even scouring away the gravel spawning beds. Severe floods can wash toxic materials into rivers. 5. Ocean Acidification CO2 is making the oceans more acidic, dissolving the shells of tiny mollusks, an important food source for juvenile North Pacific salmon. 6. Warmer Oceans Warmer ocean waters and shifting currents are prompting a northward shift in the range of some salmon and other fish populations,such as barracuda and Pacific cod. 7. Sea Level Rise Sea level rise may inundate low-lying estuaries, a critical habitat for salmonids as they make their transition between river and ocean life stages. For more information about how global warming is affecting rivers and fish in the Pacific Northwest region, see: Fish Out of Water (1.4 Mb).