Due to technical issues the DNR website may be inaccessible at times. In the meantime, please stay connected on our “Ear to the Ground” blog and other social media:
DNR Twitter – Fire Twitter — Flickr – Facebook – YouTube
Need to reach us during business hours while the website is down? Try our Olympia headquarters, 360-902-1000, or contact one of these region offices: (more…)
All offices of the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) are closed today (January 21, 2013) in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. DNR offices, including region offices, will re-open Tuesday at 8 a.m.
| Follow DNR on: |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Peter Goldmark, Commissioner of Public Lands, delivers second inaugural address on Wednesday, January 16, 2013. Photo: Nancy Charbonneau/DNR.
Good afternoon, everyone and thank you, Lenny for that introduction and for your service to DNR and the state as Supervisor for the department. You have brought a keen understanding of many complex issues to your duties and have done a magnificent job of solving problems and providing leadership within the agency.
I would also like to thank the members of my family, who are here with us today.
It is both an honor and a privilege to be elected to a second term as Commissioner of Public Lands for the great State of Washington. We are fortunate to live and work in a state whose landscape is naturally beautiful and productive. Our state is replete with some of the earth’s most productive agricultural lands and is forested with the world’s premiere evergreen species in terms of both productivity and quality. I know this first-hand: by having lived and worked here almost all of my life; having climbed the tallest mountain; having hiked many, many miles over high mountain trails; and having visited nearly every corner of our state in both private and public life. We at DNR shoulder the responsibility of keeping these natural resources productive and beautiful for the future. Our legacy is to walk this line: to productively steward these precious natural resources in a manner that sustains a revenue stream for the trust beneficiaries and conserves that which is rare and wonderful.
Over the course of my first term in office, DNR has produced $921 million of non-tax revenue for education and other trust beneficiaries. These revenues flow mainly from timber harvested on state trust lands but also from geoduck and wheat sales. While revenue production for the trust beneficiaries is our primary mission, we also endeavor to maintain forest cover throughout the state. Thus, we have purchased 10,500 acres of lands threatened by development for working forest and permanently protected an additional 22,000 acres of land for conservation. This includes about 7,500 acres that comprise the newly designated Middle Fork Snoqualmie Natural Resources Conservation Area. This NRCA, home to many threatened and endangered species, is a unique landscape encompassing low-, mid-, and high-elevation forests, in a prime location to help meet both critical habitat needs and the growing demand for recreational opportunities.
We also reviewed over 17,000 Forest Practices Applications to ensure that rules are followed to protect aquatic resources during timber harvest and associated road construction on state and private lands.
Fire suppression is another huge responsibility at DNR. Over the past 4 years, we partnered with other jurisdictions to suppress 2,895 fires encompassing over 114,000 acres. This past fire season was particularly difficult due to very hot, dry conditions in August and September, together with a severe dry lightning storm on September 8th that sparked several hundred wildfires in eastern Washington. (more…)
Two volcanoes — Mount Adams and Mount St. Helens (right) tower over the Chehalis River Basin in western Washington on a foggy day. Photo: Venice Goetz/DNR.
Here are links to reading selections about climate, wildlife, the environment and other science news published recently by science journals, universities, websites, and other sources:
AlphaGalileo Foundation: Mixed forests – a missed opportunity?
Forestry and nature conservation can benefit from promoting a diversity of tree species, new study finds. A new study from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Future Forests shows that mixed forests, in comparison with monocultures, have positive effects on the production of timber, food for wildlife carbon storage and other many ‘ecosystem services.’
Science Daily: Whales’ Foraging Strategies Revealed by New Technology
Jeremy A. Goldbogen of the Cascadia Research Collective in Olympia, Washington, and his colleagues are using multisensor tags attached to whales with suction cups to report depth, acceleration, pitch, timing and other information about the animals as they make foraging dives. The information tells scientists more about oceanic food webs and ecology.
youis.com: Under the weather, literally
Storms and persistent rainfall can cause sewage overflows that release water with bacteria and viruses into waterways which, in turn, raises the potential of stomach upsets among those come in contact with the water either directly in indirectly. In the short-term at least, climate change-related increases in precipitation and storms may have a more direct impact on human health than climate change-related increases in average temperature.
Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen: Clamorous city blackbirds
Many urban birds sing at a higher pitch than their country cousins to differentiate their song from the low-frequency sound of road traffic. As it turns out birds can sing louder at higher frequencies to make themselves heard in traffic noise.
University of Pennsylvania: Mountains Are Only Minor Contributors to Sediment Erosion and Climate Regulation
New research published in the journal Geology directly challenges previous studies which suggested that small mountain rivers contributed most of the sediment to the world’s oceans.
| Follow DNR on: | |
|
|
|
|
Routine maintenance of radio and cell phone towers on Capitol Peak (the highest point in Capitol State Forest, elev. 2,664 feet) often requires a special ride during winter months. The towers are on state trust land, and provide revenue for public school construction. Photo: Alan Robinson.
Here are links to reading selections about climate, wildlife, the environment and other science news published recently by science journals, universities, websites, and other sources.
Science Daily: Use for Old Christmas Trees? Douglas Fir Needles May Sterilize Nano Devices for Medical Applications
As twelfth night approaches, there is the perennial question as to what to do with the tree. New research suggests that the needles of the plant Pseudotsuga menziesii, commonly known as the Douglas fir, could be used indirectly to sterilize nano devices destined for medical applications.
Scientific American: How North Korea Fuels Its Military Trucks With Trees
Instead of burning synthetic diesel fuel produced by a gasification process, North Korea appears to be fueling at least some of its military trucks by directly gasifying wood chips–a less efficient method but one that does not require a large infrastructure for synthetic fuel production.
University of Delaware: Renewable news
Renewable energy through a well-designed combination of wind power, solar power and storage in batteries and fuel cells could fully power a large electric grid 99.9 percent of the time by 2030 at costs comparable to today’s electricity expenses, according to new research by the University of Delaware and Delaware Technical Community College.
Alpha Galileo Foundation: New study documents the natural relationship between CO2 concentrations and sea level
By comparing reconstructions of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and sea level over the past 40 million years, researchers have found that greenhouse gas concentrations similar to the present (almost 400 parts per million) were systematically associated with sea levels at least nine meters above current levels.
Science Daily: Effects of Climate Change On Birds Worsened by Housing Development
A new study by PRBO Conservation Science researchers suggests that the effects of future housing development may be as great or greater than those of climate change for many bird species. In fact, some species projected to expand their distributions with climate change may actually lose ground when future development is brought into the picture.
Science Daily: Maple Syrup, Moose, and the Impacts of Climate Change in the North
Current climate change models don’t account for real life surprises that take place in forests, concludes a group of scientists. In the northern hardwood forest, climate change is poised to reduce the viability of the maple syrup industry, spread wildlife diseases and tree pests, and change timber resources.
| Follow DNR on: | |
|
|
|
|
DNR’s Olympic Region office in Forks is open for business today. An early morning fire yesterday (Wednesday) destroyed a shop building at the compound but did not damage adminstrative offices. No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire is under investigation.
| Follow DNR on: | |
|
|
|
|
DNR’s Olympic Region office in Forks is closed today after an early morning fire destroyed a shop building at the compound. No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire is under investigation. Those who need to conduct business at the Forks office today can contact DNR headquarters in Olympia at 360-902-1000.
The fire was contained to a shop building in the region office’s compound. The building is a total loss; two trucks, a fire engine and other equipment were also destroyed. DNR thanks the local fire department and crews in Forks for their response to the fire.
Please check DNR’s Facebook page for updates.
| Follow DNR on: | |
|
|
|
|
Winter morning on a variable retention timber harvest in the Larch Block, an area of DNR-managed state trust land east of Vancouver, WA. Photo: F. Deisenhofer/DNR
All of us at the Washington State Department of Natural Resources hope you will find many things to celebrate and enjoy in this new year. Here is a small sample of the many events and activities that we hope you will enjoy with us on state trust, aquatic and conservation lands in 2013:
JANUARY–MARCH
APRIL–JUNE
JULY–SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER–NOVEMBER
Not enough events? Don’t worry, there will be plenty more to come. Get a head start on 2013 events by subscribing to a free DNR e-newsletter.
| Follow DNR on: | |
|
|
|
|
Find the porcupine in this photo taken recently on forested state trust land in Washington state. (Photo: Rick Foster/DNR)
Here are links to reading selections about climate, wildlife, the environment and other science news published recently by science journals, universities, websites, and other sources.
PLOS One: Creativity in the Wild: Improving Creative Reasoning through Immersion in Natural Settings
Time spent in natural settings and away from electronic media can substantially improve creativity. Researchers found that four days of immersion in nature, and a corresponding disconnection from multi-media and technology, increased performance on a creativity, problem-solving task by a full 50 percent.
Scientific American: Which U.S. City Is the Greenest ?–It Depends on Whom You Ask
Every year dozens of publications and websites release their assessments of which cities have the most environmentally conscious citizenry, the highest percentage of recycling or the lowest carbon footprint per capita. Some of the leading choices may be a surprise.
Science Daily: Even in Same Vineyard, Different Microbes May Create Variations in Wine Grapes
Differences in the microbes present on grapes — even in different parts of the same vineyard — may contribute to flavor fluctuations in samples of grapes from different tanks from the same harvest.
Close up of a porcupine peaking out from under a log. Photo: Rick Foster/DNR
Scientific American: Robot Glider Detects Rogue Waves and Other Ocean Anomalies Missed by Satellites
The wave-powered unmanned sub Papa Mau not only set a record while crossing the Pacific Ocean autonomously, it also studied rogue waves, micro currents, and other marine phenomena invisible to eyes in the sky.
Geomar: When the ice melts, the Earth spews fire
It has long been known that volcanic activity can cause short-term variations in climate. Now, researchers at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (Germany), together with colleagues from Harvard University have found evidence that the reverse process also occurs: Climate affects volcanic activity.
| Follow DNR on: | |
|
|
|
|
The Taylor Bridge Fire, which started August 13, 2012, destroyed 61 residences and burned 23,500 acres between Cle Elum and Ellensburg. Photo: DNR.
After a visit to the devastated landscape caused by the Taylor Bridge Fire last summer, a delegate from Sanda City in Japan, Shinobu Nakumura, found herself wondering how her country could help the victims of the fire.
After all, her visit marked the 20th anniversary of Sanda City being a sister community with Kittitas County.
On the return flight back to Japan, she spoke with other delegates and later proposed a fundraising effort through the Sanda International Association’s sister city committee. The committee OK’d the plan and the residents of Sanda City began a fundraiser.
Read more of the story from the Ellensburg Daily Record.
| Follow DNR on: | |
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
