Page 6C
OUTSIDE
East Oregonian
Saturday, July 21, 2018
3 wolves killed
in central Idaho
By KEITH RIDLER
Associated Press
Emery Cowan/Arizona Daily Sun via AP, file
In this 2015 file photo Nate Powell, an employee with Grand Canyon National Park, collects an entrance fee as
traffic is backed up as vehicles arrive at an entrance gate at Grand Canyon National Park, Ariz. A new study con-
cludes visitors may be steering clear of some U.S. national parks or cutting their visits short because of pollution.
Pollution leads to fewer park visitors
By MATTHEW BROWN
Associated Press
DENVER (AP) — Vis-
itors appear to be steering
clear of some U.S. national
parks or cutting visits short
because of pollution lev-
els that are comparable to
what’s found in major cit-
ies, according to a study
released Wednesday.
Researchers at Iowa
State and Cornell universi-
ties looked at more than two
decades of data on ozone
pollution at 33 parks —
from Shenandoah to Yel-
lowstone, the Grand Canyon
and Yosemite. They say visi-
tor numbers dropped almost
2 percent when ozone lev-
els went up even slightly
and by at least 8 percent in
months with three or more
days of high ozone levels
compared with months with
fewer days of high ozone.
Study co-author Ivan
Rudik said air quality warn-
ings issued by parks and
other government agencies
may be causing the visita-
tion drop. That’s consistent
with previous research on
so-called avoidance behav-
ior in response to pollution
alerts in other settings.
The study sought to con-
trol for seasonal variations
and daily changes in the
weather.
“Even
though
the
national parks are supposed
to be icons of a pristine land-
AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File
This 2011 file photo shows the main plant facility at the
Navajo Generating Station northeast of Grand Canyon
National Park as seen from Lake Powell in Page, Ariz.
A new study concludes visitors may be steering clear
of some U.S. national parks or cutting their visits short
because of pollution.
scape, quite a lot of people
are being exposed to ozone
levels that could be detri-
mental to their health,” said
Rudik, an assistant profes-
sor of economics at Cornell.
The
study,
pub-
lished in the journal Sci-
ence Advances, comes as
national parks have seen
record numbers of visitors
in recent years despite con-
cerns over pollution.
Ozone, the main ingredi-
ent in smog, is formed when
small particles of pollution
from cars, power plants and
industrial facilities react
with sunlight. It limits visi-
bility and can cause respira-
tory problems.
In parks, ozone is car-
ried in on the wind and also
caused by traffic and other
activities.
Data collected by the
National Park Service show
parks failed to meet U.S.
air quality standards for
ozone at least 85 times this
year. In 2016, national parks
exceeded the standard a
combined 276 times.
Park
officials
were
reviewing the new study but
had not evaluated whether
ozone and visitation are
linked, spokesman Jeffrey
Olson said. He said nine
parks issue ozone alerts
when warranted — Acadia,
Great Smoky Mountains,
Mammoth Cave, Pinnacles,
Rocky Mountain, Sequoia,
Kings Canyon, Shenandoah
and Yosemite.
Virginia Tech econo-
mist Kevin Boyle, who has
researched ozone in parks
and was a peer reviewer
for the study, said it pro-
vides “strong, suggestive
evidence” that air pollution
is changing people’s behav-
ior when planning a park
visit. Boyle said follow-up
research is needed to con-
firm the findings.
Tourists also cut vis-
its short for other air qual-
ity problems, such as thick
smoke from wildfires that
was blanketing Yosemite
National Park this week and
led to health warnings.
Ozone
concentrations
nationwide have gener-
ally fallen since the Clean
Air Act was amended in
1990 to address the prob-
lem, according to the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency.
Yet amounts still regu-
larly exceed national guide-
lines, and the research-
ers determined that many
national parks have pollu-
tion levels similar to New
York or Los Angeles.
A comparison of ozone
in parks to levels in the 20
most populous U.S. cities
showed they were “statis-
tically indistinguishable,”
according to the study.
At Sequoia National
Park, about 200 miles north
of Los Angeles, there have
been more bad ozone days
than in the city in all but two
years since 1996, the study
said.
Site work begins for opposed oil refinery
By BLAKE NICHOLSON
Associated Press
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP)
— Meridian Energy Group
said Tuesday that it has
begun site work for an oil
refinery about 3 miles (5
kilometers) from Theodore
Roosevelt National Park
in western North Dakota,
though the project still faces
hurdles, including a lawsuit
by environmental groups.
Meridian said it hired
St. Paul, Minnesota-based
SEH Design/Build Inc. to
oversee such work as grad-
ing land, installing erosion
control devices and devel-
oping storm water ponds.
Work got underway Mon-
day, according to company
spokesman Adam Williams.
Construction of the $800
million Davis Refinery isn’t
planned until next year, with
operations to start in 2020.
It would be only the sev-
enth oil refinery built in the
U.S. in the last two decades,
according to the U.S.
Energy Information Admin-
istration. The project began
five years ago.
“It is great to be finally
beginning site work for
Davis,” Meridian CEO Wil-
liam Prentice said.
However, North Dakota
Air Quality Director Terry
O’Clair has said that Merid-
AP Photo/Beth J. Harpaz, File
This Sept. 2017 file photo shows bison grazing at The-
odore Roosevelt National Park in Medora, N.D. A com-
pany began site work Monday for an oil refinery about
3 miles from the park in western North Dakota. Several
environmental groups oppose the refinery, fearing it
will impact the park’s scenery.
ian is proceeding at its
own risk in light of a law-
suit filed Thursday in state
court by the National Parks
Conservation Association,
the Environmental Law
and Policy Center and the
Dakota Resource Council.
The groups fear pollu-
tion from the refinery will
mar the park’s scenery and
erode the quality of the air
breathed by wildlife and vis-
itors. The park is the state’s
top tourist attraction, draw-
ing more than 700,000 peo-
ple annually.
Meridian
maintains
that the refinery with mod-
ern technology will be “the
cleanest refinery on the
planet” and a model for
future refineries. Support-
ers also point to its poten-
tial impact on the economy,
creating permanent jobs for
200 people in the area and
generating millions of dol-
lars in local property taxes
each year.
The
environmen-
tal groups are challeng-
ing a state air quality per-
mit issued in June that
allowed construction to pro-
ceed, asserting that the state
Health Department erred
when it concluded that the
refinery wouldn’t be a major
source of pollution and
wouldn’t negatively impact
the park. The lawsuit asks a
judge to declare the permit
invalid and send the case
back to the Health Depart-
ment for further review.
The review took 1 ½
years and generated more
than 10,000 public com-
ments, and O’Clair has
said the state stands behind
the conclusion. Williams
on Tuesday said Merid-
ian is “very confident in the
thorough and meticulous
18-month review.”
The refinery that would
initially process about
27,500 barrels of oil daily
faces other steps and poten-
tial roadblocks. It still needs
state water and wastewater
permits, though it can begin
building before receiving
them. It also will need to
prove once it’s built that it
meets air quality standards.
The Environmental Law
and Policy Center and the
Dakota Resource Council in
late June filed a complaint
with North Dakota regu-
lators requesting a study
of the refinery’s location.
The complaint is pending
before the Public Service
Commission.
The Dakota Resource
Council also is challeng-
ing in court the zoning per-
mit that Meridian received
from Billings County, say-
ing in part that the permit
has expired.
BOISE, Idaho (AP) —
Three wolves have been
killed by federal authorities
in central Idaho near Stan-
ley, an action blasted by an
environmental group.
The U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s Wildlife Ser-
vices on Wednesday said it
killed the wolves over sev-
eral days earlier this month
at the request of the Idaho
Department of Fish and
Game after confirming
wolves killed six sheep.
The three wolves killed
are in addition to the 46
wolves Wildlife Services
said it has killed in Idaho
this year through June
30, following 61 con-
firmed wolf kills of live-
stock. Those livestock kills
included nine adult cows,
29 calves and 23 sheep, the
federal agency said.
Western
Watersheds
Project decried the kill-
ing of the three wolves
this month in the Sawtooth
National Forest’s Recre-
ation Area, which it argues
only allows livestock graz-
ing if it doesn’t “substan-
tially impair” wildlife
conservation.
“Wildlife
Services,
Idaho Fish and Game,
and the Forest Service
have time-and-time again
shown that they care more
about perpetuating eco-
nomically marginal graz-
ing operations than pro-
tecting native wildlife,”
Scott Lake, Idaho direc-
tor of Western Watersheds
Project, said in a statement.
Idaho Fish and Game
manages wildlife in the
state. Tom Curet, Idaho
Fish and Game supervi-
sor for the Salmon Region
where the wolves were
killed, said the agency
asked Wildlife Services to
take action after the federal
agency confirmed wolves
killed the sheep.
“In this case, it took
killing several wolves
before the rest of the pack
backed off,” he said Thurs-
day. “They’re not causing
any problems right now.”
He said the wolves were
killed about 1.5 miles east
of U.S. Highway 75, the
main route through the
Sawtooth Valley, and about
20 miles south of Stan-
ley. He said it’s believed
the pack had five wolves
before three of them were
killed.
He said it’s the first con-
flict with wolves and live-
stock in the basin this year.
Wolves, he said, typically
follow deer and elk to the
high elevation valley that
offers lush grass for graz-
ing animals. That also
makes it attractive for live-
stock producers.
BLOOMIN’ BLUES
Photo by Bruce Barnes
Stemless Goldenweed, Stenotus acaulis
Stemless goldenweed
is a rare Blues sight
By BRUCE BARNES
For The East Oregonian
Name:
Stemless
Goldenweed
Scientific name: Steno-
tus acaulis
This week’s plant is
quite similar to several
others in appearance, and
is also one I’ve only seen
once. It’s in the sunflower
family, with bright yellow
flowering heads. The plant
is found in dry open places
from middle to high moun-
tain sites, from southern
Canada to eastern Oregon,
and east to Montana and
south to California.
Although this is an
attractive, showy plant
when in bloom, the names
are almost as interest-
ing. The common name
is misleading. The plant
is not stemless at all, hav-
ing stems that reach well
above the leaves and can
be seen easily for from a
moving car 50 yards away.
The name golden weed
is accurate as far as the
color, but the plant is defi-
nitely not a weed and not
invasive.
Then there is the scien-
tific name Stenotus for the
genus. This name is prob-
ably from the Latin sten
for narrow, referring to its
very narrow linear leaves.
In checking references for
this article, I discovered
there are two other similar
genus names for some of
the plants that look much
like those in the Stenotus
genus and are in the same
family. This led me to look
further.
These three genus
names are anagrams, Ste-
notus, Tonestus and Nes-
totus, with each having the
same letters. Stenotus was
named in the late 1800s,
Tonestus in the 1904, and
Nestotus in 2005. I was
unable to find any Latin
root words to provide
a basis for the last two
names, and even if the sec-
ond author was unaware of
the anagram, I really sus-
pect the third was selected
as an intentional anagram,
and the three coauthors
who published the last
name probably had some
fun coming up with it. One
of those three botanists,
Lowell Urbatsch, wrote
the descriptions of the sev-
eral species in those three
genera for a recent publi-
cation of California plants,
in which he pointed out the
anagram connection of the
names.
The “Stemless” Gold-
enweed forms dense clus-
ters of somewhat erect,
linear leaves from the base
of the plant or at the base
of the stem. The stems are
seldom over 6 inches high
with a single head at the
top of the stem or rarely
2-3 heads at the top. Each
head has 5-15 ray pet-
als around the outer rim,
each petal a part of a sepa-
rate complete flower, with
the petal about a quar-
ter to half inch long. The
center of the head has 17
to 40 tiny yellow-orange
flowers.
Where to find: This
should
normally
be
blooming in open mead-
ows south of Pilot Rock,
beyond the top of Yellow-
jacket Road, which is the
only place I have found it.
Unfortunately that area is
already dried up and the
meadows even at 5,000
feet elevation are tinder
dry.