Climate Point: Pressure heats up on wildlife and lands across US

Hi, Janet Wilson here. Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate change, energy and the environment. It's wild out there, and we're not just talking about the government shutdown. Emissions are up, the ocean's warming and Joshua trees are being chopped down in the national park that bears their name. Last year was pretty tough for wildlife, a theme I'll tackle below, and this year promises worse. You know it's bad when biologists see a higher death toll as a hopeful sign. 

But first, move aside California, New Jersey is taking on plastics in a big way. Just months after Scott Fallon at the North Jersey Record took a deep dive on the issue, he reports this week that the Garden State is poised to become the biggest battleground between the plastics industry and environmental advocates in 2019. The state is proposing to enact the most stringent statewide ban in the U.S. on plastic bags, straws and polystyrene food and beverage containers. The plastics industry is gearing up to defeat it, while more and more towns pass their own plastic regulations.

Here are some other things you might want to know:

MUST-READ:

Camp Fire Blues: The U.S. led the world in costliest catastrophes in 2018, and California's devastating Camp Fire was the worst, as USA Today's Doyle Rice explains, racking up $16.5 billion in damages. The data come from a report issued Tuesday by Munich Re, a reinsurance firm. In second and third place last year were Hurricanes Michael ($16 billion) and Florence ($14 billion). The disastrous Camp Fire, California's deadliest on record with 86 fatalities, stood out for its ferocity: "Such massive wildfires appear to be occurring more frequently as a result of climate change," said Munich Re's Torsten Jeworrek. "Action is urgently needed on building codes and land use to help prevent losses."

Trumpeting Fake News: Trump blamed California's deadly wildfires on forest mismanagement by the state, and threatened in a tweet to cut off FEMA aid for Camp Fire victims if management practices aren't changed. Critics note that much of the scorched acreage is on federally managed land, as Damon Arthur with the Redding Record Searchlight reports. 

Dead and Gone: They'd been on our planet for millions of years, but 2018 was the year several species officially vanished forever, part of a sixth mass wave of extinction - this one caused by human activity such as logging and farming. As Rice catalogs in USA Today, scientists say three bird species went extinct this year, including two songbirds from Brazil and a third from Hawaii. And far more could be lost in 2019, with rare porpoise, wolf and rhinoceros species among those on the brink of dying out. One disturbing trend: species are now blinking out on mainland continents as well as islands. "We're currently experiencing the worst spate of species die-offs since the loss of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago," said a report from the Center for Biological Diversity. 

The Bad and the Good: Last year was tough for Florida panthers too, with one mother's three cubs killed in car accidents — and the mother suffered a broken leg after being hit too. But as Andrew Atkins of the Naples News tells us, biologists are actually heartened by that and other statistics, because they show there are more of the big cats being born as well as dying. “When we see the number of panther deaths that we’re seeing today, it’s actually a sign of a good thing — that we have more panthers out there," said biologist Darrell Land. Well, that's something.

Bridges for Bears: Do wildlife corridors work? While we're on the subject, what about those tunnels and bridges under and over roadways that are supposed to help animals make it safely to the other side? Karen Chavez with the Asheville Citizen-Times in North Carolina takes a closer look at how they work there and out West too.

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: Researchers studying the American West's Great Basin via satellite images and weather records have concluded that Nevada could see far less snow due to human-caused climate change. As Benjamin Spillman with the Reno Gazette-Journal notes, one paper reports seasonal snow coverage could shrink by 15 to 48 percent, depending on the amount of warming the region endures. A second concludes some areas could see the amount of time covered reduced by nearly three months.

POLITICAL CLIMATE: 

Sticking the landing: 2019 could be a winner for the California desert protection and recreation plan, as yours truly reports for The Desert Sun. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Rep. Paul Cook (R-Apple Valley) on Wednesday re-introduced bills to expand protections for 716,000 acres of Golden State desert, with backing from a powerful ally, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). The plan, years in the making, includes something for everyone: 200,000 acres for off-roading as well as 375,000 acres of new wilderness in Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks, San Bernardino National Forest and eight new Bureau of Land Management areas. An additional 77 miles of waterways would be designated as Wild and Scenic Rivers. Murkowski tucked it all into her larger public lands package, and Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell calendared it immediately, rather than making it go through the committee process. 

Rolling back the red tide: Pres. Trump on Monday authorized the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency to declare a “Harmful Algal Bloom of Significance” when it will have a detrimental impact on a state’s environment, economy, subsistence use or public health. As Ali Schmitz of Treasure Coast Newspapers reports, he signed into law a bill authorizing federal funding opportunities for communities affected by harmful algal blooms, like those that have affected the Florida coast and its inland lakes. Where's Mar-a-Lago exactly again?

No more taxpayer rebuilds for toppled homes: Ledyard King's got a sit-down interview with the new chair of the House of Representatives Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. "We are in a race against time," Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL) tells him. Most immediately, she wants to tackle fuel economy standards and work with the Financial Services Committee on a flood insurance reform bill. Asked if we should be rebuilding along the shore in the wake of fiercer storms and faced with rising seas, Castor says "We shouldn't be insuring at taxpayer expense homes and businesses that have been destroyed repeatedly on the shore. Folks know full well that they're in hurricane's path or flood's path and they do that on their own." Strong words from someone who represents a coastal district. But given the Republican Senate and Trump's intransigence on climate change, the odds of the committee pushing successfully for new policies are low, for the next two years at least. 

Lead of the Week (and a sad one): Bathrooms can be cleaned and trash can be picked up, but  Joshua trees cut down by vandals cannot be put back together, as Shane Newell reports in The Desert Sun. Media reports and National Parks Service photos show that several Joshua trees have been cut down since the partial government shutdown started nearly three weeks ago. Federal laws prohibit taking or damaging National Park wildlife and plants. Park Superintendent David Smith told National Parks Traveler, a nonprofit publication, that the trees were removed along with other extensive damage. "Joshua trees were actually cut down in order to make new roads.”

Park It: The park was set to be closed Thursday, but was ordered re-opened by higher-ups after Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said user fees could be tapped to pay for maintenance. Several national parks re-opened or were set to resume basic services like toilet cleaning and snow plowing, as Jacy Marmaduke with the Coloradoan and others report. Critics say the effort to fund operations with user fees is illegal and will hurt parks in the long run by hampering their ability to address long-backlogged capital projects. Phil Francis, chairman of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, called the Interior move a decision "meant to minimize political impact" of the shutdown without actually helping national parks.

PUBLIC HEALTH:

I Can't Breathe: Many folks think summer is the worst for smog, but for people with asthma and breathing problems, winter air pollution can feel deadly, as Priscilla Totiyapungprasert of the Arizona Republic reports. Downtown Phoenix is especially bad, with brown haze making it tough for seniors and other vulnerable people to go outside some days. 

POWER PLAYS:

In the pipeline:  A hearing on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline hearing is slated to go on Monday with no federal attorneys present to defend a State Deptartment-issued presidential permit, as Karl Puckett of Montana's Great Falls Tribune reports. The developer, TransCanada, is asking a Montana judge to stay his order blocking construction while it appeals his decision. And the company wants its day in court even though Department of Justice attorneys are prohibited from working because of the government shutdown. TransCanada asked the court not to delay the hearing, arguing DOJ isn't needed because the injunction concerns their business being adversely impacted by the delay. Opponents say the 1,200-mile pipeline from Canada tar sands to Gulf Coast refineries would destroy Native American lands and wreak environmental havoc. 

AND ANOTHER THING: 

Oh give me a home: One Arizona wildfire's aftermath is good for wildlife. As spring rains bring regrowth to areas cleared of old growth, Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep have been roaming the changed landscape that was once their home, munching on tasty grasses, flowering plants and other greenage that had all but disappeared. Priscilla Totiyapungprasert of the  Arizona Republic notes state game officials relocated the sheep, returning them to the historical habitat where they had been hunted and crowded out in previous decades.  

Finally, there's no Climate Point CO2 graphic this week. The government scientists who track the emissions have been furloughed. In its place, here's a graphic showing the only US city that experienced its hottest year on record last year. That would be Palm Springs, where I sit on a January day with temperatures that hit 80 in some spots. 

That's all for this week. For more climate, energy and environment news, follow me on Twitter @janetwilson66. You can sign up to get Climate Point in your inbox here