Economic Recovery via Huntin’, Fishin’, and Eco-Tourism

Earlier this summer I read a news release that cited a recent report by the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) that said Americans who engage in outdoor activities annually contribute $646 billion in direct consumer spending to the U.S. economy.  This spending on outdoor activities and products supports 6.1 million jobs and generates $80 billion in federal, state and local tax revenue each year.

According to the OIA study, for every dollar spent on gear and vehicles, an estimated four dollars is spent on trips and travel, including guides, outfitters, lodges and many more small business owners.  So whether you prefer hiking or hunting or fishing or boating or some other form of eco-tourism, getting outside and into nature is good for your body, your soul, and our national economy.

So, speaking of eco-tourism … that was my rather obtrusive segue to begin talking about our kayaking excursion last week.  We spent last week in Lewes, Delaware, visiting family.  Lewes is right at the mouth of the Delaware Bay, and immediately south of it is where the Delaware barrier island beach towns begin.  Between the beach towns of Bethany Beach and Fenwick Island is Fenwick Island State Park where Coastal Kayak is located.

I’m happy to give Coastal Kayak a plug here, because this was the second tour that we’ve done with them, and both experiences were loads of fun and very educational.   They don’t just rent kayaks and turn you loose; they provide guides knowledgeable in both kayaking and in the ecosystems that they are showing you.

Last year, we did Coastal’s Salt Marsh tour in the bay on the west side of the barrier island near Fenwick.  It was a great experience, so, this year, we decided to try their Bald Cypress tour.  For the Bald Cypress tour, Coastal provides the kayaks, a guide, and transportation to Trap Pond State Park, about 40 minutes west of the beaches.  Trap Pond is the northernmost natural stand of bald cypress trees in the United States. The 90-acre pond was created in the late 1700s to power a sawmill used during the harvest of large bald cypress trees from the surrounding swamps. The Federal Government later purchased the pond and surrounding farmland during the 1930s, and the Civilian Conservation Corps developed the area for recreation. In 1951, Trap Pond became one of Delaware's first state parks.

That's me, paddling through the green ooze at the boat launch.

The water last Friday was a homogenous, opaque, bright green algal soup in the little cove where the boat launch was located.  But after we paddled to the open water of the pond, the water cleared up as much as it could.  The water in the pond is naturally going to have a  reddish-brownish tint, like tea, because the cypresses leach tannins into the water.  If you've ever canoed or kayaked in the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey, the tint of the water would be very similar.

As with much of the U.S. this summer, there are drought conditions in inland Delaware, so the water level in the pond was much lower than normal.  You can get a sense of how much lower the present water level was compared to normal by looking at the exposed base of the bald cypress trees.  The trees should be submerged up to the level where the trunk begins to taper upward.  The water looked to be at least 18 inches lower than normal.

There were several blue herons along the banks in the distance keeping an eye on us.  We also saw tons of turtles basking on logs and rocks throughout the pond.  From what I could figure out, I think all of the turtles we saw were Northern Red-bellied Cooters (which I had never heard of until I looked on the internet to try to ID the turtles that I photographed).  Their carapaces are about 12 inches, slightly domed and olive in color.

My wife and daughter paddling.

One of the streams that feeds Trap Pond has trail markers to guide canoeists and kayakers who want to explore further back into the swamp.  We were only able to get about 300 yards up the stream because the water level was too low for the kayaks to pass through any farther.  About 100 feet up the stream from the pond, we startled a blue heron perched in a nearby tree; he then proceeded to loudly scold us as he took off and flew about 20 feet over our heads with his 5-foot wingspan.  Very cool, with a sort of pre-historic vibe.  It could easily have been mistaken for a pterodactyl patrolling the swamp.

Ribbit!

When you are vacationing, a side trip like this can really give you an appreciation for ecosystems other than the one that you are most familiar near your home.  I am unquestionably a Do-It-Yourselfer, particularly when it comes to home repairs/improvements.  But for a couple-hour kayak trip like this Bald Cypress tour, enlisting the services of a reputable guide who can really open your eyes to an otherwise unfamiliar ecosystem will be worth every penny.  If you don’t try a guided eco-tour, you never know what you might miss.

When the Power of Persistence Prevails…

Last month when I was reading my June/July issue of the National Wildlife magazine, the column by National Wildlife Federation’s President and CEO, Larry Schweiger, grabbed my attention in a much deeper way than the great photography and interesting wildlife factoids that I usually appreciate in that magazine.

The column written by NWF’s Schweiger in the summer issue of National Wildlife was ostensibly about a victorious conservation battle that he had helped to wage on behalf of free-roaming bison in Wyoming and Montana.  While I’m happy for those bison, Schweiger’s column also the celebrated the life of Ralph W. Abele – D-Day hero, Boy Scout leader, and a giant of the conservation movement in his native Pennsylvania – in words that were inspired by Schweiger’s own friendship with Abele that began in the 1960s.  I’ll start with the bison battle, because that story will provide the context to talk about Ralph Abele.

Schweiger was on hand last March when a herd of more than 60 genetically pure bison were relocated from Yellowstone National Park to the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana.  Eventually, part of the Fort Peck herd will be moved to the nearby Fort Belknap Reservation where tribes residing there will also begin to propagate their own herd of bison.  Relocating the bison, which are sacred to Plains tribes of Native Americans, to tribal lands has been sought by Native Americans for over a century.

The last herd of free-roaming, genetically pure bison in the United States had been restricted primarily to Yellowstone National Park for the past several decades.  And over those years, to manage the size of the Yellowstone herd, thousands of Yellowstone bison were killed rather than relocated to grasslands outside of the park, because local cattle ranchers feared the bison might compete with their herds for grazing lands.  The NWF has worked over the past 20 years with the InterTribal Bison Cooperative toward restoring bison to Native American reservation lands.  So after years of lawsuits by ranchers and negotiations between tribal governments and state and federal agencies, the first herd of bison was moved to the Fort Peck Reservation on March 19 of this year.  The persistence of a handful of people working to do the right thing had finally paid off.

 “One person with enough tenacity can dig in his heels and say, ‘This much and no more.’ ... There are great causes to be followed, and victory always starts with one person hanging on by his teeth and saying, ‘I will never give in.’” – Ralph W. Abele

Coincidentally, three weeks ago, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and the Ralph W. Abele Conservation Scholarship Fund, dedicated a historical marker in front of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission headquarters in Harrisburg to honor Ralph Abele.  Ralph Abele (1921-1990) was the Fish and Boat Commission Executive Director from 1972 until his retirement in 1987.

Able was the only survivor from his landing craft at Normandy Beach on June 6, 1944.  He survived D-Day to fight in four more campaigns in the European theater in World War II.  In civilian life after the war, Abele, a former Boy Scout himself, went on to become a scout leader and was eventually one of Larry Schweiger’s most inspirational scout leaders.  Later, after Abele became head of the Fish and Boat Commission, Schweiger would eventually have the opportunity, in the 1980s, to work for Abele.

It was from Schweiger’s personal observations of Abele in action that he wrote, “Throughout his life, Abele inspired and commanded the fight to save the natural environment. He believed strongly in the right of everyone to "clean air, pure water, and the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and aesthetic values of the environment."  The italicized portion of Schweiger’s quote comes from Article 1, Section 27, of Pennsylvania’s Constitution.

For those of us who care deeply about the kind of environment that we will leave behind for our children and our children’s children, the call to duty is clear:  we must not relent.  We must continue to fight the battles, big and small, to prevent further degradation of our environment and the natural resources that comprise it.  There are plenty of opportunities to get involved:  it might be limited to financial support of a worthy conservation organization, or it might be boots on the ground and shovel in hand planting trees in a riparian buffer.  Whether our preferred cause is coldwater conservation to protect trout habitat or building and installing wood duck boxes in marshy meadows, everyone can get involved and help to make a difference.

“The unique power bestowed on each individual human being to do good and even change the course of history is quite often underestimated. Even with sophisticated organizations working on the cause of a conservation ethic, there is a tendency of most individuals to say, ‘What can I do?’ The same kind of logic prevails in elections when they say, ‘What can my vote do?’” – Ralph W. Abele

PA Court Overturns Pro-Gas-Industry Legislation … for now

In a 4-3 decision last Thursday, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court overturned a controversial law passed five months ago that gave unprecedented privileges to the natural gas industry.  Act 13’s reach stretched from the fees paid by gas companies for the gas they extract to allowing gas companies an exemption from any local zoning laws that stood in their way.  Ironically, the petition to have Act 13 declared null and void had almost nothing to do with the specter of groundwater contamination that is often a concern with gas drilling operations.  But first, I’ll give you the backstory.

The natural gas in question is contained in the Marcellus Shale formation, which spans from West Virginia, into southwestern PA, and then makes a broad swath north and east across much of the northern half of PA and a bit into southern New York.   The mad rush by gas companies to tap into the Marcellus gas play and get it to market began about four years ago when updated estimates of the potential volume of gas in the Marcellus formation were released.  The technology to extract the gas, horizontal drilling and hydrofracturing, has been around for several years, but until the huge, revised potential volume of gas in the Marcellus came to light, it was not deemed economically feasible to go after this gas.

Despite there being a modest history of natural gas production in western PA, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) was not ready to oversee the current gas boom in PA, because regulators were unable to put the regulatory infrastructure in place as quickly as gas companies were able to mobilize the capital equipment and workers from the Texas gas fields to the PA gas fields.  As a result of the PADEP’s slow response to the Marcellus boom, the spike in gas production from the Marcellus began about three years before the PA legislature was able to pass a bill that contained a system for charging drillers a fee for the gas that was being extracted and sent to market.

Every other gas producing state has what is called a severance tax that the state charges gas companies based on the value of gas produced.  A severance tax is imposed by the state and is separate from lease fees and royalties paid to the landowners.  Instituting a severance tax was debated right up through the 2010 PA gubernatorial election.  However, the winner of that election, Republican Tom Corbett, made a No Tax pledge as part of his campaign.  It seems that Gov. Corbett’s No Tax pledge was not just for PA residents.  When asked during his campaign about a gas severance tax, Corbett stated that his No Tax pledge would also apply to a severance tax for gas companies.  Not coincidentally, Corbett received nearly $1 million in campaign contributions from gas companies and their lobbyists.

Earlier this year, Corbett had no trouble getting Act 13 approved by the Republican-controlled PA State Senate and Legislature.  Part of Act 13 included a fee system in which gas companies would be charged by the amount of gas they produce from wells in PA, but the fee revenue would go to the counties in which the gas was extracted and not into state coffers (thereby making it a local service fee rather than a tax levied by the state).  Establishing the local severance fee in place of a state severance tax was an unfortunate missed opportunity for a new revenue stream in PA that could have funded sorely needed highway infrastructure repairs as well as providing replacement revenue for cuts in education and conservation programs made by Corbett while putting together his balanced budget.  But the missed severance tax opportunity was not what triggered the lawsuit by seven PA municipalities against Act 13.

The other feature of Act 13 – the one that created the backlash that landed it in Commonwealth Court last week – was the section of the Act that prohibited municipalities from enforcing any local zoning regulations that would have prevented gas companies from drilling wells where they wanted to put them (assuming, of course, that they obtained a valid lease with the owner of the land in question).  It’s easy for suburbanites in southeastern PA, or the Lehigh Valley, or any other non-gas producing county in PA to feel like they are unaffected by this provision of Act 13.  Well, hold on.  It goes further than gas-producing counties, because Act 13 would also have waived zoning prohibitions for companies gas compressor stations and gas pipelines.  So if a gas pipeline company wanted to buy a bunch of homes in your subdivision to run a pipeline through it, your municipality would have been unable to use its zoning laws to prevent them from doing so.  The zoning regs would still apply to you if you wanted to demolish your house and build a small asphalt plant where your 1,800 square-foot Cape Cod had stood.  Only gas companies and gas pipeline companies would be exempt from the zoning laws that apply to all other businesses and individuals in your municipality. 

Predictably, on Friday afternoon, the Corbett administration filed an appeal of the Commonwealth Court’s decision of one day earlier.  We’ll now wait to hear whether the PA Supreme Court will agree to hear Corbett’s appeal.  If the Supreme Court agrees to hear Corbett’s appeal, I hope they understand that zoning laws are not a burden on landowners seeking to use their property as they wish; rather, zoning laws are the first line of defense for landowners to be protected from potentially poor land use decisions by their neighbors.

I also hope that the high court takes to heart one particular portion of the Commonwealth Court’s ruling, which found that Act 13 was in defiance of Article 1, Section 27, of the Pennsylvania Constitution:

"The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and for the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and aesthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania's public natural resources are the common property of all the people. …"

And I’m pretty certain that the framers of our state constitution did not count corporations – whether they are from in-state or out of state – among the “people” of Pennsylvania.