Deforestation In Idaho

Bakersfield California is a fun place for people to go on vacation. There is Beach Park, located near the city that has playing fields, bike paths, skate parks, and barbeque pits. There are lakes to go water skiing and boating, also Kern River County Park that has 50 campsites for a family to bring their children to enjoy a nice outdoor vacation. Restaurants, that force you to try new things and have the experience of eating in an older restaurant building. However, what most people don’t know is that Bakersfield, California is the most polluted places in the United States. In this paper, I will go over the pollution problems, geographic factors, climate conditions, and social activities that contribute to the buildup of air pollution in Bakersfield, California.

Living in both Northern and Southern Idaho all my life, it is sad to think how unaware I was of Idaho's remarkable land and history. "Idaho" by A.B. Guthrie opened my eyes and excellently portrayed Idaho as a beautiful and special place. In the beginning, Guthrie introduced the diverse landscapes that Idaho has to offer. From mountains to plains to volcanoes to glaciers, it helped paint the picture of Idaho's diverse land. In addition, I like how the author included the contrasting aspects of Northern and Southern Idaho. Showing how the North is known for the miners and loggers whereas the South is more known for the farmers and orchardists. Finally, I thought that the history Guthrie included about Idaho sealed the deal on how stunning the

The Central Valley is one of the many sites of where air pollution is most greatly produced. This is due to the vast majority of electricity, fuels, and transportation that people in the Central Valley utilize along with the amount of agriculture that is produced here. Many people go through their daily activities without thinking about how they are harming not only the environment but also the health and well being of humans. The cause of air pollution is not only due to natural events like volcanoes and wildfires but is mostly contributed to human activities. These include use of gases, the burning of wood, power generation, driving, the use of household and farming chemicals, and more! (Lad, 2016) Air pollution is interconnected with many health effects like upper respiratory infections and chronic respiratory diseases like asthma. (cdc.gov, 2016) However, there are many mitigation strategies that are being implemented to help address the health effects of air pollution.

As investigation continued, these same areas of Beaverton with the worst pollution in town also proved to house some of the poorest and uneducated persons living in Beaverton. Proper analysis of the statistics on these two areas of Beaverton showed some chilling facts. These two areas ranked at or above the 75th percentile on the demographic index, minority population, low income, linguistically isolated persons, and those with less than a high school education. Now, I began to realize that my hometown has environmental justice issues of its

The Central Valley consist of three major counties Modesto, Fresno and Bakersfield. Together these three counties produce a little over half of the nation’s produce. With a population of over 6.5 million people the Central Valley is also consider by Public Policy Institute of California the fastest growing region of California. With the ever growing population and growing need for more agriculture that leads to a larger air quality issue. This paper will discuss the sources, factors, roles, issues of the Central Valley’s air pollution as well as some possibilities of how the community can help.

These fires can also destroy homes and business in their paths of destruction that leads to the destruction of economic prosperity of citizens as well as the loss of jobs. The ash created by these fires can pollute water sources, leading to humans and other species having their source of clean water taken away from them. As seen this past summer, the fires also produce smoke that can travel with the wind for hundreds of miles across state borders. This smoke can be damaging to the health of citizens breathing it in and can even be life threatening to those who have respiratory issues. With the Keystone pipeline emphasizing an economy centered around the use of fossil fuels, Montanans and people across the United States should prepare for many more summers of unhealthy air and the destruction of land and homes.

"steward" is used to mean that no one can truly "own" the land, it can only be

Imagine drifting slowly on a canoe while fishing one of Minnesota's crystal clear waters on a beautiful, sunny day. Now imagine being interrupted by the loud, ongoing sounds of drilling and being told the fish were too dangerous to eat. This is only one of many potential harms of sulfide mining. PolyMet, a new mining company would like to bring sulfide mining, also known as copper-nickel mining to Minnesota. This would involve the extraction of copper and various other metals from sulfide, hence the name. The sulfide that comes out of this type of mining can have serious consequences on the environment. Events that occurred in the past and facts mentioned in the books titled Taconite Dreams by Jeffrey Manuel and Fractured Land by Lisa

The waterways can be divided into categories of water that has been affected by the Summitville mine and water that has not been affected. Based on the location of the waterways, the Beaver Mud Dump, the Headwaters of Wightman Fork, Schinzel Flats, Wightman Fork below mine, and the small creek from tailings pile would be directly affected by the contamination initiated by mining activity, while the Cattle Guard, Iron Creek, Alum Creek, Bitter Creek, and waterways around the Alamosa River would not be affected or as affected by the mining activity (refer to Figure 1). From the data collected this year, it can be inferred that the Beaver Mud Dump is by far the most metal-polluted body of water in the area; though the waterways affected by

environment. In my opinion, there can be no price put on the existence of any

The Tar Creek Superfund Site is part of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. The Tar Creek area is where lead and zinc were mined from 1900’s to the 1960’s. When the mining came to a halt over 500 million pounds of toxic waste was left over. This waste, called chat, has caused elevated blood lead concentrations in as high as 43% in some children. When the mines were abandoned they soon flooded. This resulted in contaminated ground water, surface water, and soil. In 1983, the site was put on the National Priorities List Sites. The Tar Creek area has been on the National Priorities List for 20 years and has a rating of 58.15. Cleanup of the site has occurred since the 1980’s and is still in progress today as various organizations such as the DEQ and

Deforestation is the permanent destruction of forests in order to make the land available for other uses. Half of the world’s tropical forests have been cleared or degraded. Some people ask why forests’ are being cleared. It is typically done to make more land available for other things like housing, cash crops, oil, and cattle ranching. Most of what everyone does with deforestation is said to be illegal. Common methods of deforestation are clear cutting and burning trees. The burning method can be done either quickly or slowly. Quickly for plantation use or more slowly using the slash and burn technique. The many reasons why farmers and other people do that is to get money to feed there family or like it was stated early, to make room for growing crops or livestock. Forests are cut down for many reasons, but most of them are related to people’s need to provide for there families or money. Logging operations, which provide the world’s paper and wood products, also cut a number of trees down each year. Loggers, some of them doing it illegally, also build roads to get to more and more remote forests, which leads to further deforestation. Not all deforestation is a terrible thing and intentional. Deforestation comes in handy when in need to build a new oil place. There are a lot of natural factors that play into deforestation like wildfires and subsequent overgrazing. Most of the deforestation occurs in the tropics, which is a terrible place because they have poor soil for

Of all the values plaguing Montana socially and environmentally, the issue of mining plays the greatest role in the state. Although recognized as being one of the largest pillars of Montana’s economy, mining poses a serious threat to the ecosystems surrounding it. The main problem within this industry is that after mining takes places, there are many toxic materials, like arsenic and zinc, that remain in the waste rock and tailings. These toxic substances are harmful to people as well as wildlife and once they enter the groundwater, rivers, or soil, they become a very serious health hazard. Currently, there are government regulations for all mining companies that assure none are participating in these harmful practices. Although many new companies

Iowa is synonymous with farmland. The name alone evokes images of cattle and a tractor plowing a field of corn. This is, however, a relatively new condition for the state since until its development a couple centuries ago, Iowa was covered in prairie and woodland. The rich soil that now enables Iowa to produce so much corn and soybeans only became rich because it grew undisturbed for thousands of years. This gave the land time to develop a network of trees, helping to retain minerals and bind the sediment together, creating nutrient-rich, compact soil. With the recent increase in deforestation, however, Iowa’s fertility is in jeopardy. During the past five years alone, ninety-seven thousand acres, or 11%, of the state’s total forests have been

The Silver Bow Creek watershed in southwest Montana encompasses approximately 474 square miles and forms a portion of the headwaters of the Clark Fork River and ultimately, the Columbia River (Montana Natural Resource Damage Program, 2009). The site covers about 26 miles of stream and stream side habitat. Silver Bow Creek was used as a conduit for mining, smelting, industrial and municipal wastes for more than a hundred years (Weitz, Luxenberg). Rather large amounts of mine tailings deposits are found along the creek. These deposits contain elevated levels of metals and have been dispersed over the entire flood plain (Weitz, Luxenberg).