By Maria Fisher - Associated Press

 

 KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Two conservation groups have sued the Environmental Protection Agency for its decision to register pesticides that curtail prairie dogs, the main source of food for the endangered black-footed ferret.
    The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., by Defenders of Wildlife and Audubon of Kansas, says the chemicals threaten other species, and that in issuing registrations for their use, the EPA is violating the federal Endangered Species Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and other federal laws.
    The lawsuit claims the EPA failed to heed warnings from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that registrations of the chemicals chlorophacinone and diphacinone "be disapproved or rescinded because of known and potential impacts to wildlife."
    It seeks an injunction against the registration in 10 states of Rozol, which contains chlorophacinone, and the local use of Kaput-D, which contains diphacinone. The chemicals cause internal bleeding.
    EPA spokesman Dale Kemery said the agency planned to release a federal register notice next week related to the lawsuit.
    "We are treating this request as a petition to suspend this use of Rozol," he said in an e-mail Tuesday. "The docket will include the risk assessments as well as letters from other parties expressing similar concerns."
    Kemery said the EPA issued a similar notice about Kaput-D earlier this month.
    "Once we receive and evaluate public comment on these notices, we will determine the future course of action," he said.
    The lawsuit, filed Sept. 23, takes issue with EPA's decision in May to approve the use of Rozol to target black-tailed prairie dogs in Kansas, Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming. 
 (Click Here to Read Full Article....)

By Mike Corn - Hays Daily-News

 

RUSSELL SPRINGS -- The accomodations might be spartan, to say the least, but for Don Redecker it's an outdoor adventure of unparalleled proportion -- right down to the outdoor shower at a nearby windmill.
And he's being paid for the adventure.
Redecker's time south of Russell Springs is a simple life: sleeping under the stars when the weather's fine, only moving inside -- under the protection offered by an overhanging porch -- when the rain is falling. He's without a phone, but pens letters by the hundreds to his son, wife and his siblings, all of whom are in the eastern part of Kansas. And they are just as eager to write back.
At 61 years old, Redecker is undertaking something of a monumental task for Audubon of Kansas, which hired him to install 10 miles of chicken wire fence on the Haverfield-Barnhardt-Blank ranch complex where the highly endangered black-footed ferrets have been reintroduced and are reproducing.
The idea behind the fence is to add yet another barrier to the movement of black-tailed prairie dogs, upon which the ferrets depend for survival, offering food and shelter. While neighboring landowners have objected to the reintroduction of the ferrets, it's the prairie dogs that are at the heart of the controversy.
In a sense Redecker's task epitomizes Robert Frost's epic poem, "Mending Wall" in which the immortal words, "Good fences make good neighbors" are written. 

(Click Here to Read Full Article...)

 

 

Topeka Audubon Society -  

 

Five members of Topeka Audubon and one granddaughter met for the first Beginning Birding walk of the season. The highlights were a flock of around 25 Scissor tailed Flycatchers and about 30 Wood Ducks. These were highlights for the experienced birders and the new birding girl.

 

The next Beginning Bird Walk will be held October 28th at Lake Shawnee.  Meet at the Heated Fishing Dock at 6:30 AM.

 

 

 

We would like to showcase each Audubon Chapter across the state in our newsletters.  If you have something you would like announced in the AOK Newsletter, please send it to mike.hudson@audubonofkansas.org.