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  • Lift off: Flying back from edge of extinction

    Lift off: Flying back from edge of extinction

    Lift off: Flying back from edge of extinction

    Operation Migration and the endangered whooping crane
    Reason to “whoop”: Central Wisconsin is welcoming back “snowbirds” — Nana and Papa are packing up suitcases and closing down condos on Florida’s sunny shores and heading home. But actual snowbirds are flying 1,000-plus miles over the United States to nest in Wisconsin’s woods and marshes, backyards and shorelines.Among them is one of North America’s most magnificent birds, the whooping crane, a species on the edge of extinction decades ago and still endangered. Just 21 whooping cranes existed in North America in 1941, but today the population is about 600.

     

    “I’m not a sentimental person,” said whooper enthusiast Karen Murphy, who lives near St. Marks Wildlife Refuge in St. Marks, Florida, one of the places where the birds winter. “But my God, when you see a whooping crane soar, it’s emotional.”

    The rescuers — a team of scientists, government officials, ultralight pilots, nonprofit organizers, philanthropists and volunteers — come across as humble, focused more on the day-to-day activity of the birds than on their extraordinary battle against extinction.

    But they do recognize the magnitude of guaranteeing the existence of Grus Americana.

    “We’re reintroducing this bird for a whole number of reasons. For one, it deserves to be here. And, if you save whooping cranes, you have to save habitat. And habitat also is essential for our survival,” said Joseph Duff, CEO and co-founder of Operation Migration Inc., the nonprofit playing a crucial role in establishing the Eastern Migratory Flock of cranes. Operation Migration helps prepare juvenile whoopers for migration and leads the young cranes to Florida using ultralight aircraft, with Duff as the lead pilot.

    In early April, Duff was at OM’s headquarters in Ontario, Canada, where he awaited reports from the cranes’ winter grounds in Florida, and from Wisconsin, where a ground crew eagerly awaited the return of the birds.

    As WiG went to press, one crane in the 2014 class — “7-14,” for the hatch order and year — and two adult cranes arrived in Marquette County, Wisconsin. Five other class members went soaring on April 3, departing with an adult crane to guide them to central Wisconsin. The next morning, the cranes were over Alabama.

    For the Operation Migration crew, the spring migration is a real test of their feathered students.

    The class of 2014 began the 1,250-mile trek from Wisconsin’s White River Marsh to Florida last October. But bad weather kept grounding the cranes and the ultralights. The flyers covered just 52 miles in 32 days. Eventually, the team had to crate the birds and move on to Carroll, Tennessee, skipping miles on the migration route for a species that learns to fly by “imprinting.”

    “We’ve never broken their train of knowledge,” Duff said. “So the big concern: How do they know the way back?”

    Crane 7-14 returned to Wisconsin without having flown part of the route in the fall, but the question remains for the others, who were over Kentucky on April 8.

    Wonderful whoopers

    Whooping cranes are remarkable birds, a species that dates back 50 million years. Adult cranes stand 5 feet tall, with a wingspan of more than 7 feet. They are bright white, with a crown of red and wings tipped with black.

    “To see one in the wild would be at the top of any birder’s lifelist,” said Charlie McCurdy, a Wisconsin bird-watcher who follows Operation Migration cranes online, including on the Crane Cam.

    Decades of unregulated hunting and destruction of their habitat nearly destroyed the species. Today just one self-sustaining wild population exists — the birds that summer in the Northwest Territories of Canada and winter at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. The long-term fate of the species remains uncertain.

    By the early 1960s, concerned that disease or a single weather catastrophe could wipe out the flock, conservationists began exploring ways to establish new populations. In 1975, scientists collected whooper eggs from nests in Canada and placed them with sandhill cranes at Gray’s Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Idaho, finding some success.

    But by the mid-1990s, conservationists were seriously looking at the novel idea of using ultralight aircraft to teach juvenile whooping cranes to migrate. And, by 2001, the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership began introducing a new migratory flock — the Wisconsin birds — into North America. Additionally, non-migratory flocks were introduced in Florida and Louisiana.

    Approval for the migratory whooping crane program followed other successful test programs. Operation Migration already had ultralight pilots leading Canada geese, trumpeter swans and sandhill cranes on migrations.

    Canadian naturalist Bill Carrick, in the 1980s, learned he could imprint Canada geese to follow his boat. Then Canadian ultralight pilot Bill Lishman succeeded in 1988 in flying with geese. He documented the adventure in C’mon Geese, an award-winning video that caught the attention of Terry Kohler of Sheboygan.

    Kohler, a pilot, environmentalist and longtime supporter of the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, showed the video to George Archibald, ICF co-founder and a world-renowned crane expert.

    An idea was hatched

    “George contacted Bill and Bill was interested. He asked me. I said sure,” Duff recalled. “And the more I got involved, the more interested I became.”

    But before the first successful ultralight migration with whoopers, there were other adventures. Lishman recruited Duff, a pilot and commercial photographer, to fly with 18 Canada geese from Ontario to Virginia, in 1993 — a trip documented by ABC’s 20/20.

    A year later, Operation Migration became a Canadian charity. And the next year, Lishman and Duff formed a production company and partnered with Columbia Pictures to produce Fly Away Home, a film starring Jeff Daniels and Anna Paquin and telling a fictionalized story about a man migrating with geese.

    Duff chuckled when asked about continued interest in the movie.

    “It was a long time ago,” said Duff, who trained the geese for the film and provided footage. “It was a lot of fun to do it and gave us some funding.”

    The film brought fame to Operation Migration’s work.

    And then, in 1998, there was more fame.

    Building a recovery

    Operation Migration’s successes with other species convinced the International Whooping Crane Recovery Team that cranes could imprint and follow an ultralight along a pre-determined migratory route to winter grounds.

    “Our aircraft creates a wake behind it,” Duff said. And the birds feel that and learn to fly in a long line off the wing tip. “If we match the speed perfectly, then the bird just hangs there, just gets carried along by the aircraft.”

    The Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership was formed in 1999. Founding members include the International Crane Foundation, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Operation Migration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Wildlife Health Center, Whooping Crane Recovery Team, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and Wisconsin Natural Resources Foundation.

    The goal is to have a flock of 125 birds in Wisconsin by 2020, including 25 nesting pairs producing 18–20 chicks a year. The federal goal for the species in North America is to establish a self-sustaining population of at least 1,000 cranes by 2035.

    The captive-born cranes in the class of 2014 hatched at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Maryland, home to the world’s largest breeding flock of whoopers.

    There, and at every station throughout the program, caretakers conceal their humanness from the cranes. Chicks exposed to humans become imprinted on them. So, even though caretakers act as surrogate parents, they do so in costumes. They don’t speak in the company of cranes. They use crane puppets when feeding the birds. They shield the birds from man-made structures and equipment. They play tapes of bird calls in the hatchery, the pens and from the aircraft. The caretakers and trainers also play recordings of ultralight aircraft engine noise, helping the birds imprint on the aircraft and conditioning them to fly with the machine — if only for the southern migration.

    Before fledging, the cranes go from Patuxent to Wisconsin for flight lessons. Initially, populations were introduced in Wisconsin at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, which remains the summer breeding ground for much of the Eastern flock.

    However, black flies proved a problem at Necedah, and the summer trainings were relocated five years ago to the “Wisconsin Rectangle,” a wetlands area that includes Horicon National Wildlife Refuge and White River Marsh.

    Last fall, the cranes departed for Florida from the White River Marsh.

    And that’s where 7-14 headed this spring.

    “We’re really pleased,” Duff said.

    But much work remains to protect the species.

    “When you save a whooping crane, you have to save habitat, and everything else that makes a wetland work,” said Duff. “You see, conservation is not just nice to do. It’s important to our survival.”

    Overhead …

    Operation Migration flyover and stopover sites, from Wisconsin to Florida in the fall and Florida to Wisconsin in the spring, include, by county:

    WISCONSIN: Green Lake, Marquette, Columbia, Green and Winnebago.

    ILLINOIS: LaSalle, Livingston, Piatt, Cumberland and Wayne.

    KENTUCKY: Union and Marshall.

    TENNESSEE: Carroll, Hardin.

    ALABAMA: Walker, Chilton, Lowndes, Pike.

    GEORGIA: Decatur.

    FLORIDA: Leon and Wakulla.

    Source: Operation Migration

     

  • Massive environmental march a prelude to U.N. meeting

    The alarm has sounded for years. Now, a draft U.N. report on the environment warns that global warming is here, caused by people, unquestionably dangerous and possibly irreversible.

    With this news, activists from across the country will converge on New York City on Sept. 21 for what could become the largest climate change march in history — the People’s Climate March.

    “Thousands of people from across the world, from all walks of life, will stand as one calling for global climate action,” said Frances Beinecke of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “This event will show the world’s most powerful leaders that people are united in their support of this cause and want to see ambitious climate action today. It is time for world leaders to rise to the challenge.”

    In late August, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change circulated the draft of a 127-page report on the state and the future of the planet. “Continued emission of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and long-lasting changes in all components of the climate system, increasing the likelihood of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems,” the paper states.

    The report warns that if the world continues to pump greenhouse gases at an accelerating rate, it’s likely that by mid-century temperatures will increase by about another 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit compared to temperatures from 1986 to 2005. And by the end of the century, that scenario will bring temperatures that are about 6.7 degrees warmer.

    “Climate change is the crisis of our times,” said Bridget Burns, advocacy and communications director of the Women’s Environment and Development Organization. “For too long now, political posturing, greed and complacency in ‘business as usual’ has taken precedent over justice, equality, action and ambition. But change is not something which you wait for, it’s something that you make happen.”

    WEDO is one of the many organizations involved in the march, which is being held to demand action from world leaders who, in the fal,l will begin 18 months of international negotiations. Climate negotiators will meet in New York and Copenhagen this fall, then head to Peru in December to work on a global climate deal. In September 2015, world leaders will again meet in New York to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals. Three months later, leaders will gather in Paris to negotiate a climate treaty.

    Some 750 groups — from the largest transit workers union in New York City to a coalition of Buddhist monks — are involved in staging the march.

    The scale of organizing rivals a major electoral campaign, with thousands of volunteers, daily phone-banks and canvases in New York City, and a major online operation to turn out people for the march that begins at Columbus Circle.

    Trains and hundreds of buses are bringing people to New York, including dedicated trains from San Francisco and D.C. and buses from multiple points outside of New York, including Madison. Much of the recruitment is taking place on college campuses.

    “Young people are coming to the streets of New York in huge numbers to stand up and say we’ve had enough — we’re not going to sit back and wait for politicians to save our future,” said Adam Hasz of the environmental group SustainUS. “Instead, we’re on the front lines fighting extractive industries and proposing just policies to confront climate change and its impacts on the most vulnerable. The People’s Climate March will show that a better future is not only possible, but underway.”

    In August, at a warehouse in Bushwick, artists were at work creating giant sculptures, floats and banners for the march. Others were designing posters for a subway campaign.

    “The energy buzzing around the march organizing headquarters here in New York is palpable,” said May Boeve, executive director of the activist group 350.org. “Every day, volunteers are hitting the phones, streets and Internet to turn people out. …This effort has already helped build the type of movement infrastructure we need to take the climate fight to the next level.”

    Hundreds of events coincide with the NYC march: 

    • In New Delhi, people will take to the streets on Sept. 20 to demand a renewable energy revolution.

    • In Australia, organizers are expecting hundreds of individual events to take place across the country.

    • In London, groups are planning a march through the city to the steps of Parliament.

    • In Berlin, three parallel marches will combine forces in a festival.

    • In Paris, local groups will create the Paris Marche pour le Climat, with parades, marches and bicycle rides planned across the bridges of the Seine.

    • Events are also being organized in Kathmandu, Rio, Sao Paulo, Jakarta, Dublin, Manila, Seoul, Mumbai, Istanbul, Ghana, Kenya, DRC, Nigeria, Guinea and Johannesburg.

    Marching out of Madison

    Activists with 350 Madison are organizing a Wisconsin contingent for the People’s Climate March in New York on Sept. 21.

    “We will bring our message that Wisconsin is becoming a major battleground in the fight against climate change,” said a statement from the grassroots environmental group.

    350 Madison said utilities in Wisconsin are proposing “billing schemes that are a huge detriment to renewable energy and energy efficiency” and that the Canadian company Enbridge Energy “plans to expand the Line 61 pipeline, which traverses our beautiful state from Superior to Delavan, to carry more toxic tar sands than what the controversial Keystone XL pipeline would carry.”

    The grassroots group also raised concerns for “trains, carrying the potentially explosive Bakken oil,” traveling through many Wisconsin communities.

    Get connected

    For more information, details on travel scholarships or to purchase tickets for the bus trip from Madison to New York City, go online to http://350madison.wordpress.com/upcoming-events/peoples-climate-march-nyc/.

  • Ride on: Public transportation use reaches 57-year high, but not in Wisconsin

    Ride on: Public transportation use reaches 57-year high, but not in Wisconsin

    Americans took 10.7 billion trips on public transportation in 2013, which is the highest annual public transit ridership number in 57 years.

    “Americans in growing numbers want to have more public transit services in their communities,” said American Public Transit Association board chair Peter Varga, who also is the CEO of The Rapid transit system in Grand Rapids, Mich. “Public transportation systems nationwide — in small, medium and large communities — saw ridership increases. Some reported all-time high ridership numbers.”

    But the trend didn’t carry over to Wisconsin: Madison’s system reported a slight bump in bus use, an increase of 1.02 percent, but Port Washington reported a decrease of 2.78 percent. Milwaukee reported a decrease of 2.36 percent and Racine’s system reported a 3.7 percent drop in bus ridership, according to APTA.

    The public transit agencies reporting record ridership in 2013 included Ann Arbor, Mich.; Cleveland; Denver; Espanola, N.M.; Flagstaff, Ariz.; Fort Myers, Fla.; Indianapolis; Los Angeles; New Orleans; Oakland, Calif.; Pompano Beach, Fla.; Riverside, Calif.; Salt Lake City; San Carlos, Calif.; Tampa, Yuma, Ariz.; and New York City.

    Ridership was up 37.2 percent since 1995, outpacing population growth, which was up 20.3 percent, and outpacing vehicle miles, which was up 22.7 percent since 1995.

    “There is a fundamental shift going on in the way we move about our communities. People in record numbers are demanding more public transit services and communities are benefiting with strong economic growth,” said APTA president and CEO Michael Melaniphy. “Access to public transportation matters. Community leaders know that public transportation investment drives community growth and economic revitalization.”

    Another reason behind the ridership increases is the economic recovery in certain areas. When more people are employed, public transportation ridership increases — nearly 60 percent of the trips taken on public transportation are for work commutes, according to the APTA.

    In the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’s most recent report, Wisconsin ranked 35th in job creation.

    “The federal investment in public transit is paying off and that is why Congress needs to act this year to pass a new transportation bill,” said Melaniphy.

    The report showed:

    • Bus ridership increased by 3.8 percent in cities with populations below 100,000. Nationally, bus ridership in communities of all sizes remained stable.

    • Large bus systems with increases were reported by Washington, D.C., Houston, Cincinnati and Seattle.

    • Subway and elevated train ridership increased by 2.8 percent across the country as eight out of 15 transit systems reported increases.

    • Commuter rail ridership increased by 2.1 percent across the country, with 20 out of 28 transit systems reporting increases. With a new rail line that opened in December 2012, commuter rail in Salt Lake City saw an increase of 103.3 percent. Meanwhile, double-digit increases were reported in Austin, Texas; Harrisburg-Philadelphia; Anchorage, Alaska; Lewisville, Texas; Stockton, Calif.; Minneapolis, Minn.; and Portland, Ore.

    • For light rail — modern streetcars, trolleys and heritage trolleys — ridership increased 1.6 percent in 2013 with 17 out of 27 transit systems reporting increases.

    Wisconsin lags

    As for public transportation bus trips, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation says there’s been a decline from 76.4 million in 2000 to 65.7 million in 2012.

    Transportation experts cite state funding cuts as a reason for the decline.

    Al Stanek, parking and transit systems manager for Racine, said state cuts led the Belle Urban System to raise its fares but reduce its bus service hours by more than 10 percent in two years. “In the middle of the day, we went to buses running just once an hour,” he said. “It’s about the bare minimum you can provide service. If you missed the bus, now you’d be standing out in the cold for an hour, an hour and a half.”

    Milwaukee County avoided cuts in bus service with a federal grant that runs out this year, said Brendan Conway, spokesman for Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele. But the county already had been raising fares and cutting services for more than a decade. Buses in the Milwaukee area travel 22 percent fewer miles than they did in 2000.

    Wisconsin also discourages commuters with its lack of rail service and rapid transit, said Rob Henken, president of the Public Policy Forum. Rail services showed the biggest gains in ridership in the APTA report, he noted.

    Republican Gov. Scott Walker killed a high-speed rail project planned under former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle to connect Madison and Milwaukee.

    To deal with the decline in service, a group of 15 state senators has introduced bills aimed at improving public transportation in the state. The proposals would:

    • Require the DOT to submit a state rail plan every two years.

    • Increase state aid for each class of mass transit systems in the state and restore transit cuts made in 2011.

    • Require the DOT to establish a transit capital assistance program.

    • Increase funding for the specialized transportation assistance program.

    Sponsoring state Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona, said, “Transit plays such a critical role in the vitality of our communities. The direct benefit to public transit users is enormous. For many Wisconsin residents, their only means of getting to a job, to go to a store or to the polls is by public transit.”

    The AP contributed to this report.

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  • Wisconsin grows initiative to save seeds

    An online store opened in mid-April, in time for vegetable growers to get seeds to plant for a summer or fall harvest. What makes the store unique is that it is an outlet for the Open Source Seed Initiative, a campaign affiliated with UW-Madison and established in 2011 by plant breeders, farmers, sustainable food system advocates, educators and others concerned about the decreasing availability of non-patented seeds.

    Many of the big crop plants — specifically field corn and soybeans — already are restricted through patents, licenses and other forms of intellectual property protection. So are an increasing number of vegetable, fruit and small grain seeds. Those patented seeds cannot be shared, saved or even replanted by growers in the next year.

    The Center for Food Safety, a watchdog and advocacy group, says the No. 1 threat to seed biodiversity is this corporate takeover of seeds.

    Seed development and distribution in the United States, until the last few decades, was largely under the purview of the public sector and augmented by hundreds of small seed-breeder businesses, which acted mainly as distributors of publicly developed seed varieties. Today, the 10 top companies control 65 percent of proprietary seed, according to the CFS.

    And companies aggressively defend their property rights. Monsanto has sued farmers in 27 states and won more than $24 million in 72 judgments from farmers, according to CFS.

    “Many public breeders don’t have the freedom to operate,” said Jack Kloppenburg, the author of First the Seed and a UW-Madison professor involved in the OSSI.

    The initiative distributed its first seed packets — 29 types of organic seeds are available — on April 17. The launch occurred on the International Day of Struggle in Defense of Peasants’ and Farmers’ Seeds, which was marked with a rally on the university campus, followed by a teach-in.

    Participants in the events pledged to work to keep the seeds freely available to anyone who wants them.

    “These vegetables are part of our common cultural heritage and our goal is to make sure these seeds remain in the public domain for people to use in the future,” said professor Irwin Goldman, a plant breeder and UW-Madison horticulture professor involved in the effort.

    Goldman, Kloppenburg and others in the OSSI took a cue from the open source software movement that provided alternatives to proprietary computer software. The seed initiative was created to ensure that the genes in at least some seeds can never be owned, patented and held as intellectual property.

    Goldman has described the OSSI as something like a national park for seeds. The people’s park includes “Full Pint” barley from Oregon State University, “Midnight Lightning” zucchini from High Mowing Organic Seed Co., “Siber-Frill” kale and “Emerald Fan” lettuce from Lupine Knoll Farm, “Oranje” and “Sovereign” carrots from the University of Wisconsin, plus seeds for broccoli, celery, cress, mustard, quinoa, squash and sweet peppers.

    “These seed varieties and new strains arising from them can never be owned by anyone but the public, and that is important to us as a commercial seed company with a social mission at its core,” said Tom Stearns of High Mowing.

    To spread the word about the effort and to put the seeds into circulation, the OSSI is mailing packets to first lady Michelle Obama, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and author Michael Pollan, who wrote in The Omnivore’s Dilemma that “the single greatest lesson the garden teaches is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum, and that as long as the sun still shines and people still can plan and plant, think and do, we can, if we bother to try, find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the world.”

    Each packet is marked with a pledge. By opening the packet, “You pledge that if you transfer these seeds or their derivatives, they will also be accompanied by this pledge.”

    “It creates a parallel system, a new space where breeders and farmers can share seeds,” Kloppenburg said of the initiative. “And because it applies to derivatives, it makes for an expanding pool of germplasm that any plant breeder can freely use.”

    Goldman said the pledge is so short it almost reads like a haiku.

    “It basically says these seeds are free to use in any way you want. They can’t be legally protected. Enjoy them.”

    Seeding a movement

    The pledge: “This Open Source Seed Pledge is intended to ensure your freedom to use the seed contained herein in any way you choose, and to make sure those freedoms are enjoyed by all subsequent users. By opening this packet, you pledge that you will not restrict others’ use of these seeds and their derivatives by patents, licenses or any other means. You pledge that if you transfer these seeds or their derivatives, you will acknowledge the source of these seeds and accompany your transfer with this pledge.”

    The store can be found online at www.opensourceseedinitiative.org/store. The introductory package, selling for $25, includes an assortment of 15 seed packets, including “Midnight Lightning” zucchini, “Red Ursa” kale, “Gatherer’s Gold” pepper, “Joker Lettuce” and more.

  • State of the Birds: 230 species face serious threats

    In 40 years, the population of wild passenger pigeons went from 2-3 billion to none. Today, hundreds of species, with their habitats disappearing and their climate changing, face critical threats and need conservation help.

    This week, 100 years after the extinction of the passenger pigeon, a team of scientists involved with the U.S. Committee of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative released the expansive 2014 State of the Birds Report. The document is based on extensive reviews of population data from long-term monitoring of species.

    The report’s authors identified aridlands of the West as the habitat with the steepest population declines in the nation. The report shows a 46 percent decline since 1968 for birds in Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, places where desert, sagebrush and chaparral habitats have been destroyed or fragmented by development.

    The report also emphasizes a significant threat to species that breed in the nation’s grasslands, such as the eastern meadowlark and the bobolink.

    “This report,” says Wayne Clough, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, “highlights the threats that birds face, but it also offers hope for their future if we act together.”

    Habitat loss and fragmentation are at the top of the threat list, but invasive species also are seriously impacting birds, especially on the islands of Hawaii. One-third of U.S. federally endangered birds are Hawaiian species, according to the report’s authors.

    Meanwhile, shorebirds along the U.S. coasts are being “squeezed into shrinking strips of habitat due to development.”

    The report’s authors created a watch list, which names 233 species that are endangered or at risk of becoming endangered without significant conservation, and a list of 32 common birds in steep decline.

    The watch list includes 42 open ocean species, including the Laysan albatross and the black-footed albatross, both threatened by increased levels of oil contamination, plastic pollution and reduced prey fish due to commercial fishing operations.

    The watch list includes half of the shorebird species found in the United States, including the red knot, piping plover and long-billed curlew.

    Thirty neotropical migrants — birds that breed in North America and migrate south of the border in the winter — are on the watch list.

    The positive emphasized in the State of the Birds Report: Targeted conservation efforts directly benefit birds. The scientists observed a steady rise in populations among 49 coastal species that have access to national wildlife refuges and national seashores.

    And in the Appalachian Mountains and the Northwest, land conservation has helped declining species such as the golden-winged warbler and the oak titmouse.

    In a news release issued with the report, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said, “Because the ‘state of the birds’ mirrors the state of their habitats, our national wildlife refuges, national parks, national seashores and other public lands are critical safe havens for many of these species — especially in the face of climate change — one of the biggest challenges to habitat conservation for all species in the 21st century.”

  • Frac sand mining threatens health, welfare in Wisconsin

    Frac sand mining threatens health, welfare in Wisconsin

    Victoria Trinko hasn’t opened the windows in her Wisconsin farmhouse in two years. And when she goes outdoors on the farm her family has operated in Chippewa County since 1936, she often wears a mask.

    Trinko lives less than a mile from a frac sand mining operation — and that’s nothing like living less than a mile from a sandy beach.

    There has been a lot of attention to the harms associated with the hydraulic fracturing method of gas and oil extraction, but much less focus on related industries. Fracking involves intensive use of chemicals, water and fuel at drilling sites, as well as extensive build-out of pipelines and the heavy use of transportation fuel for trucks, barges and train engines. It produces huge volumes of liquid waste. And fracking requires enormous volumes of fine-particle sand found in certain regions of the country, including Wisconsin and Minnesota.

    A frac sand mining operation began in 2011 near Trinko’s farm. Throughout the summer and fall of that year, Trinko, a town clerk for Cooks Valley, raised concerns at local meetings. The “dust” from the mining clung to her clothes. Grit coated her teeth. Whatever she was breathing, it irritated her throat and damaged her respiratory system.

    In a raspy voice, Trinko recently described life near a frac sand mine. She was participating in a Sept. 25 news conference call prompted by the release of a report on the proliferation of such operations in Wisconsin and Minnesota and the medical, environmental, economic consequences.

    “The billowing of silica sand has not abated since the mine was constructed in 2011,” she said.

    Trinko now suffers from asthma and lives with the daily use of an inhaler and nasal spray. People don’t like to visit the farmhouse, which her daughter said smells like someone “just swept the garage.” Trucks rumble past the farm every few minutes, five or six days a week.

    Her home, Trinko said, “is not a healthy place to live.”

    Her daughter “worries that my life expectancy is going to be shortened,” she added.

    Communities at risk

    A new report, Communities at Risk: Frac Sand Mining in the Upper Midwest, warns that thousands face threats from the 164 frac sand mining facilities concentrated in Wisconsin and Minnesota. They operate with little or no government oversight for the impacts on air and water.

    Researchers examined permitting and monitoring, water and air quality, impacts of silica dust on human health, projected declines in property values and the expense of building and rebuilding infrastructure.

    In fracking, the sand holds open the fractures created by the water, sand and chemicals pumped into the earth to allow for the extraction of natural gas and oil. The more frac sand used per well, the higher the yield. Frackers will use about 95 billion pounds of frac sand this year.

    Researchers have identified 164 active frac sand facilities and proposals for another 20 in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Their report said Wisconsin was “overrun by the industry prior to any understanding of the scale and impacts of the industry,” while Minnesota has been more cautious. The number of operations in Wisconsin increased from seven in 2010, the year Scott Walker was elected governor, to 145.

    Midwest mining

    A frac sand operation involves:

    • Removing the plants, soil or rock above a sand deposit.

    • Excavating the sand, which includes blasting and crushing.

    • Processing the sand, including rinsing it with water and chemicals.

    • Piling and storing the sand.

    • Transporting the sand.

    Eventually, the mined-out property is reclaimed, which may or may not include an effort to restore any vegetation. Opponents liken frac sand mining to mountaintop removal.

    “Rural communities are becoming industrialized. … Eliminating the bluffs facilitates groundwater contamination. Runoff into streams, wetlands and lakes threatens habitats and fisheries,” the report stated.

    Living downwind and on the route

    The mining is concentrated in southwest Wisconsin and southeast Minnesota in what is known as the Driftless Area, 23,000 square miles famous for its sandstone bluffs. It’s an area with protected and unique species and scenery that draws many tourists.

    Mapping by the Environmental Working Group found mining sites “in close proximity to schools, hospitals and clinics, where children and patients may be exposed to airborne silica,” said EWG executive director Heather White. Data indicated that in a 33-county area there are about 58,000 people living within a half mile of an existing or proposed frac sand mine or processing site. The number of people living within a mile is 162,000.

    “None of the states at the center of the current frac sand mining boom have adopted air quality standards for silica that will adequately protect the tens of thousands of people living or working near the scores of recently opened or proposed mining sites,” said White.

    “Citizens living near frac sand mining in Wisconsin are witnessing a massive destruction of their rural landscape,” said Kimberlee Wright, executive director of Midwest Environmental Advocates. “Elected officials and our states’ natural resources protection agency have largely dismissed local citizens’ concerns about their health, the health of their environment and their quality of life. Without a clearer view of the big picture of frac sand mining’s impact, laws that protect our communities’ air and water aren’t being developed or enforced.”

    Less than 10 percent of Wisconsin’s frac sand facilities are required to monitor air emissions, prompting MEA to circulate a petition asking the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board to conduct a health and environmental study.

    The report states that it was written “in an attempt to fill the vacuum of government leadership and regulatory authority” and the researchers are raising questions that “should have been posed long ago.”

    Those involved in the report recommended “a step back” in the process and more review and regulation.

    Report co-author Grant Smith said, “It is essential that local and state governments assess and take action based on the impacts of the full cycle of shale oil and gas drilling, including frac sand mining. Health, water and … economic concerns should be addressed comprehensively, rather than being ignored or dismissed. Protecting public health and safety is the first responsibility of government.”

    White added, “We need strong state action to protect the public health from yet another troubling side effect of the unprecedented wave of shale gas development.”

    The urgency is that frac sand mining grew 30 percent from 2013, 50 percent more than projected, and it could spread to other states with untapped or largely untapped frac sand deposits, including Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia.

    Serious concerns

    White and Trinko detailed the concerns for mining in the area, along with Wright; Dr. Peter W. Holm of Chippewa Falls; Civil Society Institute energy policy adviser Smith; and Crispin Pierce, of the Environmental Public Health Program at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

    The issues:

    • A mining operation daily withdraws up to 2 million gallons of water that is mixed with a compound called polyacrylamide flocculent to treat the sand. That compound itself is non-toxic. But its production method may leave minute traces of a neurotoxin. As piled sand dries, acrylamide-laden water can seep into groundwater. Also, there can be acid runoff from mines.

    • The primary air pollutant is silica dust. The most dangerous type of  particle mentioned in the report is fine particulate matter, dust smaller than 2.5 micrometers, less than one-seventh the width of a human hair. These particles are associated with asthma, lung disease, cardiovascular disease, birth defects and premature death. Silica particles — they aren’t weatherworn like beach sand but instead have sharp, jagged edges — are produced in mining and dispersed in the processing and hauling of the sand.

    • Crystalline silica, created when silica is crushed or exploded, occurs in the operations. The tiny particles can be ingested and become lodged in the lungs. Intense exposure can cause disease in a year, but it can take 10-15 years for symptoms to appear. Exposure has been linked to tuberculosis, emphysema, bronchitis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, anemia, chronic thyroiditis and kidney-related diseases.

    • Before-and-after satellite images at mining sites show devastating impacts on the landscape.

    • Frac sand mining can result in substantial declines in property value, local tax revenues, business revenue, decreased life span of roads, increased health care costs and negative impacts on school funding.

  • Multiple choice: Third party candidates complete ballot

    Casey McDonough is a Goldilocks in the voting booth.

    She’s not fickle, but she likes a candidate to be just right. Often, that means she votes Democratic. Rarely has it meant that the progressive Wisconsinite has voted for a Republican. But occasionally, she finds an independent or a third-party candidate who fits.

    “I’m not beholden to anyone or any party,” she said.

    National polls show a growing interest among American voters in third parties. Last fall, amid the partial shutdown of the federal government, 60 percent of Americans said a third major party is needed. The percentage was the highest in the 10-year history of Gallup asking that question and consistent with polls showing favorability plummeting for the Democratic and Republican parties. Among independents, 71 percent said America needs a major third party to emerge as an alternative to the two that have dominated politics for 150 years.

    “I’m loyal to my beliefs and to people,” said independent Wisconsin voter Paul Williams. “If you want to vote for the third-party candidate, do it. The only wasted vote is the one not cast.”

    Without saying how they will vote on Election Day or in early voting, Williams and McDonough pointed out that their general election ballots contain independents, as well as candidates with the Libertarian, Green, Peoples and Pirate parties.

    The Libertarian Party is running candidates for all the statewide offices. Haven’t heard of Robert Burke, the Libertarian running for governor? He is not raising money, which is a primary reason he’s been excluded from the TV debate process. The Wisconsin Broadcasters Association invites candidates who have raised at least $250,000 and who are polling at least 10 percent.

    The new Peoples Party also fielded a candidate for governor — founder Dennis Fehr, who is calling for higher tech in government, a simplified tax code, judicial reform, a lower drinking age and legalized marijuana, which also is on Robert Burke’s platform.

    “We believe people have lost faith in our polarized two-party system and think an alternative is needed for the people and families of Wisconsin,” Fehr said when he announced.

    Going down the ballot, there are third-party or independent candidates for many offices, including:

    • Joseph Thomas Klein, a candidate for Assembly District 19 from the Wisconsin Pirate Party. Klein, in a statement, said his political party is “dedicated to the transparency and accountability of government, the upholding of civil rights for all citizens and the personal privacy of citizens in all their effects. … This upholding of civil rights means equal rights without regard for sexual identity and for keeping the government out of your bedroom and whom you choose to love.”

    • Angela Walker, an independent socialist candidate for sheriff in Milwaukee County, in a race against incumbent Democrat David Clarke. She said, “I believe that it’s time to rethink criminal justice. It’s time we look at the impact poverty and harsh punitive measures have on crime rates and advocate for policy changes that will increase opportunity for everyone in our community.”

    • Ron Hardy, on the ballot as a Wisconsin Green Party candidate for state treasurer. Hardy is polling at 10 percent or better and has said, “With support from progressives, fiscal conservatives, independents and anyone who’s fed up with politics as usual, I can win this race.”

    The Green platform begins, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that we must treat each other with love, respect and fairness, and that we must protect the earth for future generations. The crises of our times demand a fundamental shift in human values and culture, and in our social, economic and political institutions.”

    This appeals to voter J’acki Hayes, but she has a common concern. “I don’t want to split the vote or spoil an election,” said Hayes, a pragmatic person who remembers the 2000 presidential race in which Democrat Al Gore “lost” Florida by 537 votes to George W. Bush. Environmentalist and reformer Ralph Nader ran as a Green Party candidate and won 97,421 votes in the Sunshine State.

    The dispute continues over whether Nader served as a spoiler, but third-party advocates emphasize the myriad problems with the balloting in that election and the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that halted a recount.

    “Ralph Nader didn’t wreck the election,” said McDonough. “We can’t be intimidated by polls or bullied by parties. I was inspired by Nader’s candidacy in 2000.”

    Walker exemplifies third-party runs

    That year, Walker, who is a native of Milwaukee, was living in the South and she participated in the Florida recount. Like McDonough, she’s found inspiration in independent and third-party candidates, among them socialist Kshama Sawant, who was elected to the Seattle City Council last fall and proved instrumental this year in enacting the nation’s highest minimum wage.

    Walker has worked as a bus driver and the legislative director for her transit workers union and she has a history of activism, including engagement in the movement against the war in Iraq and the Occupy protests. “I was taught from an early age to fight for what you believe,” she said.

    Walker shares Sawant’s holistic approach to politics and, as she campaigns for sheriff, she focuses on social justice. “Criminal justice,” said Walker, is an oxymoron.

    Walker, with no background in law enforcement, decided to campaign for sheriff after a friend suggested she could talk about the roots of violence and crime in Milwaukee. “I’m not affiliated with any particular party and that frees me up to say anything. … I can be as blunt as I need to be and I think that works in my favor.”

    Poverty, she said, is violence that can lead to more violence. Her platform includes advocating for:

    • A broader living wage ordinance.

    • Full funding of public schools.

    • Expanded alternatives to incarceration.

    • Decriminalization and legalization of marijuana.

    • Restoration of voting rights for people who have been incarcerated.

    • A healthy transit system.

    • Invoking the 2012 Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detainer Ordinance that allows the sheriff to refrain from ICE sweeps.

    Walker talked with WiG about her candidacy one recent afternoon after addressing a rally in Milwaukee organized by Voces de la Frontera, an immigrant rights group. At the rally, Walker talked about solidarity and the power of the people.

    “I want to remind voters that you are more powerful than you think you are,” said Walker.

    She added, “The right to vote was paid for in blood. So vote. Please.”

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  • Growing hemp, seeding a market for farmers and consumers

    “Hemp for victory” once was a rallying cry in the United States, back when Wisconsin dominated the hemp industry.

    The market for the 12-foot-tall plants was strong a century ago and reached its height during World War II, when Wisconsin led the nation in producing hemp for rope and twine. Growers in Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Dodge and Racine counties supplied the crop, and a mill owner in Waupon held the title of “America’s Hemp King.”

    What’s left of the glory?

    The cultivation of hemp in Wisconsin slowed dramatically with the development of synthetic fiber, but its death knell came in 1970. That’s when the federal government classified any amount of THC — a chemical compound found in both hemp and pot — as an illegal substance, thus killing the hemp industry. But hemp may soon make a comeback.

    FEDERAL FARM BILL

    The Agricultural Act of 2014, which President Barack Obama signed Feb. 7, 2014, contained a so-called “Hemp Amendment,” which allows states to work with higher-education research institutions to create programs for the growth, cultivation and marketing of industrial hemp. With the amendment, the federal government created a definition of industrial hemp so that it would not be confused with its cousin, marijuana.

    To capitalize on the Hemp Amendment, a state’s statutes must allow for hemp farming.

    Kentucky has become a leader on that front. Also, some farmers in Colorado started harvesting hemp in 2013, followed a year later by farmers in Vermont and then farmers in Oregon last winter.

    North Carolina is one of the most recent states to join the movement, enacting a law in October that says, “It is in the best interest of the citizens … to promote and encourage the development of an industrial hemp industry in the state in order to expand employment, promote economic activity and provide opportunities to small farmers for an environmentally sustainable and profitable use of crop lands that might otherwise be lost to agricultural production.”

    However, Wisconsin is not a hemp player.

    Not yet, anyway.

    MOVEMENT IN WISCONSIN

    It’s unlikely the state will produce another hemp king or queen, but Wisconsin could become a significant grower of the potentially big-money crop.

    “The 2014 Farm Bill gave states the authority to begin the process of legalizing industrial hemp,” said Wisconsin Rep. Dave Considine, a Democrat from Baraboo. “Now we’re looking to get something passed and get something going. … We’re vastly behind other states in the Midwest.”

    In the 2015–16 session, Considine introduced a bill to create a research-based hemp farming program in Wisconsin. The bill died in committee, but he plans to reintroduce the legislation in the next session.

    “A lot of people know of industrial hemp as a source of fiber, but that is not all by any means,” Considine said. “For one, it is an extremely popular source of Omega-3. It’s an amazing source of really good fatty acids that we need in our diet.”

    Considine’s bill would create a licensing program under the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and in partnership with research institutions. The license holders would plant, cultivate, grow, harvest, process, possess and deliver industrial hemp — Cannabis sativa with no more than 0.3 percent THC.

    “What the bill does is allow a university to come up with research. The first step is to make sure we have the right team to grow industrial hemp,” said the Democrat, who represents the 81st Assembly District in western Sauk County.

    “I have a very strong agricultural district,” Considine said. “Really productive land and people doing a lot of good things.”

    He noted the district has many farmers interested in “alternative cropping” and emphasized Wisconsin once was the “No. 1 producer of hemp.”

    The bill didn’t get a hearing in the session that ended in March, yet the proposal would seem to have wide appeal. National polls show support for such measures among Republicans and Democrats, farmers and hippies, conservationists and corporations, Libertarians and Greens, city dwellers and country folk.

    Considine said when he reworks the bill for re-introduction, he plans to build grassroots support, as well as line up organizational backing.

    “I’m committed to bringing it back,” he said. “I’m really hoping for the good of our state and the good of our economy that we can get moving.”

    Key to the drive is securing support from the state Farm Bureau Federation.

    Already, Considine has the backing of the Wisconsin Farmers Union, which has a policy stating the organization “joins all major agricultural associations in Wisconsin in supporting legislation to permit research and test plots in Wisconsin.”

    FEDERAL MOVES

    Meanwhile, pending in Congress is comprehensive legislation to legalize industrial hemp farming in the United States by amending the definition of marijuana in the Controlled Substances Act so that it will not include industrial hemp.

    Democrats Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Republicans Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul of Kentucky introduced the bill in the Senate, while Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Democrat Jared Polis of Colorado introduced the House measure.

    Polis has said he’s hopeful Congress will build on the Hemp Amendment and pass the Industrial Hemp Farming Act “to allow this historical American crop to once again thrive on our farmlands.”

    Without passage, farmers still risk being targeted by federal authorities.

    Last October, the Drug Enforcement Administration entered the sovereign lands of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and destroyed a crop of about 30,000 plants. The tribe had legalized the growing of low-THC non-psychotropic hemp in May 2015, as provided for under the 2014 Farm Bill, and maintains that the DEA improperly destroyed the crop in the raid.

    The U.S. Attorney’s office said the DEA executed federal search warrants on “a large marijuana growing operation on tribal land,” according to a report published by the Associated Press last October.

    Since then, the Menominee Nation has filed a lawsuit asking a federal judge in Milwaukee to uphold the tribe’s right to grow industrial hemp. In February, the tribe filed a motion for summary judgment.

    “This is a straightforward legal question regarding the interpretation of federal law and we believe the court will decide this matter expediently,” Joan Delabreau, the tribe’s chairwoman, stated in a news release. “We are confident that the Farm Bill provisions require the federal government to recognize the Menominee Nation’s rights to cultivate industrial hemp.”

    In another case, a federal judge in late March lifted an injunction prohibiting a South Dakota tribal member from producing industrial hemp. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Viken observed a “shifting legal landscape” on industrial hemp since the injunction was filed more than a decade ago.

    However, Viken’s order was a narrow ruling and did not resolve the question of whether the Farm Bill allows for growing hemp on Pine Ridge Indian land.

    As legislative and law enforcement actions multiply, here are some key facts about hemp:

    • Hemp and marijuana are of the same plant species — Cannabis sativa — but the two plants are not bred and cultivated in the same way. The level of THC is much, much lower in hemp than in pot. Hemp can’t produce a high, but it can be used to make a handsome shirt or provide nutrition.

    • Hemp stalks produce two types of fiber, according to Vote Hemp, a nonprofit advocacy organization. The outer bast fiber can be processed into long strands and the inner woody core can be processed into chips.

    • The fiber is durable and makes for comfortable and colorfast textiles. It is used in composites or can replace plastics or fiberglass in molded products. The fiber also can be used to make building insulation or paper, while the inner core can be used to make animal bedding or nitrogen-absorbent fertilizer. The stalk even holds promise as an alternative fuel.

    • The hemp seed — a tiny nut that consists of a meaty inner core and a hull — has uses as birdseed and, toasted, as a human snack. But broader uses involve dehulling the seed or crushing the seed for oil, because the inner core contains two essential fatty acids — Omega-3 and Omega-6 — as well as proteins.

    Advocates tout the benefits of hemp seed oil supplements, the culinary value of hemp oil and the cosmetic applications. Even the protein-rich leftover hemp meal has value and is used for animal feed as well as high-protein powders and flours for human consumption.

    The U.S. market for hemp is about $450 million to $600 million a year. But with few exceptions, U.S. growers are not profiting. There is no large-scale industrial hemp production in the U.S. and the U.S. market is dependent on imports for finished hemp products and hemp ingredients. About two dozen other countries export hemp to the United States, including Britain, France, Germany, Spain — and especially Canada. But the U.S. production lag may be about to change.

    Marching in Milwaukee, 420ing in Madison

    Plant the date: The sixth annual Milwaukee Marijuana March assembles at 2 p.m. May 7 at Kilbourn Park, 2300 N. Bremen St.

    A Facebook event page indicated nearly 700 marchers plan to attend the event hosted by Legalize Wisconsin and the Wisconsin chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

    Participants plan to gather in the park at 2 p.m. and march at 4 p.m. Before the march, state Rep. Melissa Sargent, a legislative leader in the effort to decriminalize and legalize marijuana, will address the crowd. Medical marijuana patient Trevor James Sand and his daughter Erica also are set to make comments.

    The event commemorates Global Marijuana March Day.

    Action comes earlier in Madison, where the fourth annual Madison 420 Festival takes place at 4:20 p.m. on April 22 at the Brinklounge, 701 E. Washington Ave.

    Madison NORML and Madison Hempfest present the celebration, featuring The Grasshoppers jamrock band, The Northern Pines Band, Nuggernaut, The Material Boys, Mudroom, Bathtub Spring, The Lower 5th, Gin Mill Hollow, The Woods, Gary David and the Enthusiasts, Deteourious, Flowpoetry and Mission, a Jerry Garcia tribute band.

    The event is a benefit for the Madison chapter of NORML.

    Both events have at least a bit to celebrate. For instance, Democratic lawmakers in Wisconsin pitched multiple reform bills in the 2015–16 session, including a legalization measure authored by Sargent and decriminalization legislation introduced by state Rep. Mandela Barnes and Sen. Chris Larson — all Democrats.

    To date, marijuana reform in Wisconsin has taken place mostly at the local level, with cities such as Madison and Milwaukee relaxing penalties for people found in possession of small amounts of pot.

    Twenty states have enacted laws to stop jailing people for possession of small amounts of marijuana.

    Also, voters in the District of Columbia and four states — Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington — have approved taking marijuana production and sales off the criminal market and instead regulating and taxing the production and retailing of pot. However, marijuana remains illegal under federal law.

    A national Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released March 25 found about 61 percent of those surveyed support legalizing marijuana. Most said they wanted to limit legalization to medical use or place restrictions on the amounts that can be purchased for recreational use.

    — Lisa Neff

  • Calling Ms. Candidate

    Calling Ms. Candidate

    Emerge Wisconsin is training runners – female runners who will sprint to a seat on the school board, dash to city hall, finish the marathon to the Capitol.

    EW is an affiliate of Emerge America, which is dedicated to encouraging and preparing Democratic women to run for elected office and, in the course of that work, helping to close the gender gap in U.S. politics.

    “We need all women’s voices, all women represented,” said Wendy Strout, executive director of Emerge Wisconsin, which is headquartered in Madison but has a presence in Milwaukee and throughout the state. “We need you, and Emerge Wisconsin wants to train you.”

    On May 30, the Wisconsin group planned a celebration at the Milwaukee County War Memorial Center to honor U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin with its first Woman of the Year award. “She inspired so many of our women to run,” said Strout, who has been involved in Democratic politics since 1992. “They see Sen. Baldwin and say, ‘I’m going to step up.’”

    Later this year, EW will hold a graduation for its class of 2013.

    Then the cycle begins again: Enrolling women, training women, graduating women.

    The cycle likely will be repeated year after year in Wisconsin and beyond, because encouraging women to run is a long-distance effort. Consider: At the current pace of change, it will take until 2085 for women to reach parity with men in leadership roles in government/politics, business, entrepreneurship and nonprofits, according to the Women’s Media Center, a nonprofit founded by Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan and Gloria Steinem.

    Picking up the pace

    “We can’t create change until people make time for and commit to championing women as leaders,” stated Jennifer Siebel Newsom, founder of MissRepresentation.org, the nonprofit behind a documentary exposing how media contributes to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America. “Our political leadership should reflect the goals and aspirations of 100 percent of the population – not just a select few – and that’s what we’re working to ensure.”

    Last year, MissRepresenation.org partnered with the Rutgers Center for American Women and Politics, a research and education organization that also trains women to run for office, on “Elect Women 2012: Vote. Support. Run.” Organizers saw opportunity in the number of offices up for election in the United States, as well as open seats created by redistricting.

    On Election Day in November 2012, a record number of women were elected to Congress.

    However, in 2013, women, who are about 51 percent of the population, still hold only 18 percent of the seats in Congress. Women hold 78 of the 435 seats in the U.S. House and 20 of the 100 seats in the Senate.

    Some other stats from the CAWP and elsewhere:

    • Seventy-five women hold statewide office in the U.S. – that’s about 23 percent of 320 offices.

    • Of the 7,383 state legislators in the U.S., 1,781, or 24 percent, are women.

    • The United States is 90th in the world in terms of women in national legislatures and is behind Mexico, China and Pakistan.

    • The percentage of women in Congress has climbed from 3 percent in 1979 to 18 percent in 2013, but the percentage has stayed in the range of 16-18 percent since 2007. The most significant jump was 20 years ago, after the 1992 elections. Female candidates were inspired to run that year after watching the Senate confirmation hearings for conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. In 1991, there were two women senators. In 1993, there were five. And the Senate Judiciary Committee has not been all-male since then.

    • In Wisconsin in 2010, women held 322 of the 1,455 city council seats, 308 of the 1,680 county board seats, 1,069 of the 2,827 school board seats. Also, 74 percent of town boards and 24 percent of village boards had no women representatives, according to Women’s Council at womenscouncil.wi.gov.

    The statistics are significant.

    But assuming the numbers prove voters won’t elect women candidates or that women lack access to ballot positions would be a mistake, based on studies from think tanks on the left and right and in the political middle.

    Studies show that when women run for office, they perform just as well as men. They can raise the money, get the votes and take the oaths of office.

    Not in the race

    The “fundamental reason for women’s under-representation is that they do not run for office,” wrote the researchers in “Girls Just Wanna Not Run” from the School of Public Affairs at American University.

    “For the last few decades, researchers have provided compelling evidence that when women run for office – regardless of the position they seek – they are just as likely as men to win their races,” said study authors Jennifer Lawless, a member of the Emerge America advisory board, and Richard Fox. “The large gender disparities in U.S. political institutions, therefore, do not result from systematic discrimination against female candidates. Rather … there is a substantial and persistent gender gap in political ambition.”

    Women, according to the Lawless/Fox study, are more likely to perceive the electoral environment as biased against female candidates. The study shows that women also are twice as likely as men to think they are not qualified to run for office and to react more negatively to many aspects of modern campaigns.

    The way that women candidates – Democrats and Republicans – are portrayed and treated by the media also leaves some women reluctant to run and leaves girls confused about politics.

    “In mainstream news, you might read in a policy article an aside regarding what Hillary Clinton was wearing or how Sarah Palin is doing up her hair,” said media expert Kathy Frank. “You aren’t going to read in The Washington Post what John McCain is wearing unless it’s a dress. And in the left or right media circles, you will see it get more cruel than ‘Project Runway.’ You will see images and read copy that treats some of the most influential politicians in the country as sexual jokes.”

    Organizations such as MissRepresentation.org and the Women’s Media Center are working to address this concern, while groups such as Emerge Wisconsin are working to increase the number of women seeking elected office. “Emerge gives women the confidence to run,” as well as the tools, Strout said.

    In training

    Emerge Wisconsin conducts an intensive seven-month training for Democratic women. The national Emerge network also includes organizations in Arizona, California, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico and Oregon.

    In Wisconsin, the expertise in the program comes in large part from the group’s advisory board, which includes Baldwin, U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, former Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton, former state Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager, former state Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster, former gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Falk, and others.

    Support and advice also comes from Emerge Sisters – women who already have graduated from the program.

    Emerge is seeing success.

    The program launched in the U.S. in 2002 and nationally has trained about 900 Democratic women. Forty-three percent of the graduates have run for office or been appointed to a post – and 60 percent of Emerge candidates have won.

    Since 2007, Emerge Wisconsin has trained 126 women from throughout the state. In 2012, nearly 40 Emerge Wisconsin graduates ran for office.

    Strout said this year’s class had two more sessions before graduation, when trainees receive a certificate and a pin. They emerge ready to run.

    The students attend one training session a month for the seven months. Strout described a typical training – arrival on Friday night, dinner and a workshop, then regrouping on Saturday for a full day of workshops.

    Admission involves filing an application and completing an interview. There’s tuition for the program, but Strout stressed there are scholarships. “Money should not be a factor,” she said. “We make sure this is accessible for everyone.”

    Trainees may have an idea what office they’ll seek when they apply and, through the course of the program, they connect with the people who can help the runners take their marks.

  • Pregnant women shackled, jailed for alleged substance use

    Pregnant women shackled, jailed for alleged substance use

    A pregnant woman tumbles down a flight of stairs and is arrested for attempted feticide. A pregnant woman about to be released from prison is re-incarcerated when the judge learns she is pregnant and HIV-positive. A pregnant woman informs health care workers that she previously used drugs but has kicked her habit and is clean. She’s handcuffed, shackled, taken to court and ordered into detention at a drug treatment facility.

    All of these incidents happened.

    The last one occurred in Wisconsin last summer, leading to the filing of a federal civil rights lawsuit in Milwaukee and helping to inspire two state legislators to offer a trio of bills aimed at protecting the rights of pregnant women.

    In mid-March, Democratic state Reps. Chris Taylor and Terese Berceau of Madison introduced the Pregnancy Protection Package, which was not passed in the 2014 session but will be reintroduced next session.

    In the headlines when Taylor and Berceau offered the bills was a battle in Texas, where hospital officials had refused to remove 33-year-old Marlise Muñoz from life support because of her pregnancy, even though the woman had been declared brain dead and had previously indicated to her family that she did not want to be kept alive artificially.

    One bill, authored by Berceau, would ensure pregnant women’s advanced medical directives are respected.

    “Pregnant women are not second-class citizens and deserve the same rights as everyone one else,” Berceau stated. “Major medical decisions, as outlined in advanced directives, are very personal decisions that should be left up to individuals and their families, not politicians.”

    A second measure, introduced as Assembly Joint Resolution 111, would affirm “that pregnant women be afforded all the rights of non-pregnant people.”

    And the third bill, written by Taylor, would ensure pregnant women who are alleged to have used drugs have the right to counsel before being detained.

    This last measure is a response to the forced detention last summer of Alicia Beltran of Jackson. Beltran, seeking prenatal care, told a health-care provider that she had previously used drugs but was clean. Several days later, Beltran was handcuffed in her home, shackled and taken to a holding cell. She was then brought before a judge, where she found her fetus had a court-ordered attorney, but she had no counsel.

    At the hearing, without testimony from any medical expert, Beltran was ordered to spend 78 days in a drug rehab facility, where, she maintains, she went without adequate health care or prenatal care.

    The federal civil rights complaint is pending in the U.S. District Court in Milwaukee.

    Beltran is represented by attorney Linda Vanden Heuvel, who has said locking up the woman was not in the interest of a future child and “most certainly tramples the rights of Ms. Beltran, a woman who was not in fact using any controlled substances at the time of her arrest.”

    The complaint challenges a 1997 Wisconsin law that “takes away from a pregnant woman virtually every right associated with constitutional personhood — from the most basic right to physical liberty to the right to refuse bad medical advice,” stated Lynn Paltrow, executive director of the National Advocates for Pregnant Women and a co-counsel in the case. “This kind of dangerous, authoritarian state action is exactly what happens when laws give police officers and other state actors the authority to treat fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses as if they are already completely separate from pregnant women.

    The complaint lists a series of violations, including the rights to:

    • Physical liberty

    • Due-process notice

    • Privacy in medical decision-making

    • Carry a pregnancy to term

    • Abortion

    • Privacy in medical and personal information

    • Freedom from illegal searches and cruel and unusual punishment

    • Equal treatment under the law.

    Four states — Wisconsin, Minnesota, Oklahoma and South Dakota — have laws that explicitly permit detaining pregnant women alleged to have used alcohol or drugs, according to NAPW.

    On April 29, Republican Gov. Bill Haslam made Tennessee the first state to enact a criminal law explicitly permitting the prosecution of women for their pregnancy outcomes.

    “This law is bad medicine for Tennessee families,” said Cherisse Scott, CEO of SisterReach. “It was promoted by prosecutors against the recommendations of medical professionals, (it) permits arrest and incarceration of women who cannot guarantee that their newborn is in perfect health and (it) creates a separate and unequal law for women, allowing their arrest if they are pregnant and struggling with addiction.”

    Thousands had called on the governor to veto the legislation, which conflicts with the more progressive safe harbor law that was enacted to lessen the threat of punishment and encourage pregnant women to seek treatment if needed.

    The Tennessee measure is a new breed of law, but since 1973 and the Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, advocates for pregnant women have documented the use of other measures to arrest, detain and force medical procedures in hundreds of cases involving pregnant women.

    On April 18, the Alabama Supreme Court upheld the conviction of Sara Hicks, who gave birth to a healthy baby who tested positive for cocaine in 2008. The court, in an 8-1 decision, affirmed its prior ruling that “child” in Alabama law includes fertilized eggs and that women can be arrested for using a controlled substance while pregnant.

    The legislation used to prosecute Hicks, the chemical endangerment law, was passed in 2006 and intended to deter people from bringing children to places where controlled substances are distributed or produced, like meth labs.

    Since 2006, more than 100 women have been arrested.

    Research shows that policies that deter women from seeking prenatal care are contrary to the welfare of the mother and fetus and that incarceration or the threat of detention are ineffective in reducing drug or alcohol abuse.

    There is a long list of medical and mental health organizations that oppose punishing and prosecuting pregnant women for alleged risky behavior. The list includes:

    • The American Medical Association

    • American Academy of Pediatrics

    • American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

    • American Public Health Association

    • American Nurses Association

    • American Society of Addiction Medicine

    • March of Dimes

    • American Psychiatric Association

    • American Psychological Association

    • National Perinatal Association

    • Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs

    • Center for the Future of Children.

    Many of the organizations have opposed laws such as those in Wisconsin and Tennessee for more than two decades, arguing that such measures not only infringe on women’s rights but also scare women away from medical care, treat addiction as a moral failing and lead women who want to give birth to instead undergo abortion procedures.

    “Criminalizing pregnancy outcomes scares women away from prenatal care and drug treatment,” said Farah Diaz-Tello, a staff attorney with National Advocates for Women. “Women who cannot afford private treatment for their addiction and who fear arrest and separation from children they already have feel as though abortion is the only way to keep their current families together.”

    Jennifer Roth was among those who campaigned against the Tennessee Pregnancy Criminalization Law. She is the president of All Our Lives, which she described as a “pro-woman, pro-life organization.”

    In a letter urging Haslam to veto the measure, Roth wrote, “We fear that the effect of this law will be to discourage vulnerable women from seeking care that would benefit themselves and their babies, and even to provide an incentive for abortion. That doesn’t foster life.”

  • From protest to preservation: | Federal government identifies historic LGBT sites and events

    On a warm night in June 1969, outside the Stonewall Inn, rioters rebelled against the continued persecution and harassment by government officials.

    On a sunny day in late May, government officers — the highest-ranking among them a member of the U.S. cabinet — gathered outside the unobtrusive brick building that stands as the symbolic birthplace of the modern gay civil rights movement to usher in LGBT Pride Month with a new initiative — a historic campaign to preserve and celebrate LGBT history.

    As part of the National Park Service Heritage Initiative, a task force will spend the next 12-18 months identifying places and events associated with the story of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans for inclusion in the parks programs.

    The study is part of a broader initiative under the Obama administration to ensure that the National Park Service tells a more complete story of the people and events responsible for building the nation.

    Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said she chose the Stonewall in New York’s Greenwich Village because it is the only LGBT-associated site designated a national historic landmark by the National Park Service as a property having extraordinary significance in American history.

    “We know that there are other sites, like Stonewall Inn, that have played important roles in our nation’s ongoing struggle for civil rights,” she said.

    The study will be a public-private partnership, with funding from the Gill Foundation through the National Park Foundation.

    “LGBT history is American history,” said Gill Foundation founder Tim Gill. “The contributions of LGBT people are part of the great American journey toward full equality, freedom and liberty for all our citizens.”

    The first meeting of scholars involved in the research took place in Washington, D.C., on June 10. Other meetings will take place over the next year.

    “The National Park Service has a responsibility to protect, preserve and tell the stories of some of our nation’s most iconic places, and as part of that responsibility, it is our job to be sure that Americans never forget where we’ve been, where we are and what we aspire to be as a nation,” said Jon B. Jarvis, director of the National Park Service. “I am excited to see how the outcomes of the LGBT Heritage Initiative and theme study will allow us to share a more inclusive version of our uniquely American experience.”

    With praise for the initiative, Clark Bunting of the National Parks Conservation Association said, “Our national parks belong to all of us — a fact that is particularly important as we look toward the Park Service’s centennial in 2016 and its next 100 years. As America’s storyteller, it is commendable and appropriate for the National Park Service to examine themes that incorporate the history and significant events of our diverse population.”

    Eliza Byard, the executive director of the nation’s largest LGBT education group, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, also applauded the announcement. She observed that laws banning schools from teaching anything positive about homosexuality remain on the books in eight states.

    “Symbolically, it’s hugely important that now LGBT history is officially part of the national narrative,” she said. “This is part of what our federal government will identify, preserve and single out.”

    In keeping with tradition, there was a demonstration at Stonewall the day of the announcement.

    Activists with the grassroots group GetEqual protested on Christopher Street under the banner “Don’t Stop at Our History — Full Federal Equality Now!”

    GetEqual has led the push for a presidential executive order banning federal contractors from discriminating based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

    “Across this country, in every single state, LGBTQ people suffer from the uncertainty created by the lack of legal protections,” said Felipe Sousa-Rodriguez, GetEQUAL co-director. “A study will bring light to what we already know — that discrimination against LGBTQ people has plagued our history since its inception. We have resisted inequality and oppression for hundreds of years to be able to live as our full, authentic selves. We need President Obama to create a clear vision and a clear roadmap to full LGBTQ equality under the law under his administration, and our time is running out.”

    On the register

    The National Register of Historic Places is the nation’s inventory of properties deemed central to its history and worthy of preservation. It includes more than 89,000 entries, more than 1.7 million individual buildings and sites representing local, state or nationally significant people, places and events.

    Just over 2,500 of these properties are national historic landmarks, designated by the secretary as representing the highest level of national significance.

    But relatively few of these properties can be identified as representing the stories associated with African-American, American Latinos, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, American Indians, Native Alaskans, Native Hawaiians or women. Currently, only four LGBT history-related properties are included in the National Register of Historic Places — the Dr. Franklin E. Kameny residence in Washington, D.C.; the Cherry Grove Community House and Theater on Fire Island in New York; the James Merrill House in Stonington, Connecticut, and the Carrington House on Fire Island.

  • In the game… WiG’s annual Pride pop quiz

    No doubt you know the words to “Go! You Packers! Go” and the name of that guy who wears No. 12 — maybe you know his career passing yards.

    And probably you know which Major League Baseball team is No. 1 in the National League’s Central Division and how many games are left until the All-Stars head for Minneapolis.

    But how do you score on WiG’s LGBTQuiz?

    1. True or False: Michael Sam, the first openly gay player in the NFL, recently signed a $2.65 million contract with the Chicago Bears.

    2. Which basketball player came out in a cover story in Sports Illustrated?

    3. She’s won 39 Grand Slam titles and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Her name is …

    4. He is the only male and the second diver in Olympic history to sweep the diving events in consecutive Olympic Games.

    5. This gay baseball player, who died of AIDS in 1995, is credited with inventing the high five when he played for the Dodgers.

    6. Her Twitter bio says, “Used to play tennis, now just talk about it on tennis channel. like to talk politics, though some would rather I stick to tennis :). No chance!!!”

    7. She had to go to court to play and, after transitioning, she competed in the U.S. Open.

    8. He played. He retired. He came out. Then he returned to the soccer field.

    P.S. Yes, we’re aware this would be more difficult without the photographs…

    Answers: 1. False, he signed with the St. Louis Rams. 2. Jason Collins, who played with the Nets in 2014. 3. Tennis legend Billie Jean King. 4. Greg Louganis. 5. Glenn Burke. 6. Martina Navratilova, considered by many in the sport to be the greatest female tennis player. 7. Tennis player Renee Richards. Paired with Betty and Stuart, Richards lost in doubles at the Open to Navratilova and Betty Stove. 8. Robbie Rogers, the first openly gay man to join Major League Soccer.

  • Legal limbo

    Legal limbo

    As gay couples in Wisconsin waited in legal limbo in mid-June, equality foes continued working to defend anti-gay amendments in the courts and marched on Washington.

    But those foes are caught in a losing streak. The march on Washington on June 19 fell flat, and there have been 21 consecutive court rulings for marriage equality since last summer, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a key provision in the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act.

    On June 25, a federal judge struck down Indiana’s same-sex marriage ban as unconstitutional. The court clerk in Marion County, home to Indianapolis, began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples about an hour after the decision was announced.

    On the same day, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver upheld a lower-court ruling that found Utah’s prohibition of same-sex marriage unconstitutional. The 3-2 ruling affects all states in the 10th Circuit: Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming.

    But the appeals court immediately put a stay on marriages in those states pending a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

    Just weeks before the June 25 rulings,  U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb on June 6 found that Wisconsin’s constitutional amendment barring gay couples from marrying violates the 14th Amendment’s Due Process and Equal Protection clauses. Crabb didn’t issue a stay — requested before her ruling by Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen — until June 13. So for six days in early June, same-sex couples applied for and obtained marriage licenses in 60 of the state’s 72 counties. At least 550 gay couples were married in Wisconsin.

    While the case is pending appeal with the 7th Circuit in Chicago, there’s uncertainty: For those with licenses who didn’t marry, should they wed? For those caught in the five-day waiting period, can they marry in another state? For those who married, what benefits, responsibilities or protections do they have?

    “I think the harder questions are like adoptions, the really hard issues,” said Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law. That’s why these stays are so gut-wrenching for people.”

    On June 16, Wisconsin’s congressional Democrats asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to confirm, as he has done in similar situations in Utah and Michigan, that the federal government will recognize the marriages of Wisconsin gay couples and guarantee them:

    • The ability to sponsor a foreign spouse for legal residency.

    • Health, workers’ compensation, retirement and other benefits for the spouse of a federal employee.

    • Health benefits, spousal ID cards, housing allowances and on-base support services for the spouse of a military servicemember.

    • Joint income tax filings, as well as spousal exemptions of gifts, inheritances and the value of employer-provided spousal health coverage.

    • Unpaid family and medical leave to care for an ill spouse.

    • Spousal Social Security benefits.

    “Earlier this year, you made clear that couples who married in Utah and Michigan after federal judges struck down those states’ bans are entitled to full federal recognition,” the lawmakers wrote. “We are grateful for this tremendous leadership on behalf of fairness and equality. We ask that you similarly declare that those same-sex couples who married in Wisconsin since the June 6 decision are equally entitled to the federal benefits they deserve.”

    Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Wisconsin, which filed the equality case on behalf of eight same-sex couples, was assessing the situation — preparing for the appeal and looking into whether additional lawsuits should be filed on behalf of couples left in limbo.

    In addition to the June 25 rulings, another marriage equality case was set for June 26 in Louisiana and a hearing was set for July 2 in a Florida case.

    And the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear five cases from four states — Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee — in a single session in Cincinnati on Aug. 6.

    The Cincinnati court is the third federal appeals court to weigh recent challenges to state bans. The 4th Circuit in Virginia heard arguments in another case in May.

    Any one of them, or all, could reach the U.S. Supreme Court and bring a conclusive ruling on marriage equality.

    ‘A hateful handful’

    Leaders on the equality side fully expect the nine-member Court to eventually overturn the amendments and anti-gay marriage laws.

    And so do many leaders in conservative circles — from Newt Gingrich, who was House speaker when DOMA was enacted, to seven-term U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah. In May, Hatch told a radio interviewer, “Let’s face it: Anybody who does not believe that gay marriage is going to be the law of the land just hasn’t been observing what’s going on.”

    Yet groups such as the National Organization for Marriage and the Family Research Council pledge to fight on for years against gay marriage the way the anti-choice movement has fought Roe v. Wade.

    NOM promoted the June 19 march as a “road to victory.”

    Co-sponsors of the event included FRC, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the Washington Times newspaper, the Alliance Defending Freedom, Concerned Women for America and the Heritage Foundation.

    Speakers included what the Human Rights Campaign described as a “parade of horribles” — former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Catholic Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, NOM president Brian Brown, Capital Tea Party Patriots co-founder Doug Mainwaring, a gay man who says gay marriage is “objective evil,” and ADF counsel Austin Nimocks.

    NOM also brought to the microphone Bishop Harry Jackson Jr., who has compared gay marriage to a satanic plot; Dr. Him Garlow, who has said gay marriage will lead to enslavement of those opposed to the unions; Heritage Foundation fellow Ryan Anderson, who has compared gays and lesbians to pedophiles; and the Rev. Bill Owens Sr., who has likened gay marriage to bestiality.

    Brown, in a statement to supporters before the march, claimed the Supreme Court “will be watching.”

    He also said, “A competition is won by those who take the field, not by those who sit on the sidelines. Friends, we need to take the field for marriage — and fight to win.”

    NOM’s critics, however, maintain the organization is now faking a movement — national polls show that strong opposition to marriage equality has dropped to 28 percent and only 40 percent of opponents of marriage equality would pay anything to stop its progress.

    The march proponents “are the proud leaders of a hateful handful, the last gasp of a reactionary rump,” said HRC’s Fred Sainz.