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February Is Earthquake Awareness Month in Missouri
Kansas City infoZine
“While many earthquakes do not cause loss of life, they are a natural hazard that no one can predict and there are things we can do to be better prepared in the event a damaging earthquake occurs in Missouri." During Earthquake Awareness Month, ...

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Tioga County updating FEMA Hazard Mitigation Plan
Towanda Daily Review
... its vulnerability to natural hazards, evaluate progress on the mitigation strategies identified in the original plan, and add new mitigation actions/projects/initiatives so that the County can continue to lower its overall natural hazard risk.

Support the CAIC at A-Basin's beacon bowl
Summit Daily News
The CAIC provides forecasting and public education surrounding avalanches in Colorado, a natural and human-triggered phenomenon that has killed more people in Colorado than any other natural hazard since 1950. CAIC's goal is to minimize those human and ...

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The Herald-Times (subscription)
Top federal official to lecture at IU Monday on peak oil, earthquakes
The Herald-Times (subscription)
“She is not only a highly respected research scholar, but as the director of the US Geological Survey, she is one of the government's leading experts on energy policy, environmental issues and natural hazard mitigation.” A lunchtime brown-bag lecture, ...

Industrial Spotlight: Dow, The Nature Conservancy share progress report
Midland Daily News
Three ecosystem services were determined to have high value for investigation -- freshwater, air quality mitigation and coastal natural hazard mitigation. Among the objectives for the second year of the collaboration is to begin to run environmental ...

Kathy Yamamoto: Banks must make disclosures to buyers
The Salinas Californian
Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement: Although an REO lender is exempt from the requirement of providing a Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement, REO sellers must disclose other provisions of California law requiring disclosures that a property is located ...

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Execs to move school campus out of danger zone
Inquirer.net
An MGB natural hazard study in Buenavista, which lies on the foothills of Mt. Malindang, showed that the entire Sitio Diwat, where the school is built, is highly susceptible to landslide. The MGB assessment was confirmed when rocks plummeted from the ...

Second Community to Benefit from World Bank-Funded Landslide Mitigation Project
Government of Jamaica, Jamaica Information Service
The project will see the erecting of a network of strategically placed drains, channels and rainwater harvesting systems that will act as natural hazard intervention techniques. One key element of the project, Mr. Frankson, is the utilisation of local ...

Triple Pundit
Progress Report: Dow Chemical Partners with The Nature Conservancy
Triple Pundit
The ecosystem services include fresh water, air quality mitigation, coastal natural hazard mitigation: Fresh water—The site receives it fresh water supply from the Brazos River. The collaboration identified Brazos River's “salt wedge” as a problem.

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Grant still pending
Branson Tri-Lakes news
The latest holdup on the grant is the Taney County Natural Hazard Mitigation plan, which expired in January, she said. Redford is hopeful in the next week to 10 days that a request for an extension of that plan will be approved and the district will ...

ODPEM Says Retaining Walls May Not be the Best to Prevent Landslides
Government of Jamaica, Jamaica Information Service
... PRIDE settlement, is now a regularised community which overlooks Harbour View, where some $50 million is to be spent erecting a network of drains, channels and rainwater harvesting strategies that will act as natural hazard intervention techniques.

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The value of mineral production in the United States increased by 12 percent in 2011 from that of 2010, suggesting that the nonfuel minerals industries, particularly metals, continued to recover from the economic recession that began in December 2007 and lasted well into 2009. 

The value of raw, nonfuel minerals mined in the United States was $74 billion in 2011, up from $66 billion in 2010, according to the U.S. Geological Survey’s annual release of mineral production statistics and summary of events and trends affecting domestic and global nonfuel minerals.

"Information in the Mineral Commodity Summaries helps business leaders, policy makers, managers, and anyone else understand the critically important flow of minerals through the supply chain and how they are contributing to, and reflecting the health of, our nation's economy," said USGS director Marcia McNutt. "For example, in 2011 domestic recycled metallic and mineral materials alone contributed $32 billion to our economy."

The metals sector was marked by higher prices for many domestically mined metals, resulting in a 23 percent increase in the value of domestic metal production.  The non-metallic minerals sector increased by 3 percent, the first increase since 2007. 

U.S. dependence on foreign sources for minerals increased, continuing a trend that has been evident for more than 30 years. The United States relied on foreign sources to supply more than 50 percent of domestic consumption of 43 mineral commodities in 2011. The United States was 100 percent reliant on imports for 19 mineral commodities in 2011. 

Minerals are a fundamental component of the U.S. economy. Final products, such as cars and houses, produced by major U.S. industries using mineral materials made up about 15 percent (more than $2.2 trillion) of the 2011 gross domestic product. Domestic raw materials and domestically recycled materials were used to process and produce mineral materials worth $633 billion, such as aluminum, brick, copper, fertilizers, and steel. These products were, in turn, used to produce cars, houses, and other products.

The report, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2012, is an annual report that includes statistics on about 90 mineral commodities and addresses events, trends, and issues in the domestic and international minerals industries. The report is used by public and private sector analysts regarding planning and decision-making for government and business.

The USGS is the sole Federal provider of objective resource assessments and unbiased research results on mineral potential, production, and consumption. The USGS collects, analyzes, and disseminates current data on minerals industries in the United States and about 180 other countries.

The USGS report "Mineral Commodity Summaries 2012" is available online. Hardcopies will be available in February from the Government Printing Office, Superintendent of Documents. For ordering information, please call (202) 512-1800 or (866) 512-1800 or go online.

For more information on this report and individual mineral commodities, please visit the USGS National Mineral Information Center.

Additional Partnerships: 

State Museum of Pennsylvania Denison University

Constrictor Snakes (B-roll):  Video footage (B-roll) of Everglades National Park biologists hunting and capturing a Burmese Python in Florida. 

Editors: For frequently asked questions about this study and Burmese pythons, please visit the Fort Collins Science Center, Giant Constrictor Snakes in Florida website.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Precipitous declines in formerly common mammals in Everglades National Park have been linked to the presence of invasive Burmese pythons, according to a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

The study, the first to document the ecological impacts of this invasive species, strongly supports that animal communities in this 1.5-million-acre park have been markedly altered by the introduction of pythons within 11 years of their establishment as an invasive species.  Mid-sized mammals are the most dramatically affected.

Bobcats are one of the predators that may be negatively affected by pythons, which both compete with them for prey and prey on them. Photo copyrighted by Christopher Gillette, Florida International University. This photo may be used by media and others in association with the Burmese pythons and Everglades press release. (High resolution image) Once-common opossums are now rarely seen in Everglades National Park, likely because of being preyed upon by Burmese pythons. Photo copyrighted by Christopher Gillette, Florida International University. This photo may be used by media and others in association with the Burmese pythons and Everglades press release. (High resolution image)

The most severe declines, including a nearly complete disappearance of raccoons, rabbits and opossums, have occurred in the remote southernmost regions of the park, where pythons have been established the longest.  In this area, populations of raccoons dropped 99.3 percent, opossums 98.9 percent and bobcats 87.5 percent.  Marsh and cottontail rabbits, as well as foxes, were not seen at all.  

"Pythons are wreaking havoc on one of America's most beautiful, treasured and naturally bountiful ecosystems," said U.S. Geological Survey Director Marcia McNutt. "Right now, the only hope to halt further python invasion into new areas is swift, decisive and deliberate human action."  

The researchers collected their information via repeated systematic night-time road surveys within the park, counting both live and road-killed animals.  Over the period of the study, researchers traveled a total of nearly 39,000 miles from 2003 to 2011 and compared their findings with similar surveys conducted in 1996 and 1997 along the same roadways before pythons were recognized as established in Everglades National Park.  

The scientists who authored the paper noted that the timing and geographic patterns of the documented mammal declines are consistent with the timing and geographic spread of pythons. 

The authors also conducted surveys in ecologically similar areas north of the park where pythons have not yet been discovered. In those areas, mammal abundances were similar to those in the park before pythons proliferated.  At sites where pythons have only recently been documented, however, mammal populations were reduced, though not to the dramatic extent observed within the park where pythons are well established.    

"The magnitude of these declines underscores the apparent incredible density of pythons in Everglades National Park and justifies the argument for more intensive investigation into their ecological effects, as well as the development of effective control methods," said Michael Dorcas, lead author of the study, a professor at Davidson College in North Carolina, and author of the book Invasive Pythons in the United States. "Such severe declines in easily seen mammals bode poorly for the many species of conservation concern that are more difficult to sample but that may also be vulnerable to python predation." 

The mammals that have declined most significantly have been regularly found in the stomachs of Burmese pythons removed from Everglades National Park and elsewhere in Florida.  The authors noted that raccoons and opossums often forage for food near the water's edge, a habitat frequented by pythons in search of prey. 

The authors suggested that one reason for such dramatic declines in such a short time is that these prey species are “naïve” – that is, they not used to being preyed upon by pythons since such large snakes have not existed in the eastern United States for millions of years. Burmese pythons over 16 feet long have been found in the Everglades.  In addition, some of the declining species could be both victims of being eaten by pythons and of having to compete with pythons for food.   

"It took 30 years for the brown treesnake to be implicated in the nearly complete disappearance of mammals and birds on Guam; it has apparently taken only 11 years since pythons were recognized as being established in the Everglades for researchers to implicate pythons in the same kind of severe mammal declines," said Robert Reed, a USGS scientist and co-author of the paper. "It is possible that other mammal species, including at-risk ones, have declined as well because of python predation, but at this time, the status of those species is unknown." 

The scientists noted that in their native range in Asia, pythons have been documented to consume leopards. Consequently, even large animals, including top predators, are susceptible to python predation. For example, pythons have been documented consuming full-grown deer and alligators. Likewise, the authors state that birds, including highly secretive birds such as rails, make up about a fourth of the diet of Everglades pythons, and declines in these species could be occurring without managers realizing it. 

"Our research adds to the increasing evidence that predators, whether native or exotic, exert major influence on the structure of animal communities," said John Willson, a study co-author, a research scientist at Virginia Tech University and author of the book Invasive Pythons in the United States. "The effects of declining mammal populations on the overall Everglades ecosystem, which extends well beyond the national park boundaries, are likely profound, but are probably complex and difficult to predict.  Studies examining such effects are sorely needed to more fully understand the impacts pythons are having on one of our most unique and valued national parks."

The authors found little support for alternative explanations for the mammal declines, such as disease or changes in habitat structure or water management regimes.  

"This severe decline in mammals is of significant concern to the overall health of the Park's large and complex ecosystem," said Everglades National Park superintendent Dan Kimball.  "We will continue to enhance our efforts to control and manage the non-native python and to better understand the impacts on the Park.  No incidents involving visitor safety and pythons have occurred in the Park.  Encounters with pythons are very rare; that said visitors should be vigilant and report all python sightings to park rangers," Kimball said. 

On Jan. 23, 2012, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a rule in the Federal Register that will ban the importation and interstate transportation of four non-native constrictor snakes (Burmese python, northern and southern African pythons, and the yellow anaconda) that threaten the Everglades and other sensitive ecosystems. These snakes are being listed as injurious species under the Lacey Act. In addition, the FWS will continue to consider listing as injurious five other species of nonnative snakes: the reticulated python, boa constrictor, DeSchauensee’s anaconda, green anaconda and Beni anaconda. 

The paper, Severe mammal declines coincide with proliferation of invasive Burmese pythons in Everglades National Park, was published online on Jan. 30, 2012, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The authors are Michael E. Dorcas, Davidson College; John D. Willson, Virginia Tech University; Robert N. Reed, USGS; Ray W. Snow, NPS; Michael R. Rochford, University of Florida; Melissa A. Miller, Auburn University; Walter E. Meshaka, Jr., State Museum of Pennsylvania; Paul T. Andreadis, Denison University; Frank J. Mazzotti, University of Florida; Christina M. Romagosa, Auburn University; and Kristen M. Hart, USGS.

Director to speak about fossil fuel prospects, earthquake effects
Indiana Daily Student
“She is not only a highly respected research scholar, but as the director of the US Geological Survey, she is one of the government's leading experts on energy policy, environmental issues and natural hazard mitigation.” McNutt is the first woman to ...

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South Florida Caribbean News
'QUAKE: Haiti in Jamaica' Documentary Spurs Response In Jamaica and Caribbean
South Florida Caribbean News
“It was aimed at getting more people to pay keen attention to where they build, and to prepare for the eventuality of a catastrophe as one event resulting from a natural hazard has the potential to do more harm than any violent outbreak.

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Buyers Concerned About Insurance Pricing, Availability, Survey Finds
PropertyCasualty360
... insurance brokers and risk management services firms, shows that risk managers and buyers also are concerned about managing risk with fewer resources and reduced budgets, particularly for firms with large natural-hazard and supply-chain exposures.

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Harbour Heights for ODPEM Project
Government of Jamaica, Jamaica Information Service
The mitigation project will include the plotting (with the aid of GPS technology and local 'lay-of-the-land knowledge), outlining and erecting of a series of drains, gutters, channels and rainwater harvesting strategies that will act as natural hazard ...

Director of US Geological Survey to speak on fossil fuel resources, earthquakes
Indiana University
"She is not only a highly respected research scholar, but as the director of the US Geological Survey, she is one of the government's leading experts on energy policy, environmental issues and natural hazard mitigation.

Daily Gossip
Houston Weather Forecasts Warn About Storms And Floods
Daily Gossip
Although flooding is the most common natural hazard people in Houston have to deal with, there still are a lot that take the problem too lightly, according to officials. City officials warn that 6 inches of water can cause tires to lose traction and ...

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Suncorp to shift back-office jobs to India
The Australian
Suncorp's total natural hazard damages bill for the December half is expected to be between $360 million and $420m. That is above its $240m natural hazard allowance for the period, meaning it will incur a charge of between $120m and $180m.

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