Today, In a move that puts his conservation record on par with some of the country’s greenest leaders, President Bush today created three marine national monuments that will protect 195,280 square miles of vulnerable island and ocean ecosystems in the Pacific, as reported in the Washington Post. The announcement is in sharp contrast with Bush’s record on other environmental issues such as climate change and drilling. The designation will drastically cut oil and gas exploration in the areas, as well as commercial fishing. Permits will be required for recreational fishing. Bush also set aside more than 138,000 square miles of marine reserve in 2006, which means that by the end of his term he will have conserved more ocean than anyone in history.

President George W. Bush is stepping up on Tuesday at a White House ceremony to designate three  Pacific island areas as national monuments to protect them from energy exploratation and extraction, commercial fishing, and commercial uses.   It will be the largest marine conservation effort in history.The marine areas — totaling 195,280 square miles  are:

• The northern Pacific, waters at the northern end of the Northern Mariana Islands, including the Mariana Trench, the deepest spot on earth at 36,000 feet below the sea.
• In American Samoa, the Rose Atoll — the world’s smallest coral atoll and one of the most remote.
• The central Pacific, coral reefs, pinnacles, sea mounts, islands and surrounding waters of Johnston Atoll, Howland, Baker and Jarvis Islands, Kingman Reef, Palmyra Atoll and Wake Island. These areas harbor some of the most pristine coral reefs in the world.

The protected areas will extend 50 nautical miles off the coral reefs and atolls at the three monuments, which will be officially called the Marianas Marine National Monument, Rose Atoll Marine National Monument, and the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. The Marianas will  get a visitors center, an enforcement boat, co-management, an advisory council to the monument, and provide federal jobs. Each location harbors unique species and some of the rarest geological formations on Earth — from the world’s largest land crab to a bird that incubates its eggs in the heat of underwater volcanoes. The Marianas monument is especially significant given the scientific value of the trench and underwater volcanoes that form part of the Pacific Rim’s “Ring of Fire.”  Advocacy groups were pushing for 200 nautical miles, the full extent of the U.S. exclusive economic zone.

All will be protected as national monuments — the same status afforded to statues and cultural sites — under the 1906 Antiquities Act. The law allows the government to immediately phase out commercial fishing and other extractive uses. However, recreational fishing, tourism and scientific research could still occur inside the three areas. Commercial fishing will reportedly be allowed in the waters over the Mariana Trench. The monument will only protect the rim of the canyon and its depths. The canyon is deeper than Mt. Everest is tall and five times the size of the Grand Canyon. The Obama administration will have to decide how the areas will be managed, and make sure the prohibitions are enforced.

Jackson Hole is not the only place with avalanche problems this year.

Our problems are mainly from a rain crust that we got in early November.     I have attached an AP article that was just posted .

Fall weather set stage for deadly avalanche season

By MIKE STARK – 16 hours ago

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The stage was set for avalanches that have killed 19 people in western North America in two weeks by fall weather that created slick, unstable, icy slabs on mountains across the region, avalanche experts say.

Snow that fell in October and November provided an unstable base for heavy snows that fell across the West in December. Occasional rain and changing weather conditions provided additional layers that have made it easier for huge walls of snow to cleave off and plummet down the mountain.

“There’s something very tricky and very weird about the snow conditions this year that obviously caught some of the best snow-safety teams in the U.S. off guard,” Doug Abromeit, director of the U.S. Forest Service’s National Avalanche Center in Ketchum, Idaho, said Wednesday.

All 19 have died since Dec. 14. The worst was Sunday when 11 snowmobilers were swept away in back-to-back avalanches in British Columbia’s backcountry. Eight were killed.

In Utah, three snowmobilers and a skier have been killed. Colorado has also had four deaths: a skier, a snowboarder and two on snowmobiles. Others have died in Wyoming, Washington state and California.

Dozens of other people have had close calls — 28 in Colorado alone.

On average about 25 people in the U.S. die in avalanches each winter, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center in Boulder.

Some of the slides were large — one near Logan, Utah, that killed two snowmobilers was estimated to be 2,000 feet wide — but many weren’t.

“It’s more the frequency that’s unusual as opposed to the size,” said John Snook, an avalanche forecaster with the Colorado center.

Avalanche experts have been flummoxed at times by what they’ve seen this winter and have issued warning after warning about the dangers of venturing onto steep, snow-covered mountainsides.

The snow that fell in October and November changed as temperatures fluctuated, switching from a cohesive layer to one that is more crystallized and weak. Rain fell in some parts of high-elevation Utah on Thanksgiving, adding another slippery coat. And in December, huge snow dumps — 300 percent of average in some parts of Colorado — added heavy loads to those unstable underlying layers.

Conditions are dangerous but it’s also difficult to predict exactly when and where avalanches will occur.

“Pretty much all of the avalanche professionals I’ve talked to have said, ‘Man, I don’t know if I’ve seen this before,’” said Bruce Tremper, director of the Utah Avalanche Center.

Danger remains high or extreme in parts of many mountainous areas throughout the West.

Extreme conditions are expected in the Cascade Range from Washington state’s Mount Rainier to central Oregon because of weak snow, high winds and new snow on the way.

Avalanche experts have been urging people to steer clear of dangerous areas. Those who do go into the backcountry should consult with avalanche centers first and be prepared with proper avalanche equipment, including beacons and shovels.

No one is sure how long the danger will last. The slick slab from the fall snowstorms may or may not stick around until spring.

“It all depends on what the weather does,” Abromeit said.