Fuir son pays en temps de paix !

Salut à tous,  

Du site AFP :  Le Venezuela n’est pas un pays en guerre. Son peuple l’abandonne par nécessité économique. Il y a une pénurie de médicaments, ils ne peuvent pas acheter de nourriture pour leur famille même quand ils ont un travail et gagnent un salaire. Il y a quelque chose de vraiment tragique à être le témoin d’un peuple obligé de fuir un pays en paix.

    ¨ Huaquillas (Equateur) -- La couverture de la crise des réfugiés vénézuéliens est un sujet très personnel pour moi. Originaire de Cucuta, une ville colombienne juste à la frontière, ma vie est faite d’aller-retour entre les deux pays. J’ai pris l’habitude de me rendre au Venezuela pour voir des amis, me promener ou aller au restaurant, ou encore profiter de sa côte sur les Caraïbes.
  

   Cela fait plusieurs semaines que nous suivons la situation des migrants vénézuéliens. Cette année, ils ont été toujours plus nombreux à quitter leur pays, -où ils ne peuvent plus pourvoir aux besoins de leurs familles-, pour chercher un travail et un avenir ailleurs.

Des conditions d`entrée durcies !

     Ils tentent de rejoindre l’Equateur, le Pérou, le Chili. Des milliers se sont installés en Colombie, où il leur a été assez facile d’obtenir des autorisations de travail. 

Certains pays ont répondu à cet exode en durcissant les conditions d’entrée sur leur territoire.

   l’accès à l’Equateur étant interdit, environ 700 personnes ont décidé de prendre le chemin du Pérou. Le pays andin ayant annoncé qu’il imposerait un contrôle des passeports à sa frontière à partir du 24 août, le voyage est devenu une course contre la montre. La température nocturne avait déjà commencé à tomber, autour de 3 degrés Celsius. Beaucoup de migrants avaient le ventre vide.   

Un ange gardien !   

  Les deux familles étaient affamées, et comme par miracle un ange gardien est apparu sur le bord de la route : une vénézuélienne, arrivée là quelques semaines plus tôt et qui travaillait dans un restaurant. Quand elle a vu les deux familles, elle s’est mise à pleurer parce qu’elles lui rappelaient sa propre expérience une fois arrivée jusque-là.  Elle leur a apporté un repas pour le déjeuner, que les deux familles ont partagé.

Finalement la frontière !
    Les deux familles étaient affamées, et comme par miracle un ange gardien est apparu sur le bord de la route : une vénézuélienne, arrivée là quelques semaines plus tôt et qui travaillait dans un restaurant. Quand elle a vu les deux familles, elle s’est mise à pleurer parce qu’elles lui rappelaient sa propre expérience une fois arrivée jusque-là.  Elle leur a apporté un repas pour le déjeuner, que les deux familles ont partagé¨...   ( Voir l`article et les nombreuses photos au complet )

 https://making-of.afp.com/fuir-son-pays-en-temps-de-paix?fbclid=IwAR3jjZCRUuA28yUt3r871qDnj_zdPzBoewF-9TzcdfmSV2nIC3C3HgulO7I

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U.S. Forest Service reflects on past year’s progress

In the past fiscal year, the USDA Forest Service responded to natural disasters and battled through one of the most destructive fire seasons on record. Throughout these challenges, the Forest Service also actively treated forests to improve conditions, increase timber production, and enhance rural prosperity—all while putting customer service first.

“With the commitment and strength of our employees and partners the Forest Service continued to improve conditions across the forested landscapes this last year,” said USDA Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen. “This included active management, and increasing services and production to create jobs and support economies for rural America. We also focused on being good neighbors in communities and states, and consistently offering exceptional service and experiences for all uses of public lands. At the same time, we moved forward in in our commitment to transforming the culture to create a workplace that helps all employees do their part to deliver our mission to the American people.”

Improving Forests

In the past year, the Forest Service treated more than 3.5 million acres reducing hazardous fuels and improving forest health through prescribed fire and timber sales; the latter totaling 3.2 billion board feet. The Forest Service treated an additional 2.5 million acres improving watershed conditions, ecosystems, and infrastructure, as well as providing clean water for millions of Americans.

The agency increased use of 2014 Farm Bill authorities, including 166 Good Neighbor agreements and stewardship contracts. Together, these efforts strengthened collaborative work with states and partners, improved forest conditions, protected communities, and supported as many as 370,000 jobs.

Shared Stewardship

The Forest Service prioritized working with customers, partners, and communities to achieve shared goals. In August, Secretary Perdue publicly unveiled the USDA Forest Service report on Shared Stewardship—a new approach to active forest management. This approach will help reshape the agency’s work as good neighbors and will build stronger relationships with states, partners, tribes, and communities to improve forest conditions. The Western Governors Association embraced USDA’s commitment and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Secretary Perdue. The MOU commits the USFS and WGA to a more integrated approach to prioritizing investments where they will have the greatest impact and will work together to set priorities that address risk across broad landscapes.

Another component of shared stewardship is developing the next generation of land stewards to manage and protect national forests. Over the past several years, the Forest Service worked on outreach and education for young people through programs such as Every Kid in a Park. This program leveraged nearly $7 million in private and nonprofit contributions to get fourth-graders into the great outdoors this year.

Fire Funding Fix

Last March, Congress passed historic legislation that significantly reduces the need to transfer funds from much needed management work to pay for firefighting costs, which exceeded $2 billion this year. This new law expanded authorities that the Forest Service can use to improve forest conditions and reduce wildfire risk. When the new funding fix takes effect in Fiscal Year 2020, the Forest Service budget will become more stable, freeing up funds to help accomplish critical on-the-ground work to increase forest health and resilience, as well as protect lives, communities and resources.

Improving Customer Service

The Forest Service took definitive steps to improve customer experience by modernizing our systems and employing new technology. The special use permit process was expedited, reducing the permit backlog by half. The Forest Service removed unnecessary barriers to minerals development and energy production, helping to promote energy independence, create jobs, and support rural economies. Access was also expanded through investments in infrastructure, facilities, and rural broadband.

As well, the agency made improvements to recreation opportunities, including protecting and improving access for hunting, fishing, hiking, motorized recreation, and more. The Forest Service developed fee offset projects to promote campground concessionaire facility improvements and worked with six other agencies to develop a one-stop reservation and trip-planning website to be launched in 2019.

Transforming the Culture

The Forest Service moved to permanently transform its work environment to ensure everyone is respected and included by implementing a new Code of Conduct that includes zero-tolerance for harassment, retaliation, and misconduct. Agency leadership also created a new performance requirement on work environment that has raised accountability for all supervisors, and established a new anti-harassment call center.

“We started by implementing a 30-day “Standing Up for Each Other” action strategy that requires every employee to be held accountable to the new code of conduct,” said Christiansen. “We are changing policies to further prevent harassment and retaliation, and we’re building skills within the workforce so employees prevent, recognize and intervene in inappropriate conduct and retaliation.”

Regulatory Reform

The Forest Service revised policies and streamlined processes to create efficiencies in environmental analysis, forest products delivery, energy development, and wildland fire management. Improvements in environmental analysis and decision making cut costs by $30 million, and reduced analysis time by 10 percent. The Forest Service worked with sister agencies to update policies and processes for more efficient application and implementation of mineral extraction and energy production projects. The agency also reformed wildland fire systems to better allocate resources based on risk and lower costs while continuing to protect lives, property, and resources

For more information about the U.S. Forest Service visit http://www.fs.fed.us/.



Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com
RockyMountainHikingTrails.com
HikinginGlacier.com
TetonHikingTrails.com
Ramble On: A History of Hiking

Update: Smokes Remains Accessible During Partial Government Shutdown

During the partial shutdown of the federal government due to the lapse of appropriations, Great Smoky Mountains National Park will remain as accessible as possible while still following all applicable laws and procedures. Roads and trails that are seasonally open will remain accessible to visitors, but emergency and rescue services will be limited. The park will not be operating campgrounds, picnic areas, restrooms, or providing trash collection services.

Great Smoky Mountains Association has entered into an agreement with the National Park Service to fund Sugarlands, Oconaluftee, and Cades Cove visitor center operations and associated restroom facilities from Saturday, December 22 through Tuesday, January 1. In addition, the concessionaire for the Cades Cove Campground Store, Tsiyahi, LLC, has entered into an agreement with the National Park Service to fund store operations and associated restroom facilities on December 22-23 and December 26-30. This holiday period is traditionally one of the busiest weeks in the park.

“We appreciate the ongoing support offered by those that visit, love, and care for Great Smoky Mountains National Park,” said Superintendent Cassius Cash. “During this time period when there are no visitor services, it is imperative that people practice Leave No Trace principals to help us protect park resources over the duration of the shutdown.”

The park will only be conducting snow and ice removal on three park roadways that are considered thoroughfares to local communities: Newfound Gap Road between Gatlinburg, TN and Cherokee, NC; the Spur between Gatlinburg, TN and Pigeon Forge, TN; and the Foothills Parkway West between Walland, TN and Look Rock for the Top of the World community. Currently, there are several secondary roads closed due to snow and ice. When road conditions improve, these roadways will reopen, but crews will not be plowing them during the shutdown period. Additionally, these roads may close throughout the shutdown period, as needed, for visitor safety due to inclement weather including snow, ice, flooding, downed trees, or rock slides.

The park website will remain accessible, but it will not be updated with any current information. Park social media accounts will be suspended during the shutdown period. Information and images from webcams, including the Newfound Gap webcam, will remain accessible at https://www.nps.gov/grsm/learn/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm. The webcams may become non-functional during the shutdown if the equipment requires maintenance.

During the winter, the park normally operates campgrounds at Cades Cove and Smokemont. During the partial government shutdown, park staff will not provide maintenance, restrooms, check-in/check-out, or reservation services at these areas. Visitors to these campgrounds will not be asked to leave unless safety concerns or apparent resource damage require such action. Visitors holding campground reservations should be aware that there is no guarantee their reserved campsite will be ready and available should they arrive during the government shutdown. In addition, the park cannot issue any new permits for backcountry camping.

For updates on the shutdown, please visit www.doi.gov/shutdown.



Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com
RockyMountainHikingTrails.com
HikinginGlacier.com
TetonHikingTrails.com
Ramble On: A History of Hiking

Great Smoky Mountains Association commits to funding national park visitor centers during federal government shutdown

The Great Smoky Mountains Association published this news release on their website yesterday with regards to the federal government shutdown:

During the extended government shutdown in October 2013, the public’s access to Great Smoky Mountains National Park was nearly non-existent. This time, however, if a government shutdown goes into effect at midnight on December 21, Great Smoky Mountains Association is committed to creating a different reality for park visitors during the upcoming holiday week.

“We know many people plan a trip to the Smokies during the holidays. Businesses in the surrounding communities also depend on visitors to stay in their hotels and eat at their restaurants,” GSMA CEO Laurel Rematore said Friday afternoon, December 21. “We want to do what we can to ensure visitors have access to park information, and in the event of a shutdown we know we can do that by keeping the park's visitor centers open during this busy period.”

As the potential for a government shutdown began to appear on the horizon late last week, Rematore went to work with NPS officials to find a way to temporarily staff in-park visitor centers independent of federal funds, thus ensuring the Smokies would remain available to visitors who wish to connect with their public lands during this holiday season.

It has been determined that GSMA would cover costs associated with visitor center staffing, restroom cleaning and trash hauling should they be needed due to a shutdown. With these services in place, a visit to Great Smoky Mountains National Park may not look and feel exactly as anticipated, but at least a minimum of visitor comforts and information would remain available at three park visitor centers: Sugarlands near Gatlinburg, Tenn., Cades Cove near Townsend, Tenn., and Oconaluftee near Cherokee, N.C.

Even so, visitors and community leaders should be aware that there’s a clock on GSMA’s funding; it would expire at sundown on Tuesday, January 1, 2019.

GSMA provides staffing for the park’s visitor center stores through an agreement with the National Park Service going back nearly 70 years. In fact, many of the thousands of visitors who come into contact with employees of the nonprofit cooperating association have at times mistaken them for park rangers.

GSMA employs roughly 85 people who accommodate visitor needs on a daily basis. They do so at all four visitor centers located inside the park boundary (those listed above and one at Clingmans Dome, which is open to the public April 1 through November 30) and three outside-the-park visitor centers in Gatlinburg, Tenn., Townsend, Tenn., and Bryson City, N.C. Visitor services at these three locations would not be impacted by a shutdown, Rematore said. “National parks across the country are the cornerstone of tourism economies, and the Smokies are no exception,” Rematore said.

“That’s why it makes sense to us as a good community partner to embrace our leadership role in this way and work toward supporting a healthy regional economy while simultaneously helping to preserve national park resources.”

Since its inception in 1953, Great Smoky Mountains Association has supported the preservation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park by promoting greater public understanding and appreciation through education, interpretation and research. A nonprofit organization, GSMA has provided more than $44 million to the park during its nearly 70-year history. Support for the association is achieved primarily from sales of educational publications and from annual membership dues.

Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com
RockyMountainHikingTrails.com
HikinginGlacier.com
TetonHikingTrails.com
Ramble On: A History of Hiking

NC State Parks to Ring in New Year with First Day Hikes

North Carolina’s New Year tradition of family adventure, exercise and reconnection with nature continues in 2019 with First Day Hikes throughout the state parks system on Jan. 1. More than 40 guided hikes are scheduled for New Year’s Day, ranging from short “leg-stretchers” to multi-mile rambles, most featuring educational programs led by rangers along the way. All state parks will be open on the holiday. In North Carolina, this popular tradition began at Eno River State Park more than 40 years ago. Eno River’s first day hike alone draws more than 800 visitors.

“First Day Hikes are a time for the whole family or a group of friends to enjoy our state’s outstanding natural resources together,” said Dwayne Patterson, state parks director. “This is a great opportunity to introduce your children or a friend to hiking and start your year off right with fresh air and exercise.”

Each state park and state recreation area puts its own stamp on First Day Hikes. Follow up a hike at Dismal Swamp State Park with hot chocolate and cookies or brave the ice and snow for a hike at Elk Knob for spectacular views. Learn about some of our Piedmont’s flora and fauna at Haw River or discover the fire-dependent ecology of longleaf pine forests at Carvers Creek. Explore Goose Creek’s Spanish moss-draped live oaks or explore Medoc Mountain in the heart of the state.

As an added bonus, visitors involved with the North Carolina State Parks 100-Mile Challenge – to walk, hike, paddle, cycle or otherwise explore 100 miles in the state parks – can add First Day Hikes mileage to their totals. First Day Hikes are also a great time to get started on your own New Year’s resolutions with the 100-mile challenge. Details about the 100-Mile Challenge can be found at www.nc100miles.org

Nationally, First Day Hikes is promoted by America’s State Parks and the National Association of State Park Directors, with more than 400 hikes scheduled in state parks across the country. A complete list of First Day Hikes in North Carolina can be found at https://www.ncparks.gov/first-day-hikes.



Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com
RockyMountainHikingTrails.com
HikinginGlacier.com
TetonHikingTrails.com
Ramble On: A History of Hiking

Faulty Gold - The Enmore Goldfields

I was undertaking a project on a private property near Enmore, south of Armidale last weekend. This gave me the opportunity to visit some abandoned mine sites and have a look at the country. The property I was on consisted of two stratigraphic units, the Girrakool Beds and the Enmore Monzogranite. The area I was most interested in was the boundary between the two units. Where I was the boundary is defined by a fault known as the Borah Fault.  The fault zone is quite easily observed through topographic and drainage features, but also there has historically been some gold extraction from some locations along this fault including two mines that I got to visit (Buffalo Ranche Mine and Sherwood Mine).  These mines make up part of the area sometimes referred to as the Enmore-Melrose Goldfield.

Old mining equipment Sherwood Mine

The regional geological mapping identifies that the north of the Sherwood Fault are blocks of the Girrakool Beds. This geological unit is dominated by mudstone (slate) and greywacke (lithic sandstones) with rare chert and basalt (Gilligan et al 1986) and is sometimes considered of Permian age (e.g. Binns 1966, Leitch 1974) but is more likely Carboniferous Gilligan et al 1986). It appears to me that the Girrakool Beds in the Enmore area have not been studied extensively but other areas well to the North east of Armidale have been much more studied because in that area they have undergone extensive and complex metamorphism. 

South of the Borah Fault, as well as some fault bound blocks to the north of it is the Enmore Monzogranite. The Enmore Monzogranite is a name given to a biotite monzogranite of S-Type derivation (from melted sedimentary rocks) commonly with a foliation (preferred direction of mineral alignment). The quartz in the unit is usually of a blue colour and there is occasionally amphibole. garnet and even some graphite present in some places too. It commonly contains xenoliths. The Enmore Monzogranite has been classified as part of the Hillgrove Supersuite. As far as I can find, the Enmore Monzogranite has not been dated accurately and therefore only has an inferred age of Carboniferous or Permian.

Remnants of the old Sherwood Mine

The Borah fault can be traced for quite some distance because the faulting has affected the rocks (which area now called mylonite, breccia and fault gauge). The shearing stresses caused by movement along the fault has recrystalised some of the rock and broken up other areas. Because of this action the affected rocks have been weakened and are more susceptible to erosion. This means that over time creeks have preferred to flow along the fault strike. For example one creek, Postmans Gully flows along the fault towards the north-east and another, Borah Creek flows along the same fault in the opposite direction (towards the south-west).

Some old mining equipment still remains at Sherwood Mine, with the remnants of a steam engine apparently manufactured about 1878 still visible. Historical mining records (Henley 1985) show that approximately 7.9kg of gold was extracted in 1893 then in the period up to 1937 a further 2.6kg was produced. Follow up exploration was carried out from time to time, particularly in the 1970’s to 1990’s but no significant economic concentrations of gold were identified. I note that the geology superficially appears similar to the nearby Hillgrove mines area but on further inspection it appears that all of the substantial mineral deposits lie in a thin zone around and along the fault line. The mineral deposits are also of a quite different chemical make up with low concentrations of Antimony, which distinguishes it from the major mineralisation events that formed many of the Gold-Antimony deposits from the nearby Hillgrove Gold Field. 

As mentioned, the most significant gold occurrences in the Enmore-Melrose Goldfield are located on, or adjacent to the Borah Fault (and nearby Sherwood Fault). This indicates the faults are likely to be a structural control on the gold mineralisation.

Les réseaux sociaux et notre démocratie !

Salut à tous,

 Du site France Culture : Ne pas laisser des acteurs étatiques et non étatiques déstabiliser nos démocraties !  

   ¨Quand une journaliste découvre qu'elle est "directrice éditoriale" d'un compte dont elle n'a jamais entendu parler... 

   Una Mullally est une référence parmi les journalistes en Irlande. Editorialiste au Dubliner, elle collabore aussi au Guardian britannique et au Irish Times. Elle a été nommée « journaliste de l’année » en 2015. Fin août, des amis l’ont contactée pour s’étonner du contenu de certains des articles publiés sur le site dont elle est la directrice éditoriale, The British Left. Problème : Una Mullally n’a jamais créé de site intitulé The British Left.Elle commande une enquête à une compagnie privée de cybersécurité, FireEye.

   Ce qu’il découvre : le site The British Left a été créé par le gouvernement iranien à destination du monde anglophone. Et ses lointains concepteurs n’ont rien trouvé de plus malin que d’utiliser son nom pour attirer du public. Aujourd’hui, Google a retiré ce site de propagande iranien de ses références. Mais il en naît d’autres tous les jours.

la lutte pour le contrôle de l’information et l’influence des esprits ne date pas d’hier…
    La guerre de propagande est centenaire. Le fondateur de la science des médias, Walter Lippman, travaillait durant la Première guerre mondiale au Committee on Public Information, cet organisme gouvernemental chargé de « vendre l’entrée en guerre des Américains » aux côtés des Britanniques et des Français. Il y côtoya Edward Bernays, neveu de Sigmund Freud et créateur de l’industrie des relations publiques. Comme le rappelle le chercheur Vasily Gatov, la propagande était considérée l’une des armes décisives de la guerre par le régime hitlérien. Et les communistes au pouvoir en Russie y voyaient l’outil politique réellement décisif. A l’ère des masses, la capacité à faire basculer les opinions publiques, à influencer la conscience collective, devenait capitale.

 ...mais le numérique et les réseaux sociaux attisent l'extrémisme et la violence¨...
( Voir l`article au complet )

 https://www.franceculture.fr/emissions/le-tour-du-monde-des-idees/le-tour-du-monde-des-idees-du-vendredi-07-decembre-2018

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