Fears over environmental catastrophes are growing among humanitarian experts and environmental organizations as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues.

Carl Bruch, director of international programs at the Environmental Law Institute, notes "In armed conflict, there is so much human suffering that it sometimes seems incongruous to think about environmental concerns. The truth though is that environmental impacts can affect livelihoods, public health and kill people through the spread of disease that would not otherwise have occurred."

Ukraine’s highly industrialized landscape makes the war one of the world’s most dangerous for environmental-related harms, including the possibility of a nuclear disaster.

On March 2 BCAG Chair Peter Reynolds gave a presentation to Marie Anonioli’s AP Environmental Studies class at Hamilton High School. Peter’s presentation centered on attitudes about climate change, what we can do to address the problem, BCAG’s purpose and programs and some local climate change issues.

The students asked great questions such as

• “Why is developing renewable energy not a top priority?” 
• “Why do people deny or ignore warnings from science?” 
• “Who makes the decisions that keep carbon emissions happening?”

Peter answered questions and concluded by encouraging the students to keep learning about how to use systemic thinking and approaches to solving problems. “Few things in life are black and white, though some people like to pretend that they are,” he said.

April 14 marks the 10-year anniversary of the Victor Community Garden, a program of BCAG established by Jill Davies. We invite the community to come out and take up a plot for only $35/year, which includes a 20 ft x 20 ft plot, automated watering system, compost, mulch, and tools.

The Climate Victory Garden toolkit is a .pdf file from Green America describing gardening practices which increase oxygen-generating micro-organisms in the soil and helps reverse the process of leaching carbon from the soil. Some estimates find that such agricultural methods employed world wide could be enough to entirely reverse climate change.

Join your BCAG friends and neighbors for a clean-up day at the garden on April 20th from 10:00 am-3:00 pm. The garden is located on 5th Ave. Victor, just west of Chief Victor Camp Road. To sign up for a plot, click here. For more information contact Jill Davies 406-360-1751.

BCAG will again clean trash from our stretch of US 93.

We meet on May 4th at 10:00 am at the Wally Crawford fishing access. Frank Pelfrey will lead our team of volunteers this spring with organization by Diane Lee.

If you’d like to participate in this semi-annual outing with your climate-concerned friends and neighbors, contact us and mention this project.

Well over half of Ravalli County is designated as US Forest Service land.

Much recent research has focused attention on how our temperate zone forests are affected by climate change.

It isn’t just the Amazon that matters. Forest management is an important local climate issue for us. Your BCAG board has been working to develop a set of principles/guidelines for BCAG action relating to this issue, including:

• wildfire impacts on health and community infrastructure

• best practices for reducing wildfire risks: current science around thinning of the forest, etc.

• carbon sequestration and forestry practices to mitigate climate change

Fire in the Root is the valley coalition of fire departments, service agencies and citizens concerned with local wildfire protection.  This group is currently beginning work on the first update of the Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) since 2006.

The existing plan does not mention drought due to climate change as one of the major causes of increased wildfire risk, nor does it address wildfire smoke as a major health risk or the possibilities of reducing climate impacts through carbon sequestration.

BCAG is engaging with the community in the process of updating the plan, as well as working to position ourselves to comment on climate-forestry affecting actions by the US Forest Service and other management agencies.

Any members interested in being involved in our forest management efforts, please contact board secretary Laura Jackson.