Comments invited on preserving wildlife corridors in western states

The Western Governor's Association is inviting public comments on draft reports on wildlife migration cooridors and habitat. The draft reports cover Energy, Transportation, Science, Land Use, and Climate Change.

The reports are in response to a WGA resolution last year to develop and conduct a process to “identify key wildlife migration corridors and crucial wildlife habitats in the West and make recommendations on needed policy options and tools for preserving those landscapes.”

Newt Gingrich: Support science or next generation's America will be "weaker, poorer, less safe"

The kick-off session of Science Generation - A National Imperative, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City featured a panel of prominent science/education advocates but it was Newt Gingrinch who got the crowd of 400+ really fired up.

The former Speaker of the House called not for a doubling of the NSF budget but a tripling of it. He said excuses that we can't afford to do this in a $3 trillion budget are "baloney."

He said that if we don't make the investments in science and education, our kids will inherit a country that is "weaker, poorer, and less safe" than the one we grew up in.

Newt also proposed opening teaching to part-timers with backgrounds in science and math, without requiring them to go through teacher certification.

Others on the panel made bold statements but I've got to head back to the opening session for today and will blog more about this and today's developments later.

Follow-up aerial photos of Beeline Hwy landslide

AZGS geologist Brian Gootee flew over the area of the recent SR87 landslide and posted a series of photos online.

The road opened after 6 days of repairs and clean-up by ADOT. AZGS geologists have been re-examining the slopes to all along this stretch of the road to assess the potential for further problems.

Geologist salaries up 35% in 3 years

My copy of AAPG Explorer arrived on Friday with a report that geologist's salaries increased on average, 9.45% last year, resulting in an unprecendented 3-year rise of 35%.

I've blogged in recent weeks about the price of oil, gold, copper, coal, and some rarer minerals. The global demand for energy and mineral resources is pushing a corresponding demand for geologists who can explore for and develop these deposits.

We've also had 40+ geology departments shut down in U.S. colleges in the past decade or so. However, despite that, enrollments have been moderately stable in recent years.

2007 Geological Salary Survey (AAPG)

YEARS EXPERIENCE	HIGH	AVERAGE	LOW
0-2	$ 95,000	$ 82,800	$ 58,000
3-5	145,000	107,800	80,000
6-9	153,000	121,100	99,000
10-14	155,000	119,800	100,000
15-19	185,000	151,600	101,000
20-24	260,000	167,400	134,000
25+	200,000	162,800	130,000

News media discovers the new gold and copper rushes

The New York Times today said the "new gold rush is on" as weekend prospectors scour the countryside across the West. Arizona is mentioned briefly. [photo: DB King]

Just yesterday, the Wall Street Journal ran a long article on Rio Tinto's exploration for copper in Peru, with a nice accompanying slide show of a geological party carrying out field work.

Park Service releases new digital geologic map of Cameron 30'x60' quad

The National Park Service posted a Digital Geologic Map of the Cameron 30' x 60' quadrangle, Arizona, covering the Wupakti National Monument. It is one of 10 digital map products in the NPS Digital Store for the San Francisco volcanic field area.

[photo: Moenkopi Sandstone and Wukoki pueblo, Wupatki NM, Dallas Larsen, NPS]

The digital product is derived from the geologic map by George Billingsley and colleagues at the USGS, released last year.

Note (11-29-08): I wrote this on April 2, 2008 but for some reason, it did not get posted. While doing some reorganization of the blog, I found it and am publishing it now.

Rhenium passes $10,000 per kg; Arizona major producer

The price of rhenium (Re) hit $10,550 per kg recently, continuing a dramatic rise from the $1,330 average price in 2007 reported by the USGS. Two of the five mines that produce rhenium in the U.S. are in Arizona, one being Freeport's Sierrita mine near Green Valley, the other Asarco's Mission mine near Sahuarita.

Rhenium is used in gas turbine jet engines and as catalyst in petroleum refining. The U.S. last year imported 86% of its rhenium. Rhenium is a by-product of molybdenum production which in turn is a product of copper production from porphyry systems.

It is estimated that the Sierrita mine produces 4 tpy or 12.5% of the world's rhenium supply.

[right: Sierrita mine, infomine.com]