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(Climate change threatens half of North American bird species, report says)
(MOAPA, Nev.- Southwest mops up after heavy rains force rescues)
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Langham led an Audubon study that examined more than 500 bird species and determined that more than 300 in Canada and the United States face large climate shifts that could reduce their habitat by half or more by 2080. The changing environment will force birds to adapt to new habitats with different temperature and precipitation rates if they are to survive.
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MOAPA, Nev. The Southwest was mopping up Tuesday after pouring rains and flash flooding washed out part of a major rail line between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City; swelled a river so high that a Utah national park downstream was briefly shuttered; and closed a 50-mile stretch of heavily traveled Interstate 15 when soggy pavement crumbled.The cleanup began after seasonal monsoon moisture combined with the remnants of Tropical Storm Norbert to dump heavy rain throughout the Southwest and set a single-day rainfall record in Phoenix.The sun was out Tuesday in the small, southern Nevada town of Moapa In Nevada, where officials had feared that rushing water would overwhelm the banks of the swollen Muddy and Virgin rivers."We saw it right at the cusp and it didn't go over," said Erin Neff, spokeswoman for the Clark County Regional Flood Control District. "It's a near-miss."At least 30 homes in nearby Overton were flooded, and Clark County firefighters counted 18 rescues in the area, many involving submerged cars."I've been in this area since 1978. We've never had water like that before," said David Muns, a resident of Moapa, where more than four inches of rain <a href=http://www.avanttravel.com/page.php?sale=Michael-Kors-Raincoat>Michael Kors Outlet</a>  fell in two hours.Transportation officials said a stretch of I-15 near Moapa could be closed for three to four days while they repair pavement that crumbled into slabs over muddy red dirt. One shattered section stretched for half a mile.Traffic was diverted along detours that added time and miles for the 20,000 vehicles a day that travel the highway connecting Las Vegas and Salt Lake City.Truck driver Randy Garca of Calhan, Colorado, said he hit a standstill Monday afternoon and didn't get rolling again until the next morning."We were hungry so we set up a barbecue," he said by phone from Cedar City, Utah.Union Pacific Railroad service was suspended while crews repaired track <a href=http://www.avanttravel.com/page.php?sale=Michael-Kors-Ceramic-Watches>Michael Kors Discount</a>  near Moapa that was undermined and washed out by flash flooding. Officials hoped to have the track bed and rails repaired by Wednesday for freight service to resume on the busy Las Vegas-to-Salt Lake City main line.In southern Utah, rangers at Zion National Park turned away visitors for several hours Tuesday when heavy rain and a surging river made park routes impassable. Mud, debris and a boulder blocked Route 9, the road through the main canyon.Wet weather also took its toll on neighboring states.Freeways in Phoenix became small lakes on Monday and rescuers scrambled to get drivers out of inundated cars after more than 3 inches of rain fell."We've never seen this," Mesa, Arizona, resident Greg Montierth said. "Arizona deals with sand and cactus and heat. We're not set up for it so I can understand why everybody's scrambling at the last minute."Cars also were stranded near Palm Springs and in the Coachella Valley in Southern California.On an I-15 overpass in the Moapa area, police officer Shanan Kelly said he and several construction workers helped rescue a woman who was swept into rushing water from the top of her minivan."It was very heroic and awesome," Kelly said.Forty-two people were evacuated from a middle school and high school in Moapa and spent Monday night in a building at <a href=http://www.avanttravel.com/page.php?sale=Michael-Kors-Hamilton-Bag>Michael Kors Factory Outlet</a>  Clark County fairgrounds. Churches provided blankets, and a store and restaurant donated food before police escorted the people over the damaged I-15, according to Clark County spokeswoman Stacey Welling.About 190 people were evacuated from the Moapa Band of Paiutes reservation after tribal officials warned that waters were close to breaching a Muddy River dam. Officials were assessing damage to properties with leaky roofs and wet floors where water breached flood control channels."We had rivers running through people's yards. But as far as property damage to homes themselves, I think we fared pretty well," said Sherryl Patterson, administrator at the tribal office.National Weather Service meteorologist Charlotte Dewey warned that any additional precipitation in the Southwest could quickly cause new flooding because the ground is saturated.  
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The first comprehensive species study of its kind, it will be used to help federal wildlife officials develop improved strategies to conserve bird species, whose abundance and migratory patterns depend on specialized habitats, such as forests, grasslands and coastal areas.
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  Associated Press writers Paul Davenport and Alina Hartounian in Phoenix, and Michelle Price in Salt Lake City contributed to this report. Rindels reported from Las Vegas.
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By 2080, the bald eagle, the national symbol of the United States, could see its habitat decrease by 75 percent, the report says.
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All of the habitat of the common loon, the state bird <a href=http://capstone.edu.sg/images/gucciusaonlineoutlet.php> cheap gucci</a>  of Minnesota, could disappear in the lower 48 states. In Southern California, the black oystercatcher may abandon coastal areas for more suitable climes in British Columbia and Alaska.
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Other U.S. bird species that could face climate shifts that sharply reduce their habitat include the American avocet, the eared grebe, the trumpeter swan, the white-headed woodpecker and the chestnut-collared longspur.
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What could be missing along with those birds and their ecological niches are their very presence and songs 鈥?crucial components of our daily lives and the cultural fabric of our communities, Langham said.
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The study was funded in part by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Its projections will help inform the service s migratory bird management objectives and landscape conservation planning, said spokeswoman Laury Parramore.
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Previous climate studies involving North American birds have focused on a few species with limited habitats. For this study, Langham and a team of Audubon ornithologists analyzed 30 years of historical North American climate data.
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The team examined tens of thousands of records from the U.S. Geological Survey s American Breeding Bird Survey and the Audubon Christmas Bird Count, which for more than a century has collected data on bird populations across the nation.
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The study also used climate projections from a 2007 report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which said scientists best estimate was that temperatures would rise 3.2 to 7.8 degrees by 2100. In contrast, the <a href=http://www.symbiose.ca/images/christianlouboutin.gwij.php>Christian Louboutin Outlet</a>  increase from 1901 to 2005 was 1.2 degrees.
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The data was used to project geographic distributions for 588 North American bird species during both the breeding and non-breeding seasons under a variety of scenarios through the end of the century.
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Each species was assigned a climate sensitivity status based on overall climactic suitability.
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The study defined species as climate endangered if they were projected to lose more than half of their current habitat by 2050, without gain from potential expansion.
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Climate threatened species could lose more than half of their habitat by 2080, but have the potential for habitat expansion.
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Climate stable species may lose less than half of their current habitat by 2080.
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The study suggests that 126 species are climate endangered because the climate of their entire habitat will probably change in 65 years. Another 188 other species are considered climate threatened.  
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Relatively few bird species in those categories, however, are now viewed as conservation priorities by wildlife organizations and government agencies, the study says.
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For example, Baird s sparrow could lose more than 95 percent of its current range by 2080. Yet, it is listed as a species of least concern on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, the most comprehensive information source on the global conservation status of more than 10,000 bird <a href=http://www.alportico.net/gosoc.php> true religion sale</a>  species.
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Stuart Butchart, who manages the list and is head of science at BirdLife International, a conservation group based in Cambridge, England, said the study results are troubling. But he said it wouldn t directly translate into changes to the list.
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It does give us a first understanding of how climate change is likely to impact such a range of species, he said.
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Despite the dire projections, Langham said he hoped that through concerted actions now the worst-case future scenarios could be avoided.
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  It s not easy being a bird 鈥?and things are going to get harder still, he said. But if you give nature half a chance, she responds.
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Revision as of 10:12, 19 September 2014

MOAPA, Nev. The Southwest was mopping up Tuesday after pouring rains and flash flooding washed out part of a major rail line between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City; swelled a river so high that a Utah national park downstream was briefly shuttered; and closed a 50-mile stretch of heavily traveled Interstate 15 when soggy pavement crumbled.The cleanup began after seasonal monsoon moisture combined with the remnants of Tropical Storm Norbert to dump heavy rain throughout the Southwest and set a single-day rainfall record in Phoenix.The sun was out Tuesday in the small, southern Nevada town of Moapa In Nevada, where officials had feared that rushing water would overwhelm the banks of the swollen Muddy and Virgin rivers."We saw it right at the cusp and it didn't go over," said Erin Neff, spokeswoman for the Clark County Regional Flood Control District. "It's a near-miss."At least 30 homes in nearby Overton were flooded, and Clark County firefighters counted 18 rescues in the area, many involving submerged cars."I've been in this area since 1978. We've never had water like that before," said David Muns, a resident of Moapa, where more than four inches of rain <a href=http://www.avanttravel.com/page.php?sale=Michael-Kors-Raincoat>Michael Kors Outlet</a> fell in two hours.Transportation officials said a stretch of I-15 near Moapa could be closed for three to four days while they repair pavement that crumbled into slabs over muddy red dirt. One shattered section stretched for half a mile.Traffic was diverted along detours that added time and miles for the 20,000 vehicles a day that travel the highway connecting Las Vegas and Salt Lake City.Truck driver Randy Garca of Calhan, Colorado, said he hit a standstill Monday afternoon and didn't get rolling again until the next morning."We were hungry so we set up a barbecue," he said by phone from Cedar City, Utah.Union Pacific Railroad service was suspended while crews repaired track <a href=http://www.avanttravel.com/page.php?sale=Michael-Kors-Ceramic-Watches>Michael Kors Discount</a> near Moapa that was undermined and washed out by flash flooding. Officials hoped to have the track bed and rails repaired by Wednesday for freight service to resume on the busy Las Vegas-to-Salt Lake City main line.In southern Utah, rangers at Zion National Park turned away visitors for several hours Tuesday when heavy rain and a surging river made park routes impassable. Mud, debris and a boulder blocked Route 9, the road through the main canyon.Wet weather also took its toll on neighboring states.Freeways in Phoenix became small lakes on Monday and rescuers scrambled to get drivers out of inundated cars after more than 3 inches of rain fell."We've never seen this," Mesa, Arizona, resident Greg Montierth said. "Arizona deals with sand and cactus and heat. We're not set up for it so I can understand why everybody's scrambling at the last minute."Cars also were stranded near Palm Springs and in the Coachella Valley in Southern California.On an I-15 overpass in the Moapa area, police officer Shanan Kelly said he and several construction workers helped rescue a woman who was swept into rushing water from the top of her minivan."It was very heroic and awesome," Kelly said.Forty-two people were evacuated from a middle school and high school in Moapa and spent Monday night in a building at <a href=http://www.avanttravel.com/page.php?sale=Michael-Kors-Hamilton-Bag>Michael Kors Factory Outlet</a> Clark County fairgrounds. Churches provided blankets, and a store and restaurant donated food before police escorted the people over the damaged I-15, according to Clark County spokeswoman Stacey Welling.About 190 people were evacuated from the Moapa Band of Paiutes reservation after tribal officials warned that waters were close to breaching a Muddy River dam. Officials were assessing damage to properties with leaky roofs and wet floors where water breached flood control channels."We had rivers running through people's yards. But as far as property damage to homes themselves, I think we fared pretty well," said Sherryl Patterson, administrator at the tribal office.National Weather Service meteorologist Charlotte Dewey warned that any additional precipitation in the Southwest could quickly cause new flooding because the ground is saturated. 

Associated Press writers Paul Davenport and Alina Hartounian in Phoenix, and Michelle Price in Salt Lake City contributed to this report. Rindels reported from Las Vegas.
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