Guide To Engineering And Land Surveying For City And County Officials: Fill & Download for Free

Civil engineers conceive, design, build, supervise, operate, construct and maintain infrastructure projects and systems in the public and private sector, including roads, buildings, airports, tunnels, dams, bridges, and systems for water supply and sewage treatment. Many civil engineers work in planning, design, construction, research, and education.Civil engineers typically do the following:Analyze long range plans, survey reports, maps, and other data to plan and design projectsConsider construction costs, government regulations, potential environmental hazards, and other factors during the planning and risk-analysis stages of a projectCompile and submit permit applications to local, state, and federal agencies, verifying that projects comply with various regulationsOversee and analyze the results of soil testing to determine the adequacy and strength of foundationsAnalyze the results of tests on building materials, such as concrete, wood, asphalt, or steel, for use in particular projectsPrepare cost estimates for materials, equipment, or labor to determine a project's economic feasibilityUse design software to plan and design transportation systems, hydraulic systems, and structures in line with industry and government standardsPerform or oversee surveying operations to establish building locations, site layouts, reference points, grades, and elevations to guide constructionManage the repair, maintenance, and replacement of public and private infrastructureCareers Related to Civil Engineers:-ArchitectsArchitects plan and design houses, factories, office buildings, and other structures.Civil Engineering TechniciansCivil engineering technicians help civil engineers to plan, design, and build highways, bridges, utilities, and other infrastructure projects. They also help to plan, design, and build commercial, industrial, residential, and land development projects.Construction ManagerConstruction managers plan, coordinate, budget, and supervise construction projects from start to finish.Environmental EngineersEnvironmental engineers use the principles of engineering, soil science, biology, and chemistry to develop solutions to environmental problems. They are involved in efforts to improve recycling, waste disposal, public health, and water and air pollution control.Landscape ArchitectsLandscape architects design parks and the outdoor spaces of campuses, recreational facilities, businesses, private homes, and other open areas.Mechanical EngineersMechanical engineers design, develop, build, and test mechanical and thermal sensors and devices, including tools, engines, and machines.SurveyorsSurveyors make precise measurements to determine property boundaries. They provide data relevant to the shape and contour of the Earth's surface for engineering, mapmaking, and construction projects.Urban and Regional PlanersUrban and regional planners develop land use plans and programs that help create communities, accommodate population growth, and revitalize physical facilities in towns, cities, counties, and metropolitan areas.Important Qualities for Civil EngineersDecision making skills. Civil engineers often balance multiple and frequently conflicting objectives, such as determining the feasibility of plans with regard to financial costs and safety concerns. Urban and regional planners often look to civil engineers for advice on these issues. Civil engineers must be able to make good decisions based on best practices, their own technical knowledge, and their own experience.Leadership skills. Civil engineers take ultimate responsibility for the projects that they manage or research that they perform. Therefore, they must be able to lead planners, surveyors, construction managers, civil engineering technicians, civil engineering technologists, and others in implementing their project plan.Math skills. Civil engineers use the principles of calculus, trigonometry, and other advanced topics in mathematics for analysis, design, and troubleshooting in their work.Organizational skills. Only licensed civil engineers can sign the design documents for infrastructure projects. This requirement makes it imperative that civil engineers be able to monitor and evaluate the work at the job site as a project progresses. That way, they can ensure compliance with the design documents. Civil engineers also often manage several projects at the same time, and thus must be able to balance time needs and to effectively allocate resources.Problem-solving skills. Civil engineers work at the highest level of the planning, design, construction, and operation of multifaceted projects or research. The many variables involved require that they possess the ability to identify and evaluate complex problems. They must be able to then use their skill and training to develop cost-effective, safe, and efficient solutions.Speaking skills. Civil engineers must present reports and plans to audiences of people with a wide range of backgrounds and technical knowledge. This requires the ability to speak clearly and to converse with people in various settings, and to translate engineering and scientific information into easy-to-understand concepts.Writing skills. Civil engineers must be able to communicate with others, such as architects, landscape architects, urban and regional planners. They also must be able to explain projects to elected officials and citizens. Civil engineers must be able to write reports that are clear, concise, and understandable to those with little or no technical or scientific background.Institutions that offer these courses are:-National Institute of Engineering, MysoreBIT RanchiLovely professional universityCollege of Engineering, PuneJamia Millia Islamia, Delhi

Engineers tasked with building an airport are faced with countless challenges: The ideal location needs ample space, endless flat ground, favorable winds and great visibility.But spots in the real world are rarely ideal, and engineers are forced to work with what they have, making sure that the end product is the safest possible structure for pilots. A survey of airports around the world turns up a mixed bag, ranging from dangerous and rugged landing strips to mega-size facilities that operate like small cities.Here, PM explores the world's most remarkable airports and why they stand out.1. Kansai International AirportOsaka, JapanBackground:Land is a scarce resource in Japan, so engineers headed roughly 3 miles offshore into Osaka Bay to build this colossal structure. Work on the manmade island started in 1987, and by 1994 jumbo jets were touching down. Travelers can get from the airport to the main island of Honshu via car, railroad or even a high-speed ferry.Why It's Unique:Kansai's artificial island is 2.5 miles long and 1.6 miles wide—so large that it's visible from space. Earthquakes, dangerous cyclones, an unstable seabed, and sabotage attempts from protestors are just some of the variables engineers were forced to account for. As impressive as the airport is, Stewart Schreckengast, a professor of aviation technology at Purdue University and a former aviation consultant with MITRE, cautions that climate change and rising sea levels pose a very real threat to the airport's existence. "When this was built, [engineers] probably didn't account for global warming," he says. "In 50 years or so, this might be underwater."(Photograph by Tdk)2. Gibraltar AirportGibraltarBackground:Between Morocco and Spain sits the tiny British territory of Gibraltar. Construction of the airport dates back to World War II, and it continues to serve as a base for the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force, though commercial flights land on a daily basis.Why It's Unique:Winston Churchill Avenue, Gibraltar's busiest road, cuts directly across the runway. Railroad-style crossing gates hold cars back every time a plane lands or departs. "There's essentially a mountain on one side of the island and a town on the other," Schreckengast says. "The runway goes from side to side on the island because it's the only flat space there, so it's the best they can do. It's a fairly safe operation as far as keeping people away," he says, "It just happens to be the best place to land, so sometimes it's a road and sometimes it's a runway."3: Madeira International AirportPortugalBackground:Madeira is a small island far off the coast of Portugal, which makes an airport that is capable of landing commercial-size aircraft vital to its development. This airport's original runway was only about 5000 feet long, posing a huge risk to even the most experienced pilots and limiting imports and tourism.Why It's Unique:Engineers extended the runway to more than 9000 feet by building a massive girder bridge atop about 200 pillars. The bridge, which itself is over 3000 feet long and 590 feet wide, is strong enough to handle the weight of 747s and similar jets. In 2004, the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering selected the expansion project for its Outstanding Structure Award, noting that the design and construction was both "sensitive to environmental and aesthetic considerations."4: Don Mueang International AirportBangkok, ThailandBackground:From a distance Don Mueang International looks like any other midsize airport. However, smack-dab in the middle of the two runways is an 18-hole golf course.Why It's Unique:Schreckengast, who has worked on consulting projects at this airport, says one of the major problems is that the only taxiways were located at the end of the runways. "We recommended that they build an additional taxiway in the middle, from side to side, and they said 'absolutely not, that will take out a green and one fairway.'" The airport and the course were originally an all-military operation, but have since opened up to commercial traffic. Security threats, however, have limited the public's access to the greens.5: Ice RunwayAntarcticaBackground:The Ice Runway is one of three major airstrips used to haul supplies and researchers to Antarctica's McMurdo Station. As its name implies, there are no paved runways here—just long stretches of ice and snow that are meticulously groomed.Why It's Unique:There is no shortage of space on the Ice Runway, so super-size aircraft like the C-130 Hercules and the C-17 Globemaster III can land with relative ease. The real challenge is making sure that the weight of the aircraft and cargo doesn't bust the ice or get the plane stuck in soft snow. As the ice of the runway begins to break up, planes are redirected to Pegasus Field or Williams Field, the two other airstrips servicing the continent.6: Congonhas AirportSao Paulo, BrazilBackground:Most major cities have an airport, but rarely are they built just 5 miles from the city center, especially in metropolises like Sao Paulo. Congonhas' close proximity to downtown can be attributed in part to the fact that it was completed in 1936, with the city experiencing rapid development in the following decades.Why It's Unique:While having an airport only 5 miles from the city center may be a convenience for commuters, it places a strain on both pilots and air traffic control crews. "It becomes a challenge in terms of safety to just get the plane in there," Schreckengast says. "Then you throw on noise restrictions and these terribly awkward arrival and departure routes that are needed to minimize your noise-print and it becomes quite challenging for pilots." Fortunately, Sao Paulo's many high-rise buildings are far enough away from the airport that they aren't an immediate obstacle for pilots landing or taking off.(Photograph by Mariordo)7: Courchevel International AirportCourchevel, FranceBackground:Getting to the iconic ski resort of Courchevel requires navigating the formidable French Alps before making a hair-raising landing at Courchevel International Airport. The runway is about 1700 feet long, but the real surprise is the large hill toward the middle of the strip.Why It's Unique:"You take off downhill and you land going uphill," Schreckengast says. He adds that the hill, which has an 18.5 percent grade, is so steep that small planes could probably gain enough momentum rolling down it with no engines to safely glide off the edge. Landing at Courchevel is obviously no easy task, so pilots are required to obtain certification before attempting to conquer the dangerous runway.8: Princess Juliana International AirportSimpson Bay, Saint MaartenBackground:Nothing asays fun in the sun like roaring engines and the smell of jet exhaust. Landing on this Caribbean island forces pilots to fly over a small strip of beach, clear a decent-size fence and pass over a road just before hitting the runway.Why It's Unique:Not many airports are flanked by oceanfront property filled with tourists standing under incoming aircraft. While the tourists are not really in harm's way—with the exception of their hearing—Schreckengast says that trucks driving on the small road between the beach and the runway could be at risk. "The challenge is to make sure there's not a big semi truck coming through when the plane is landing. It becomes a vertical obstacle, and, if the truck is light, the jet blast could blow it over."(Photograph by Lawrence Lansing)9: Svalbard AirportSvalbard, NorwayBackground:Svalbard is a cluster of Norwegian islands sitting in the Arctic Ocean. While there are three airports within the archipelago, two of which are used mainly to transport miners, Svalbard Airport is open to commercial travel, making it the world's northernmost airport that tourists can book tickets to.Why It's Unique:Engineers used the region's brutally cold climate to their favor during construction and built the runway on a layer of permafrost. The airport was completed in 1975, but slight seasonal changes caused sections of the runway to become uneven, forcing the need to repave the runway on several occasions. A project was launched in 1989 aimed at insulating troublesome sections of the runway from the ground, which proved relatively successful. However, a 2002 study indicates that rising temperatures in the area may increase the need and frequency of maintenance efforts and repaving.10: Juancho E. Yrausquin AirportSaba, Netherlands AntillesBackground:Getting to this paradise-like island can be a bit distressing thanks to a 1300-foot-long runway, slightly longer than most aircraft carrier runways.Why It's Unique:Large planes aren't landing here, but the small runway is difficult even for Cessnas and similar aircraft. "The little X means don't land there," says Schreckengast, a former Navy pilot who is no stranger to landing on less than lengthy runways. "It's challenging, but if you don't have something like that, the people here don't get things they routinely need, like mail." Given the limited amount of land and rolling topography of the island, not many other options exist.11: Barra AirportBarra, ScotlandBackground:Planes bound for the island of Barra, located off Scotland's west coast, have used the beach as a makeshift runway since the 1930s. Despite the lack of paved runways on the island, the airport still boasts a modern control tower that's responsible for handling more than 1000 incoming and departing flights per year.Why It's Unique:When the tide comes in at Barra, the runway disappears, forcing flights to be scheduled around the movement of the ocean. Landing on the beach, while novel, has drawbacks. "The little pieces of sand and salt really eat up the bearings and can jam moving parts of the airplane," Schreckengast says. "In a lot of places where they have unsurfaced runways like this, special maintenance procedures are required."(Photograph by Sue Johnson)12: Hong Kong International AirportChek Lap Kok, Hong KongBackground:Hong Kong's original airport, Kai Tak, was surrounded by high-rise buildings and residential areas, with a runway that jutted into the water. Officials knew they needed a replacement, especially to facilitate the enormous amount of cargo passing through the region, so they built this 3.2-sqaure-mile island. Construction started in 1991, and involved merging two smaller islands together with reclaimed land.Why It's Unique:What makes Hong Kong International Airport stand out from other island-based airports is the fact that there is a luxury golf course and massive expo center within walking distance from the runway. The airport consistently ranks as one of the busiest cargo hubs in the world—3.35 million metric tons of cargo passed through it in 2009—so amenities like the Sky City Nine Eagles Golf Course cater to the constant stream of professionals passing through. A quick round of nine holes at night costs about $60.13: Toncontin International AirportTegucigalpa, HondurasBackground:Near the center of Honduras' capital city, Tegucigalpa, is the notorious Toncontin International Airport, which has been the subject of scrutiny following several accidents, including a 2008 crash that killed five. The airport opened in 1934, an era when planes were less powerful and didn't require such lengthy runways.Why It's Unique:Toncontin's runway is just over 7000 feet long and situated in a valley surrounded by mountains. Despite the stubby runway, planes as large as Boeing's 757 routinely land at the airport. Schreckengast tells PM that "Seven thousand feet is awfully short for 747s," let alone anything larger, and says that planes are forced to land and take off in the same direction because they won't be able to clear the mountains otherwise. "There's one way in and one way out," he says. Honduran officials have launched an initiative to reroute commercial traffic to the safer Soto Cano Air Base.(Photograph by Enrique Galeano Morales)14: Qamdo Bangda AirportQamdo, TibetBackground:This is the world's highest airport, perched more than 14,000 feet above sea level. Even more impressive than the airport's altitude, perhaps, is the nearly 3.5-mile-long runway. However, as reported by The Guardian in January, 2010, China is slated to start construction next year on a new airport in Tibet, which will be a measly 2 meters higher than Bangda.Why It's Unique:Having a runway that's the length of 61 football fields may seem a tad excessive, but Schreckengast says that long runways are crucial to making safe landings at higher altitudes. "When you go up to these higher-elevation airports, then your approach speed, landing speed and takeoff speeds will need a higher ground speed," he says. "At sea level, where your approach speed is 150 mph, it may take 5000 feet of runway to stop. At 14,000 feet your approach speed is still 150, but maybe it takes 10,000 feet to stop."15: Dammam King Fahd International AirportDammam, Saudi ArabiaBackground:King Fahd International is the largest airport in the world in terms of landmass, sprawling over 300 square miles of desert. The airport is so enormous that it is actually about 11 square miles larger than Saudi Arabia's neighbor, Bahrain.Why It's Unique:Among the many features that make this airport stand out is a mosque large enough to take in thousands of people. Also notable, though not entirely uncommon in Saudi Arabia, is the Royal Terminal, which is designed to service the Royal Family and is outfitted with an elegant reception hall and a pressroom. One of the major obstacles during the construction of the airport, Schreckengast says, was the lack of fresh water to mix concrete.16: Denver International AirportDenver, ColoradoBackground:Denver International's 53 square miles of land makes it the largest airport in North America. Opened in 1995, the facility is loaded with modern features, including a 16,000-foot-long runway capable of handling Airbus A380s.Why It's Unique:"There's not many ways to make money off the excess land," Schreckengast says, "unless you can become self-sufficient." The designers of this airport were hoping to do just that, launching major green initiatives such as a 9200-panel solar farm. The airport says the solar farm produces 3 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, or about half the energy required to power the terminal for a year. Additionally, at the end of 2009, the airport built another photovoltaic system that is responsible for powering the fuel-storage and distribution facility.17: Macau International AirportMacauBackground:Macau, a former colony of Portugal off the coast of China, lacked accommodations for large aircraft until this airport opened in 1995. The strip of reclaimed land is large enough for 747s to land safely on.Why It's Unique:Like Kansai and Hong Kong, engineers had to rely on reclaimed land to build an airport in this densely populated area. "In the Asia Pacific region you have a lot of mountains and then shoreline where the people live. There are not many options of where you can build an airport, so in a lot of cases you're either building an island or extending an existing one," Schreckengast says. A set of highways links the runway with the small island of Taipa, where the air traffic control tower and main terminal are located.18: Copalis State AirportGrays Harbor County, WashingtonBackground:One way to get to Washington's Griffiths-Priday Ocean State Park is to land on this 4500-foot-long strip of beach. The runway is located between the mouth of the Copalis River and a barrier of rocks, with orange reflective markers at both ends to help guide pilots to a safe landing.Why It's Unique:The Washington State Department of Transportation urges incoming pilots to do a fly-over before landing to make sure the runway is free of debris. The Department of Transportation also notes that pilots should aim for dark, wet sand, which is more stable to land on than light-colored, soft sand. As with other beach-based landing areas, Copalis State Airport is submerged every time the tide rolls in. Pilots considering spending some time on the beach should make sure to park their aircraft above the high tide mark in order to ensure that their planes aren't taken out to sea.

Yes, because they have no malls (just kidding, they have JCPenny and Dillard’s).Baggs, Wyoming 10/2020Simple answer: it’s not a profit driven state; that is, profit at the expense of their environment and Western cultural way of life. Thus, they have largely been unaffected by the American Industrial Revolution, urbanization, and their byproduct concrete metropolises and, instead, prefer to continue to rely on their abundance of natural resources for their economy, such as free grass for their livestock, cattle and sheep, and the mining of oil, natural gas, coal and minerals, such as sodium carbonate-containing trona, uranium, and Bentonite, and the severance tax from these extractions just like Alaska and North Dakota do. Ranching has been a central part of Wyoming’s economy and culture since its beginning when cattleman and investors sought to profit from Wyoming’s free grass and high cattle prices. And utilizing free grass is a unique ranching method in this day an age though it was the norm before urbanization. All along the Rocky Mountain area of the West, the transhumance, or moving of stock, in spring and fall to and from the higher mountains is still vital to most Wyoming ranches. They depend upon having their stock graze in the high country during the summer so that they can grow feed for the winter in the lower valleys. Most Wyoming ranches wouldn’t be viable without these seasonal movements. Much of the grazing in the high country is in inaccessible places and sometimes in wilderness where all motors are forbidden so that the only practical way to work the cows over these vast areas is still on horseback. As for sheep, the sheepherder stays with his flock in the wilderness 24/7. So, unless your a cowboy, shepherd, driller, or miner, you won’t find any work.And, along with Alaska, it’s one of our last great wilderness states where the land remains as God created it and its animals are more important than development; that is, preservation and stewardship of nature —the beauty of the wild over profit. (Idaho and Montana have at least one large population center of over 100,000. Wyoming still doesn’t, and it’s the least populated state in the country with just over 500,000 people though it’s one of the largest.) It contains a vast stretch of the Rocky Mountains that dominate more than one-third of the state, and there is lots of habitable land for wildlife that the federal government owns which is a little over one-half of Wyoming. It’s geography, grasslands, and harsh climate, extreme bitter cold winds, are a animal’s paradise. Even treeless areas that appear barren except for patches of brush are a mule deer and pronghorn haven. So, it’s almost like living in a national park. Driving itself then becomes hazardous just from all the animals running across the roads, especially at night. Everyone in your vehicle needs to be on the lookout for wildlife, and you have to drive a lot slower. Besides all the mule deer, we even had a large bull elk slam into the side of our truck one night on a narrow, winding, icy, muddy, and steep cliff road. The existence of wildlife also then doesn’t bode well for the safety of livestock and pets, and humans if we are in an area populated by grizzly bears. While I was there, a shepherd had to get his Great Pyrénées all stitched up after he had to fight off two mountain lions and a black bear in just one day. In other words, if your not a tough s.o.b., even your dog, it won’t be appealing to you especially with vegan eating 21st century Americans who take their kids to a therapist if one of them happens to see a meat eating animal kill and eat another animal because they think all animals are like us and die natural deaths. Rather, most animals can’t be tamed or domesticated; that is, their natural instincts will always keep them wild. Where everyday brings death, from being eaten or starving to death from a brutal winter (except for grizzlies and wolves and that’s when wolves thrive), or one more day of survival. The law of nature is kill or be killed. Thus, they also need to be allowed to live as God or nature has designed even though it’s too harsh of an environment for most people.And no one gets special treatment. I went to a Mexican restaurant in a trailer one night and sat next to the governor of Wyoming. In Wyoming, you’re just another one of the cowboys in a pickup truck. I just read a review of another restaurant, its only one, of a place I eat at in a motel: “The food was the worst by far we have ever eaten anywhere”, must of been some lost city folk. I’m quite fond of the place myself. Once, someone let a wild bobcat loose in the motel lobby. At least, I think it was. It was running and jumping around so fast, it was hard to tell. Of course, most of Wyoming’s townspeople aren’t cowboys and live typical American lives, but most do own guns and hunt, or at least has tried it (There is free meat at one’s disposal with all the elk herds, pronghorns, and mule deer.), even 12 year old girls. I ran into a father and his twelve-year-old daughter hunting deep into the rugged wilderness of the Little Snake River Valley. She was so excited. Not quite the proper sensibilities to attract pampered urbanites.So, unless your a rancher or miner (It’s also a great place to lease government land for cattle and fossil fuels.), the “Cowboy State” doesn’t have the jobs or economy to allow lots of people to live there, or the cultural climate to attract most people. However, it’s thus a great place for all the indigenous wildlife to thrive, to get a reality check, and to restore your soul. This then makes Wyoming one of our most important states and tourist destinations. Yellowstone National Park is mostly located there in the north western corner (96% of it), with small sections in Montana (3%) and Idaho (1%). Yellowstone was the world’s first national park, and it’s the largest animal ecosystem in the lower 48 states. See the video “Wolves restore the ecosystem in Yellowstone National Park” on YouTube, it will blow your mind on how amazing nature is.In addition, their constitution guarantees the rights of ordinary citizens over corporations, or big money interests (Article I, Section 2 of the Wyoming Constitution), in order to keep politicians from spending more time and energy courting big money than serving their constituents. However, the U.S. Supreme Court has recently ruled that corporations are people and money is speech. So, the “Wyoming Promise” is trying to legislate against this. Thus, it’s also not a corporate friendly state constitutionally in which case corporations would get special treatment so that also adversely affects its job appeal to nonresidents and large companies.Do to the great response I’m getting, I’m also compelled to make readers aware of a growing problem with nonresidents interference in Wyoming’s way life. Do to their uncommon desire to live harmoniously with nature in order to preserve it, by having a sense of stewardship, all animals of their natural ecosystem, including predator and prey, have continued to thrive in the midst of our westward disruption and expansion. For three examples of their successful effort to preserve natural habitat for all their indigenous species, see (1) the National Elk Refuge in Jackson Hole Wyoming, nearly 25,000 acres. It was designed to provide wintertime habitat for herds of migrating elk from Yellowstone National Park to Jackson Hole when its residents lobbied Congress after a particular harsh winter in 1910 decimated the herd. The protection of their natural habitat (And if needed due to a harsh winter, the elk will also be fed alfalfa pellets by staff of the refuge.) allows for this third longest ungulate—mammals with antlers or horns that are prey animals—migration outside of Alaska. Pronghorn, often colloquially known as American antelope, migrating between the Green River basin and Jackson Hole is even longer, 120 miles. But the longest is the recently discovered (2012) mule deer migration, about a 150 miles, in this western corridor of Wyoming as the deer travel from their winter range in south central Wyoming’s Red Desert to northwest Wyoming’s Hoback Basin. For more information on Wyoming’s ungulate migrations, see the video “Wild Migrations: Atlas of Wyoming’s Ungulates” by the University of Oregon as they partnered with the University of Wyoming’s Migration Initiative, WMI, on Facebook and YouTube. (2) Yellowstone National Park, over 2 million acres, you would have to go to Alaska to find a bigger animal sanctuary. It’s the largest natural summertime feeding ground in the high country for ungulates, or grazers, and thus it also becomes the best feeding habitat for predators, the meat eaters. Predators, whether human or animal, are important because they keep the ungulates from overpopulating an eating a habitat barren which would bring death to the whole ecosystem. Yellowstone also has the largest bison herd with 4,600, over 3 times more than the second closet. A nickname for Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley is the “American Serengeti”. This region of the park is known for its abundant and diverse wildlife-watching opportunities, including bison, grizzlies, wolves, coyotes, elk, and moose. You might not see any deer in the park though because of all the predators, but in our national parks that keep grizzles and wolves out, such as Yosemite National Park in California, there you will see them up close along with lots of black bears, raccoons, and squirrels, a different ecosystem. And (3) Grand Teton National Park, over 310,000 acres, is a great recreational destination also full of wildlife.Environmentalists and money grabbing lawyers, however, say that they haven’t done enough and thus want to run all the ranchers out and restore the state to its original animal population before westward expansion. Of course, they have no such inclination to do the same for the states in which they now live after killing off most of its indigenous animal population for urbanization. And worse yet, what they don’t understand is that it is because of ranching and ranchers that the wilderness has been preserved, and in some states, such as Colorado, more elk winter on private lands than public due to the continuing destruction of habitat through development and the increasing disturbance by humans in their natural habitats. Yet, they try to dictate government policy over other exemplary sovereign states through federal legislation and litigation, taking away our fundamental right of liberty.The natural animal problem for Wyoming’s citizens, along with the states of Montana and Idaho, occurs when predator populations of the grizzly bear and wolf grow so large that they outgrow their parks ability to sustain them so they migrate out of the parks and public lands into private land populated by people and domesticated animals. For instance, the grizzly bear was listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1975. But the population has since recovered. U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials delisted the Greater Yellowstone grizzly in 2017. (By the 1970’s, the grizzly bear’s range in and near the park became the first Informal boundary of a theoretical “Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem” that included 4 million acres. Now it’s said to include 12 to 20 million acres depending on your source.) So, grizzlies are now encroaching upon human populations. Besides ravaging livestock (Grizzlies and wolves will even kill for sport, in one year alone, one rancher lost 259 ewes and 186 lambs.), attacks on humans by grizzlies is now a real threat. Grizzly bears, and moose, are the only animals in our ecosystems that are occasionally aggressive (i.e., they will chase you in order to kill you) towards humans (Montana has had a lot of attacks. Todd Orr was mauled twice by the same bear.), and bear spray repellent often won’t stop them, no matter how many times you read that it will. In one attack, the above sheep rancher, 88-year-old Mary (“Mickey”) Thoman along with her three daughters, also had one of their ranch hands, Marcelo Tejeda, attacked and mauled to the brink of death. His two cans of bear spray were not enough to stop the bear’s attacks (see her Op-ed, “Yellowstone grizzlies are not an endangered species - but ranchers like me are”, usatoday.com), and a Wyoming hunting guide working in the Teton Wilderness recently lost his life in a horrifying grizzly attack after he was pulled off his horse by the charging grizzly.In addition, some ranches are sanctuaries for ungulates because they have no predators on their ranches. For instance, the Cotton Wood Ranch in Big Horn County, Wyoming, at 50,000 acres, provides a large sanctuary for elk, deer, antelope, and birds due to its absence of wolves and grizzlies. We also need these types of exclusive refuges for specific types of species to thrive, such as the National Elk Refuge in Jackson Hole, in addition to the inclusive National Park ecosystems.The point is this: grizzlies and wolves must be isolated and contained to specific areas because they pose too much of a deadly threat to humans, pets, livestock, and other wildlife since the federal government has already procured enough habitat for their existence in Alaska (home to 30,000 grizzlies) and in six Recovery Ecosystems in the lower 48: in the Yellowstone Ecosystem in northwest Wyoming, eastern Idaho, and southwest Montana (9,200 sq. mi), Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem of north central Montana (9,600 sq. mi), North Cascades Ecosystem of north central Washington (9,500 sq. mi), Bitterroot Ecosystem in the Bitterroot Mountains of east central Idaho and western Montana (5,600 sq. mi), Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem northwest Montana and northern Idaho (2,600 sq. mi), and Selkirk Ecosystem of northern Idaho, northeastern Washington, and southeastern British Columbia (2,200 sq. mi). Thus, grizzles can be isolated from us and also carefully monitored as to their hunting, breeding, and eating habits and sometimes even individual dispositions to insure their survival and ours as we visit our national parks.A group called the Center for Biological Diversity (The irony is it’s something these urban dwellers aren’t and the Wyoming’s ranchers are. They, instead, work in offices and their headquarters is in a desert.) is at the center of hundreds of bogus lawsuits against the federal government causing a logjam that costs taxpayers so much money the government isn’t even sure how much. This organization and others like it have turned environmental activism into a profitable business. Their lawyers make millions of dollars by forcing the government into settlements and by using these lawsuits as an occasion to enrich themselves. Besides their efforts to sue on the behalf of any species on a whim that started with one owl in a tree and now with their attempts to put the grizzly bear back on the Endangered Species List. (In India, they have also chosen not to control the populations of their apex predators and aggressive species, and instead, allow them to kill people. So, tigers killed over 373,000 people between 1800 and 1990. That’s almost 2,000 people a year just from tigers, and presently, tigers and elephants kill more than one person a day. They die a brutal and gruesome death, young and old, and it’s horrific just trying to figure out what happened to a family member who goes missing. Then you come upon a trail of blood and body parts like they did of a sixteen-year-old girl recently, and then the family has to identify the victim.) They have also included as their mission the termination of the use of government land for grazing, mining (*see below), and logging. In other words, they also want to take our safety, jobs, minerals, and building materials, such as wood, from us. Loggers cull the forest. They don’t destroy it. They also have a machine that replants saplings in the ground right after the trees are cut down. And forests are growing at a faster rate now because of the increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as shown by satellite data from NASA (climate.nasa.gov) to measure leaf cover thus making our planet a lot greener. It’s also clear, the activists don’t actually care about the species or forests they claim to fight for - otherwise, they would celebrate the complete recovery of the Yellowstone Area grizzly, rather than fight to put the fully-recovered species back on the Endangered Species List. And they would celebrate ranching, private lands with large natural habitats (For example, the Three Forks Ranch in Colorado, at 200,000 acres, had as many elk on it in 2019, nearly 6,000, as Yellowstone National Park had, 5,800, according to the park’s annual survey.), and the increased growth of our forests due to carbon dioxide, rather than fighting to stop ranching and the production of this necessary form of plant food for photosynthesis. And Wyoming should be the last state castigated for its exemplary stewardship of their private and public lands, an anyone who does is a self-righteous, hypocritical urbanite because of all the blood and environmental destruction on their hands for the urbanization of the natural habitats in the states they live. Or just consider all the adoptable dogs that are still killed each day in their animal shelters throughout the U.S., over 5,500, include cats, over 1.5 million a year.The stakes are high. Out-of-state environmental groups sitting safely in glass towers with no wild apex predators in their backyard want to take control of our apex predators and wildlife by challenging the authority of Fish and Wildlife officials to manage as they actually live and work among the wildlife they protect at great peril, from inclement weather, poachers, and the very dangerous predators they are trying to protect, let alone state sovereignty:“Congress intended that, when a species recovered, it would be removed from federal listing and managing would be turned back over to state jurisdiction”, said William Perry Pendley of Mountain States Legal Foundation. Thus, not only does this self-appointed environmental group “frustrate” the will of the citizens of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho but also “the will of Congress.”——————————————————*There is a fanatical push to abolish fossil fuels (through legislation or taxation) as a source of energy which would greatly affect Wyoming, particularly the city of Gillette which calls itself the “Energy Capital of the Nation”. The problems inherent in this belief:Millions of people would die around the world without electricity generated by fossil fuels—petroleum, natural gas, and coal—because there would be no artificial heating, cooling, and refrigeration, no modern equipped hospitals and intensive agriculture (without machinery or electricity to irrigate there is no mass food production or if it’s too expensive because of punitive taxation), and our schools, businesses, and factories would have to cease or change from their present form because there are not any other alternative sources that can replace the large demands for sources of energy, not even close. For example, in 2018, in the US, we were dependent upon them for over 64% of our electricity generation, and 45 of our 50 states used coal, including New York. In the transportation sector, air and land, it’s even higher, petroleum products accounted for about 92% of the total US energy source. And without high tech transportation, the world would turn to chaos and anarchy. Altogether, in 2015, fossil fuels made up 81.5% of total US energy consumption. The world’s primary energy sources in 2018 consisted of petroleum (34%), coal (27%), and natural gas (24%), amounting to a 85% share for fossil fuels. So, who is really saving lives here? And who is really causing an apocalyptic ending?Air pollution would increase. India has the worst air pollution in the world. The air quality in New Delhi, the second largest city in the world, often registers ten times worse than the air found in Beijing, China that has become notorious for its poor air quality. Since there is a lack of fossil fuels, India is heavily dependent upon other more toxic sources of energy, such as biomass fuels for cooking and heating which contributes about 8% to their air pollution, and they are more dependent upon fire to clear waste from crop residue. Waste burning in the rural areas - a cheaper alternative to mechanical tilling - contributes another 17% , and worst of all, the dust generated from their roads contributes between a third and 56% of the most harmful pollutants, coarse pollutants, in the city’s atmosphere, along with the dust from the many large construction sites, are the chief contributing sources to India’s air pollution. Being landlocked by treeless plains and deserts, Delhi is inherently dusty, and that is why their standard for air quality for PM2.5 pollutants is 40 units. But the World's Health Organization’s guideline is 10. And rather than cooking and heating with clean-burning fossil fuels like natural gas that doesn’t create toxic indoor air pollution, many Indians still use biomass, such as cow dung and firewood (or fuelwood), as a cheap source of fuel and because of the lack of an adequate natural gas infrastructure. However, when it burns, it produces smoke, carbon monoxide poisoning, and numerous indoor health pollutants at concentration levels 5 times higher than coal. So, if India was using fossil fuels, such as natural gas and coal, instead of renewable fuels like biomass in their homes, their indoor air quality would be at a safe level.And, there is not enough fossil fuel to destroy our planet. The real question is not whether the earth’s atmosphere is getting warmer because it’s always in flux and has natural mechanisms to counterbalance itself through the cycles of cold and heat, but instead, Are we capable of triggering a runaway greenhouse effect ourselves? Carbon dioxide gas currently makes up 400 parts per million of the air, up from 280 ppm before the Industrial Revolution. To trigger a runaway greenhouse effect, we would have to get the level up to 30,000 ppm. So, is that possible with fossil fuel emissions? No way, because it would take about 10 times more carbon dioxide than can be released if we burned all known fossil fuels. There are other more potent and dangerous sources of greenhouse gases, like the seabed methane that escaped during the PETM (Methane gas, released from our landfills, is 28 to 36 times more potent than carbon dioxide.), but it seems like the likelihood of us being steam cooked is nonexistent.The future is nuclear power, but it’s not sufficient enough without fossil fuel and hydro mix. The problem: the people, such as environmentalists and politicians in the US, who talk about climate change have no idea how power grid works (i.e., power plants). There are base load plants, load following plants, and peaking power plants. So, when your buying power from utility, you are buying electricity by mix of power plants, nuclear, coal, natural gas, diesel, and hydro, and renewables, wind and solar, just don’t fit in the existing power grid, not until we have superconducting cross-country power cables that will allow us to transport power over huge distances with zero losses. France, however, has a different type of nuclear power plant that isn’t base load but load following, and it’s a lot better. So, unlike Europe, American environmentalists and politicians are pursuing the wrong path because they don’t understand how power plants work, that we also need fossil fuel plants and better nuclear plants. So, instead, we should be building load following nuclear power plants like France where more than 71% of its electricity is generated by NPPs, and thus less need for fossil fuel plants. Our media is also partially to blame. Journalists don’t interview electrical engineers about energy sources, but only fanatical interest groups and politicians espousing pseudoscience for sound bites and readership and not the truth. The hypocrisy: According to the US Department of Energy, the US uses nearly 25% of the world’s fossil fuels, but contributes only 3% of total fossil fuel production. However, many of our politicians want us to stop production but we then have to use imported fossil fuels to replace our production. Thus, it’s clear they are more concerned about following the latest media crusade to sound like their saving the world and getting elected than seeking the truth and really saving lives.