MERRIMACK An initiative to construct the towns first dog park has been in the works for more than two years, and may soon become a reality.

Land clearing is taking place at Wasserman Park, which is the future home of the Merrimack Dog Park.

With fundraising efforts continuing, organizers are hoping that a new, online contest may push the campaign along.

The town has been very supportive of our project, but we really need to raise the money for this on our own, said Christine Lavoie of Merrimack, a member of the dog park subcommittee.

Earlier this year, the town council approved the completion of logging and forestry work at Wasserman Park, which includes a separate area of less than an acre for the dog park.

Progress is being made, said Lavoie. The logging work has begun, but was delayed slightly because of the wet ground. The logging should be finished in a few weeks.

Lavoie said the focus has shifted to securing enough funds for the project.

The Friends of the Merrimack Dog Park have submitted their proposal for an online dog park contest hosted by PetSafe, a nationwide leader and manufacturer of electronic pet training products.

The contest, which runs until June 7, will award $100,000 to a community to build a new PetSafe dog park. In addition, four other finalists will each receive $25,000 toward their local dog park projects.

Merrimack really needs a great place where residents can bring their dogs to socialize with other dogs, she said. Initially, the future dog park was proposed for Watson Park, however the location was switched to Wasserman Park in part because the park is larger, and because there is easy access to trails and the nearly Horse Head Hill Preserve.

See more here:
Land being cleared for dog park in Merrimack

WYANDRA landholder Trent Hindman has had a bittersweet outcome to his appeal against a 2011 land clearing fine of $110,000 when it was heard in a Brisbane district court this week.

His fine was reduced to $30,000 and the judged ruled that there had been no environmental harm and that there had been minimal improvement to the propertys value.

The 43-year-old agronomist and retailer originally pleaded guilty to two charges of carrying out assessable development without a permit contrary to a section of the Integrated Planning Act 1997 when he cleared native vegetation on leasehold land at Alpha station, Wyandra on two occasions, in 2007 and again in 2009.

A dejected Mr Hindman described the decision as rushed and said he had hoped for a more considered opinion that took into account the wider implications of vegetation management laws.

Fair enough, I rushed in and did the development work without a permit, but the judge did the same, he said.

Part of his appeal arsenal was a 51 page report prepared by woodland ecologist Dr Bill Burrows, which he said tore the arguments by the government officers to shreds.

Three specialist reports were submitted at the 2011 court hearing in Charleville by state government botanists, including a biodiversity report undertaken by a desktop assessment.

At the time they were roundly criticised by Property Rights Australia chairman Joanne Rea, who described the $110,000 fine for renovating country degraded by Turkey Bush (Eremophila Gilesii) so that native grasses could be allowed to regrow, as showing the unacceptable activism of some government officers.

Ms Rea this week said the appeal to the original prosecution was a hangover from a dark period in the history of Queensland where landholders had good reason not to trust their own state government.

She said the case again demonstrated the undesirability of the use of desktop studies in prosecutions, and added that the deterrent fine of $30,000 was a large sum of money for most cattle producers.

Excerpt from:
Land clearing fine reduced

Surgical Land Clearing-Slocomb job
Terex PT110 Forrestry-Loftness G3 Mulching head w/ Quadco planer teeth.

By: John Pierce

See more here:
Surgical Land Clearing-Slocomb job - Video

Hanoi Hammered
Land Clearing...making room to finish welding Mikey #39;s Racks to make area rodent-free by improving access for the neighborhood feral cats... All Rights Reserved (C) Kohala Iron Works 2013.

By: Kohala Iron Works Case

See original here:
Hanoi Hammered - Video

Bush hog Land Clearing 2
RPR Tree Service and Land Clearing.

By: RPR Tree Service

See the rest here:
Bush hog Land Clearing 2 - Video

Will Lim Guan Eng's administration fulfill the late Karpal's two requests on the illegal land clearing in Bukit Relau and also challenge the ban on non-Muslims from using certain words?

GEORGE TOWN: Parti Cinta Malaysia (PCM) vice president Huan Cheng Guan wants the Penang government to fulfill two last wishes of the late Bukit Gelugor MP Karpal Singh.

He wants Chief Minister Lim Guan Engs administration to take stern action against the culprits responsible for the illegal land clearing of Bukit Relau in Jalan Bukit Gambir.

Secondly, he demanded the DAP government to use its two-third majority in the state assembly to challenge the ban by the Penang Muftis Department on non-Muslims using 40 Arabic terms in the state.

Firing the first salvo after announcing his candidacy for the Bukit Gelugor parliamentary by-election here today, Huan pointed out that Karpal made the first wish last July and the second in January this year.

Can the Penang government honour and fulfill the late Karpal Singhs last two requests to the Penang leadership which went unheeded? he asked.

The virtual balding of Bukit Relau went unnoticed until Seri Delima assemblyman RSN Rayer highlighted it in the press mid-last year. The developer was fined RM30,000, which the late Karpal described as slap on the wrist.

As for the Arabic words, the terms banned are solat, surau, masjid, Allah, Firman Allah, ulama, hadith, ibadah, Kaabah, Qadhi, Illahi, wahyu, mubaligh, Syariah, Qiblat, Haji, mufti, Rasul, Iman, dakwah, wali, fatwa, Imam, Nabi, Sheikh, Khutbah, Tabligh, akhirat, azan, Al Quran, As Sunnah, Auliya, Karamah, Syahadah, Baitullah, Musolla, zakat hitrah, Hajah, taqwa and soleh.

The words were decreed by the mufti as provided under subsection 48(3) and (4) of the Penang Islamic Religious Administration Enactment 2004, as exclusive to Muslims, prohibiting non-Muslims in Penang from using them.

The decree was enforced on April 29, 2010.

Go here to read the rest:
Huans two questions for state government

University of Virginia scientists will lead a mapping and modeling project that could help answer an important question in climate change research: How does land use affect the planet's climate?

"There are global implications for every land use decision," said Deborah Lawrence, an environmental scientist at UVa. Most of these decisions are made in terms of economics; Lawrence said she wants to get the international community talking about the way those decisions - clearing forest to make way for agriculture or urban areas, for example - fit into the context of climate change.

"How do we use the land?" Lawrence said. "Let's consider the fact that it's going to affect the climate."

Land-cover change and climate are part of the same feedback loop, Lawrence said. Changes to Earth's surface, especially clearing forest, affect the reflectivity of the planet's surface and the water cycle, which can contribute to climate change and affect natural habitats, she said.

Switching to biofuels frequently is touted as a way to help slow climate change, but this could have unforeseen consequences, according to Lawrence. Increased reliance on biofuels could mean converting more land to farmland. That, as well as the additional food needed for an increasing population, could affect the global climate, she said.

Maintaining this delicate balance is what the project is all about. Lawrence and her team, which includes other UVa faculty and scientists from China, Russia and Canada, will use computer models devised by the National Center for Atmospheric Research to look for the right balance between forest, urban and agricultural land use. They also can see what happens in a variety of hypothetical situations, such as dedicating a large part of the remaining usable land to biofuel production.

"There's a cooling effect, but there's also a big carbon loss - is that offset by the cooling?" Lawrence said. "It gives us a window to look at a future world."

The model is extremely complex. It splits Earth's land surface into about 260,000 cells with sides 50 to 100 kilometers long. Each cell has different proportions of forested, bare, urban and agricultural land, which affect thousands of other variables, including reflectivity, water runoff and water cycled into the atmosphere. All of these things change when the land use inside a cell is altered.

Decisions on how to use millions of square miles of land can't be made by any one person or entity, but Lawrence said she hopes to give policymakers a starting point. They already talk about land use planning, she said, just not in the context of climate change. And although they're getting better at monitoring carbon dioxide buildup and its effect on climate, most policymakers don't think about the way land use connects to climate change.

"The issue is, for some reason, people are not dealing with the biosphere as much," Lawrence said. "There's always room to be thinking bigger."

See the original post:
UVa scientists to study land use impact on climate change

Surgical Land Clearing-aerial view fence line clearing
Terex PT110 Forrestry-Loftness G3 mulcher w/ Quadco Planer teeth.

By: John Pierce

Follow this link:
Surgical Land Clearing-aerial view fence line clearing - Video

Featured Properties Beautiful Adirondack Waterfront & Cabin $124,900.00 More Info 35.4 acres Steuben County NY $54,900.00 More Info 7 Acres Howard NY $19,900.00 More Info 3.71 acres Ohio $13,900.00 More Info 6 Acres Ohio $49,900.00 More Info Properties by Category View All Properties New Properties Adirondack Waterfront Adirondack River Properties Adirondack Land Acreage Adirondack Tug Hill Region Adirondack Building lots Contact Us Name Email Phone As spring approaches and my friends and I plan the upcoming season at my new camp, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for a pleasurable land purchasing experience. With the help of VandeWa ... Read - Brian Veit

Whatever your land clearing needs may be, driveways, building sites, recreational trails, or septic systems, our expert excavators can offer competitive pricing and the experience you need to get your property cleared to your specifications.

For all of you sportsmen who want some of the best food plots and deer management areas on your hunting land call us today. As an active sponsor for Q.D.M.A. (Quality Deer Management Association) VandeWater & Associates can show you how to make your property attract and maintain trophy bucks.

Talk to your VandeWater & Associates representative so we can connect you to the professionals you need to complete your land clearing project.

Read the rest here:
Adirondack Land - Upstate NY Hunting Fishing Snowmobile Trails

Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council D.V. Sadananda Gowda on Tuesday alleged that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah collected huge amount of money to fund the Congress election campaign by clearing files pertaining to land denotification and change of land use in Bangalore before the announcement of the Lok Sabha polls.

He demanded that the Chief Minister come out with a White Paper on the number of land denotifications ordered in the city and money collected from various sources for funding the partys campaign.

The former Chief Minister told presspersons here on Tuesday that he was levelling charges against Mr. Siddaramaiah based on credible information. But the government had been denying information to him on clearing of files pertaining to land denotification and change of land use in Bangalore, the BJP leader said.

The State government was not ready to part with the information regarding denotification cases, he said. I will use the RTI (Right to Information) platform to obtain the information to prove the charges against Mr. Siddaramaiah, he said. The truth would be known if the Chief Minister brought out a White Paper on land denotifications, he said.

Alleging that government machinery had failed to respond to the grievances of people in drought-hit taluks, the BJP leader said lack of coordination between the bureaucracy and the government was impeding development works.

Blaming the UPA government at the Centre for the steep hike in the toll rates on National Highway 7 leading to Kempegowda International Airport, Mr. Gowda urged Chief Minister to intervene to resolve the issue.

View original post here:
BJP seeks White Paper on land denotifications