"Apabila disetujui dengan konsusmi kantong plastik 53 juta kg maka potensi penerimaannya Rp 1,6 triliun," tegasnya.Selanjutnya Mantan Direktur Pelaksana Bank Dunia ini juga mengugkapkan penerapan cukai plastik memberikan dampak pada inflasi nasional Menurut dia andil cukai plastik sebesar 0,045% This is the third installment in a series of stories on the 60th anniversary of the Wildnerness Act SALMO PRIEST WILDERNESS – Sullivan Creek Road begins east of Metaline Falls and follows its eponymous creek for miles It winds high into the Selkirk Mountains and dead ends on a ridge close to Salmo Mountain From there to the Canadian border lies the Salmo Basin a deep drainage filled with a cedar and hemlock forest that’s threaded by the South Fork of the Salmo River A trail begins there and dives downhill to the river cutting through a dense cedar and hemlock forest to begin a 19-mile loop through the Salmo-Priest Wilderness The horseshoe-shaped area covers more than 41,000 acres of wild country in Washington’s far northeastern corner where caribou once roamed and grizzly bears still do Permanent federal protections arrived for the Salmo-Priest 40 years ago with the passage of the Washington Wilderness Act The law expanded some wilderness areas and created 19 new ones protecting more than 1 million acres in all It was part of a wave of legislation nationwide that made 1984 the biggest year in history for wilderness designations it was the culmination of a battle that started more than a decade earlier with a bear hunt and the discovery of plans for a new road Ray Kresek is best known as the region’s leading expert on the history of fire lookouts His house on the far north side of Spokane doubles as the Fire Lookout Museum He’s also the guy who started the push to protect the Salmo-Priest when Kresek went bear hunting in the Salmo Basin The forest was so thick he thinks there was no way he’d have ever gotten it home he saw that survey stakes had been pounded into the ground They continued on the other side of the river and he followed them up another creek drainage are they going to put a road down here?’ ” Kresek said he stopped at the Forest Service’s Sullivan Lake office to ask about what he’d found there were plans to extend the road from the top of the ridge down to the Salmo River he “had some whiskers back then.” He was president of the Spokane Mountaineers and he had connections to a broader network of outdoor clubs in the West He marshaled an army to fight the Forest Service’s plans and to call for protecting the basin they weren’t thinking about a wilderness designation but Kresek said it became clear that was the only way to permanently preserve the basin designing it to include as much roadless land as possible It looks mostly the same as the shape that is shown on maps today – a U-shape around the top of the Sullivan Creek drainage He also extended the border into the Priest River drainage in Idaho Loggers and local officials argued the area was full of valuable timber and that it needed to stay open to industry to keep the lumber supply steady and fuel the local economy Kresek argues that the trees weren’t worth the effort it would take to log them he was teaching wildland fire classes at Spokane Community College at the time One summer he had some students go to the basin with a bore to see what was inside the cedar trees The work showed that the trees were hollow That didn’t do much to quiet the opposition In a Spokane Daily Chronicle story from August 1970 Pend Oreille County officials lambasted the proposal criticizing its backers as outsiders who were ingnoring local voices Kresek countered that the land belonged to everyone not just those who live in Pend Oreille County Thousands of petitions supporting the designation were signed thanks in part to the efforts of Kresek’s wife and kids who gathered signatures outside a local grocery store Kresek made the case for wilderness at public meetings occasionally in front of unfriendly crowds he was locked in a kitchen and only let out once everyone had left He also spent a lot of time in the place he was trying to protect He and his family camped there and hiked all the trails The push for protections secured a big win early Because the area was being considered for wilderness designation the Forest Service shelved the logging and road projects and put a moratorium on development there But Kresek said the conversation seemed to die down in the middle of the 1970s In addition to immediately protecting 9.1 million acres the 1964 Wilderness Act directed federal agencies to examine their lands and recommend additional areas to be added to the National Wilderness Preservation System New designations followed relatively quickly had 91 wilderness areas encompassing more than 13.5 million acres progress wasn’t happening fast enough for some wilderness advocates There were groups who wanted to see all kinds of places protected It became clear to some advocates that the best way to go about it would be to package several proposals together in a single state-based bill Similar campaigns cropped up in multiple states the campaign was led by the Washington Wilderness Coalition the group’s leaders traveled the state to gin up support for a statewide push to protect multiple areas The issue then became what belonged in a Washington wilderness bill there was significant support for two proposed areas: one in the Kettle Range and Kresek’s proposal for the Salmo Priest Congress considered a few versions of a statewide bill in the early 1980s but the final version wasn’t set until 1984 after long negotiations among the Washington congressional delegation led by Spokane Democratic Rep according to a history published by Washington Wild There were intense negotiations over several areas but the delegation finally came to an agreement that included 23 wilderness proposals – 19 new areas and four expansions of existing areas – and additional designations such as the Mount Baker National Recreation Area and the North Cascades Scenic Highway The proposal for the Kettle Range was carved out a disappointment for supporters who had been campaigning to protect that area for years Mountain caribou were a big reason why – the Selkirks were the last place in the Lower 48 that the animals still used and a wilderness designation would protect their habitat The final version of the wilderness boundary was different from the one Kresek drew up years earlier His proposal was for about 36,000 acres in Washington and Idaho The version in the Washington Wilderness Act which President Ronald Reagan signed in July 1984 was more than 41,000 acres and completely in Washington The Idaho portion is managed as wilderness portion of the Selkirks was trapped and hauled north into Canada five years ago There’s a photo of the falls on the Priest River in the zone he still hopes will one day be added to the wilderness area There’s another of Kresek staring at a giant cedar standing next to the brand new Salmo-Priest Wilderness sign Without the help of the rest of the Spokane Mountaineers and the Sierra Club and many others who joined him in the fight plus all the work it took to pass the Washington Wilderness Act But the fight did take over his life for more than a decade “It was an experience of a lifetime,” Kresek said Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Rep Give directly to The Spokesman-Review's Northwest Passages community forums series -- which helps to offset the costs of several reporter and editor positions at the newspaper -- by using the easy options below Gifts processed in this system are tax deductible Get the day’s top sports headlines and breaking news delivered to your inbox by subscribing here TDS Telecommunications continues expanding its high-speed all-fiber internet network into more Spokane-area neighborhoods © Copyright 2025, The Spokesman-Review | Community Guidelines | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Copyright Policy Zoe Kresek (CivEng’23) had a passion for design and construction from an early age She would sit for hours building marble runs and Lego creations she knew engineering was the best path to match her interests determining a specific area of focus and where to apply her engineering education was more evasive As part of the Kiewit Design-Build Scholars program she visited the Central I-70 construction site where she went underground and viewed the pipe structures This experience piqued her interest in water resources and helped narrow the focus of her civil engineering major “I’d seen many pictures and videos of engineering but being on the site gave me a completely different perspective Going down into the ground and seeing the ginormous pipes was the highlight of the trip for me,” said Kresek Since the Kiewit Design-Build Scholars Program launched at CU Boulder in 2020 it has given engineering students an inside view of the design and construction industry Kiewit Corporation extended the program for five years with a generous $2.5 million investment demonstrating a sustained commitment to the success of students 25 to 35 students participate in the program guaranteed internship offers and professional development programming Programs that support students’ professional development are especially important to address the problem of aging and deteriorating infrastructure systems in the U.S civil engineering firms find it challenging to hire and retain the skilled employees needed for the infrastructure work that is suddenly available The Kiewit program is helping to educate the future workforce needed to tackle these issues by helping students understand how to apply their education to their future careers Students like Kresek can participate in internships and receive support in their search for a full-time position through resume workshops we believe in the value of leadership development for those entering the construction and engineering industry,” said John Donatelli president of Infrastructure Engineers for Kiewit Engineering Group Inc and executive sponsor for the Kiewit Design-Build Scholars program at CU Boulder the programming and mentoring we provide to the students is one more step we are taking toward building a pipeline of well-rounded future industry leaders.”  Reaching students at the college level benefits the university “With their Lone Tree headquarters right in our backyard We invite experts from Kiewit into the classrooms to share their experiences and lessons learned with our students,” said Chris Senseney associate teaching professor and director of the Kiewit Design-Build Scholars program at CU Boulder Kiewit helps develop the skills and knowledge students need to succeed in the workforce CU Boulder has a strong civil engineering department which is even more robust when students can access industry experts and internship opportunities The investment pays off for students like Kresek she accepted a position as a drainage engineer with Kiewit Engineering Group This demonstrates that Kiewit’s investment at CU Boulder produces the engineers needed to meet industry demand and solve critical infrastructure problems “The Kiewit Design-Build Scholars program is an extraordinary model for engineering workforce development rooted in our shared vision and goals,” said Keith Molenaar dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science “Kiewit and CU Boulder are dedicated to creating the highest caliber and most diverse group of engineers to address the pressing infrastructure challenges of our time.”                       Phone: 303-492-5071 Email: cueng@colorado.edu University of Colorado Boulder Privacy • Legal & Trademarks • Campus Map University of Colorado Boulder Antara TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Two foreign tourists died after being hit by uprooted trees in Monkey Forest Ubud three other foreign tourists were also injured due to the incident Gianyar Police Chief AKBP Umar explained the chronology of the incident that occurred around 12:25 WITA (Central Indonesian Time) Heavy rain in Ubud accompanied by strong winds caused several trees in Monkey Forest to be uprooted and hit some foreign tourists in the area Among the uprooted trees are Beringin tree "Police officers, Monkey Forest managers, and the Gianyar Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) along with the community have assisted the victims and taken them to the hospital, secured the location, and cleared the fallen trees," said Umar, as quoted from Antara Two foreign tourists who died are Funny Justine Christine (female) three foreign tourists who were injured when hit by the trees are Ansh Sonika Denai suffered a head injury and underwent a CT Scan examination Monkey Forest Ubud Manager I Nyoman Lilir stated that after the trees fell they immediately provided assistance with the help of staff and tourists at the location This includes taking the victims to Kenak Medika Ubud Hospital for treatment Bali Provincial Police Public Relations Division Head Police Grand Commissioner Jansen Avitus Panjaitan urged residents and tourists to remain vigilant and careful when traveling outside especially amidst the heavy rain and strong winds that Bali has experienced in recent days He hopes that people reduce activities outside the home if there are no important and urgent needs Monkey Forest Ubud is one of the popular destinations in Bali Located in the Padangtegal Village in Ubud this nature reserve covers an area of about 12.5 hectares One of its attractions is a group of Macaca fascicularis monkeys This area is known to have 115 different tree species Some of these trees are considered sacred and used in various Balinese spiritual ceremonies Such as the Majegan tree exclusively used for the construction of holy places to the Beringin tree whose leaves are used in Ngaben ceremonies tourists visiting Monkey Forest Ubud can also see several temples which are commonly used for sacred ceremonies in Bali One of them is the Pura Dalem Agung Padangtegal which is used for the worship rituals of Lord Shiva Editor's Choice: Extreme Rain Spawns Sudden Waterfalls in Bali Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News Prabowo Plans to Build Emergency Bulog Warehouses in Aceh, West Nusa Tenggara Prabowo's Reason for Involving the Military in Food Matters Prabowo Open to Meeting Retired Military Forum Urging Gibran's Impeachment Free Meal Poisoning Case, Prabowo Alludes to Students Eating Without Spoons Learn About the Outsourcing Practices Prabowo Intends to Scrap Prabowo: Bill Gates to Support Free Nutritious Meal Program in Indonesia Prabowo Rejects 'Puppet President' Label, Denies Jokowi's Control Manpower Minister Unveils Reasons Behind Over 24,000 Layoffs by April 2025 Prabowo Claims 99.99% Success Rate for Free Nutritious Meal Program Indonesia and Japan Deepen Strategic Alliance in Clean Energy and Infrastructure First Balinese Hindu Temple in Netherlands Officially Inaugurated PLN Suggests Temporary Factor Behind Bali Blackout Bali's Semarapura Festival Expected to Draw 20,000 Tourists Balinese Hindu Temple to Open in the Netherlands 10 Best Places to Visit in Southeast Asia for Adventure Seekers Trip.Best 2025: Bali and Jakarta Among World's Top Destinations American Deported for Causing Chaos at Bali Clinic Indonesian Minister Pushes for Direct Flights Between Bali and Moscow Russia Eye New Moscow-Bali Flight Route to Bolster Trade Ties Today's Top 3 News: Coolest Neighborhoods in the World The Pope's Role in Major Events of the Modern Era Sistine Chapel Prepares for the Election of New Pope Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock Reunite After 30 Years for New Film Project JYP Entertainment Apologizes for DAY6 Concert Chaos in Jakarta AJI, UNESCO Declare Commitment to Support Digital Security of Student Press BGN Chief Aims for Zero Accidents in Free Nutritious Meal Program Prabowo Praises Jokowi's Inflation Control in Cabinet Session, Denies Link to Gibran's Presence Inside Sistine Chapel: 5 Key Facts About the Conclave's Iconic Venue Exposing Trump's Move on Mike Waltz Dismissal Jokowi Responds to Calls for VP Gibran's Impeachment Israel Approves Plan to Expand Gaza Onslaught, Occupy Territories Indonesia's Mount Semeru Erupts 3 Times This Morning, Sends Ash 700 Meters High WHO: Hand Hygiene is Essential, Medical Gloves Are Not a Substitute List of Baeksang Arts Awards 2025 Winners KOSTCON 2025, the First Largest K-Drama OST Concert in Jakarta, to Take Place on August 2nd who once appeared on a government video to talk about a maximum-security prison in Central Java was arrested for allegedly ordering gang-style attacks that left at least one person dead on Sunday The arrest came only six months after he was released on parole from the Nusakambangan prison island Police said they would pursue a premeditated murder charge carrying death sentence against him.  He was eligible for parole after serving two-thirds of his prison term and showing good behavior," Jakarta Police Chief Insp Nana Sudjana said in a press conference at his office has received many sentence cuts accumulating to around three years for good conduct in prison he would have to serve his term until March 2025 Nana said John ordered the Sunday’s attacks at Green Lake City upscale housing complex in Cipondoh where a man identified as Yustus Corwing Rahakbau was killed and another person identified only as Erwin was severely injured.  The attack at the housing complex targeted John Kei’s own relative Agrapinus Rumatora aka Nus Kei allegedly triggered by land dispute.  who only suffered property damages from the attack "We also retrieved information from the suspect’s cell phone indicating that John Kei ordered and plotted the killing of Nus Kei so it constitutes premeditated murder,” the officer said He was arrested at his residence in Medan Satria along with 29 gang members in a joint operation involving personnel from Tangerang was surrounded by armed policemen as residents were ordered to stay at home and turn off lights before the massive arrests were made John and his men reportedly surrendered without resistance John was sentenced to 16 years in jail for the January 2012 murder of businessman Tan Harry Tantono The director of Sanex Steel Indonesia was invited to a room at Swiss-Bellhotel in Central Jakarta where John and dozens of his men were waiting for him Tan was later found dead with 32 stab wounds inside the hotel room Police could easily identify the suspects after reviewing footages from the hotel’s security cameras When serving his jail term on Nusakambangan Island John appeared several times on video interviews including the one organized by the Presidential Staff Office In that particular video published on YouTube on Nov John talked about how the maximum security prison separated from other cells on the island has turned him into a better man John told KSP’s legal expert Ratna Dasahasta that he was the first person to occupy the newly-built special facility for about three months before it was officially launched “It was not just one cell for one man because no other inmates were put inside the facility prior to its formal operation,” John said in the video he will be powerless in a situation where he was the only living person in there.” A written statement accompanying the video reads that the special facility in Nusakambangan is one of five maximum security prisons across the country built to “motivate inmates to become better persons” and to prevent abuse of power by prison guards John also appeared on several other interviews with news broadcasters in which he said the prison has led him to God’s path and that he will spend the rest of his life serving God once he stepped out of jail Almost a year after the nominations were announced and more than 18 months since New York City theatres had been shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic and faculty engage in groundbreaking scholarly research and scholarship that has a global and social impact Our 34 academic centers and institutes defy disciplinary boundaries to address the world’s most pressing problems The groundbreaking research and work done by our students and faculty expand and redraw conventional boundaries Explore work defined by rigorous methodology your intellectual and creative journey moves seamlessly between the classroom and the city of New York Discover a community that will inspire your interests and passions New School students graduate with creative problem-solving skills that change how they investigate Explore inspiring stories from our entrepreneurial alumni and learn more about how we help prepare you for life after graduation the 74th annual Tony Awards finally took place on Sunday This year’s awards were especially meaningful as they took place while Broadway starts to re-open Moulin Rouge!, which officially opened on July 25, 2019, was a clear standout at the awards show, and won the most awards all evening. The musical’s ten Tony’s included “Best Orchestration,” which was awarded to Katie Kresek, Mannes ‘01 “I just went with the excitement of being there to support the show and see so many beloved colleagues and members of the Broadway community.” who Kresek has loved since she was young.  “She’s one of the reasons I fell in love with pop music and her spirit has always been a tremendous influence so to have her present our award was very meaningful,” Kresek said where in addition to her work with the orchestrations she participated in opening night at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre as the concertmaster “The thrill of hearing an audience back in the theater was fantastic as well as hearing the very first notes played by the band,” Kresek said “When we came back together and played for the first time I love making music with my colleagues every night at the Hirschfeld.” and has worked with countless other impressive musicians throughout her career She also dedicates much of her time to teaching and working with educational initiatives on Broadway and other cultural institutions “Teaching makes every artist a better artist “The process of sharing what we do with others is all about reflecting on what we do and learning to be responsive to the students who come to us for help It’s always really inspiring for me to work with students of all ages and support their enthusiasm.” Kresek’s time at Mannes helped her create the successful foundation she’s been able to build her current career from and continues to inform the work she does now “We had a core community of like-minded players that I’m happy to report I still know and work with today,” Kresek said “I appreciated that so many people at Mannes helped us to understand that we didn’t all have to come out being able to just pass a jury but that it was about finding the start of a path and carving out our places in different musical communities.”Kresek plans to put her heart into the reopening of Moulin Rouge as she continues to deal with COVID-19 protocols that have slightly changed her rhythm as a writer and performer She also hopes to begin looking ahead to some exciting new projects she has up her sleeve To apply to any of our Bachelor's programs (Except the Bachelor's Program for Adult Transfer Students) complete and submit the Common App online Learn more about How to Apply or to apply to the Bachelor's Program for Adult and Transfer Students complete and submit the New School Online Application Billy Cooter and Cat House go hunting for history The friends from the Silver Valley set out into the Idaho backcountry places established decades ago to aid in the nation’s battle against wildfires sometimes they have good directions or a recreation.gov reservation at a tower that’s still standing House and Cooter are navigating old trails or bushwhacking toward places where a lookout once stood hoping to stumble upon a sliver of physical confirmation that someone was once there looking for fires it fills out a piece of the forest’s story House and Cooter are the people behind Idaho Fire Lookouts a project dedicated to keeping alive the legacy of the state’s once vast network of firespotters They launched a website for the project a few years ago and began posting photos and reports from various lookout towers The website has entries for about 100 lookouts all of them ones Cooter and House have visited Their Facebook and Instagram pages provide a steady stream of photos from their latest adventures and they’ve produced stickers and hats celebrating the mountaintop gems they love so much they have an exhibit displaying their lookout photos and they spoke to a crowd of about 100 people there in May They’ve also raised money for preservation projects and they’ve become fixtures in the small but dedicated world of fire lookout fanatics “They’ve just taken it on and just really run with it in doing everything they can to support lookouts and saving them and restoring them,” said Gary Weber the treasurer of the Forest Fire Lookouts Association Their work is a celebration of a piece of history and a craft that has been slowly vanishing over the past several decades a proliferation that came as part of the government’s response to the Big Burn of 1910 the keeper of the Fire Lookout Museum in Spokane which torched more than 3 million acres in North Idaho and western Montana Forest Service that it needed to “do something to keep the forest from burning.” Lookouts became a key piece of the agency’s budding war on wildfire By stationing people on peaks across the West they could spot fires sooner and respond faster who is known as the preeminent lookout authority in the region wrote a book titled “Fire Lookouts of the Northwest,” in which he covered 3,300 lookout sites across Montana There were staggeringly tall towers and low slung cabins There were also more sparse sites – a crow’s nest in a tree or maybe just an open spot on a peak with a good view Technology has reshaped the business of detecting fires beginning with the use of airplanes to search for smoke GPS technology and other advances have given fire managers new ways to spot starts without the help of someone on a mountaintop arguing that the value of a person scanning the forest can’t be replaced entirely by technology but the Forest Service has been steadily reducing its numbers of staffed lookouts The decline left thousands of lookout sites across the forests of the West vacant Unoccupied cabins and towers were often dismantled a decision driven at least in part by concerns over vandalism and liability Many that remain standing are part of the Forest Service’s cabin rental program which is at least partially responsible for the creation of Idaho Fire Lookouts a graphic artist who has lived in Idaho’s Silver Valley for more than a decade first got into fire lookouts by renting them out and staying in them year after year “I don’t know what it is about them,” House said She met Cooter a few years ago at a photography workshop that was held at a lookout who works in sales and has also lived around North Idaho for more than a decade had not been to a lookout before the workshop aside from an affinity for toying with a camera Soon they were hiking and camping together and they started doing more research on the places they were visiting House had an idea: They should write a book Something that cataloged the lookouts in Idaho and shared their history along with information about how to get to them but he thought they should start with a website to begin recording information and putting it all together adding trip reports and photos from all the places they’ve been They’ve also posted interviews with people who are still staffing lookouts The website has all but eclipsed any plans for a book – it’s an easier way to get the information out becoming a way for them to help advocate for restoring and preserving fire lookouts They started selling lookout-themed stickers and more They started talking with people like Weber and Kresek whose book they use religiously to plan their adventures they attended a Forest Fire Lookout Association conference in St where they got to know other lookout advocates “I feel like we’re slowly becoming part of this community and its own unique culture,” Cooter said Weber said the pair are “a breath of fresh air” among lookout advocates and definitely into the social media side and stirring up interest that way,” Weber said the main focus for Cooter and House is being out in the woods filling the calendar with trips to search for bits of history they can reach out and touch they have plans to visit between 20 and 30 lookout sites Weber joined them on a recent hike to look for an old site at Nira Point in the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River drainage They found a few things that indicated they were in the right spot leaving them to bushwhack their way downhill Cooter’s knee was angry but they were at the bottom of the mountain and ready to laugh about it A road might take them to within 100 feet of an old site and all they have to do is clamber uphill for a short spell “We’ve had days where we’ve done two and three of those in one day,” Cooter said On a recent trip to Blacktail Mountain Lookout near Nordman a tool that was used to pinpoint the location of a fire They also found a name inscribed on a rock which they believe belonged to someone who worked at the lookout in the 1930s Cooter and House drove up to Little Guard Peak where the Little Guard Lookout still stands They’ve stayed there with friends in the past and they’ve hiked from there to other peaks with vacant lookout sites Cooter and House know that there was once another cabin near the Little Guard Lookout They scanned a boulder field just south of the tower but they found nothing that indicated there used to be a cabin there they found one of the other reasons they love spending so much time in the high country Even with low hanging clouds and intermittent rain the sort of views that make anyone understand the joy of chasing the ghosts of lookouts past “They’re never in ugly spots,” Cooter said JOHOR BAHRU: China’s decision to publish a new map that lays its claim over the disputed South China Sea as well as land areas contested by India and Russia too is timed to cast a spotlight on these issues and reassert its position ahead of multilateral summits The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit is scheduled for Sep 5 to 7 in Jakarta Indonesia while the Group of 20 (G20) Leaders’ Summit will be held in New Delhi Chinese leaders are expected to attend both events director of the International and Security Affairs Program at The Australian Institute said China’s intention for releasing the map at this time is akin to “stirring the pot” while keeping the issue of its territorial claims “on the boil” “With a number of important regional meetings about to take place China appears to wish to re-apply pressure on conference and summit participants by advancing its (territorial) claims once again,” Mr Behm told CNA “The claims do not assist in bringing the discussions about competing claims any closer to conclusion Neither does their re-assertion (further) complicate the negotiation of the current disputes and disagreements It merely keeps them front of mind,” he added China’s Ministry of Natural Resources on Monday (Aug 28) issued the "China Standard Map Edition 2023" which lays claims over large swathes of the South China Sea also disputed by Malaysia as well as several land areas in India and Russia China’s new map also revives the use of a “10-dash” line - with an additional dash to the east of Taiwan - a break from the usual nine-dash line Beijing has been using in recent years to stake its claims over large swathes of the South China Sea The map has drawn protests from the Indian Philippine and Malaysian governments while Indonesia though not a claimant-state but has its Natunas within the nine-dash-line has said it is seeking clarity on the issue China’s foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin reportedly said it hopes that “relevant parties” can see its new standard map in an “objective and rational way” Political analyst Professor James Chin from the University of Tasmania told CNA that this move by China to push this agenda prior to the summits is “typical of Chinese diplomacy” The Chinese want this to be a talking point at the summits and want to show that they are consistent in claiming these territories as theirs,” said Prof Chin He also noted that the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 found the nine-dash line to have no legal basis and that China’s move in publishing a new map with a 10-dash line is a signal to the international community that “it does not recognise the ruling” and that it is willing to dig its heels on its claims a Singapore-based defence analyst and adjunct fellow of Hawaii's Pacific Forum think-tank told CNA that China reasserting its territorial claim ahead of the summits makes clear that it is still “resolutely determined '' to enforce them “China may have been seen to have ceded territory from (when its empire was largest) during the Qing dynasty in the 18th century,” he added I think (China’s president) Xi Jinping is reinforcing China’s historic claims and also reinforcing this irredentist view of retrieving territories (of countries which) may be vulnerable,” said Mr Neill The Australian Institute’s Mr Behm said that the additional dash appears to be China’s re-assertion of its claim to Taiwan as part of China “It clearly includes Taiwan within its ocean boundaries lest any country imagine that China has wavered at all on its claim to Taiwan,” he said Mr Behm noted that while China’s claim to Taiwan is well documented there have been questions over how countries will react if China were to “seek to reintegrate Taiwan forcibly” in asserting China’s claims to the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh and the arid northern extension of Ladakh in Aksai Chin touches an “extremely sensitive area that has been the focus of physical clashes between China and India over the years” He also outlined how the 10-dash line asserts China’s claim to islands in Southeast Asia which houses the country’s exclusive economic zone The Australian Institute’s Mr Behm said that China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea - which include how Chinese activities in the waterway date back 2,000 years - are “extravagant demands” the Philippines and Vietnam all have reasonable grounds for their claims under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) “The reefs and shoals have been traditional fishing grounds for peoples living in the archipelagos for centuries,” said Mr Behm China’s claims are not well documented historically and the nine-dash line itself post-dates World War II.” Mr Neill pointed out that the new map also includes the Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island on the Amur River and identifies it as Chinese territory Territorial dispute between Russia and China over this area began in the 1860s and was seemingly resolved in a 2008 treaty when the western part of the island was given to China Mr Neill said: “China reasserting this claim on the map is an irritant to Russia Because you know - why dredge up this particular flashpoint which was resolved some years ago.”  “The map is significant because it risks dragging Russia into the dispute … during a time when the bilateral relationship between China and Russia is extremely sensitive,” he added He noted how China had signed a “no limits partnership” agreement with Russia shortly before Vladimir Putin launched Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 which enhanced their relationship into “something short of an alliance” Mr Neill noted that Chinese officials have since publicly called for a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine war and this is causing a fissure between Beijing and Moscow While China’s newly published map has already triggered protests from other claimant-states analysts say their reactions may intensify and could even lead to more dangerous counters in the disputed territories Analyst Prof Chin said it might lead to a big diplomatic blowout because the countries impacted like Malaysia will want to make loud statements to publicly reject what China is doing though “these protests will not last as China has issued these maps before” “But on the ground at these disputed territories “There are likely to be more close encounters between Malaysia Coast Guard and China navy This could escalate further especially since the US Australia and the British have a naval presence in the South China Sea.”  Pacific Forum’s Mr Neill said that these countries could resort to a demarche - in which the foreign diplomats of these countries  “could express indignation and displeasure” to put diplomatic pressure He said some countries could consider doing political rallies - citing how the Philippines have organised cultural events in which patriots would come out and show solidarity towards Philippine sovereignty He added that some countries could express displeasure to their Chinese counterparts privately citing how Vietnam may do this via their Communist party links Mr Neill said he believes India will react strongest to China’s move with possibly big protests from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government “Modi is observing a massive uptick in patriotic sentiment and he has to respond to (China’s claims) and vocally do so,” he added “But I think it’s really limited what countries can do to apply any pressure on China because they are certainly not going to withdraw (their claims) “And frankly the Chinese Communist Party leadership does not care one fig what countries think.”  Get our pick of top stories and thought-provoking articles in your inbox Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app We know it's a hassle to switch browsers but we want your experience with CNA to be fast Upgraded but still having issues? Contact us Rich Landers joined The Spokesman-Review in 1977 He is the Outdoors editor for the Sports Department writing and photographing stories about hiking Ray Kresek says the origins of what he calls the world’s largest Smokey Bear collection – which exists in a crowded but neatly arranged room in the basement of his home on the far North Side of Spokane – can be traced back to 1950 Kresek told the truth: The matches were so he and a friend could build a fire to cook hot dogs while building a trail for the U.S But his teacher didn’t believe him and sent Kresek home to write a letter explaining again why he really had the matches she told him to send a copy to the Forest Service he received a poster of Smokey Bear holding Bambi who appeared in the first nationwide wildfire-prevention campaign But on Thursday afternoon – the day before Smokey’s 75th birthday – Kresek pointed to a metal reproduction hanging on the wall’s wood paneling It’s one of thousands of Smokey Bear items in his collection including everything from pencils to posters to Frisbees to dolls Perhaps Kresek’s most prized piece of Smokey memorabilia is one of the 14 original Smokey Bear suits which stands safely behind a window pane in his basement shrine Like seemingly everything else in his collection it’s not so much the object as the story behind the suit that Kresek relishes that story includes references to Rudy Wendelin the most well-known Smokey artist; to the suit’s fabric which Wendelin found on an earlier Smokey figurine which Kresek of course also has on display; to the 1952 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade where the suits were debuted; and to the Washington Department of Natural Resources compound in Olympia where Kresek found the suit moldering fire prevention manager for DNR’s northeast region it is Kresek’s bottomless well of similar stories that makes the collection so rich with a different piece,” Gifford said Thursday Gifford is an enthusiastic supporter of Kresek’s extensive collection of fire-prevention-related artifacts which includes not only a room packed with Smokey Bear stuff but also a backyard with an actual fire lookout and a garage-sized fire guard station that houses a firetruck as well as hundreds of other objects the museum is open to the public by appointment But eventually – “When I can’t deal with it any longer” – the 82-year-old plans to pass it all on to the Stevens County Historical Society in Colville Kresek said he has amassed the collection in a series of “strange While the items of his massive collection clearly please the collector in Kresek he says what’s more important than the countless Smokey reproductions is the message the iconic figure conveys: “Only you can prevent forest fires.” That message is especially resonant when you look at data showing that of the more than 500 fires in northeast Washington last year Or when you step outside on a day like Thursday and breathe the smoke in the air Kresek said Smokey was part of “the most successful advertising campaign in the United States” and was “as well known as Santa Claus” when he was a kid While Smokey is somewhat less recognizable now Kresek said the enduring resonance of his fire-prevention message is on the rebound after a period when foresters took a less active approach to combating wildfires “I would say he’s stronger than he was at 50 because there’s so many people who live in the woods,” Kresek said there’s one that stands out for being earned rather than acquired: a 2011 Silver Smokey Bear Award “I don’t know what I did to earn that Smokey,” Kresek said of the trophy “I know what he did to earn it,” Gifford said explaining that the award is a rarely given honor for outstanding fire prevention efforts Gifford and a contingent of other fire-prevention professionals will gather at Kresek’s home/museum to celebrate Smokey’s 75th birthday is to light a fire and grill some hot dogs While Kresek’s 75th celebration is private, visit http://www.firelookouts.com/museum.html or call (509) 466-9171 to make an appointment to visit the Fire Lookout Museum The Forest Service will host two public birthday celebrations today in Stevens County at the Chewelah Farmers Market in Chewelah City Park Get breaking news delivered to your inbox as it happens This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page The University of Colorado Boulder earned 2nd place in the 2022 Colorado Contractors Association (CCA) Heavy Civil Competition competed at the CCA Annual Conference on Jan The annual competition calls for teams of students to develop a proposal and presentation for a heavy civil construction project The team included civil and architectural engineerring undergraduates: Office: Engineering Center, ECOT 441Phone: 303-492-6382Email: ceae@colorado.edu Facebook Support Us  Contact Us College of Engineering & Applied SciencePhone: 303-492-5071Email: cueng@colorado.edu MYNORTHWEST HISTORY BY FELIKS BANEL Wildfire season is here and though – knock on tinder-dry wood – the Puget Sound area has not yet seen the flames and smoke of previous summers there’s no question that conditions could shift at any moment as they have so many times over the decades This past Saturday was the first annual “National Wildland Firefighter Day” – a commemoration created by the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho to honor the men and women who battle wildfires. It was also a perfect day to visit the Fire Lookout Museum in Spokane At their peak in the 1940s during World War II, there were something like 8,000 fire lookout towers in the United States – including 682 here in Washington – usually staffed with one or sometimes two people keeping their eyes open for the first sign of a fire (or, during the war With changes in technology and the economics of public land management there are just a few dozen lookouts left in Washington nowadays One lookout tower that remains is in a backyard in Spokane behind the home of an author Kresek pieced the lookout together in the early 1980s from the ruins of seven separate lookout towers not long after the time when the US Forest Service and other land managers were demolishing or burning down old lookouts which were increasingly deemed obsolete and were thought to pose a risk to curious hikers Kresek trucked his lookout around to a couple of big county fairs in Washington and Oregon It was a popular attraction that drew more than a million visitors and it was great place from which to sell copies of Kresek’s book the definitive bible of regional lookout tower history and – when it can be found – expensive (selling online for as much as hundreds of dollars) The tower and a separate building and a huge collection of artifacts are part of the Fire Lookout Museum which Kresek founded and incorporated as a non-profit organization It’s not really open to the public so much anymore history buffs and other wildfire enthusiasts are sometimes able to contact Ray Kresek via the museum’s website and score an invitation to visit Along with the tower and the building, Kresek’s yard is filled with old signs, fire-fighting tools and gear, and all kinds of amazing artifacts related to wildfires, Smokey Bear, the Forest Service and state forest agencies in Washington one of the first stops was an old outdoor phone but the firewatchers needed to be able to communicate with each other when they saw something foresters strung miles and miles of wire through the woods to connect lookout towers via what amounts to a rudimentary “party line,” where everyone connected to the system could listen to every call “This is a typical field phone along the trails back as early as 1910,” Kresek said The old phone system [required a distinctive ring to identify individual users so] if your call was one ‘long’ and three ‘shorts’” – at this point Kresek stopped speaking and cranked the phone to make the bell sound one long ring followed by three short rings – “You answered it it’s a short climb up a staircase to the lookout and a “fire finder” mounted in the center of the floor Fire finders are at the heart of the entire premise of a lookout tower and its reason to be: to help accurately pinpoint the location of smoke and fires It’s about the size and shape of a big pizza pan founder Ray Kresek demonstrates the fire finder on display in the on-site lookout tower More today on @KIRONewsradio & @MyNorthwest, marking National Wildland Firefighter Day and the Week of Remembrance. pic.twitter.com/KAUwwVOOCD — Feliks Banel (@FeliksBanel) July 6, 2022 “You look through this tiny little slit here,” Kresek said and the middle of the map is you” – where the lookout tower is located as you’re sighting the smoke that’s going to be between here and here somewhere it’s up to you to determine the location of it.” “That’s how fire finder works,” Kresek continued “And if there’s another lookout [who can also see the smoke or fire] you’re fortunate because you can do a cross shot” to triangulate and even more accurately determine the location of the distant smoke or flame Why does Ray Kresek care enough about lookout tower history to host a museum in his backyard for going on 40 years and retired decades ago after a long career with the Spokane Fire Department his dad drove all over the state installing and repairing two-way radios in fire lookout towers and young Ray often went along for the ride he and a friend built a trail and a campground in the woods and the Forest Service sent him a Smokey Bear poster as a thank-you – which was something of a watershed moment for the young future firefighter and museum founder fascination with all things wildfire and wildfire fighting goes way back for Ray Kresek “I started on a lookout when I was 16 and it kind of grew with me,” Kresek said when I retired out of the Spokane Fire Department “It’s just been in my blood all my life,” Kresek continued Though he is 85, Ray Kresek has no immediate plans to slow down. However, to his credit, he does have a succession plan in place so that the work of the Fire Lookout Museum will continue once he does decide to retire from what became his decades-long second fire-related career. Ultimately, the lookout tower and many related artifacts will be moved to the Priest Lake Museum not too far away in Idaho Carlos Landa is board president of the Priest Lake Museum It’s clear that Landa and his fellow board members and the other volunteers at Priest Lake Museum appreciate Ray Kresek and are thrilled the Spokane lookout tower will someday be headed their way Landa says that the lands around Priest Lake have a rich history of lookout towers and the community holds a special place in Ray Kresek’s wildfire-fighting heart He also said that under normal circumstances moving the tower out of Kresek’s yard and trucking it over to Idaho might be expensive but the museum’s roots – and community connections – run deep “We’ve still got a bunch of old boys out there,” Landa said “and when it comes time to get something done If Kresek ever gets lonely for his old lookout tower the Priest Lake Museum folks will happily welcome him for visits But Kresek doesn’t have to even go that far and also has an old lookout tower in his backyard In preparation for Kresek’s eventual retirement, most of the Smokey artifacts have already been moved up to Colville, where much of it is now displayed by the Stevens County Historical Society in their Smokey Bear Room “He kept the things that were very special to him and things that were given to him by his family members,” said Katie Tolin “But it was considered the best Smokey collection [and while] we don’t have all of what he had it’s still a pretty extensive collection.” Other than a few dozen pieces still in his basement souvenirs – are on display now in at the volunteer-run museum Colville In hearing Ray Kresek’s stories and learning more about the work of operating fire lookout towers it seems that lookouts are not unlike lighthouses – remote and isolating for the people who do long stretches of critical but solo work in those settings Is there something that people who are attracted to working in lookout towers have in common carefully – he clearly has deep respect for the profession and the people they go up on their mountain and they don’t see another soul all summer I wanted to see somebody because there’d be something to tell them whose love of wildfire history – along with that need of his to tell somebody what he saw – has made the Fire Lookout Museum he created a priceless part of the Northwest that will live on for decades to come You can hear Feliks every Wednesday and Friday morning on Seattle’s Morning News and read more from him here. If you have a story idea, please email Feliks here Follow @https://twitter.com/feliksbanel Vessels spent 200,000 hours in 2019 bottom trawling or dredging the seabed in protected areas set up to safeguard vital ecosystems according to data shared with the Guardian Nearly a quarter of the UK’s territorial waters are covered by MPAs, set up to protect vital ecosystems and species, including harbour porpoises and dolphins. This network of parks is a symbol of the government’s “world leading” target to protect 30% of ocean biodiversity by 2030 However, analysis of fishing vessel tracking data from Global Fishing Watch (GFW), by Oceana the most destructive type of fishing on sea-floor habitats is happening in 71 out of 73 offshore MPAs around the UK spent an estimated 200,000 hours trawling or dredging across the seabed in offshore MPAs in 2019 according to GFW algorithms based on their AIS (automatic identification systems) data The findings, which follow reports by Greenpeace of an increasing number of foreign supertrawlers fishing in the same sites, drew accusations that the government is misleading the public over “paper parks” that fail to protect Britain’s seas. The government has insisted that the EU’s common fisheries policy restricts its ability to implement tougher protections in MPAs. Trawling and dredging is not illegal in most offshore MPAs. Oceana warned of an “ecological emergency”, calling on the government to introduce measures to protect the sites from 1 January, the end of the Brexit transition period, when it gains more control of its territorial waters. The shadow environment secretary, Luke Pollard, said the government should publish plans of how it intends to honour its “30 by 30” oceans pledge and hold urgent talks with fishermen. Melissa Moore, head of policy at Oceana UK, said: “If the government really want to take back control of our waters, as they repeatedly claim, they should make a policy announcement today that they’ll halt bottom-towed fishing gear by foreign and UK vessels in all marine protected areas. We don’t want more trials, or other measures that merely rearrange the deckchairs, we’re in an ecological emergency and need action now.” Prof Callum Roberts, a marine scientist at Exeter University, said it was “very disappointing” bottom trawling and dredging was still taking place inside protected sites. Roberts said: “MPAs are highly ineffective. They are fake, they are paper parks. There’s a massive problem here and the government needs to address it. They are misleading the public, wasting resources, protecting nothing. They are not going to contribute to recovery of marine life, stem the loss of biodiversity or mitigate the impacts of climate change.” Read moreAfter decades of industrial fishing which had destroyed seabed habitats only a ban on fishing in MPAs would allow marine life to thrive Pollard praised the “30 by 30” pledge, which Michael Gove signed up to when environment secretary The government has not been honest enough with the fishing sector,” he said there doesn’t seem to be a plan and there doesn’t seem to be a conversation with the fishing sector about how we can work with fishers to incentivise fishing outside marine protected areas Conservationists have recently stepped up lobbying to safeguard marine parks. In September, Greenpeace dropped giant boulders from its ship into the Dogger Bank MPA forcing trawlers to avoid the area or risk damaging their fishing gear The Blue Marine Foundation wrote to the fisheries minister to say it would seek a judicial review unless the government commits to protecting Dogger Bank and other MPAs including WWF and the Marine Conservation Society the Netherlands and Germany of breaching the EU habitats directive by failing to protect Dogger Bank from bottom-impact fishing a Defra spokesperson said: “We are putting sustainable fishing and the protection of our seas at the heart of our future fishing strategy We have already set up a ‘blue belt’ of protected waters nearly twice the size of England and the fisheries bill proposes new powers to better manage and control our marine protected areas.” Leaving the EU and “taking back control of our waters” means the government can introduce stronger measures A Scottish government spokesperson said: “Scotland’s marine protected area network is already in excess of 30% of our sea area – taking Scotland past the proposed new global target for 2030 currently being negotiated by the UN convention on biological diversity – and each site is managed to achieve its conservation objectives by restricting activity which will hinder this while allowing sustainable use to continue.” Five For Fighting (aka John Ondrasik) will kick off a series of special string quartet shows beginning April 25 in Lawrence Ondrasik will be bringing top musicians including Tony-Award winning concertmaster and co-orchestrator of Moulin Rouge and Broadway’s Chris Cardona (Viola) and Peter Sachon (Cello) The unique nature of the shows allows Ondrasik to go behind the music and tell stories while the format allows for a deeper dive into the catalog while there is always a surprise or two in store who opened some dates on last year’s string quartet tour will be this years’ opening act The folk rock duo of Caroline Lace and Olivia Lee features ethereal vocals heavily influenced by the mystical wisdom of ’60s and ’70s storytelling with a twist of humor and bard-like prose “If it’s spring the Five for Fighting and the fantastic FFF String Quartet is hitting the road stories and surprises while sharing the stage with our opener this will be a family show that recognizes our troops and first responders I can’t wait to roll across America with these world class musicians who have become my second family Five For Fighting has been featured in Season VI of The Song hosted by Krista Marie alongside other artists including The Fray The episode will be available to watch soon on The Song’s YouTube channel BMG & Gray Media have joined forces to offer global distribution of the show playing it at over 300 of the company’s Hard Rock properties in over 80 countries including the U.S Fans will see full performances in Hard Rock Cafés a privately funded nonprofit launched by Tullman Community Ventures announced the return of the Music Matters Challenge a nationwide competition aimed at rekindling the transformative power of music education in schools across the country the Challenge offers a chance for participants to compete for prizes while making a lasting impact through the power of music including the platinum certified America Town and The Battle for Everything; and the top 10 charting Two Lights including the chart-topping “100 Years,” “The Riddle,” “Chances,” “World,” and “Easy Tonight,” which have earned tens of millions of streams and place him as a top 10 Hot Adult Contemporary artist for the 2000s The reflective “100 Years” has joined “Superman (It’s Not Easy)” as part of the American Songbook and continues to stand the test of time at weddings Five For Fighting’s music has also been featured in more than 350 films including the Oscar-winning The Blind Side Monday (May 5) for more than 3,200 seats on city councils Northport's Justin Levine was honored for the orchestrations for "Moulin Rouge!" Credit: Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions / Jenny Anderson Broadway theater's Tony Award for best orchestrations presented Sunday night at the Winter Garden Theatre in Manhattan went to Northport-raised Justin Levine for his work on the hit "Moulin Rouge shared the award with teammates Katie Kresek which opened in July 2019 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre after 24 previews went on hiatus in March 2020 because of the pandemic but reopened Friday Levine told the podcast "Real Talk With Mason Bray" that after working initially with director Alex Timbers and playwright John Logan on the show "I knew that [Kresek and Rosen] would have to be part of the process both for their incredible musical abilities but also because of their kindness and their humanity and their ingenuity with their instruments — Charlie being just a master of the horns and Katie knowing how to make strings just sing in such not only really beautiful ways but really surprising ways." whose mother Judy Adolph still lives in Northport had grown up writing and performing family skits with his cousins and became self-taught on piano and guitar he made a remote appearance for current students there describing Broadway behind-the-scenes and offering advice about working in the arts He began doing musical direction while still a drama student at New York University conducted and provided musical direction for the 2010 Broadway musical "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson" after first working on it Off-Broadway By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy In-between that show and "Moulin Rouge!," he variously provided orchestrations and musical direction for Off-Broadway's "Murder Ballad," "Here Lies Love" and "The Robber Bridegroom," and composed original music for the Public Theater's 2017 Shakespeare in the Park production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." He also has worked Off-Off-Broadway and in regional theater including at Chicago's Goodman Theatre and has performed music both solo and with the Clinton Curtis Band "It’s been a bit of a whirlwind," Levine "I'm in transit on my way to London." The Newsday app makes it easier to access content without having to log in Unlimited Digital AccessOnly 25¢for 6 months The Tony-winning Best Musical continues at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre the musical continues its run at Broadway's Al Hirschfeld Theatre with Tveit winning a Tony Award for his performance Mendoza took over the role of Satine from original star Karen Olivo when the production resumed performances on Broadway in September 2021 after the shutdown New casting will be announced at a later time Directed by Alex Timbers with a book by John Logan and choreography by Sonya Tayeh first opened on Broadway in 2019 following a Boston try-out Based on the Baz Luhrmann-directed movie of the same name the score features covers of "Fireworks" by Katy Perry The story takes place at Paris' famed Moulin Rouge and follows the tragic love story between performer Satine and composer Christian The production's music team includes Justin Levine as musical supervisor with dance arrangements by Levine and Stine Also on the creative team are Derek McLane as scenic designer and creative services by Luhrmann and Catherine Martin Casting is by Jim Carnahan and Stephen Kopel The creative team swept the 2020 Tony Awards Following the Broadway premiere, Moulin Rouge! has gone on to open productions in London's West End and Melbourne, Australia. Additional engagements are being planned for Germany and Japan, and a North American national tour launched earlier this month one Tony winner is playing the trumpet while the other is channeling Madame Rose Due to the expansive nature of Off-Broadway and institutes have been revealed by the industry stalwart and more will star in the Kevin Zak comedy at the Orpheum Theatre Off-Broadway Students at this Georgia school are providing a professional-looking production for their community Thank You!You have now been added to the list Blocking belongson the stage,not on websites Our website is made possible bydisplaying online advertisements to our visitors Please consider supporting us bywhitelisting playbill.com with your ad blocker.Thank you this 6,000-foot perch served as a lighthouse of sorts over countless green miles of Panhandle backcountry when wisps of smoke snaked up from smoldering logs on the forest floor the lookout employee would mark the logbook and radio in the location like hundreds of other lookout towers across the West were decommissioned and replaced by spotter planes the tower is rented by tourists for $35 a night and its logbook is filled with observations such as "Most amazing view of the Milky Way ever." painted and spruced up by a group of retired U.S The parachuting firefighters once relied on lookout towers to guide them to fires Now they're working to make sure the structures don't crumble and disappear from the landscape The volunteer effort is part of a growing movement aimed at preserving the towers "They're definitely of historical value," said Ted Rieger who was a smokejumper for three seasons in the early 1950s and later served as a district ranger in Idaho's St "They're remnants of the old way." Rieger spoke while standing on the lookout's catwalk squirting caulk into cracks in the wooden siding The tower has views up the North Fork Coeur d'Alene River Valley and across the Bitterroots appreciated the scenery but admitted he had no desire to pay to sleep in a lookout "Reminds me too much of work," he said Although lookout towers might offer the best view from any bed this side of the Mississippi many fans of the structures believe they should again be used as tools to fight wildfires A handful of towers remain staffed in the Priest Lake and St but firefighting agencies now rely almost entirely on spotter aircraft and weather satellites to track fires Wildfires need to be churning out a lot of heat and smoke to be picked up by a satellite a Spokane resident and retired firefighter who runs a lookout tower museum at his home but they only make a pass or two a day above the forest Lightning-sparked fires might smolder unnoticed for days before sending out a puff of white smoke "We've been the route of the air patrol being allegedly better; they just don't see the area long enough," said Kresek who is also the author of "Fire Lookouts of the Northwest." Federal land managers are rethinking the wisdom of snuffing all wildfires but as homes continue to be built in forested areas the need for protection against wildfires is hardly vanishing Kresek said the early detection abilities offered by lookouts offset their operational costs the nation has spent an average of $911 million each year to fight wildfires The recent lightning-sparked Tunk Grade fire in Okanogan County might have been stopped before it burned 17,000 acres had the nearby lookout tower remained in operation The Tunk Mountain tower is owned by Keith Argow a retired Forest Service ranger and chairman of the Forest Fire Lookout Association The group is attempting to save as many towers as possible "They are the lighthouses of the land; a sentinel of good forestry." about one lookout tower a week was being dismantled or destroyed "Now it's down to about one every 10 days." Idaho once operated 992 lookouts — the highest concentration in the world The greatest density was probably in the St where some lookouts were less than three miles apart and only about 50 are actually used to spot fires A tower atop Mount Spokane was dismantled in 2001 and rebuilt for tourist rental on nearby Quartz Mountain A tower on Stranger Mountain west of Chewelah is scheduled to be dismantled this summer Protecting remaining towers is not only a matter of preserving historical structures; Kresek believes the towers will again be valued as detection tools has been working to preserve its remaining towers in recent years were mass produced in Spokane and packed to peaks on the backs of mules a Missoula-based Forest Service employee who specializes in the preservation of historical structures The towers represent something of a minor engineering marvel "It was a pretty-well-thought-out design," he said They get hurricane-force winds on a monthly basis Standard issue in the towers was a chair designed to protect against electrocution Glass insulators are attached to the base of the wooden chairs' legs "A friend of mine claims you can get five people standing on that chair during a storm," Matthew said Get important news about your town as it happens Get the top stories from across our network Are you sure you want to unsubscribe from daily updates -- Music fills the air in Westchester County this summer beginning with two free concerts on Thursday Dancing at Dusk with the Doc Wallace Trio and Katie Kresek the Family Program Designer and host at Caramoor in Katonah was one of the many musical offerings in Westchester County last summer at the Renaissance Plaza with Line Carnival which will bring island tunes and steel drum melodies the 16-member a capella group Choral Pleasure will sing a wide variety of tunes until 8:30 p.m Westchester County comes alive with hundreds of free and affordable outdoor concerts and performances music of every kind is so readily available to Westchester residents that they can literally dance to a different tune every day of the week ArtsWestchester has compiled a comprehensive listing of hundreds of "Music In The Air" summer events – all free or less than $20 – that will appeal to schedules and tastes that are as varied as the performances themselves Music in the Air is available in the summer editions of the organization’s monthly publication and on its website "Westchester residents appreciate the arts throughout the year but summertime offers a unique opportunity to experience performances in the open air at many of the county’s most picturesque spots,” ArtsWestchester CEO Janet Langsam said “It’s a wonderful time to sip wine and enjoy the fresh air and entertainment while sitting on your favorite blanket with friends and family.” ArtsWestchester will continue its annual Picnic in the Park basket giveaway this year a lucky winner will receive a basket containing everything needed to take a meal for two on the go An accessory that will enhance the enjoyment of any outdoor performance and an insulated interior to keep foods hot or cold For the complete listings and to enter the picnic basket giveaway, visit the Music in the Air page on ArtsWestchester’s website. Ubud, Bali – Tragedy struck at the popular Monkey Forest tourist site in Ubud on Tuesday, December 10, 2024, when strong winds and heavy rain caused several large trees to collapse, resulting in the deaths of two foreign tourists and injuries to another. View this post on Instagram A post shared by INFO BALI (@punapibali) The area was crowded with tourists at the time and other tourists rushed to assist the victims transporting them to Kenak Medika Hospital in Ubud via ambulance Additional injured individuals were treated at the on-site clinic The incident was promptly reported to the Ubud Police Ubud Police Chief Kompol Gusti Nyoman Sudarsana and his team arrived at the scene to oversee rescue operations and clear debris The disaster claimed the lives of two women: All victims remain at Kenak Medika Hospital pending coordination with immigration authorities and their families Authorities have called the incident an unfortunate natural disaster emphasizing the unpredictable dangers posed by severe weather conditions in the region The Monkey Forest remains temporarily closed while authorities assess safety measures and conduct further investigations Illustration of a tourist's bag theft on the beach Several foreign nationals were issued traffic citations for violating road regulations in Pererenan