Welcome to the second MtnMisfits podcast…It’s February 1st and feeling like spring in Montana!

Hikers told to forgo entire Appalachian Trail due to virus

Hikers are being told by the agency that oversees the Appalachian Trail to postpone plans to cover the nearly 2,200-mile (3,540 kilometer) distance this year due to COVID-19.

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy made the suggestion because it feels the pandemic makes long-distance hikes unsafe for the some 2,000 thru-hikers have already registered.

Those hikers come through the 71 miles of trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and reach western North Carolina trail towns like Franklin and Hot Springs, in March and April, when they gather in large numbers to rest, mend gear and resupply.

They also stay at shelters in close quarters along the trail. The shelters don’t allow for the CDC’s COVID-safety guidelines, which include maintaining social distance of at least 6 feet from those who don’t live in the same household and washing hands often with soap and water.

‘Ugliest orchid in the world’ among 2020’s new plant discoveries

The researchers said the 156 new plants and fungi highlighted the amazing diversity of species that remain to be found…third of the new species are orchids, but one confounded the family’s reputation for great beauty, with RGB Kew calling it the “ugliest in the world”.

The plant – Gastrodia agnicellus – was found in a national park in Madagascar and its 11mm flowers are brown, fleshy and grotesque, and are likely to be pollinated by flies.

The orchid remains underground in the deep shade of a humid forest most of the time, emerging only to flower, but it has “a noticeable musk rose-like scent”, the scientists said.

Biden wants to triple protected lands

Biden took the next leap in pursuing his climate agenda Wednesday, signing the latest in a spate of environment-focused executive orders. One of the most ambitious goals buried in the order he put forward is to conserve nearly a third of US land and ocean waters by 2030.

Currently, only 12 percent of the country’s land and 26 percent of its oceans are protected, according to a 2018 report by the Center for American Progress. This was achieved by slowly expanding protected areas over the past few decades — until former President Trump took office. In his first year, his administration dramatically shrank two Utah monuments, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante — the largest removal of federal land from protection in US history. Now the Biden administration will have to quickly reverse course to meet the new goal.

The “30 by 30” target is based on scientific recommendations for addressing the rapid loss of biodiversity and using natural ecosystems to fight climate change. The biodiversity crisis may still be invisible to many people, but it has had profound effects. One recent study found that North America has lost over a quarter of its bird population since 1970.

The Content

Feeling like spring…getting a little bucky…plans?

Slick spring trails – Sock Tip