#APHIS

[plethoraworldatlas]

The federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is proposing to spray toxic insecticides within treasured and significant landscapes of the Colorado Plateau in northern Arizona to kill native grasshoppers.

The areas being considered include portions of the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, and the newly designated Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument.

“This is a dangerous plan that could kill creatures that are key to northern Arizona’s unique biodiversity, which these national monuments were designated to protect,” said Taylor McKinnon, Southwest director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The federal government needs to stop downplaying the extinction crisis and back off its reckless plan to smother biodiversity hotspots with toxic pesticides.”

One out of every 10 plant species in the Colorado Plateau region is found nowhere else on Earth.

The agency's draft environmental assessment omits mention of the national monuments and unique species and habitats they were designated to protect. These species include rare bees, butterflies and other creatures found nowhere else, like the Kaibab monkey grasshopper and House Rock Valley chisel-toothed kangaroo rat, specifically named in the August proclamation establishing the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni National Monument.

APHIS oversees and funds the application of multiple pesticides on rangelands to prevent native grasshoppers and Mormon crickets from competing with livestock for forage.

The proposed insecticides — carbaryl, diflubenzuron and chlorantraniliprole — are indiscriminate. In addition to the grasshoppers the agency is targeting, the insecticides can also kill bees, moths and other insects. Spraying can harm entire ecosystems by disrupting pollination and can harm populations of birds, reptiles and mammals who feed on grasshoppers and insects.

Although grasshoppers and Mormon crickets can be locally abundant from time to time, native plants and other wildlife evolved with these cycles. Introducing pesticides to eliminate native grasshoppers is a shortsighted, quick fix that fails to consider the complex interrelationships within these delicate ecosystems.

The agency’s draft analysis shows that it has failed to consult with affected Tribes with ties to the Grand Canyon area. The Grand Canyon Tribal Coalition, which proposed the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni National Monument, includes members of the Havasupai Tribe, Hopi Tribe, Hualapai Tribe, Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians, Las Vegas Tribe of Paiutes, Moapa Band of Paiute Indians, Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, Shivwits Band of Paiutes, Navajo Nation, San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe, Yavapai-Apache Nation, Zuni Tribe and Colorado River Indian Tribes.

“It’s so important that APHIS honor the promise made to work together with Tribal nations to protect the sacred spaces and resources within the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Monument when it was established less than six months ago,” said Sharon Selvaggio, pesticide program specialist with The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. “We call on the agency to protect natural systems on Tribal and public lands by employing nonchemical management that allows humans and wildlife to thrive.”

In March 2023 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published a draft biological opinion from NOAA Fisheries showing that carbaryl is likely to jeopardize 37 species protected under the Endangered Species Act, and harm 36 designated critical habitats.

While Arizona is not home to any of the species named in that report, the findings show the extreme harm carbaryl poses to endangered fish and other species.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is charged with protecting endangered plants and animals, has not yet completed a proper analysis of the potential harms from the APHIS proposal. Potentially vulnerable endangered species in Arizona include Chiricahua leopard frogs, western yellow-billed cuckoos, Gila chub, black-footed ferrets and Siler pincushion cacti.

APHIS is accepting comments on the proposal until 4 p.m. MST on Feb. 2.

[crudlynaturephotos]

[rival-ado]

[lamemummy59]

They’re girlfriends your honor

[aquapede]

heres an inscryption rainworld au that i've been sitting on for a while!

the scrybes are all iterators whose cans were built prohibitively close to each other--to the point that some of their outer facilities are actually melded together, making them look like a singular can from some angles.

the four of them are constantly fighting each other for the local groundwater and the processing power to conduct what they believe are the solutions to the Great Problem:

conduction of boundless energy (p03) believes that the solution will be found through the countless simulations it runs, constantly trying to modify its can with its specialized overseer and inspectors so it can run even more efficiently.

echoed sentiment (grimora) believes that self-destruction will inevitably show her the solution to the great problem and takes keen interest in the creatures around her can and their lives and deaths in the cycle.

foreseen misfortunes (magnificus) believes the oldest attempts at breaking the cycle through depriving oneself of earthly pleasures is the way to the solution, and inflicts thus upon their "students".

storm upon the branches (leshy) believes that as iterators they are incapable of finding a new way out of the cycle for themselves. the only solution is the void sea, and so they must find a way to enter the cycle to break it for themselves.

many of them--despite their differences--miss a particular ancient who always took special care to listen to them, not just as a source of knowledge, but as friends as well.

some miss her more than others.

[apheliavampire]

So a while ago I got art from the amazing @azreto of my boy, Grimodim.

I had said I was going to get it done as a mousepad, and this is the result.

Now my boys luscious man tiddies (or middies as I like to call them) will give me wrist support.

My friends were all very excited when I showed them this lmao. They support me being insane 💖

Again, thank you @azreto for the amazing job on the art.

[ryanyflags]

aphysical | aemotional | atertiary aphyspec | aemospec | aterspec

Some alt a-spec flags :)

I wanted to make matching a-spec flag sets for aphysical, aemotional, and atertiary microlabels. I do like the original flags (link), but the colors didn't really work for my purposes (they represent attraction, rather than the opposite), so I made alt ones.

-

Flag colors:

Aphysical: ✦ Light yellow/green, teal, purple - aphysical colors. (From the opposite colors of physical attraction, which I think orange, red, and dark red/pink represent well.) ✦ Dark grey/black, light grey - the spectrum of not experiencing physical attraction. Such as those who don't experience this attraction at all, and those who do (demiphysical for example). (Inspired by other a-spec flags.) Dark grey also represents aphys people who are a-spec in other attractions (like being aemotional in addition to aphysical), and light grey is also for those who are allo-spec in other attractions (like being alloplatonic, for example).

Aemotional: ✦ Dark grey/black, mid grey, blue, light green, blueish green - aemotional colors. (Like above, this is based on the opposite colors of emotional attraction, which I picked purple, blue, orange, yellow, and pink for. I also greys are just fitting colors in general.) The greys and lightest green also represent the spectrum of not experiencing emotional attraction. Such as those who don't experience this attraction at all, and those who do. They also represent aemo people who are a-spec and allo-spec for other attractions.

Note: to avoid looking too much like other flags, I used the 3 main colors plus dark grey/black for aphysical (microlabels), and dark grey/black, blue, blueish green, and light green for aemotional (microlabels), instead of only the bright/opposite colors (so excluding the greys). Traditionally the bright colors are used to represent the respective a-spec identity (see here for an example), and the black/grey/white is left out, but since they'll look too similar to other flags, the dark colors are included to help with this. (Just check my aphyspec and aemospec flag sets for a visual example.)

Atertiary: ✦ Light green, cyan, blue-purple, orange - atertiary colors. (Based off the opposite colors of the tertiary attraction flag, which are light blue, yellow, orange, and magenta/pink. I also rearranged the color order, just to make it more of a gradient / different.) ✦ Black - not experiencing this form of attraction. I didn't include grey/light colors like in the other flags, but that's just a visual thing. Ater-spec plus other a-spec and allo-spec people/labels are still included under this.

Aphyspec, aemospec, & aterspec: Are all based off of the above flags, but arranged into a gradient / color adjusted to represent their spectrums. Inspired by other a- spectrum flags, like ace-spec & aro-spec. There's no specific color meanings.

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Wowie that's a lot of text haha. I felt it was important to explain it though. (Maybe I could have formatted it better, they do kind of repeat themselves.)

[aphiepilled]

GOOOOOD MOOOOOORNING MADCOM FANS!!

i have one (1) oc for y'all to take a peek at

this is Turkey Burger and she's a former Gil's employee who lives in the sewers now 💖💖

[wickedwanchii]

Finally got around to do a hetalia DTIYS!! :,)

[pnthra]

nasty nasty boy...

[blamebonk]

Silly undertale thoughts are happening in my little brain

[oneirataxia-girl]

OC PRIDE CHALLENGE 2023 ⇝ Day 4

Aphrodite is fan of being pan!

the enablers' call: @arrthurpendragon @misshiraeth98 @nightmaresart @oc-challenges- want to be added? shoot me an ask!

[rival-ado]

PYU - PIN

[agenteight]

im gonna puke

[aquapede]

[apheliavampire]

Larian studios: We heard twinks like bears, so Asterion can fuck druid wildshaped into a bear in the game

Everyone: ... you know bear means hairy gay man right?

Larian studios:

Everyone: right??