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In the shadow of the Wind River Mountain Range on Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge, the Green River is an oasis that bisects the high desert sagebrush plains of southwest Wyoming. The river corridor is vital for more than 250 species of resident and migrant wildlife.
The name Seedskadee originated from the Shoshone Indian word "Sisk-a-dee-agie" meaning "river of the prairie hen." The 27,230 acre Refuge protects a mosaic of riparian, wetland, and upland shrub habitats along 36 miles of the Green River in southwest Wyoming. The riparian corridor of the Green River is an important migration route and nesting area for a wide variety of migratory waterfowl and passerine bird species. Many insects, big game and small mammals can be found on the Refuge as well as resident and migratory birds. Refuge lands are also rich in historic and cultural resources. The area was used by nomadic Indian tribes, fur trappers, and early pioneers. Hundreds of thousands of pioneers crossed the treacherous Green River on what is now Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge. The Oregon and Mormon Trails, which cross the refuge, have been designated as National Historic Trails by Congress. Jim Bridger and others operated ferries on the Green In the 1840's and 1850's. Diaries of immigrants often mention the crossing on the river and its difficulties. Ferries were swept away by the strong currents and lives and possessions were lost. To this day, some of the trails can be traced across the Refuge by their ruts.
Seedskadee is a unique and ecologically important component of the National Wildlife Refuge System (System) which includes more than 555 refuges totaling over 93 million acres across the United States. Seedskadee NWR was established in 1965 through the Colorado River Storage Project Act of 1956. Section 8 of this Act provided for the establishment of wildlife habitat development areas to offset the loss of wildlife habitat resulting from reservoir development in the Colorado River Drainage. The Seedskadee Reclamation Act of 1958 specifically authorized acquisition of lands for Seedskadee NWR. In 1997, Congress passed the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act. This Act required development of a Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) for each refuge and that management of each refuge be consistent with the CCP. In addition, the Improvement Act required that each refuge be managed to fulfill the mission of the National Wildlife Refuge System as well as the specific purposes for which each refuge was established.
Seedskadee NWR’s purpose is defined by two pieces of Federal enabling legislation. The principal purpose of Seedskadee NWR is to provide for the conservation, maintenance, and management of wildlife resources and its habitat including the development and improvement of such wildlife resources. Additionally, the Refuge is charged to protect the scenery, cultural resources, and other natural resources and provide for public use and enjoyment of compatible wildlife-dependent activities.
https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Seedskadee/about.aspx
Meeting of the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
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Dover AFB: MORE Weapons Sent to Ukraine. $5.4 billion in total since 2014!
Airmen from the 436th Aerial Port Squadron loaded palletized ammunition, weapons and other equipment bound for Ukraine during a foreign military sales mission at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, Jan. 24, 2022
https://youtu.be/1Knhp2FKGYs
>So let GEOTUS speak through Kameltoe.
SAT exam is going digital, will be shorter by 2024
The SAT exam is ditching paper and pencils to move online and will now be shorter, the College Board revealed on Tuesday.
The upcoming changes, which will be rolled out in the US in 2024, will boost the exam’s relevancy as more colleges make standardized tests optional for admission, according to the administrators.
Those taking the college entrance exam will be allowed to use their own laptops or tablets, but will still have to sit the test at a monitored testing site or school when the changes go into effect, the College Board said.
The new online version will also shave an hour off the current exam time, bringing the reading, writing and math assessment from three hours to roughly two.
“The digital SAT will be easier to take, easier to give, and more relevant,” said Priscilla Rodriguez, vice president of college readiness assessments at the College Board.
“We’re not simply putting the current SAT on a digital platform — we’re taking full advantage of what delivering an assessment digitally makes possible.”
The exam will feature shorter reading passages with one question tied to each, and calculators will be allowed for the entire duration of the math section.
Test-takers will also get their scores back within days — instead of weeks, administrators said.
The format change is scheduled to take effect at international test sites next year and in the US in 2024.
Students who participated in a November pilot of the digital SAT said the experience was less stressful than the current paper-and-pencil test.
“It felt a lot less stressful, and whole lot quicker than I thought it’d be,” said Natalia Cossio, an 11th-grader from Fairfax, Virginia.
“The shorter passages helped me concentrate more on what the question wanted me to do. Plus, you don’t have to remember to bring a calculator or a pencil.”
The College Board said students without a personal or school-issued device would be provided one for test day.
Once essential for college applications, scores from admission tests like the SAT carry less weight today as colleges and universities pay more attention to the sum of student achievements and activities throughout high school.
Amid criticism that the exams favor wealthy, white applicants and disadvantage minority and low-income students, an increasing number of schools have adopted test-optional policies in recent years that allow students to decide whether to include scores with their applications.
Nearly 80 percent of bachelor’s degree-granting institutions are not requiring test scores from students applying for fall 2022, a tally by the National Center for Fair & Open Testing showed.
About 1.5 million members of the Class of 2021 took the SAT at least once, down from 2.2 million in the previous year. A College Board survey found many students want to take the SAT to preserve the option of submitting the scores and qualifying for certain scholarships.
https://nypost.com/2022/01/25/sat-exam-is-going-digital-will-be-shorter-by-2024/