Natural Necessity: Radical Conservation

 “The loss of a keystone species is like a drill accidentally striking a power line. It causes lights to go out all over.” — E.O. Wilson 

The natural world has always been my go-to, for solace, for perspective, for a sheer hit of beauty. And I'm fortunate to live in an area surrounded by slices of natural land and open space. I got out for a brief hour of beach and open space time yesterday and was delighted to see a host of avian wildlife (snowy plover, migrating hawks, harbor seals) and felt, for a moment, that there's plenty of hope for this beleaguered planet after all, even as I know how precarious as it is. So I more than heartily applaud evolutionary biologist E.O. Wilson's proposal to permanently set aside half the earth for the 10 million plus species of wildlife with whom we share the planet. It's a bold challenge (and some say arrogant) but really, given the high rate of extinctions happening as I write this, mainly due to human caused climate change, deforestation, pollution and generally rampant environmental abuse, why not try?
Here are some conservation success stories and other conservation networks taking inspiring actions to make a difference:

The Conservation Alliance

Costa Rica Eco-Cultural Success

Turtle Runways and Pronghorn Highways

Western Wildway

Spring Forward: The Birds are Back in Town

Driving into Alameda last week, we were pleased to see the local pair of peregrine falcons had resumed their posts at their bridge nest-site.  The annual falcon watch has heated up all over the Bay in recent weeks, as evidenced by the activity on  the WebCams the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group has installed to keep tabs on the activity of breeding pairs of the once-endangered birds in San Francisco and San Jose.  If you're interested in falcon courtship, breeding and fledging behavior, look no further.  Both SF and SJ pairs produced their first eggs during the past week, with more expected.
"The peregrine falcon is an important indicator species. Its carefully recorded population trends can be instructive about ecosystem health. We closely monitor the occupancy and productivity of peregrine falcons at approximately twenty-five nests in our Greater San Francisco Bay study area, and we band nestlings at a sample of those sites to learn more about the longevity, nest site tenacity, and juvenile dispersal patterns of Central California peregrine falcons. Citizen scientists around the bay report sightings of banded falcons."

Read.Eat.Listen: Trophies & Icons

When I was in grade school, my class was shown a cautionary film about extinction (mind you this was Santa Cruz during the 70s). I don't remember much else about the movie other than a scene of mystified children walking through a dusty museum full of taxidermied bears and fox, snakes and raccoons. The children in this movie, set far into the future, didn't recognize the animals, which were known to me and the rest of my class. This really got me. How? Why? What? I liked the fact, growing up in a somewhat rural area, that I knew live animals and their environments to some degree, not just vestiges.  The movie did its job and laid another brick in the foundation of my appreciation of nature. Which is why the implications of the California drought, and then happening upon a seemingly randomly-placed wall full of trophy animals has gotten stuck in my craw of late.

Unbeknownst to me prior to last week, a roadside restaurant along Highway 5 houses a large collection of trophy animals including three polar bears (!), moose heads and pronghorn antelope. We'd stopped for some road food and whatever pie we could find. Upon procuring the latter (in a bit of foreshadowing, a slice of 'Fruits of the Forest' mixed berry pie), we stepped into the cafe/bar side of Granzella's and.. stopped in our tracks: covering the high-ceilinged walls were hundreds of deer, elk and moose heads plus stuffed pheasant, pin-tail ducks and other birds.
'What the.... " We shuddered. Most people in the restaurant weren't evening looking at the stuffed animals.  I flashed on the grade-school movie. I Googled Trophy Animals & the restaurant name to get up to speed. I couldn't really find much other than the collection belonged to the owner of the restaurant. But I did fidd some other, unsettling, information about the practice of trophy hunting from In Defense of Animals. 
Some tips from their site:
What you can do:

• Contact IDA if you are interested in helping to end trophy hunting.
• Before you vote for a legislative representative, find out if he/she is supportive of trophy hunting, canned hunts or even involved in the killing of “big game” or any exotic animals. If yes, do not vote for this person!
• Before booking a safari in foreign countries, make sure the outfitting company does not endorse safari hunts and has no ties to any trophy hunting organization such as the Safari Club International and others.

Read: We came home from a gig Monday to the sad news of Pete Seeger's death and my wind down for the evening was reading his obit. Every songwriter, folk or otherwise, has felt the ripple of Seeger's influence. Reading the news reports and the many tributes, I was struck by what I knew but was once again wowed by: his resolute and fearless activism. What a model for us all.  Alec Wilkinson expanded on his New Yorker profile of Seeger to write The Protest Singer: An Intimate Portrait of Pete Seeger.

Eat: On our tour through the Northwest, I was on a quest for the best gluten free bread and found a good representative at Hideaway Bakery in Eugene (note they had a ton of non-GF bread too). Back at home, I've been scratching me head at my options, but have come across some good quick-bread recipes, including this dessert-like one for Date Bread w/Coffee and Ginger from Healthy & Seasonal Recipes. Yum.

Listen: Pete Seeger sings This Land is Your Land:

Wolves, now falcons: Staying the course for wildlife protection

"To cherish what remains of the Earth and to foster its renewal is our only legitimate hope of survival."—Wendell Berry  

As some folks know, my nature-loving self was pretty excited to realize peregrine falcons weren't only off the Endangered Species list, they were nesting right in my backyard. One of the great things about life is seeing how things develop and turn out over time (especially when things go well) and this was a great example: a population of a bird species rendered near-extinct by the use of dangerous pesticide had — over the course of several decades through the efforts of a team of committed people— been painstakingly recovered. But much like the paradoxal information about wolf populations in Wyoming I recently posted — it's now possible to hunt the once endangered, now recovered-but-still-tenuous animal — federal officials are no longer permitting rescues (by qualified ready-to-assist biologists) of peregrine chicks who fall from their nests into the San Francisco Bay, even though the peregrine is still a 'protected' species.  Huhh? 
 Evidently this is a 'local decision' by wildlife officials, but foreboding if one looks at the record of recent treatment of once-endangered animals. If you're like me and prefer to live in a world with wildlife left in it, and don't really see the sense in this decision, please write your protest to:

Ren Lohoefener, Regional Director, US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2800 Cottage Way, W-2606 Sacramento, CA 95825

Update: Sign the petition to Restore the Permit to Rescue Falcon Chicks https://www.change.org/petitions/us-fws-restore-the-permit-to-rescue-falcon-chicks-on-bridges#share

Other resources:
http://www.audubon.org/
ttp://www2.ucsc.edu/scpbrg/

Mountain Towns, Wolves & Winding Roads

I awoke this morning and thought, 'oh, duh, Laramie is a mountain town.' Sure there were cowboys and cowgirls dancing in the street to a band wearing LARGE cowboy hats, and it's pretty flat in town overall, but the elevation is 7165' and the thunderstorms mountain-issue. We waited in the car for an extra half hour before unloading our gear last night as lightning flashed, thunder rumbled, and a deluge of rainwater filled the gutters. Earlier in the day, before the clouds moved in, we did a short walk/hike on the Happy Jack Trail in the Medicine Bow National Forest, 15 minutes out of town. Today, starting our return trip home, we drove the Medicine Bow Scenic Byway west, enjoying views of 12,000 foot peaks and... a wolf! By its size and color, we were sure it wasn't a coyote loping through a clearing in the woods, but we weren't certain of our assessment until a little fact checking revealed Wyoming wolf populations are deemed 'healthy' enough to permit a hunt. The concept of trophy hunting these animals is not a pleasant thought to my mind. Especially since Wyoming wolves were just down listed from Endangered and Threatened Status in 2012. Ugh. 

I read more about wolf population numbers and hunting math here: http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2012/12/29/wyomings-first-wolf-hunt-soon-to-close/, and found that in most of the state, wolves are considered a Predatory animal and can be shot on sight. Double Ugh. But even placing my views on killing/hunting animals aside, it appears more protection of wolves is warranted and justified to maintain a viable population of this native animal. The wolves' clearly beleaguered status notwithstanding, we felt privileged to see a gray wolf, for a moment, running free.

 

* Save the Gray Wolf https://secure.defenders.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=savewolves_homepage

& Wyoming Wolf Facts http://wgfd.wyo.gov/web2011/news-1001287.aspx

Scrub Jays on Mother's Day

My mom passed away eight years ago, so on Mother's Day, I send salutations to moms I know, rather than my own. But it's not that I forget her: as time passes, I only miss my mom more. This past Sunday, I had an afternoon radio spot scheduled for KKUP 91.5, chatting with DJ (and tireless supporter of independent musicians) Don Campau. Given the day, I was making sure to include a song, that's part tribute to both my mother and my grandmother ("Grandma Mission Blues" below) in the set list.
My morning's preparation, however, was interrupted by the sound of squawking outside the living room window. Peering into our side yard, I saw not a bird but a very interested cat— my neighbor's generally docile feline — crouching near the gardening table, twitching its tail. After running outside and yelling at the cat, I saw a frightened, just-fledged scrub jay hopping under the table. Of course, it was just as scared of the large humans trying to help it get away as it was of the cat. But, whether due to cat-inflicted injury (it had a little blood on the side of it's mouth) or lack of skill, it couldn't fly up and out of the yard.  I picked it up and it struggled out of my hands to perch on my finger and I attempted to get it in a tree but no-go. Meanwhile, the cat came around the side of the porch, waiting to take over. After a bit more kerfuffle, we got the bird into a well-ventilated crate and set to finding the nearest Wildlife Rescue Hospital, which turned out to be 20 miles away in Walnut Creek, adjacent to the Lindsay Wildlife Museum.
Scrub Jays — as are most corvids — are among the smartest animals on the planet,  possessing accurate memory and an ability to plan ahead for the future (!). As a kid, I used to feed the jays the 'crusts' of my Wonder Bread peanut butter sandwiches (not recommended) and they quickly learned to wait in the oak trees near a bird feeder each day at lunchtime.
After about 10 minutes in the car, I noticed our rescued jay looking more alert and peering out of the crate and around the car. A good sign. Hopefully, it recovers well and will remember as much how to stay clear of cats as the relative comfort of the interiors of VWs.
The staff at Lindsay Wildlife Hospital promptly whisked the jay through a door from which came the sounds of lots of other birds. As they took down our information and assigned our delivery a number (we can check on its status in a few days) a few other folks came in with shoeboxes and jars containing rescued creatures. The wildlife hospital  is set up to take in animals 7 days a week, starting at 9am, and they're keeping busy: during the first week of May, they took in nearly 250 critters.  Turns out Lindsay's facility is one of the oldest and largest wildlife rehabilitation centers in the country, and largely dependent on volunteers and donations. Hopefully, I won't have to take any more animals there this year, but I'm definitely happy to give them some support. Find out more at http://wildlife-museum.org/hospital.

A List of (Western) Birds: August Road Trip 2012

Jessica Feis photo

I'm a long ways from that college kid who worked summers for the Predatory Bird Research Group helping release Peregrine Falcons back into the wild in The Sierra Nevada. Nonetheless those summers honed my eyes for identifying an eagle or falcon at distance in a glance. So while our Come Ashore adventures didn't include official birding forays, I kept a good pair of binoculars at the ready under the passenger seat as we traveled through two national parks and more national forests and BLM land than I could count. Despite time spent in Yosemite and along the East Side of the Sierra, I did not see a Peregrine this trip. Nonetheless, I was pleased with many of the sightings. Following is a list of birds IDed as we drove, hiked and played our way through California, Nevada, Colorado and Wyoming this August (no real order here albeit vaguely grouped by family):

 

Crow

Raven

Wild Turkey

Turkey Vulture

Ferruginous hawk

Red Tail hawk

Swainson's Hawk

American Kestral

Bald Eagle 

Golden Eagle

Osprey

Great Egret

Great Blue Heron

Magpie

Steller's jay

Scrub Jay

Clark's Nutcracker

Loggerhead Shrike

Western Flycatcher

Western Kingbird

Western Meadowlark 

Brewer's Blackbird

Red-winged Blackbird 

Common Grackle 

Gambols quail

Mourning Dove

Band-tailed pigeon

Cliff Swallow 

Rough Winged Swallow

Cave Swallow

Avocet

Spotted Sandpiper

American Pipit 

Killdeer

Canada Geese

Mallard

Gadwall

White pelican

 Brown Pelican

Western grebe

Pied bill grebe

Sandhill Crane

Cormorant

Common nighthawk

Brown Towhee

Black-chinned hummingbird
Broad-tailed hummingbird

Robin

Chipping Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Pine Siskin 

Dark-eyed junco

Mountain bluebird

American Goldfinch

Lesser Goldfinch

House finch

Yellow-rumped warbler

White-breasted Nuthatch

White-faced Ibis

Tamil Nadu: Tiger paws & elephants

New Moon weekend called for another getaway, this time to the more untamed side of India. The possibility of seeing a real live wild tiger compelled a crew of 7 yoga students (plus a driver and his assistant) a few hours south of Mysore to Bandipur National Park which straddles the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. This weekend's getaway crew included Veronique, Amanda, Yan, Katherine, Susanna, Lin and myself, which meant our accommodations wouldn't be too rustic. The Jungle Hut was no Windflower, but it was comfortable, fed us more than well (per usual) and set at the foot of the 4000 ft Nilgiris Mountains, scenic. A 5am wake-up call got up for tea and biscuits and a jeep driver named George, who ferried us to another jeep driver/guide named JP who would take us on our jungle safari, off road, and through the park. I thoroughly enjoyed bouncing around in the jeep, scanning the bushes for any movement.

Everyone wanted to see a tiger, which made our guides laugh. Nocturnal and elusive, the 45 Royal Bengal Tigers who lived in the park would be hard to see, even at the crack of dawn....but Snake Eagles, colorful kingfishers, Indian Wild Dogs (called Dhol and looking like they were equal parts fox as dog), Gaur (an Indian bison), Spotted Deer, Barking Deer, Black Faced Monkeys, and a trio of the 2500 Elephants who roamed the park, assuaged the fact that a tiger sighting wouldn't be ours. Nonetheless, just as we were nearing the end of our trip, JP stopped the jeep to point out some telltale tracks in the mud that had left the night before. I was impressed at both their size the proof that somewhere, not so far from us in the jungle forest was one of those very big cats (average size of tigers is between 300lbs for the females and nearly 500 lbs for the males).
Sad fact: poaching is an omnipresent problem. One of our safari stops was an anti-poaching camp whose guards made us some extremely sweet tulsi tea. Despite their efforts, 12 cats (at least) were lost to poachers last year, and the tiger population is having a hard time growing.