Saving the Whitebark Pine with a Climb

In the December 2011 issue of High Country News, Hal Herring wrote a thoughtful, compelling, and informative essay about his experiences gathering seeds from healthy Whitebark Pines throughout the western United States. Seed gatherers are collecting these seeds in a heroic effort to preserve this extremely threatened species.

This essay has it all! It teaches the reader of the vastly dynamic ecosystem that is at risk due to the Whitebark Pines rapid decline. It captures beautiful imagery of the rugged landscape that exists on the edge of the tree line that so many of us in the western United States enjoy. This essay presents to the reader an intimate account of a person working a unique job with a unique perspective. And perhaps most importantly, Hal Herring highlights an extremely serious problem that has spread throughout the west without sugarcoating it. He gives us the facts and he gives us a glimpse into a potential solution.

Check this essay out! You will probably want to go climb trees for a living after you read it!

Out on a Limb: A tree-climber's tale of the hard and risky work of saving whitebark pines.

-Josh

Lake Cushman Dam & Landscape

Victoria here ...I recently spent the holidays at my parents house at Lake Cushman, and had some photographic luck while there...here's my story!

In 1926, Lake Cushman, just outside of Hoodsport, Washington, was expanded to accommodate a large lake/reservoir created by a hydroelectric dam. The dam has recently come under review by FERC for re-licensure and was required to add a fish ladder as well as a few upgrades. In order to perform the work, they had to drain the lake down to levels that have not been seen in more than 80 years. Loggers were hired in 1926 to cut all the trees that would eventually be underwater, but the tree stumps remained, as well as relics from the railroad system the loggers used. As you can see in the pictures, the roots have been exposed over the years and remind me of the trees from the second Lord of the Rings Movie, The Two Towers. It looks like they are either trying to get back to the water, or run far from it!

Though I have mixed feelings about dams, this particular dam, and the lake it created, holds some sentimentality to me. My grandparents bought a vacation cabin just off the lake (which is now a recreational hotspot in the Pacific Northwest), and my parents retired there several years ago. I spent all my childhood vacations at this house and someday will call it home myself. The lake has been a source of fun, beauty and tranquility to me my entire life, and to see some of the spectacular sights this past Christmas was amazing. I hope you find the photos as fascinating as I did!


This picture shows the water levels rising after the dam was completed, now all those trees which were starting to be underwater as well as surrounding the lake are underwater...WAY underwater!

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This is the lake at its usual levels. It’s
approximately 10 miles long and at least 2 miles wide at its’ widest.

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Images of the lake shore as it looks today (I took these pictures over the Christmas holiday).

Utah Schools Going Green

USEE has a new program!

The Utah Green Schools Awards Program is an initiative to recognize and promote sustainable practices in the facility and curriculum of schools in Utah. The program builds off of the national Green Schools project whose mission is to enhance student health and learning while conserving natural resources and empowering students to develop sustainable behaviors, enabling them to become the stewards of the future. In Utah, the goal is to promote Green Schools as a way to decrease the operational costs of schools, improve the health and education of students, and conserve limited resources.

Check out the website or email josh@usee.org to learn more!

Pictures From The Past

I love seeing photographs from the past that show change. I like seeing the old clothes, the old cars, how people used to do things before newer technology came around. It’s interesting to note how we have changed, whether for better or for worse.

Recently, Jerry Simmons, an archives specialist at the National Archives and Records Administration, rediscovered more than 80,000 images taken by nearly 100 freelance photographers between 1972 and 1977 as part of a project called Documerica.

“In January 1972, the Environmental Protection Agency asked nearly 100 freelance photographers to roam the country in the pursuit of a single goal: documenting “the environmental happenings and non-happenings” of the decade.

More than 15,000 images have been digitized and posted at the National Archives Web site, and a selection is also available on Flickr.”

They are amazing to look and marvel at, either because of the amount of pollution that use to be in the bigger cities, or the amount of beauty in the Great Plains and mountain areas.

It would be great if photographers went and captured the same exact pictures in order to really compare how we have changed the environment after 40 years. I know a lot of the big cities have cleaned up, but what about all those wildflower and forest pictures? Do they still exist or have they been developed into suburbs and farmland?

To read more about this topic go to the New York Times Green Blog or click the links above to go right to the pictures.

-Holly

Bring fun activities into your classroom!

Blog post by former teacher, and USEE volunteer, Holly!

We are now in the 2nd semester of the school year. This semester always seems to be the longest and most dragged out semester, even though it had the same amount of weeks as the first. By now all the students have settled in and everything has become routine. So routine in fact, it has become boring! And without all the holiday vacations to break up the monotony, your students become listless and glassy eyed, as well as you, the teacher!

Why not spark interest in your students once again by planning some active and creative lessons about animals? The Utah core curriculum requires students in all grade levels to explore topics regarding animals, including living vs. nonliving, habitats, adaptations, classification, and interdependency to name a few. Students also love learning about animals. There are millions of different species out there, all with unique colorings, bodies, sounds, and habits. It’s amazing to see them and wonder how or why these animals are how they are.

The Project WILD K-12 curriculum and activity guide is a great resource for finding fun, active and creative activities regarding animals. This environmental and conservation education program emphasizes awareness, appreciation and understanding of wildlife and natural resources. It is interdisciplinary and supplementary and can be used to teach basic skills in science, social studies, language arts, math, art, music and physical education.

This is NOT a full curriculum but rather separate lessons that you can use to supplement your own curriculum.

Students learn best when able to explore a topic using many different techniques and levels of thinking, and this guide has a wide variety. It includes activities that you can do both indoor and outdoor, includes games, writing assignments, role playing debates, art projects and more! In many of the activities your students will feel like they are just having fun, but really gaining valuable concepts.

Some examples of topics and activities would be:

Topic: Basic Needs grades K-4

• Have students explore carrying capacity and its effects by providing too little of a necessity or sitting very close together and still perform daily tasks.
• Play “Habitat Rummy” a card game where students collect all the basic needs of a specific animal to win.

Topic: Adaptations grades 5-8

• Pretend to be Muskox (a grazing animal) and wolves and role play predator/prey relationships in relation to adaptations these animals have. This is a physical activity, resembling tag, to be done outside or in a large spacious room.
• Have students create their own species of bird with specific traits and adaptations needed to live under specific conditions.

Topic: Interdependence grades 9-12

• Students can play a game of checks and balances and try to manage their own deer/moose population without letting it go extinct.
• Have students redesign an area of land to simulate restoration of a working ecosystem. What animals and plants would they include? How would they self sustain? Etc.

There are many more activities to choose to cover these particular topics that have students use different skills and levels or thinking and that relate to other topics included in the Utah core curriculum for grades K-12. In the appendix you will find charts that help you find an activity based on grade level, time duration, indoor or outdoor, subject areas (science, math etc), topics, and skills (comparison, application, synthesis etc).

Often the “fun” activities are left behind once students reach higher grade levels, but the Project WILD curriculum and activity guide can help bring more creative and active lessons to any grade level, while still providing opportunities for using higher thinking levels.

I would really recommend taking the Project WILD workshop and buying the book, it is a great reference to have.

Please visit the Project WILD page or USEE.org for more information.

Click here to see a calendar of the upcoming workshops.

-Holly

New Land Trust Takes Over 455-acre Conservation Easement on Bear River

Andree' here. Though you all might enjoy this press release! Read on...

JOINT NEWS RELEASE – For Release morning of January 19, 2012

New Land Trust Takes Over 455-acre Conservation Easement on Bear River

LOGAN, Utah, January 11, 2012 — Bridgerland Audubon Society and the Bear River Land Conservancy have reached agreement to transfer a Conservation Easement on 455 acres of Bear River bottomlands near Trenton, Utah to the Conservancy. The lands are owned by PacifiCorp. The Conservancy plans to continue to improve the property’s habitat values and begin immediately working with PacifiCorp to establish conservation easements on other, similar lands along the Bear River.

Richard Mueller, Conservation chair for the Bridgerland Audubon Society, said “The Society invested thousands of volunteer hours and thousands of dollars to establish the easement, but we really needed to find it a more permanent home with a land trust that is designed to hold and steward these projects in perpetuity. The Bear River Land Conservancy provides the perfect home for the easement and greatly increases the potential for critical land protection in the future.”

Rocky Mountain Power, a division of PacifiCorp, acquired these lands in 1981 as part of a settlement agreement following unusually high spring runoff in the late 1970s. The property is part of the Bear River Bottoms, an extensive area of riparian and wetland habitat along the Bear River in Cache County.

“The Bear River Land Conservancy was established in 2011 to conserve and enhance private lands for wildlife habitat, working farms and ranches, land and trails of recreational or historical significance, watersheds, and critical vistas, using conservation easements and sound management, to benefit the people of northern Utah, today and in perpetuity. We are currently working on several easement and acquisition projects, but we are pleased to accept this assignment of part of the Bear River Bottoms as our first official success.” said Dave Rayfield, projects director for the Conservancy.

The Conservancy depends on partnerships with other organizations, including hunters, farmers and ranchers, environmental groups, municipalities, and individual residents.

“One of our key objectives is to continue working with private landowners, especially our agricultural neighbors,” Laraine Swenson, another Conservancy Board member said. “Many of the critical lands in northern Utah – habitats, agriculture lands, and open spaces – are located in the valley floors and are privately owned. Many of the landowners of these properties want to see their properties continue to provide important benefits for the public, but they need a mechanism to help them accomplish these protections. That’s exactly what we’re designed to do – protection here and forever.”

Some of the major partners so far have included The Nature Conservancy in Utah, a chapter of the national organization, which has provided invaluable expertise and significant start-up funding for the local Conservancy. “We think these local land trusts are absolutely key to addressing local conservation needs and fulfilling stewardship responsibilities that address community needs,” said Dave Livermore, Executive Director of The Nature Conservancy of Utah.

Other important partners have included the local office of the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Jon Hardman, NRCS District Conservationist, said “We need a qualified private-sector partner with the capabilities to work with private landowners. Protecting lands in-perpetuity is a huge commitment and the land trust needs to be very technically capable. The Bear River Land Conservancy is certainly getting off on the right foot.”

Karl Fleming, manager of the Partner’s Program for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, said “We supported Bridgerland Audubon Society’s efforts because they help to ensure habitat protections for the entire region. This is a big step forward in a concerted effort to enhance the entire Bear River watershed.”

Dean Brockbank, vice-president and general counsel for PacifiCorp Energy approved the assignment. “As a public utility, our company explicitly includes environmental protection as part of our mission and we recognize that the Bear River Bottoms are a natural treasure,” Brockbank said. “We are limited in what we can do for lands that aren’t directly part of our hydroelectric projects. We think working with a qualified land trust is exactly the right approach.”

The Bear River Land Conservancy is encouraging interested residents to join as members of the fledgling organization. They believe there is much to do and all hands are welcome.

About Bear River Land Conservancy
The Bear River Land Conservancy is one of 1,500 qualified land trusts in the United States. It is located in and serves Box Elder, Cache, and Rich Counties in northern Utah. BRLC is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) public charity and a member of the national Land Trust Alliance. They focus on protecting private lands that offer public benefits, and they employ a wide range of tools including conservation easements, fee purchase, and management consulting. They ensure successful stewardship though endowments to help maintain conservation values in perpetuity. They also work with private landowners to develop innovative, economical, and adaptive management practices to improve those conservation values. BRLC members are diverse - sportsmen and women, environmentalists, farmers and ranchers, scientists, real estate interests, public agencies, students, and everyday citizens. Information is available from www.BearRiverLandConservancy.org, or by emailing BRLC@BearRiverLandConservancy.org.

About Bridgerland Audubon Society
Bridgerland Audubon Society (BAS) is a local and independent chapter associated with the National Audubon Society and is a member of the Utah Audubon Council. BAS welcomes all to its educational meetings, field trips and conservation projects. BAS participates with Logan City in development of the Logan Mitigation Ponds west of the current landfill and also operates a 146-acre wildlife sanctuary along Clay Slough west of Amalga. The property for the sanctuary was purchased from PacifiCorp. Organized as a public charity under IRS 501(c)(3), BAS meets quarterly September through May. Information is available fromwww.bridgerlandaudubon.org.

About Rocky Mountain Power
Based in Salt Lake City, Rocky Mountain Power is one of the lowest-cost electric utilities in the United States, providing safe and reliable service to more than 1 million customers in Utah, Wyoming and Idaho. The company works to meet growing energy demand while protecting and enhancing the environment. As part of PacifiCorp, Rocky Mountain Power and Pacific Power serve some 1.7 million customers in seven Western states. The company has more than 10,600 megawatts of generation from coal, hydro, natural gas-fueled combustion turbines, and renewable wind and geothermal power.

About The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 135 million acres worldwide. In Utah, the Conservancy has helped to protect nearly 900,000 acres, and has long supported the protection of critical lands and waters in Cache County. Visit www.nature.org/utah.

For information, contact:
Bear River Land Conservancy: Dave Rayfield, (435) 757-9120
Bridgerland Audubon Society: Richard Mueller, 435-752-5637
Rocky Mountain Power/PacifiCorp: David Eskelsen 801-220-2447
The Nature Conservancy: Joan Degiorgio, 801-238-2327
Natural Resources Conservation Service, North Logan office: Jon Hardman, 435-753-5616
USFWS Partner’s Program: Karl Fleming, 435-734-6434

Record Snowy Owl Sightings

There has been an enormous surge in Snowy Owl sightings in the lower 48! States like Missouri, whose record Snowy Owl count prior to this year was 8, have already seen 40!!

And even a Snowy Owl in Hawaii!?

This is very exciting for anyone who loves birds and nature, but also a bit unsettling, since nothing like this has ever been documented before.

Check out the details: Bird-Watchers Revel in Unusual Spike of Snowy Owl Sightings.

New USU Website - BEES!

Are you a bee-keeper? Gardener? Want to know more about bees in general?
Check out the new USU Extension Website all about bees!

Image Source