Glomalin and Conservation in Humboldt County The 1996 discovery of the soil glue glomalin is changing our understanding of the impact of elevated carbon dioxide, while giving important clues to forest health, watersheds, revegetation, wildfire and carbon sequestration. Here I share what I have found so others may read and draw their own conclusions, and relate it to my own experience, Humboldt County issues and stories from the news.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

169. Habitat, Fish, Deer, Tech Innovators 

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-frog4nov04,1,1774205,full.story?coll=la-headlines-california
Habitats May Shrink by Leaps, Bounds
Officials want to reduce sanctuaries for frogs and other species by 150 million acres.
By Janet Wilson Times Staff Writer November 4, 2005
Several articles this week expose our government’s priorities in ecological matters. This first article describes the current administrations rollback of protections for critical habitat for many species, especially in areas contested for development of corporate activities. The House of Representatives has passed a bill rolling back designations on thousands of acres of undeveloped public and private land, and the bill will go to the Senate soon.
One big issue is the economic benefits of preserving natural habitat, which apparently is not included even though we see evidence 5-15% premiums are paid on houses bordering undeveloped land. That is a backwards way of thinking anyway. When the Forest Service did put a value on non-timber activities a lot of money was spent disproving the point as overgenerous in its estimates.
The reduced funding has led to more reliance on volunteer groups for habitat improvement and monitoring. A short article in the LA times on November 8 of groups you can join to help fish restoration efforts.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-os-troutbar8nov08,1,5330697.story?coll=la-news-environment.Here are the web addresses listed in the article for four excellent organizations. All could use volunteer assistance.
The Adopt-A-Stream Foundation; http://www.streamkeeper.orgFisheries Resource Volunteer Corps http://www.frvc.org Angeles and San Bernardino Nat Forest Fly Fishers
California Trout (Cal Trout) Http://caltrout.org 5300 California member4s
Trout Unlimited: http://www.tucalifornia.org !35,000 members
The same day they ran a story about steelhead counters in the Southland looking for fish in recovering areas. They find suitable habitat without enough water or any fish. They seem much more concerned about the return of the fish than the DFG guys calling steelhead “Kool-Aid Fish” because you only need to add water for them to appear.
My experience tells me to say the fish will be there, and that you must look to the uplands to understand the amount of water available in the heat. My experience also tells me several small steelies may wait several years for the weather to provide the opportunity for ocean migrators and spawners returning. In fact I have had years where several steelhead lived throughout dry periods only to disappear in the wet years, and slowly become bigger and more numerous. In the nearly thirty years we have been there we have never seen more than one big fish in any given year, but they must be there.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-os-steelhead8nov08,1,3695723.story?page=3&coll=la-news-environment Meanwhile spike top fences designed to keep deer away have become a bone of contention in the San Gabriels because leaping animals impale themselves trying to get over the fences and into yards. Five cities have banned new spiky fences and two of them are considering retrofit programs. This would involve some expenses and so some form of loan or relief is being asked for. An important note here is that the fences are helping with bear problems. As the Mayor of Duarte points out, it is traumatic for people to see wildlife in that condition. Nothing will turn folks out faster to protest, especially in these better off subdivisions. It would seem the ornamental iron guys get a lot of work keeping nature at bay. Our experience was that six foot fences were insufficient to keep deer out, you need to go to eight. I used to wonder about those spikes fences around houses in NYC, but I was thinking about people, and I knew a couple of kids who were injured climbing these types of fences.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-fences8nov08,1,1044328.story?coll=la-news-environment Another article the same day carried a warning by Director Rodderick of DFG about attacks by adult male deer on humans and pets during the rut, or breeding season, when they are particularly aggressive. A buck killed a man, another attacked two dogs, killing one, and a third attacked a couple working in their garden. These are wild animals and should be regarded with caution, or avoided altogether. The buck that killed the dog was shown several nights on San Francisco news outlets.
The Bay Areas Tech Museum awarded five innovators for designs that help poor folks around the world with basic living. This years winners include a more friendly loom, MIT’s OpenCourseWare, where course are published online for all for free, solar powered homes and a vaccine program, and to me most importantly, a new twist on the composting toilet concept. Since water is a major issue together with homestead living, I have advocated for better toilets and new rules form county commissioners allowing composting toilets in Humboldt homes by code. As I understand it, the biggest holdup has been fear of non-compliance or failure to maintain. To me this seems minor compared to the water and infrastructure needed to deal with sewage, and that in precludes development where the infrastructure doesn’t exist. Drying out the sewage process would make a lot more water available for other uses, and probably slow the emergence of super bacteria resistant to current methods.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/10/BUG1QFLM981.DTL&type=printable
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