Redwood Reader

Several recent articles remind us the outdoors is always waiting for our attention. To say we are too far removed is exemplified by the Tines-Standards Natural Resource writer John Driscolls’ current article about scorpions. This is the very type of article and information I am seeking to make available in one place. As you can see, plenty of information is available somewhere for most all resource questions, if you call scorpions’ resources.
I have seen plenty of scorpions in Humboldt County. Several have been found on peoples clothes or seats, so they seem to move. I don’t know anyone ever stung, and had heard these were not capable killers. We had a lot of them building near an old slash pile/log deck. A visitor familiar with desert scorpions suggested chickens, his old family cure for them.
The chickens were full of lessons themselves. They followed me around the yard. Every time I flipped a log, rock or piece of fir bark the chickens immediately ate everything they saw- bugs, eggs, whatever. When that part of the job was done they would go to rotten logs, and dig with their feet into the rotten wood. Then they stuck their head in the hole and listened. If they heard something they attacked the log in that direction until they found the source- and ate it.
Now, these chickens were survivors who had escaped a chicken massacre when apparently a weasel got into the pen and killed them without eating them. These chickens hadn’t come in for the food and spent the evening s in fir trees, safe from predation.
http://www.times-standard.com/driscollscolumn/ci_3280240 Tom Stienstra of the San Francisco Chronicle Outdoors section talked about the life long memories stemming from wildlife sightings, although certainly landscapes must be included as effects of nature upon people. He writes the best ssightings are unplanned and had plenty of e=mails relating just those kind of experiences.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/04/SPG9IG2QRF1.DTL Meanwhile down south the problem is not being able to find non-wildlife- cattle actually, in rugged Park .lands .Six of the escaped cattle were lured in with bait but the other nine are adapting quickly. We read early Humjboldt explorers found plentiful wild cattle from Spanish escapees. One report said forty grizzlies trailed a thousand cattle. The author notes escaped pigs on Mt. Tamalpais but treats it as a one time incident, rather than a statewide issue going on for decades. Even more amazing to me were the stories from the Mattole of feral sheep, unshorn for years, roaming around until the early eighties. My neighbor said the dogs got them eventually, but you never can tell what you might see when you are in the field.
http://www.latimes.com/travel/outdoors/la-os-cows06dec06,0,2691683.story?coll=la-home-outdoors
The L. A. Times also ran an article about various restoration and preservation efforts in the Southland to restore nat6ural systems in places past their industrial prime or too raw to have been useful. Guess what? They all have tremendous value as part of naturally functioning ecosystems, and the lands respond to any effort- even leaving them alone. As we have stated in the past, restoration is just a step in the process of allowing natural processes to operate. Meanwhile folks are learning how green belts, streams and wildlife corridors make nature available to urban and suburban youth.
http://www.latimes.com/travel/outdoors/la-os-intro6dec06,0,969407.story?coll=la-home-outdoors
The critical role of outdoor education is not mentioned anywhere in the No Child Left Behind Act. Yet any child that gets their entire outdoor education in a classroom has been left behind. Our education system needs to build on our knowledge of the natural world rather than replace it. This is how we learn we are part of the world and not a special exemption free from laws that constrain all life. The younger people become aware of this the better they can focus education and lifestyles for the betterment of everyone. Two local programs I saw in action when I worked in the schools was Jeff Selfs steelhead hatchery at Washington ele3mentary, and Pam Halsteads Fortuna Creeks Program at Fortuna High. I am sure many other teachers are getting their kids involved and you see and read about these things regularly. They cannot be made less important because there are no questions on the standardized tests about the creek down the street. Students are then able to seesome of our problems first hand and begin thinking about them at an early age. Outdoor education also means being prepared for field work both in skills and before implementation, bringing major planning into the equation. The needs and opportunities for trained people will make itself clear to those deciding on a course for their future.