Received this from Ed Herbst of South Africa today. It has quite a few hits already so you may have already seen this, but what a truly beautiful site…… Thank you Ed….
Archive for the 'Wildlife' Category
Just part of the job, of late, is rescuing birds stuck here and there.
It seems that whenever Tony Muncy turns around of late he is doing a bird rescue. Whether on the ground or three stories up on a wobbly ladder, he is extricating the birds from some sticking point. Good job Tony.
Like this:
28
Feb
12
Wolves & Owls: Man’s Meddling
Wolves & Elk
http://outdoorsmans.blogspot.com/2012/01/idaho-wolves.html
“Idaho elk numbers have fallen from 125,000 to 103,000 since about 1997 to the dismay of hunters, professional big game outfitters and small businesses that depend on seasonal revenues from hunters.
Habitat changes and heavy feeding by bears and cougars spurred the elk decline before wolves came on the scene, but state and federal wildlife research now links the continued drop in some areas to the increased activity of wolves, said Craig White, an Idaho Department of Fish and Game biologist in Boise.
“What we found in the backcountry zones, we found wolves were the primary cause of mortality,” (more)
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Owl vs. Owl
the Barred Owl
“Federal wildlife officials in charge of protecting the northern spotted owl will release today a long-awaited environmental impact statement that lays out alternatives for killing barred owls, a larger, more aggressive and more adaptive species that has displaced spotted owls through much of their range in Oregon, Washington and northern California.” (more) (Barred Owls)
My 93 y/o aunt lives adjacent to Reed Canyon and the headwaters of Crystal Springs. I never paid much attention. So, recently I was driving her to an appointment and what did I see but an obvious habitat improvement project. But, why there? I did a little query and what do you know, a fish habitat story worth following: The Reed Canyon Restoration Project
“Between 1973 and 1993, four population inventories found 16 species of fish from eight different families in Reed Lake. These included: Chinook Salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha (juveniles and adults); Steelhead and/or Rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (juveniles and adults); Cutthroat Trout, Oncorhynchus clarki (juveniles and adults)…”
Crystal Springs (Reed Canyon) SwittersB
Crystal Springs from Reed Canyon (Habitat Improvement) SwittersB
Crystal Springs (Reed Canyon) SwittersB
It will be interesting to followup on this project over time to see if a safe passage way can be established/maintained.
I was reading up on Buster’s blog and trying to figure out how he strings together so many unique phrases (with the occasional profane exclamation) when I came upon a post of his re mining in Montana near Rock Creek. The Dutch Gold Resources plans to start drilling this month. Down at the bottom of the article was a quick mention of a proposed operation at the Gold Bug Mine in Oregon.
I did a little digging and found the Gold Bug Mine was a well developed mine in the 1800′s on Galice Creek.
“The Old Channel hydraulic pit on the high terrace was started in 1860 and ultimately became almost 2,000 feet wide and 100 feet deep, the largest such pit in the State of Oregon. It is reported that over 50,000 ounces of gold were produced from the pit. The gravels averaged about .007 ounce of gold per cubic yard and a lot of good ground remains to be mined.”
I find it interesting and not surprising that these operations continue regardless of State or Federal administrations. The dig goes on. Now, I am a frequent, unapologetic copy/paste (discover/share) never steal/adopt blogger so I am mindful of a recent post by Buster (dare I share it?):
“Not a biggiant fan of the ubiquitous borrowed creativity/identity, link-and-go horseshite so prevalent in the FaceBlogger copycat tutorial on Narcissism for Virgins 101 these days, but fuck it: some shit’s actually that good…” ( How does he string those phrases together; I still marvel…?)
So, I am linking to Buster and his posts about the Dutch Gold Resources’ mining ops that seem to continue in or near pristine places. Dare I mention Harry Reid? Selective indignity? Not by Buster. He is consistently indignant….refreshingly so. I still don’t know how he writes like that.
“Multnomah County Library offers free and legal music downloads; one of the country’s oldest eagles dies”
The Oregonian lead jumped out at me. Wow, who died? Was it Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, Timothy Schmit, Don Felder, Randy Meisner, Bernie Leadon? I mean I was suddenly sitting in Todos Santos in the Hotel California on a bar stool listening to ‘….on a dark desert highway…” Ok, I hadn’t had my coffee yet.
Nope, the odd headline was about a Bald Eagle (no a real Bald Eagle…a bird!). Damn, odd bit of reporting but I thought it was fitting for my 2,000 post here at SwittersB. Certainly, along the way, I have reported equally fitting minutiae. Happy Valentine’s Day too!
“Sad news out of Alaska this morning. The Anchorage Daily News reports on the death of a bald eagle considered one of Alaska’s oldest — indeed, one of the country’s oldest — eagles of its kind. The paper reports that the 25-year-old bird was killed last month when it was electrocuted.
“It would be, based on the bird-banding record that I’ve seen, one of the top 10 oldest birds ever recorded,” said Robin Corcoran, a wildlife biologist from the Kodiak Island National Wildlife Refuge. The eagle’s death was first reported by the Kodiak Daily Mirror. The death was of high interest to raptor biologists, who have no other way besides recovered bands to confirm the ages of mature wild eagles.” The Oregonian
Alaska’s new Attorney General, John Burns, is an avid fly fisher. He also provides not so subtle clues on his position re statehood, state’s rights, Federal regulations and ‘overreach’, development of resources and the environment in a piece in the Juneau Empire………
“Burns stated the biggest challenge so far is prioritizing the multitude of issues affecting the state. Outside of Alaska is the concern of state sovereignty and the frustration of dealing with Federal regulations and unnecessary overreach, and the federal government seeking to regulate that which they cannot legislate.”
“From our perspective, the ability of our state to become a state, to become an independent entity is critically dependent on its ability to develop its resources,” Burns said, quoting Parnell. Burns urges all Alaskans to read the Statehood Act as well. “The frustration is that, I strongly believe that anybody that lives in the state of Alaska, who has lived here for a long period of time, is an environmentalist. You cannot live in this great state and participate in all that we have and not want to see it continue. But at the same time we recognize that you can have different and responsible development coexisting with that ability to participate. The frustration that I see is that the rest of the world does not believe that we are competent enough to responsibly develop our resources. I don’t think that they believe we care about this wonderful state. To me that belies comprehension. Every Alaskan I have talked to, who has been here for any length of time, is here because it is such an incredible state. The thought that we would do something to ruin it is beyond comprehension to me.”
I wonder if Mark or Brad at Alaska (Juneau) Fly Fishing Goods (nice shop by the way) might ask John Burns, the next time he drops in to heft that new 6 wt., what his take is on the Pebble Mine issue and that whole process. Unofficial position, of course.
I can by no means frame the contentious Pebble Mine debate any better than the article I am linking to in this post by Andrew Jensen @ The Alaska Journal of Commerce. Seriously take a few minutes to read it and consider the realities here. Whether the mining process moves forward or not based upon celebs, fishing industry, eviro’s and FFers input is, to me, frankly insignificant. The often ignored point is China. It is being ignored in our country’s current debt debate and financial crisis by many. China now owns us. China is one of the largest consumers of resources and will surpass us and India soon to consume the majority of natural resources. China will eventually own the majority interest in Pebble Mine. Yes. (China & Mining & Fishing) (China & Gold Production)
“So while China is snapping up mineral rights for essentials like copper and stockpiling its rare earth minerals — for which the U.S. is 100 percent dependent on imports — not developing Pebble may not be a luxury America can afford forever, according to Yale professor Oswald Schmitz.” (I say we won’t have a say because China will dictate the development for us)
So, with all the notable celebs and groups that have mounted anti Pebble attention why no substantive response from the Obama Administration. They (Dem’s) have held the power since 2006 (Congressional) and Executive since 2008. Why? The usual connect the media dots by such groups re all manner of fav issues is most often enough to result in legislation or executive orders for regulations to control most aspects of our life, especially in the last two years. Token BS about innovation for green this and that; wind turbines, solar…yadda yadda. Why nothing substantive on Pebble Mine? The sense of urgency should be about our financial house of cards, our resources (managed or not) and China. Just a matter of time re the Pebble Mine holdings and China’s insertion into the mix. Then what?
Bald Eagle
“The oldest Bald Eagle on record was killed earlier this year after being struck by a car in New Brunswick, Canada. Biologists recently discovered the Bald Eagle was banded in Maine in 1977 after investigating the metal band found on one of its legs…” (Kiwifoto)
