Deane’s posterous

Poetry: Three Versions of the Same Bird-Library-Book Poem

MY GRATION!

 

There is a strange howl coming

    from the direction of the sky

A kind of cutter-like buzzing

    that is loud four miles away

    We look up to see a flock of

vultures circling above us

    at the library book return chute

Can it really be that they

    want to return some overdue books?

 

But the sound is scaring us further

    Swirling white over the library

we see a cloud of frightened seagulls

    with still more hiding under the water

    We have never seen a vulture attack before

but all of them seem to be diving at the seagulls

    Now the seagulls turn in flight & land

on our heads and shouders

    & the vultures swoop down toward us

 

Without any visible teeth they all chomp

    together on our heads and shoulders

as the seagulls fly away laughing at us

    We want revenge on those seagulls

    & advance carefully with giant steps

But a flock of baby vultures joins the party

    and chomps on our fingers

This must be migration time

    We better start migrating fast!

 

Dave Morice & Steve Toth

-----------------------------

 

MARVELOUS SIGHT

 

There is a strange sound coming

     from the direction of the ocean

A kind of guttural buzzing

     that is loud four blocks away

     We look up to see a flock of

turkey vultures circling above us

     at the library book return chute

Can it really be

     those usually silent ones?

 

But the sound is leading us further

     Swirling white over the ocean

we see a cloud of ecstatic terns

     with still more sitting on the water

     We have never seen one float before

& none of them seems to be diving for fish

     Now the excited cloud comes to rest

on the liquid sky reflection

     & the buzz fades into the hushing waves

 

Without any visible effort they all drift

     together to a beach on our right

& walk ashore to fix their feathers

     We want a closer look

     & advance carefully with baby steps

A flock of lively peeps joins the party

     as a line of brown pelicans passes by

This must be migration time

     Forget your limitations & fly anyway

 

Steve Toth

California: Yosemite Park and it's origins as modern day conservation-based genocide

Lafayette Bunnell, American explorer, Yosemite on March 21, 1851: Accompanying him that day was one of the most ferocious militias in western American history, the Mariposa Battalion, commanded by James Savage. A veteran of Indian wars, Savage was there with one blunt aim: to rid Yosemite of its natives. Bunnell, who is remembered today largely for his lyrical prose about nature, stood by and watched while Savage and his men burned acorn caches to starve the Miwok out of the valley. Seventy were physically removed. Twenty-three were later slaughtered at the foot of El Capitan, the towering granite obelisk that has become a totem of California wilderness.

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Although it took some years to complete the task of creating a fictional wilderness in Yosemite, all the valley's residents were eventually evicted, and in 1914 their land became a national park - no natives welcome. In the century that followed, millions of tribal natives around the world were forcibly evicted from wildlife reserves and national parks such as the Royal National Park of Australia, Banff in Canada, and Tongariro in New Zealand. In East Africa, the Serengeti and Amboseli National Parks were formed this way; on the border of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest of Kenya, Batwa pygmy refugees still camp in hovels hoping one day to return to their forest homeland.



Refugees from conservation have never been counted; in fact they're not even officially recognized as refugees. But the number of people displaced from traditional homelands worldwide over the past century, in the interest of conservation, is estimated to be close to 20 million, 14 million in Africa alone. It is a sad history, and one that has forced conservationists to reevaluate the hero status of their movement's founders, and to reconsider the idea of protecting biological diversity by removing humans from the mix.



As the world shrank and transportation accelerated, inhabitants of the most remote villages began to discover that they were not alone. There were others like them on almost every continent - people with unique dialects, diets, cultures, and cosmologies who were at best misunderstood, at worst oppressed by the dominant nationalities that surrounded them. These indigenous groups began to communicate with one another and to meet, and through interpreters they learned of ways that aboriginals in other societies had succeeded in protecting their cultures and recovering their sovereignty, independence, and homelands lost to colonization.



They began to resist assimilation and to petition for recognition of territorial rights. As these movements gained force, it was perhaps inevitable that they'd come in conflict with conservationists. And as conservation became global in its reach, conflicts with large international organizations like the Worldwide Fund for Nature, the Nature Conservancy, the Africa Wildlife Federation, and Conservation International occurred on every continent. The sad consequence of this discord is that proven land stewards like the Maasai of Eastern Africa, the San Bushmen of Botswana, the Karen of Thailand, the Ashaninka of Peru, and the Kuna of Panama have in one way or another declared themselves "enemies of conservation."

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Mark Dowie is an investigative historian. This article was adapted from his seventh book, "Conservation Refugees: The Hundred Year Conflict Between Global Conservation and Native People," and portions of the article appeared in Resurgence, Orion, and Stanford Social Innovation Review.

California:

The Environmental Protection Information Center on the north coast is among those that often files such actions opposing salvage timber sales on public land in the north state. "There are no ecological benefits to salvage logging," said Scott Greacen, the group's executive director.

The U.S. Forest Service announced plans last November for a 155-acre salvage logging sale, saying the dead trees left on land torched by wildfires near Junction City and Big Bar could fuel future fire storms. But the Forest Service dumped those plans last month after an economic analysis of the sale and discussions with Trinity River Lumber Company in Weaverville, said Lance Koch, district ranger in Weaverville. He said steep terrain in the area would have meant logging the area with helicopters. "Basically (harvesting the trees) was going to cost more than we would make on the sale of them," he said. "It would have been an upside-down timber sale, as they say."

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While salvage logging has its supporters - who say it is a way to make money to pay for thinning and other projects to reduce fire danger - projects often are stalled either by economic obstacles or legal challenges. Declines in the housing market translate into decreased demands for lumber. That means that sawmills are paying about half of what they did 10 years ago for logs, said Herb Baldwin, Redding district manager for Sierra Pacific Industries. Salvage logging is often on remote land and the harvest is usually brought in by helicopter or cables, he said. Both methods are more expensive than traditional tractor logging, and there is a time crunch to collect the timber before it is eaten and stained by insects or softened by rot.



The company next month will complete salvage logging on 9,000 acres of its private land in Shasta County after last year's wildfires. "It's been a struggle to make those salvage operations economical," Baldwin said. Costs jump even higher when appeals and lawsuits slow salvage logging on federal land.




Snags and logs that remain after a fire provide crucial habitat, Greacen said, and the suits are aimed at keeping the downed trees where they fall. He said his group and several others had been prepared to appeal the Forest Service's planned salvage logging near Junction City and Big Bar, called the Down River Salvage Project. Koch said he'd already received opposition letters from two conservation groups - the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center in southern Oregon and the Conservation Congress in Lewiston, Mont.



The district is also planning to thin about 5,000 acres of woods near Junction City, Big Flat, Big Bar, Del Loma, Burnt Ranch and Denny as part of the Down River Community Protection Project, Koch said. Although forest officials had yet to calculate the cost of the thinning, Koch said it would be covered in the district's annual budget for fuels reduction. He said the district is now looking at a possible 250-acre salvage of timber stands on Ironside Mountain north of Big Bar that burned last year. That lumber could be cut as early as this fall. But economics could again stop the project just as they did the Down River project. "We didn't want to take on a project if it couldn't at least pay for itself," Koch said.

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Australia: 22 arrests as 300 rally for mother's day defense of ancient forests

300 people attended the rally at the start of the controversial new logging road. A diverse range of people were arrested including veteran forest campaigner Geoff Law, a local woman in her seventies from Westerway and a 17 year old male.


Photo: Matthew Newton http://www.matthewnewton.com.au

Speakers including Tim Morris MP, Geoff Law, and acclaimed photographer Rob Blakers addressed the crowd, as well as local forest campaigners and Derwent valley residents. Police formed a human barricade across the road to try and prevent conservationists from entering the exclusion zone.



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Photo: Matthew Newton http://www.matthewnewton.com.au

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A number of Derwent Valley residents who have been lobbying the government to save the area crossed the line in peaceful protest and were arrested. This brought the total number of arrests to 15. 50 people then walked down Timbs Track, a walking track that parallels the logging area not in the exclusion zone. From there they walked through the rainforest and into the coupe. As a result police ordered logging contractors to stop work and their machines were locked into a giant cage that has been constructed. Once in the coupe, 7 further community members were arrested, bringing the total arrests to 22. 32 people have been arrested in the last week.



"The Tasmanian public has had enough of this government's rampant old growth logging regime, they have had enough of the lies that Forestry Tasmania pedal to try and prop up their obviously unsustainable industry, and they have had enough of seeing their forests sold off with marginal returns to the tax payer and massive profits for climate criminals Gunns ltd." Said Mr Hill. "Today's rally highlights the massive amount of support for the campaign to end old growth logging. David Bartlett must solve this dispute swiftly if he doesn't want it to become an election issue, which it most likely will as the majority of Tasmanians want to see an end to this wood chip driven madness. The huge diversity of people from all walks of life here today confirms that this is a mainstream issue that average Tasmania's want solved before it is too late for our old growth forests," said Mr. Hill.



Local residents of the Derwent Valley have exhausted all other avenues of campaigning. They have been refused a meeting with Premier Bartlett and Primary Industries Minister David Llewellyn several times. Now as the chainsaws and bulldozers tear apart this ancient forest, what option to these people have but peaceful community protest?" said Ed Hill. The 22 arrested were taken to Hobart where they are currently being processed, they have been charged with trespass.

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Mexico: Drug war is destroying forests, making a drug ring of traditional peoples

After a silence as pregnant as his gaze, the Indian ends up talking: "They come; they kill the trees and afterwards we have to choose: either we leave our lands or we stay to grow their drugs." The region with the richest biodiversity in North America is located in Mexico's far north, at 1420 meters of elevation, in the heart of the Western Sierra Madre. These lands, rugged and inhospitable, have been inhabited by Tarahumara, "the light-footed people," for close to 2,000 years.

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Today, these peaceful people are threatened by narco-trafficking which threatens the very essence of their culture and the equilibrium of their environment. "Narco-trafficking violence is a thousand-headed snake. When you cut one head off, a hundred grow in its place," explains a Tarahumara Indian, who intends to stay alive, and, consequently, to remain anonymous.



"Don't think my word is worthless," he defends himself, "but what I'm going to relate to you could cost me my skin."  In this Mexican narco-trafficking war, massacres of unspeakable violence are commonplace, even in the most inaccessible parts of the country, such as the canyons of the Sierra Tarahumara.



Last August, Mexico discovered with horror the killing that took place in broad daylight in Creel, a little village set at the summit of the Sierra Madre. Four luxury vans arrived out of nowhere and their occupants fired on a hundred people, leaving many wounded and 13 dead, including several children and teenagers.

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British Columbia: Movie about saving the last ancient forests

Part 1:

This is a powerful new documentary by Jeremy Williams about the campaign to protect the last old-growth forests and forestry jobs on Vancouver Island and BC's South Coast.



The fight for ancient forests exploded in 1993 on Vancouver Island in Clayoquot Sound, where thousands of people joined efforts to save the old-growth rainforests, including Dr. David Suzuki and Australian rock band Midnight Oil.



In recent years a resurgence in environmental concerns, partly triggered by Al Gore's climate change documentary "An Inconvenient Truth", has also been accompanied by a massive expansion of the ancient forest movement again on Vancouver Island, as thousands of environmentalists and forestry workers join together in solidarity at mass rallies in Victoria organized by the Wilderness Committee.



Part 2:

Join 70 000 Canadians and become a member or donate tothe Western Canada Wilderness Committee, Canada'slargest grassroots, membership-based wildernessprotection organization.



Donate online on the left side of our website http://www.wcwcvictoria.org

Part 3:

Maryland: Campus-wide resistance to land clearing leads to "protestabration"

Students and professors say the University of Maryland administration is missing the forest for the trees by planning to bulldoze nearly 9 acres of woods on the sprawling 1,400-acre campus to make way for maintenance sheds, a mail-handling depot and a parking lot for the university's buses and trucks. "The university says they're going to become carbon neutral by 2050, but they make a decision to cut down 9 acres of forest on the campus," said Davey Rogner, a senior from Silver Spring who's majoring in environmental restoration. He and others plan to stage what one student leader called a "protestabration" Friday at the arboretum festivities, to highlight their concerns about how the loss of the woods conflicts with the university's commitment to the environment.

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He and others plan to stage what one student leader called a "protestabration" Friday at the arboretum festivities, to highlight their concerns about how the loss of the woods conflicts with the university's commitment to the environment. University officials say they need to use most of the 15-acre wooded hill behind the Comcast Center to relocate support facilities that are to be displaced by the redevelopment on east campus that will bring more stores, eateries, entertainment and graduate student housing. They say putting the maintenance operations anywhere but on the wooded tract would be too costly or pose too many environmental problems. Anne G. Wylie, vice president for administrative affairs, suggests it's the critics, not the administration, who might need a refresher class in sustainability.



 "This is a very complicated problem," she said, adding that she sees no conflict between bulldozing woods and the university's campaign to be rated one of the nation's greenest schools. The overall aim is to develop a more compact, walkable campus and reduce the amount of driving by students, faculty and staff, she explained. "It's not just about preserving trees."

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Krygzstan: Extinction threat to original Apple species that led to all commercial species

The Red List of Trees of Central Asia identifies 44 tree species that are threatened with extinction; the 'original' apple tree Malus sieversii, from which all domesticated varieties of apples were developed, is on the list: Compiled by international scientists and published by Flora & Fauna International, in collaboration with , the Red List of Trees cites over-exploitation, human development, pests and diseases, overgrazing, desertification and fires as the main threats to the trees and forests of Central Asia.

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The forests of Central Asia, with their incredibly rich diversity of fruit and nut trees, are of global significance. The conservation of this unique inheritance is paramount, not only for the region but for the whole international community. It is therefore imperative that the international community provides the necessary financial resources,investment and training to build the capacity of scientific institutions, nature conservation and forestry agencies, botanic gardens and germplasm banks to manage and conserve this unique heritage effectively.The region’s state forestry agencies and protected areas network require substantial investment and capacity building. With so many challenges faced by these agencies, training in the development of participatory forestmanagement plans, local community engagement, rural development and natural resource management is urgently needed. Many of the state agencies lack basic equipment and infrastructure such as uniforms, horses or vehicles, communication equipment and ranger posts. In order to alleviate the immediate pressures on forests from firewood collection and illegal logging, pilot projects that provide alternative sources of energy to villagers should be trialled, assessed and rolled out.

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India: Last large Rainforest in Sri Lanka needs more protection

Sinharaja forest is the only undisturbed rain forest left in Sri Lanka. It is about 9000 hectares in extent. Many of the plants are very rare. Over 60% of the tree species are found only in the lowland wet zone of Sri Lanka. n 1988 the Sinharaja was made a national wilderness area. in 1989 UNESCO included the  Sinharaja forest in the world heritage list, as the first national heritage of sri lanka. The Sinharaja forest is home to many rare animals, birds, butterflies, insects, reptiles and trees. Ferns and mosses grow well as the climate is humid because of heavy rainfall.

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Studies have recorded 145 species of birds. Some threatened species of birds are found in the Sinharaja . among them are the blue magpie, the white –headed starling and the ash-headed babbler. Studies have recorded 45 varieties of reptiles. These include snakes, lizards and tortoises.



The viper and the cobra are among the venomous species. Conservation of Sinharaja is of vital necessity. It ensures the maintenance of water resources. It also controls floods, which is a constant threat due to heavy rainfall in the area.

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Vietnam: Illegal Deforestation in Northern & Central Provinces

Many locals, hired to protect the forests, have colluded with illegal loggers while park rangers have been involved in bloody battles over the protection of the forests. In mid-April, park rangers of Son Ha Forest in Quang Ngai Province spotted two people illegally carrying logs, Thanh Nien learned. Ranger Nguyen Quoc Bao chased the two but was attacked by another two accomplices of the violators. He suffered a broken arm and seriously injured hand.

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On April 21, Le Hoang Son, chief park ranger of Dong Giang District in Quang Nam Province had to ask for police protection after being harassed by an illegal logger who continuously sent messages threatening to kill him. Son said the suspect was Tran Duc Lam of Da Nang City, who had previously been fined for illegally transporting logs. Some illegal tree-cutters have even stormed the office of park rangers who have seized their logs and means of transport. In the latest case, illegal loggers congregated at the Forest Management office of Lang Son Province’s Huu Lung District and shouted at rangers and traffic police who had seized 46 logs from them two days earlier, Vietnam News Agency reported.



Nong Quang Dai, vice chief of Huu Lung Forest Management, said the district has been a “hot spot” for illegal logging activity for years. He said the loggers use chainsaws to cut down trees and carry them using bicycles, motorbikes, trucks and even three-wheeled vehicles intended for use by war invalids. Dai said the 6,700-hectare Huu Lien Forest contained many valuable trees and some residents hired to protect the forest have conspired with illegal loggers to cut down trees.



He also said local authorities in Huu Lien Commune had agreed to protect 4,000 hectares of forest for VND100,000 (US$5.62) per hectare, but they in turn handed the job over to residents for VND90,000 per hectare, keeping a small fee for themselves and paying no attention to the protection work. In the first quarter this year, Huu Lung park rangers unearthed 220 cases of illegal logging, and confiscated 55 cubic meters of logs and several vehicles. Nguyen Thanh Ha, a forest inspector in Phuoc Son District in Quang Nam Province, said a recent investigation from April 28 to May 6 led to a seizure of 42.2 cubic meters of illegal logs.

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