Deeper Ecology

 Essays On Ecological Spirituality

 

Copyright 2001, David Andrew Doyle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forward

 

 

            “A man may not care for golf and still be human, but the man who does not like to see, hunt, photograph, or otherwise outwit birds or animals is hardly normal.  He is supercivilized, and I for one do not know how to deal with him.  Babes do not tremble when they are shown a golf ball, but I should not like to own the boy whose hair does not lift his hat when he sees his first deer.  We are dealing, therefore, with something that lies very deep.”   

 

Aldo Leopold.

 A Sand County Almanac

 

 

 

Table Of Contents

 

 

  1.  Sequoia sempervirens      

  2.  Homo sapiens

  3.  Extinction

  4.  Genetic Viability

  5.  Hierarchy

  6.  Homo sapiens II

  7.  Ursus americanus

  8.  Lions, Tigers, and Bears

  9.  Social Darwinism

10.  Spaceship Earth

11.  Biology

12.  Oncorhynchus tshawytscha

13.  Nirvana

14.  Cyanocitta stelleri

15.  Carpe Diem
16.  First Law of Thermodynamics

17.  Ecological Angst

18.  Homo sapiens III

19.  Eve

20.  The Circus

21.  Tyto alba

22.  Lady of the Lake

23.  Iguana iguana

24.  Tyto alba II

25.  “Spotted Owl Tastes Like Chicken”

26.  Coexistence

27.  Anthropocentrism

28.  Tyto alba III

29.  Academia

30.  Deeper Ecology

31.  Colaptes auratus

32.  “The Chicken or the Egg” Hypothesis

33.  Ignorance is Bliss

34.  Reality Check

35.  Homo sapiens IV

36.  Global Ecology

37.  Earth Day

38.  Canis lupus

39.  The “Umbrella” Approach

40.  Man’s Best Friend

41. The Killing Jar

42. Stochasticity

43. Earth Summit

44. Ecosystems

45. Testament

 

EPILOGUE

 

APPENDIX A:  Bear Myths and Neanderthals

APPENDIX B:  Important Ecological Reasons For Conserving

     Ecosystems Rather Than Simply Individual Species

 

LITERATURE CITED

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

 

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

 

 

 

Sequoia sempervirens

 

 

            Can you imagine, by chance, that the earth exists and the sun sustains us.  As it warms my skin, at this moment, I look across and see majestic redwoods, invading the mountains, the geology; clung to it like parasites feeding off of its vitality through their long roots, as the river cuts a canyon between neighboring stands, homogenous and a deep emerald green, reaching skyward to the blue.  Oxygen is released as they breathe in our CO₂.

            The Native American Indians say that power arranges and manifests in circles; thus the life cycle is completed, beginning and ending in one continuous momentum.  The highway passes over the Eel river, and as I approach a lumber mill, there is a railroad paralleling my travel.  Two separate millennia caught in a struggle for a decision of which method and mode of advancement are proper to facilitate the renewal which exists in four seasons; winter, spring, summer, and fall, and has been here since conception, to the present day.

            What we are all looking for in our endless paths, however subconscious (to some more than others) is coexistence with our biological reality that when you pick up a fistful of soil, and you observe the richness, the sparkling of the minerals, the smell, the consistency of recycled nutrients; and when you sit alongside a river or a pond or a lake or a stream, or perhaps even the enigma of the ocean, the earth and the water exponentially free your mind, and your thoughts take on the consistency of the elements.

            And to some, such as I, your mind searches the depths of this body of liquid and wonders what has been, what is there now, and what will be.  This concerning the vast array of genus species and the whole evolutionary process of its history through current reality.

            I begin this book where others have left off.  I have drawn from the works of Aldo Leopold, Edward Abbey, Henry David Thoreau, Emerson, Whitman, Anne Dillard, and countless others; even so far as to say Jim Morrison, who in his search for ecological and spiritual salvation from the injustice of this dilemma has asked:  “What have we done to the earth?”

 

 

 

 Homo sapiens

 

 

            The fringes of habitats are where most disturbance occurs.  This is the place where we drive our cars, and get a glimpse, a fraction of what can be seen, selected from our anthropomorphic ideology of what is wilderness.  I was shocked to learn that when clearcuts are done, foresters leave a narrow band of trees alongside highways to give the impression that no harm has been done.  What can’t be seen, surely won’t be missed.  In fact, more wildlife is seen, in a bloody pulp thrown to the side of the painted concrete, than can be viewed, alive and well, without plunging into this notion of true, untouched wilderness.

            They say there is much work to be done, and we spend billions of dollars finding out how many times a day a spotted owl defecates, yet do we truly know how it works?  It being the buzzwords:  Biodiversity, ecosystems, and natural resource management.  The best method I suppose would be to exterminate Homo sapiens from the face of the earth and then let the flora and fauna reclaim its independence and dignity.  This will not suffice.  For the age old proverb determines:  If a tree falls in the woods, and there is no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?

 

 

 

Extinction

 

 

            I hear of great beasts such as the passenger pigeon, and the prairie chicken, and the great auk, and I wonder:  How is it that these entities have a life of their own and actually have become highly valuable since they have passed from this planet?  It seems that supply and demand plays a role, coupled with the virtue of wanting what we can’t have.  And still, we wait...  We test the limits of what it will take until nothing is left, save a handful of sparrow and crow species in our urban habitat. 

            I have heard it claimed that there is a point that will be reached, where a severe drop-off will begin, and mass extinction will prevail.  We have not seen this, and it is all fine theory.  And there is money to be made, thus nothing is done.  I have also heard it stated that threatened and endangered species have no value, and no purpose; and should not be preserved.  This is due to the belief that there must be a reason why they are on their way out, and that it was all good and natural, and that we shouldn’t spend billions on a hopeless cause. 

            What they fail to realize is that this decline is a red flag of the state of affairs in our management of the earth.  The classic modern example of this is with the California condor.  Perhaps the largest bird of flight that exists today.  This magnificent organism is reduced to less than three digits, and is now only safe in captivity.  I propose this question:  If this species has been around for a million years, and if it is right and good that this was its natural time to leave the earth, then why the abrupt and sudden decline coupled with habitat loss (The number one cause of extinction’s) and death due to human advancement (i.e. radiator fluid and powerlines). 

            Simply put, the mass of an animal is directly correlated with its home range requirements.  They say that species which go extinct are too specialized to exist in this world of changing landscape and politics, yet we are selecting against the unique qualities that give color and descript individuality to the term species richness.  If this does not end, there will be a day when the only birds that will sing in the forest will be the widely adapted crow and/or common sparrow.

 

 

 

Genetic Viability

 

 

            They say science will find answers to every question.  And, in my time, I hope I never live to see the day when science can create life.  For on that day, if it ever comes to pass, nothing will remain sacred, and just as well, you should throw any ideas of theology out the window.

    

 

 

Hierarchy

 

 

            The Jain Buddhists walk and sweep the path in front of them with a broom, and also wear a veil over their faces, so as not to destroy life (i.e. kill, in anthropomorphic terms), in the form of insects. Vegetarians claim that meat is murder.  This is a fine paradox.

            As a fisherman, I often wonder, if a fish had vocal cords, would I pursue my sport as the beast is dragged painfully to shore, hooked by its stomach or lip?  And as a member of lifeforms, does the cougar feel remorse at the carcass of the fawn?  Or the wind feel sorrow for a thousand untimely deaths, as a fire devastates the landscape? 

            I suspect not.  I do believe that we are victims of our own thoughts, our own capability to reason, and our mortal bind.  I have heard it stated that when rescuing earthquake victims, the dogs that are used to hunt for life, become “depressed” after too long.  Thus I pose the inevitable question:  Which lifeform has higher value than the other?

            Ponder this thought the next time you exterminate a mouse in the cupboards, or a cockroach in the night.  Or perhaps even for the most righteous, consider the billions of insects that every individual crushes to death under their feet (or on the windshield of their vehicle), throughout his or her lifetime.     

 

 

 

Homo sapiens II

 

 

            We like to think that we are the conquerors of the great divide, masters of untamed wilderness.  We like to think that we have all of natures processes defined in our textbooks and lab manuals.  Yet in geological time, we are but a fragment of the earth’s history.  With six periods of mass extinction, the Homo sapien intellect has chosen lucky number seven.  Laid out on the table, the course is inevitable.  And what it will take is total dissolvement of scapegoating, and simple sloth, which has held us in this lack of inertia to speed up reparation of what has been done, and set up measurements for what can be expected for a healthy biosphere.

            As the Native Americans stated that their actions were done with an account for many generations to follow; I think that there is much wisdom there.  Let us hope that the current trend of kinship and affiliation and interest with this indigenous people is not waned; but grows.  For these people lived with the land, and realized the essentials that they too were made of the earth, that their bones decomposed and became soil, and that they required earth, wind, fire, and water to sustain this balance.

            This is all common sense.  Any child will tell you, if given the basic facts, what must be done.  Yet that child has not yet been treated with mass media, bureaucracy, and the whole upwardly mobile progression from teenager to adult, to career, to retirement; hoping that in his or her time, he or she will amass many treasures.  For it has been stated:  He who dies with the most toys wins.

 

 

 

Ursus americanus

 

 

            I just had a run-in with death, reminded of my mortality:  It’s 5 a.m., still dark, and I’m fishing alone on a vast river...  I turn around to rebait my hook, and bending down by the lantern light, I hear this huge splash behind me.  It scares the pants off of me.  It was really close too, within ten feet.  I think that maybe it was a huge salmon, but I know that they don’t get that big, at least not here, not in this river.

            So I wait, and I hear a nasal burst of air, sounding like a river otter, and then I think:  No, that’s a bear; and then I see it, this huge bulk of massive black, hundreds of pounds, burst up from the water on the other side of the river, jump up onto the bank, and run very swiftly up the hillside.  And then he stops, and through my tiredness, and my shock, with my mind trying to catch up with what just happened, trying to react, I notice that he is watching me, and I realize that if I didn’t get the hell out of there, I am gonna be in for trouble.

            I pack up everything and leave the roe on the shore,  running for my life.  My God, I think while stumbling up the hillside to my car in the dark, I knew that there was going to be a bear there, I’d just felt it, almost as if I’d summoned him.  I knew that sooner or later I’d run into the beast.  My God.  I’m safe now, and I’m going home, to rest in my bed.

            Now I remember that not ten minutes before that had happened, I’d just arrived at the site, and I was thinking that I had wished that I had brought my knife.  I actually thought that I’d be safer in a highly exposed area, or I didn’t think that the bear would be in the water, hiding in the dark.  And I wonder if he was there when I got there?  Must have been.  Nice pool of salmon.  And he came over to see what I was and jumped back into the water, probably when he smelled human.

            But I wonder what I would have done, if I’d had my knife; because to stand and fight, against such odds, would have been foolish.  Also, this way, we both get to go home unscathed; me to my land of concrete and traffic, and he to his pool of salmon.

 

 

Lions, Tigers, and Bears

 

 

            So that is all we have to fear today, in our travels in the backcountry:  Cougars and bears.  For wolves have rarely been known to attack humans, contrary to superstition (Lopez, 1978).

            But, cougars and bears have slain Homo sapiens as a prey item many times, in their natural feeding routine.  Coming so close to that bear made me realize a few things.  The first being that there is a tremendous force out there.  In the bear is the embodiment of that power.  It is very interesting to me because the black bear is my chosen spiritual animal (i.e. totem), and I came so close to confronting that force.

            The second aspect of my realization begins with my pondering, now that I have severely calmed, and my body has returned to homeostasis from the intense override of my system in my escape.  I wonder, in retroflection:  What would have happened if I had stayed?  There is a part of me that wonders if the bear would not have attacked.  I wonder if he had gotten so close and then detected that I was human, at the last moment. 

            Perhaps I have become too accustomed to domesticated canids, to believe that wildlife can be tame, and perhaps to form and alliance with another species, when I know damn well, that in the wild, if you’re not actively hunting, then you will surely be hunted.

            Until now I fancied the prospect of being the first wildlife biologist to have slain a large, mammalian predator in single-handed combat with a knife or the like.  And now I realize that that is a joke, for the stick less than three feet long, that lay next to my lantern, inches from my grasp, when all of this took place, seems (in hindsight) as potent as my bare fists.

            The dilemma that I had often toyed with in the past was:  What would I do if I were attacked by one of these large beasts while in the wild?  Now I know that, if my wits were about me, I would run like hell, if at a safe distance, and if fleeing did not provoke pursuit.

            And so, the moral issue of taking from the population, seems far from the reaches of my ponderings now, as I feel safe, buckled into my steel machine.  I wonder how it was, when man feared these encounters, readily on his homestead, when his neighborhood was inclusive of these top ranking carnivores?

            And to think that this black bear was only a miniature version of Ursus horribilis, and its now extinct subspecies the California Grizzly, still born proudly upon our flag (This fact known to 1% of us).  Imagine covering territory with a creature five times your weight, and with a nastier disposition?  After this image is clear in your mind, you will realize why they were exterminated.

            Now as the sun rises, I am wondering what these cars are doing on the road, on Sunday morning.  Perhaps they are going to encounter my bear, as he has better luck in their fishing hole.

 

 

 

 

Social Darwinism

 

 

            Perhaps the predicament observed with slaying life is a matter of quantifiable biomass.  For there is far less damage done with destroying a string of ants, than branding a coon with radial treadmarks.  It seems to be rational, and emotional individuals support a fine argument.  We must justify what, to our system of beliefs, seems wrong; for no one wants to feel remorse for their actions.

            I have a theory that every organism perceives the world as a function of what it wants to act upon, and what it is able to act upon.  Those are the two basic tenets of existence.  Everything else is details.  This applies to all manner of human involvement (Social norms, etc.). 

            Did the bear, for a millisecond, ponder if his actions were right or wrong, as I did for many minutes, to the extent of hours.  I think not, and I believe that the only possible explanation for why humans conceive of such strategies is because, through evolutionary advancement, were are able to do so.

            Relatively speaking, that doesn’t mean very much, save that we can manipulate our environments to suit us more comfortably, in a short-term reality.  Thus I end with a lesson, as I drive, nearly home, and am cautious, for there are predators in the city of Homo sapiens, in the role of peace officers, stalking the streets with their highly armed, and sophisticated equipment. 

            I leave this to you:  If you ever wonder why, something or someone does what it does, the answer is simple:  Because it can.    

    

 

 

Spaceship Earth

           

 

            Those of us who call ourselves ecologists, and perhaps others, consider ourselves akin with wildlife.  In the broadest sense, this is to mean that we are equals, that our mindset is the same, and that we are one spiritual entity.  Leopold refers to this connection as the “cogs and wheels” which bind together this machine that we may call Spaceship Earth, third planet from the sun (A simple star, unlike any other, yet worshipped because it is the lifeblood to our existence).

            I have heard in my studies, that eventually the sun will fizzle out, as is the case with other stars in the universe, and I sense concern over this, and I laugh wholeheartedly, at the fool’s notion that we would be around to see that occur.  This is my version of truth.  As one friend I once knew said:  I’m not a pessimist, but I am a realist.  There is a difference.  The realist works with what he’s been given, and hopes for the best while accepting the limits of the natural world.

            As Jim Morrison said, “I just wanna have some fun before the whole place goes up in flames.”      

 

Biology

 

 

            I suppose that what I’m doing with this book is to create the thesis for an ideology of the most substantial way of life that a human being can achieve in his or her time.  This thought comes to me now as I delve deeper into my thoughts, which describe the world as I have experienced it thus far.

            In 1835, in Alaska, the Tlingit Indians would not be swayed by the influx of Christianity into North America.  Until, when half of their nation had perished from smallpox, their shamans had little effect in treating this disease.  Then came the mighty medicine man in the form of a Christian who could administer the vaccinations.  Needless to say, the Indians converted almost overnight to Christianity (Jaimes, 1992).

            This example speaks clearly for itself, and needs not much interpretation, yet it serves as an axiom for the evolution of modern thought.  In trying to piece this all together, I find that the anthropology is driven by theology, and procured by a facilitated biology.  I am dumbfounded by superstition in our culture.

            For instance, we seek to blame homosexuals for the emergence of AIDS, yet this fact is only evident because males are more susceptible to transmission of the virus.  There is not one ounce of a moral issue in this rhetoric of blame, and that will be made evident at the first moment that a cure has been developed.

 

 

 

Oncorhynchus tshawytscha

 

 

            Five days after my bear encounter, I fished the same hole.  I caught my first king salmon, but not on roe, nor a fly, nor a spinnerbait.  I just simply picked him up with my hand.  He was dying, all black and mottled, and “on his last legs.”  So I took some pictures, and threw him back.  He released a great amount of sperm onto my boot, and I hope I did not interrupt his breeding ritual. 

            Walking away, I was reminded and overwhelmed by a sense of my own mortality once again.  As that mighty fish would surely die, and leave his prodigy to bear his genes, to swim up the same river, yet again, and pass on their genes. 

            I felt a sense of completeness.  The threat of the black bear, the death of the mighty salmon, and me (one of the rulers of the animal kingdom) were, all three, bound by the river, which by chance was deemed the Trinity.

            With a continuous flow of waters, alive and seemingly full of history, I felt no remorse at the death of this magnificent creature. 

    

 

 

 

Nirvana

 

 

            I once had a lover who, when I first met her, told me of her fantasy of dying.  I had a sense of what she was going to tell me.  She wished for a large predator to rip her jugular with its mighty claws, and eat the flesh from her gaping neck.  As I ponder this grisly thought (No pun intended), tonight I felt ready to confront my spirit animal, for I brought with me a short, double-bladed knife, that if, in close contact, I could kill the magnificent carnivore with a stab to the right spot.

            In a world of mortality induced by automobile, locomotive, and airliner crashes, it would seem only fitting that this would be a more, honorable way to die.  As I have taken from the earth, assimilated all of its nutrients through the flesh of scores of great fish that I have harvested from the sea and inland waters, so then would I be integrated into the proverbial foodchain, and carry on a sense of tradition with my natural ancestors.

 

 

 

Cyanocitta stelleri

 

 

            A brisk day in October, walking along a fireroad, in a redwood forest, searching for Steller’s Jays for my study, listening to all of the various medleys of birdsong, quite beautiful, and these trees are remarkable, as they reach for the heavens, hushing all sound, but for a few, tiny avian delights.  Dark, rich, green shamrock clovers line the fertile ground, beneath the mighty trees, the carpet of ferns extends as far as the eye can see, up the slope and over...to another.

            Bluebird, where are you?  I have a feeling that you are in a less dense area.  As I walk through this age-old landscape, to the top of the summit, overlooking Northern cities...I realize my actualization that this is the only true beauty in the world, and as I get older, and experience more of its majestic country, I realize this to hold true.  Between humans, there are a few things which give me warmth, love, laughter, and friendship.  To that extent a limitless, cultural heritage holds the virtues found through the exploration of uncharted land, at least by the individual, which contains an exponential infiniteness, when compared to civilization.

            When I was young I was searching for something, a way out of the madness, and I have found people since who foster my beliefs; one so far as to say that he envisioned himself running through the forest naked.  I came upon, in high school, this book about a pond in Massachusetts, where a frontiersman named Henry David Thoreau, decided to escape technology, and examine the finer richness of his relationship with the world.

            I think perhaps that this is my calling:  To live off the land; because that is the only thing that makes sense.  A strange part of me doesn’t want to find the bird, because then I will have to spend an hour or two measuring his habitat, which to me seems cold and calculated, and performs an example of the divisiveness which we have thwarted nature with, time and again.

            I have always thought that the more we learn about wildlife, the greater understanding, and thus the more dynamics of beauty we can show to others that may not know of this grandeur.  For if there is no one to interpret; this resource may be overlooked.

 

 

 

Carpe Diem

 

 

            I propose the concept, that I have a desire to be among the intellectually elite, and in my quest to achieve this demand, I have structured a handful of principles pertaining to this mastery:  A person’s life is like a forest; you cannot build a healthy ecosystem unless you have every “cog and wheel” of the flora and fauna; and you cannot use these wisely, efficiently, and perhaps functionally without an understanding of the past, present, and future implications of their associations.

            I believe that in some foreign culture, with some indigenous peoples, my name means “nomad.”  For I have lived in many regions, and households, across the landscape, and this brings to mind, one of the internal processes of the universe:  Quality or quantity.  These two dynamics are mutually correlated, at a proportional ratio.  One sacrifices to the others gain.

            To have lived in one continuous place and grown stagnant, as the roots began to extend into familiar soil, I now see value in migration, in an effort to exploit with all possible interest the entirety of this notion of carpe diem.  A professor of mine once stated that if you think that you know it all, then that is all that you will ever know.

 

 

 

First Law of Thermodynamics

 

 

            A new day, the first day of November, in northern California, I drive along Highway 101, and pass an 18-wheeler semi.  It’s cargo consists of only three sections of a tree, for the diameter is so large that the capacity of the trailer is maximized.  I know damn well that this tree is older than any human being on the planet.

            Can you imagine that the sensory of nutrients and energy that went into building that mass?  How many lifeforms utilize the resources that surrounded the embodiment of the redwood?  I suppose now that it will make someone a fine patio.

            The other day a man in the woods told me that, as we stopped to rest and talk amidst the majestic forest; he told me of his lament of the clearcutting.  As we looked around the second growth was growing nicely, and we pondered at the immense stumps of trees, hundreds of years old, that now served as subterfuge for homeless individuals. 

            He said that he wished that his grandchildren could see these giants, among our flora.  We talked of Headwaters and the protest of the exploitation of old growth.  My heart was with them (The protesters), my soul screams out for their cause, yet I knew that it was futile from day one. 

            For surely awareness is raised with protest, yet the real battles are fought in the courtroom, or perhaps in gradeschools, as we reach our future lineage at its most adaptable and influential stage, for we as adults are already set in our ways; just trying to make it in this economic whirlwind of getting ahead.  Just as you cannot teach an old dog new tricks, you can teach a young child by taking them camping or fishing to respect and nurture the landscape.

            For we as adults have given this to them.  We leave our heritage.  It is our responsibility to make wise-use of the “family” real estate.

            Can we not set aside parcels of land for farming of trees, just as we do with our crops?  Can we not put all of the disheartened loggers to work in recycling facilities?  I have heard it said and I agree that what it will take is for the cost-benefit of re-use of natural resources to be less than or equal to the cost of the procurement of raw materials.

            This is where our focus needs to be placed.  For the First Law of Thermodynamics states that matter is neither created nor destroyed, only altered in form.  Plainly put, everything that we are doing now to the earth is taking away from what was, to build a more suitable environment for Homo sapien accommodation (Or so we think).  Leopold suggests that diversity decreases with this manipulation, of which he calls violence, simply because the more specialized organisms can adapt to a wide range of circumstances.  And the bottom line is, we’re not really sure what will happen to the entire ecological process, but as a wildlife professor of mine has stated:  Do we really want to find out?

 

 

 

Ecological Angst

 

 

            A friend of mine suggested that my ecological angst stems from my childhood.  We are all products of our upbringing, the social environment around us, the state of affairs in the world, the media, and stochastic events.  Somewhere along the way, I developed this great need to protect the natural world; and my analyst claims that this is not a bad thing.  This is not extreme, nor outrageous, and hardly psychotic.

            He went on to say that instead of placing this rage into my personal relationships with others, I should release the energy into my life’s work, which happens to be wildlife management and preservation.  So you can see the bias that comes with my writings.  I suppose that everyone is subjective to their own perceptions of reality, and if you are reading this then there is some value in my transference of my deeply rooted belief system to your mind.

            I have heard that the truth lies somewhere in the middle of what is stated by both parties.  This is the case here.  I go beyond simple complaints of the state of affairs in the biosphere, yet I do not go so far as to detonate a tractor with a pipebomb; such as certain groups have transgressed.

            I believe that extremes make people cautious of the value of the statement being expressed.  The threshold of rationale is crossed with either a variance in a temperate modification of what is practical and useful, once all of the facts are gathered and analyzed.  As a scientist I must learn to be objective in my research, whether physical or theoretical. 

            The bottom line is that every agency of the United States government, and of all of the nations of the world, at a broader scale, must come together in one room, at one table, and discuss the integration of policy, concerning every use of what we have at our disposal at this present point in time.  Civilization has “come so far, so fast” as they say.  It’s growth is exponential to the furthest degree.  Thus comes into play the notion of carrying capacity.  This can be applied to populations as well as conceptual deviations from the ecological balance which has maintained the earth for billions of years.

            Do not give up the environmental crusade my friends, for the Native American Indian proverb states:  “Aim your arrow at the sun, and you may not reach it; but your arrow will fly farther than if you’d aimed it at an object level with yourself.”

 

 

 

Homo sapiens III

 

 

            Furthering my thinking on this subject, which I refer to as the Homo sapien dynamic:  Our existence is so backwards.  We have far exceeded the level of complexity to survive in this world.  Our social systems are far too codependent and interdependent with one another.  I realize biologically that the altruistic behavior of a species serves on the individual basis to propagate and maintain a reproductive health, which is the ability to sustain a viable population.  I am very confused at to what we are doing. 

            The further along, throughout our evolution, as the temporal master of all of the creatures on the earth...what exactly is our purpose?  Does the eagle, as he drops from his aerie, contemplate his existence?  Perhaps fundamentally, his tiny, little brain is wired to only achieve and process the goals of survival, with minute stimulation’s of pleasure.

            There is so much turmoil in our culture.  It is a sickness.  The only way to treat this illness is to bring light to the darkness.  Can you imagine if every gang member across this nation were to put down their guns, and go on a fishing trip, or pick up a field guide and I.D. some birds or flowers in the wild?  Both achieve a parallel of this concept we call living, yet since we cannot prove heaven nor hell, why don’t we realize that our days are numbered, and the quality of those moments is determined by active discourse.

 

 

 

Eve

 

 

            The wilderness is my refuge.  She takes me in her arms, and promises that nothing bad will ever happen to me again.  Whereas most would be frightened by untamed land, I am more frightened of politics and drive-by shootings.  The only true virtue is nature.  It asks nothing of you, except to be who you are.  That is a divine truth, that man will never take away; for she will persist long after he is gone; and that makes me feel good.

            My next lover will have to be a woman who has read, understood, and appreciated these words in this book; for then I will know that she is the chosen one.  For I desire higher learning, and grow bored with routine; thus, and with her wonderment of the natural forces around us, shall facilitate growth in my own relationship with my higher power.  I cannot even describe this force, and all of these metaphors and descriptives can only paint an abstract portrait of the truth.  And perhaps that isn’t the whole of its substance, and the beauty of why I admire this entity to such a great degree.

            A woman’s hair is reminiscent of the streams which kiss the sea, and the wind which fells the leaves in the fall, and the gleam in the eye of a spotted fawn as it embraces the new day, and searches for forage in the forest.  Her breasts are a treasure all unto her own.  They are a firm wonderment of what man has not:  The milk which nurtures the newborn, the erotic delight of sensual healing; born proudly as two, twin furies standing at attention on a chilly day, to attract mine eye of reckless abandon.

            The lips of a woman tell me the tales of her moods, and the homeostasis of her composure, as she smiles, from across a room of strangers.  The body of this lovely creature is something that is supple and delicate, fragile in its intricacy, reminiscent of the entire essence of a perfectly functioning ecosystem, evolved over billions of years and still flourishing to no end.

            The voice of a woman, especially in song, is a tender day filled with a light rain, with a warmth glowing in the roots of the trees.  She beckons to me, in the voice of the earth’s natural history.  Her eyes can take on many forms, such as the wildfire screaming across the mountains, or the clearest coastline of some exotic isle.  The crystal pools of the trout stream do pale in comparison.  Or perhaps those orbs take on the consistency of the richest soil, or the succulent vegetation of the sea.  There is life there, and that is what I search for, as a young man, reaching beyond social norms and expectations.

            And lastly, there is her womb.  A man, at first light, emerges from this safest of all domains; and spends the rest of his days trying to get back in to that place.  This is where the immense floods of solace and contentment wash over me and cleanse the pain to the point of nonexistence.  To make love to a woman is to experience the fundamental core of every philosophical question.  This place cannot be touched by anything manmade in the purest of ideologies.  Just as estrus has held a spiritual significance to many cultures across the globe, so too is it inherent that we must respect this attribute; for man cannot create life without woman.

  

 

 

The Circus

 

 

            While doing a habitat survey near elk prairie campground in Redwood National Park, I came across a tree; a mighty redwood that I could not believe was so immense.  I took out my tape and measured the circumference, and lately figured that its diameter at breast height was seventeen feet.  I knew that I was in the heart of old growth.  I knew that this tree was very, very old; and I wanted to know how long this being had drawn sunlight from the atmosphere. 

            A friend of mine, a fine fellow, with somewhat strange ideas, works for the Forest Service, which he calls “The Circus.”  He appropriates this term of endearment to the politics of what he calls mismanagement.  I do not know any details of this predicament.  I only know that foresters and wildlife biologists seem to be burning the candle at both ends.  When I heard that he was in great admiration of Rush Limbaugh, I knew that I was in for trouble.

            We both, my friend and I, shared a great admiration for natural resources; yet mine is in preservation, and his is in utilization.  This plain fact can be drawn from his commentary on this park that I had visited.  I hailed the efforts of policymakers to sanction this remnant old growth into protected land.  His comment came with scorn, as he said that it was a shame that all of this good “timber” should go to waste.  At that moment I knew that there was a definite wedge in the hearts of our two disciplines.

            I asked him for his expert opinion, of two decades working with trees, to determine the age of this massive redwood that I had measured.  He gladly agreed, and we, with much delight, calculated that it has been around for fourteen centuries.  Perhaps among, to my mind, one of the oldest of a handful of living entities upon this planet.  How can any man take a chainsaw to this being?  To me it would seem as if you were cutting the very heart from the land in one, fell swoop; to obtain a maximal yield of board-feet per-unit-effort.

            I shake my head in disbelief.  The very act of protection of this stretch of land in the Pacific Northwest give me hope; not loss in patio furniture production, but a gain in the preservation of natural history.  This is all we have left folks. 

            Mr. Rush Limbaugh is simply an entertainer, of the likes of David Letterman and

Jay Leno; a prime-time bozo made to fill the mediocrity of 9-to-5, pencil-pushing, high blood pressure jobs in concrete and steel orifices adorned with paintings and portraits of wilderness viewed from behind a $5000 desk made of expensive, imported wood from a vanishing forest on some foreign soil.

            Mr. Limbaugh stated that there are more trees than there ever were in America.  Do not be fooled by the rhetoric, for he was counting 3-inch saplings in his measure of quantifiable lies.  Trees are NOT “America’s renewable resource.”  Recycling is the means with which we should be renewing our diminishing supplies.  Do not buy up the Native American Indian land with your alcohol, to poison with your landfills.  Aldo Leopold has made the fine point that there would be no need for wildlife management, nor fisheries, nor the study of natural resources if the land were healthy.  To this ideal, he gives the premise that the flora and fauna are self-sustaining.

            The land is becoming artificial; just as a golfcourse is perfectly manicured and watered regularly, with a scattering of ponds and a nice row of eucalyptus.  The golfer smiles as he sees a birds singing in his perfectly plotted “woods.” 

            The final determinant of this is that every man, woman, and child loves the outdoors.  Everyone enjoys camping, hiking, fishing, and wildlife.  We work five days a week in order to escape to these “wild” places.  Ponder this thought for a while and you will realize the ludicrous notion that we have completely separated ourselves from the fringes of habitats bordering our cities.  I end this with a note that I weep for the poor fool who invented the statement: “Spotted owl tastes like chicken.”  Hopefully the process of genetics will breed him or her out of the lineage of this race.

 

 

 

Tyto alba

 

 

            An early spring in California, and today I went about collecting owl pellets for my Ornithology project.  At the suggestion of my instructor, I revisited 3 old barns out by the pasture, at the wildlife refuge.  Having seen barn owls there previously, I knew that my “Easter-egg hunt” would be a success. 

            I found hundreds of these tightly-woven packages of these mammalian, rodentia specimens; neatly formed in the gizzard of the raptors of the wild.  I had to pull myself away because my love for nature held me in a ethereal rapture at all of the miniature bones, skulls, and feathers that I was collecting with my fingertips.

            One pellet contained an entire bird skull; I am very curious to find out what species it is, for such a night creature to capture a day bird.  I almost forgot to mention that in the third of three barns (The second being sealed off to my knowledge at this point), I flushed a beautiful, female barny, and she flew softly across the rafters; and looked at me quizzically, bobbing her head up and down.  As I approached closer, she let out a howl, and took off, to daylight.  Hopefully she returned to her den shortly thereafter with no harm done.

            The coloration on this particular bird was exquisitely brilliant in its buffy red, speckled mane.  Her plumage was a tribute to her species.  From the looks of her large body size she seemed healthy enough, aside from the fact that I collected an entire lunch sack full of pellets from underneath her roost (Hers and another barn occupants combined).

            In each of the barns (The 2 out of 3 that I’d checked), I found a fresh pellet in each, moist and sticky; probably from the previous nights hunt.  This was very exciting to me, to be part of something that is happening around me as I am partaking in part of its unfolding.

            I will analyze each pellet to determine the prey species in each one, in order to quantify what the owls are eating in this area (see Appendix C).

            As a final note, the lair of the owl continues to intrigue me as a deep mystery, for this world that they inhabit seems ancient, and medieval in its luster.  In the dimly lit, musty spaces of the barn owl’s home, innumerable treasures were found.  In a nearby abandoned house I discovered the complete skeletal remains of two smaller birds, and an abandoned nest with a skeletal chick perched atop in timeless photography.

            What I have seen today, perhaps only a percentage of one percent of the earth’s population will experience, and I find myself rewarded and grateful for such a blessing.

 

 

 

Lady of the Lake

 

 

            The barn swallow signals that it is time for the sun to warm foreign lands.  This is my church, my religion, my sanctuary.  The smell of this place is unequal to any angelic device inspired by man’s own hands.  This is the natural world in it’s purest form.  As spring approaches, two days nigh of Valentines Day, I remember last year, and the stingers laden with trout which I brought home each night.

            With my lines in the water I have time to contemplate, and ease my mind from daily routines and scholastic endeavors.  For I would be a fool to stay indoors, and learn about the wild, without experiencing it here and there, and more often than not.  At times like this, the lagoon reminds me of Scotland, with it’s conifer-lined backdrop; a mighty mountainside lined with aspens.

            Last year I fished with the osprey, as not ten meters away, they would dive and catch trout, as surely as would I with my metallic lure.  One time, I laughed with glee, as this huge raptor sunk and rose with a half-pound rainbow trout clutched in its talons.  The other fishermen seemed a tad bit unsure of my motives, but I knew that it was better not to explain, and just find those who will understand.

            As I’m writing this a wonderful rabbit just ran within 2 meters of me, nearly running into my backpack, stopped to look at me with his big, black eyes and scurried into the bush.  To my back, the magnificent, gaseous ball that we call the Sun is melting into the Pacific.

            I have not yet this year heard the red-winged blackbirds that accompany my fishing hole.  For they alone are enough reason to put down any task and come to hear their medley of tranquillity and sonata for everything beautiful that roams the earth and swims the waters. 

            During the summer, we pulled out scores of catfish, and now it is trout season.  Last Spring I managed to bring home a 1.75 pound and a 2.00 pound rainbow from this fishing grounds.  Just as Aldo Leopold was young in his virginal notetaking on the processes of ecology; so too am I still learning, and every day is a pleasure beyond description; for I have yet to get a good look at the bald eagles that are rumored to frequent this lagoon.

            Last Spring I fancied that I saw one, but was not 100% sure of my observation.  A friend and I did see an immature bald eagle though, feasting on another bird, at another lagoon close by.  That was a rare treat.  I stopped in the middle of the highway and did a 180, to get a better look with the binos.

            The best image that comes to mind of this majestic waters (Freshwater Lagoon), is that of Arthurian times, where medieval visions of armor-clad knights on powerful mares ravaged the hillsides, to thwart evil.  On this particular night, as dusk approaches, I would hardly be surprised to witness a lovely, female hand expand from the depths of the lagoon with Excalibur in her hand.

 

 

 

Iguana iguana

 

 

            It has been a while since I have gone out for a late night drive.  Like a hungry predator, watching over the dens of the daytime creatures, my companion at this hour is the owl.  And perhaps a nighthawk in some distant land.  Lest I forget the felines, as one narrowly averts my path.  I wonder at what conversations they will be having tonight.  I wonder...and realize that their world is completely separate from ours; a majestic, nether-reality of city streets, pavement, fences, and no thoughts of death nor taxes. 

            I have heard tales of great-horned owls taking housecats and small canids on the wing.  This amuses me in a morbid-sort-of humor, probably because it reinforces my belief that nature will prevail.  This is that secret place where I discovered the barn owl pellets; a universe unto it’s own.  So too is every nook and cranny of the natural world.  I once had a professor who suggested looking at a one-foot by one-foot plot of grass in your back yard; and looking closely and taking a detailed account of the microfauna that can be seen as well as the microflora that sustains said critters.

            On a field trip with this wise man I showed him an inchworm, and asked him if this is what he was referring to.  He smiled and nodded and I was glad.  Natural resources is my calling.  That same teacher told the class of how he was on a backpacking trip, and was alone on a rock crevice overlooking a canyon, and either a hawk or an eagle swooped up and nearly hit him in the head.  And he described how spiritual that feeling was at that particular moment in time.  This is the stuff that keeps my blood boiling, and makes the pains of academic rigorum worthwhile and pleasurable.

            I found it interesting how my pet iguana, when I placed her in my windowsill to bask in the sunlight, preferred to roost in my two-foot tall redwood sapling instead, nearly blending in with the coloration of the needles.  She seemed content that this was her natural environment.  For you can take man and beast out of the wild, but you cannot take the wild out of the man and the beast.

 

 

 

Tyto alba II

 

 

            Today I began my first dissection of my barn owl pellets.  On the back porch, I used tweezers and a probe, to pull apart the freshly soaked (In hot water) packages containing miniature, hidden surprises.  The first capsule contained four skulls, while the rest had an average of two per pellet.  I opened an unusually large specimen (Twice as large as the others), and discovered a dusky-footed woodrat skull.  A goliath in contrast to the typical mice and vole skulls, previously found.

            Each of these microcosms had it’s own particular attributes and characteristics.  Some were very old and brittle, damp and rotten, with little maggots eating their way to the core; others were pristine in their mummification of the cranial wonderment of my mammalian artifacts.

            While hunched over my dissecting table, I pondered at the owls which created these pellets and speculated that at each evenings full-course meal, enveloped in one, tidy menu for the biologist to decipher and feverishly engrave into his notes.  I suppose my feeling is that of addiction for this “hobby.”  Even though it is an assignment for school, I am considering the pursuit of this project for my senior thesis, with hopes of publication in the wildlife literature. 

            In my exuberance and childhood fascination, I can only think of the hundreds of pellets waiting for my archaeological excavation from other barns in the area.  This type of research makes me feel akin to the animals that I am studying, for their biology brings me closer to my own biotic reality, and connectedness to the elements of the periodic chart, which are interspersed and are the chains which hold together all living and non-living matter on this planet.

            Digging into my work, and “getting my hands dirty,” can quite literally be considered an understatement in my chosen profession.  A twenty-by-twenty foot, sterile box will not contain one such as I.  Isolation from the environment is no place for a fully-functioning organism of nature.  These devices are only temporary in their hardiness against the forces of said external reactiveness; for when a wind rushes across a plains, it will surely fell the tree that is partially uprooted.  So too will civilization settle as dust after a disturbance.

 

 

 

“Spotted Owl Tastes Like Chicken”

 

 

            Today we had a guest speaker in my Conservation Biology class:  Dr. Rocky Gutierrez, a member of the faculty here at Humboldt State University.  This man happens to be the spotted owl expert in the United States.  He clarified a few questions that I had about this particular species, and the “old-growth” controversy.

            Rocky has studied all three subspecies of the owl, ranging from Canada to Mexico; across the West coast states; and he informed us that less than five percent (Usually one to two percent) of the entire population of this species uses habitat other than old-growth.  With a hint of fury at the politics of endangered species preservation, he added that all of the models and theories that the corporate lawyers present in court do not mean squat, in the presence of pure, quantifiable data (Which he and many other researchers have collected over the past decade or so).

            Dr. Gutierrez explained that while spotted owls do use second growth, it usually contains remnants of old growth, and/or has trees which are large and have dense canopy cover.  He also hypothesizes that the nature of old growth permits, with its extrusive umbrella, an open understory to allow the hunting of mammals by the owls, on the ground.  As a side note, Rocky mentioned that during winter months, this canopy would also prevent snow levels from becoming too packed on the forest floor; thus creating a more suitable, living space for the owls.

            Frankly, I believe that the real issue is not with our avian allies, and is not a disregard for the livelihood of loggers, nor the loss of summertime, patio furniture.  The fact of this matter is that 90% of the old-growth forests have been exterminated completely, and those trees were centuries old.  The only argument here is whether we want to sacrifice the remaining ten percent of these unique redwoods for a temporary, childish whim; or whether we want something on our planet that is a piece of history and a beloved child of our nurturing.

            This last remnant of the great, tall trees is a testament to the productivity capability of the planet, as a single being.  The President of the United States of America is in fact, the most powerful man on the planet.  Thus, to my thinking, he should incorporate powerful wisdom and intelligence with regard to all state of affairs across the land and seas of the continents.  Simply said, George Bush mocked the spotted-owl controversy in disdain.  He, alike many others, well-educated and thoughtful, neglected to inform themselves to the fact that the marbled murrelet, the olympic salamander, and the coho salmon are among many other species that are threatened by the loss of this critical habitat.

            I hope and pray to the God-Almighty, Who reigns over the earth; that a leader will come to us who will know what is right, and what is good, and will get the job done.

 

 

 

Coexistence

 

 

            I’m completely relaxed from a week of academia, having lain on the grass, on the bank of Freshwater Lagoon, fishing; and I I.D.’d my first western grebe; a very beautiful bird, trying to grab some small minnows I suppose.  It has a sharp dark line on the back of its neck, and is very white underneath. 

            My red-winged blackbirds have returned to the lagoon.  There is something about the atmosphere of that body of water which causes their call to resonate with a particular, mystical demeanor; as opposed to the colonies I witnessed in Santa Rosa, in the middle of the city.  There just wasn’t the wild flavor that can be achieved from hearing the bird in the bush, as it were. 

            A colleague of mine has a distinction for wildlifers:  Trappers and biologists.  The trapper is juvenile in his maturity as a scientist, in that he just wants to get his hands on the birds, and is obsessed with numbers and data; as opposed to biological information and ecological interactions.  He is much like the hunter or the fisherman, in his strive to claim a trophy for the mantle.  I am fully aware of this predicament, because I am just now growing out of that phase of my development as a professional into the adult “molt” of the biologist.

            At this stage the wildlifer graduates to a higher learning; still enamored with capture techniques and recognizance evaluations of field experiments, he realizes that without a good, solid hypothesis, methods, and historical research on the question at hand, he is simply going into the field for recreation. 

            This is not to say that one should become sterilized in his appreciation and exuberance with the entire process of wildlife management and field work, but there is a certain degree of responsibility and respect that should be maintained with all species and habitats; and for that matter, other researchers should be complemented likewise.

            I have experienced much competition among fellow crew members, like I have said with trying to attain an award for their efforts.  This can be very frustrating, and at times counterproductive, and possibly harmful to the animals.  The whole belief system of ecocentrism should extend itself to humans as lifeforms also.  We need to work together, for the goal is common, and we all strive for the same end, with different means.

            I realize that a lot of this predatory nature amongst biologists comes from the fact that only ten percent of applicants will be hired for most of the jobs “out there,” and employers want the best.  This also is very behooving to me because it is a sharp reminder of how little emphasis is placed on the natural world in our government and social systems.  It is clear to me that education is the necessary tool to thwart this evil; for how can Joe Commoner vote on an important ecological issue if he does not know the value of his decisions?

            For the political leaders in this world, with the United States being the central authority, are merely puppets, attempting to gain votes with giving the people what they want.  The way I see it:  If the citizens of this nation are well informed, then the political tides will shift in the direction of conservation and wise use of natural resources.

 

 

 

Anthropocentrism

 

 

            A day early in March.  Midterms are over and I’m headed to my fishin’ hole, to relax, unwind, and seep into the earth once again; something that I haven’t been able to do lately, because I’ve been locked into a desk, and living in the library on campus.  My round of midterms ended today with my Upland Game exam.  This course is not what I expected, but at the same time I should have know that it would encompass everything that I am learning thus far. 

            Simply put:  It bores me to the extreme to learn about how to maximize the bag limits of sportsmen across the country and throughout the world, for that matter.  There is a paradox here though, in that roughly 75% of wildlife funding for research and management comes directly from hunting licenses, firearms, and ammunition purchases.

            This reality left an unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach when I first learned this fact upon starting my wildlife degree; and to this day I am still a bit disheartened with the lack of interest with public and political support for the natural world.  Basically, the people still want something to chase down and shoot at, or mount on their walls; yet they overlook the aesthetic value of maintaining viable populations in the wild for a healthy ecosystem.

            The process is slow, and at times it seems as if we remain primitive in our approach to the biosphere, yet I hope for a day when 75% of wildlife funding comes from taxpayers, private interest groups, and organizations for the environment.  As surely as we need scientists in the government, or perhaps our leaders should be qualified with a background in environmental science; we need mass support, extensive education, and optimistic hearts for the earth to maintain itself, as it has done for billions of years, prior to our arrival and conquest.

            With this notion I introduce the ethic of anthropocentrism, which entails a dominance over the natural world, with man as the central focus of all concerns and issues in the universe.  But I have heard it stated and I agree wholeheartedly that it is very much in mans best interest to nurture his surroundings; for Homo sapiens will prevail only with a sustainable, ecological purity.

 

 

 

Tyto alba III

 

 

            A train sounds off in the distance, as the cobalt gray skies turn bluish in their majestic sunrise.  A night of howling winds has died down to a minimum.  The scraping sound of leaves in the trees and the windchime mix with the roar through the boughs above.  I’ve been awake for more than three hours now, dissecting barn owl pellets, and still the moon smiles at me, bright and eerie, an incandescent white.  She is rising, enraptured in the stillness of  deep morning.

            I pick apart the skulls of harvest mice and California voles who suffered the fate of mortality induced by predation from one above these rodents on the proverbial food chain.  I pondered the thought of working around the clock, obsessed with my venture of becoming a wildlife biologist; for I have come to learn that the dusky-footed woodrat skull that I found was indeed from the barn owl, as other researchers have suggested to me, via the internet.

            For this is the preferred food of the Northern spotted owl, and I found one in my Tyto alba ensemble.  The other night, a few hours past dusk, my lover and I drove past the barns where I collected these specimens and we witnessed the nocturnal grandeur of four, curious and undaunted barn owls; perhaps the very ones that produced these samples, which I attend to readily and steadfast in my discipline of immaculate, ecological tinkering. 

            And in this process of careful scrutiny, Aldo Leopold has suggested that one must be cautious to save all of the pieces. 

 

 

 

Academia

 

 

            “The wilderness once offered men a plausible way of life.  Now it functions as a psychiatric refuge.  Soon there will be no wilderness.  Soon there will be no place to go.  Then the madness becomes universal.  And the universe goes mad.”

                                                                    --Edward Abbey, The Monkey Wrench Gang.

                        

            I make my escape into the wilderness once again, as the day dwindles into nothingness, and thoughts of academia float off into the netherworld of textbooks, exams, and termpapers; on the shelf for another day, far from this one, where my mind desperately needs to be cleansed of modern machinery and the wayward trends of anthropology.

            I wonder at where this madness began; boxing ourselves into a corner of the proverbial room; a perfect likeness for the state of the planet with one revolving moon.  A thought comes to mind that I pondered many years ago, regarding the profession of wildlife biology, and the inherent disposition of being outdoors.  During the course of my work in the years to come towards my retirement, I feel pity for those in the trap and relief that I did not take the bait; with precedence towards working a five-day week and hoping to get out on the waters or in the backwoods at least on a Sunday morning; for Saturday is the time to catch up on the bills, housework, and mowing the yard.

            Many people ask me why I would choose such a profession with such limited capital gains than that of the shallow, subordinate lifestyle of the monetarily elite.  My reply is simple:  At the very least, I will have one hell of an office.  With this I refer to the entire landscape of all regions and ecosystems being my place of work; with no lifeless walls to contain me, like a rat in a cage, adjacent to scores of other rats in the larger-scale maze of paradoxical servitude to the nine-to-five beast, which we humbly call “making a living.”

 

 

 

Deeper Ecology

 

 

            Saw my first wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) the other day.  I came around the corner on Highway 101 and nearly ran over what I thought to be a turkey vulture, but I knew when it didn’t fly off, but instead ran to the other side of the road, that it must be the ‘ol gobbler that I’ve been learning about in my Upland Game course.  I pulled over and chased him around, listened to him cluck, and watched as he nearly got hit by another car and then took off, showing me the broad band on his tail.  This bird was so immense, I can see why hunters would enjoy taking this species to their table.

            My lover asked me why everything in this life was so hard.  I thought about this for a second, and replied it is because the universe is in a constant state of entropy; that is, all matter is trying to break into a simpler form, and life strives to alter this course by building and creating an environment of sustainable use.  As someone once told me:  Going against nature is a part of nature too.

            I think that this is why I prefer simpler living, because it is quite frankly an easier mode of existence, in such a world of molecular diffusion.  For this thought I introduce, finally, my concept of Deeper Ecology, which to my thinking is a synthesis of what the Native American Indians and Buddhists and Taoists were trying to accomplish.  And with these three disciplines I shed a light of science and biology into the grand scheme of cosmic, inter-related metaphysics which seem to dominate the Homo sapien struggle to at once master the planet and attain a sense of humility through the process.

            Deeper Ecology is a realization that we are composed of the same elements that exist in nature, and thus we are no more important than all living and non-living material around us.  Some suggest that I am giving up the cause of environmental restoration, and perhaps denying my species of it’s grandeur (Which for some odd reason individuals insist on promoting).  All I am trying to do is propose a level of consciousness which surpasses most modern belief systems, and which I believe can lead to a richer and more fulfilling span of life on Spaceship Earth, before each and every one of our physical bodies returns to the soil.

            To me this is reality in it’s truest form.  This is the skeleton of every argument posed by every critical thinker that has ever been, and that will set foot upon this realm.  Humans have only been on the biosphere for a fraction of it’s entirety, and we must keep this in mind when trying to establish notions of mastery and dominance over an entity which gave birth to us to begin with and will persist long after we have wasted much valuable time, attempting to reverse it’s inherent processes of homeostasis.

    

 

 

Colaptes auratus

 

 

            Today, in my ornithology class, I had another chance to observe a specimen of the Northern Flicker, a woodpecker species of North America, and once again I was dumbfounded by the dazzling display of coloration on this bird.  It is the most beautiful of any that I have witnessed thus far in my studies.  The rosy, salmon-pink, colored circles which speckle it’s breast are a testament to the aesthetic glory of the natural world at it’s finest.

            The teacher’s assistant, a couple of weeks ago in lab, suggested that the orangish-red shafted feather that I had found while backpacking in the Sierras was indeed from this bird.  When learning the call for the Northern Flicker for my lab exam, I completely recognized the song as one that I have heard many, many times in the woods.  I will keep my eye out for this jewel of the avian kingdom in the future, when I am out hiking and exploring the Redwoods.

    

 

 

“The Chicken or the Egg” Hypothesis

 

 

            I am constantly amazed by the incredibly diverse, inherent, genetic processes involved with natural selection and evolution, in the formation of what we like to call species.  Evolutionary time is on an exponentially larger scale than human dominiotude.  In my quest for an answer to the question of God, in a world of science, I am hard pressed to believe that such a complex system of organisms could derive this intricacy all on it’s own, without some external omnipotent force.

            The most popular question when I was attending Baptist school in my youth was:  If God created us, then who created God?  And the adults at that time never had an answer, seeming caught up in the wonder of their own mystical relationship with this cosmic enigma of all that ever was, and all that will ever be; from the far reaches of Einstein’s ever-expanding universe to the tiniest particle of the Big-bang theory, divided into a billion remnants of one atomic microverse.

            I proudly display the Darwin fish-with-feet symbol (Which to some mocks the IXOYE emblem in a sacrilegious sin) on my daily planner and on the shell of my pick-up truck.  To me, Darwin and God are the perfect synthesis of all I know to be true, with regards to the creation of living and non-living material, which Homo sapiens have at their disposal, to use or not use wisely.

            I bring to these two ideologies the third component of wholeness that a perfect being can attain:  Deeper Ecology.  To this I mean to introduce a symbiotic relationship with the natural world, to the point where the consciousness realizes the physical brotherhood of elements on the period chart.

            For if you lie on the sands, on your back, with your arms and legs extended, surely each of the two of you and the minerals contain simultaneously different and similar pieces to the puzzle, yet as a whole, the process of nutrient cycling will insure that there is no hierarchy in the inherent value of either.

            I was taught at Baptist school that Darwin was evil, in the strictest sense, and that he was a fool for believing that humans came from monkeys.  Noticing the usual scare tactics of religion, I set aside the subjective discourse of my adolescent surroundings and consulted the literature on Darwinism and the evolution of species.

            What I found was no value-judgment on God, nor any evidence that Darwin stated that we are direct descendants from an ugly (To some), hairy, stinky, grunting beast with low intelligence, and (To the ignorant) no sense of social organization.  What Darwin did notice was that different species on adjacent islands in the Galapagos had different adaptations in their physiology to survive in various habitats and vegetative structure.

            Evolutionists do not claim that Homo sapiens suddenly came down from the trees, threw aside their bananas, and walked upright.  What the theory tells us is that Homo sapiens and the apes have a common ancestor with a point in time of divergence.  As far as “the missing link” argument is concerned, where Creationists say that there is no supporting evidence for evolution.

            I have always been baffled by the overt characteristics of Australopithecus, Homo habilus, and Homo erectus in our fossil record.  What other information does one need?  I also bring to this discussion Archaeopteryx lithographica, the cross-over fossil species from reptile to avian evolution.  This was a bird with scales and teeth, that would climb trees and glide to the ground. 

            So now we have scientific data that shows that the natural processes of evolution are real and I believe that they should not be feared in a quest to fill the void of daily rituals with religion.  One should not ignore the facts of the matter. 

            I pose a challenge to anyone with the most creative mind on the planet:  Tell me how each and every species of insect (Which will never be taxonomically recorded by humans because of the vast complexity of the millions of these creatures) were gathered and contained by Noah on his ark?

            With all of my evidence clearly stated, I now propose the tenet of the birth, growth, and death of everything that has ever been:  Creation through evolution.  Surely it sounds scary and even strange to most, but this is the only truth that I been able to draw out of human culture, literature, science, philosophy, and theology.

            I do not know if God is an eighty-year-old, white man with white robes and a long, salt-and-pepper beard, with a kind look on His face; as we are taught in our pop-culture societies.  Let me confuse you even more, by saying that I believe that every God from every religion is a figment of Homo sapien imagination, and is and was designed for psychological, social, political, and personal needs.  For I am a scientist, and until I have concrete physical evidence which shows otherwise, I will maintain this belief and challenge anyone to oppose me.

            Yet, in closing, I do not deny, nor renounce, the possibility and probability of a force “out there” which began this cycle.  For I know that matter cannot be created from nothing.  Thus it is irrelevant for one to ask if the chicken or the egg came first.  I will be damned if all of this “stuff” was always here, waiting to happen.  It does not make sense, and it leaves one empty, deep inside, with the pains of atheistic opportunity at cynicism.

            To bring support to my belief that there must be some kind of God out there, I am constantly reminded of the nature of living beings, and the spirit of non-living entities; in that love and survival are universal traits.

 

 

 

Ignorance is Bliss

 

 

            Some people seem to think, in their societal ignorance, that I am naive in my quest for something other than the norm, with my proposals of ecological harmony on an individual basis.  Let me assure you that I have “heard it all” in the scientific, social, and academic circles; from weak-minded individuals claiming that “we’re doing the best that we can, and we’re doing a damn, good job” (i.e. Ex-President Bush), and reports that the end of the world is coming anyway, and why bother; to citizens claiming that recycling cans and bottles is enough, and that ecological systems work fine the way that they are.

            The basic fact is that this is not just a favorite pastime that I am involved with.  This is the cold, hard truth, as it were.  The main cause of the universal denial of ecological reality is the selfish nature of societal morays and programming.  For no one wants to live in the bush, in the elements, with the bugs, the rain, and the dirt. 

            We, as the master race, are working on ways to prolong the life expectancy of what is already a population which is destroying the earth with it’s exploitation of resources.  All of this madness will not cease until the social trends of acceptability and proper behavior are in this vain of environmental salvation, and political figures will not change the laws to govern and maintain these biological realities until this is done.

            We ecologists know that education is the only tool at our disposal, and at times it is frustrating to “sit and wait” while the system shows obvious symptoms of an internal cancer, caused by external neglect.  Ignorance will “get you to Heaven” with a superficial smile on your face, yet in the back of your mind, in the pit of your stomach, and in the deep recesses of your heart, you will know that if you did not at least try to make a change, then you will have betrayed the very thing which gave you life.

 

 

 

Reality Check

 

 

            Artificial, florescent light illuminated the sterile, white walls of an office strewn with the papers of a corporate, tax accountant.  His clothes freshly dry-cleaned, a gift from last Christmas, and his face showed no blemish, with it’s perfectly shaven and tanned complexion.  Not a hair on his golden head was out of place. 

            At first he seemed friendly, and my thoughts wandered to the prospect of changing my major to business administration, and making six digits annually in a clean, controlled environment such as this, with pictures of the family on the desktop to remind me of salvation after a long day’s work.

            How easy it seems to learn tax codes and write-offs, instead of trying to save the earth, as I have chosen.  My hallucination vanished rapidly, as the tension mounted with each crossfire interaction betwixt the suit and my lover and I across from him.  His verbal assaults were anything but subliminal; while his lifeblood was the umbilical cord of his computer monitor, fax modem, and telephone wall jack.

            It is obvious that he hated his existence, and a sharp reminder struck me between the eyes of how it was in corporate America, not many years ago when I was part of that workforce.  The superficial false-fronts of back-stabbing smiley-faces left a loathing in my heart for days after this visit.  Thank God that I got out of it, and that I am trying to get away from it, and I pity those that aren’t aware of what they are doing to begin with.

            For there is an interesting bumper sticker that I have seen recently proclaiming:  He who dies with the most toys, still dies.

 

 

 

Homo sapiens IV

 

 

            Do not be fooled nor caught in the mechanical machinery of societal arrogance, my friends.  Free your soul to experience the all of the whole, specifically resemblant of a day with no closure, no end to the ultraviolet, golden healing of a great ball of fire placed in alignment to our macrocosm earth.

            The magnitude of your explorations in this ecological reality are infinite, most assuredly dependent, and questionably resistible (At least for a fragment of evolutionary time).  Do not hesitate to succumb to your inherent instinct to pluck a flower from the bush and bask in it’s purity of fragrant delights; nor prance as a child in an overgrown meadow or on a deep, forest trail; nor dive from on high to the depths of an electric river or omnipotent ocean; nor awake to breath real, untainted O­₂ in snow-crested, geological Alps of titanic servitude to the entirety of the perfectly molded rock in space (Holding to the physical efficiency of an orb to procure survival in a hostile cosmosphere).

            For just as the “weed” shall rise from a crack in the pavement caused from the mighty, subterranean roots of the urbanized tree, so too shall the ecological spirit of man, plant, and beast thrive and prosper until the unlikely and unsubstantiated “end of time.”

 

 

 

Global Ecology

 

 

            The figures are astounding in their portrayal of the worldwide rape of the land:  Nearly 100% of the face of the earth in Ethiopia, Japan, and The United Kingdom has been disturbed; with a similar 75% rate in the U.S., Mexico, and China.  Also, 95% of the forests in the U.S. have been lost, while only 10.5% of the total land area in the country is protected there (The rest (89.5%) is exploited).

            As can be seen, the cancerous growth of human invasion has spread to the far reaches of every continent on mother earth.  We have set aside land for parks and refuges, which have shown to be increasingly ineffectual, because of the island biogeography theory of poor dispersal and geographic isolation, which causes populations of wildlife to go extinct.

            We simply can’t section off a small plot of real estate in the midst of civilization and expect it to function as a micro-ecosystem with unlimited potential.  Furthermore, zoos and captive breeding programs are hardly a match for true wilderness, for these animals are far less keen to predators, and often become habitualized and imprinted to humans and their interactions.

            Healthy populations must consist of a great amount of individuals in order to persist.  This is because of genetic traits, mutation, inbreeding, and general heterozygosity of alleles in the traits shared and passed on to the offspring.  Dispersal, via proximate patch availability and transportation corridors is the salvation of these remnants of the dissolved landscape, in which the flora and fauna have free reign.

            A long time before I learned this in my college courses, I keyed in to this process in the city park bordering nearby hillsides, which at that time were undeveloped due to rough, mountainous terrain.  Over the years, as I hiked there, I noticed that the city was spreading up the hill, and probably now over, spilling into another valley, like an explosion with no end.  What was once a wilderness park, with it’s coyotes, deer, and rattlesnakes, readily witnessed; has now become just what I described: A city park, with a manicured lawn equipped with sprinkler systems and picnic tables for a Sunday afternoon for the family to “get out into nature.”

            I bring to this discussion the recurrent buzzword called rainforest, which evokes majestic visions of valleys filled with rivers of fog, brightly colored birds; and low and behold, a pair of massive tractors, with a 50-meter length of chain sweeping every tree in it’s wake, decimating a grove in a matter of minutes.

            Yes, the tropical rainforest is the most diverse ecosystem on the planet, primarily because of the highly-specialized niches, incredible nutrient availability, and proportional energy influx from the rich and abundant biomass, which seemingly litters the terrain.  Unfortunately, a large proportion of this quality habitat is found in undeveloped countries, where conservation is a luxury.

            A common practice which nearly literally brings tears to my eyes is the slash-and-burn technique of agricultural clearing of land of which impoverished, indigenous peoples practice for their livelihood.  For, after a minimal amount of time, the soil in one area becomes nutrient-depleted, thus a new site must be obtained to produce viable crops, thus forests are decimated at a sickening and utterly evil rate.

            I became morbidly depressed in ecology course years ago when I saw satellite photographs of the earth taken at night, which showed scores of  “wildfires” burning across the planet, primarily located in rainforests, caused by what I have just described.  The feelings that are conjured by this atrocity are those of deep pain and a very strong motherly instinct for the nurturing and healing of this sickness, which is plainly seen to those, who, like me, have the stomach, or perhaps the honesty to look upon.

            The naturalist side of me cannot bear the site of a tree which has been harvested for human use.  For the dismembered stump which remains is a mockery of the dignity once claimed by the testimonial lifesource by the one who wields the ax.  The simple fact is that trees produce the oxygen which we breathe.  It is pitiful enough to have to stay indoors on a warm day in a large city to avoid being rendered unconscious from the poisonous fumes of industry.

            The accounts of air pollution are endless, with some of the most striking to my mind being the Black Forest in Germany, which is nearly gone, from acid rain caused by the rapid advancement of modern machinery in that country.  A professor of mine once told the class that air pollution didn’t matter, because it was simply blown “somewhere else.”  This did not sit well with me, and does not to this day.  This will not suffice.

            Another example of corporate madness is in a seemingly pristine, alpine lake, located outside of New York city, where another professor of mine expected to find countless circles on the top of the water in the morning from trout foraging for insects (A common site in a typical wilderness setting).  Yet, he found the lake to be entirely, and without exception, a motionless void of highly acidic water.

            Furthermore, scientists have documented a one degree overall increase in global temperature in recent history, giving evidence to the “greenhouse effect” of the diminishment of the ozone layer; this perverse, proverbial newsflash, which has captured the interest of millions over the last few decades.  Again, satellite images show that this risk in our protective coating from the sun’s ultraviolet rays is increasing as time goes on, caused by the build-up of carbon dioxide, stemming from the overharvest of trees.

            Thus I pose a solution in the broadest sense, to deal with a combined sum of local catastrophes, which has become a global epidemic.  What is needed is a committee composed of leaders from each and every country, representing each city, state, and tribe which consists of that region.  There must be a protocol for every nation to follow, in order to succeed in our goal as a race, in the longevity of Homo sapiens as well as all other forms of life on the biosphere.

            I would hope that the petty wars would end, which to outside observers must seem as trivial as the “too many rats in a cage with no place to go” syndrome.  First and foremost on the agenda will be a global birth rate of one-child-per-couple throughout their lifetime, and subsidies, as in China, for those who willingly go without giving birth at all, and severe penalties for those who exceed this one-child limit.

            We must incorporate scientists into our political systems, for any of this to succeed.  My fear and dread comes with the urgency that this process must be implemented within the next 25 years, or the doom-and-gloom philosophies of many ecologists will come to prevail.  For even though I may not see one of the mighty black rhinos in Africa in my lifetime, it simply feels good to know that they are there, and that they are well.

            For how can we have respect for ourselves as a species, if we do not treat other organisms with the same honor and integrity?  As a final note, to synthesize this whole establishment of population control, I believe that once this is in effect, many, if not all, of our environmental problems will take care of themselves, since the basic premise of this movement is that too many humans, requiring too many resources, have basically mucked it all up.      

    

 

 

Earth Day

 

 

            Chernobyl spews radioactive waste into the atmosphere, and is forgotten.  The Exxon Valdez oil spill is remembered for a year or two, and left somewhere in a stack of old newspapers in the garage.  Hussad Insane (As I like to call him) dumps tons of toxic oil into the ocean and no one remembers.  The peace sign comes and goes as a novelty to fill shelves in the trinket stores downtown.

            It is April now and Earth Day is coming, a single 24 hours devoted to the cause of glorifying our support systems, and when this day is over every year, the next holiday is considered.  Well, Earth Day has come and gone since I wrote that last line, and with each annual passing it fades further into the subconscious of the time, less than a decade ago, when it was first brandished upon our American minds as a necessary cure for the political evils running rampant in our media.

            This is a quick-fix, band-aid approach to the “emergency room” mentality of Westerners.  As Elvis, and his revamped legendary status has grown stale over the last couple of years, so too has this day of remembrance for the natural world lost it’s popularity.  How soon we forget, as the saying goes. 

            A professor once told me that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it’s mistakes.  To us ecologists, Earth Day is every day of the year, and is never forgotten.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Canis lupus

 

 

            Saw my first killdeer today, at the ocean; a distinctly striped little creature that peeped at my presence but did not flush; yet another testament to the glory of nature’s womb.

            I was recently reading a book by Barry Lopez called “Of Wolves and Men,” which documents several attacks on humans by these canids.  Perhaps the wildlife professor who instructed some eighty students that wolves were quite docile was ignorant to the truth, for I am finding, as I have been told by the wildlife department chair at Humboldt State University, that there are always exceptions to the rule in natural systems.  Certainly this is the case here.

            This example confirms my belief that, as I have witnessed in keeping critters in aquariums in my home, that if another animal is small enough to fit into the mouth of another, it will be eaten.  To back this hypothesis, I call to mind my tropical fish, where only fish of the same size can be placed in the same tank, or cannibalism will prevail.  Also, my spotted salamander grins mischievously in her waterbowl, as I wonder where one of the smaller green treefrogs disappeared to.

            Yes, many species of wildlife do eat their young, and at this point I would search for exceptions to my belief that every creature on the planet has the capability and often utility of cannibalism (Not excluding Homo sapiens).

 

 

 

The “Umbrella” Approach

 

 

            To further my advocation and emphasis on the importance of ecosystem management (See Appendix B), it has been noted that over 350 species of flora and fauna (24 species of birds, 18 mammals, 26 amphibians and reptiles, 28 fish, 58 mollusks, 59 arthropods, 144 vascular plants, and 8 fungi and lichens) are found in the old growth forest habitat of the Northern spotted owl and are thus protected in the land policies and refuges set aside for these endangered owls (Anthony, 1993).

            Another consideration of this multi-species management is that patches of protected habitat will prove ineffective for smaller species with limited dispersal (Such as the Del Norte salamander), as opposed to the spotted owl, which has a proposed 20 km maximum proximity between protected areas.

            The Option 9 plan has been initiated, and is currently in use to insure a minimal amount of lumber harvest, which is selective, and to manage for the matrix between reserves to allow movement and dispersal between these remnants of what was.

            Once again I am concerned about the Forest Service, for their practices of ecosystem policy have a bias towards the goods and services obtained from the backbone of this network; namely, the trees.

            Corridors are extremely vital to the survival of populations of wild animals, to avoid the deadly effects of the extinction vortex; which is characterized by inbreeding depression, low reproductivity, low survival, low recruitment, and continues in this cycle to the point of nothingness.  The best illustration to portray this phenomenon would be the receding waters swirling down the porcelain bowl as the toilet is flushed.

            Another facet of ecosystem management was initiated with the grizzly bear in Yellowstone Park, where the range used by the bear was much greater than the park boundaries allowed.  Thus one of the tenets of ecosystem management was developed which states that ecological rather than political boundaries should define the reserve.

            In closing, I would like to share the reality that the current campaign “Beef: Real Food for Real People,” spends more government money than is given to agencies and private organizations for endangered species management.  This is yet another perfect example of where the priorities of Homo sapiens are procured.

 

 

 

Man’s Best Friend

 

 

            I am fully aware that large, warm and fuzzy critters are more in the public favor than slimy, scaly herps.  Until recently, I too held to the notion that only mammals could be readily accessible through touch and vocal communication to humans, primarily as pets.  Perhaps this is because furbearers most closely resemble the Homo sapien morphology and in many ways coincide with our behavior rituals and instincts (At least more plainly seen).

            At first I thought that a friend of mine was ignorant when he stressed the importance of spending time each day handling my caged animals such as the firebelly newts which I had in a 10-gallon aquarium.  I neglected them, and every last one of them died soonafter they were purchased.

            Over the last four months, since I have “managed” for the special needs of all of my reptiles and amphibians, I have had no problems whatsoever.  That same friend even went so far as to suggest that “quality time” should be spent with aquarium fish also.  That one really blew my mind, but with repeated experimentation, I discovered that he was correct in his assumptions in that theory also.

            For I would swear to the Holy Maker that my two lizards had huge grins on their faces today, smiling at me, in their micro-habitat, which I had created for them, complete with food, shelter, warmth, water, and living space (All of the components needed for wildlife in nature).

            I now have two corn snakes (Elaphe guttata).  One I have had for several months, and she is very sweet and does not mind being handled at all, whereas the other, which I just recently purchased, coils in a striking position each time I approach it, and actually bit me the other day. 

            I add to this prospect of affiliation with other biological entities, the proverbial myth of a man standing still as a statue and having flocks of birds landing on his outstretched arms, shoulders, and head; with no fear nor flight prevalent in their demeanor.  In my wildlife courses we are taught that the researcher must always be in control of the animal, or at least in control of him or herself, in regards to the approach of handling wildlife.  This is the same scenario that involves running from a carnivore, in that it will psychologically respond with attack.

            Also, I am not sure what evidence holds for the belief that animals can “smell” fear, as if some chemical were produced which is released in the air and picked up by their hyper-sensitive noses, which sends yet more chemicals to their brain, which unravels hundreds of centuries of instinct and evolution into the predatory realm of survival of the fittest.

            Conrad Lorenz will be the first to tell you that we are not much different from our relatives in the wild.  For he has been seen walking with a string of ducklings following him, as if they believed that he was their mother (Which is exactly what they believed: For research shows that they must have imprinted him as their parent upon birth).

            Thus I lead my discussion to the concept of love, which is not even fully understood with Homo sapiens, as of yet.  The definition of this term is very vague and subject to scrutiny, yet the general consensus is that most, if not all, of us feel this emotion at one time or another at varying degrees, and towards different destinations.

            Here and now, I am going to state the fact that I believe that every living organism (and perhaps nonliving) also feels love, and perhaps the whole kaleidoscope of other feelings and thought processes that Homo sapiens have historically claimed absolute right to in their arrogance to master the universe.

            Cats and dogs, our most common domesticated allies, surely prove this synthesis of Homo sapien and non-human emotional and intellectual capability.  Examples of this can be more readily drawn from studies of the apes and marine mammals.  The obvious problem here is that we cannot get inside of their heads to know what they are thinking and feeling; and we are trying to develop ways to communicate with other species to determine and understand this phenomenon.

            I learned a lot studying owls a few years ago; in that, one could tell when an individual owl was pissed off, tired, scared out of it’s mind, or comfortable based on the posture, vocalizations, facial expressions, and general “vibe” that one observed from that animal.  Sometimes the owls would fall asleep in your arms, until a sudden movement would stir them from slumber, while other times it was necessary to wear a thick coat and gloves to keep from having your flesh ripped open by their powerful, hooked bill.

            A distinct memory that comes to my mind is that of scratching the back of a barn owl’s neck and “cooing” it to sleep.  I have a theory that the reason people are attacked and killed by mountain lions and bears is that their psychological boundaries are not as intact as others, who have averted these encounters with no problems whatsoever.  Wild animals use their senses to the ultimate extreme; something which science and technology has rendered useless to Homo sapiens.  It is critical to the survival of these species who exist every moment throughout their lifetime in a state of existence called “eat-or-be-eaten.”

            Thus I can assure you that the cougar knows when it’s prey can be easily taken or not, as it lies in wait atop a ravine and witnesses an exhausted jogger lumbering uphill towards it’s famished belly.  By the way, we are probably seeing many more mountain lions in the country, and especially in California, because we are encrouching upon their habitats with our dwellings, not just because their numbers are growing due to protection.

            I will not even attempt to discuss here the ramifications of  theological development amongst wild animals; for if indeed they do at least have a minimal amount of emotion and intellect which corresponds with Homo sapien cerebral intricasy, then we are in big trouble, with regards to our definition of God and afterlife, for again, I believe we should take a look at our arrogance at proclaiming that we alone are caretakers of all of the flora and fauna of the earth.

            Furthermore, what if, in our multiverse of infinite billions of gaseous balls of energy, which we refer to as stars, there is a chunk of “rock” which contains all of the principle elements which our earth has boasted for all of it’s millineum?  And what if this potential life-bearing sphere (Formed thus because of physics) were caught in the pull of the orbit of one of these stars “out there” which was roughly the same distance and size as our own glorious sun is to our planet?

            And what if this happened many billions of years before the process of life began on earth, to the extent of producing the same results, yet far sooner, and thus life on that theoretical planet was given substancial evolutionary time to advance far beyond the current Homo sapien domain and understanding of science?

            Would this then provide a plausible explanation for extra-terrestrial life?  Again, the insecurity of Homo sapien arrogance holds to the superstition that what cannot be seen, surely doesn’t exist.

 

 

 

The Killing Jar

 

 

            I discovered a tiny salamander amidst the foliage in the forest the other day, as I peeled back a patch of moss on the steep slope of the streambank.  Apparently this complex unit of ecosystematic diversity procures the inate details of the evolutionary process to which I am so fascinated with, in my examination of the natural world.  Each species is adapted to a particular climate, with its inherent weather patterns, stochastic events, disturbance regimes, vegetative age and size composition; not to mention all of the other members of the community which hold this particular piece to the proverbial puzzle in check, and a fluctuating prosperity.  The integrity of ultra-complex systems combines the benefits of quality and quantity, for if left alone for many a millenia, this duality will preserve a network of richness which man seeks to overrule, and classify in the killing jar, in his laboratory with his white coat and his forceps.

            Recently, in morbid detail, a friend of mine described the routine slaughter of canids and felines at the local Humane Soceity here in Humboldt County.  This was a place that boasts with its posters and propanda that it is trying to in fact save these warm, fuzzy critters; while behind closed doors, they are swiftly injected with toxins to make space for more animals awaiting this deadly assembly line of inhuman carnage.  My friend was traumatized by working at this fascility, to say the least.

            I do not have an answer for the reason why we (as God’s holy keepers of all of the beasts upon the planet) see it necessary to splash drops of highly irritating chemicals into the eyes of a rabbit (since this taxa is very sensitive to this “test”), set dogs on fire to investigate their resistence to flame, and the immeasurable ammount of rodents which we have injected with every virus and ailment known to man thus far; all of these attrocities in the name of forwarding the Homo sapien pseudo-indeginious claim to an existence which denies and rationalizes any feelings of remorse, in the name of science.

            Just because a dolphin may seem more graceful and thus more valuable than a rattlesnake, this does not mean that it is okay for us to buy dolphin-safe tuna, yet lop the heads of the “varmint” in our gardens, to make a better suitability for our divine standards of  “homeostasis” with nature.

 

 

 

Stochasticity

 

 

            Another storm has hit Humboldt County, in the middle of May, and I am off to my  fishin’ hole.  I was recently in a gift shop, and purchased a beautiful California quail candle, and not thirty seconds after leaving the store, saw a live specimen on a post outside.  I was filled with joy at the wonderment of life, as I watched it watching me, nearby a grassy plot of land.  It is amazing what you will see when you are looking for it.

            A classic example of this is when two lads are set off into the woods, and they returned to report what they had seen on their excursion.  While one said that he had seen nothing at all except for some trees and rocks, the other reported five different species of birds, a bobcat, a raccoon, and a rack of deer antlers lying in the foliage.

            This fine line, once crossed, enters the individual into the domain of complete reverie and servitude to the natural wonderment of all that has been granted to every species which traversed this terrestrial domain.  For I was forced out of my fishing spot because of a downpour of rain and extremely high winds.  I thought, while being pounded with precipitation, that one must completely surrender oneself to this energy and power to fully harness its capacity to heal and enlighten the traveler into a realm of utterly breathtaking communion with the elements.

            Thank the good Lord that we are still devastated with floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanoes, for these mighty beasts remind us of our kinship to the forces which have created this non-artificial experiment called life.  For in this wakening, the monkey that is continuously attached to my back (bills, academia, and confrontation) has vanished into a surreal memory of something that was never meant to be in the first place.  We try so hard to shelter ourselves from the central cathartic forces of evolutionary grandeur.

            As I head home for shelter and safety, to my urban trappings, I witness a windsurfer braving the storm on the waters of Big Lagoon, and I admire his courage and delight with this seething tempest, for he, just as I, with my fishing rod cast skyward, could become a lightning-rod at any moment, thus returning to a bundle of nutrients, released into the ecosystems which we have tried to manipulate and have simply deviated from millions of years of intricate weavery, and the web of biodiversity.

            Now we are trying to incorporate man with beast, and I do not think that this will work as planned, in that it will be highly maladapted to our advancement and all of the natural processes will be thwarted into a simple paradox of which species will be adapt to our cities, roads, and channeled waterways across the landscape.  For we have selected for the generalists (Corvids, sparrows, and a certain selection of small mammals presented to our scheme of mass extinction) and to my thinking we have exterminated the most beautiful of the creatures; not to place any hierarchical context on the value of an individual species, but still evolutionary “weeding” of highly structured systems has produced some of the most wonderful and unique lifeforms known to us since cell-division began.

            The “Golgi Aparatus” boasts that it can create amino acids (building blocks of proteins); assumed to thus to produce life, with a primitive mastery of planet earth.  Yet there is still much that we need to learn and frankly I am not sure if we are supposed to have access to this knowledge to begin with.

 

 

 

Earth Summit

 

 

            “With our backs turned to the place in nature from which we came, we sense an unfamiliar tide rising and swirling around our ankles, pulling at the sand beneath our feet.  Each time this strange new tide goes out, it leaves behind the flotsam and jetsam of some giant shipwreck far out at sea, startling images washed up on the sands of our time, each a fresh warning of hidden dangers that lie ahead if we continue on our present course.”

                                                      --Vice-President Al Gore, Earth in the Balance.

 

            I found a critical and poignant answer to one of my most vital beliefs in global, ecological restoration while reading Al Gore’s forward to his book “Earth in the Balance.”  In 1992, the “Earth Summit” took place to bring together all nations of the planet to discuss environmental concerns and solutions to problems.

            Gore reports that “the summit spawned widespread recognition of a powerful change in thinking that is now underway in both industrial and developing countries, and laid the groundwork for important shifts in policies throughout the world to stop the destruction of the global ecological system.”

            I continued reading the vice-president’s words and found myself enraptured in a state of agreement and rich discovery with nearly every topic that he touched upon.  Gore was quick to point out that “the American people are convinced that we should offer leadership on the environment because it is the right thing to do, and that it is in our economic interest.”

            He also noted that President Bush “failed to understand the great moral challenge” (At the summit) “and was deaf to the world’s heartfelt cry for leadership from the United States, by threatening to torpedo the entire earth summit in order to prevent the adoption of targets and timetables for CO₂ reductions.”

            This was a major embarrassment for our country, since all of the other nations were cooperative at this monumental gathering.  Gore continues: “The American people reject the argument proffered by the Bush Administration that we must choose between jobs and the environment.  Instead, they believe that we can prosper by leading the environmental revolution and producing for the world marketplace the new products and technologies that foster economic progress without environmental destruction.”

            Needless to say, Clinton and Gore have my vote for the 1996 Elections by a longshot.  This is the exact type of government that we need.  One that utilizes a new, modern, and intelligent way of thinking towards the world.  My whole point about environmentally-sound products is that they must be cheaper to produce to have any value to businesses.  Let us not wait until it is mandatory to begin this campaign, for the proverb says: “A stitch in time, saves nine.”

 

 

 

Ecosystems

 

 

            The definition of an ecosystem is multiple and varied, often times leading to confusion and argument, in lieu of practical and timely response to the declining health of exactly what it is that we are trying to define in the first place. 

            In my Ecosystem Management course at the University, I posed a question to the group:  If an ecosystem is a perfectly functioning whole, then what exactly are the ramifications of one action of manipulation affecting another component of this natural process?  Our professor was quick to provide a case study of how elk populations had dramatically increased due to management in the Sierras, and the result was that they severely reduced the amount of riparian vegetation, which in turn altered the ecology of the streams and lakes in the area, in turn diminishing trout habitat, and effectively reducing these trout populations.

            This is a perfect example of the importance of the protection of all wild lands and the swift renewal of these chains which link our global ecology as one, living and breathing entity.  This also makes me wonder as to what extent we have already thwarted the environment as a whole; with our alterations of wetlands, clearcutting, slash and burning of rainforests, air pollution, species extinction, and the inevitable climate change from the impending effects of global warming.

            Can we even begin to measure how much damage has been done, let alone where and when and how to repair this atrocity?  One idea is that perhaps most commoners rely on their twenty dollar, annual contributions to conservation groups, so that they can rest well at night, and feel assured that this allowance will conserve a healthy planet for their lineage.  If they only knew the truth, as I know it, and as the serious ecologists are striving to make the world realize; that if we don’t start soon, we are never going to repair these interassociated ecosystems.

            Again, these commoners, in their societal ignorance, may believe that with plowing a field with bulldozers for homesteading, that all of the inhabitants (wildlife) will simply go somewhere else, and live fine and happy.  We ecologists know differently, for these displaced animals will be cast out of already inhabited territories and will typically become forced into unsuitable habitat, where they will quite simply die from lack of proper “living arrangements.”

            This same professor that I have mentioned, also indicated to the group that he has noticed a credible difference in the climate of this area, in the past ten years that he has lived here.  His inference was implied towards this impact of regional, environmental fluctuations.  What he hinted towards was that perhaps this is not the only area that is being severely altered by man’s actions over the last hundred years.

            I look upon a photograph of an island off Alaska, and I see the same clearcut situation which I have mentioned earlier in this book, where a narrow line of trees is kept intact around the fringes of the island to mislead the casual observer as to the utter annihilation of all life within.  This gross display of extermination points towards a more obvious form of ecosystem destruction.  A less overt example would be of a phenomenon which I have learned recently in a waterfowl course.

            First and foremost, there is the suggestion that the original top-level predators of North America (Grizzlies and wolves) have been wiped out, therefore there are more coyotes and fox; which in turn has devastated waterfowl populations.  These small canids eat both eggs and hens on these duck nests.  Early in wildlife management, some fifty or sixty years ago, it was predominantly believed that predator control (killing) was a safe and effective means for increased game populations of wildlife.

            They were right, in that it was highly successful in improving the nest success of the desired species; but as with the case of the waterfowl, as soon as managers ceased these predator controls, the fox numbers were back up to normal.  Thus it is only a short term modification.  Have we ever stopped to think that perhaps the way things were, without our “management,” were perhaps the ways that worked the best?

            It is my personal belief that wildlife management should only be used to restore wildlife habitats, populations, and species to the levels at which they were found at the point before we started our manipulations.  This probably began with overharvest.  I do not believe that we should maximize game species for our own recreational uses.  The reason for this is that, as I have stated many times, there is an equal and opposite reaction to increasing the numbers of game species.

            What I mean is that the ecological resources that go into producing more of these animals is lost from other species.  Thus the balance is skewed in an unequalibrium.  This is why I believe that there are many studies (which receive extensive funding) which would be better utilized at managing the whole, and not simply a band-aid approach to this global ailment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Testament  

 

 

            Let this book serve as my will and testament to the earth, and to all of the creatures which embrace it’s sustenance.  Homo sapiens CAN exist with the flora and fauna of this intricately woven, deterministic process of renewal.  The only question lies in what I am sure many scientists are trying to quantify; and that is:  Precisely what levels are “safe” for our environment?

            Wise use of our natural resources must be examined wholeheartedly, and to the last detail.  We must cease the expungement of minerals, fuels, and biota from the landscape.  We have extracted enough to procure a future population of humans which will still allow for man’s culture and quality of life to remain intact.  What we need to focus on now is lowering, if not exterminating, the birth rate explosion across the globe; and also to return to the earth the vital ingredients to the fully-functioning system which we have disrupted with our arrogance.

            Moderation is the ultimate test for our race, as we strive to reach an agreement with the land, the sky, the waters, and all of the creatures which thrive around us.  If we want to save what we have had at our disposal over the last few centuries, as is the common goal, I believe, for most of us, then we must make haste in our plans to reduce our numbers, and procure the balance of the rest of the sentient beings which were here long before our minds developed into ways to exploit them.

            Let this book also serve as my summation of findings and theories, as a will and testament that I leave to all generations of Homo sapiens to come, as a warning and a lesson, and as a profound guideline and protocol for the insurance of a universal home (which is the definition of ecology) for us all; no longer separate, but as one, whole lifesource; thriving, nourishing, and advancing the biosphere as an intact and everlasting encompassment of beauty and grandeur.

 

 

 

Epilogue

 

 

            “We end, I think, at what might be called the standard paradox of the twentieth century:  Our tools are better than we are, and grow better and faster than we do.  They suffice to crack the atom, to command the tides.  But they do not suffice for the oldest task in human history:  To live on a piece of land without spoiling it.”   

 

Aldo Leopold (1938).

 

Appendix A

 

 

Bear Myths And Neanderthals

 

 

            Joseph Campbell stated that the mythic image of the cave bear is the earliest known form of religious affiliation in the history of humans.  The Neanderthal, nearly 80,000 years ago, began this tradition, primarily through ritualistic burials.  Wymer (1982) emphasizes this point by stating that "the advent of intentional burial marks a significant change in attitude and it cannot be coincidental that it occurs when the archaeological evidence shows a considerable advance in the economy of hunting groups."

            One of the earliest burial sights of these precursors to Homo sapiens was discovered in France, estimated to be 60,000 to 80,000 years old.  Wymer (1982) reports that "the skeleton of an adult was found inside a cave, laid on a flat bed of stones and covered by a veritable cairn of other stones, surmounted by sand and ash.  Mixed with the covering stones were many cores, flakes and scrapers, and animal bones, mainly of bear and deer.  Nearby, the body of a brown bear had been placed in a dug grave."

            In another grave at this same sight, a bear's head had been placed in the arms of the deceased.  I Russia, during this same period, a young boy was buried with his head surrounded by goat's horns, which Wymer (1982) says were "stuck upside down into the earth, to form a kind of crown."  Brown bear as well as the remains of other animals were also found there.

            Wymer also reports that in Switzerland, "a stone cyst had been built to house a stack of bear skulls and there were piles of sorted long bones placed in heaps elsewhere along the walls of the cave.  In another heap, a leg bone had been forced through a skull which was resting on two other long bones of two different bears.  Similarly, Ten bear skulls had been laid on a natural platform in Bavaria, while 310 canine teeth of bears had been amassed in Germany.

            Again, in France, six bear skulls had been placed on limestone slabs, two others put nearby, and a bundle of long bones set on a slab against a cave wall.  In Yugoslavia, bear bones had been placed in a crevice before blocking it with stones."  Also, bear images appeared in the artwork on the walls of these caves.

            It was clearly obvious that Neanderthals had a purpose for such ritualistic burials and shrines.  The people who originally inhabited these sites became known as "bear cults."  Trinkaus (1993) states that these bear skulls "were seen as objects involved in ancient rituals, rather than as the remains of cave-dwelling animals that had died in their dens."  Freeman (1980) notes: "Whatever their interpretation, these burials suggest a concern for the proper treatment and well-being of members of society beyond death's frontier and the beginnings of complex ideological and social practices like those of fully modern man."

            The most widely accepted theory for this ritualistic burial and cave art was that it was a form of hunting magic.  Dickson (1990) says that "game animal paintings were done by hunters seeking to control or increase the numbers of their quarry by imitative means.  Conversely, pictures of predators, such as lions, hyenas, or bears, were presumed to have been painted to bring about the magic destruction of these dangerous rivals."

            If the bear of this time period was seen as a powerful enemy to man, it makes sense that they would attempt to lessen or perhaps become one with the power of this beast.  It has been asserted that this "bear cult" is the earliest form of shamanism, wherein the nonduality of man and animal are united physically, via graves and cave paintings, and thus become esoterically as one entity.

            I had chosen this topic with particular interest because the black bear is my totem animal.  I have always sensed the incredible energy which emanates from this creature, as I have encountered them in the wild many times, and have witnessed their terrific energy and powerful aura each time. 

            Thus it is easy for me to imagine this mythical connection to the bear that the Neanderthals had, and the rituals of these "bear cults" only serve to reemphasize an eternally vital link to the natural world around us, since the dawn of man through present day.

    

 Appendix B

 

 

Important Ecological Reasons For Conserving

Ecosystems Rather Than Simply Individual Species

 

 

The first rule of ecological tinkering is to save all of the pieces    

                                                                 Aldo Leopold (1949)

 

            Single-species management has historically been used primarily with threatened, endangered, and game species (Graul et al. 1976; Fitch 1980); with some benefits:

            1.  High profile species (Such as the Northern spotted owl, California condor, and gray wolf) gain large support from the public and create political action for these species and their ecosystems (Meffe & Carroll 1994).

            2.  Ecological “hotspots” of high Biodiversity can be managed for selectively (Bibby et al. 1992; Georgiadis & Balmford 1992; Meffe & Carroll 1994).

            3.  The design of nature reserves may depend on biological information (Such as life history and viable population size) pertaining to a single species (Meffe & Carroll 1994).

            However, management of a single species can lead to maximizing production of a few species without regard to the ecosystem in which they occur (Meffe & Carroll 1994).  The purpose of this paper is to discuss the advantages of conserving whole ecosystems rather than simply managing for individually selected species.  These benefits are as follows:

            1.  Ecological indicator species (Usually those which are most sensitive) can be used in the management of the ecosystem to account for the other species found there (Holbrook 1974; Graul et al. 1976; Gould 1977).

            2.  A single species might have specialized requirements that are not representative of all of the species in the system (Graul et al. 1976).

            3.  Large mammals such as the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) require an extensive range (At least 5,000,000 acres) of protected habitat (Craighead 1979).  This research was the basis for the premise that, in an ecosystem, the area must provide the primary habitat necessary to sustain the largest carnivore in the region (Grumbine 1994).

            4.  No policy initiatives have, as of yet, been able to reduce the rate of environmental deterioration (Soule 1991)

            5.  Ecosystems preserve Biodiversity; which is being lost at a quicker pace as time goes on (Noss & Cooperrider 1994).

            6.  The ecosystem approach does not focus on one level of the ecological hierarchy, but instead includes management for all interactions:  Genes, species, populations, and landscapes (Grumbine 1994).

            7.  Ecological integrity (Norton 1992) is achieved by protecting the “total native

diversity (Species, populations, and ecosystems), and the ecological patterns and

processes that maintain that diversity.”

            8.  Long-term conservation goals (Such as evolutionary processes (Grumbine 1992)) are practical and applicable with ecosystem management (Grumbine 1994).

            9.  Single-species management may seem a trivial or “worthless” use of the land resource (Ex: Spotted owl) and will thus be under public attack and scrutiny (Meffe & Carroll 1994).

            10.  Biodiversity is largely threatened by a species-by-species approach; as Meffe & Carroll (1994) suggest that it will only preserve “a minuscule fraction of overall diversity.”

            11.  Numerous conservation ecologists (listed in Hudson 1991) and politicians (Gore 1992; Scheuer 1993) support the ecosystem approach (Meffe & Carroll 1994).

            12.  Ecosystem management will account for and accommodate natural disturbances (Such as fire, wind, and climate change) (Grumbine 1992).

            13.  Foreman, et al. (1992) remark that “a connected system of reserves will help protect and restore ecological richness and native Biodiversity.”  This will lower extinction rates by intermixing populations of species in the wild.

            14.  The true and standardized definition of a “species” is subject to argument; as seen with typological and genetic differences within a population (Mayr 1959; Keeton 1972; Kirk 1975; Futuyma 1986; Campbell 1987; Meffe & Carroll 1994).

            15.  All species depend upon each other for survival; as Wagner (1977) makes the point that “ecological systems may be the most complex entities yet addressed by science.  We need to understand the population behavior of individual species as well as their mutual interactions, and the behavior of the system as a whole.”

            16.  Graul & Miller (1984) state that “our knowledge of many species-habitat relationships has improved.”  They also point out that sophisticated planning models (Boyce 1977; Johnson et al. 1980) “enable managers to address more than a few species in a plan.”

            17.  Specific laws have supported the ecosystem approach; including Colorado’s 1973 Nongame Act that perpetuates all native wildlife species in the state, and the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) of 1976 which “requires that animal diversity be maintained” (Graul & Miller 1984).

            18.  Hardin (1985) proclaims that “it is not possible to do only one thing in an ecosystem.  Every action precipitates a sequence of responses or ecological chain reactions.”

            19.  Ecosystems provide photosynthetically-produced oxygen, maintenance of ozone and carbon dioxide, decomposition of wastes, cycling of nutrients, fresh water, wood products, and recreation for humans (Ehrlich 1990; Salwasser 1990).

            20.  Ecosystems and the biological diversity within them have the intrinsic and aesthetic values and rights to exist (Leopold 1949; Oldfield 1984; Callicott 1986; Salwasser 1990).

            21.  Franklin (1993) points out that “there are simply too many species to handle a species-by-species approach,” due to lack of time, budget, societal patience, and scientific knowledge.

            22.  Finally, as Grumbine (1994) stated:  “Ecosystem management provides our best opportunity to describe, understand, and fit in with nature.”

            In summary, while the single-species management approach has a few, limited benefits; ecosystem conservation and management will serve as an “umbrella” to preserve the diverse and dynamic ecological and evolutionary processes that maintain the expansive, highly interdependent populations of wildlife in the major ecosystems of the world.

 

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Acknowledgments

 

I wish to thank the following for aiding me in the development of this book:  My parents, Lisa Mancilla, David M. Choate, Peter H. Bloom, Donna Krucki, Eric Meriwether, John McNurney, Dr. Neil Niemuth, Dr. Ralph J. Guttierez, Dr. David Hewitt, Dr. Richard Golightly, Dr. David Kitchen, Dr. Richard Botzler, Dr. Luke George, Dr. Todd Arnold, Jeff Dunk, and Rob (HSU Wildlife Stockroom).