Thank you for subscribing to the Pitchstone Waters weekly newsletter.

Here is what we’ve been reading, watching and writing about over the past week…

Articles

Is This Popular Weed Killer Making Americans Sick?

The herbicide Paraquat is manufactured by Syngenta, a Swiss-based company owned by the Chinese government. The chemical is banned in at least 58 countries — including China and Switzerland — because of its toxicity, yet it continues to be a popular herbicide in California and other parts of the United States.

More here →

Functional Traits – Not Nativenes – Shape the Effects Of Large Mammalian Herbivores on Plant Communities

For decades the assumption shared by conservation dogma and Invasive Species “Biology” has been that non-native animals – by definition – harm native habitat and plants. This belief is often used to justify the ongoing War on Wildlife.

The authors of this scholarly work disagree. They say it’s what animals do, not where they come from, that matters: “Our work suggests that trait-based ecology provides better insight into interactions between megafauna and plants than do concepts of nativeness.”

They found that non-native large animals can be very good for habitat, because as they say, “bulk-feeding megafauna promote plant diversity.”

Pig eradication advocates might take note of this finding: “Feral pigs often increase plant diversity, at times doubling native plant diversity by suppressing competitive dominants.”

More here →

Videos

REGENERATIVE GRAZING: Using Cows to Rebuild Soil After a Century of Tillage.

This episode shares the story of Stephen Brass of Walnut Grove Brass Family Farm in Stillman Valley, Illinois, and how he successfully transitioned his 160 acre farm from a chemical intensive, commodity crop operation to a regenerative 100% grass-fed beef operation. He shares the methods he is using to regenerate soil after a century of tillage and decades of chemical usage.

More here →

Fuel, Fire, and Wild Horses

Wildfire continues to devastate the American West at increasing rates.

As this video is posted, wildfires are burning across more than 768,000-acres of land in twelve Western states, and 500,000-acres in Canada. Ten fires are in Idaho, which has been under a smoke cloud for days.

According to some, the plan that could combat the danger of forest fire lies in the complicated history and present role of the wild horse. Naturalist rancher William E. Simpson II, Michael Perez, and Pulitzer Prize winning author David Philipps explore the interconnected issues of wildfire and wild horses in the American West.

More here →

—

And that’s it - as always thank you..

if you haven’t already - please check out our views on biodiversity at https://pitchstonewaters.com/blog/

Please pass along, and if you if you received this from a friend - consider subscribing below.