Restoring Biodiversity - 9/10/2024
Texas takes its first steps to protect its mountain lions. The history of conservation. California dam demolitions a victory for some, devastation for others. And more...
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Articles
Texas Takes Its First Steps to Protect Its Mountain Lions
Texas has been one of the few places in the US where mountain lions are still treated as vermin.
History of Conservation
This excellent article discusses the essential role of human hunting in maintaining the health of wildlife and its habitat.
It draws heavily on the research and scientific conclusions of the great deer expert, the late Dr. Valerius Geist (February 2, 1938 –2021). Geist was a German-Canadian biologist and a professor emeritus in the faculty of Environmental Design at the University of Calgary. He specialized in the biology, behavior and social dynamics of North American large mammals including elk, moose, bighorn sheep, other wild ungulates and wolves. He was also well-respected for his views of Neanderthal people and their behavior.
Geist concluded that the European diseases, which destroyed 90 percent of the Native American population in the two centuries following Columbus’ discovery of America in 1492, led to a wildlife population explosion. The animal numbers and habitat conditions found in the early 1800s were human artifacts—and completely different than what had existed 200 years earlier.
Our assumption that these conditions were “natural” and formed in a system uncontrolled by humans arises from this fundamental misunderstanding of the forces responsible for the conditions found in the early 19th century. Quoting Geist, “When northern European setters came to North America, the large numbers of wildlife they encountered weren’t a long-term reality. They were the consequence of the near-extinction of the red man in North America.
This misunderstanding has also led to the popular—but disastrous—Disneyesque belief that healthy wildlife numbers and habitat is best preserved by excluding the hand of man.
California Dam Demolitions a Victory for Some, Devastation for Others
Everybody is for salmon. But, here’s “The Rest of the Story”.
Due to reckless and hasty execution, decades-long damage has been done to the spawning grounds of the salmon supposedly helped by dam removals. Salmon redds are now paved with toxic, impermeable clay.
What is the long-term effect on the cities and agricultural communities of California and the West?
As this plan is applied to the Snake and its tributaries, will anyone stop and ask, “When people and their livelihoods are given equal weight with environmental outcomes, are dam removals good or bad? Do we really want to return large areas of Idaho and the West to desert?”
Video
Holistic Management vs Conventional Management: A Stark Look
This footage was shot on the same day, in 2-neighboring countries (Zimbabwe and Botswana), on different land bases which use different forms of management.
And that’s it - as always thank you..
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