Bio-Diversity - Pitchstone Waters (Page 13)

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Bio-Diversity

Biodiversity = sustainability. To date scientists have described 1.7 million of the world's species of animals, plants, insects and algae—and they’ve not all been described…or discovered. The number, while vast, is less important than the point it makes: nature requires diversity.

Mastodons and Mammoths in the Great Lakes Region, USA and Canada: New Insights into their Diets as they Neared Extinction

Mastodons and Mammoths in the Great Lakes Region, USA and Canada: New Insights into their Diets as they Neared Extinction

“As discussed below, for millions of years and until very recently, elephant-like creatures were common in North America. NOTE: this article was originally published to Academia.edu. It was written by Catherine Yansa. The conventional image of Ice Age environments of North America includes mammoths feeding on grasses in open

Fire-Protection Plans Hit Red Tape, Then the Flames Came

Fire-Protection Plans Hit Red Tape, Then the Flames Came

Over time, our beautiful, once-productive public forests have become overgrown, money-losing firetraps. Everybody knows what needs to be done, but government regulations and ideological disputes prevent common sense remedies—many of which cost nothing. When inevitable catastrophic fires occur, those in charge neither accept responsibility nor change their practices. Instead

When the Otters Vanished, Everything Else Started to Crumble

Aleutian Islands

When the Otters Vanished, Everything Else Started to Crumble

Quoting the authors of the article below, “In the Aleutian’s delicate seascape, otters hold the entire ecosystem together. As they have disappeared, the rest of the local food web has started to crumble. NOTE: this article was originally published to NYTimes.com on September 10, 2020. It was written

Escaped Exotics Animals are Changing the Texas Landscape

Escaped Exotics Animals are Changing the Texas Landscape

Quoting the author of the article below, “There’s an idea that gets played with in progressive futurist circles sometimes: the notion of deliberately engineering landscapes to mimic our understanding of their past shape. Quietly, without any particular plan or larger vision in mind, ranchers in Texas have done something

Is The Way Cattle Are Grazed The Key to Saving America’s pPrairies?

Is the Way Cattle Are Grazed the Key to Saving America's Prairies?

“The article below gives another example of the application of holistic grazing concepts for the purpose of regenerating rangelands. NOTE: this article was originally published to NYTimes.com on January 13, 2020. It was written by Karen Weintraub. An unlikely alliance of ranchers and conservationists is working to find the

Elk Return to Kentucky, Bringing Economic Life

Elk Return to Kentucky, Bringing Economic Life

After a concerted reintroduction effort two decades ago, the state is now home to the largest population of elk east of the Mississippi. The animals’ home: reclaimed coal mines.

National Parks are Being Overrun By Invasive Species

"Invasion Biology"

National Parks are Being Overrun By Invasive Species

As this article points out, people introduce the vast majority of so-called invasive species worldwide. What the article doesn’t mention is that we humans are the world’s most destructive invaders. Or, that of the hundreds of thousands of so-called invasive species that have been introduced, virtually none have

Allan Savory on Permaculture and Holistic Management

Allan Savory on Permaculture and Holistic Management

Here is a very interesting interview with the ecologist Allan Savory who, in the opinion of many, knows more about rangelands than anyone alive. He is best known for his discovery that global desertification can best be addressed and reversed by using livestock to mimic the grazing patterns of the

beavers_alaska_denali_national_park

Beavers Are Accelerating Climate Change in Alaska?

According to the article below, which repeats claims of CNN, beavers change climate. This is not correct. Global climate has been warming for at least 15,000 years. Because climate has warmed, the habitable area of North America has vastly expanded. Before this warming, the Laurentide Ice Sheet was almost

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Pitchstone Waters' "Chiveros"

This video is about Pitchstone Waters’ “Chiveros” – Spanish for goat herders. This team of Peruvian goat herders and their dogs have raised herding to an art. Pitchstone Waters “Chiveros” from Christopher Gill on Vimeo.

Wolf Species Rebounds in Southwest, Angering Ranchers

Wolf Species Rebounds in Southwest, Angering Ranchers

The success of the Mexican gray wolf reintroductions is great news. Limited wolf hunting would change wolf behavior, making wolves less of a nuisance, according to ranchers quoted in the article below. Wolf advocates should get onboard with this. NOTE: this article was originally published to WSJ.com on April

Conservation-Florida-panthers

Book Review: Cat Tale: The Wild, Weird Battle to Save the Florida Panther

“Quoting a reader: This is the latest of several books by an author whose focus is on nature (primarily Florida’s) and attempts to protect it, with special emphasis on what happens when a bureaucracy becomes involved. NOTE: this article was originally published to WSJ.com on February 7, 2020.

A Quiet Plague Outbreak Has Been Killing Yellowstone’s Cougars For Years

A Quiet Plague Outbreak has been Killing Yellowstone’s Cougars for Years

Our public lands, parks, forests, and the wild animals that live in them seem increasingly unhealthy and disease prone. However, the cougar disease discussed in the National Geographic article below is a symptom of a larger problem. About 70-years ago, Dr. William Albrecht, who has since been dubbed “The Father

Shy Elk and Bold Birds Become Partners in the Wilderness

Shy Elk and Bold Birds Become Partners in the Wilderness

“Interdependance (“mutualism”) is common in nature. Even species that are thought to be “competitive” usually turn out to be complimentary when their relationship is fully understood. NOTE: this article was originally published to NYTimes.com on November 29, 2017. It was written by Joanna Klein. Chances are that’s a

The Red Desert To Hoback Mule Deer Video

The Red Desert To Hoback Mule Deer Video

Recently, the longest mule deer migration ever recorded was discovered where thousands of deer migrate 150 miles from winter ranges in the Red Desert to summer ranges in the mountains of northwest Wyoming. This 300-mile roundtrip journey leads mule deer through a variety of habitat types and anthropogenic obstacles, including

Huge Feral Hogs Invading Canada, Building ‘Pigloos’ As They Go

Huge Feral Hogs Invading Canada, Building ‘Pigloos’ As They Go

Cold weather is kinder to larger animals, because of “thermal efficiency”. This is why the largest bear, whales, deer and even quail are found in the northern extremes of their ranges. Pigs are no exception, as discussed below. And because they are intelligent, they build themselves shelters, and even use

Take ‘Charisma’ Into Account When Managing Invasive Species, Scientists Say

"Invasion Biology"

Take ‘Charisma’ Into Account When Managing Invasive Species, Scientists Say

As Groucho Marx asked all those years ago, “Who are you going to believe: Me, or your lying eyes?” According to the doubtful premise underlying invasive species biology, any new creature entering a system is, by definition, harmful to it. This paper, written by invasion “biologists” warns against being “fooled”

Could an Invasive Snail Save Your Morning Coffee?

"Invasion Biology"

Could an Invasive Snail Save Your Morning Coffee?

More often than not, “invasive” plants and animals are responding to human damage to ecosystems. So-called exotics are usually viewed as competitive to the systems where they have arrived, but on closer study, most turn out to be complimentary. Think of them as nature trying to rebalance herself. NOTE: this

A Natural Classroom, Run by Wolves

"Invasion Biology"

A Natural Classroom, Run by Wolves

Wolf reintroduction to Yellowstone has been a scientific and tourism bonanza. NOTE: this article was originally published to NYTimes.com on March 27, 2020. It was written by Jim Robbins. Mr. Robbins, a longtime contributor to The Times, is based in Helena, Mont. Twenty-five years ago this month, 14 wolves

Pablo Escobar’s Hippos Fill a Hole Left Since Ice Age Extinctions

"Invasion Biology"

Pablo Escobar’s Hippos Fill a Hole Left Since Ice Age Extinctions

According to the article below—and the study on which it is based—humans have caused the extinction of many large animals over the past 100,000 years. This has changed ecosystems greatly, generally for the worse. Introductions of so-called exotics have somewhat compensated for extinction losses. As incongruous as

On the Elk Trail: Episode 5 – Grizzly Bear Trail

On the Elk Trail: Episode 5 - Grizzly Bear Trail

Quoting the producers of the video below, “When we placed game cameras on an elk migration corridor near Yellowstone, we found many grizzly bears on the elk trail. Sometimes we were actually hiking in the tracks of grizzly bears, putting us on full alert all the time. The migration trail

Coronavirus Outbreak Shows The Risk in Ignoring Human Activity’s Impact on Nature

Coronavirus Outbreak Shows The Risk in Ignoring Human Activity’s Impact on Nature

Paraphrasing the authors of the article below, “The role of healthy, intact ecosystems is being overlooked, together with the essential link between human, domestic animal and wildlife health. Biodiversity — the richness of life on Earth — is essential to maintaining a planet that supports all of us.” In other words we

Mountain Goat Removal Temporarily Closes Areas Of Grand Teton National Park

"Invasion Biology"

Mountain Goat Removal Temporarily Closes Areas Of Grand Teton National Park

According to the article below, the National Park Service (NPS) has decided to exterminate wild mountain goats in the Teton-Yellowstone Parks because they (1) are non-native, (2) “compete” with bighorn and (3) might infect them with diseases. NPS claims to follow the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation (the Model)

The Resistance to Holistic Wildlife Management

"Invasion Biology"

The Resistance to Holistic Wildlife Management

Across the West as well as in Texas, agencies, universities, governmental and conservation organizations resist holistic wildlife and agricultural management practices. Most Western public grazing rules make holistic grazing very difficult if not impossible In this 5-minute video, range scientist Allan Savory discusses why this is so, and how this

Massive Juniper Tree-Cutting Project Aims to Aid Sage Grouse

Massive Juniper Tree-Cutting Project Aims to Aid Sage Grouse

According to the article below: “Overall, sage grouse numbers have dwindled from an estimated 16 million before European settlement of the West to no more than 500,000 today in 11 western states. The project that began last spring in Idaho aims to remove junipers on 965 square miles (2,