2. Once in his life a man ought to concentrate his mind upon the remembered earth
3. 4th-grade class saves an endangered species, and 21 miles of riparian habitat - documentary August 13
4. Urban Locavore Marketplace July 23
5. Vanished Waters and the History of Mission Bay, July 21
6. Feedback: Bee-a-thon July 16
7. What's in your watershed? Wilson's Warbler?
8. Join Golden Gate Audubon at MLK Shoreline Park habitat restoration event July 23
9. Back to the coffee house - Josephine Bonaparte's latest emails/ThouTube/be my Visagebook friend?
10. Become so severely personalised by "algorithmic observers" on Google that they will lose all their powers of discernment?
11. Arizona copper mine lighting threatens night skies
12. Spotlight on container gardening - much needed in San Francisco
13. What is the relation between itch vs pain?
14. Denise Levertov on the mystery that there is anything at all
1. Dan Gluesenkamp, discoverer of the "extinct" Franciscan manzanita:
Jake: I thought you might be interested in this youtube video. really well done little movie!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovTU4FXfB1Q
It has long been known that the Presidio is home to the last Raven's manzanita on earth. Surprisingly, a chance discovery made by Dan Gluesenkamp in 2010 revealed the existence of the Franciscan manzanita, thought to have been extinct in the wild for more than 70 years. This 23-minute film by San Francisco filmmaker Melissa Peabody tells the compelling story of these two icons of California's natural heritage. Produced 2011. Presidio Trust.
It's fun seeing all our friends in a pretty well-made movie!
Might be interested? Indeed. Yes, yes, yes.
I would like to write this up for our chapter September newsletter, being put together right now.
Since the story gets very complex and there are so many participants, I guess the trick is to give just enough information that will entice people to spend the 20 minutes or so (how many?) viewing the YouTube. Everyone should see it, as it is far more than just a Perils-of-Pauline episode of an Extinct plant. There are so many dimensions to the story, and the cast of characters could have come from Central Casting, with script by a talented writer. Everyone spoke well, even eloquently.
What a story, and what a beautiful job by Melissa Peabody. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Jake
P.S. Maybe we should consider changing that unbelievable story of a botanist returning from a climate change conference spotting it while driving by at 60 mph just as the plant was exposed from its hiding place by a freeway expansion, and having an educated Caltrans man in charge whose scope went far beyond engineering, and having a National Park Service staff person doing his Masters thesis on manzanita, and these two internationally-known manzanita experts nearby at San Francisco State, and, and, and all the other improbable stuff strung together by a scriptwriter....come on, Dan, we have to change that so that people won't think it was just made up. You're surely not going to expect people to believe all this, are you?
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2.
Once in his life a man ought to concentrate his mind upon the remembered earth. He ought to give himself up to a particular landscape in his experience, to look at it from as many angles as he can, to wonder upon it, to dwell upon it.
He ought to imagine that he touches it with his hands at every season and listens to the sounds that are made upon it.
He ought to imagine the creatures there and all the faintest motions of the wind.
He ought to imagine that he touches it with his hands at every season and listens to the sounds that are made upon it.
He ought to imagine the creatures there and all the faintest motions of the wind.
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3. Save the date - From David Donnenfield:
Jake,
Our film on school children restoring endangered species and how it has transformed their education will air on PBS next month. KQED will air it on
Aug. 13th on their digital channel. Other stations across the US will air to fit their schedules. I have attached a press release explaining. Also including a succinct announcement. Wonder if you can circulate to your network?
Metta, David
PBS broadcast of the award-winning documentary, “A Simple Question — The Story of STRAW,” is set for this Fall as part of the “Natural Heroes” TV series. With a guest appearance by author, Richard Louv (“Last Child in the Woods”), “A Simple Question” tells the story of a 4th grade class’ efforts to save an endangered species, resulting in an innovative educational program by which kids and community have restored over 21 miles of riparian habitat and brought numerous species back from decline. More than a message of hope and inspiration, “A Simple Question,” is a model for how we can transform education to embrace experiential learning, while providing service to both community and nature. To determine IF and WHEN the program is airing on a particular PBS station, please refer to the “Natural Heroes” website: http://www.naturalheroestv.org/wheretowatch.php. From that page, viewers can also forward a request for a station carry this important program. More information and a trailer of the film can be found at http://www.asimplequestion.org.
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4. Our Urban Locavore Marketplace will be teeming with home-crafted goods and produce on July 23 at our kickoff event
Tasting Our Shared Fruiture
July 23 we invite you to join us inside our Urban Locavore Marketplace, to sell your homemade specialties, produce and value-added goods and services including edibles and homespun concoctions, there will even be bodycare - stonefruit scrub facials and massages!
Together, we invite you to show off your skills in the kitchen, your specialty goods and YES your backyard veggies, herbs and fruit! Got plums? Come and celebrate our inspiring web of community resiliency by selling what you grow.
growing it locally
producing it locally
sharing it locally
We will collectively lower our carbon footprint and offer a place where supply meets demand, by providing a new kind of marketplace for farmers and foodies.
For more details and to register - http://bit.ly/locavoreMKTregistration Click here for Spanish flyer.
Special Thanks to our Community Partner, The San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance (SFUAA), for continuing advocacy and support of backyard farmers.
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5. San Francisco Natural History Series
Vanished Waters and the History of Mission Bay
Guest Speaker: Chris Carlsson
7:30pm, Thursday, July 21st, 2011
FREE at the Randall Museum, 199 Museum Way, San Francisco
Chris Carlsson, Director of Shaping San Francisco, will tell the story of the gradual filling-in of a vast tidal cove. Mission Bay once was a tidal salt-marsh fed fresh water from meandering Mission Creek. Learn of the would-be settlers, speculators and visionary planners it has attracted over the last 130 years.
Find out more about Shaping San Francisco at its website: http://www.shapingsf.org/
You can find out more about Chris Carlsson on his website: http://www.chriscarlsson.com/
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FUTURE TALKS
8/18 – The Farallon Egg War – Eva Chrysanthe
9/15 – San Francisco’s Changing Landscape – Greg Gaar
10/20 – Keeping Nature in the City – Peter Brastow
11/17 – Reclaiming the Art of Natural History – John (Jack) Muir Laws
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LAST MONTH's LECTURE NOTES - online at: http://sfnhs.wordpress.com/2011/07/10/subtleties-of-the-subtidal/
When Marilyn Latta first started presenting for the State Coastal Conservancy, on the Subtidal Habitat Goals Project, she had people in her audience ask: “I don’t understand what you mean about the sub-titles?” Sub-titles aside, it turns out that not many people understand much about the sub-tidal ecologies of the bay.
These are ecologies that exist in the water below the lowest median tide (the bay averages ~14ft deep, ~50ft at it’s deepest, but the majority of the bay is probably 6-8ft deep). For all practical purposes, that means they are invisible, hard to see, and difficult to study. And when all is said and done there is not much data to work
from. First of all, even with good data about the way things are now, it is difficult to uncover data about what used to be.
As we know, the bay has changed drastically since 1848. Before the Spanish and the Gold Rush, the Ohlone of course also interacted with and managed the bay, but now there is only 5-10% of the original wetlands left. 1/3 of the bay has been filled in, and it is only by dint of people or entities like Save the Bay that more wasn’t done.
The Subtidal Habitat Goals Project aims to come up with a 50-year plan that is advisory. It is not regulatory, but hopes to help guide the policies of agencies working in the bay. The project has scientific goals — filling in the data gaps both current and historic; it has protection goals — maintaining the current quality and functions; and it has restoration targets – increase quality and size of certain habitats.
The project identifies 6 types of habitats: rock habitats (as what forms Alcatraz); seaweeds (like kelp beds off Angel Island); soft substrate muds; shellfish beds (oysters); artificial structures (piers, rip-rap, and pilings); and sand (a lot is mined from the bay to be used for concrete). The project identifies goals for all of
these. Some have deeper mysteries (the source of sand in the bay is not understood, for instance), some require a lot of work (removing the thousands of old creosote pilings that are leaching toxics into the bay), almost all of it requires patience and study.
The project is ambitious in both time and scope. We can hope that those who follow it its guidance can help bring us at the very least a greater understanding and appreciation of existing San Francisco Bay, if not helping restore in part the damage we have wrought.
More Information:
http://SFBaySubtidal.org
http://thewatershedproject.org/
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6. Feedback
Peter Rauch:
12. Feedback
Jake - I note that the Bee-a-thon seems to be another of those events and organizations that don't recognize native bees. "Bee" means only the European honeybee.
"Bee" means many species (> 20,000 species !) of apoid Hymenoptera. The "Bee-a-thon", July 16th, may --among other things-- awaken the senses of that portion of the population which perhaps learned from experience ONLY that "bees" sting and are to be avoided; and, they will be most pleased to find out that other bees than just honeybees visit their yards.
The Bee-a-thon invites the common folk to record observations of ANY/ALL kinds of bees that visit their yards. The host site, YourGardenShow.com, opens with a number of beautiful photos of several species of "bees". The Bee-a-thon promotes "citizen science" (Observe, Record, Influence; click the button on the home page). Sometimes taking the first little steps, from honeybee to all bees, is a sound (enjoy the "buzz") path to choose.
Thanks for publicizing the Bee-a-thon--visit the website and go into your backyard on Saturday the 16th.
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7. The Watershed Project
What's in Your Watershed?
The Flighty Wilson's Warbler
Gold is the color of summer in California. And the adorable Wilson's Warbler is proof. This small, yellow bird with dark wings and an olive green back flits around our Golden State in the summer months as it makes its way north to breed. Once the winter hits, however, this sun-loving chirper heads back to warm countries like Mexico and Honduras.
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8. Join Golden Gate Audubon at a habitat restoration event on Saturday, July 23, 2011 from 9:00am-12noon at the MLK Jr Shoreline Park in Oakland
We are looking forward to a fun day of habitat restoration, and guided bird walks. The following information will help you prepare for the volunteer project.
The service project will take place at MLK Jr. Regional Shoreline Park in Oakland, in the parking lot near the observation deck.
We’ll help restore native marsh habitat to benefit the endangered clapper rail and other resident and migrating bird species. Work will entail picking up trash, removing invasive plants, and watering native plants that provide important food, nesting sites, or cover for birds and other wildlife. GGAS will provide all tools and project supervision. Ages eight and older are welcome to participate; anyone under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a supervising adult.
We recommend that you dress in layers for warmth, and wear long pants, long-sleeved shirt, closed-toe shoes, and a hat or visor. Bring sunscreen, a water bottle (with water), work gloves, and binoculars (if you have them). The project will continue if it is foggy and/or windy. GGAS and REI will provide snacks; bring your lunch, if you’d like.
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9. The Economist July 9-15 front cover: Back to the coffee house; A 14-page special report on the future of news
Talk bubbles, left to right:
Wilt thou be my Visagebook friend?
How goeth ye American Spring?
I saw her on ThouTube...'Twas GHASTLY!
Is this the South Sea Bubble 2.0?
I hear Tom Paine's all a-twitter.
Signs on wall: Newsbreaketh (on TV screen)
Pitt the Younger on Tumblr
Gratis Wye-Fye
Marie Antoinette's Blog - New cake recipe
(on floor) Wikye-leakes latest: Josephine Bonaparte's emails
Tea Party Gazette
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10. LTE, Guardian Weekly 08.07.11
(regarding The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is Hiding From You, by Eli Pariser, in July 5 Nature News)
SIR: I honestly don't see the danger in search engines, namely Google, customising our text queries and thereby, as Eli Pariser suggests, severely limiting us to "a self-reinforcing world-view". Google is still a good, quick first stop, an easy way of dipping into the huge worldwide glut of cheap information.
But for quality filtering and critiquing of information, the discerning user should also rely on the staff of the Guardian and other trustworthy, intelligent journalists and librarians who have the experience and expertise to help us ward off what Pariser calls in his book, a "global lobotomy".
I assume, however, that Pariser is most worried about those poor unfortunate who will lose their Faustian bargain with technology by becoming so severely personalised by "algorithmic observers" on Google that they will lose all their powers of discernment. He suggests that as a result they will become myopic, antipathetic and just plain unfriendly, trapped in a world where all their ideas are cloned.
Richard Orlando
Montreal, Canada
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11. High Country News
Agreement requires surveys for listed plants and animals when federal agencies plan old-growth timber sales – Oregonian
The agreement require the agencies to look for sensitive plants or animals ranging from lichens and mollusks to great gray owls before planning timber sales in old growth forests.
Proposed mine's lighting holds risk for astronomy – Arizona Daily Star
Rosemont Copper Mine, producing about as much light as 10,000 homes, will hurt the region's observatories to a "substantial, adverse degree," a Forest Service report says.
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12. Advice from a CNPS discussion site:
Here's a post that shines the spotlight on container gardening--perfect for our tiny, urban SF yards. The info is from renowned California native gardener, Pete Veilleux of East Bay Wilds. This year, I've tried my luck with a couple of containers. One, featuring cobweb thistle was destroyed by some miscreant who tossed the thistle all over the street. I guess it's a provocative plant? I replaced it with heartleaf penstemon--we'll see how long that lasts. Anyway, take advantage of these great recommendations by Pete.
Plant reccos:
http://cnps-scv.org/gardening/containers/CaliforniaNativePlantsForContainers.pdf
Pete's container photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157594276050096/
Pete's Soil Mix for California Native Plants in Containers:
1 part 5/8-1/2" horticultural pumice [can substitute with same size red lava]
1 part fine or sharp sand [Felton Sand]
2-3 parts potting soil [soilless mixes sold everywhere are fine]. I use American Soil Products' Ultra-potting mix for drainage and low-nutrients.
For plants which require better drainage, increase the pumice or red lava.
For plants which grow in dunes and alkaline areas, increase the sand.
For containers which don't have drainage – such as water containers – straight clay is best because it doesn't float or cloud the water once it has settled.
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13. I've got the itch AND I've got the scratch
(JS: Not the most urgent matter in the world, but I never thought that much about itch before, much less its relation to pain. Hmmm.
As one who works in our wildlands a lot, I do a lot of scratching from contact with poison oak. I have never thought of it as pain--more like pleasure. But, as any sado-masochist would tell you, the two are closely related. I become fascinated with by-way subjects like this, as they explore another aspect of nature and reality.)
Zhou-Feng Chen, Director, Center for the Study of Itch at the Washington University School of Medicine
What is the relation between itch and pain?
For a long time, people thought itch and pain were transmitted through the same pathway, that itch was just a weaker form of pain. But now we know that they are transmitted through separate pathways and that they also antagonize each other: when you create pain, you can suppress itch, like when you scratch.
Also, their biological functions are different. When you feel pain, you withdraw to protect yourself. But when you feel an itch, you move your hands toward it. If something attaches itself to your skin, like a mosquito, you want to remove it. So it is possible that the body’s warning system is telling you that something is happening to your skin and that you’d better get rid of it.
What are the main unanswered questions in your field?
We want to know how the itch sensation is caused in the first place. Our discovery of an itch receptor called GRPR and itch-specific neurons was just the first step. The system is so complex that we still don’t know how this information flows in the body, and we also don’t know how different kinds of diseases activate the itch receptor. There are receptors located in the skin, in the brain and in the spinal cord, so it’s extremely complicated. That’s why we need more scientists in different areas working together.
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN MAGAZINE: Questions for the Itch Doctor
The head of a new center that focuses on itch explains the sensation's biological roots and what we still don't know about it
http://links.email.scientificamerican.com/ctt?kn=25&ms=MzY4MDk4OTkS1&r=NTM5NzIzNTA1NgS2&b=2&j=MTA2MDg4NTk2S0&mt=1&rt=0
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14.
Primary Wonder
Days pass when I forget the mystery.
Problems insoluble and problems offering
their own ignored solutions
jostle for my attention, they crowd its antechamber
along with a host of diversions, my courtiers, wearing
their colored clothes; cap and bells.
And then
once more the quiet mystery
is present to me, the throng's clamor
recedes: the mystery
that there is anything, anything at all,
let alone cosmos, joy, memory, everything,
rather than void: and that, O Lord,
Creator, Hallowed One, You still,
hour by hour sustain it.
~ Denise Levertov ~
(Selected Poems)
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