1. Butterfly talk Monday/Albany Hill, Cerrito Creek events
2. Backyard bird count/population impacts on wildlife/bird-drawing classes/FlywayFestival
3. Improve paths to city parks - Feb 15
4. Install, maintain low-water gardens at Sunset Elementary Feb 11
5. Perfumes, pigments, and poisons - the chemistry of plants
6. YouTube on plant chemistry experts: butterflies and beetles
7. Famed Fleming house and native garden for sale in Berkeley
8. Don't take the bait - starve rats instead
9. LTE: Tasing defended
10. Feedback
11. Restoration project walks on Hawk Hill, Presidio Feb 11
12. February in Claremont Canyon
13. Murderous nature of a worm-eating plant
14. SciAm potpourri/crab spider mimics ant
15. Project Vote Smart takes democracy seriously
16. UCSF dentistry school offers free services to kids Feb 18
17. Debtors' merry-go-round - interactive map
18. Humans as masters of planet Earth - a stark reality
19. Dearth of Rare Earths threatens global renewables industry
20. Rememberance by Rainer Maria Rilke
21. Notes & Queries
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the 'transcendent' and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don't be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence. -Christopher Hitchens, author and journalist (1949-2011)
1. Butterfly talk Monday, Feb. 6
Don’t miss “Bay Area Butterflies 101” at Friends of 5 Creeks' meeting Monday, Feb. 6, 7-9 PM at Albany Community Center.
Liam O’Brien, lepidopterist and illustrator, will give a beautifully illustrated talk on the role these winged jewels play in our environment. Liam also will tell us about the project he founded, aimed at saving San Francisco’s Green Hairstreak butterflies by creating a “habitat corridor” with a chain of home-garden plantings.
Free, all welcome, refreshments!
Help discover “What Lives on Albany Hill and Cerrito Creek.”
Share you photos and sightings of animals and plants from Albany Hill and adjacent Cerrito Creek! By joining our new citizen-science project, you will build up knowledge that will help in managing this amazing "urban wilderness." At the same time, you contribute a worldwide database on biodiversity!
It's easy; instructions are on the site. You upload a photo if you have one, and tell us where and when you saw the animal or plant and what it was doing. You don't have to know the name! The community at iNaturalist -- the software that powers this and many other citizen-science projects -- will help you identify it.
Among this project's goals are to acquire needed knowledge about the Monarch butterflies that use the hill. We'd welcome a volunteer who wants to "curate” this!
Sat., Feb. 11, early spring work party at the foot of Albany Hill
Rains have been sparse this winter, but they brought a crop of weeds -- plus time to plant a few more natives. Please join other Friends of Five Creeks volunteers 10 AM – 12:30 PM Sat., Feb. 11, as we continue to give nature a hand along the Cerrito Creek and in the historic willow grove below Albany Hill.
Meet at El Cerrito’s Creekside Park, south end of Santa Clara Ave. (3499 Santa Clara on Internet maps; AC Transit 72 and 25 stop nearby). Snacks, water, tools, and gloves provided. All ages welcome; this work party has light or heavy tasks for all. Dress in layers in clothes that can get dirty; wear closed-toed shoes with good traction. We work in a drizzle, but heavy rain cancels.
############################
2. Golden Gate Audubon
1. Great Backyard Bird Count
The annual Great Backyard Bird Count takes place from Friday Feb. 17 through Monday Feb 20. Join national Audubon, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and birders throughout North America in creating a real-time snapshot of bird numbers and locations.
For details, see the GBBC web site.
2. GGAS Speaker Series: Human Population Impacts on Wildlife
On Thursday Feb. 16, John Seager, president and CEO of Population Connection, will share his insights on the causes of rapid population growth, its impacts on wildlife, and our options to deal with this challenge. Mr. Seager served in the EPA in the Clinton administration and was chief of staff for former U.S. Rep. Peter H. Kostmayer.
Date: Thursday Feb. 16
Time: 7 pm for refreshments, 7:30 for program
Place: GGAS office, 2530 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley
Cost: Free for GGAS members, $5 for non-members
3. Bird Drawing Class & Fundraiser
Improve your bird-drawing skills through a master class on Saturday Feb. 11 taught by celebrated naturalist John ("Jack") Muir Laws. Most of the suggested donation of $250 is tax-deductible, and all of it supports Golden Gate Audubon's advocacy, educational and restoration work on behalf of birds. Class is from 5 to 7 pm in San Francisco. For more information or to RSVP, call (510) 843-7295 or email lowensvi@goldengateaudubon.org.
4. SF Bay Flyway Festival - Mare Island
On Feb. 11-12, the 16th annual Flyway Festival on Mare Island (Vallejo) offers over 60 guided walks, tours and activities for all ages. This is a great opportunity to explore birds and shorelands of the North Bay! For details, see the SF Bay Flyway Festival web site.
There are many more events and volunteer opportunities at goldengateaudubon.org
########################
3. Join us for the Green Connections kick-off event to help improve the paths to the City’s parks!
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2012
5:30 to 7:30 PM
@ the LGBTCommunity Center, Rainbow Room
1800 Market Street, San Francisco.
Green Connections will increase pedestrian and bicycle access to parks, open space and the waterfront, by re-envisioning City streets and paths as ‘green connectors’that can be built over time.In the first year of the project, the focus will be to map a citywide network. The second year will build on this framework to design green connections in the following six neighborhoods: Bayview-Hunters Point, Chinatown, Potrero Hill, Tenderloin, Visitacion Valley and Western Addition.
Get involved! We will host many public events to engage communities in developing Green Connections. Visit the project web site below for project information, events and meetings. Also, sign up for the Green Connections mailing list to keep receiving future e-mail announcements.
http://greenconnections.sfplanning.org
########################
4. As part of our That's the Tuolumne in my Tap environmental education program, we have partnered with Sunset Elementary School in San Francisco to help install and maintain their low-water gardens. Join us next weekend to help make a difference in our school and community!
Mark your calendars - we will have one more workday at Sunset Elementary this year, on Saturday, April 14.
Saturday, February 11, 2012, 10 am - 3 pm
Sunset Elementary School
1920 41st Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94122
We have a wide variety of garden tasks to accomplish at Sunset Elementary, all focused on water conservation.
Volunteer activities will include maintaining the school's new dry creekbed, removing sections of lawn and replacing them with more water-friendly landscaping, and providing general garden maintenance such as weeding, mulching and planting.
Please free to come by for just part of the day (or the whole thing!)
To RSVP or for more information, please karen@tuolumne.org.
##########################
5. Excerpts from the ever-wonderful newsletter of the East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden, February 2012
Perfumes, Pigments, and Poisons
Have you ever wondered what makes the petals of California poppy so brightly colorful, what gives the blossoms of cow parsnip a slight off-odor that attracts flies, what makes pine cones sticky, or what adds the sharp taste to mustard seeds? While we can experience the smells, the colors, and the tastes, we cannot see with our own eyes the amazing molecules that compose the many different plant substances. We can imagine instead that we have the use of a microscope with such enormous magnification that we can view, beyond cell structures or the shapes of pollen, even minuscule structures like molecules. This leads us to the chemistry of plants!
2. Backyard bird count/population impacts on wildlife/bird-drawing classes/FlywayFestival
3. Improve paths to city parks - Feb 15
4. Install, maintain low-water gardens at Sunset Elementary Feb 11
5. Perfumes, pigments, and poisons - the chemistry of plants
6. YouTube on plant chemistry experts: butterflies and beetles
7. Famed Fleming house and native garden for sale in Berkeley
8. Don't take the bait - starve rats instead
9. LTE: Tasing defended
10. Feedback
11. Restoration project walks on Hawk Hill, Presidio Feb 11
12. February in Claremont Canyon
13. Murderous nature of a worm-eating plant
14. SciAm potpourri/crab spider mimics ant
15. Project Vote Smart takes democracy seriously
16. UCSF dentistry school offers free services to kids Feb 18
17. Debtors' merry-go-round - interactive map
18. Humans as masters of planet Earth - a stark reality
19. Dearth of Rare Earths threatens global renewables industry
20. Rememberance by Rainer Maria Rilke
21. Notes & Queries
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the 'transcendent' and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don't be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence. -Christopher Hitchens, author and journalist (1949-2011)
1. Butterfly talk Monday, Feb. 6
Don’t miss “Bay Area Butterflies 101” at Friends of 5 Creeks' meeting Monday, Feb. 6, 7-9 PM at Albany Community Center.
Liam O’Brien, lepidopterist and illustrator, will give a beautifully illustrated talk on the role these winged jewels play in our environment. Liam also will tell us about the project he founded, aimed at saving San Francisco’s Green Hairstreak butterflies by creating a “habitat corridor” with a chain of home-garden plantings.
Free, all welcome, refreshments!
Help discover “What Lives on Albany Hill and Cerrito Creek.”
Share you photos and sightings of animals and plants from Albany Hill and adjacent Cerrito Creek! By joining our new citizen-science project, you will build up knowledge that will help in managing this amazing "urban wilderness." At the same time, you contribute a worldwide database on biodiversity!
It's easy; instructions are on the site. You upload a photo if you have one, and tell us where and when you saw the animal or plant and what it was doing. You don't have to know the name! The community at iNaturalist -- the software that powers this and many other citizen-science projects -- will help you identify it.
Among this project's goals are to acquire needed knowledge about the Monarch butterflies that use the hill. We'd welcome a volunteer who wants to "curate” this!
Sat., Feb. 11, early spring work party at the foot of Albany Hill
Rains have been sparse this winter, but they brought a crop of weeds -- plus time to plant a few more natives. Please join other Friends of Five Creeks volunteers 10 AM – 12:30 PM Sat., Feb. 11, as we continue to give nature a hand along the Cerrito Creek and in the historic willow grove below Albany Hill.
Meet at El Cerrito’s Creekside Park, south end of Santa Clara Ave. (3499 Santa Clara on Internet maps; AC Transit 72 and 25 stop nearby). Snacks, water, tools, and gloves provided. All ages welcome; this work party has light or heavy tasks for all. Dress in layers in clothes that can get dirty; wear closed-toed shoes with good traction. We work in a drizzle, but heavy rain cancels.
############################
2. Golden Gate Audubon
1. Great Backyard Bird Count
The annual Great Backyard Bird Count takes place from Friday Feb. 17 through Monday Feb 20. Join national Audubon, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and birders throughout North America in creating a real-time snapshot of bird numbers and locations.
For details, see the GBBC web site.
2. GGAS Speaker Series: Human Population Impacts on Wildlife
On Thursday Feb. 16, John Seager, president and CEO of Population Connection, will share his insights on the causes of rapid population growth, its impacts on wildlife, and our options to deal with this challenge. Mr. Seager served in the EPA in the Clinton administration and was chief of staff for former U.S. Rep. Peter H. Kostmayer.
Date: Thursday Feb. 16
Time: 7 pm for refreshments, 7:30 for program
Place: GGAS office, 2530 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley
Cost: Free for GGAS members, $5 for non-members
3. Bird Drawing Class & Fundraiser
Improve your bird-drawing skills through a master class on Saturday Feb. 11 taught by celebrated naturalist John ("Jack") Muir Laws. Most of the suggested donation of $250 is tax-deductible, and all of it supports Golden Gate Audubon's advocacy, educational and restoration work on behalf of birds. Class is from 5 to 7 pm in San Francisco. For more information or to RSVP, call (510) 843-7295 or email lowensvi@goldengateaudubon.org.
4. SF Bay Flyway Festival - Mare Island
On Feb. 11-12, the 16th annual Flyway Festival on Mare Island (Vallejo) offers over 60 guided walks, tours and activities for all ages. This is a great opportunity to explore birds and shorelands of the North Bay! For details, see the SF Bay Flyway Festival web site.
There are many more events and volunteer opportunities at goldengateaudubon.org
########################
3. Join us for the Green Connections kick-off event to help improve the paths to the City’s parks!
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2012
5:30 to 7:30 PM
@ the LGBTCommunity Center, Rainbow Room
1800 Market Street, San Francisco.
Green Connections will increase pedestrian and bicycle access to parks, open space and the waterfront, by re-envisioning City streets and paths as ‘green connectors’that can be built over time.In the first year of the project, the focus will be to map a citywide network. The second year will build on this framework to design green connections in the following six neighborhoods: Bayview-Hunters Point, Chinatown, Potrero Hill, Tenderloin, Visitacion Valley and Western Addition.
Get involved! We will host many public events to engage communities in developing Green Connections. Visit the project web site below for project information, events and meetings. Also, sign up for the Green Connections mailing list to keep receiving future e-mail announcements.
http://greenconnections.sfplanning.org
########################
4. As part of our That's the Tuolumne in my Tap environmental education program, we have partnered with Sunset Elementary School in San Francisco to help install and maintain their low-water gardens. Join us next weekend to help make a difference in our school and community!
Mark your calendars - we will have one more workday at Sunset Elementary this year, on Saturday, April 14.
Saturday, February 11, 2012, 10 am - 3 pm
Sunset Elementary School
1920 41st Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94122
We have a wide variety of garden tasks to accomplish at Sunset Elementary, all focused on water conservation.
Volunteer activities will include maintaining the school's new dry creekbed, removing sections of lawn and replacing them with more water-friendly landscaping, and providing general garden maintenance such as weeding, mulching and planting.
Please free to come by for just part of the day (or the whole thing!)
To RSVP or for more information, please karen@tuolumne.org.
##########################
5. Excerpts from the ever-wonderful newsletter of the East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden, February 2012
Perfumes, Pigments, and Poisons
Have you ever wondered what makes the petals of California poppy so brightly colorful, what gives the blossoms of cow parsnip a slight off-odor that attracts flies, what makes pine cones sticky, or what adds the sharp taste to mustard seeds? While we can experience the smells, the colors, and the tastes, we cannot see with our own eyes the amazing molecules that compose the many different plant substances. We can imagine instead that we have the use of a microscope with such enormous magnification that we can view, beyond cell structures or the shapes of pollen, even minuscule structures like molecules. This leads us to the chemistry of plants!
California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) with its bright carotenoid pigments. Cow parsnip (Heracleum lanatum) has a faint off-odor. Resinous cone of bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva).
During many years of teaching a plant chemistry course for nonchemists and of leading docent tours and field trips, I found that people interested in plants were fascinated by plant chemistry tidbits, yet often did not have enough knowledge of chemistry basics to appreciate plant molecules. My love for plants and my training as an organic chemist (another passion of mine) made me collect materials for an understandable introduction to plant chemistry. This was assembled in a book,The Chemistry of Plants: Perfumes, Pigments, and Poisons, to be published in summer 2012 by RSC in Cambridge. It is a paperback and is amply illustrated by plant photos that accompany chemical structures and explanations.
The Chemistry of Plants is not a coffee table book, but requires careful reading. It is designed to be useful both for readers who proceed chapter by chapter in order to increasingly build an understanding of organic plant compounds and for those readers who decide to select chapters of special interest. It is a book for plant enthusiasts who want to gain more in-depth knowledge of plants. Knowing more about the amazing molecules in plants gives us even more appreciation and admiration of nature in general! --Greti Sequin
http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=01091d83e4aa193c78a888704&id=e0d9e3adb1&e=dc1584429c
JS: Why would the layperson be interested in plant chemistry? Reasons clamor for attention:
1. Plant chemistry is intensely interesting in itself, and the workings of nature a never-ending source of fascination. It is another window on the universe.
2. From a plant's point of view its compounds are a way of defending itself from predators that could eat it out of existence. From a human perspective, we are dependent on plants for most of our drugs. We now synthesize most of these drugs, but we had to have plants to first produce them. And there is an appreciable percentage of drugs that we are unable to synthesize, and continue to depend on plants to produce them.
3. We are wholly dependent on plants for our food; even our meat comes from plants.
4. We get not only carbohydrates from them but also the healthful benefits of chemical compounds such as antioxidants and vitamins.
#####################
6. Speaking of plant chemistry, butterflies and beetles are experts on the subject: http://www.opb.org/programs/ofg
YouTube video
############################
7.
The Fleming House and Garden Is for Sale
Scott and Jenny Fleming's house and historic native plant garden on Shasta Rd. in Berkeley is now up for sale. We're sending out this message to the Friends in the hope that the Fleming garden will come into the care of a native plant lover. The Flemings were among the founding members of the Friends of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden and the California Native Plant Society. The garden is one of the oldest private native plant gardens in the state and was documented in 2010 as part of the Historic American Landscape Survey, which is stored at the Library of Congress: http://www.halsca.org/ala_fleming.htm. For specific details about the house and sale contact the realtor Susie Schevill. Her website and the listing for the house are http://www.susieschevill.com/susielistings.html
--Luke Hass
The Flemings were pioneers in protecting the state's native plants and in employing them for horticulture. This garden is famous as the most illustrious of its kind. If you have the money, you could scarcely buy a better house and garden--with also spectacular views of the Bay. JS
##############################
8. Don't Take the Bait
The San Francisco Department of the Environment is asking City retailers and consumers to avoid buying or selling certain kinds of common rat & mouse baits, which the US Environmental Protection Agency has determined pose an “unreasonable risk” to children, pets, and the environment.
Rats reproduce in relation to their available food supply. If rat control is in your future, here is information from the Department of the Environment to help you find safe solutions. http://www.sfapproved.org/rodents
###########################
9. LTE, San Francisco Chronicle
Tasing defended
All hail the ranger with the Taser (Dog walker gets zapped by ranger," Jan. 31)! Finally, a national park employee doing her job.
The problem is not the Taser; the problem is the entitlement that dog owners have in thinking that rules don't apply to them and walking away when asked to stay.
Those of us trying to protect the remaining native habitat could all tell numerous stories of dog owners letting their creatures wreak havoc on the environment. They do what they want to do because it's a known fact that the Park Service never gives them consequences for their illegal choices (spend five minutes in that dog park called the Presidio).
We should build a bronze statue of this ranger. I hope that one electrical shock makes all dog owners think.
Liam O'Brien, San Francisco
Liam: The craziest thing was after writing it, I had a meeting with a staff person from the Presidio Trust and as we were meeting at the new restoration at EL POLIN SPRINGS in the Presidio, he had to stop and go over and ask a guy to get his off-leash dog out of the new plantings. Maybe we take the tasers out of the rangers hands and...electrify the fences?
And (Name Withheld) sent me a thumbs up
Liam,
Thank you so much for saying out loud what so many people are afraid to voice. In Pacifica we are fighting the same fight over threatened snowy plovers on the beach. Off-leash dog owners feel totally entitled to freely disregard the law. One city council member has been threatened and walkers on the beach bitten. Recently the police got a new ATV, so they now dare to venture out onto the sand. Of course, they are entirely visible, and people leash up and argue when they approach. The battle goes on.
############################
10. Feedback
Michael Alexander:
Hi Jake,
Whatever it was, it's been removed from You Tube. Perhaps the bird violated someone's copyright?
Don French: (re Crowboarding--the guy who forwarded said "I think the bird is a jackdaw")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI_b-ao7djQ&feature=player_embedded:
Damien Raffa:
Hi Jake: Just a quick word of gratitude for the gift of your Nature News...gracias~ DR
On Jan 31, 2012, at 5:18 PM, Jake Sigg wrote:
“There is nothing so American as our national parks. The scenery and wildlife are native. The fundamental idea behind the parks is native. It is, in brief, that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us. The parks stand as the outward symbol of this great human principle.” Franklin D. Roosevelt
Wilderness preservation is an American invention--a unique contribution of our nation to world civilization. As we mark the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act (1964), Americans should renew their pride in and commitment to the National Wilderness Preservation System. It is one of the best ideas our country ever had.
One place to start the celebration is with the recognition that wilderness is the basic component of American culture. From its raw materials we built a civilization. With the idea of wilderness we sought to give that civilization identity and meaning. Our early environmental history is inextricably tied to wild country. Hate it or love it, if you want to understand American history there is no escaping the need to come to terms with our wilderness past. From this perspective, designated Wilderness Areas are historical documents; destroying them is comparable to tearing pages from our books and laws. We cannot teach our children what is special about our history on freeways or in shopping malls. ..Protecting the remnants of wild country left today is an action that defines our nation. Take away wilderness and you diminish the opportunity to be American.
Roderick Nash, Yosemite, Fall 2004
########################
11. Significant habitat restoration efforts are underway at Hawk Hill and the coastal bluffs on the western edge of the Presidio. The National Park Service and Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy invite you to join us for two public walks on Saturday, February 11 to learn more about planned restoration activities and volunteer opportunities that will follow the recent non-native invasive tree and vegetation removal work.
Please feel to participate in one or both of the walks. Learn more about both the natural and historic qualities these two headland habitats share and what makes them distinct.
For meeting locations and to sign up, please write trailsforever@parksconservancy.org<mailto:trailsforever@parksconservancy.org> or call 415-561-3054.
Saturday, February 11
Hawk Hill - 10am - noon
Presidio Bluffs - 1pm - 3pm
###########################
12. February in Claremont Canyon
Tuesday, February 7: Habitat restoration in Garber Park. Winter stewardship continues. We will remove French Broom and Cape Ivy in specific spots along the loop trail, continue clean-up at the fireplace plaza area and search for and flag and cage oak, big leaf maple and buckeye seedlings to prevent them from becoming a tasty treat for deer. We'll also continue our "Map the Garber Park Oaks" project. 10 AM til Noon. Meet at the park entrance at the end of Evergreen Lane. For further information, call 510-540-5261, email garberparkstewards@gmail.com or visit www.garberparkstewards.blogspot.com.
The City of Oakland Measure DD Creek Stabilization and Habitat Enhancement Project has been completed! Come and tour along Harwood Creek to see what's been accomplished. For information and pictures visit our blog.
Sunday, February 12: Broom busting event with East Bay MUD and the Cal Rowing Team. Our monthly stewardship activity will be on SUNDAY this month as we work with EBMUD and the Cal rowing team to remove French Broom from the EBMUD property at the top of Claremont Canyon. Removing the broom will help enable native plants to reestablish. We will meet at 9 AM (instead of 10) and work til Noon. Meet at 5170 Grizzly Peak Blvd. and park in the turnout 200 yards past the KPFA tower road. Please RSVP to Virginia Northrop at EBMUD so enough bags of snacks will be on hand, vnorthro@ebmud.com. Should there be rain on the 12th, this event will be rescheduled on the 19th.
Saturday, February 18: Attacking invasives, preserving natives and mapping in Garber Park continues. We will remove French Broom and Cape Ivy in specific spots along the loop trail, continue clean-up at the fireplace plaza area and search for and flag and cage oak, big leaf maple and buckeye seedlings to protect them from deer. We'll also map the location of signature oaks with GPS technology. Meet at 10 AM at the park entrance at the end of Evergreen Lane. For further information, call 510-540-5261, email garberparkstewards@gmail.com or visit www.garberparkstewards.blogspot.com.
For hikes, stewardship and restoration work, please remember to wear long pants, long sleeves, gloves and sturdy boots or shoes.
#############################
13. A Murderous Plant
If you were skipping along, you might admire this delicate little plant, and perhaps pick the flowers to put in your hair. But Academy botanist Peter Fritsch would certainly know better. Last month, he and his colleagues published a paper about the underground, murderous nature of this worm-eating plant, whose scientific name is Philcoxia.
Keep reading about the discovery...
########################
14.
NEWS: Thanks to Plants, We Will Never Find a Planet Like Earth
Earth's flora is responsible for the glaciers and rivers that have created this planet's distinctive landscape
http://links.email.scientificamerican.com/ctt?kn=36&ms=Mzg3ODM4OTMS1&r=NTM5NzIzNTA1NgS2&b=2&j=MTI5MDg1Mzg0S0&mt=1&rt=0
OBSERVATIONS: Climate Change Has Helped Bring Down Cultures
http://links.email.scientificamerican.com/ctt?kn=66&ms=Mzg3ODM4OTMS1&r=NTM5NzIzNTA1NgS2&b=2&j=MTI5MDg1Mzg0S0&mt=1&rt=0
NEWS: Volcanoes May Have Sparked Little Ice Age
New simulations show that several large, closely spaced eruptions (and not decreased solar radiation) could have cooled the Northern Hemisphere enough to spark sea-ice growth and a subsequent feedback loop
http://links.email.scientificamerican.com/ctt?kn=37&ms=Mzg3ODM4OTMS1&r=NTM5NzIzNTA1NgS2&b=2&j=MTI5MDg1Mzg0S0&mt=1&rt=0
CLIMATEWIRE: New Study Calculates Years of Life Lost to Extreme Temperature
The analysis of health data from Brisbane suggests humanity may struggle with the heat waves and cold snaps brought on by climate change
http://links.email.scientificamerican.com/ctt?kn=39&ms=Mzg3ODM4OTMS1&r=NTM5NzIzNTA1NgS2&b=2&j=MTI5MDg1Mzg0S0&mt=1&rt=0
_____________________________
From SciAm
During many years of teaching a plant chemistry course for nonchemists and of leading docent tours and field trips, I found that people interested in plants were fascinated by plant chemistry tidbits, yet often did not have enough knowledge of chemistry basics to appreciate plant molecules. My love for plants and my training as an organic chemist (another passion of mine) made me collect materials for an understandable introduction to plant chemistry. This was assembled in a book,The Chemistry of Plants: Perfumes, Pigments, and Poisons, to be published in summer 2012 by RSC in Cambridge. It is a paperback and is amply illustrated by plant photos that accompany chemical structures and explanations.
The Chemistry of Plants is not a coffee table book, but requires careful reading. It is designed to be useful both for readers who proceed chapter by chapter in order to increasingly build an understanding of organic plant compounds and for those readers who decide to select chapters of special interest. It is a book for plant enthusiasts who want to gain more in-depth knowledge of plants. Knowing more about the amazing molecules in plants gives us even more appreciation and admiration of nature in general! --Greti Sequin
http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=01091d83e4aa193c78a888704&id=e0d9e3adb1&e=dc1584429c
JS: Why would the layperson be interested in plant chemistry? Reasons clamor for attention:
1. Plant chemistry is intensely interesting in itself, and the workings of nature a never-ending source of fascination. It is another window on the universe.
2. From a plant's point of view its compounds are a way of defending itself from predators that could eat it out of existence. From a human perspective, we are dependent on plants for most of our drugs. We now synthesize most of these drugs, but we had to have plants to first produce them. And there is an appreciable percentage of drugs that we are unable to synthesize, and continue to depend on plants to produce them.
3. We are wholly dependent on plants for our food; even our meat comes from plants.
4. We get not only carbohydrates from them but also the healthful benefits of chemical compounds such as antioxidants and vitamins.
#####################
6. Speaking of plant chemistry, butterflies and beetles are experts on the subject: http://www.opb.org/programs/ofg
YouTube video
############################
7.
The Fleming House and Garden Is for Sale
Scott and Jenny Fleming's house and historic native plant garden on Shasta Rd. in Berkeley is now up for sale. We're sending out this message to the Friends in the hope that the Fleming garden will come into the care of a native plant lover. The Flemings were among the founding members of the Friends of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden and the California Native Plant Society. The garden is one of the oldest private native plant gardens in the state and was documented in 2010 as part of the Historic American Landscape Survey, which is stored at the Library of Congress: http://www.halsca.org/ala_fleming.htm. For specific details about the house and sale contact the realtor Susie Schevill. Her website and the listing for the house are http://www.susieschevill.com/susielistings.html
--Luke Hass
The Flemings were pioneers in protecting the state's native plants and in employing them for horticulture. This garden is famous as the most illustrious of its kind. If you have the money, you could scarcely buy a better house and garden--with also spectacular views of the Bay. JS
##############################
8. Don't Take the Bait
The San Francisco Department of the Environment is asking City retailers and consumers to avoid buying or selling certain kinds of common rat & mouse baits, which the US Environmental Protection Agency has determined pose an “unreasonable risk” to children, pets, and the environment.
Rats reproduce in relation to their available food supply. If rat control is in your future, here is information from the Department of the Environment to help you find safe solutions. http://www.sfapproved.org/rodents
###########################
9. LTE, San Francisco Chronicle
Tasing defended
All hail the ranger with the Taser (Dog walker gets zapped by ranger," Jan. 31)! Finally, a national park employee doing her job.
The problem is not the Taser; the problem is the entitlement that dog owners have in thinking that rules don't apply to them and walking away when asked to stay.
Those of us trying to protect the remaining native habitat could all tell numerous stories of dog owners letting their creatures wreak havoc on the environment. They do what they want to do because it's a known fact that the Park Service never gives them consequences for their illegal choices (spend five minutes in that dog park called the Presidio).
We should build a bronze statue of this ranger. I hope that one electrical shock makes all dog owners think.
Liam O'Brien, San Francisco
Liam: The craziest thing was after writing it, I had a meeting with a staff person from the Presidio Trust and as we were meeting at the new restoration at EL POLIN SPRINGS in the Presidio, he had to stop and go over and ask a guy to get his off-leash dog out of the new plantings. Maybe we take the tasers out of the rangers hands and...electrify the fences?
And (Name Withheld) sent me a thumbs up
Liam,
Thank you so much for saying out loud what so many people are afraid to voice. In Pacifica we are fighting the same fight over threatened snowy plovers on the beach. Off-leash dog owners feel totally entitled to freely disregard the law. One city council member has been threatened and walkers on the beach bitten. Recently the police got a new ATV, so they now dare to venture out onto the sand. Of course, they are entirely visible, and people leash up and argue when they approach. The battle goes on.
############################
10. Feedback
Michael Alexander:
Hi Jake,
Whatever it was, it's been removed from You Tube. Perhaps the bird violated someone's copyright?
Don French: (re Crowboarding--the guy who forwarded said "I think the bird is a jackdaw")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI_b-ao7djQ&feature=player_embedded:
Damien Raffa:
Hi Jake: Just a quick word of gratitude for the gift of your Nature News...gracias~ DR
On Jan 31, 2012, at 5:18 PM, Jake Sigg wrote:
“There is nothing so American as our national parks. The scenery and wildlife are native. The fundamental idea behind the parks is native. It is, in brief, that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us. The parks stand as the outward symbol of this great human principle.” Franklin D. Roosevelt
Wilderness preservation is an American invention--a unique contribution of our nation to world civilization. As we mark the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act (1964), Americans should renew their pride in and commitment to the National Wilderness Preservation System. It is one of the best ideas our country ever had.
One place to start the celebration is with the recognition that wilderness is the basic component of American culture. From its raw materials we built a civilization. With the idea of wilderness we sought to give that civilization identity and meaning. Our early environmental history is inextricably tied to wild country. Hate it or love it, if you want to understand American history there is no escaping the need to come to terms with our wilderness past. From this perspective, designated Wilderness Areas are historical documents; destroying them is comparable to tearing pages from our books and laws. We cannot teach our children what is special about our history on freeways or in shopping malls. ..Protecting the remnants of wild country left today is an action that defines our nation. Take away wilderness and you diminish the opportunity to be American.
Roderick Nash, Yosemite, Fall 2004
########################
11. Significant habitat restoration efforts are underway at Hawk Hill and the coastal bluffs on the western edge of the Presidio. The National Park Service and Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy invite you to join us for two public walks on Saturday, February 11 to learn more about planned restoration activities and volunteer opportunities that will follow the recent non-native invasive tree and vegetation removal work.
Please feel to participate in one or both of the walks. Learn more about both the natural and historic qualities these two headland habitats share and what makes them distinct.
For meeting locations and to sign up, please write trailsforever@parksconservancy.org<mailto:trailsforever@parksconservancy.org> or call 415-561-3054.
Saturday, February 11
Hawk Hill - 10am - noon
Presidio Bluffs - 1pm - 3pm
###########################
12. February in Claremont Canyon
Tuesday, February 7: Habitat restoration in Garber Park. Winter stewardship continues. We will remove French Broom and Cape Ivy in specific spots along the loop trail, continue clean-up at the fireplace plaza area and search for and flag and cage oak, big leaf maple and buckeye seedlings to prevent them from becoming a tasty treat for deer. We'll also continue our "Map the Garber Park Oaks" project. 10 AM til Noon. Meet at the park entrance at the end of Evergreen Lane. For further information, call 510-540-5261, email garberparkstewards@gmail.com or visit www.garberparkstewards.blogspot.com.
The City of Oakland Measure DD Creek Stabilization and Habitat Enhancement Project has been completed! Come and tour along Harwood Creek to see what's been accomplished. For information and pictures visit our blog.
Sunday, February 12: Broom busting event with East Bay MUD and the Cal Rowing Team. Our monthly stewardship activity will be on SUNDAY this month as we work with EBMUD and the Cal rowing team to remove French Broom from the EBMUD property at the top of Claremont Canyon. Removing the broom will help enable native plants to reestablish. We will meet at 9 AM (instead of 10) and work til Noon. Meet at 5170 Grizzly Peak Blvd. and park in the turnout 200 yards past the KPFA tower road. Please RSVP to Virginia Northrop at EBMUD so enough bags of snacks will be on hand, vnorthro@ebmud.com. Should there be rain on the 12th, this event will be rescheduled on the 19th.
Saturday, February 18: Attacking invasives, preserving natives and mapping in Garber Park continues. We will remove French Broom and Cape Ivy in specific spots along the loop trail, continue clean-up at the fireplace plaza area and search for and flag and cage oak, big leaf maple and buckeye seedlings to protect them from deer. We'll also map the location of signature oaks with GPS technology. Meet at 10 AM at the park entrance at the end of Evergreen Lane. For further information, call 510-540-5261, email garberparkstewards@gmail.com or visit www.garberparkstewards.blogspot.com.
For hikes, stewardship and restoration work, please remember to wear long pants, long sleeves, gloves and sturdy boots or shoes.
#############################
13. A Murderous Plant
If you were skipping along, you might admire this delicate little plant, and perhaps pick the flowers to put in your hair. But Academy botanist Peter Fritsch would certainly know better. Last month, he and his colleagues published a paper about the underground, murderous nature of this worm-eating plant, whose scientific name is Philcoxia.
Keep reading about the discovery...
########################
14.
NEWS: Thanks to Plants, We Will Never Find a Planet Like Earth
Earth's flora is responsible for the glaciers and rivers that have created this planet's distinctive landscape
http://links.email.scientificamerican.com/ctt?kn=36&ms=Mzg3ODM4OTMS1&r=NTM5NzIzNTA1NgS2&b=2&j=MTI5MDg1Mzg0S0&mt=1&rt=0
OBSERVATIONS: Climate Change Has Helped Bring Down Cultures
http://links.email.scientificamerican.com/ctt?kn=66&ms=Mzg3ODM4OTMS1&r=NTM5NzIzNTA1NgS2&b=2&j=MTI5MDg1Mzg0S0&mt=1&rt=0
NEWS: Volcanoes May Have Sparked Little Ice Age
New simulations show that several large, closely spaced eruptions (and not decreased solar radiation) could have cooled the Northern Hemisphere enough to spark sea-ice growth and a subsequent feedback loop
http://links.email.scientificamerican.com/ctt?kn=37&ms=Mzg3ODM4OTMS1&r=NTM5NzIzNTA1NgS2&b=2&j=MTI5MDg1Mzg0S0&mt=1&rt=0
CLIMATEWIRE: New Study Calculates Years of Life Lost to Extreme Temperature
The analysis of health data from Brisbane suggests humanity may struggle with the heat waves and cold snaps brought on by climate change
http://links.email.scientificamerican.com/ctt?kn=39&ms=Mzg3ODM4OTMS1&r=NTM5NzIzNTA1NgS2&b=2&j=MTI5MDg1Mzg0S0&mt=1&rt=0
_____________________________
From SciAm