Fossil Creek Restoration

Fossil Creek had its flow diverted to power plants for around 100 years, until 2005 when the Arizona Public Service Company (APS) decommissioned the power plants and returned the flow to its normal state.

One of the main contributors to the restoration of Fossil Creek was Northern Arizona University. NAU had a team that collected baseline data and tracked changes over time. They wanted to reintroduce native fish and reestablish travertine pools created by the calcium-rich water of Fossil Creek. They also worked with the U.S. Forest Service on adaptive management strategies.

The Game and Fish Department closed Fossil Creek to fishing until 2007 to give the native fish time to recover and adapt.

The restoration was a success, as it has become a model for succeeding restoration work on old dams throughout the nation. It has also seen the native fish population grow beyond expectations.

There was also a documentary made about the restoration by NAU, which can be seen more in-depth at http://www.mpcer.nau.edu/riverreborn/.

Others involved included the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, as well as the Yavapai-Apache Nation, American Rivers, Arizona Riparian Council, Center for Biological Diversity, The Nature Conservancy, and Northern Arizona Audubon Society.

Muir and Leopold

After reading Muir and Leopold, I have to say that Muir spoke of nature in an interesting way. Not that his writing was very interesting, but the way he spoke of storms and wind made it somewhat interesting.

I felt as if Muir admired the power of nature. He says in the book that “Nature always has something rare to show us”. He also seemed to really be in touch with nature. He frequently talks about nature and uses his senses to describe it. He talks about the “delicious sunshine” and talks about hearing the different sounds and music of nature.

Muir thinks of nature and man as equals. He talks about a “universal struggle for existence”. I feel that here is talking about the struggle between man and nature. He follows that statement by saying “but no struggle in the common meaning of the word was manifest here; no recognition of danger by any tree; no deprecation; but rather an as from fear”. I feel that he is trying to show that he realizes that nature is struggling in their battle with man, but there are still places that nature is “winning” and untouched. He furthers his belief that man and nature are equals by invincible gladness as a remote from exultation saying “We all travel the Milky Way together, trees and men”.

Leopold is more protective of nature in my mind. Yes, he was still in admiration of nature, but he I also felt that he felt that mankind had a right to protect nature and that they were abusing it. I feel that he also feels that man and nature are equals, though. He states “That man is, in fact, only a member of a biotic team is shown by an ecological interpretation of history. Many historical events, hitherto explained solely in terms of human enterprise, were actually biotic interactions between people and land. The characteristics of the land determined the facts quite as potently as the characteristics of the men who lived on it.” In this statement, not only does he stress the equality of men and nature, but he is stating a reliance that man has on nature, and that nature has on man.

Leopold feels that nature and man should live together, but not step on each other’s boundaries, that man should respect nature. He said, “The combined evidence of history and ecology seems to support one general deduction: the less violent the man-made changes, the greater the probability of successful readjustment in the pyramid.”

 

Vanishing Wetland Presentation

I feel that the entire Vanishing Wetlands multimedia presentation is very well laid out, pleasing to the eyes and gets the message out very clearly. I felt that the convergence on most of the stories worked well, and the print stories were picked out well and written well. Personally, the graphics added a lot to the entire presentation. It put things in an easy to understand way, and they were done very well as far as graphics go.

I think that we can use all of the different aspects that they use in recycling. Graphics will be great to display how it works in a quick and easy to understand format. Videos will bring things to real life, and pictures always seem to speak a thousand words, and a photo gallery could be great for a presentation on effects of not recycling. But of course, you need the backbone, the article to sum everything up and make sense out of all of the multimedia presentations.

As far as the mitigation story, I feel that just shows how money and reputation can overcome anything. If they did not have the last name Levin, would things have went their way? But on the other hand, they were the ones with the money, and they are able to do with it as they please. I still think they could have made more of an effort to cater to the environment, such as building them closer instead of building them further apart because they liked “distance” between the condos.

Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau was not the most interesting writer in my opinion, but he did have his moments where he would catch my attention, but he also seemed to wander around at times.

He was a great observer, a naturalist. He always seemed to see things that others did not see, or did not take the time to see. He took amusement in the mouse in his home that was native, not introduced, and how an otter managed to grow to four feet long without a human getting a glimpse of the otter.

He also seemed to have a true, sincere respect and for nature. In Walden:, or Life in the Woods, he shows talks about the “ignorant or reckless” sportsman who leaves the innocent partridges to a fall a pray or decay. He almost takes respect to ownership when he talks about the hens and chickens being his. In Walking, he actually speaks for Nature, and says man is just an inhabitant or a part and parcel of Nature.

I feel that he believes in nature and that it should be respected. He actually says, “I believe in the forest, and in the meadow, and in the night in which the corn grows.” He even goes further into his belief about nature by saying that the most alive is the wildest and that “all good things are wild and free”.

He comes off as a tree-hugger to me, so I definitely think that there is a place for him in today’s environmental movement, just maybe not one that is mainstream. I feel that he would like everything to go untouched and to be 100% in its natural setting and ways, which today is nearly impossible in certain aspects.

Emerald Coastkeeper

Emerald Coastkeeper may be the best-kept secret in the Pensacola area.

Sure, you have never heard of it, what they have done or what the group is attempting to accomplish, but you have most likely felt the effects of their achievements.

The Emerald Coastkeeper is the local chapter of the Waterkeeper Alliance, a national group that is dedicated to connecting local Waterkeeper groups, such as the Emerald Coastkeeper, to provide a voice for waterways and their communities worldwide.

Emerald Coastkeeper is a non-profit organization that was formed in 1999 and serves to protect the fourth largest estuarine system in Florida. With their headquarters in Pensacola, the Emerald Coastkeeper protects from the Perdido Bay to the St. Andrews Bay, as well as many local rivers.

One recent victory for the group went relatively unnoticed.

When CSX Transportation decided to build new railroad tracks through Bayou Texar in Pensacola, the company decided to not remove its creosote, a carcinogenic that is also linked to stomach pains and burning of the mouth and eyes when someone eats food or drinks water that is contaminated with the substance, pilings from the old tracks in an attempt to save money.

Emerald Coastkeeper stepped in and took the company to court and forced CSX to remove the creosote pilings from the water.

Providing a voice for the local waterways comes crucial, and Coastkeeper and marine biologist Taylor Kirschenfeld feels this area needs it now more than ever.

Kirschenfeld gave the local water quality a C grade, and knows there is still work to be done.

“I still think there is a lot of room for improvement,” Kirschenfeld said.

“We don’t have a sophisticated population,” Kirschenfeld said, “they don’t look at the environment; they look at their job and money.”

The water quality of the area is an ongoing issue for the Emerald Coastkeeper, and they have fought for improvements in storm-water runoff and improvements in the sewer and septic systems.

A major obstacle that the group is ready to face upcoming is offshore drilling. The Coastkeeper is strictly opposed to offshore drilling.

The Coastkeeper argues that the benefit of offshore drilling, a slight relief of prices at the gas pump, is not worth the risk of ruining Florida’s tourism-dependent economy and pristine beaches.

The Emerald Coastkeeper is in its tenth year and continues to push forward for the better of the local waterways, donating all profits to current and future missions.

With around 1,000 members, the group is strong, but continues to grow through the help and awareness of the community.

“We keep up with the environment by the eyes and ears of the community,” Kirschenfeld said.
Kirschenfeld recognizes the awareness level is growing in the area, but still wishes that university students would get more vocal, as well as the general public.

“I am jealous of counties that are progressive towards the environment,” Kirschenfeld said.
But when it boils down, he understands that everyone is in the fight for the same thing, the environment.

“It’s here for our enjoyment,” Kirschenfeld said, “and we make sure it doesn’t get used by any one entity.”