July 2007 Archives

The younger generation appears to be not only alive and well but active in the Inland region.

Earlier this year, students at La Sierra University took their Jeopardy-like skit about environmental issues around to local schools; high school students from Moreno Valley and Riverside did a play called "Global Warning." And students at Raney Intermediate School in Corona recently completed a mural about the Earth's resources.

Now enter Desirae Early of Rancho Cucamonga. The UC Berekley student took part last month, along with 15 other students nationwide, in an environmental leadership program sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund and Nissan North America, Inc. And now, as part of that program, she and the other students are about to head to Brazil for an all-expenses paid research expedition.

Back in Rancho Cucamonga on her summer break, Early said the students will be measuring carbon sequestration in the rain forest, taking a boat trip down part of the Amazon River and working on issues faced by the black-faced lion tamarin

Early said she first got interested in the environment through the outdoors. Her dad, Marco, used to take her camping and hiking throughout the state and elsewhere. Then came the 5th grade teacher who taught her class about insects.

At Alta Loma High School, Early said she started a conservation club that did cleanups on trails and at the beach. At Berkeley, where she studies environmental economics and policy, she's worked on promoting energy-efficiency and helped with the campus' "Green Room," the nation's first fully-outfitted, eco-friendly residence hall.

She'll leave July 29 for Brazil and return Aug. 12. She says she'll post a comment on how her trip went when she returns, so make sure to check back.

A long-time state biologist and Inland resident has some answers for us on the deer mystery that was brought to our attention a few weeks ago. Kevin Brennan, a senior biologist with the California Department of Fish and Game, says that the deer population in the San Bernardino Mountains is in fact somewhat healthy, at least as of last summer.

Brennan took part in the agency's survey of the mountains last summer when they found 26 bucks per 100 does. The fawn ratio was 27 per 100 does, which he said is pretty high. The sample size, meaning how many deer were observed during x-amount of hours, was 230 deer. That number, he said, is a little above average. Brennan said you could never possibly count all the deer in the zone no matter how many helicopter flights were made.

Overall, the deer population in Zone D-14, is considered "stable to slightly declining, yet considerably below levels seen in the late 1960s and 1970s," according to the Fish and Game website. The long-term declines, it says, have been due to land management practices that have precluded fire, resulting in more mature and less diverse habitat. That, in turn, has reduced the quality and quantity of deer habitat. Short-term fluctuations in deer populations, it said, are usually attributed to weather events that affect how much vegetation is available for the deer to eat.

The issue was first brought up a couple of weeks ago by a county supervisor who suggested hunting might be limited if the number of deer was in fact declining as some residents believe.

Event on Wednesday

Speaking of the mountains, our local REI in Rancho Cucamonga is having a free seminar Wednesday night on ultralight backpacking so you can learn how to reduce pack weight without sacraficing your experience.

It's about more than just our planet this weekend.

It's Mars Day today at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. You can check out some cool photos and other information about the red planet on the above link. Closer to home, the San Bernardino County Museum will have a "Star Struck" event this Saturday. Families can watch the stars, listen to stories about them and learn more about constellations in StarLab, the museum's inflatable planetarium. Click here for StarLab show times and other details.

For any desert lovers out there, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is still looking for volunteers to participate on a technical review team to help develop a management plan for the Meccacopia Recreation Area. It's about 144,000 acres to the east of the Coachella Valley. Mona Daniels, a BLM outdoor recreation planner, said the area has limited land use in a figure 8 pattern around the two wilderness areas: the Mecca Hills Wilderness and the Orocopia Mountains Wilderness. The western portion typically attracts hikers and campers and the eastern part attracts off-road touring groups, she said. The BLM is seeking those representing environmental concerns and off-highway motorized and non-motorized recreation, among other interests.

Also, if you head the other way this weekend, you can check out the latest in eco-frenzy eateries in LA.

It's a step beyond environmentally friendly eco-tourism. Enter geo-tourism.

The relatively new concept is defined as tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place -- its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and the well-being of its residents. Some examples, according to a recent story by the Associated Press: Visiting a small organic coffee farm in Guatemala, and listening to jazz in New Orleans.

"People do tend to like things that they're not going to experience somewhere else. They're looking for things that are not homogenized," said David DePetrillo, Rhode Island's tourism director, told the AP.

The state became the latest region to sign the Geotourism Charter of the National Geographic Society, joining Arizona, Guatemala, Honduras, Norway and Romania in a commitment to the ideals of geotourism.

Along those same lines, the Catalina Island Conservancy has a limited number of vacancies available in September for its popular Volunteer Vacation program. LeeAnn Human, who coordinates the trips, said the volunteers get to help renew and protect wildlands and coves, and help conservancy experts conduct projects involving scientific research, horticulture, plant monitoring, trail building, beach clean-up, non-native plant removal and fence removal.

And they get to meet the conservancy's animal ambassadors -- Tachi, an endangered Catalina Island fox, and Pimu, a bald eagle. The $175 per person cost includes accomodations for five nights, five dinners, on-island transporation, project training, works supplies and a naturalist activity. You only have to pay for your boat or chopper flight to the island. Sounds like a good deal!

A lecture series looking at the impact of global warming and fire ecology on biodiversity kicks off tonight at Cal State San Bernardino's Palm Desert campus. First up is Kassie Siegel, an attorney from Joshua Tree who has been among those seeking to get polar bears listed on the federal endangered species, arguing that global warming is melting their icy habitat.

The four lectures will be held once a week through Aug. 8. They will include talks from Todd Esque, a fire ecologist with the United States Geological Survey, Deborah DeMeo with the National Parks Conservation Association and Brendan Cummings, who like Siegel, works for The Center for Biological Diversity.

The series of lectures is being sponsored by Cal State along with the Desert Institute at Joshua Tree National Park. Karina White, with the institute, said the lecture series costs $60, but she didn't know if there was a cost for individual lectures. She said Leticia Quezada would know that. She didn't immediately return my call but if you need to reach her about this, her phone number at 760-341-2883, ext. 14425.

Ed Begley Jr, that hyper but nice enviro-activist actor, will be out in Riverside on Thursday speaking at a water symposium focusing on irrigation. Begley, as you may recall, was the subject of a recent feature as part of the newspaper's energy project. He has a drought-tolerant garden, recycled concrete pavers through his fruit trees, no grass and uses a rain barrel to collect water for his vegetables. He's speaking at 9:30 a.m. during the symposium, which is geared toward landscape contractors, developers, designers, and city official types. It's not open to the general public but since outdoor water use can account for 60 to 80 percent of a home's use, it is a topic of interest to us all.

The symposium comes at a time when water issues are at the forefront. Just in the Inland region, we've had a few residents whose wells went dry and our dry land farmers who rely on rain are in dire straits. Gov. Schwarzenegger was at the San Luis Reservoir in Merced County yesterday to talk about the state's mounting water crisis. Like many Inland water agency officials have told me, Schwarzenegger said if there's another dry winter upcoming it could be disastrous. In a $5.9 billion water plan he introduced, it would include funding for both above-ground and below-ground storage, along with funds for the Salton Sea restoration plan.

An orchid so elusive that it went unseen for 70 years has now been identified as a new species. And it's right in our back yard, or close to it, depending on your perspective.

Botanists for the U.S. Geological Survey and a colleague at the New York State Museum announced today they identified the plant as the Yosemite bog-orchid.

The orchid was first collected by George Henry Grinnell in 1923 and a new generation of botanists rediscovered its location in the park in 1993. It wasn't until 2003 that Peggy Moore and few others relocated the site and began the arduous task of determining what it was and if indeed it were a new species.

In consulting with Charles Sheviak, orchid expert and curator of botany at the New York State Museum, they determined that the orchid was indeed a new, undescribed species.

You can see the scientists involved in the work on this Web site. The third picture sort of shows the plant itself but it's difficult to see.

I spoke to Moore this morning and she said they didn't want to specifically show the plant or its whereabouts as there are only a few plants in each of the nine known populations. As the orchid's range is now known, between the main stem and the south fork of the Merced River, the scientists say it is the only orchid species endemic to the Sierra Nevada.

"To find such a strikingly distinct plant in such a well-known locality is truly astonishing," Sheviak said.

The plant is not the tropical kind you find at Trader Joe's or at farmer's markets. Moore described it as wand-like with tiny, yellow flowers and quite the odor -- on the order of strong musk or cheese, human feet, sweaty clothings or a corral of horses. Those are the scientists' words, not mine. But yikes. They say the nasty odor may attract mosquitoes or flies for pollination purposes.

Anyone looking for organized hikes in the Inland region, there's always the local Sierra Club. But there's also an outdoors club that has several events this weekend in our area, including hikes to San Jacinto Peak from the top of the tram and Deer Springs Trail near Idyllwild. There's free registration on the Web site so it might be worth checking it.

Speaking of the Sierra Club, they are putting on a tour of native plant gardens up in Big Bear Lake on Saturday, where the temperatures should be in the low 80s, some 13 degrees lower than here in Riverside. Sounds good to me. The idea is to show people that drought-tolerant gardens can be more than rocks and cactus but in fact a beautiful blend of colors, textures and aromas.

And for anyone wanting to stay in shape for hikes or train for the LA Marathon, the Loma Linda Lopers are launching their new Riverside clinic early Sunday morning. Click here for today's story in the newspaper.

The San Diego Zoo's annual fundraiser isn't until Sept. 29, but tickets are already on sale for the "Celebration for the Critters." This year, the zoo will be using plates and utensils made from corn starch and other biodegradable products to lighten the amount of trash generated by the food and wine tasting event each year.

Christina Carreno, event supervisor, says instead of giving away thousands of half-liter water bottles, they'll be positioning several water stations throughout the zoo so guests can refill their biodegradable cups. The event is attended by some 3,000 guests, so that has meant a lot of trash in the past, from 38,000 plates and nearly as many forks to 75,000 napkins, 25,000 cups and more.

The fundraiser will raise money for such things as breeding programs for San Clemente Island loggerhead shrikes and recovery efforts for the California Condor, conservation of Hawaiian birds, reproductive ecology studies of New Zealand’s kiwi and habitat protection for Monarch butterflies in Mexico.

Are deer in the mountains just being elusive or are their numbers actually declining? If so, San Bernardino County Supervisor Dennis Hansberger says, limits on hunting might be warranted.

The issue came to my attention from a news release but our newspaper's San Bernardino County reporter, Duane Gang, was at Tuesday's supervisors meeting when the issue emerged.

He said that Hansberger said during the meeting that the average take of 118 bucks a year from the mountains over time could significantly reduce the deer population. If that's the case, Hansberger said, officials might want to consider issuing fewer hunting permits until the population rebounds.

Hansberger said many residents he represents in the mountain areas have reported significant deer declines. Hansberger said that he often sees deer in Redlands -- not in the mountains.

A healthy deer population, the supervisor said, can help reduce the fire threat by eating overgrown vegetation. Hansberger asked that the county work with the California Department of Fish and Game to conduct an analysis of the deer population. The general season for hunting runs Oct. 13 through Nov. 11, and this year the Calfornia Department of Fish and Game has issued 665 tags since June.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Paul Biane, who also represents some mountain areas, said he favors studying the deer population. But, he said, fewer deer may also be the result of a more robust mountain lion population. As chairman, he directed the county to work with state Fish and Game to study the issue. There is no word on how long or when any study would be complete.

Duane says you can hear the issue being discussed during Tuesday's meeting on this Web site, which will post the archived footage today.

Thanks to Duane for his help on this one!

It may not be fall yet, but it's that time of the year to think about leaf blowers.

If your gardener or landscaper uses the kind of back-pack, high-polluting leaf blower, let them know that our regional air quality board is holding a series of leaf blower exchanges later this month in Southern California. They include events next week in Riverside and Chino. But now is the time to register, they say. To qualify, call 888-425-6247.

This is how it works. After qualifying, you bring in your high-polluting leaf blower, and you get a new, low-polluting and quieter blower for $200. They say they are worth $469.

In one year, the average blower emits as much pollution as 80 new cars, each driven for 12,500 miles, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District. The new models are nearly five times cleaner than the California Air Resources Board's most stringent standard for new blowers.

If all 1,500 old blowers are exchanged, it would reduce nearly 14 tons of smog-forming pollution a year. In the Inland region, we can take all the help we can get in that arena.

Is it just me or do summer camps these days sound like a whole lot more fun?

Just looking at the Inland region, kids can take "safaris", learn why snakes wriggle and hyenas giggle, and why it's important to protect "endangered strangers" at summer zoo camp at the Living Desert in Palm Desert. Michelle Moe, the zoo's camp coordinator, said the summer camp has been around for several years during the zoo's slower time in the hot summer. One of the more popular events is when some of the older kids make so-called enrichment items for the zoo's animals and watch how they react to them. They are basically toys for the animals made from recycled materials and sometimes spiked with scents, Moe said. There zoo is still accepting applications for its weekly programs that run through Aug. 3. Click here for an application.

At the San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands, kids can learn how to use nature in art and learn what it was like to grow up as a Native American hundreds of years ago. The city of Riverside offers an adventure day camp at Fairmount Park where kids get to climb, hike, perform weird science experiments, and learn about native ecology, flora and fauna.

Way cool. Sign me up!

This blog entry is about you.

It's been nearly 35 hours or since Live Earth ended. Now that you have had time to think about it, did the effort accomplish anything? Did it get its message out to the masses? What about here in the Inland region?

Did anyone catch any of the concerts and did they inspire you to make a change -- switch to compact fluorescent lightbulbs, unplug phone chargers when not in use, or make sure your tires are inflated enough?

Whoopi Goldberg and William Shatner were among the celebrities lending their voices to such tips during NBC's three-hour compact version of the multi-venue event.

Or did the much ballyhooed concerts fail to make the impact organizers had hoped? The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that the concerts were not generating the heat promoters had hoped.

It appeared that a few Inland folks got their name up on the running banner for text messaging into one concert with pledges to do those very things ... Bill O. from Palm Springs, Megan M. from Redlands, Luz P. from Moreno Valley and Ryan G. from Riverside.

But what, if anything, were you motivated to do? How did the house parties go in the Inland region?

I watched the NBC broadcast Saturday night, and had caught a few shows earlier in the day on CNBC between errands. The music was great, from a wide array of folks. The most fun band of all was one I had never heard before. Nunatuk, the indie-rock group of British scientists and technicians who are working down in Antarctica studying global warming, played by the water as penguins wandered about. It was terrific!

Did anyone notice when Al Gore didn't directly answer the question -- would he run for president? Can he make more of a difference as a president who must tackle every issue under the sun? Or should he continue to see this through? Does anyone remember what he did about global warming during his eight years of being vice president?

We should be getting a bit of a break from the hot, steamy weather this weekend, although it will still top the low 90s in the Inland valleys, low 80s in the mountains, the 110s or so in the Coachella Valley. Sounds like a hike-in-the-mountains kind of weekend.

Much of the happenings this weekend are tied to music and the environment. I hope I don't even have to mention Live Earth at this point. But I may have to remind folks of a three-day festival closer to home. It's the Clean Air Clear Stars festival starting today in the High Desert. And of course, it's at Pappy & Harriet's, the music mecca in Pioneertown. For more information, click here.

At the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve down by Murrieta Saturday night, you can attend the opening of an art exhibit, "Spreading Natives --- Protecting Regional Character and Natural Resources."

And this Wednesday night, there's a free introduction to backpacking class at the REI in Rancho Cucamonga.

If you have any plans to go hiking in the Lake Tahoe area this summer, it may remind you of our Inland area. Air quality monitoring officials there are saying the air quality in the Tahoe basin could remain bad for much of the summer due to the massive fire there and dry conditions.

In the past six years, the Bush administration has added fewer species to the federal Endangered Species Act than any other since the law was enacted in 1973. So says a Los Angeles Times report today. The slowdown, the report says, has resulted in a waiting list of 279 candidates that are near extinction. The report comes out today as federal wildlife officials added one more to that list after finding that a species in the Inland region is imperiled enough to warrant such protection but is being precluded because of higher priorities.

The only known population of the Casey's June beetle is limited to 600 acres of land in southern Palm Springs. Both the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a petition back in 2004 seeking the protection for the tiny beetle says urban development has degraded and paved over its habitat. Less than an inch-long with dusty brown or whitish coloring, the beetle emerges from burrows between late March and early June. Females remain on the ground while males begin a short flight season seeking out the females for reproduction.

Environmental groups say some 200 of the 1,326 officially endangered species are close to expiring in part because funds have been cut for their recovery. Bryan Arroyo, acting assistant director of endangered species for the Fish and Wildlife Service, acknowledged a 30 percent vacancy rate in the program's staff. He told the Times: "We have a national deficit, and we are in the midst of a war," he said. "We have to live within the president's budget."

I wonder what Teddy Roosevelt would say about that if he were still alive.

Curious to see if anyone is doing anything for this Saturday's "Live Earth" concert, I perused the website and found the house parties section. There I found not one, not two, not three, but four events across the Inland region: Murrieta, Corona, La Quinta, and Redlands, at the Redlands United Church for Christ.

Then after talking to Steve Mattern, who's hosting the Corona party, I found about a dozen more in the Inland region on the moveon.org website. Everywhere from Rancho Cucamonga to Temecula to Loma Linda and Hesperia.

Although not in our area, I have to say the one in Cerritos, in Los Angeles County, looks very interesting. It includes a tour of the host's solar home where solar-baked cookies and mint sun tea will be served. But I have to say the Steve and his wife Linda were very poetic in announcing their get-together: "All things are connected. Join us to help do a little to make the world a little bit better."

And if you just want to check out the concert in the comforts of your own living room, click here and scroll down to Broadcast Information to find out which stations are airing it and when.

So much happening along the Santa Ana River these days. The envisioned 112-mile crest-to-coast trail along the river got a little help this weekend. A new segment of the trail now stretches from the Riverside County line north through Colton to La Cadena Drive. That should mean, if I'm recalling correctly, that you can get a nice uninterrupted ride from La Cadena down to Van Buren Boulevard in Riverside. Not too bad! But I know many Inland bicyclists just clamoring for the day when they can hop on their bikes and sail down the trail to the ocean.

And this Saturday, a nature hike will take place along the river with Oscar Clarke, Greg Ballmer and Arlee Montalvo. The three worked on the fabulous book, "Flora of the Santa Ana River and Environs," which came out earlier this year. I've been on a walk with Clarke and Balmer there before. Very little misses their keen eyes. Meet at the Louis Robidoux Nature Center, 5370 Riverview Drive at 9:30 a.m. Members of the Inland chapter of the California Native Plant Society and UC Riverside Friends of Entomology Research Museum will also be on hand.