Saturday, May 22, 2010

Jake Sigg's Nature News Special to Bayview Hill Association

1.   Judicial opinion threatens salmon
2.   Tree drawing artists: Help create a forest of trees in the dirty walls of the Broadway Tunnel
3.   Celebrate Endangered Species Weekend in the GGNRA
4.   Coastal Commission to weigh Tomales Dunes
5.   Pescadero Marsh and Dunes field trip 23 May
6.   Feedback
7.   Integrated Control Methods Field course June 8-9
8.   Winged visitors in your garden - East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden, June 5
9.   Bay Area Nature Fan Fest - celebrate the work of naturalist and illustrator John "Jack" Muir Laws and his new pocket guides - June 5
10. Blue Greenway planning and design guidelines workshop May 26
11.  FUF walk through AIDS Memorial Grove May 28
12.  BREAKING GROUND: Urban Gardening Youth Conference Saturday, June 19 - by and for high school students
13.  Wildflower walk at Arastradero Preserve May 30
14.  Full Moon walk May 27
15.  Getting a Raw Meal: Is an Exclusive Diet of Uncooked Food Good for Personal--and Planetary--Health?
16.  Some bad news about fish from the UN
17.  Farmers tell feds poultry companies control them
18.  Getting the goodness of garlic
19.  Two great blue heron nests at Palace of Fine Arts
20. Transition Town movement at the Commonwealth Club on June 9
21.  Scaring off bark beetles infesting pine forests
22.  Efficient shapes - now, tetrahedral tomatoes?
23.  Some definitions by Ambrose Bierce
24.  Richard Wagner 22 May 1813/SFO Ring Cycle


1.  JUDICIAL OPINION THREATENS SALMON 
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger issued an opinion stating that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) protections for salmon in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta do not "take the hard look required to achieve, to the maximum extent possible, the co-equal Reclamation Law objective of providing water service." 
The opinion may presage an unfortunate blow for already-beleaguered California salmon. The protections that provide anadromous fish with the water they need are the best hope for California's wild salmon runs and the commercial fishermen and communities whose lifestyles and livelihoods depend on them. 
The NMFS protections define when, and how much, water can be pumped from the South Delta without driving endangered anadromous fish to extinction. They were recently vetted by a panel from the National Academy of Sciences, who found the protections "scientifically justified." 
In his opinion, Judge Wanger stated that the pumping restrictions had caused "social disruption and dislocation, such as … increased unemployment leading to hunger and homelessness," and that a temporary injunction might be appropriate if it does not "further jeopardize the species or their habitat." 
This opinion was not a final ruling. The exporters continue to seek an injunction on the federal biological opinions that protect the salmon. The court will continue to hear arguments and make a final ruling. The next hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, May 25th.  
Planning & Conservation League

*******************************

2.  Tree drawing artists: Help create a forest of trees in the dirty walls of the Broadway Tunnel

Local British street artist, Paul "Moose" Curtis, Professor of Dirty, has been creating art on the walls of the Broadway Tunnel (west end, south side) in San Francisco. Using "reverse graffiti," his stencils create images on dirty walls when he shoots a power hose full of water and a natural cleaner at his stencils temporarily attached to the walls. The result is a reverse image that disappears as the wall gets dirty again. His previous images of native plants have disappeared but he has approval to create a new work on the walls.

Located in the Russian Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, the area lacks not only open space but also street art. His next creation will be a forest of stenciled trees. The work can be viewed best from the north side of Broadway, above the tunnel's west entrance, between Hyde and Larkin. 

Anyone with tree drawings he can enlarge and turn into stencils is encouraged to send him their images at:  treesinthetunnel@gmail.com

He will select 10. The deadline for consideration is June 10, 2010.

Leah Garchik had a blurb about this in her column in the San Francisco Chronicle on May 18, 2010:Broadway Tunnel

The article includes a 3 minute video by Doug Pray of Paul talking about his work: Reversegraffiti

****************************************
3.
Celebrate Endangered Species Day at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area!
Endangered Species Day is a national celebration of America's commitment to protecting and recovering our nation's flora and fauna. Nearly a quarter of the species on the planet are currently in danger of extinction.

Started by the United States Senate, Endangered Species Day is an opportunity for people young and old to learn about the importance of protecting endangered species and everyday actions that people can take to help protect our nation's disappearing wildlife and last remaining open space. Protecting America's wildlife and plants today is a legacy we leave to our children and grandchildren, so that all Americans can experience the rich variety of native species that help to define our nation.
Celebrate Endangered Species Day all weekend with Golden Gate National Parks, from Friday May 21 to Sunday, May 23. From Muir Beach to Lands End, get hands-on with a restoration project or interpretive program to benefit the park's endangered species!
At Golden Gate, there are more federally protected species than any other unit of the National Park System in continental North America: more than Yosemite, Yellowstone, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks combined! This is both cause for celebration and concern. The California red-legged frog, coho salmon, mission blue butterfly, Presidio clarkia, and many more species need your help!
Join us for Endangered Species Weekend at Golden Gate National Parks!
Endangered Species Weekend
Friday, May 21, 2010 - Sunday May 23, 2010
Help with restoration projects for endangered species, including:
See peregrine falcons and learn about raptor migration
Restore habitat at Muir Beach for endangered salmon and steelhead
Help grow native plants for Mission Blue butterflies at the Marin Headlands
Observe endangered tidewater goby and clean up the Rodeo Lagoon
Restore habitat for western snowy plovers on the beach
Restore habitat for endangered plants at the Presidio - and more!
Find out more and register for a project at the Golden Gate National Parks website.

*********************************

4.  Coast Commission to weigh Tomales Dunes

The future of Tomales Dunes, the largest unprotected dune system and richest collection of seasonal dune wetlands in central California, is scheduled finally to come before the California Coastal Commission.

The Commission will hear an appeal, brought by the Sierra Club and several other environmental organizations, of the permit approved by Marin County to manage the impacts of Lawson's Landing, a gigantic recreation-vehicle (RV) park at the dunes (see January-February 2009 Yodeler, page 15; and November-December 2008, page 17).  Lawson's is asking the Coastal Commission for a permit for a campground for 495 RVs, 305 tents, and 213 "second-home" travel trailers. We believe that it is possible to retain the low-cost coastal access provided by Lawson's Landing while minimizing damage to the remarkable ecosystems here, but the plan proposed by the owners doesn't give adequate protection to the site's sensitive habitats.

The state Coastal Conservancy and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently allocated $1.5 million for a conservation easement to protect wetlands at Tomales Dunes.  This provides an excellent opportunity for Lawson's to come into legal compliance and for Lawson's and agencies to work together to restore the environmental health of the site.

Write to the California Coastal Commission at:
Peter Douglas
California Coastal Commission
45Fremont St., #2000
San Francisco, CA 94105-2219
fax: (415)904-5400.

Urge the commission to make sure that:

• all wetlands and sensitive habitats are identified and provided with appropriate buffers, as required by the Coastal Act;
• past unpermitted uses are mitigated by adoption of a management ptetfedMU ensures that sensitive species and habitats are restored and protected, and that also addresses the problem of invasive species;
•a new septic system is installed in a timely manner;
• all camping spaces are made open to the public, not reserved for those few lucky RV owners who hold private long-term leases over prime camping areas.  Come to the commission's meeting when it considers Lawson's Landing.  As of press time the item is scheduled during the Commission's July 7-9 meeting in Santa Rosa at the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors chambers at 575 Administration Drive.  For an update on the schedule and more information, go to:  www. eacmarin. org, click on "Tomales Dunes Update .  

Catherine Caufield (reprinted with permission from Sierra Club Yodeler)

**********************************
5.
California Native Plant Society field trip
Pescadero Marsh and Dunes
Sunday 23 May, 10 am

Join Toni Corelli for a walk on the North Pond Trail at Pescadero Marsh.  This is a place to see coastal scrub, native prairie and wildflowers, along with saltwater marsh wetlands and the birds associated with it.  This will be an easy one-way walk of about 1 mile and we will return along the same trail.  After lunch we will go to the Pescadero dunes to see different plants and how they manage to live in this extreme habitat.  

Meet at the North Parking lot of Pescadero Marsh at 10 am.  A parking fee is required and there are restrooms at the lot.  Bring lunch and wear layers.  The tour will go until 3 pm.  For more information contact Toni at 650-464-1289 or corelli@coastside.net.

***************************************

6.  Feedback

Sharon Muczynski:
Hi Jake, I live in SF and I care about Point Molate. I sent the suggested message to Nat Bates and others in the Richmond City Council. Here is the response I received:
How can a person who do not live in Richmond, pay no taxes in Richmond, do not give a damm about crime nor poor economical conditions make judgment and tell us what is best for our city. Elitist people like yourself are an embarrassment to society. In the future, Please refrain from contacting me because you are not my constituency.
Nat

  I enjoy your newsletter.
Louise Lacey (re lab report:  Pesticides and Soil Fertility):
I mean any government soil.  My point is that they didn't start with "virgin" soil, but soil that was already used, probably for years, in an unknown condition. So we don't know what shape it was in.
Yes.  That is a qualifying factor, but it doesn't necessarily invalidate the results, does it?
I think it does. No mycorrhizae, no etc. etc. We don't even know if that soil has had earlier years of pesticides, fertilizers, etc.  To do it right you have to start with real earth, and two places near by, with a control and the things you are testing.
I won't argue your point, Louise, as it certainly has some validity.  However, we are getting into complications that are beyond my purpose with the posting.  The study was done in England, and can you find anything there that resembles virgin soil?  In my view the study has value, even if a more thorough study might bring qualifying information.  For better or for worse, I pull the plug at this point.  Jake

*************************************

7.  Integrated Control Methods Field Course at the McLaughlin Natural Reserve, Lower Lake: June 8 & 9
Cal-IPC is pleased to invite you to a New 2-day Field Course where you will learn about integrating control methods for more effective invasive plant control. This 2-day format provides more social time for networking between participants, instructors and Cal-IPC staff. The McLaughlin Natural Reserve has an abundance of spring wildflowers at this time of year and is engaged in managing multiple invasive plants.  Registration and course details at www.cal-ipc.org/fieldcourses/index.php. 

****************************************

8.  East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden - Winged Visitors in Your Garden Sanctuary

Did you know that it's easy to distinguish male from female in some butterfly species; and that some species can emerge from the chrysalis years after going into the pupal stage ?
Do you know why some butterflies seem to have just four legs ?
Monarch butterfly females search for certain qualities in the host plant before laying their eggs on it. Find out why, and how they know this plant is best for their offspring.

Learn which birds breed first, why another species waits to breed until early summer, and how spiders play an important role in the lives of some birds.
You will learn how flocking birds signal danger to other members of their flock; and how birds divide habitat resources by using different foraging strategies.
You'll also hear some fascinating stories about the origins of common names of birds and butterflies.
All this, and more great information to help you get the most from your habitat garden:  plus a free milkweed plant to prepare for the Monarchs in the fall.

Charlotte Torgovitsky will lead the class "Winged Visitors in your Garden Sanctuary" on Saturday, June 5, from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM.  Click here for further information on this course or to register.

*************************************
9.
Bay Area Nature Fan Fest - LOVE IT! LEARN IT! PROTECT IT!
Saturday, June 5 from 2:00 to 400 p.m.
Heyday Books, SF Botanical Garden Society, and Audubon California invite you to celebrate the work of naturalist and illustrator John "Jack" Muir Laws and his new pocket guides! Join us for nature secrets from Jack, cupcakes, lemonade, buttons, books, and two minute "quick-as-a-bunny" presentations from Jack's favorite local organizations, including SF Botanical Garden Society, Tree Frog Treks, Audubon California, California Native Plant Society, Bay Nature, Golden Gate Raptor Observatory, and Nature in the City.

San Francisco County Fair Bldg Recreation Room, Golden Gate Park, 9th Av & Lincoln Way, San Francisco

*************************************

10.  May 26th Community Workshop: Blue Greenway Planning & Design Guidelines

The Port of San Francisco will be hosting a community workshop to provide an overview of the planning process and schedule, existing conditions, opportunities & constraints and to discuss potential program uses for the various open spaces.

Wednesday May 26, 2010 5:30 - 8:00 PM, Port of San Francisco, Pier 1 (Embarcadero at Washington).
Prior to the meeting, the Port will post a document on the Blue Greenway web site  that will present the information that will be reviewed at the community workshop. More information about the Blue Greenway can also be reviewed on the Port’s Blue Greenway web site at: www.sfport.com/bluegreenway

(The last time I looked there was no mention of wildlife or migration corridors.  Evidently the Blue Greenway is conceived for human beings only.  JS)

*************************************
11.
National AIDS Memorial Grove
Friday, May 28th 12pm-1:30pm
Bring a lunch and join Friends of the Urban Forest on a walk through the National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park with John Cunningham and Ray Goodenough. Ray, gardener for the AIDS Grove, will share his knowledge about the trees and other plants in the Grove while John, Executive Director for the Grove, shares with us its history.
RSVP Sarah Campbell, FUF Education Coordinator at sarah@fuf.net or call (415) 268-0780.
Meet at the Grove’s entrance at the intersection of Bowling Green Drive and Middle Drive East.
MUNI N Judah, 16X, 33, 71, 43
***********************************

12.  3rd annual BREAKING GROUND: Urban Gardening Youth Conference Saturday, June 19 - by and for high school students

This environmental conference is free and open to all Bay Area high school students, and takes place in beautiful Golden Gate Park. 


People can register, download poster, etc. all from the Parksportal Breaking Ground listing.


**************************************

13.  Interpretive Walks and Ecology Workshops
Acterra Stewardship offers a number of walks and workshops throughout the year. These are a great opportunity to learn about local ecology and explore nature in the Bay Area. Space is limited, so please register in advance.
Upcoming Walks and Workshops:
May Wildflower Walk at Arastradero
Come see what April showers brought to Arastradero! Staff Botanist, Paul Heiple, will lead a walk to share his copious knowledge of what is blooming and many other gems of local natural history. The wet spring made for a good flower year, and many flowers are blooming late this year. There should be plenty still to see!
We recommend bringing a water bottle and wearing closed-toe, comfortable shoes and a hat!
When: Sunday, May 30, 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Where: Gateway Facility, down the trail from the Pearson-Arastradero Preserve parking lot on Arastradero Road, just north of Page Mill Road. [MAP] 
Cost: Free [REGISTER NOW]
*********************************

14.  Full moon time again, and we'll be taking our walk Thursday, May 27, starting at 8:00.

As always, the walk will start at the Quarry Road Entrance Park by the Brisbane Post Office and Community Garden. The Brisbane Post Office is at 280 Old County Road, Brisbane.
These quarry walks are fun, a companionable walk with friends and neighbors. Come join us. Children and dogs are most welcome.

Round trip distance is about two miles on a nearly flat road. Dress in layers. It can be cold and/or windy. Heavy rain cancels, but a bit of fog or a few clouds won't stop us. Right now, they're predicting a 30% chance of rain in Brisbane on Thursday.

Sometimes someone brings a binocular on these walks, but mostly we rely on our naked eyes for our moon and stargazing. If you would like to get a closer view than that, you might want to check out a star party hosted by the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers. They hold two free events a month, one at Lands End in San Francisco, the other on Mount Tamalpais.  Recently, I went to one of their Lands End gatherings. There were about a half dozen telescopes, all different, all custom made by the person attending them. They were focused at first on the moon, which was a few days short of full, and then, as the sky got progressively darker, they added Venus, Saturn and the Orion Nebula. The telescope guys - yeah, they were mostly guys - were very good with kids, and it was terrific to see how some of the children reacted to that view of the moon. My inner kid had a good time too. Here's their calendar: http://www.sfaa-astronomy.org/calendar.php?drawcalendar:sfaa  

*******************************

15.  Scientific American:
EARTHTALK: Getting a Raw Meal: Is an Exclusive Diet of Uncooked Food Good for Personal--and Planetary--Health?
Although humans have been eating raw foods since they first began foraging for their sustenance, the diet really began to catch on in recent years when some high-profile celebrities began touting its health- and weight-maintenance benefits

  *******************************
16.  Farmers tell feds poultry companies control them
By CHRISTOPHER LEONARD, AP Agribusiness Writer
Friday, May 21, 2010
Alabama chicken farmer Garry Staples told federal officials Friday that there's no open market in the poultry industry.
The 57-year-old farmer from Steele raises birds for Pilgrim's Pride, one of the nation's biggest poultry companies. But like other farmers who raise most of the chickens Americans eat, he doesn't own the birds he raises, nor does he determine what food they eat or medicine they get. Pilgrim's Pride controls that.

  ***********************************
17.  Meanwhile, some bad news from the UN about fish: 

***********************************

18.  Getting the goodness of garlic

Consuming large amounts of pungent, raw garlic may be good for your heart, but not necessarily your social life.  Until recently, researchers and nutritionists assumed that eating uncooked garlic was the best way to obtain the cardiovascular benefits attributed to it—and its close relative, the onion.  Both are rich sources of heart-protective compounds called “thiosulfinates.”  These sulfur compounds, best known for causing eyes to water, are thought to lower blood pressure and break up potentially harmful clusters of platelets in the bloodstream.

To test the effects of cooking on garlic’s beneficial compounds, scientists boiled, baked, and microwaved both crushed and uncrushed cloves and evaluated them for their antiplatelet activity.  They learned that crushing the garlic helped free up the compounds.  And though garlic retained most of its health benefits with light cooking, microwaving practically stripped it of its blood-thinning characteristics.

From Agricultural Research March 2008


************************************

19.  Linda Sharp:
BTW, there are TWO Great Blue Heron nests at the Palace of Fine Arts. The other one is in the tree just to the right of the Rotunda, about 1/4 of the way down on the left, but very hidden by greenery. We can see two heads.  I'll check on them today. Cheers, Linda

**************************************

20.  (From Judith Katz)

Come learn about the Transition Town movement at the Commonwealth Club on June 9, 2010 - A Transition Town is an organized effort by people in a community to respond to the challenges of peak oil, climate change and economic dislocation. Beginning in England in 2005, the transition movement has grown rapidly, with 60 official U.S. initiatives, including six in the Bay Area alone. Join Transition U.S. President Gray, a pioneer of the transition movement in the U.K. and the U.S., and a panel of local transition leaders for a lively introduction to transition, locally, across the U.S. and worldwide.
Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m. program
Cost: $12 members, $20 non-members

***************************************

21.  Researchers at Northern Arizona University have found a way to scare off the bark beetles that are infesting pine trees throughout the western U.S.:  play sounds that annoy them.  When scientists exposed beetles to digitally-altered recordings of aggression calls, the insects stopped chewing, stopped mating, and some even fled or attacked each other.  Previous trials with heavy metal music and talk radio failed to produce the same results.  Researchers still need to study how and why the sounds word.  www4.nau.edu/insidenau/bumps/2010/2_3_10/beetle.htm  Cal-IPC News, Spring 2010

(Talk radio didn't work, huh?  Have you tried Rush Limbaugh's Hate Radio?)

******************************************
 
 
22.  Efficient shapes

What is the most efficient shape for randomly packing things into a container?...(Researchers) report ...that the tetrahedra filled roughly 76% of the available space in a large container, whereas experiments with spheres typically filled only 64% of the available volume.  The physicists say the data will be useful when calculating, for example, how liquids seep through soils of different densities.  They think the work might also have some use in packaging consumer products.  Watch out for tetrahedral tomatoes.

Excerpted from The Economist 8 May 2010

********************************
23.
CONSERVATIVE, n.      A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them with others.
CONSOLATION, n.     The knowledge that a better man is more unfortunate than yourself. 
CONSUL, n.      In American politics, a person who having failed to secure an office from the people is given one by the Administration on condition that he leave the country. 
CONSULT, v.i.      To seek another's disapproval of a course already decided on. 
CONTEMPT, n.     The feeling of a prudent man for an enemy who is too formidable safely to be opposed. 
CONTROVERSY, n.     A battle in which spittle or ink replaces the injurious cannon-ball and the inconsiderate bayonet.

Ambrose Bierce:  Devil's Dictionary

***********************************

Richard Wagner, born 22 May 1813

The San Francisco Opera is proceeding with its new production of Wagner's Ring Cycle next month.  It began with Das Rheingold two years ago and proceeds with Die Walkuere next month.  

The Ring Cycle is a very powerful story, and it represents nothing less than the history of the human world--specifically, it is about power, its uses, abuses, and its corrupting effect.  The Cycle is set in mythical times; the composer deliberately employs archaic German, and its power derives from the power of myth.  It is in the nature of myth to be larger than life.  Never mind that these gods are all too human, squabble, and make tawdry deals--they are immortal and they have power.  The consequences of power and immortality cannot be dismissed.  Wotan, king of the gods, to gain wisdom gave one of his eyes at the spring at the base of Yggdrasil, the world ash tree.  His power derives from the treaty with the world carved on his staff, as the giants and his wife Fricka inconveniently remind him.  

In recent years we have seen what abuse of power in the human world can do.  Can the president of a corporation be substituted for king of the gods?  San Francisco Opera thinks so.  Setting the production in historic times and peopling it with mortal characters holes it below the waterline.  Wotan, king of the gods, is (I think) president of the Southern Pacific Railroad--which ruled California for so long--the fire god Loki is a corporate lawyer; and the Rhinemaidens are harpies or striptease floozies.  Yawn.

Wotan has an eyepatch all right, but the loss of an eye suggests something like an accident when his little sister poked it out as they were playing.  And who are these other two guys in business suits and ties hanging out with him, silent, and without any apparent function?  (In spite of my keen knowledge of the opera, I had no idea who they were.)  Oh--they turn out to be other gods--Froh and Donner.  We don't find who out Donner is until that magnificent musical moment when Wagner masterfully portrays the menacing, lowering, charged atmosphere before a violent lightning storm.  The orchestra builds up an almost unbearable tension before the climactic thunderclap clears the air--it is so magnificent when heard.  In this production, who is responsible for that grandeur?  Oh, one of those suited corporate flunkies, who holds up a comical device and--p-f-f-f-f-t—shoots out some sparks that ignites the lightning and thunder!  It was a risible moment, and one that must have embarrassed the actor-singer stuck with portraying Donner.  It embarrassed me.  I guffawed aloud, but fortunately it was drowned out by the thunderclap.

Die Walkuere, to be performed in June, is nearly everyone's favorite of the four operas, the heart-tugger and tear-jerker.  Two years ago I bet that the nine Valkyries were going to be dykes on bikes.  Judging by the advance publicity, it appears that that is exactly what they are.  I wonder what the singers think of all this crap.  They have to perform whether they like it or not in order to get their paycheck.  Ugh.   What a life.

Who is responsible for this disaster?  The Opera's general manager hired the egomaniacal stage director.  A pox on both.  They plainly have a shallow understanding of the cycle.  I'm sitting out this production, instead checking out a recording from the library and experiencing in imagination the grand drama without the distraction of an absurd staging.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)