A northern spotted owl approaches a researcher in a redwood forest. (Photo by Michael Nichols/National Geographic)
Here’s a random assortment of recent eco-stories I’ve found
interesting:
A short but sweet note from siskiyoucrest.org (the website KS
Wild set up to promote the proposed Siskiyou
Crest National
Monument): “KS Wild motion
detector cameras at Bigelow Lake capture great image of Northern Flying
Squirrel!” And here’s the photo!
An Oregonian article talks about a new registry tracking conservation projects in Oregon,
Washington and Idaho. There seems to be a lot of activity
near Ashland,
but I bet there are more projects that aren’t on this map (yet).
If you’re at all concerned about the chemicals in your food,
check out this fascinating Newsweek article
about obesity, specifically, fat babies. As the article points out, the
epidemic of overweight infants can’t be explained by poor eating habits and
lack of exercise, since babies then and now tend to skimp on working out and
keep their diet to a simple staple of formula or milk. The suspected culprit?
Ubiquitous hormone-mimicking chemicals (like bisphenol A) that seem to turn more
cells into fat cells and change young humans’ metabolic rate to hoard calories.
Kind of a scary outlook overall (and you might want to read to the end if you’re
considering feeding your baby soy formula).
If you haven’t seen the October issue of National Geographic,
the magazine features a giant redwood on its cover. As a former redwood region dweller, I prefer the
print edition with its foldout photo page (to accommodate a composite image of
a redwood tree from top to bottom), but you can read the article online here. Once upon a time, redwoods reigned from Big Sur to Brookings, and the article
includes a transect of the trees’ habitat and their history, as well as a look
at their future, with a special focus on Humboldt County, center of the Redwood
Wars and the remaining bits of old growth.
Finally, for the image-minded, the Oregonian’s outdoor guru
Terry Richard has a slideshow of a recent trip to Central
Oregon.
