In this issue: The Energetic Cost of Species Survival by Louise Mistzal 6 GRID a poem by Jefferson Carter 7 Renewable Energy by David Hodges 8 Eating the Energy of the Sun? Try a Solar Oven! by Sergio Avila 9 Madrean Archipelago Biodiversity Assessment: First Forays into the Field by Marc Trinks 10 Conflict and/or Compromise? Large Scale Solar and Land Conservation —Water, Wildlife, and Wire by Bruce Plenk 12 Forget Shorter Showers: Why Personal Change Does Not Equal Political Change by Derrick Jensen 14 Sky Island Stylin’ by Tim Lengerich 15 Using Remote Cameras to Inform and Promote Wildlife Conservation by Sergio Avila 17 Plus Through the Director’s Lens 2 From the Board President: Strategic Thinking for an Uncertain World 3 Protecting our Mountain Islands and Desert Seas: Sky Island Alliance Program News 4 Volunteers Make it Happen: Keeping the Tracking Workshop on Track 16 Join us! 18 From the Editor: Sustainable Energy 19 We Need You… to Volunteer! 19 Restoring Connections Vol. 12 Issue 3 Fall/Winter 2009 Newsletter of Sky Island Alliance Sycamore Canyon. Courtesy Melanie Emerson. Did you know that almost all deciduous trees (except the oak, above) eject their leaves when colder, shorter days tip the balance of energy intake (turning sunlight into food) to energetic efficiency (think of leaves as seasonal employees)? Interested in learning about how natural forms, processes, and ecosystems can teach us how to create healthier and more sustainable human technologies and designs? Visit www.biomimicryinstitute.org. Energy
Transcript
In this issue:The Energetic Cost of Species Survival
by Louise Mistzal 6
GRIDa poem by Jefferson Carter 7
Renewable Energyby David Hodges 8
Eating the Energy of the Sun? Try a Solar Oven! by Sergio Avila 9
Madrean Archipelago Biodiversity Assessment: First Forays into the Field by Marc Trinks 10
Conflict and/or Compromise? Large Scale Solar and Land Conservation —Water, Wildlife, and Wire by Bruce Plenk 12
Forget Shorter Showers: Why Personal Change Does Not Equal Political Changeby Derrick Jensen 14
Sky Island Stylin’ by Tim Lengerich 15
Using Remote Cameras to Inform and Promote Wildlife Conservationby Sergio Avila 17
PlusThrough the Director’s Lens 2
From the Board President: Strategic Thinking for an Uncertain World 3
Protecting our Mountain Islands and DesertSeas: Sky Island Alliance Program News 4
Volunteers Make it Happen: Keeping the Tracking Workshop on Track 16
Join us! 18
From the Editor: Sustainable Energy 19
We Need You… to Volunteer! 19
Restoring Connections
Vol. 12 Issue 3 Fall/Winter 2009 Newsletter of Sky Island Alliance
Sycamore Canyon. Courtesy Melanie Emerson.
Did you know that almost all deciduous trees (except the oak, above) eject their leaves when colder, shorter daystip the balance of energy intake (turning sunlight into food) to energetic efficiency (think of leaves as seasonalemployees)? Interested in learning about how natural forms, processes, and ecosystems can teach us how tocreate healthier and more sustainable human technologies and designs? Visit www.biomimicryinstitute.org.
Energy
2 Fall/Winter 2009 Restoring Connections
Through the Director’s Lensby Melanie Emerson, Executive Director
SIA staff and board have just completed a newstrategic plan. It is a vision for the region and aroadmap for the organization. It is a vision ofresilient and protected ecosystems and oforganizational proaction, synergy and agility.Beginning in 2009 and over the four-year span ofthis new strategic plan, you will see theoverarching theme of climate change emergemore explicitly in our work and in ourprogrammatic focus. Everything we do —protection of cores and corridors, restoration ofkey habitat, policy work and advocacy, building aland ethic in the region, and creation of newknowledge through science — helps address thecurrent and impending impacts of climatechange.
Our focus on energy in this issue of RestoringConnections reflects Sky Island Alliance’scommitment to think about energy more broadlyand, in the context of our strategic plan, to
proactively address energy siting on andtransmission lines through fragile desert lands,protected areas, wildlife corridors and habitatcores. It begins to explore the complexities ofrenewable energy development and climatechange adaptation.
We find ourselves at the nexus of “green” energydevelopment and land/wildlife conservation. Weare in a unique place, with equally uniquechallenges and opportunities. While we have allheard politicians, environmentalists, andbusinesspeople touting the virtues of and needfor green energy development, it is a complexissue. The Obama Administration has madegreen energy development a priority, movingrapidly on renewable energy development andtargeting federal public lands for the siting ofrenewable energy generation. Federal agencieshave recently made inroads to streamlineapproval processes and identify lands targeted forsiting of energy infrastructure. This new push touse public lands for such development has thepotential to adversely impact sensitive areasthroughout the West if concerned andknowledgeable citizens are not involved.
In addition to the siting of infrastructure forpower generation, the necessary transmission ofenergy from remote areas to metropolitan centersalso has the very real potential to negativelyimpact even larger sections of previouslyundisturbed natural areas and wildlife corridors.Adding to the complexity is the discussion ofwhere to place transmission lines to bring thisenergy to population and industrial centers; ifnew lines are necessary, whether they will, in fact,be transporting renewable energy at all; andgrander systemic questions of how dependent onenergy we truly need to be. These issues highlightthe difficult balance between promoting clean,renewable energy and ensuring that, in the hasteto develop these energy sources, we aware of andengaged in decision making around tradeoffs.This is the political change that I believe DerrickJensen is compelling us to embrace (see page 14)and it is what SIA has always been about. Pleasecontinue to join us on this critical journey.
Join us!Sky Island Alliance is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to the protection and restoration of the rich natural heritage of native species and habitats in the Sky Island region of thesouthwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. Sky Island Alliance works with volunteers,scientists, land owners, public officials and government agencies to establish protected areas, restorehealthy landscapes and promote public appreciation of the region’s unique biological diversity.
www.skyislandalliance.org520.624.7080 � fax 520.791.7709PO Box 41165, Tucson, AZ 85717
Ana Córdova, Kevin Dahl, Patricia Frederick,Sadie Hadley, Paul Hirt, Oscar Moctezuma, Rod Mondt, Adrian Quijada-Mascareñas, Peter Warshall
Sky Island Alliance www.skyislandalliance.org 3
From the Board President:Strategic Thinking for an Uncertain World by Dale Turner
There are many ways an organization canrespond to difficult times. At Sky IslandAlliance, we have chosen to think big, whilestaying focused on our core values and actions.That may sound like simple platitudes, but in ayear when many nonprofit groups are cuttingback or shutting down, it constitutes a strongstatement of confidence in our work, our staff,and our supporters.
The occasion for discussing our future arosewith an update of SIA’s Strategic Plan. Staff andboard spent several days this May at the lovelyRancho La Esmeralda, Sonora, talking throughour hopes, fears, and ideas. Our discussionswere informed by what you, our members, toldus in response to a survey this spring.
After months of follow-up work, we havefinished up the details of a plan that will guideour work for the next three years. We will:
� Protect and restore native species in corehabitat areas; healthy, diverse and resilientecosystems; and functioning ecologicalprocesses in the Sky Island region.
� Protect and restore the movement anddispersal of native animals and plants, andreduce threats and barriers to landscapepermeability.
� Increase scientific knowledge of the regionand its ecosystems and apply it to SIA’sconservation goals.
� Increase public understanding of, andadvocacy for conservation in the Sky Islandregion.
� Strengthen the capacity of the organizationto accomplish its mission and goals.
� And through all aspects of our work, SkyIsland Alliance will strive to be innovative,anticipate opportunities and challenges, stayahead of the curve, and set the agenda.
Lofty words, those, and necessarily vague. Butunder each goal we’ve identified a series ofstrategies that will get us there, along with
detailed metrics that will show our progress.The list is too long to include here, but theseinclude goals like expanding the network ofprotected areas and improving the managementof federal lands. It means closing more roadsand monitoring the success of those closures sowe can get better at it. It includes using ourknowledge of wildlife movement, built in parton all those tracking transects, to protect orrestore landscape linkages throughout theregion. It also means collecting more data onthe distribution of plants and animals,especially in northern Mexico, sharing thatinformation widely, and using it to improveconservation throughout the region.
These are familiar themes for SIA, but I haveconfidence we’ll be doing them better, onbroader scales, over the next few years. Stickwith us for the ride — it should be fun!
Changing of the boardThis winter will see several new folks joining theBoard of Directors, bringing new energy andideas to our work. These include:
� Kevin Dahl, a long-time stalwart ofsustainability in the Tucson community andArizona Program Manager for the NationalParks Conservation Association.
� Patricia Frederick, DVM, a recently-retiredlarge-animal vet, professional artist, and co-owner of the Ruby Mines in Santa CruzCounty.
� Adrian Quijada-Mascareñas, an AdjunctProfessor at the University of Arizona whoseresearch is focused on the biogeographicaland phylogenetic basis of biologicaldiversification.
At the same time, we note with regret thedeparture of Brooke Gebow and Chris Roll, asthey take their great energy and insights on tonew adventures. They’ve served SIA withdistinction, aplomb, and great humor, for whichwe’re very grateful.
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Sky Island Alliance’s 3rd Annual
Mountain Islands Desert Seas Awards Banquet & Silent Auction
Thursday, October 22, 5 to 9 pmThe Historic Stillwell House in Downtown Tucson
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We thank everyone who joined usfor a lovely evening honoring:
Tom Skinner Agency Leadership AWARD
Brooklyn Pizza Co. Business Conservation AWARD
Seth Hadley Landowner Stewardship AWARD
Phil Rosen Mike Seidman Memorial AWARD
and our grateful appreciation to the following businesses andindividuals for their generosity:
Bookman’s Recycled EntertainmentSummer Celeste
Lorna CondonCarol Cullen
Kelli Gaither-BanchoffBorderland Trading Co.
Sadie HadleyJanet Hare, Lodge at Ventana Canyon
Chip HedgcockPaul Hirt and Linda Jakse
Louise Misztal, Mike Quigley & Jessica LambertonR. Carlos Nakai
Plaza LiquorsJulie St. JohnDale Turner
Tom Van DevenderCynthia Wolf, Wild by Nature
Gary Williams
Join us!Visit us online, become a member, get involved!
www.skyislandalliance.org
4 Fall/Winter 2009 Restoring Connections
Sky Island Alliance’s dedicated staffadvance the organization’s goals every day— in the field with volunteers, around themap table planning strategies, in theoffice, at the meeting, doing outreach…you name it. If it’s important to the SkyIsland region, we are there. We hopeyou’re inspired — let us know!
Wildlife Linkages Program by Janice Przybyl
Cienega Creek Watershed: As Sky IslandAlliance volunteers search for wildlife tracksalong the large washes and drainages of LasCienegas National Conservation Area, theyencounter tracks left by a different kind of beast— tire tracks from unauthorized off-roadvehicles. Volunteers can attest that the impactfrom unmanaged recreation on Las CienegasNational Conservation Area has exploded overthe last several years. Sky Island Alliance believesthis is the greatest short-term threat to theecological integrity of the Las Cienegas landscape.
With new funding, we’ve launched a campaign topreserve the ecological values of Las Cienegas. Itis a many tiered campaign that involves volunteereffort on the ground, public education andoutreach, and advocacy. Our aim is to diminishand mitigate impacts of recreation, especially off-road vehicles (ATVs) and de-emphasize accessand road building. This is a cross-program efforthere at Sky Island Alliance; the Wildlife LinkagesProgram is teaming with Trevor Hare and SarahWilliams in Landscape Restoration and withDavid Hodges in Policy & Planning.
We have committed our wildlife trackers to helpin this effort. Along with trackingdocumentation, volunteers now formallydocument resource damage from off-roadvehicles found on their tracking lines. Manytracking volunteers have already been doing thisinformally, but now volunteers are provided witha separate data sheet and required to takephotographs of specific events or damage. Toexamine possible impacts to wildlife travelcorridors we will combine the tracking data we’veamassed over the last seven years with a mapoverlay of the transportation system andunauthorized wildcat roads.
We are including tracking transects north ofInterstate 10 in this effort too. The “missing link”– as this area was once called – is part of the NCA“acquisition district” and is part of the largerCienega Creek watershed. All pieces of anecosystem are important, and resource damage
from unauthorized off-road traffic inthe Pima County Natural Preserve isalso a problem.
Why is documentation important?Because with documentation thatfollows a protocol we can providewildlife managers with the tools to take action.We can publish data. We can influence publicopinion and public officials. We can make aconservation difference!
This summer, I had the opportunity to “rechargemy batteries” for the benefit and advancement ofthe NMCP, through professional developmentand a long-awaited vacation period. As a way toimprove communication and leadership skills, Iwas invited to attend a Leadership workshopoffered by TREC (Training Resources for theEnvironmental Community). This two-sessionseries offered the opportunity to share, learn andexperience with staff from other conservationgroups, national and regional. The trainings wereheld at Black Range Lodge in Kingston, NewMexico, in the Gila National Forest. In addition, Ienjoyed three weeks of vacation in Honolulu,Hawaii. Yes, it was nice, but I missed the land, thecats, and our blooming desert.
Since the inception of MABA as part of thisprogram, new challenges and opportunities havecome to our table. In our last issue of RestoringConnections we reported on the new staff hiredfor this project; this time I want to confirm our
first impressions: Tom and Marc make anexcellent team, and their skills have come tocomplement and strengthen SIA’s expertise andcapacity in the region.
As part of our collaboration at a regional level,SIA participated at a Planning for ConservationAreas workshop led by The Nature Conservancyand BIDA, A.C., as part of the Yaqui RiverWatershed Coalition, which includes the skyislands of Sonora and high elevation ranges inChihuahua. Other participants were Naturalia,Mexican federal agencies CONANP andCONAFOR, and the Universidad de Sonora.
Finally, in recent months we captured severalphotographs of ocelots in northern Sonora —including a female! To help these and other wildcats in the region, we launched our newcampaign: Bring Back the Cats! Sparked by twodonors’ generous lead contributions, this effortwill contribute to wild feline conservation andresearch in the region. This campaign willconclude on December 31, 2009. Please help usreach our $30,000 goal by making a contributiontoday. Your support will help Bring Back the Cats!Please contact me at [email protected] 520-624-7080 x16.
Protecting Our Mountain Islands and Desert Seas…
Happy mountain lion captured on a remote camera, June 23, 2009.
Sky Island Alliance www.skyislandalliance.org 5
Wilderness Program by Mike Quigley
In past newsletter updates, we’ve noted thepresentations we do, the people we visit, themeetings we have—all the important indoorwork that is necessary to influencing the politicalprocess and advancing legislation. But there’smore: the hikes we lead, the workshops we hold,the weekend trips we take, the fieldwork we do—all the important outdoor work that connectspeople to their wildlands, gives us the data andexperiences we need to be effective advocates, andrecharges us for doing all the indoor work.
With volunteers, we conduct the fieldworknecessary for successful Wilderness advocacy:surveying Forest Service roads, determiningconditions on the ground, capturing illustrativephotographs, checking proposed boundarylocations. Sometimes that’s a fast trip to a singleobjective solo or with a small group. Sometimesthat’s a long weekend with a lot of people.Always, it is an opportunity to breathe fresh air,bump around in the truck, get our boots dusty,and visit the land we’re working to protect.
We hike—often our volunteers lead hikes and wego along to talk about Wilderness and the workSky Island Alliance does. We presentworkshops—like our recent WildernessPhotography workshop in Sycamore Canyonwhere people gathered to see the land throughlenses wideangle, telephoto, macro, panoramic;and then shared those views with others. Wepartner with other groups to learn more, shareknowledge, and offer new opportunities to ourmembers and supporters—like our recent tripwith Bat Conservation International to the oldtown of Ruby to learn about and see a spectacularsunset outflight of Mexican free-tailed bats—anopportunity to understand more fully theconnection of habitat and species, and toexperience first-hand what our work is about.
As we continue working to make the TumacacoriHighlands Wilderness a reality, please join us, toget out on the land, to make the world a betterplace. Information on upcoming events is on theSky Island Alliance website and page 18.
Policy & Planning Program by David Hodges
An issue we have been following closely is theSunZia Southwest Transmission Project, aproposal to build a 460 mile high capacity 500kilovolt (kV) transmission line (or two parallellines) across New Mexico and Arizona. SunZiahas stated this new powerline would transmitenergy produced by primarily renewableresources, which on the surface sounds like agood thing, but when one digs deeper problemsbegin to emerge.
Many of the proposed routes chosen for thisproject would negatively impact remote wildlandsin a significant way, with massive poles, roads,and relay stations. Among these proposed routesin the Sky Islands is one between the Pinaleñoand Santa Teresa Mountains, which would closelyparallel Aravaipa Canyon. Another would travelup Sulphur Springs Valley between the Galiuroand Pinaleño Mountains, and another wouldspan the remote San Pedro River corridorbetween Benson and San Manuel. In NewMexico, areas impacted include the Bosque delApache National Wildlife Refuge and the NuttGrasslands.
Equally troubling, though this is touted as analternative energy project, SunZia cannot or willnot tell the public what percentage of non-renewable energy will actually be transmitted overthis line if completed, and they are under nomandate to transmit renewable energy after theproject is completed. Even more troubling, noneof the renewable energy transmitted over this linewill replace non-renewable sources. Thispowerline will be new energy and will facilitatethe construction of more houses, which in turnincreases our water use, and replaces wildlife andvegetation with buildings, cars, and roads. Thisdoes not sound sustainable.
On a closely related note, a recent Department ofInterior news release brought word that ninefederal agencies had agreed to expeditepermitting of power transmission constructionon federal lands, and all had signed aMemorandum of Understanding (MOU)committing each of them to do so. The agenciesare The Department of Agriculture, Departmentof Commerce, Department of Defense,Department of Energy, Environmental ProtectionAgency, Council on Environmental Quality,Advisory Council on Historic Preservation,Department of the Interior, and the FederalEnergy Regulatory Commission.
According to the news release “ParticipatingAgencies enter into this MOU to expedite thesiting and construction of qualified electrictransmission infrastructure in the United States.”At first glance, this MOU seems benign; after all,who wouldn’t be for streamlining and making aregulatory process more efficient? Unfortunately,history tells us when federal agencies talk aboutstreamlining a process, what usually results is aclimate that makes rubberstamping projects,regardless of negative impacts, business-as-usual.
We will continue to track these developments andencourage you to do so as well. BLM had an openpublic comment period for the SunZIA projectthat was focused on choosing a final route from
the different proposed routes. The commentperiod ended November 27, 2009. To viewcomments SIA submitted with The WildernessSociety and several other partners, go to:www.skyislandaction.org/sunzia.html. Formaps and more info on the project, see:www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/prog/more/lands_realty/sunzia_southwest_transmission.html.
Landscape Restoration Program: A sigh of relief for native frogs… by Sarah Williams
After a busy spring and summer controllingbullfrog populations in the TumacacoriHighlands and connecting landscapes, it appearsthat we can chalk one up for native frogs. Follow-up monitoring carried out by volunteers inSeptember and October reported zero presence ofbullfrogs in many stock tanks and natural watersthat once harbored these non-native amphibians.We did however capture several photos andnumerous sightings of native leopard frogs. Lookfor more opportunities in 2010 to continue ourwork ensuring protected habitat for our belovednatives!
Back to the grasslands…In August we launched a new series of work outat Las Ciénegas National Conservation Area(NCA) to analyze recreational impacts on thegrasslands under watch by the Bureau of LandManagement. Volunteers spent a warm weekendwalking roads to gather specific data on erosion,vegetation impacts, and signage in the north endof the Conservation Area. Ongoing informationis also being collected by tracking volunteers withtransects within the NCA. So far we havedocumented many off-road tracks in washes andcutting across the grasslands as well as a plethoraof dispersed campsites throughout the area.
Ciénega restoration springs forward…Trevor spent time on the ground in Octoberfinalizing the implementation plan for theCloverdale Cienega restoration project. Workingwith partners Van Clothier and Craig Sponholtzof New Mexico, we have analyzed current andhistorical data from the area to determine themost appropriate strategies and actions needed toachieve our conservation vision. Implementationof the large-scale earth-moving is scheduled tobegin in spring 2010.
We would like to give props to all of theSummit Hut employees that have chosen tovolunteer with SIA this Fall under thecompany’s “100 Days of Service” communityoutreach program. Thank you!
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6 Fall/Winter 2009 Restoring Connections
degrees Fahrenheit during this century, theequivalent of approximately 1 degree every 14years. Summer temperatures are projected to risemore than winter temperatures, and the number ofextremely hot days is projected to increase. Thismeans more prolonged heat waves and toughergrowing conditions between monsoonal events(Lenart, 2007).
A massive regional die-off of piñon pine (Pinusedulis) in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado andUtah between 2002 and 2003 is a vivid and tangibleexample of changes in temperature and moistureavailability already affecting species survival. Atstudy sites in all four affected states, this droughtwas found to have killed 40 to 80 percent of piñontrees. A previous, more severe drought eventoccurred in the region in the 1950s, but not asmany trees died. To see how the droughts differed,researchers compared the four driest consecutiveyears of the earlier drought, 1953-1956, with thoseof the recent drought, 2000-2003 and found a keyvariable. The more recent drought was marked byhotter temperatures and thus identified as a global-change-type of drought (Breshears et al. 2005).
To utilize sunlight’s energy to create food, a piñonpine must uptake water and carbon dioxidethrough transpiration. Transpiration occurs whenstomata, pores on the trees’ needles, are opened toallow carbon dioxide to enter and water toevaporate, cooling the plant and pulling in newwater and nutrients. When faced with a reductionin soil moisture, the trees reduce the amount ofwater lost through transpiration by progressivelyclosing their stomata. Although this strategyconserves water, it is an energetic tradeoff thatresults in less uptake of nutrients and waterthrough the roots, and less intake of carbon
dioxide, a necessary nutrient to performphotosynthesis. With no new carbon entering thesystem, photosynthesis declines rapidly and iteventually becomes impossible for the tree to createany new food for itself (Breshears et al. 2009).
Although piñon pines are adapted to store energyand wait out a drought for months, trees willeventually use up their energy reserves and starve.In the case of the 2000-2003 drought, this dynamicwas complicated by the effects of temperature.Drought-stressed trees subjected to elevated-temperatures consumed carbon reserves faster thantrees affected only by drought. For piñons to safelymaintain their tissues in the face of highertemperatures, they must increase cellularrespiration and pay an increased metabolic costleading to a more rapid exhaustion of energy andcarbon reserves.
will not only increase background rates of treemortality, but will also increase widespread die-offevents. Warmer temperatures will make evenshorter droughts capable of causing wide-spreaddie-offs, driving vegetation changes in the region.A recent study conducted at the University ofArizona’s Biosphere 2 Lab predicts that if theclimate warms by 4 degrees Celsius, piñon die-offwill occur at least five times faster even if droughtseverity remains the same (Adams, 2009).Widespread die-off events, like the one in thesouthwest, affect ecosystems for decades, changingwildlife habitat and food availability and alteringthe hydrological cycle, among other effects. Areaswhere we are used to seeing piñon pines may nolonger be inhabited by this species.
Climate change is already having a considerableimpact on the world’s species and ecosystems. The
The Energetic Costof Species Survivalby Louise Misztal, Conservation Associate and Biologist
These days the topic of energy is likely toconjure up thoughts of solar panels, windfarms, renewable energy sources, Priuses, CFLbulbs, and turning down the thermostat whenno one is home. It’s not likely to bring to mindcorals laying down new skeletons, polar bearshunting for seals, pikas foraging for alpineplants, trout depositing eggs in stream gravel,or piñon pines photosynthesizing, but all ofthese activities involve energy tradeoffs.
Somewhere back in science class, we were alltaught about earth’s unique ability to supportextensive and varied forms of life. The earthsystem receives, absorbs, and dissipates energy insuch a way that it maintains temperature rangesand a variety of other conditions conducive tosustaining a great diversity of species. Oceans, landsurfaces, and the atmosphere absorb and are heatedby energy from the sun. The escape of heat fromthe earth’s surfaces back toward space is slowed bygreenhouse gases and water vapor in theatmosphere that absorb and reflect some energyback to the earth’s surface. Without energycaptured by this greenhouse effect, the surface ofthe earth would be zero degrees Fahrenheit and nota very habitable place. With the exception of smallfluctuations due to sunspots, the amount of solarradiation reaching the earth has been fairlyconstant from year to year and century to century.Human activity has increased concentration ofgreenhouse gases in the atmosphere and disruptedthat long standing dynamic, causing an increase inthe amount of energy absorbed by the earth’ssystem and resulting in climate change we are nowexperiencing. As more outgoing energy isredirected back to earth’s surface, the earth’s energybudget changes and planetary temperature rises.
The first law of thermodynamics reminds us thatenergy in a system can neither be created nordestroyed; it can only change forms. Energy comesinto the earth system as sunlight, and leaves theearth system as heat. In the case of plants, energycaptured from the sun is initially transformed intochemical energy stored in the carbon bonds ofcarbohydrates. Although the supply of sunlight isin great surplus, the supply of water and nutrientsfrom the soil (and other environmental factors)limits plants’ ability to produce food. Theselimiting factors are especially important here in thearid southwest, and will become even moreimportant as regional temperature andprecipitation patterns change. Average annualtemperatures in the southwest could rise by 7
October 2002, Jemez Mts. near Los Alamos — in the summer of 2002, pinyon (Pinus edulis) began dying en massefrom drought stress and an associated bark beetle outbreak. Courtesy C. D. Allen, USGS.
Kastens, M.L. Floyd, J. Belnap, J.J.Anderson, O.B.
Myers, and C.W. Meyer. 2005. Regional
vegetation die-off in response to global-change-
type drought. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences 102 (42):15144-15148
Breshears, D.D., O.B. Myers, C.W. Meyer, F.J.
Barnes, C.B. Zou, C.D. Allen, N.G. McDowell,
and W.T. Pockman. 2009. Tree die-off in
response to global-change-type drought:
Mortality insights from a decade of plant water
potential measurements. Frontiers in Ecology
and the Environment 7(4):185-189.
Lenart, Melanie. 2007. Global Warming in the
Southwest: Projections, Observations and
Impacts. Climate Assessment of the Southwest,
Tucson, AZ. 90 pp.
ability of piñon pine and other species such as pika,polar bear, and coral to cope will depend onphysiological energetic tradeoffs. The effects ofclimate change will not occur in isolation, but incombination with many existing stressors such ashabitat fragmentation, habitat destruction,disturbance by humans, altered chemicalenvironment, and altered water quality. Individualorganisms must expend energy to survive and toreproduce so that their species survives. With thismultitude of stressors already drawing on species’energy reserves, the added stress of climate changemay create too great an energetic cost for species toovercome.
Natural resource managers and conservationists aretrying to come to grips with such complex climatechange impacts and with future projections thatinclude more and larger disruptions. Protecting fish,wildlife, and natural ecosystems in the face of climatechange will require new ways of thinking about landmanagement and natural systems. It will requireembracing uncertainty and thinking about issuessuch as ecosystem vulnerabilities and ecosystemresiliency. The current context for management andconservation calls for helping species and naturalsystems withstand and adapt to new climateconditions. In the face of unprecedented change,protecting core areas and identifying and protectingcorridors are more important than ever. We mustallow ecological systems the room they need to evolveand adapt to changing conditions. Recognizing thisurgent need, natural resource managers andconservationists are accelerating plans and actions forclimate change adaptation. Sky Island Alliance is inthe mix, working to identify tools, strategies, andinformation to help land managers meet thechallenges of climate change.
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GRID
I can tell by your outfitthat you are a cowboy. Not a tourist. Not a hipsteror a roadie. Like you,I was someone else. Then I saw the singerreading the lyrics & I knewshe was faking her orgasm.Easting 530,550 meters,northing 2,622,660 meters,welcome to this highSonoran plant community,this grid of wildcat roadslike exploded chromosomes.No red arrow markingyour location? Believe me:you are here.
Jefferson Carter
Jefferson Carter has lived in Tucson since 1954. Hegraduated from Catalina High School in 1961,received a B.A. in English Literature from PomonaCollege in 1965, and earned a PhD. in EnglishLiterature from the University of Arizona in 1972.In 1978, he was hired as a full-time instructor atPima Community College, the Downtown Campus.In 1988, he was elected Writing Department Chairand coordinator of creative writing classes. Heretired from Pima College in 2008.
Jefferson’s work has appeared in journals like TheCarolina Quarterly, Shenandoah, and Barrow Street.In 1991, he won a Pima/Tucson Arts CouncilFellowship. His fourth chapbook, Tough Love, wonthe Riverstone Poetry Press award. SentimentalBlue, his seventh chapbook (Chax Press, Tucson),has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. My Kindof Animal is available at www.chax.org.
In May 2004, less than two years later, an almost complete conversion from pinyon-juniper to juniperwoodlands. Courtesy C. D. Allen, USGS.
Volunteer of the YearThis year’s Volunteer ofthe Year, JeffersonCarter, launched hiseighth collection ofpoetry, My Kind of
Animal, this Decemberwith a portion of theproceeds going to benefit Sky Island Alliance.Thanks Jefferson andcongratulations!
8 Fall/Winter 2009 Restoring Connections
Recently a Department of Interior news releasebrought word that nine cabinet-level federalagencies had agreed to expedite the permitting ofpower transmission construction on federallands, and all had signed a Memorandum ofUnderstanding committing each of them to doso. New lines mean new routes; across the West,there are approximately 10,000 miles of newhigh-voltage lines being proposed forconstruction in the next 10 years, according to theWestern Electricity Coordinating Council.
If the goal of the Obama administration is tocreate sustainable/renewable energy sources, morepowerlines are a step backwards and rooted in theold way of thinking that brought us to this point.
Even if all of the new lines carried nothing butenergy produced by renewable sources (and theywon’t), this remains large-scale energy productionand the environmental impacts are tremendous.According to the Department of Energy, 12,650miles of new lines nationwide is needed by 2030to get just 20 percent of our power from wind!
Impacts from renewable energy done in thismanner include land fragmentation, frequently inremote areas; the use of large amounts of oftenscarce water; high levels of mortality to birds andbats from wind generation; high mortality ofbirds (raptors in particular) from powerlines;massive powerlines that mar natural landscapeswhile opening up remote areas with roads, poles,and other powerline infrastructure.Compounding these negatives, the use ofpowerlines for long-distance transfer of energy isinefficient and results in the loss of muchelectricity along the way, due to resistance.
The future of truly renewal energy will be theproduction of much of our electricity onsite or invery close proximity to where it is used. Several
entities in Arizona are chartingthis important course for thefuture. Here in Tucson, one of thenation’s largest solar-poweredcommunities is being developedat Davis Monthan Air Force Base.This project will have sixmegawatts of solar capacity andproduce more than 10 millionkilowatt hours annually. Theproject will include both a 45,000panel ground-mountedphotovoltaic system while 900residences will have a total of36,000 panels installed as rooftop solar systems.This project will provide 75 percent of the energyused by residents and could eventually accountfor 100 percent of resident’s electricity use.
In Flagstaff, Arizona Public Service’s Doney Parkproject will turn neighborhoods into powerproducers. As a part of this project, APS willinitially study what improvements are needed onthe existing neighborhood grid to run largeamounts of photovoltaic electricity through it.Once that has been determined, solar systems willbe installed on eight businesses and 200 homes.More important and a key to the success of largescale onsite energy generation, APS would ownand maintain the panels while providing alocked-in 20-year rate to homeowners in returnfor agreeing to allow panels to be sited andmaintained on their homes. It is expected thatthese systems would provide about half thecurrent electricity used by these homeowners.
In California, the city of Palmdale recently madethe decision to permit wind generation inbusiness parks and large parking lots whichallows these spaces to double as small-scale powerplants, which in turn allows many small
businesses to save limited dollars that would havegone to their electric bill. The success of thisprogram has Palmdale researching turbines thatwould be compatible with neighborhoods. Othercities that have recently allowed small wind farmsin commercial and business districts includeCleveland and Buffalo.
Southern California Edison (SCE) is leading theway in utilizing commercial rooftops for solarelectricity generation. In Chino, as much as onemillion watts of power are being generated on the458,000-square-foot roof of an industrialbuilding. This is the second of what is expected tobe hundreds of installations on unusedcommercial rooftops in the region. In the nearfuture SCE has plans to install and produce 250megawatts of solar generating capacity and willalso offer long-term contracts to independentsolar providers who would install an additional250 megawatts. Combined, this would representthe largest photovoltaic project ever undertakenand is projected to create as many as 800 newgreen jobs.
There continues to be progress at the individualand business scales. In 2008, despite a badeconomy and lower home values, grid-tiedphotovoltaic capacity increased 81% over 2007,with solar water heating capacity increasing by50% during the same period. According to theAmerican Wind Energy Association, 10,000 smallturbines were sold to homes, farms andbusinesses nationwide in 2008. This figurerepresents a 78% increase over the previous year.
Increased individual use is a positive developmentand this trend will only accelerate as more andmore individuals and businesses recognize theadvantages of onsite power generation. But, this isnot enough, quickly enough. Despite this rapidincrease in individual consumers, these numbersrepresent a tiny fraction of energy users and willnot increase quickly enough to make a difference.
It is essential that the power industry follow theexamples of the handful of companies that have aclear vision of the future and recognize we willnot be able to generate large amounts of energyfrom non-renewable sources much longer —
Renewable Energy by David Hodges, Policy Director
The large solar array on the roof of this year’s Business Conservation Awardrecipient, Brooklyn Pizza Company, produces 24,500 kilowatt hours per year.
continued next page
The Sky IslandsRegional Map is here! Purchase online is coming soon,
but you can be among the first toenjoy this 24"x 30" poster bypicking yours up at our office:
738 N. 5th Ave., Suite 201.
It’s beautiful. And only $35.We will also be glad to mail it to you for an additional $5 to cover postage.
Sky Island Alliance www.skyislandalliance.org 9
Renewable Energy continued
especially with a rapidly expanding globalpopulation coupled with the drive by some of themost populous countries in the world, to raisestandards of living to those of prosperous westernnations.
The scale of transformation to onsite renewalenergy production must be much larger than nowproposed, and energy companies must accept theneed for change now, and participate. Here inTucson and around Arizona the solution ofrenewable energy is not large solar facilities onour western deserts or wind farms in NewMexico. Rather than sprawling facilities andenergy-wasting powerlines in pristine naturalareas, energy companies must begin the processof investing in onsite generation.
The only way this can work quickly at a scale thatmakes a difference, will be for local energycorporations to own and install alternative energyappropriate for each home and business, whilecontinuing to generate revenue for theirstockholders. The advantage to the homeownerwould be a fixed rate over a fixed period of time.
A simple initial target that would providesignificant positive impacts would be newdevelopments, those same developments that areexpected to double our population over the next35 years. Building renewal energy infrastructureand tying that to the local grid should be requiredfor every new development that is approved, as acondition of approval. This would provideenormous benefit and do so quickly. We do nothave the luxury of time and utilizing the existinginfrastructure development capacity of energycompanies will be the only way to make changehappen quickly.
-ReferencesAmerican Wind Energy Association.
“APS wins $3.3 million for Doney Park solar project.”Arizona Daily Sun, Friday, October 09, 2009.
Arizona Public Service.
Davis Monthan Air Force Base.
“Davis-Monthan Air Force Base to become largestsolar-powered community in the Continental U.S.” byDebasish Choudhury. globalsolartechnology.comOctober 26, 2009.
Department of Energy.
“Palmdale parking lots double as wind farms” by AnnM. Simmons. Los Angeles Times, October 21, 2009.
“Second Rooftop in Southern California Edison`sMassive Solar Panel Installation Program NowGenerating Power in Chino.” Reuters and BusinessWire, October 20, 2009.
Solar Energy Industries Association.
“SolarCity Developing Largest U.S. Community SolarProject.” www.renewableenergyworld.com October 28,2009.
Western Electricity Coordinating Council.
by Sergio Avila
Have you ever wished you got home from workand dinner was ready? Or that there werechocolate chip cookies or warm soup waiting foryou after a day outdoors tracking, bird watchingor camping? The answer to these and othersimilar questions might be simple: try a solaroven!
Note: 9AM — While I’m writingthis, I started cooking one pot ofcalabacitas (2 chopped squash, 2tomatoes, a half-onion, 1 can ofcorn, 1 garlic, salt, pepper, chileserrano) and one pot of blackbeans (1 cup beans, half-onion,garlic, salt and water) at 225° F.Updates to follow.
Solar ovens or solar cookers areinsulated boxes of different materials that trapand concentrate sunlight to convert it into heat.Using dark metal cookware like cast-iron potswith glass lids, the heat slowly cooks the food.Considering the number of days of sunlight yearround in Arizona or fire restrictions whencamping, this sounds like an easy way of cooking!
Using only the energy of the sun, it’s possible tosave electricity and gas, and in some cases,prevent the use of wood for fuel. Because foodcooks slowly at relatively low temperatures, itretains its flavor and moisture. The use of solarovens is often promoted in already vulnerablelandscapes to prevent desertification anddeforestation.
My solar oven (see photos), made with recycledand new materials, consists of a plywood-boxlined with insulation and a black metal plate on
the bottom. The box is covered with a piece of26" x 32" tempered glass (a $60 ouch!) and has adoor in the back to access the pots. I keep athermometer in the oven and have seentemperatures over 300° F (150° C). Dozens ofplans and ideas for solar ovens can be found onthe Internet for different types, sizes, materialsand skill sets. For a real life experience go to
Tucson’s “longestcontinuously running solarpotluck in the world” atCatalina State Park everyApril.
Update: 1PM — Calabacitasgetting soft and spicy; blackbeans bubbling, but stilluncooked.
I have baked muffins (“weirdshape, good flavor”) and
cookies (“they stick to the metal!?”) and cookedrice, beans, lentils and casseroles (includingsquash, potatoes, broccoli, bell peppers, corn,tomatoes), sometimes mixing in bacon, boiledchicken or fish. One day I made ground-turkeymeatloaf, a bit flat so it would cook through: theflavor was good, but it was kind of dry because Ileft it in too long. There’s always a period of trialand error, and with time we develop skills forbuilding ovens and cooking different recipes.These days I’m working on an easy-to-carry oventhat’s small and light for camping trips. I think itwould be fun to have one of those on every SkyIsland Alliance field trip — a new recipe andlesson every weekend!
Update: 3PM — I’m having a great early dinner, a mix of calabacitas and black beans in a boilingsoup.
-
Eating the Energy of the Sun? Try a Solar Oven!This model is very efficient, but heavy for one person and awkward to move (dimensions: 33” long x 27” deep x16” high). A smaller box, well-insulated inside, with reflectors to collect and redirect sunlight, would be great forcamping trips!
10 Fall/Winter 2009 Restoring Connections
UNISON Student WorkshopThe first MABA-related activity occurred in August,as Sky Island Alliance and the Universidad de Sonoraorganized a workshop for twenty-five Universidad deSonora (UNISON) biology students. The workshopwas designed to stimulate interest in the naturalhistory of northeastern Sonora while providingvolunteer opportunities for the students’ academicprograms and contributing to MABA data collection
efforts.
Dr. Tom Van Devender,MABA Project Manager, alongwith several SIA staffbiologists, UNISON scientists
and a Bat Conservation International biologist, gavehands-on demonstrations on various methods usedin field biology, offered presentations about theregion’s ecology, and introduced students to thearea’s exceptional biological diversity through fieldstudies.
The workshop was hosted by Sr. Carlos Robles,owner of Rancho El Aribabi, located at the base ofthe Sierra Azul in Sonora, one of the six sky islandsto be included in this three-year endeavor. Scientificinformation collected by the students at this trainingincluded new records of the rare CalliopeHummingbird, Sinaloa Wren, and Mexican GarterSnake, as well as list of insects and various plants
that had not beenpreviously registered asoccurring on Rancho ElAribabi. Records ofplants, amphibians,reptiles, insects, and birdsfrom different parts of theranch will be entered intothe MABA database.
Madrean Archipelago Biodiversity Assessment: First Forays into the Fieldby Marc Trinks, MABA Project Coordinator
From center left: Tom Van Devender fields questions from UNISON students at a fieldbiology workshop led by SIA. Trevor Hare leads students on an investigation ofrestored riparian habitat along the Río Cocóspera as it flows through Rancho ElAribabi. Sergio Avila discusses conservation in the region with ejidatarios andranchers at a MABA kickoff event held at Rancho San Bernardino.
Vehicle caravan following a dirt road through the Sierra San Luis grasslands in route to base camp at Rancho El Pinito. Courtesy Chip Hedgcock.
Sky Island Alliance www.skyislandalliance.org 11
Herpetologists diligently searched for amphibiansand reptiles for both weeks of the expedition.Highlights were a big female green rat snake atRancho El Pinito, a prairie rattlesnake, and severalshort-horned lizards in the Animas Valleygrasslands. The western harvest mouse wascommonly caught in the drift fence traps in thegrasslands.
Entomologists studied the insects and found anumber of species that are not (yet) known inArizona, indicating that their northerly rangeextends to just south of the border.
Both weeks MABA participants were fortunate tohave the support of Cuenca Los Ojos employeeswho provided help as guides, with logistics, meals,and base camps. Que buena gente!
On the Saturday between the two weeks of theexpedition, SIA and the Cuenca Los OjosFoundation hosted a reception for participants, locallandowners, ejido members, visiting Frenchscientists, and local middle school students, whichserved as the first MABA outreach event in the area.
A mariachi band from Ejido 18 de Agosto performedfor the group, and delicious barbacoa y frijoles wereenjoyed by all. A plump, mellow black-tailedrattlesnake attended the party showing off herrattles —— maybe having smelled the barbacoa. Itwas a pleasant evening and a successful event.
So, the first MABA expedition was a great success -good fun while documenting biodiversity of plants,insects, herps, birds, and mammals in special areas.Many thanks to Josiah and Valer Austin of CuencaLos Ojos Foundation for allowing us to conduct thisresearch on their properties, and for their generosityin making available their staff, employees, facilities,and time in making this expedition a success! Wewould also like to thank the Veolia Foundation forits generous support in making this assessmentpossible.
On a side note, we have the opportunity to purchase100 Sherman live traps for small mammal surveys(mainly rodents) that would contribute greatly toour field research with MABA. Is there anyoneinterested in donating all or part of the amount?Your contribution will further our abilities in
attracting student thesis/doctoral studiesof one of the least-known vertebrategroups in the Sky Islands Region, andwould be greatly appreciated! The fullset can be purchased for $400. Pleasecontact Marc Trinks [email protected] or at 624-7080 x20 if you are interested inassisting.
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From left: Dale Turner holds a Clark'sspiny lizard found at Las Cabañas on thefirst MABA expedition. Green Rat Snakefound in Cajón Bonito. Photos courtesyChip Hedgcock.
From top left: Automeris moth found at Rancho El Pinito in the Sierra San Luis. Photo courtesy Chip Hedgcock.Tom and volunteer biologists in the fascinating process of keying plants.
Expedition into the Sierra San LuisSIA staff, board members, scientists and volunteersspent two weeks on Cuenca Los Ojos Foundationproperties in northern Sonora, Mexico, conductingthe first of several expeditions as part of the MABAproject. The first week was spent working out ofRancho El Pinito in the Sierra San Luis, the secondweek out of Rancho Puerta Blanca at lower elevationnear the Sonora/Arizona border.
The group conducted plant relevés (plotlesstransects) for vegetation and flora in 11 differentareas — a total of ~1000 plant records on CuencaLos Ojos Foundation conservation lands! Botanistsmade about 650 numbered plant collections — withduplicates this was about 1800 specimens. Theprimary sets of specimens will go to the Universidadde Sonora and University of Arizona herbaria, withduplicates to many other collections.
A mustard, a mint, a borage, Mexican hat, and acucurbit vine appear to be the first Sonoran recordsof more northerly plants. Canada wildrye and bushcroton were found in new areas, but are still onlyknown in Sonora from Cajón Bonito. Quakingaspen was seen on a north-facing talus slope aboveCajón del Diablo. This is a widespread high-elevation tree in North America from Alaska southto Chihuahua, but is rare in Sonora. A preliminaryanalysis of the overall collection suggests that fouror five species are new additions to the flora ofSonora!
12 Fall/Winter 2009 Restoring Connections
Solar just now is hot, or cool, as you wish. “Littlesolar” (photovoltaic (PV) panels or solar hot waterpanels) on your home or business roof or in thatparking lot at the strip mall is everybody’s favorite.It creates jobs to install the systems, employsunutilized space, creates secondary positive impacts(shade, reduces global warming, etc) and frequentlyinduces warm fuzzy feelings in all connected to it.Few conflicts arise with little solar. This is how itshould be.
“Big solar” is another story. Big conflicts betweenproposed solar development and land preservationhave arisen and are being worked out slowly,begrudgingly, and often with strange bedfellowsjoining forces for the battle. Three areas have beenthe focus of the fracas: water usage, since most ofthe large solar projects are in the arid desertsouthwest; wildlife, since most of these projectsinvolve large desert areas, often public land withthreatened or endangered species; and wire, sincepower generated in remote areas must get to thecity users by means of transmission lines, whichneed to be routed to avoid issues of their own.
But first, what is big solar? Well, in one variation, itcould be little solar grown big! By that I mean acresand acres of solar panels just like the ones on yourroof but a huge lot of them. One of the largest of
this type is located at Nellis Air Force Base near LasVegas-14 megawatts (MW). Probably the largest ofthis type in Arizona is still the Tucson ElectricPower (TEP) solar field at Springerville,approximately 4.6 MW. Most of these large scalePV projects use trackers to increase the electricityoutput but are otherwise like a house roof system.They use no water but clearly need large amountsof land for large projects, probably on the order of6-8 acres/MW. And the land must be cleared forthe panels, potentially damaging habitat. This typeof solar, like all the other large remote systems,needs transmission to move the power tocustomers in urban areas. Costs average $.20/kWhand up.
The other systems bear little resemblance to thehome panels. The concentrated solar powersystems come in at least two varieties: power towersand parabolic troughs. Both involve focusingsunlight on a small area and creating steam whichis then used to spin a turbine, much like theprocess in coal and nuclear plants but without thecarbon footprint or the waste problems there.Water usage is substantial, but new dry coolingmethods use much less water than traditionalwater-cooled power plants. Power towers use lesswater than troughs. The troughs take up about25% less land. Both would disturb wildlife and
plants and would need transmission connections.Costs range from $.12/kWh to $.26/kWh,depending on wet or dry cooling. The cheaperpower uses much more water.
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There are two other big solar technologies worthmentioning: Stirling engines and concentrating PV.Neither use any water and so have been in thelimelight lately. No large scale projects in the USemploy either of these systems yet, so it’s a littlehard to compare with the other more widespreadones.
Solar developers have all been looking at the samemaps that show an area in Southern California, thetip of Nevada, and Northwest Arizona as THEplace to locate their plants since there is a lot ofsunshine and those are really the only places in theUS where concentrating solar works well. And PresObama and Interior Secretary Salazar havecommitted to fast-tracking these big solar projects.
We got an inkling of what this fast tracking mightinvolve with the recently released DraftEnvironmental Impact Statement (EIS) for theIvanpah Solar Electric Generating System along theCalifornia-Nevada border. This is a three stage 400MW solar power tower project that basically gottentative approval at the Draft EIS stage. The
Conflict and/or Compromise? Large Scale Solar and Land Conservation-Water, Wildlife, and Wire by Bruce Plenk
Seventy thousand solar panels are part of a solar photovoltaic array that was built on 140 acres of unused land at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, to generate 15 megawattsof solar power for the base. Courtesy Senior Airman Larry E. Reid Jr., USAF.
Sky Island Alliance www.skyislandalliance.org 13
analysis concluded that none of the otherpossibilities (23 alternatives were reviewed) wouldmeet the goals of the project with any less impacton local plants and animals, the views from nearbynatural areas, etc.
But the big issue, and this isn’t very different thanhuge wind turbines off of Nantucket, is that thereis a price to pay for these huge solar farms. First,views from nearby natural areas will be affected bythe view of a large industrial facility near what isnow a dry lake bed with ORV tracks. More difficultis the need to relocate at least 25 desert tortoisesand fence the project off to prevent their return.Unfortunately a recent removal of tortoises tomake way for a big Army project resulted in manytortoise deaths, and at least 15% tortoise deaths areassumed here. Also likely to suffer are a number ofrare cacti and flowers. And there is significant wateruse as well.
In the words of the DEIS, “The Ivanpah SolarElectric Generating System (ISEGS) would havemajor impacts to the biological resources of theIvanpah Valley, affecting many sensitive plant andwildlife species and eliminating a broad expanse ofrelatively undisturbed Mojave Desert habitat….”The project would use over 4,000 acres of desertland. Yet, even with all of this impact, allalternatives were rejected as not meeting the goalsof the project (to meet California’s renewableportfolio standard) and the no-action alternativewas rejected because other power plants wouldneed to be built to meet power needs andrenewable requirements and those would havesimilar or worse impacts. The project wasrecommended for approval, although withmitigation for the plants and tortoises.
And this one project is just the tip of the big solariceberg. Over 126 renewable energy projects,mostly big solar, have filed applications with theBLM in California. If all were built, this wouldcover 567, 974 acres, according to the New YorkTimes. Five of these projects are now on the fasttrack for approval, including Ivanpah. And many ofthese projects have special status species issues,including burrowing owls, big horn sheep, flat-tailed horned lizards and a variety of desert plants.
There is clearly not enough water available for allor even many of these plants if they are built usingwater intensive big solar technology. Even the lowerusage Ivanpah plant will use approximately35,000,000 gallons per year. It seems likely thatmost of the plants built will need to be those usingno water or nearly no water technology such as theStirling engine or some form of PV.
And then we have the transmission line issueswhich have been largely unaddressed but now arerising to the forefront as agencies, planners, andsolar developers all agree that without a substantial
investment, the energy from the big solar plantswill not be usable. The plans for these lines alreadyhave prompted litigation to avoid the worstconflicts with undisturbed and protected lands.
For example, the Wilderness Society, Center forBiological Diversity, NPCA and numerous otherenvironmental groups have filed suit to overturn aBush Administration plan to designate “WideEnergy Corridors” throughout the West. Litigationis also pending over the Sunrise Powerlink, a highvoltage line designed to bring power from near theSalton Sea to San Diego and other transmissionline projects. The concerns are similar to thosevoiced against the big solar plants: taking pristinedesert land and industrializing it is wrong until allpreviously developed land that can be used forsolar has been utilized, and even then thetransmission lines should not further degrade thedesert but should be placed alongside roads ortracks that already cross the landscape.
All of this poses a dilemma for those who believethat all solar should be placed on rooftops, parkinglots and other developed or industrialized land andno solar should be placed in the desert onundeveloped land. This is a rewrite of a morephilosophical battle between local small distributedgeneration and large scale remote centralizedpower plants, whether solar, wind or traditionalfossil fuels. While there is still disagreement, mostin the industry believe that both are necessary toachieve the goals we need to meet to avoid theworst consequences of global warming. Neither isperfect alone; it’s more expensive to put solar on aroof than in the desert, and it takes longer to dothousands of small projects rather than one bigone, but building solar plants near the loads in thecities saves on transmission costs and providesprotection against terrorist attacks or other failuresat big power generation facilities. But the largescale desert plants of big solar, particularly ifconnected to big wind in the Great Plains, willprovide the backbone of a coal (and hopefully)nuke free power future.
If we need both big and little solar, what is tobecome of the desert lands many have worked sohard to preserve and the plants and animals ofthose big spaces?
A think paper authored by several environmentalgroups in June, 2009, sets out a framework for thisdiscussion: www.defenders.org/resources/publications/policy_and_legislation/balancing_renewable_energy_development_and_land_conservation_in_a_warming_world.pdf). Hereare the key points, which seem like a reasonablecompromise on these tough issues: the impacts ofrenewable energy development should be viewed inthe context of the full range of energy projects (lotsbetter than moutaintop removal coal mining ornukes); land that has already been disturbed should
be preferred over undisturbed land (with attentionpaid to issues of environmental justice); andsensitive and unique lands (especially wilderness)should be avoided for both development andtransmission lines.
Where does this leave us? Put up more little solarwherever we can. Develop medium solar on bigbox stores and similar big roofs and parking lots.And look for the places in the desert southwestwhere big solar and its associated transmissionlines will cause the least damage to the desert andits plant and animal denizens.
-Bruce Plenk is the Solar Energy Coordinator for the City of
Tucson, funded by a Solar America Cities grant from the
U.S. Department of Energy. The views expressed here are
personal opinions and not those of the City of Tucson.
Would any sane person think dumpster divingwould have stopped Hitler, or that compostingwould have ended slavery or brought about theeight-hour workday, or that chopping wood andcarrying water would have gotten people out ofTsarist prisons, or that dancing naked around afire would have helped put in place the VotingRights Act of 1957 or the Civil Rights Act of1964? Then why now, with all the world at stake,do so many people retreat into these entirelypersonal “solutions”?
Part of the problem is that we’ve been victims ofa campaign of systematic misdirection.Consumer culture and the capitalist mindset havetaught us to substitute acts of personalconsumption (or enlightenment) for organizedpolitical resistance. An Inconvenient Truth helpedraise consciousness about global warming. Butdid you notice that all of the solutions presentedhad to do with personal consumption—changinglight bulbs, inflating tires, driving half as much—and had nothing to do with shifting power awayfrom corporations, or stopping the growtheconomy that is destroying the planet? Even ifevery person in the United States did everythingthe movie suggested, U.S. carbon emissionswould fall by only 22 percent. Scientific consensusis that emissions must be reduced by at least 75percent worldwide.
Or let’s talk water. We so often hear that the worldis running out of water. People are dying fromlack of water. Rivers are dewatered from lack ofwater. Because of this we need to take shortershowers. See the disconnect? Because I takeshowers, I’m responsible for drawing downaquifers? Well, no. More than 90 percent of thewater used by humans is used by agriculture andindustry. The remaining 10 percent is splitbetween municipalities and actual livingbreathing individual humans. Collectively,municipal golf courses use as much water asmunicipal human beings. People (both humanpeople and fish people) aren’t dying because theworld is running out of water. They’re dyingbecause the water is being stolen.
Or let’s talk energy. Kirkpatrick Sale summarizedit well: “For the past 15 years the story has beenthe same every year: individual consumption—residential, by private car, and so on—is nevermore than about a quarter of all consumption;the vast majority is commercial, industrial,corporate, by agribusiness and government [heforgot military]. So, even if we all took up cycling
and wood stoves it would have a negligibleimpact on energy use, global warming andatmospheric pollution.”
Or let’s talk waste. In 2005, per-capita municipalwaste production (basically everything that’s putout at the curb) in the U.S. was about 1,660pounds. Let’s say you’re a die-hard simple-livingactivist, and you reduce this to zero. You recycleeverything. You bring cloth bags shopping. Youfix your toaster. Your toes poke out of old tennisshoes. You’re not done yet, though. Sincemunicipal waste includes not just residentialwaste, but also waste from government officesand businesses, you march to those offices, wastereduction pamphlets in hand, and convince themto cut down on their waste enough to eliminateyour share of it. Uh, I’ve got some bad news.Municipal waste accounts for only 3 percent oftotal waste production in the United States.
I want to be clear. I’m not saying we shouldn’t livesimply. I live reasonably simply myself, but I don’tpretend that not buying much (or not drivingmuch, or not having kids) is a powerful politicalact, or that it’s deeply revolutionary. It’s not.Personal change doesn’t equal social change.
So how, then, and especially with all the world atstake, have we come to accept these utterlyinsufficient responses? I think part of it is thatwe’re in a double bind. A double bind is whereyou’re given multiple options, but no matter whatoption you choose, you lose, and withdrawal isnot an option. At this point, it should be prettyeasy to recognize that every action involving theindustrial economy is destructive (and weshouldn’t pretend that solar photovoltaics, forexample, exempt us from this: they still requiremining and transportation infrastructures atevery point in the production processes; the samecan be said for every other so-called greentechnology). So if we choose option one—if weavidly participate in the industrial economy—wemay in the short term think we win because wemay accumulate wealth, the marker of “success”in this culture. But we lose, because in doing sowe give up our empathy, our animal humanity.And we really lose because industrial civilizationis killing the planet, which means everyone loses.If we choose the “alternative” option of livingmore simply, thus causing less harm, but still notstopping the industrial economy from killing theplanet, we may in the short term think we winbecause we get to feel pure, and we didn’t evenhave to give up all of our empathy (just enough
to justify not stopping the horrors), but onceagain we really lose because industrial civilizationis still killing the planet, which means everyonestill loses. The third option, acting decisively tostop the industrial economy, is very scary for anumber of reasons, including but not restricted tothe fact that we’d lose some of the luxuries (likeelectricity) to which we’ve grown accustomed,and the fact that those in power might try to killus if we seriously impede their ability to exploitthe world—none of which alters the fact that it’s abetter option than a dead planet. Any option is abetter option than a dead planet.
Besides being ineffective at causing the sorts ofchanges necessary to stop this culture from killingthe planet, there are at least four other problemswith perceiving simple living as a political act (asopposed to living simply because that’s what youwant to do). The first is that it’s predicated on theflawed notion that humans inevitably harm theirlandbase. Simple living as a political act consistssolely of harm reduction, ignoring the fact thathumans can help the Earth as well as harm it. Wecan rehabilitate streams, we can get rid of noxiousinvasives, we can remove dams, we can disrupt apolitical system tilted toward the rich as well as anextractive economic system, we can destroy theindustrial economy that is destroying the real,physical world.
The second problem—and this is another bigone—is that it incorrectly assigns blame to theindividual (and most especially to individualswho are particularly powerless) instead of tothose who actually wield power in this system andto the system itself. Kirkpatrick Sale again: “Thewhole individualist what-you-can-do-to-save-the-earth guilt trip is a myth. We, as individuals,are not creating the crises, and we can’t solvethem.”
The third problem is that it accepts capitalism’sredefinition of us from citizens to consumers. Byaccepting this redefinition, we reduce ourpotential forms of resistance to consuming andnot consuming. Citizens have a much wider rangeof available resistance tactics, including voting,not voting, running for office, pamphleting,boycotting, organizing, lobbying, protesting, and,when a government becomes destructive of life,liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, we have theright to alter or abolish it.
The fourth problem is that the endpoint of thelogic behind simple living as a political act is
Forget Shorter Showers: Why personal change does not equal political changeby Derrick Jensen. This article first appeared in the July/August 2009 issue of Orion Magazine: www.orionmagazine.org
continued next page
Sky Island Alliance www.skyislandalliance.org 15
suicide. If every act within an industrialeconomy is destructive, and if we want to stopthis destruction, and if we are unwilling (orunable) to question (much less destroy) theintellectual, moral, economic, and physicalinfrastructures that cause every act within anindustrial economy to be destructive, then wecan easily come to believe that we will cause theleast destruction possible if we are dead.
The good news is that there are other options.We can follow the examples of brave activistswho lived through the difficult times Imentioned—Nazi Germany, Tsarist Russia,antebellum United States—who did far morethan manifest a form of moral purity; theyactively opposed the injustices that surroundedthem. We can follow the example of those whoremembered that the role of an activist is not tonavigate systems of oppressive power with asmuch integrity as possible, but rather toconfront and take down those systems.
-Derrick Jensen is the author of Endgame, The Culture
of Make Believe, and A Language Older than Words.
He was named one of Utne Reader's "50 Visionaries
Who Are Changing Your World" and won the Eric
Hoffer Award in 2008. He writes for Orion, Audubon,
and The Sun Magazine, among many others.
Sky Island Stylin’by Tim Lengerich
From the comfortable confines of my ToyotaTacoma sleeping cocoon, I hear the first-risers’tinkling of pots and pans. Audible butindecipherable mutterings accompany them. Thenight’s last cacophonous lurchings burst fromTrevor’s throat, mercifully muffled by hisentrenchment in the sleeping bag on his cot.
Elegant trogon’s squawk and squabble from aboveand afar in the abundant oaks and sweepinghillsides. With tunes, whirs and whistles fromwarblers, hummingbirds and cardinals an aviancocktail of sound swirls pleasantly in our ears. Allsounds combine to create a delightful alarm clockfor our awakening camp here in the proposedTumacacori Highlands Wilderness northwest ofNogales.
Slowly, silent forms arise at all points of thecompass from their night’s nests and stumble,coffee cups in hand, towards the camp cookingarea and last evening’s fire ring. A few pause toplop into their chairs at the ring and stare at theashes of the long gone fire.
Someone fumbles forth with the least amount ofenergy possible to start a meager fire. A fire tobarely satisfy through breakfast but not too largeto put out safely before we launch on to ourfieldwork.
The fieldwork is another Sky Island Alliancesponsored volunteer weekend. One of many suchevents offered in the course of a year.
Our mission this weekend is to remove bullfrogsfrom two stock ponds near the west flanks of theAtascosa Mountains. This weekend’s fieldwork iscoordinated by Sky Island Alliance’s Trevor Hare(see “cacophonous lurchings” above) and SarahWilliams (the demure one). One or both of themcoordinates every volunteer weekend for theLandscape Restoration Program.
In Arizona and most of the west, the Americanbullfrog (Rana catesbeiana), is a non-indigenousspecies. That is to say, it doesn’t belong here. Itbelongs in your childhood backyard ponds andriverbanks of Indiana, South Carolina andArkansas. Their original habitat did not extendwest of the Rockies Front Range. But, throughhuman assistance, the bullfrog is here now eating(literally) out of home and hearth the threatenednative Chiricahua leopard frog (Lithobateschiricahuensis) and other regional leopard frogs.
Today’s ponds have no leopard frogs in them. Butcombined they do have well over a thousandbullfrog tadpoles, adolescents and adults. Otherponds elsewhere in the Sky Island region havethousands inhabiting them.
Now, “to remove bullfrogs” is a somewhatimprecise term; in this case easier to explain thanaccomplish. There are basically three differentmethods used to eliminate bullfrogs—seining,gigging and shooting. Probably not an agreeableproject for Buddhists or vegetarians but,nevertheless, it is a noble and necessary job donein the name of, for the sake of Mother Nature.Humans have sometimes rendered her cripplingblows and it is humans that shall help her heal.
To put the cherry on top, these stock ponds areoften polluted with the urine and feces of cows
that use them for drinking. Of course, they smellaccordingly. It is into these ponds that volunteerswade (some with seemingly far too much relishand abandon) with seines to capture thebullfrogs. Pulling the seines through the pondsfrom side to side and end to end produces witheach pass a number of frogs and tadpoles whichare stored in five gallon buckets. In the course ofthe day hundreds are captured and humanelydispatched nearby.
Gigging bullfrogs is another approach tocapturing the displaced amphibians. A frog gig istypically a wooden shafted, spear-like apparatuswith barbed points at the end. At night, fromshore or in boats, headlamp wearing andflashlight bearing volunteers daze the frogs withtheir lights and gig them. Hand nets aresometimes used as well.
Okay, I admit, this kind of weekend may not befor everyone. But, for everyone, the Sky IslandAlliance DOES have a weekend!
Whether it be a weekend of monitoring andgathering data for protection of native species; orclosing illegal routes created by off-road riders; orinventorying roads for new wilderness proposals,Sky Island Alliance DOES have a weekend foryou!
Or bird watching; or photographing; or fieldtripsto Mexico and New Mexico; or tooling aroundafoot or in a vehicle seeing some of the mostbeautiful, diverse country in the west, Sky IslandAlliance DOES have a weekend for you!
Or monitoring wildlife movements in southernArizona; or swimming in a creek; or getting thatgratifying feeling of giving back; or robustevenings around a campfire with good friendsand average food (or vice versa), Sky IslandAlliance DOES have a weekend for you!
So, come revisit that part of your spirit that mayneed refreshing with the feels, the smells, thesights, the sounds of nature. Come out, comework, come play! Come Sky Island Alliance!
-
We count on Tim Lengerich as one of our core
Volunteers Extraordinaire… thanks Tim!
Forget Shorter Showers continued
It’s all in a weekend’s work: dispatching bullfrogs in the Tumacacoris.
16 Fall/Winter 2009 Restoring Connections
Coffee. Tea. Scones. Eggs. Milk. Butter. Juice.Sandwiches. Potato chips. Cookies. Pizza.Burritos. Soda. Apples. Bananas. Chocolate cake!Oh, and coffee. These are some of the mostessential items provided to participants duringSky Island Alliance’s yearly tracking workshop.What? Not the track identification cards? Not thetracking rulers? Yep, having good food availablekeeps the tracking trainees fueled and energizedas they tackle the rigors of learning the ins andouts of tracking wildlife. And just as importantare the two volunteers who make sure that allbreakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks are on thetable and on time for twenty hungry herbivoresand omnivores.
Rich and Joanne Griffiths, who live in GreenValley, have been coming to the trackingworkshops since 2003 to do just that: choppingtomatoes, making sandwiches, scrambling eggs,brewing coffee, and guaranteeing that the buffettable is laden with goodies and more. From thefirst day, when boxes and bags of food arrive andare unloaded, to the final day when the last dish iswashed and dried and the floor mopped, Joanneand Rich are a whirl of activity in the kitchen.
Over the years, the tracking workshop has takenplace in a variety of different locales from theEnvironmental Education Center in BrownCanyon, to the Audubon Research Ranch inElgin, to ranches in Mexico, each with distinctiveand sometimes challenging cooking facilities.Joanne and Rich are so good-natured that theyadapt to whatever kitchen quirkiness is throwntheir way – a two burner stove (cooking fortwenty?), a gas oven that needed to be plugged in(took awhile to figure that one out), no electricity(luckily the stove was gas). It’s always anadventure in the food coordination business.
Rich does more than volunteer in the kitchen.He’s a tracking volunteer too. Back in 2003, Richwas introduced to Sky Island Alliance during apresentation on the Wildlife Linkages Programgiven at the Green Valley Library. After hearinghow SIA trackers help monitor the presence ofwildlife in critical wildlife linkages, Rich signedup for the next training workshop that was heldin Gila, New Mexico. After completing thetraining, Rich was assigned a tracking transectnear Green Valley in the wildlife linkage between
the Tumacacori and Santa Rita Mountains. Heoften helps with other tracking surveys whenneeded. Yes, Rich does more than just the dishesat the tracking workshop. He now assists with thetraining, leading a group in the field todemonstrate good tracking techniques andproviding tips on how to identify tracks. Rich sayswhat he enjoys most about tracking is discoveringa puzzle (track) and solving the puzzle(determining the animal that made the track).
Joanne joined Rich during the second weekend ofhis training in 2003. She tagged along to enjoy thescenery but started helping in the kitchen almostimmediately. Both have enjoyed volunteering atthe eight workshops since then. Joanne says it’sfun getting to know the participants and to listenin on the presentations on tracking and on thedifferent focal species. Richs enjoys watching theparticipants’ enthusiasm and dedication to aworthy cause. He said, “Near the end of training, Ican see they can’t wait to get out there and dosome tracking.”
Retirees, Joanne and Rich settled in Green Valleyseven years ago. Prior to that, they lived inMinnesota for 20 years. When asked why GreenValley, they laugh about the lack of minus 30degree winters. In Minnesota, Rich was a specialeducation teacher working with gradeskindergarten to 12. Thinking back, Rich said “Thechallenge was working with the parents, teachers,and administration — the adults. The studentswere a lot of fun.” Clearly his interest in helpingstudents learn is apparent during the trackingworkshop. Joanne was an elementary teacher too,as well as a registered nurse. Now they spend theirtime square dancing, hiking, swimming, andgardening, Rich is a big player on the local geo-
caching scene and Joanne has become anaccomplished pastel artist. Both enjoy the “notworking” part of retirement and often take offwith their trailer in tow. Initially they owned acute 13-footer, but it had no bathroom or airconditioner. Their new 17-foot trailer is still cozy,but is now outfitted for better comfort.
Asked what volunteering for Sky Island Alliancemeans to him, Rich replied, “I enjoy working withthe Sky Island Alliance staff and getting out in theenvironment on the tracking transects and duringthe workshops. Sky Island Alliance is anorganization having a positive effect in the regionand I enjoy helping in that goal.”
Oh, and about that chocolate cake. That’sJoanne’s scrumptious confection concoction andcontribution to the workshop food supply. Yum!
Thanks, Rich and Joanne! With your dedicationand help, the tracking workshops stay on trackand run smoothly!
-Since 1998, volunteers working with Sky Island Alliance
have spent more than 50,000 hours turning their concern
for our surrounding environment into tangible, hands-on
action. As a grassroots organization, we could not
achieve the results we do without the efforts of our
dedicated volunteers — the real roots in “grassroots.” The
purpose of this column is to celebrate our volunteers and
to share a little bit about who they are.
VOLUNTEERS MAKE IT HAPPEN
Keeping the TrackingWorkshop on Trackby Janice Przybyl, Wildlife Linkages Program Coordinator
Rich and Joanne watch the "tracking games" from the porch of the Brown Canyon Environmental EducationCenter (Buenos Aires Wildlife Refuge) during the 2008 Tracking Workshop.
Sky Island Alliance www.skyislandalliance.org 17
The use of remote cameras to capture photosof wildlife has increased in wildlife studies,especially to study elusive, rare or crypticanimals. As a research tool, this non-invasivetechnique does not require capturing orinfluencing animals’ behavior, makingremote cameras popular, easy to use and wellaccepted. Photographs allow researchers toidentify species and gender, estimate age,observe family groups, and sometimes assesshealth status and behavior. However, settingup remote cameras in the field for thepurpose of capturing images does not equal“wildlife research.” Remote cameras, likeradio collars, are mere tools that aid theresearcher in the collection of information;and while it’s interesting, fun and informativeto photograph wildlife, researchers andmanagers must leverage this information foruse in successful conservation actions. Inshort, we can generate more than an amazingcollection of wildlife images.
Common questions from the public on theuse of cameras include: “How are theresulting photographs used?” “What do youdo with this information?” “Can theseanalyses be applied to conservation?” Theanswer to these questions originates in agood project design: a plan that describes thesteps to collect, analyze and interpret theinformation and its intended application forconservation of a species or an area. Whenphotographs demonstrate high speciesdiversity in an area or the continuouspresence of a protected species (i.e. MachoB’s presence in southern Arizona for 12years), this information should facilitate thepermanent protection of that area.
A variety of research objectives can beaddressed by using remote cameras, such aspresence or absence of a species. Mark-recapture methods are applied to estimatedensity or abundance of species that areidentified by individual pelage patterns, likejaguars or tigers. Figures 1 and 2 glimpse intothe potential presented by a wildlife studyusing remote cameras, such as our CuatroGatos Project. After our initial success innorthern Sonora photographing over 25species of mammals in the Sierra Azul,including ocelots, and the signing ofconservation agreements with partneringlandowners, we are now working with
university researchers to conduct analysis ofour results.
The continuous monitoring of wildlifethrough these photographs, offers a glanceat wildlife populations, diversity of species,group sizes, preferred areas and sometimestheir interactions. Examples of interactionsare photographs of carnivores transportingtheir meal to a safe place for dinner (photo,right). Each photograph is stamped withtime and date, and associated informationincludes camera site description (location,vegetation, elevation, topography), date whencamera was set and revisited, number ofphotos and general observations (wet anddry seasons, human activities or presence ofdomestic animals).
In short, the use of remote cameras forstudying wildlife is a safe, non-invasivetechnique that offers the potential to informand facilitate conservation action forsensitive or elusive species, and areas withhigh species diversity. Adequate projectdesign allows to plan for collection, analyzesand application of the information collected.Using remote cameras, researchers detectpresence or absence of a species in an area,and should leverage this information toresults that inform about species habits andinteractions, beyond spectacular images orvideos. By comparing when animals are mostoften photographed to time cycles we candraw conclusions about species habits andinteractions.
The popularity of remote cameras forwildlife monitoring and study presents highpotential to inform conservation. If you oranyone you know is interested in setting upand maintaining remote cameras within theSky Island region and would like to learn thebasics to get the best use of this technique,please contact Sergio at 520.624.7080x16 or [email protected].
-Sergio Avila would like to thank biologists
Jennifer Yates, from University of Georgia, for
the use of preliminary analyses from her
thesis research, and Nohelia Pacheco and
Carolina Piña, from Universidad de Sonora,
for updating the photo-database with over 30
months of photographs from our remote
cameras.
Using Remote Cameras to Inform andPromote Wildlife Conservationby Sergio Avila, Northern Mexico Conservation Program Coordinator
You can be part of JAGUAR and OCELOTconservation efforts in the Sky Island region!Adopt a camera and support on-the-ground
For more information on this project, please visitwww.skyislandalliance.org/jaguars.htm
Figure 1. Activity patterns of species most commonly photographed: onepredator (puma) and two prey species (deer and javelina). From our photo-data, we plot the relative frequency of capture by species to estimate activitypatterns in a 24-hour cycle. The chart shows diurnal habits for deer, with dailyactivity between 6am and 6pm. Javelina show two daily peaks of activity: onebetween 8am and 10am and another between 6pm and 8pm. Puma activity,though constant throughout the day, increases at dawn and dusk.
Figure 2. Activity patterns of two mid-sized carnivores (ocelot and coati). Thechart shows nocturnal habits for the ocelot (a solitary animal) and diurnalhabits for coati (generally moving in groups). Sample size for these twospecies varies greatly, however this preliminary analysis shows temporalpreferences for each one.
A mountain lion drags a white-tail deer to cache the carcass.
18 Fall/Winter 2009 Restoring Connections
It’s so easy, and helpsus tremendously…
By donating just $10 a month, you can turn youryearly $35 membership contribution into $120.Or, by donating $50 every quarter, your yearlycontribution would total $200! There are manydifferent donation options through our givingprogram. If you are interested, please call Acasiaat 520.624.7080 x10 or click on the Donate Nowbutton at
www.skyislandalliance.org
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If you received this newsletter and it’s time to renew your membership, please send in your check orerenew quickly online! If you are reading a friend’s newsletter, consider joining us. We rely on members forour basic operations. Contributions are tax-deductible; we are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
Basic membership is only $35, but if you add a little to that, here’s a sampling
of what your dollars can do: $50 will help us survey 30 miles of roads…
$75 will sponsor volunteer training workshops… $100 will close one mile of road.
Fill this out, or donate online. It’s quick, easy and safe!
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Sky Island Alliance, PO Box 41165, Tucson AZ 85717
Sky Island Alliance T-Shirts!100% organic cotton, not pre-shrunk, and only $18! Choose from: � Sky Island Alliance (cream shirt with logo)
Now available in long sleeves! (Men’s cut only) or � Friends of the Tumacacori Highlands
(Men’s light tan or women’s green tea)
Just tell us how many of each size:Men’s cut: ___XL ____L ____M ____S Women’s cut: ___XL ____L ____M
And where to send your shirt(s):Name: _______________________________________________________Address: ______________________________________________________City/State/Zip: _________________________________________________
Send this form with payment ($18 + $3 shipping & handling per shirt) toSky Island Alliance, PO Box 41165, Tucson AZ 85717
OR purchase them online at www.skyislandalliance.org
A magical collection from 19 artists, poets, writers,photographers… Beautiful 4-color reproductions of
original art… 2 CDs with music and readings…
As inspiring as the wild landsthey seek to protect…
We Need You… to Volunteer!Sky Island Alliance formed in 1991 when a group of concerned citizens cametogether to protect the Sky Islands adjacent to Tucson. Wanting to ensure thatfuture generations would have an equal opportunity to enjoy the quiet solitude of amountain meadow and experience a landscape where native species still roamed,they worked to keep our public lands intact and wild. Today, Sky Island Alliance isstill a place where people come together to protect our rich natural heritage andrestore native species and habitats. New volunteers come out all the time, whetherthey are seasoned backpackers or have never looked at, much less know what atopographic map is.
There are always opportunities to rejoice in / restore our Sky Islands! Watch www.skyislandalliance.org for the latest schedule!
Join our Landscape Restoration Field WeekendsRiparian and Recreational Impact Surveys: Volunteers gather at a base camp andare paired up with 3 to 4 other volunteers, a map, GPS unit, digital camera, and datasheets. The teams are sent out to adjacent areas to walk out a riparian area or roadtransect. Each team collects photo and geospatial points to document their findings.Depending on the distance to the site, volunteers drive out for the day or camp out.
Road closures and habitat restoration weekends: These trips are morephysically demanding though there is still a wide variety of tasks to suit differentskills and fitness levels. Closures include placement of barriers and signs to blockroads; breaking up the road surface behind the closure to allow water to penetrateand seeds to take hold; and planting native vegetation to help bring back theecological balance to the area and disguise the roads existance. Eventually naturalprocesses take over and what was once a road becomes unfragmented habitat.
Adopt a TransectMonitoring the presence of mammal species in important intermountaincorridors: This volunteer program involves the largest commitment. After anextensive training in identification and documentation of wildlife sign, volunteersare teamed up with other trained trackers to monitor a transect (tracking route)every six weeks.
Promote WildernessWilderness outreach stewards are needed for any of the following three areas:public presentations, guided hikes and tabling events. Stewards are trainedvolunteers whose major responsibilities are to help people in the community learnmore about Sky Island Alliance and its mission, to better understand and appreciatethe importance of Wilderness, and to promote Wilderness for the TumacacoriHighlands. Public presenters and tabling stewards interact with the general public aswell as with specific interest groups, such as the faith community and sportsmen’sgroups. Wilderness hike leaders guide local area hikes and present themed talks onwilderness, sometimes in conjunction with a guest speaker. Schedule is flexible.Stewards will receive a tshirt and free Sky Island Alliance membership. Training andvolunteer orientation required.
Wilderness advocates are needed to help collect signatures and written letters insupport of the Tumacacori Highlands Wilderness bill. Letters and petitions, addressedto Arizona Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl and to your State Representative can bemailed, copied-to, or hand-delivered to Sky Island Alliance. Send your own letter ofsupport, or help us coordinate ways to reach supporters in your community to do thesame!
Make a DifferenceData entry/analysis and office needs: The data collected in the field iscompiled into a database so that Sky Island can put that hard-earned informationto work.
My life has changed significantly since my dad died a year and a half ago.The responsibility of making sure my mom is doing okay, along with takingcare of all the stuff Dad used to do, finally began taking its toll on me thisFall. I ran out of steam. How ironically appropriate that the theme of thisissue was Energy and I was facing the bottom of my energetic barrel.
But it’s not just me… I see this across the wide swath of nonprofitenvironmental groups I have the privilege of working with. Especially withtoday’s economic climate, everyone has had to turn their volume — workvolume, that is — up to at least Nigel Tufnel’s “11.” Big business expects —and financially rewards — this kind of dedication. But I don’t know anyonewho gets into conservation or environmental action work for the money;we are here because we want to make a difference. This unites us, no matterhow differently we approach the other aspects of our lives.
I have to wonder, though, if we’ve become insular in how we take on thebig ticket items, whether it’s protecting landscapes through positivemeasures, like Wilderness designation, or from harm, like the RosemontMine or the border wall. I think there’s an Aha! moment we’re missing inour sisyphean task of rolling our well-meaning, thoughtfully articulatedobjectives up the hill… especially when we’re operating from the bottom ofthe barrel… especially when the task is bigger than our combined energies.What if it takes a village to push the rock up the hill? As in, what if it takesnot just the people who mostly agree with us and even help out sometimes,but the rest of the village as well?
I occasionally work with a woman whose sole bumpersticker — McCain/Palin 08 — should mean that she and I will disagree on just abouteverything. All the same, we get along well and have similar work ethics andsometimes even senses of humor. I have the feeling that if we could stopfocussing on the value system rhetorics that divide us, we could gravitatetowards the core value I know we have in common… a deep appreciationof wildlife and wildlands.
I know, I know, messages and results can get diluted when you begin toinclude other viewpoints. But I think we need to get over that. We need toget over “winning” too — when we win, someone else loses and then theytry their darnedest to push the rock downhill again. I, for one, have noenergy for that. When I’ve helped roll the rock up the hill, I want that rockto endure, no matter who’s President or who’s Governor.
In the current economic climate and with a physical climate that’s warmingfaster than our worst projections, do we really have any other choice but toengage the entire village? Isn’t it time we let go of our self-righteousness sothat our hands are free to clasp our common visions and make them areality? I’m pretty sure I can find the energy for that — and I’m willing tomake the first move and extend my hand. How about you?
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Spring Wildlife Tracking WorkshopFeb. 26-28 and March 27-28, 2010 (must commit to both weekends)
SIA’s tracking volunteers monitor the presence of large
mammals (mountain lion, black bear, jaguar, Mexican grey wolf
and others) between the mountain ranges in the Sky Island
region.
We are currently looking for dedicated “citizen scientists” who
can commit to regular monitoring of an assigned tracking route
every six weeks for at least one year. You’ll learn where to look
for signs and about the biology and behavior of local mammal
species.
Learn more by contacting Janice Przybyl, Wildlife Linkages
