Radical Avenue

Coho salmon have a place to call home again in northern California, thanks to the Nature Conservancy. The Conservancy recently shelled out $14.2 million for the 4,136 acre Shasta Big Springs Ranch, including the entire length of Big Springs Creek. Big Springs Creek sits in the shadow of snow covered Mount Shasta, which feeds icy cold runoff into the stream all summer long. The cool water is an ideal environment for frisky young salmon.

Coho are more sensitive to water temperature than other salmon species, and are listed as an endangered species in California. In fact salmon populations have dwindled so severely that ocean fishing for salmon was prohibited in California and Oregon last year and will probably be banned again this year.

The Nature Conservancy’s restoration project also protects the habitat of chinook salmon, steelhead trout, Pacific and Klamath River lamprey, Western pond turtles, greater sandhill cranes, bank swallows, neo-tropical migratory birds and bald eagles. Score another one for nature lovers.

Right Whales
Arrive early to find a good spot for whale watching in Cape Cod, Massachusetts this year. Right whales are returning in force along the northeastern US coast, to the delight of binoculars merchants along the shore.

The Cape Cod guests weigh around 40 tons and were once considered the “right” whales for hunting. But the harpoons stopped flying years ago, so these waters are a lot more whale friendly these days. And Cape Cod Bay is now a tourist destination.

Irrawaddy Dolphins
Asian and American biologists were pleasantly surprised to find a population of 6,000 Irrawaddy dolphins thriving in the jungle rivers of Bangladesh. The Irrawaddy are one of the world’s rarest species of freshwater dolphins. They have big round heads and can grow up to 8 feet in length.

Irrawaddy dolphins love the brackish waters of rivers and bays in Southeast Asia. It turns out that the forests of the Sundarban at the delta of the Ganges and two other rivers on the Bay of Bengal are perfect for them.

Some critters prefer to sleep during the day and hunt under a cloak of darkness. That makes it difficult to get noticed by human conservationists who sleep at night and rise with the sun. These little Aussies have figured out how to turn heads, even in the dead of night.

Be Adorable: Sugar Gliders
Sugar gliders are tiny possums native to the eucalyptus forests of Australia, Tasmania, Indonesia, and Papua-New Guinea. They also star in thousands of photo albums on the internet. Most possums make terrible pets, but sugar gliders are well behaved, friendly and of course, photogenic.

Be Loud: Tasmanian Devils
Many of us first learned about Tasmanian devils through Taz, Bugs Bunny’s ill-tempered nemesis in a series of children’s cartoons. Real Tasmanian devils are known to grunt, growl, scream and lunge at anyone that annoys them, especially during dinner time. And yet we still love them.

Tasmanian devils used to inhabit much of Australia, but lost out in a competition with dingoes for food and living space. Since Tasmanian devils eat pesky rodents and dead animals, Tasmanian farmers appreciate having them around. The Tasmanian devil’s fondness for road kill however, leaves them vulnerable to early morning commuters. Nevertheless their numbers remain strong in Tasmania.

Be Spooky: Ghost Bats
It must be rather disconcerting to suddenly notice a pale rodent with translucent wings swooping down on your campsite in the middle of the night. Ghost bats are mesmerizing, even by flying mammal standards. And yes, they are carnivorous.

Sadly, the ghost bat population has dwindled to around 5,000. Their habitat in northern Australia is shrinking because of mining and tourism, as well as competition for food from other animals.

African conservationists seem to favor exotic, long necked birds with ostentatious plumage. And since the competition over fragile wetlands on the continent is pretty fierce, local flocks need all the help they can get.

Pink Flamingos
About a million flamingos live and breed around the edges of Lake Natron in northern Tanzania. Lake Natron is rich in salt and other minerals which the flamingos need to survive. But the briny water has also attracted industrialists, who want to build a soda ash processing facility on the lake.

Wildlife conservationists have recently managed to delay building plans for the soda ash plant; at least until further environmental impact studies can be performed. This was no small feat since the company drawing up plans to build the plant is partly owned by the Tanzanian government.

A small number of pink flamingos now call an S shaped artificial island near Kimberley, South Africa home. This man made flamingo habitat shows promise, with more and more chicks hatching every year.

Blue Cranes
Blue Cranes live almost exclusively on the plains of South Africa. Their limited range leaves them particularly vulnerable to human encroachment. A certain number of these birds die every year from things like collisions with power lines and poisoning meant for other animals. Still, the population of Blue Cranes remains fairly stable, thanks to environmental activists like the Endangered Wildlife Trust and the Overberg Crane Group.

The Blue Crane’s status as the national bird of South Africa also helps. South Africans can all be proud of their efforts to defend these magnificent animals.

The It Cub’s publicist informed me that anyone looking for pictures of the real Li’l Smokey must visit his blog at the Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care Center. In the meantime, Radical Avenue will have to settle for a picture of Li’l Smokey’s anonymous cousin, who’s still pretty adorable.

That’s how media savvy bear cubs roll. But even though he’s a bootie wearing fashionista today, Li’l Smokey has always remained true to his roots. This young fur ball spent his early days out in the wild before barely survived a devastating forest fire.

Now Li’l Smokey has stronger claws and a whole new perspective on life. Cuteness doesn’t last forever. Sure, everybody fawns over you when you’re young and cuddly, but look at what happened to Ice Bear Knut over at the Berlin Zoo. Poor little Knut put on a few pounds, grew some scruffy looking hair on his back and now he’s washed up at age 2. Comedians are joking about his fat backside and stinky breath.

Li’l Smokey knows better. He’s taken the long term approach in dealing with his personal care team. Once the booties come off, it’s back to the forests of the beautiful Sierra Nevada mountain range. Life is simpler in the woods. A bear can enjoy quality time with friends and family. Leave the stage lights to some other ingénue.

Old Smokey (who was rescued from a New Mexico fire in 1950) has been overheard grumbling to himself as he makes his rounds this season. What’s all this fuss over the rookie? Has he ever put on a helmet or picked up a shovel? Guess not. Over fifty years of fighting forest fires and people barely know your name.

Hunters love the forest. Fishermen love the sea. These brave animals have shown a willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice in the cause of conserving habitat for their species.

Rocky Mountain Elk
It’s no small feat to bring down one of these beasts with a bow and arrow. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation’s mission is to ensure the future of elk, other wildlife and their habitat. They protect and enhance elk country, support conservation education and restore wild elk herds.

Bluefin Tuna
According to BigMarineFish.com, bluefin tuna are in fact the toughest of all big-game fish. Capt. Jack Cashman of Toms River, New Jersey - who’s probably caught more than anyone says, “It’s like hooking up to a car doing 50 miles an hour… Big marlin are spectacular, but their jumps and acrobatics wear them out. Giant bluefin have more power and stamina than any other species. And once you’ve caught one, it spoils you for other big-game fishing.”

However overfishing has endangered the bluefin.

The species in the greatest danger of slipping into extinction is the western north Atlantic population (stock) of bluefin tuna. Thanks to 4 decades of overfishing, it has been driven to just 3% of its 1960 or pre-longlining abundance - a decline of 97% - as shown in ICCAT’s figure at left. (ICCAT is the international commission that claims management authority over all tunas, marlin, swordfish and the other big fish of the Atlantic) In comparison to bluefin, Atlantic white marlin abundance has been driven to 6% of its pre-longlining abundance, and Atlantic blue marlin has been driven to 20% of its pre-longlining abundance.

Ducks
Ducks have a little bit of everything when it comes to public relations. Disney uses them in cartoons, but hunters like to blast them from the sky. Ducks survive by finding watering holes along the path of their annual migration. Now if they could only learn to avoid those clever little decoys…

The vision of Ducks Unlimited is wetlands sufficient to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow and forever. Ducks Unlimited conserves, restores and manages wetlands and associated habitats for North America’s waterfowl. These habitats also benefit other wildlife and people.

hunting, fishing, rocky mountain elk, bluefin tuna, ducks

People are fickle. Some will find you cuddly and adorable while others will consider you despicable. These wild animals need an image makeover.

Bats
Bram Stoker’s Dracula first began terrifying us in 1897, and a long string of vampire movies followed. Actually there are just three species of vampire bats in the world and they all live in Latin America. Many bats help out farmers by feasting nightly on crop eating insects. But the spooky, blood sucking stereotype seems to never die.

Bat Conservation International is devoted to conservation, education, and research initiatives involving bats and the ecosystems they serve.

Rhinoceros
We know rhinoceros as hard headed, easily agitated animals who like to charge straight ahead. With large horns on their foreheads, these guys are definitely not the soft and cuddly type. But that testosterone laden image got them a company logo gig with Rhino linings. So if you need spray on protection for your pickup truck bed, look for the Rhino. It’s not the same as having a malt liquor or muscle car named after you, but it’s a start.

The International Rhino Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to the worldwide conservation of the five living species of rhinoceros: Black, White, Indian, Javan and Sumatran.

Sharks
Peter Benchley agonized over the role Jaws played in contributing to the shark hunting frenzy of the 1970’s.

The Shark Research Institute (SRI) works to correct misperceptions about sharks and stop the slaughter of 100 million sharks annually. A primary conservation strategy of SRI is creating value for sharks as sustainable natural resources for tourism industries, particularly in developing countries.

Flying Lemur
These odd, nocturnal creatures glide across treetops in the jungle but haven’t yet built a strong following in the human world.

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It’s hard to match the public relations skills of warm blooded animals, but don’t underestimate the ability of egg laying creatures to capture the human imagination. Human’s being the soft hearted types, we’ll even fall in love with cold blooded beasts. You may have seen some of these critters at the mall.

Parrots
The Rare Species Conservatory Foundation and the Dominican government have partnered to research Dominica’s Sisserou and Jaco parrots, and to conserve the Sisserou, Dominica’s national bird, rarest of all Amazon parrots, and flagship species for the eastern Caribbean’s largest, intact oceanic rain forest ecosystem.

Blue Iguanas
The Blue Iguana Recovery Program is a partnership of local and international conservation groups, who share a commitment to ensure the survival of the Grand Cayman Blue Iguana. In addition to these long-term partners, the Program is extremely fortunate in receiving financial and volunteer support from local and international corporations, along with service clubs, local government agencies, and many private individuals.

Turtles
It is the mission of the Caribbean Conservation Corporation to ensure the survival of sea turtles within the Wider Caribbean basin and Atlantic through research, education, training, advocacy and the protection of the natural habitats upon which they depend.

Turtles are also protected on the Galapagos Islands. The Galapagos Conservancy, formerly known as the Charles Darwin Foundation, Inc., advocates for the lasting protection of the Galapagos Islands through programs of constituency building, education, and fund raising in North America.

Peregrine Falcons
The Peregrine Fund works nationally and internationally, to conserve birds of prey in nature. They conserve nature by restoring species in jeopardy, conserving habitat, educating students, training conservationists, providing factual information to the public, and by accomplishing good science. They succeed through cooperation and hard-work, using common sense, being hands-on and non-political, and by emphasizing solutions.

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I wonder if dolphins hate drift nets as much as manatees hate unguarded boat propellers. By now every other species on the planet must despise at least one human invention. It’s fortunate that some of our wild friends have powerful advocacy groups looking out for their interests. These animals, for example, have all their ducks in a row when it comes to public relations:

Chimpanzees
The objectives of the Jane Goodall Institute are to:
• Increase primate habitat conservation
• Increase awareness of, support for and training in issues related to our relationship with each other, the environment and other animals (leading to behavior change)
• Expand non-invasive research programs on chimpanzees and other primates
• Promote activities that ensure the well-being of chimpanzees, other primates and animal welfare activities in general

Koalas
The Australian Koala Foundation has no trouble generating positive publicity for these cuddly creatures.

Whales
The American Cetacean Society protects whales, dolphins, porpoises, and their habitats through education, conservation, & research. The Cousteau Society also promotes oceanic conservation and research.

Red Pandas
The Red Panda Project educates and empowers local communities to serve as active partners in the conservation of wild red pandas and their habitat.

Wild Horses
The Wild Horse Sanctuary’s mission is to protect and preserve America’s wild horses as a “living national treasure” in a publicly accessible and ecologically balanced environment with other wildlife for future generations.

Bears
Ursus International Conservation Institute is dedicated to the conservation of bears and their habitat. Ursus seeks to assist in creating a sympathetic and informed attitude towards bears that is based on an understanding of the critical situations facing their populations.

Lions
You can read the latest on lion conservation at the Lion Guardians blog.

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The Caribbean Manatee had a sweet life three hundred years ago. Back then, Blackbeard and the other pirates bandied about in noisy sailing ships like sloops, brigantines and schooners. A manatee could survive a bump from one of these vessels. And the sailors were mostly harmless, except for the lackeys who dreamt of falling in love with a mermaid.

Then someone invented the outboard motor and everything changed for our manatee friends. When a slow swimming mammal collides with the propeller of a cruising speed boat, it usually results in major trauma for the lumbering mammal. So manatees now swim in troubled waters.

It didn’t exactly require a scientific breakthrough for engineers to fit a cage around the propeller of an outboard motor. Propeller guards have been on the market for years. Our state and federal governments should take better advantage of this important safety innovation.

SPIN, an advocacy group dedicated to preventing propeller strikes, has petitioned the Coast Guard, which regulates recreational boats and equipment. The Coast Guard has requested public comment. In the meantime, that manatee surfacing underneath your boat might actually be a young swimmer or a disoriented diver.

The most recent Coast Guard reports indicate that approximately 30 to 45 people were killed annually and approximately 185 to 265 were injured per year from 2001 to 2004 from propeller strike accidents. Since the Coast Guard doesn’t count unreported boating accidents, the actual numbers could be much higher.

Congress should consider requiring some type of propeller guard on all new boats. It should offer property tax incentives. At the very least a more robust public information campaign would seem to be in order. When we have the technology to improve public safety we should expect our leaders to make use of it.

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