Something's Missing, Something's Wrong: A Fishy Situation

Something's missing in Washington state this year. More specifically, lots of fish are missing.

Historically low numbers of coho salmon and wild steelhead have returned to Washington's coastal streams in 2023. The Quinault Indian Nation reported low catch numbers for coho salmon in October. Then, on November 27, officials with Olympic National Park announced low numbers of wild steelhead in their rivers.

These numbers point to serious problems for both fish and people. As the runs of these fish continue to decline, they face the possibility of collapsing. At the very least, the low numbers from rivers that once teamed with salmon and steelhead indicate a distressed ecosystem. Such distress will impact people who depend on the fish for sustenance and their livelihoods.

In response to the troubling numbers, the Quinault Indian Nation closed its fisheries in Grays Harbor and on the Queets River. Olympic National Park took a similar step by closing the Queets, Salmon, and Quinault rivers to steelhead fishing.

With so many fish missing from Washington's rivers, something's definitely wrong in the Pacific Northwest.

The Best Waste of Time Ever

When Project Puffin began in 1973, it was called a "waste of time."

Fifty years later, the project has restored puffins to the coast of Maine. It has also provided a model for similar restoration projects around the world.

The National Audubon Society recently took a look back at the project's history and a look ahead at its future. Read the full article here.

Although Project Puffin still faces challenges, including the impacts of global warming, with a time-tested foundation in place, it seems ready to meet those challenges.

A 50-year legacy of species preservation with more to come on the horizon is certainly one of the best ways to waste time that I've ever heard of.

Howling Successes

The Washington Gray Wolf Conservation and Management 2022 Annual Report revealed some howling successes when it was released earlier this month by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW).

First, the report showed continued growth in Washington state's wolf population. The state population grew to 216 individuals, an increase of five percent from its 2021 levels. This marks the 14th straight year of growth.

Significantly, despite the increasing wolf population, the number of livestock-depredation incidents was very small. Just seven packs (19 percent of the state's 37 packs) engaged in livestock depredation, and only three of those seven were involved in more than one incident. A total of 15 cattle and two sheep were confirmed to be killed by wolves. WDFW cites the "implementation of proactive, nonlethal deterrence efforts," including range riders, as a key to limiting depredation.

The formation of a pack in the southern Cascade Mountains represents another cause for celebration. It's the first pack in that region since wolves were driven to extinction in the state during the 20th century. Hopefully, it is an important step in the return of wolves to western Washington.

It's music to my ears to hear news like this report.

Not Much Left to Say and Little Time to Say It

Reading news of the latest climate report from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change left the impression that not much remains to say about global warming.

It's here now, and its impacts compound as we speak, but we're long past the point of talking. As this article by the National Audubon Society explains, nine percent of species will face extinction within a decade if nothing is done...

Connecting the Lynx

Piece by piece and cat by cat, Canada lynx claw a foothold in the Kettle River Mountain Range of northeastern Washington state, helping reestablish a population that will connect lynx in the Rocky Mountains with their counterparts in the Cascade Mountains.

A unified effort led by the Colville Confederated Tribes, the Okanagan Nation Alliance, and Conservation Northwest has worked to bring lynx from healthy populations in Canada to the Kettle Range, a move intended to bolster the species' population in the United States where it is listed as threatened. By reestablishing a breeding population in this part of the lynx's historical range, the partnership will bridge the gap between lynx in the Pacific Northwest and those that live along the Continental Divide.

The project also features a unique element. To catch and relocate the lynx from Canada, the partnership has enlisted trappers. However, instead of being paid for the pelts of dead animals, the trappers receive money for the lynx they catch in live traps. It's another example of boundaries being crossed for this worthy cause.

During a period of about five years, as many as 50 lynx will be moved to the Kettle Range. For more information on the project, click here.

I look forward to seeing the population gap in the Kettle Range filled with lynx in the future.

Go North, Young Fisher

The effort to reintroduce fishers to the North Cascades achieved a major milestone last month.

For the first time since the species was eliminated from Washington state in the middle of the 20th century, a female fisher was recorded with kits in the North Cascades on April 18.

Reintroduced to the area starting in 2018, fishers appear to be thriving in their northern surroundings. Watch a video of some of the fishers being released in 2019:

Hopefully, the recently born fishers flourish in the North Cascades just like their parents did and continue bolstering the local population.

Climbing Back to Forever

The destruction of orangutan habitat in Sumatra can't be undone overnight, but the Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS) has forever in mind as it replants a crucial forest.

In 2018, I wrote about the SOS campaign to buy a palm-oil plantation. The organization planned to restore the land to rainforest. Happily, the campaign succeeded, and the restoration process has begun at what is now called the Forever Forest.

Along with replanting the area, the restoration project builds relationships with local people to ensure the communities in the area can help protect the forest into the future. Check out a video of the progress so far:

The Forever Forest project involves many positive aspects. Besides the restoration of a rainforest destroyed by palm oil, the securing of orangutan habitat, and the sound strategy of forming relationships with local people, the overall plan helps protect an adjacent national park and gives many species threatened with extinction an expanded area to call home.

Forever might seem like a long time, but forests and projects like this one should have all the time in the world.

The Real Lost World

It's quite an irony that we make films about the dangers of bringing dinosaurs back from extinction while we threaten the existence of their avian descendants.

Jurassic Park and its four sequels like The Lost World: Jurassic Park have hit home the consequences of wielding genetic power to resurrect the dinosaurs. One of the themes from the films challenges humans to think about the damage they may inflict before mindlessly plowing ahead with a harmful action.

We aren't bringing dinosaurs back at any point in the near future though, so it might be best to first examine how we already impact existing species. If we don't want to stray too far from dinosaurs, let's check out what we are doing to birds, the dinosaurs' living legacy.

A rufous hummingbird, one of the species
most at risk of extinction from global warming.

In a new report, Survival by Degrees: 389 Bird Species on the Brink, the Audubon Society shows how global warming threatens two-thirds of all bird species in North American with extinction. Half of the species in Washington state alone face extinction from a temperature increase of three degrees Celsius. Instead of the power to create addressed by Jurassic Park, we are wielding the power to destroy, and we are doing it just as recklessly as John Hammond and the host of other characters who tried to cash in on dinosaurs.

The report from the Audubon Society does a great job of helping us visualize the possible consequences of our actions. We should take it as an opportunity to consider where we go from here.

No horror from any of the Jurassic Park stories could match the awfulness of wiping out the animals most closely related to dinosaurs.

On the Song of the Swainson's Thrush

Swainson's thrush.

Nothing humankind has done or will ever do could rival the ancient power in the song of the Swainson's thrush.

If that sound were to disappear from Earth, I think the planet would collapse upon itself in great throes of agony.

The Illusion and Reality of Isolation

Lonesome George in 2006.

The human mind sees loneliness amidst connection, and that illusion carries concrete consequences.

On a living planet, we think we're alone. Surrounded by marvels of nature, we believe everything on Earth exists for our consumption, not for its own sake. Such thinking makes us feel isolated, and as in the case of Lonesome George, it sometimes leaves other creatures facing a harsh and real loneliness.

Lonesome George, the last of a subspecies of Galapagos tortoise, died in 2012. However, today's presentation about George for this year's Earth Week at the University of South Dakota caused me to reflect on the real nature of loneliness and isolation. The presentation discussed how human activity led to the extinction of several subspecies of tortoise in the famed archipelago that inspired Charles Darwin. Centuries of hunting and careless importing of invasive species that preyed on tortoises and destroyed their habitat shoved the reptiles to the brink. By 1971, only George remained of the subspecies on Pinta Island. He lived out the last 40 years of his life in a sanctuary, facing a loneliness so real we can't fathom it.

In constructing an isolation from the rest of nature, we create situations in which we act like we are the only ones on Earth. We take what we want, and we act without thinking about the larger impacts on the web of life. And so we sentence animals like Lonesome George to the experience we fear most: sheer separation.

Despite our tendency to feel alone and act like we are, perhaps in remembering Lonesome George, we can recall our true connection to the other pieces of nature and take real action to protect the shared fate of all life on this planet. In that way, maybe we can also preserve a symbolic connection for that solitary tortoise in place of the real bond we severed.

Big Win for Wildlife

Endangered wildlife scored a historic election victory in Washington state last Tuesday.

In October, I blogged about how I-1401, an initiative meant to combat the trafficking of endangered species, was set to appear on the state's 2015 ballot. It increased penalties for those caught with products from 10 endangered species, and it seemed like a no-brainer yes vote, but in elections, you never count your protected species until the results are in.

As it turns out, I-1401 made history in two very good ways. First, it passed, making Washington the first state to institute such strong punishment for illegal wildlife trafficking. Second, by passing with more than 70 percent of the vote, it became the most popular initiative in Washington's history.

The victory sent a resounding message about the importance of protecting endangered wildlife. It also cleared the way for other states to follow in Washington's footsteps.

The passage of I-1401 reminds us that protecting the environment is a winning effort.

Making the Merchants of Extinction Pay

Let's put it to a vote: Who's in favor of extinction? Nobody? That's great, and the even better news is that Washingtonians get to vote on that for real this fall.

In Washington state, this November's ballot features Initiative 1401, which takes on the illegal wildlife trade that's currently driving species toward extinction. The initiative is important and deserves a yes vote.

I-1401 seeks to make the penalties for trafficking in animal parts so costly that poachers and smugglers will not want to risk being caught. It prohibits the sale, purchase, and distribution of products made from elephants, rhinos, lions, tigers, leopards, cheetahs, marine turtles, pangolins, sharks, and rays. The penalties would include up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. For more information, click here.

Because Washington has important shipping ports, the initiative can go a long way in combating the transportation of illegal wildlife products in the United States and the world. It's a smart move by the initiative backers to focus on Washington, and it's great that my home state can play such an important role in addressing extinction rates.

I hope Washingtonians will help stop extinction by voting for I-1401, and I hope that other states will pass similar laws soon.

National Geographic's Misapplication of GMOs

In the rhetoric of science, one of the following is not like the others: evolution, global warming, and genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

The misfit is GMOs. That is unless the scientific rhetoric in question comes from National Geographic.

I recently took part in a panel discussion about the intersection of scientific rhetoric and environmental communication, and one of the topics that came up was National Geographic's most recent issue, which contains the cover story about why people have a distrust of science. (Check out the article here.) The article features an okay discussion about why so many people have doubts about things like evolution and global warming. However, in contrast to the principles of science, which seek to gain an ever-larger understanding of our situation, the article impedes and constrains itself substantially, particularly in regard to GMOs.

The article identifies the conflict between people's common sense and the scientific method as a key source of misunderstanding. That's certainly a valid point, but it's only part of the discussion. An important issue the article fails to address is that science itself created some of the distrust. As one of my colleagues on the panel pointed out, science enjoyed a "golden age," in which it aligned with industrial and political forces to create dangerous products (for example, atomic bombs and industrial chemicals) that harmed humans and the environment. Along the way, these scientific creations also harmed the reputation of science.

National Geographic says that the majority of scientific research holds that GMOs are safe for human consumption, and therefore, the case of GMOs is a defining example of people's irrational common sense trumping scientific consensus. With regard to the safety of eating GMOs, National Geographic may very well be right, but consumption is not the whole story, and the magazine does a disservice to science by leaving out key considerations.

It is in the history of science's malpractice that we find the difference between evolution, global warming, and GMOs. GMOs are scientific creations, not established theories about the planet's health and development. As scientific creations, GMOs are more like industrial chemicals and pesticides. In fact, they work in tandem with pesticides to create environmental problems. For example, the combination of GMOs and pesticides imperils monarch butterfly populations by eliminating milkweed, an important source of food for the insects. Pesticides like DDT were once said to be "safe" until we became aware of their larger environmental impacts (like the near extinction of bird species, including the bald eagle). And that is where the aspect of public doubt that National Geographic ignores comes into play. We have been misinformed about scientific creations before, and that led to the crash of science's golden age. Given that history, the control that GMO developers have placed on information regarding their products makes people even more wary.

By disregarding an important contributor to public doubt over science, National Geographic simplifies a complex issue, neglects important environmental considerations (like the possible extinction of species), and contributes to the cloud of mistrust people have for even firmly supported and comprehensive scientific facts like global warming and evolution.

I guess crop fields aren't the only places GMOs are misapplied.

A Goal for Iran

We'll need a world-class goalie to make this save.

Along with playing in this year's World Cup, Iran's national soccer team took on an important conservation concern. In an unprecedented move, FIFA, the governing body for international soccer, agreed to allow the Iranian team to wear jerseys displaying the image of an Asiatic cheetah.

With the jersey image, Iran hopes to enlist international help in a movement that has mobilized the country's conservationists. The world has fewer than 75 Asiatic cheetahs left (all are thought to live in Iran), but the declining numbers have inspired Iranians to study and protect the cats, and the country's government has taken steps to stabilize the cheetah population. To strengthen its cheetah-conservation efforts with international support, Iran successfully petitioned FIFA to make an exception regarding rules for jersey features. For more details on this story, click here.

When a species' population drops to numbers as small as those of the Asiatic cheetah, keeping it from extinction becomes a major challenge. It's the kind of project that requires much work, constant attention, and international cooperation. Sharing the message about Iran's cheetahs at the World Cup will hopefully bring the resources needed to protect these cats.

The Iranian soccer players may not be able to use their hands on the field, but they are lending one to the preservation of their country's cheetahs.

More Than a Number

In the reality of extinction, it's six of one and none of the other.

In this case, six refers to an upcoming documentary called "6," which looks at the sixth great extinction in the planet's history and how humans are driving species' populations to zero. Check out the trailer below:



With species dying out or reaching endangered status at increasingly alarming rates, "6" looks for answers in the relationship between humans and nature. As our own population soars and our technology grows evermore powerful, our ability to influence the environment increases. We can wipe out species in a matter of years; and even if we could plead ignorance, it would make no difference. Extinction doesn't make exceptions for accidents.

Because "6" helps reveal the impacts of human activity, it provides us with an important opportunity. First, it allows us to better understand our role in the larger environment. Second, it challenges us to improve the way we live on this planet.

Zero, it turns out, is an awfully big number, and it's time we did the math.

Going to the Wall

Art imitates death too.

An artist known only as ATM uses graffiti to challenge a system that has brought bird species to the edge of extinction in England. TreeHugger shares some of the artist's work and the story behind it here.

To me, the choice of using graffiti serves to highlight the desperation of the birds' situation. While a painting could have received attention, it likely would not have communicated the full spirit of the problem. ATM's work makes a statement literally on the social structure that threatens the birds, and considering the nature of extinction, anything less would have been insufficient.

The story of ATM and England's declining birds provides a microcosm for the environmental issues we face as a planet. With extinction rates soaring and a climate system saturated by carbon dioxide, it's no longer enough to just paint pictures of what's happening. We have to go further and make fundamental changes to human society. For example, today's report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change showed the need for major, urgent action to address global warming.

Our backs are against the wall, from which ATM's birds stare down at us.

Missed Note

Seeing is believing, but in birding, so is hearing, and a new movie with bird-watching as a theme misses this point.

A Birder's Guide to Everything comes to theaters March 21 and revolves around some teenagers' search for the Labrador duck, an extinct species. Of course, the bird angle caught my attention. However, when I saw the trailer, I couldn't believe my ears. Check it out below:



The issue I had with the trailer involves the way the joke at the end presents a narrow idea of bird-watching. When Ben Kingsley's character says, "Absolutely anyone can be a birder--except for blind people I suppose," he's more than just wrong.

Despite the term "bird-watching," sound serves as probably the most reliable way of identifying birds. Often, birders only have sound to go on when noting the presence of species. With this in mind, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology requires its students to be able to identify birds just by sound. The fact is that a blind person with the ability to hear and knowledge of birdcalls would have an advantage over birders who simply relied on sight.

I don't want to discourage anyone from seeing the movie. Taken as a whole, it might turn out to be great, but the joke about blind people didn't strike me as funny or even accurate.

Seeing birds is certainly a great joy, but it's only part of the birding experience.

The Last Strike

When we put a wild animal on display, we take more from nature than a single creature.

Life in the wild may be wild, but it's also life, and captivity steals it away. As we have seen with films like The Cove and Blackfish, removing an animal from its natural habitat causes immediate damages and thrusts it into an environment that cannot sustain it in the long run. While those films focus on whales and dolphins, a recent report from National Public Radio teaches us that the effects of captivity touch even animals we might not have thought susceptible.

The story tells of an giant isopod removed from the wild in the waters off Baja California and sent to live in the Toba Aquarium in Japan. After more than a year in this human-constructed environment, the isopod began refusing food in 2009. Its refusal to eat, which NPR characterizes as a hunger strike, continued until two weeks ago. On February 14, 2014, aquarium personnel found the isopod dead in its tank.

Only recently have we awakened to the full cost of keeping wild animals within human enclosures, and the story of this isopod forces us to think about the issue on a much larger scale. Places like zoos can serve an important function for species on the brink of extinction, but we have to ask what else we might be extinguishing when we bring species into captivity. The cost may be worth preventing species from disappearing forever, but for most other reasons, the loss of freedom for animals simply doesn't add up.

If you love something wild, keep it free.

Whistle for Wildlife

Don't keep this a secret.

Wildlife crimes have a huge impact on animals and the environment, and poaching of many species, including rhinos and elephants, is on the rise, helping drive up extinction rates.

Fortunately, blowing the whistle on wildlife crimes just became easier. The Elephant Action League has launched WildLeaks, an online platform where people can go to make anonymous reports about the poaching or trafficking of animals and timber. A team of investigative reporters and former law enforcement agents then evaluates the tips and decides on a course of action.

Danger surrounds the world of poaching, and safely providing information about it must often be done from the shadows. WildLeaks provides a channel with such protection. For more information about the program, click here.

The information submitted on WildLeaks might be anonymous, but the site itself deserves some attention.

No Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My

The view from the top looks rather grim.

Environment News Service (ENS) recently reported on an international study, which was led by researchers from Oregon State University, that showed major declines of large carnivores around the world. The population decreases go hand in hand with habitat losses.

Thinking about the possible extinction of these species, many of which are charismatic in their ability to capture human interest in the environment, is disheartening enough on its own. However, the bigger picture tells an even bleaker story. As the ENS article notes, these top predators are critical to the ecosystems they inhabit. Losing them would have wide impacts.

A large carnivore may be a formidable sight, but not seeing them at all would be infinitely more frightening.