Wildlife talk at Lakeside

I attended a wildlife talk at Lakeside today (huge crowd). I left when the speaker got to the creepy crawler part. But the kids love that stuff.  The most common squirrel in Ohio is the flying squirrel and we have over 260 eagle nests. Again, children were told not to pick up bird feathers because only Native Amercians can use them. The Migratory Bird act has probably saved billions of birds and was passed in 1918, but the Department of Justice clarified the religious use of bird parts in 2012.

“The Department of Justice has taken a major step forward by establishing a consistent and transparent policy to guide federal enforcement of the nation’s wildlife laws in a manner that respects the cultural and religious practices of federally recognized Indian tribes and their members.”

 Fine. But you would think other religions could be respected for marriage and locker room traditions.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-policy-tribal-member-use-eagle-feathers

Off shore drilling, the rest of the story

I saw a reference to this in my cousin’s last weekly letter, and thought it quite interesting. You may not agree, but let’s agree we’re only hearing one side from the environmentalists. Offshore Oil Drilling: An Environmental Bonanza By Humberto Fontova. Excerpts:

"Environmentalists" wake up in the middle of the night sweating and whimpering about offshore oil platforms only because they've never seen what's under them. Louisiana produces almost 30 per cent of America's commercial fisheries. Only Alaska (ten times the size of the Bayou state) produces slightly more. So obviously, Louisiana's coastal waters are immensely rich and prolific in seafood. These same coastal waters contain 3,200 of the roughly 3,700 offshore production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. These oil production platforms off the Bayou state's coasts also extract 80 percent of the oil and 72 percent of the natural gas produced in the Continental U.S., without causing a single major oil spill in half a century of this process. This record stands despite dozens of hurricanes -- including the two most destructive in North American history, Camille and Katrina -- repeatedly battering the drilling and production structures. So for those interested in evidence over hysterics, by simply looking bayou-ward, a lesson in the "environmental perils" of offshore oil drilling presents itself very clearly. Fashionable Florida, on the other hand, which zealously prohibits offshore oil drilling, had its gorgeous "Emerald Coast" panhandle beaches soiled by an ugly oil spill in 1976. This spill, as almost all oil spills, resulted from the transportation of oil -- not from the extraction of oil. Assuming such as Hugo Chavez deign to keep selling us oil, we'll need increasingly more and we'll need to keep transporting it stateside -- typically to refineries in Louisiana and Texas. This path takes those tankers (as the one in 1976) smack in front of Florida's panhandle beaches. Recall the Valdez, the Cadiz, the Argo Merchant. These were all tanker spills. The production of oil is relatively clean and safe. Again, it's the transportation that presents the greatest risk. And even these spills (though hyped hysterically as environmental catastrophes) always play out as minor blips, those pictures of oil-soaked seagulls notwithstanding. To the horror and anguish of professional greenies, Alaska's Prince William Sound recovered completely. More birds get fried by landing on power lines and smashed to pulp against picture windows in one week than perished from three decades of oil spills."

But then, I never thought it was about safety, bio-diversity, wildlife, fish, etc. Did you? It's about shutting down the economy, about not using petroleum at all, for any reason.

4250

New exhibit at Mill Run

On Saturday, five of us spent six hours hanging a wildlife photography exhibit at the Church at Mill Run, 3500 Mill Run Drive, Hilliard, OH 43026, the newest campus of Upper Arlington Lutheran Church. We drafted our daughter and son-in-law to help us since so many on our committee were busy with other projects. It's really spectacular (219 pieces), and the photographers, Drs. Charles and Sharron Capen, will be discussing their travels and hobby, this Sunday October 28, 2-4 p.m. at MR. I've just finished preparing the show booklet to send to the printer, so here's a sneak preview.

III. Denali National Park, Alaska

Denali Reflections in Wonder Lake
Grey Wolf Hunting
Hoary Marmots on Alert
Arctic Ground Squirrel
Moose Feeding in Pond
Male Caribou in Arctic Tundra
Mountain Goat Kid
Autumn Foliage: Willows and Mushrooms
Autumn Foliage: Bear Berries
Alpenglow

Charles and Sharron Capen are both veterinarians and are members of the faculty at The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine. I worked with both of them when I was the librarian for the college. Charles is a Distinguished University Professor and former Chairperson (1981-2002) of the Departments of Veterinary Pathobiology/Veterinary Biosciences. Sharron is Professor Emeritus of Veterinary Clinical Sciences. Their shared hobby is travel and nature/wildlife photography. They have traveled to all seven continents, nearly fifty countries, and all fifty states.