I'd rather have a passport full of stamps, than a house full of stuff.
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Tuesday, May 2, 2017
Good News for Yellowstone’s Bison
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| Adult bison and calf in Yellowstone National Park. Photo: Arturo de Frias Marques. |
Some people travel to kill the wildlife. Others travel to admire the same wildlife living in its natural habitat.
Most readers will surely be aware of the mass slaughter of the American Bison during the 1880s, when bison herds numbering in their tens of thousands were reduced to giant piles of bleached white bones in just a few short years. Thankfully, enough bison survived the slaughter to begin the reintroduction of this magnificent creature to some of America's national parks, including Yellowstone National Park.
In a previous post (Ending The Elephant Slaughter), I wrote about the campaign to end the continuing slaughter of this great animal for its ivory. In this post I am reproducing an article from the American Defenders Of Wildlife organisation that fights for the survival of many ever diminishing species on the North American continent, while also championing the reintroduction of threatened species to their former natural habitat.
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It’s getting better all the time for Yellowstone’s bison.
Under Gov. Steve Bullock, the state of Montana is at last allowing bison that leave Yellowstone National Park to roam free year-round on almost 400,000 acres. And the National Park Service announced in January it is moving forward with a plan to relocate some of Yellowstone’s bison to tribal and public lands rather than send them to slaughter.
Bison wander at will when they stay inside park boundaries. But when snow falls in Yellowstone’s high country and grazing becomes difficult, bison often trek to lower ground outside the park. In the past, they were allowed only a tiny portion of public land during winter when cattle are not present. Not all bison leave the park, but those that did risked being rounded up and sent to slaughter in years when their numbers exceeded an arbitrary cap of 3,000.
Last year, some 900 animals were killed—just for searching beyond park boundaries for food. Defenders has long opposed the slaughter and advocated for wild bison restoration to the Great Plains as a much-needed alternative.
In recent years, Defenders helped the Assiniboine, Gros Ventre and Sioux tribes of Fort Peck and Fort Belknap Indian reservations bring Yellowstone bison back to their ancestral lands.
The latest relocation of 130 genetically pure bison (no cattle genes) occurred last year. These bison were the first “graduates” of a 15-year effort to study the feasibility of quarantining and testing bison for brucellosis. This contagious disease originally spread to bison and elk from Old World cattle in the last century. Ranchers often opposed bison grazing outside the park because brucellosis can cause cows to miscarry. However, there has not been a single documented case of bison transmitting the disease to cattle in the wild in Montana.
“Yellowstone’s bison are our nation’s most genetically valuable bison,” says Steve Forrest, Defenders’ senior representative for the Rockies and Plains. “They are essential in our efforts to restore the species across North America and for too long they have been needlessly sent to slaughter. We are delighted with the governor’s new rule that gives bison room to roam. It finally acknowledges that bison are wildlife, not livestock, and recognizes that their seasonal, age-old winter migration routes know no political boundaries. Further, the park’s proposal is a win-win for bison and for the American public. We are so proud to see all our hard work paying off.”
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Only select articles from Defenders are available online. To receive 4 issues annually of the full award-winning magazine, click here to become a member of Defenders of Wildlife!
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Monday, May 1, 2017
Surf’s Up on The Weekly Web
I don’t know about you dear reader, but I spend far too much time online. Some of my online discoveries find their way onto this blog in some shape or form, while others make their way to my Twitter feed and Facebook page. I have so many sticky notes cluttering up my desktop that I thought I might try a weekly Surfing The Web round-up of the best items I find online each week, and share them here. Speaking of surfing the web, I can’t think of better way to kick off this post than with an article looking at the beginnings of the internet.
The Life and Times of the World Wide Web
My internet service provider is the source for this Out Of The Archives piece about the origins of the Internet, or the World Wide Web as it was initially referred to by Tim Berners-Lee, the man who had the bright idea to begin the project in the first place way back in 1989. Some much has changed in the few short years since the advent of the internet, that it seems odd to think this groundbreaking, world-shaking service has been around for less than 30 years.
By the way, the image seen above shows the world’s first internet server. I don’t know what the specs for the computer were, but I suspect they were not all that great when compared to today’s super fast computers with their almost unlimited storage drives, and ultra-sharp display monitors.
Read the full blog post here and make sure you follow the link to the world’s first web page.
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NYC's Racist, Draconian Cabaret Law Must Be Eliminated
For “the greatest city in the world,” New York has appallingly few places to dance. The next time you find yourself confined to toe-tapping to a tinny Top 40 song in a sports bar, or clutching an $11 Heineken in a booming EDM hall, you can thank the city’s cabaret law, a 90-year-old edict that despite being racist in origin and outmoded in practice, remains a very convenient cudgel for the city to wield against local businesses. Many valiant attempts to repeal it have been made over the years. None have succeeded.
So begins a piece by Lauren Evans in a recent issue of The Village Voice, one of the most venerable of New York City’s free ‘street’ papers. Lauren goes on to report that the law, which dates back to 1926. In its current form, the cabaret law prohibits dancing by three or more people in any “room, place or space in the city... to which the public may gain admission,” and includes “musical entertainment, singing, dancing or other form[s] of amusement.”
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Jimmy Breslin: The Last Word
I discovered the writing of Jimmy Breslin less than twelve months ago, and I have been making up for lost time ever since. At last count, I have eight eBooks by Jimmy Breslin on my iPad, and I am working my way through all of them slowly but surely. Sadly, Breslin, who was 88, died earlier this year after long and illustrious career in journalism, which he followed up with an equally illustrious career as an author of (mostly) crime novels, which drew on his many years as a reporter in New York City.
The New York Times’ ‘Last Word’ series are video obituaries of prominent Americans, among them politicians, sportspeople, writers, directors, and musicians.
Here is an obituary from the New York Times that provide more information about this man. If you are into reading, I highly recommend that you seek out his books in printed form or in electronic form. You won’t be disappointed.
Vancouver Island’s enchanting quarry gardens
Quarries are not generally noted for their elegance, but the glorious Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island show a makeover at its very best. Amanda McInerney paid a visit the Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island, off the coast of Canada. The gardens have been developed on the site of an exhausted quarry owned by Robert Butchart. In 1909, when the limestone extraction was completed, Robert’s wife Jenny set about turning the quarry pit into a sunken garden.
Australia’s Northern Territory
My one and only visit to the Northern Territory took place in 1983, during a brief visit to Alice Springs and Uluru (previously known as Ayers Rock). Somewhere on my Bucket List is a plan to visit that region of the Northern Territory we call the Top End. Thankfully, Monica Tan, writing for the Guardian, has put together a comprehensive guide to the Northern Territory that has reminded me of my previous all too brief visit, and reminded me as well, that I need to see more of this amazing country.
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