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Hi Scott!  Great to hear you on the program.  I love it that the story of the floods is getting to be better known.  My favorite view from which to visualize the massive amounts of water is from near Palouse Falls in Eastern Washington where you can look from horizon to horizon and see the boundary between scoured basalt canyons below and untouched loess hills above.

posted 2 years, 6 months ago
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I hope the discussion during the program is focused and truthful and gets to the heart of the matter - mainly that mature and old growth trees are more valuable standing than they are horizontal. They are like an investment made over centuries and are the pillars of an ecosystem from which we and our grandchildren can extract significant "interest" every day in the form of watershed protection, flood abatement, species preservation, reduction in atmospheric carbon dioxide, recreation, spiritual uplift and restoration, education, medicinal value, tourism, and aesthetic appreciation -- to name just a few of the qualities inherent in intact mature and old growth forests.

None of these are available when the forest is leveled and the resulting monetary rewards are short-lived and mostly directed away from here. Suitable alternatives are available - or could be quickly with adequate research - for nearly all the uses that industrial forestry claims it needs to cut down mature and old growth forests for. Continuing to cut trees that are as old or older than our country's history, instead of offering them protection from the chainsaw, is akin to accelerating our society's current long walk down a short pier into a mad dash.

ps. the photo on the website as of Sunday evening is of a Northern Pygmy Owl, not a Northern Spotted Owl. Among other differences, the NSO has dark eyes, as does its congener the Barred Owl.

posted 4 years, 11 months ago
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The connection between Grizzlies, Biking and Condors? Besides all three being verbs, riding on city streets requires the same kind of awareness of your surroundings that hiking in grizzly country requires. It means being alert for the drivers door suddenly opening on one any of the parked cars you are approaching in the same way that while hiking in Alaskan tundra every willow thicket has the potential to hide a sleeping grizzly. As for condors, they are social birds and young birds learn from older birds how to behave safely. Last week was my first week of commuting by bike to my job and several times I relied on more experienced bicyclists to stay on the bike route or navigate the best way through certain intersections. I found myself thinking about the relationship between these three things constantly as I rode to work each day.

posted 5 years ago
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First of all kudos to the hosts of Think Out Loud. I've been listening for awhile and I'm impressed with the pace of the program and especially Emily Harris' ability to moderate in a way that keeps things clear. On the April 24th broadcast she realized she mis-understood "tansy" as "pansy" and corrected herself in the next sentence. Also she realized that Steve Herman's position (of criticizing others as being xenophobic towards invasive species) was potentially being mis-represented (as in why not just let them be) and she forcefully gave him the opportunity to respond to a question in order to clarify his stance. This,as well as keeping him on-line for a lengthy period, I very much appreciated as I studied under Steve Herman and Al Weidemann (mentioned in relation to European Beach Grass)in the late 1970's. As a listener I was somewhat surprised to hear Steve Herman's initial contribution to the program use the term xenophobic to describe some people's reaction to invasive species. But not for a minute did I think he meant "just let them be". The study of Natural History includes all organisms and this naturally include humans and, with just a little stretch, the social contexts in which issues like this are addressed. I heard Steve Herman speak out for valuing wild nature and choosing our battles in a careful and well-reasoned (science supported) fashion while at the same time being aware of, for example, the hypocrisy of de-crying spartina here while planting Bromus tectorum there. Thank you Emily and Dave and all those who participated in it for facilitating an important discussion in our community.

posted 5 years, 1 month ago
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