Category: Uncategorized

A common question in the conservation community is this:  Who was our finest conservation president?  Teddy Roosevelt always wins and his nephew, Franklin Roosevelt, usually comes in second.  Then there are arguments about Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter, perhaps Abraham Lincoln.  But it is easy to argue that near the top of the list should come Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36^th president of the United States.

Johnson held office from 1963 to 1969, during the height of the growing environmental movement.  He understood and believed the message being delivered:  Along with prosperity, America wanted a place to live that was safe and beautiful.  He was born in a small farming community in Texas and, over his life, he watched the country change from a mostly rural, agricultural economy to a mostly urban, industrialized economy.  Along with his wife, Lady Bird, he lamented the ugliness that could accompany that change, and he vowed to help clean up the mess and preserve what was left (learn more about the first lady here).

As president, Johnson approved more than 300 conservation measures.  The measures covered virtually all aspects of conservation, including air and water pollution, park and natural area preservation, biodiversity conservation, landscape beautification and urban environmental quality.  He created 50 new national park units.  He signed laws that established the National Trails and Wild and Scenic Rivers Systems.

He spoke about the need for conservation many times.  One of the most important was his “Special Message to the Congress on Conservation and Restoration of Natural Beauty” on February 8, 1965.  Following are a few excerpts from that speech.

 “For centuries Americans have drawn strength and inspiration from the beauty of our country. It would be a neglectful generation indeed, indifferent alike to the judgment of history and the command of principle, which failed to preserve and extend such a heritage for its descendants.”

“To deal with these new problems will require a new conservation. We must not only protect the countryside and save it from destruction, we must restore what has been destroyed and salvage the beauty and charm of our cities. Our conservation must be not just the classic conservation of protection and development, but a creative conservation of restoration and innovation. Its concern is not with nature alone, but with the total relation between man and the world around him. Its object is not just man’s welfare but the dignity of man’s spirit.”

“I have already proposed full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and directed the Secretary of the Interior to give priority attention to serving the needs of our growing urban population.”

“The 28 million acres of land presently held and used by our Armed Services is an important part of our public estate. Many thousands of these acres will soon become surplus to military needs. Much of this land has great potential for outdoor recreation, wildlife, and conservation uses consistent with military requirements. This potential must be realized through the fullest application of multiple-use principles.”

“Air pollution is no longer confined to isolated places. This generation has altered the composition of the atmosphere on a global scale through radioactive materials and a steady increase in carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels. Entire regional airsheds, crop plant environments, and river basins are heavy with noxious materials.”

“The beauty of our land is a natural resource. Its preservation is linked to the inner prosperity of the human spirit.  The tradition of our past is equal to today’s threat to that beauty. Our land will be attractive tomorrow only if we organize for action and rebuild and reclaim the beauty we inherited. Our stewardship will be judged by the foresight with which we carry out these programs. We must rescue our cities and countryside from blight with the same purpose and vigor with which, in other areas, we moved to save the forests and the soil.”

References:

Association of Centers for the Study of Congress.  President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Natural Beauty Message.  Available at:  http://acsc.lib.udel.edu/items/show/292.  Accessed February 5, 2018.

Johnson, Lyndon B.  1965.  Special Message to the Congress on Conservation and Restoration of Natural Beauty.  The American Presidency Project.  Available at:  http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=27285.  Accessed February 5, 2018.

National Park Serivce.  Lyndon B. Johnson and the Environment.  Available at:  https://www.nps.gov/lyjo/planyourvisit/upload/EnvironmentCS2.pdf.  Accessed February 5, 2018.

The concept of biocenosis—that plants and animals live together in an interactive community—is central to the science of ecology, and, therefore, to conservation.  Both the term and idea originated with the pioneering German zoologist, Karl August Mobius.

Mobius was born in the small Prussian town of Eilenburg, Germany, on February 7, 1825 (died 1908).  He worked first as an elementary school teacher until his interest in natural history took him to the University of Berlin to study science.  His skill as a scientist became obvious and soon he was appointed the first zoology professor at the University of Kiel and the director of the university’s Zoological Museum.  He eventually became rector (i.e., president) of the university.

Because Kiel is an important fishing port, Mobius began studying oysters and oyster farming.  He expanded his studies to marine biology generally and conducted research throughout the northern European coasts.  He was intrigued by the voyages of the great German explorer Alexander von Humboldt , and followed his example with an expedition to Mauritius and the Seychelles during 1874-1875.  He wrote a comprehensive review of the fauna of that area which became a standard text in marine biology.

His studies of corals and foraminiferans resulted in his discovery of symbiosis, the mutual interaction of two or more organisms living together.  He went farther, however, developing the more general idea that organisms living in the same habitat all interact in various ways, a concept that we now call biocenosis.  Those organisms comprise a community, a distinct level of biological complexity.  For these concepts, Mobius is generally considered one of the pioneers of the science of ecology.

He was also a central figure in the development of public opportunities to experience nature.  Along with his leadership of his university’s zoological museum, he co-founded the Hamburg Zoo in 1863 and led the design and creation of Germany’s first public aquarium.  In 1887, he became the first director of the new Natural History Museum of Berlin.

References:

Eilenburg, Germany.  Karl August Moebius (1825-1908).  Available at:  https://www.eilenburg.de/55/.  Accessed February 5, 2018.

Encyclopedia Britannica.  Karl August Mobius.  Available at https://www.britannica.com/biography/Karl-August-Mobius.  Accessed February 5, 2018.

It is an essential tool of wildlife conservation.  It is the only effective way to collect data from living animals.  It is the only safe way to capture, mark and release live animals.  It is one of the first scenes in most wildlife television shows.  It is the tranquilizer gun.  And we owe it to pharmacist, veterinarian and inventor Colin Murdoch.

Murdoch was born on February 6, 1929, in Christchurch, New Zealand (died 2008).  He wasn’t a particularly good student, hampered by dyslexia, but he was always good with his hands—he was also ambidextrous—and loved both nature and technology.  He recounted that he had vivid dreams in which ideas for inventions would appear, rotating around in three-dimensions.  He kept a notepad by his bed to draw out the inventions when he woke.

When he was ten, Murdoch developed a unique way to make a controlled explosion.  He built a gun that used his technique, and he hunted small game with it for many years.  During World War II, he gained experience repairing guns for family and neighbors, because new guns were not available.  His extensive knowledge of guns would prove useful later.

He trained to become a pharmacist, following in his father’s footsteps.  After World War II, New Zealand suffered from a shortage of skilled professionals, including veterinarians in a livestock-oriented country.  So, Murdoch began serving other animals as well as humans—and added “veterinarian” to his professions.

He became concerned with the high rate of infections when doctors reused glass syringes—spreading the various diseases they were attempting to cure.  So in 1956, he invented the disposable plastic syringe, now the standard way to give injections.  He is credited with saving millions of lives for this single invention.

His work with animals, both domestic and wild, convinced him that a better way was needed to capture and restrain animals.  Drawing on his knowledge of firearms and hypodermic needles, he adapted an air pistol to fire a large feathered hypodermic dart that could inject a tranquilizer into an animal without having to capture it.  The dart’s velocity could be varied to match the size and distance of the animal, reducing injury to the target.  Patented in 1959, the gun was an instant success and is now a standard tool of wildlife management.

Murdoch also realized that the tranquilizing drugs used at the time—curare and nicotine—often caused death of wild animals because of their excessive physiological response to being darted.  So, he worked on adapting dosages to individual species and conditions, and he developed new chemicals that were safer and more effective.  He also developed the strategy of introducing an antidote for the tranquilizer as soon as possible to reduce impact on the treated animal.

In all, Murdoch held more than 40 patents for his inventions and was broadly honored for his contributions.  A later invention—loved and hated by us all—is the child-proof cap for medicine bottles.  He was made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2000.

So, whenever you see an ear tag on a deer or watch a documentary about capturing and re-locating elephants or rhinos, give a little shout out to the man who made it possible—Colin Murdoch.

References:

Derby, Mark.  2010.  Inventions, patents and trademarks—Farming inventions.  Te Ara, the Encyclopedia of New Zealand.  Available at:  https://teara.govt.nz/en/postage-stamp/25400/murdoch-tranquilliser-gun.  Accessed February 4, 2018.

Nzedge.com.  Colin Murdoch—Dreamer for Millions.  Available at:  http://www.nzedge.com/legends/colin-murdoch/.  Accessed February 4, 2018.

The Telegraph.  2008.  Colin Murdoch.  The Telegraph Obituaries, 13 Jun 2008.  Available at:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2125667/Colin-Murdoch.html.  Accessed February 4, 2018

The famous editorial cartoonist and conservationist Ding Darling had a vision for a new organization that would unite local and state groups—a national wildlife organization.  And so he made it happen!

Ding Darling (1876-1962) was the Pulitzer-Prize-winning cartoonist for the Des Moines Register (learn more about him here)  But he was also a devoted conservationist, with strong beliefs that our nation’s soils, wetlands and waterfowl needed protection.  He became Chief of the U. S. Biological Survey (now the Fish and Wildlife Service) for a brief two years, serving under President Franklin Roosevelt during 1934-1935.  During that time, he turned the survey from a sleepy bureaucracy into the modern, professional organization we know today.  He kick-started the system of national wildlife refuges and implemented the Duck Stamp that supports the purchase and maintenance of those refuges, now numbering more than 550 throughout the country (learn more about the Duck Stamp here).

But he had another vision as well.  He watched as local and some state-wide conservation groups formed and played major roles in their communities.  Darling believed the nation needed a conservation organization, too, in order to protect and enhance resources on a much larger scale. He convinced President Roosevelt to hold a national meeting of conservation agencies and organizations in early February, 1936.  It was attended by 1500 people—and has been held annually ever since.

During that meeting, on February 5, the assembled delegates agreed to form the General Wildlife Federation.  Following Darling’s plan, the Federation was intended to represent state-level conservation groups, now unified so they could speak with a common voice.  The delegates elected Darling as president, a post he retained for several formative years of the new group.  The Federation was quickly endorsed by the states; within months forty-four states had formed state federations (now called affiliates) as the basis for the national group.  In 1938, the group changed its name to the National Wildlife Federation, as we still know it today.

Since then, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) has become one of the largest and most influential conservation organizations in the U.S. and the world.  The NWF has over 6 million individual members and 51 affiliate groups (state, territorial and regional).  It publishes several popular magazines, including National Wildlife for adults and Ranger Rick for children.  It produces a television program and has a variety of internet and social media platforms.

The organization’s fundamental mission, however, has not changed since its inception—to conserve and enhance wildlife.  Their current strategic plan states their mission this way:

“We believe America’s experience with cherished landscapes and wildlife has helped define and shape our national character and identity for generations. Protecting these natural resources is a cause that has long united Americans from all walks of life and political stripes. To hunters, anglers, hikers, birders, wildlife watchers, boaters, climbers, campers, cyclists, gardeners, farmers, forest stewards, and other outdoor enthusiasts, this conservation ethic represents a sacred duty and obligation to protect and build upon our conservation heritage for the sake of wildlife, ourselves, our neighbors, and—most of all—for future generations.”

            To address that mission, the NWF partners with well over 100 other organizations in both the private and public sector.  They advocate for public policies that enhance wildlife conservation, both in the U.S. and around the world.

References:

Lendt, David. L.  2991,  Ding—The Life of Jay Norwood Darling.  Maecenas Press, Mt. Pleasant, SC.  196 pages.

National Wildlife Federation.  2017.  Strategic Plan.  Available at:  https://www.nwf.org/-/media/NEW-WEBSITE/Shared-Folder/PDFs/2017_NWF-Strategic-Plan_interactive.ashx.  Accessed February 2, 2018.

Nielsen, Larry A.  2017.  Nature’s Allies—8 Conservationist Who Changed Our World.  Island Press, Washington DC, 255 pages.

A major revision of the seminal 1972 Clean Water Act became law on February 4, 1987, when Congress overwhelmingly overrode President Reagan’s veto of the bill.  The revision added major new elements to water pollution control—and demonstrated the nation’s commitment to the environment.

The revision to the Clean Water Act was the first bill introduced into Congress in 1987—HR1—a major victory for conservation and the environment.  The bill was identical to one passed nearly unanimously by Congress the preceding October, but which died when President Reagan failed to sign it within the required ten days.  The so-called “pocket veto” worked because Congress had adjourned and could not schedule an override vote.  Reagan vetoed the bill, then and in 1987, because he considered it a budget-busting extravagance.  Controlling federal spending, he thought, was more important than controlling water pollution:  the “issue facing me today does not concern the ensuring of clean water for future generations.  The real issue is in the federal deficit….”

He judged wrongly.  Ensuring clean water was more important.  When Congress returned, they quickly passed the bill in both houses and sent it to the president.  He vetoed the bill on January 30.  The House overrode the veto on February 3, and the Senate on February 4.

The revisions to the Clean Water Act were significant:

• Authorized $18 billion for grants and loans to local municipalities to build improved water treatment plants. By doing so, the act overcame local funding issues that had impaired the clean-up of discharges from sewerage systems, especially in smaller communities.
• Created special programs to address pollution in major water bodies, including Chesapeake Bay, the Great Lakes and Boston Harbor.
• Established a National Estuarine Program to begin protection of the country’s brackish water systems.
• Furthered efforts to control non-point pollution, requiring states to develop their own management programs including “best management practices.

References:

Congressional Quarterly.  1988.  Congress Overrides Clean-Water Bill Veto.  CQ Almanac 1987, 43:291-296.  Available at:  https://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/document.php?id=cqal87-1144980.  Accessed February 1, 2018.

Liebesman, Lawrence R. and Elliott P. Laws.  1987.  The Water Quality Act of `1987:  A Major Step in Assuring the Quality of the Nation’s Waters.  Environmental Law Reporter 17:10311-10329.  Available at:  https://elr.info/sites/default/files/articles/17.10311.htm.  Accessed February 1, 2018.

Weinraub, Bernard.  1987.  Clean Water Bill Passed by House over Reagan Veto.  The New York Times, February 4, 1987.  Available at:  http://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/04/us/clean-water-bill-passed-by-house-over-reagan-veto.html.  Accessed February 1, 2018.

When I was a middle-schooler (or the equivalent, since Chicago didn’t have middle schools in 1960), I waited eagerly for every issue of National Geographic.   That magazine took me to faraway places filled with exotic plants, animals, people and landscapes—and taught me to want to protect and conserve them.

Educated and cultured homes in those days had two things that defined them, a set of encyclopedias and a subscription to National Geographic.  In my case, however, the magazine came several months after it reached subscribing homes.  My mother, who cleaned a doctor’s office, would bring home an issue every month that was about six months old, having rotated the magazines in the office.  Never mind not bringing me “breaking news,” it brought me a big, beautiful world.

We owe thanks to the far-sighted folks who organized a new group in mid-January, 1888.  Thirty-three intellectual leaders met in Washington, DC, to hash out the plans for “a society for the increase and diffusion of geographical knowledge.”  A week later, they returned for more discussion, now with twice as many people attending.  The next week, on January 27, the organization was incorporated as the National Geographic Society.

The first issue of National Geographic appeared in October, 1888, sent to the society’s 200 charter members.  It was a scholarly journal, with no pictures.  By the next year, the magazine began including colored drawings and the fold-out maps that have become regular features.  The society sponsored its first expeditions, to Alaska and Canada, during 1890-1891.

But it was Alexander Graham Bell who steered the magazine toward a more popular future.  Elected president of the society in 1898, he demanded the magazine include “pictures, and plenty of them….THE WORLD AND ALL THAT IS IN IT is our theme, and if we can’t find anything to interest ordinary people in that subject, we better shut up shop….”  Soon after, the new editor, Gilbert H. Grosvenor, included eleven pages of photographs of Tibet.  He expected to be fired, but was instead congratulated by members.  The change wasn’t universally embraced—later some board members resigned because the magazine was becoming a “picture book.”

But the vision of Bell and Grosvenor won the day, and ordinary people flocked to the magazine (Grosvenor became the organization’s president in 1920 and served in that role until 1954).  Membership (that is, magazine subscriptions) passed one million in 1926.   Revenue from memberships allowed the society to fund explorers investigating the farthest reaches of the globe, more than 100 through the 1950s (and hundreds more since), and the magazine became the “publication of record for their discoveries.”

The list of world-leading scientists and explorers funded or publicized by National Geographic seems unending.  Jacques Cousteau published articles about the under-sea world (learn more about Cousteau here). Louis and Mary Leakey reported their discovery of humanoid fossils at Olduvai Gorge.  The society sponsored the initial work of Jane Goodall to study chimpanzees in Tanzania (learn more about Goodall here).  John Glenn carried a National Geographic Society flag into space.  Dian Fossey was funded to study gorillas in Rwanda (learn more about Fossey here).  The discovery of the Titanic wreck was announced through the National Geographic Society.  Paul Sereno announced the world’s oldest dinosaur fossils.  Sylvia Earle conducted a five-year study of possible marine preserves.

National Geographic magazine and its clones have enormous outreach.  The signature magazine is published in 34 languages and reaches 60 million people monthly.  The National Geographic Channel is broadcast in 38 languages in 171 countries to 440 million households.  Add to that the society’s digital presence, internet applications, social media, websites and newsletters, and it is hard to avoid the society’s influence on education, science and conservation.

But for me, National Geographic will always be the dog-eared magazines with a bright yellow border that landed on our kitchen table each month, six months out of date.  They were the source of most of my school reports and the inspiration for a career in conservation.

References:

Gale Cengage Learning.  The History of the National Geographic Society.  Available at:  http://gale.cengage.co.uk/national-geographic-virtual-library/history.aspx.  Accessed January 31, 2018.

National Geographic Press Room.  National Geographic Milestones.  Available at:    http://press.nationalgeographic.com/milestones/.  Accessed January 31, 2018.

National Geographic Press room.  National Geographic shows 30.9 Million Worldwide Audience via Consolidated Media report.  Available at:  http://press.nationalgeographic.com/2012/09/24/national-geographic-shows-30-9-million-worldwide-audience-via-consolidated-media-report/.  Accessed January 31, 2018.

They are called “Lazarus species” because, like the biblical Lazarus, they appear to return from the dead.  On January 28, 1951, the Bermuda Petrel joined the very short list of species that have been re-discovered.

The Bermuda Petrel (Pterodroma cahow) is a rare bird today, but once was amazingly abundant in its Bermuda home.  It is known locally as the “cahow,” after its distinctive and terrifying cry.  A Spanish sea captain in 1603 wrote about the sound as many birds flocked around his ship: “At dusk, such a shrieking and din fill the air that fear seized us….These are the devils reported to be about Bermuda.  The sign of the cross at them!  We are Christians!”

The cahow nested on Bermuda and outlying islands, digging deep cavities in the ground where they laid and cared for eggs and chicks.  When chicks fledged, they flew out across the ocean, to grow and feed on the wing for up to five years before returning to the islands to breed.  They are about the size of pigeons, but with an out-sized wingspan supporting their oceanic flights.  Black or gray above, their undersides are bright white.

The species was a god-send to settlers on Bermuda and the sailors who landed there.  Rather than fearing humans, the birds were attracted to the lights of their fires and to loud sounds made to draw them in.  They would land on an outstretched arm, becoming easy prey for a club. Tasting delicious, both the birds themselves and their eggs were heavily exploited.  Just a few years after that captain’s 1603 description of their fearful cries, the birds were almost gone.  So worried were the locals that a law was passed in 1616—considered the first conservation law in the New World—that prohibited their capture.

But enforcement was lax, and harvest continued.  Introduced mammals—pigs and rats especially—destroyed their nests and ate their eggs. And then they were gone.  For three centuries, no person saw or heard a cahow, and there were no specimens in museums or private collections.  The species was extinct and unknown to science.

But in the early 1900s, reports of possible sightings of cahows began to dribble in.  In 1906, a specimen was killed on Bermuda that might have been a cahow, renewing interest in finding living birds.  In 1935, the famous biologist William Beebe was given a dead bird by a boy in Bermuda; he identified it as an immature cahow.  During World War II, an American soldier stationed on Bermuda found some dead birds on a small uninhabited island that he thought might be cahows.

The breakthrough came in early 1951.  The occasional reports of cahows encouraged the NY Museum of Natural History to go looking.  Robert Murphy, an ornithologist at the museum and Louis Mowbray, the son of the man who found the 1906 bird, set out to explore several small rocky islands, places where nesting was possible and probably unobserved.  Accompanying them was a 16-year-old local boy, David Wingate.  Wingate recounted the event:

“For days, gales prevented any visit to the offshore islands. The weather finally moderated on Jan. 28, 1951, and with a heavy sea still running, one last‐ditch attempt was made…. After several difficult landings, we finally found an islet which offered some faint but hopeful evidence of occupancy: a patch of greenish‐white excreta and a half‐obliterated footprint at the entrance of an extremely deep and curved tunnel in the cliff…. After much digging a bird was finally revealed sitting on an egg.”

They found a bird in a nesting tunnel, lassoed it and yanked it to the light.  It was a living cahow!  The long extinct Bermuda petrel had risen from the dead!  In all, they found 18 nesting pairs of cahows on the island.

That expedition changed life for David Wingate.  He dedicated his future career to saving this rare bird and the natural heritage of Bermuda.  He attended Cornell to study ornithology, but soon returned to become Bermuda’s first professional wildlife officer.  He personally directed the restoration of native vegetation on Nonsuch Island, which has regrown into a tropical forest.  The island, one of the world’s earliest examples of ecological restoration, is now part of Castle Harbor Islands Nature Reserve.

And the cahow continues to do well. From the original 18 nesting pairs in 1951, the population had grown to 98 nesting pairs and 250 individuals by 2011, and the positive trend continues.  IUCN lists the species as endangered—a far cry from 300 years considered as extinct.

References:

IUCN Red List.  Pterodroma cahow.  Available at:  http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/full/22698088/0.  Accessed January 30, 2018.

Mowbray, Louis.  1951.  The Cahow Rediscovered.  The Bermudian, April, 1951.  Available at:  http://www.thebermudian.com/heritage/life-in-old-bda/617-april-1951.  Accessed January 30, 2018.

Zimmerman, David R.  1973.  The cahow:  saved from hog, rat and man.  The New York Times, December 2, 1973.  Available at:  http://www.nytimes.com/1973/12/02/archives/no-longer-extinct-the-cahow-saved-from-hog-rat-and-man-cahow-david.html.  Accessed January 30, 2018.

George Adamson, who became known as “Baba ya Simba,” or Father of Lions, was born on February 3, 1906 (died 1989).  His work reintroducing lions into the wilds of Kenya was immortalized in the book, Born Free, written by his wife, Joy Adamson.  Born Free chronicles the life of Elsa, a lion cub raised by the Adamsons and then later trained to be wild.

Adamson was born in India, of English and Irish parents.  He moved to Kenya as a young man to work on his father’s coffee plantation.  But he was an adventurer, not a farmer.  He took turns as a prospector, road builder, goat trader and professional safari guide.  He eventually took a position as an assistant game warden with the Kenya Game Department—and found his calling.  Soon after, he married Joy, creating the partnership that would make both famous.

In 1953, he was forced to shoot a charging lioness with three cubs.  Two cubs were sent off to zoos, but the Adamsons kept the third, a female they named Elsa.  After raising Elsa as a pet for three years, George began the process of teaching Elsa to hunt and return to an independent life as a wild lion.  The project was successful, and the story of Elsa’s life was told in the book, Born Free, which has sold more than 5 million copies, and again in a feature motion picture and television series of the same name.

Adamson retired from the Kenya Game Department in 1961 to devote himself full-time to raising orphaned lions and returning them to the wild.  Although not a trained scientist, Adamson gained great respect for his intimate knowledge of lion behavior.  He learned that individual lions had personalities and behavior that was unique to each and not just a product of their genetics.  As he wrote, “Like people, they can look impressive, beautiful, curious, ugly or plain.  The best are adventurous, loyal and brave.”

Adamson, too, was adventurous and brave.  With a shaggy main of blond hair and a tanned and rugged complexion, he was the epitome of a real-life Tarzan.  He lived without most conveniences, and always slept in the open.  He loved Kenya for its wildness:  “Promises of solitude, of wild animals in a profusion to delight the heart of Noah, and of the spice of danger, were always honored.”

Adamson’s work, however, was sometimes unsuccessful.  A trained lion, Boy, who appeared in the movie and was then reintroduced into the wild, mauled a child and killed Adamson’s assistant.  Adamson reluctantly shot him.  After Adamson’s brother, Terrence, was mauled by another lion, the Kenya government rescinded his permission to train and release lions.  Eight years later, the government restored his program.

The Adamsons’ lives ended in personal tragedy.  The couple separated in 1977, after 33 years of marriage.  Three years later, Joy Adamson was murdered by one of her staff.  Then, in 1989, George Adamson was also murdered, presumably by Somali poachers.

References:

Father of Lions.  George Adamson:  Lion’s Best Friend.  Available at:  http://www.fatheroflions.org/GeorgeAdamson_Information.html.  Accessed February 2, 2017.

PBS.  2012.  Adamson Timeline.  Available at:  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/elsas-legacy-the-born-free-story-adamson-timeline/6147/. Accessed February 2, 2017.

Perlez, Jane.  1989.   George Adamson, Lions’ Protector, Is Shot Dead by Bandits in Kenya.  New York Times obituary, August 22, 1989.  Available at:  http://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/22/world/george-adamson-lions-protector-is-shot-dead-by-bandits-in-kenya.html.  Accessed February 2, 2017.

Perhaps it’s a stretch to call this a conservation event—but Groundhog Day, celebrated on February 2, makes this humble rodent one of the most famous of wildlife species.

Groundhog Day has a long history, connected to both pagan and Christian traditions.  In Christian tradition, February 2, the 40^th day after Christmas, is Candlemas.  Candlemas represents the day on which Jesus was taken to the temple to be blessed, following Judaic practice to take infant males to temple on the 40^th day of their birth.

The tradition was continued in the protestant faiths as a time to take candles to the church to be blessed for the remainder of the winter.  Judging how many candles needed to be taken for blessing became an early form of weather prediction.  The basic idea is that the remainder of the winter will have weather the opposite of what occurs on February 2.  An early English rhyme described the situation:

If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Come winter, have another flight;
If Candlemas bring clouds and rain,
Go winter, and come not again.

In Germany, the foretelling became associated with the hedgehog, a small, common and innocuous mammal of Europe, Asia and Africa that rolls into a ball when threatened.  Hedgehogs—all 17 species of them—carry sharp quills on their backs that provide defense, especially when a hedgehog rolls into a ball.

When German immigrants settled in Pennsylvania, they continued the tradition of predicting the weather on February 2.  However, with no hedgehogs around, they turned to a common North American rodent, the groundhog, as their weather forecaster.  The original, and still most famous groundhog, is Punxsutawney Phil, who lives at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.  His first prediction, and the first officially recorded Groundhog Day, occurred there in 1887.

Since then, of course, many communities have their own versions of weather-predicting groundhogs.  A notable example is Shubernacadie Sam, resident at the Shubernacadie Provincial Wildlife Park on the Canadian island of Nova Scotia.  Because Nova Scotia is on Atlantic Time, Shubernacadie Sam is up and predicting an hour before Punxsutawney Phil.

Are these groundhogs reliable?  Not so much.  According to stormfax.com, Punxsutawney Phil has been correct 39% of the time.  But it would appear that the groundhog is well aware of the effects of climate change—he’s predicted a short winter in 17 of 22 years of the new century.  For the record, the folks in Punxsutawney say that Phil has always been correct, but that on occasion—61% of occasions—his handlers don’t hear him correctly and mis-report his actual pronouncements.

And just remember this:  I got you, babe!

References:

Church Year.  Candlemas (Presentation of the Lord).  Available at:  http://www.churchyear.net/candlemas.html.  Accessed February 1, 2017.

History.  This Day in History, February 02.  Available at:  http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-groundhog-day.  Accessed February 1, 2017.

Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources.  Shubernacadie Provincial Wildlife Park.  Available at:  https://wildlifepark.novascotia.ca/.  Accessed February 1, 2017.

Penn Live.  What is Groundhog Day?  All you need to know about the holiday’s origins.  Available at:  http://www.pennlive.com/life/2017/02/what_is_groundhog_day_2017.html.  Accessed February 1, 2017.

Stormfax Weather Almanac.  Groundhog Day.  Available at:  http://www.stormfax.com/ghogday.htm.  Accessed February 1, 2017.

The Afobaka Dam, in the South American country of Suriname, was closed (that is, became operational) officially on February 1, 1964.  It began filling the Brokopondo Reservoir behind it, making the 41^st largest reservoir in the world by surface area (approximately 580 square miles).  It covers about 1% of the land area of Suriname, which is South America’s smallest country.

Construction of the dam began in 1961.  The dam was built primarily to generate electricity to power the bauxite industry, the largest source of foreign trade for Suriname.  Bauxite ore is refined to make aluminum.  The dam is privately owned, by a subsidiary of Alcoa Aluminum.  About 75% of the electricity produced is used by the aluminum industry; the other 25% goes to general use in the nation’s capital and largest city, Paramaribo.

The filling of the dam is noteworthy for a wild animal rescue operation, Operation Gwamba, that occurred in the first few years after the dam was closed.  Organized and operated by the International Society for the Protection of Animals (now known as World Animal Protection), the project was led by John Walsh, a U.S. biologist with no previous experience in the tropics or in animal capture and relocation.  In all, Operation Gwamba rescued more than 10,000 animals, including more than 2000 sloths, 1000 armadillos, and nearly a thousand tortoises, tree porcupines and monkeys.  At least one individual of 43 different species was captured.

The rescue operation mainly captured animals trapped on small islands created as the water rose, isolating former hill-tops into ever-shrinking land areas.  The animals were then moved onto shoreline areas not subject to flooding.

Operation Gwamba was memorialized in the 1967 book, Time is Short and the Water Rises, co-authored by John Walsh and Robert Gannon.  Walsh wrote, “The most valuable thing from my point of view, of course, was what I learned about the jungle.  I found out that, as I had suspected, it is not something evil, dreary, and cruel….Furthermore, if you enter the jungle with plenty of food, go to a place where clean water is abundant, stay away from your fellow human beings, and don’t get lost or go out of your way to play with bushmasters, you’ll be relatively safe.”

References:

United Caribbean.  Suriname—Afobaka Dam.  Availabe at:  http://www.unitedcaribbean.com/afobakadam.html.  Accessed January 31, 2017.

Walsh, John and Robert Gannon.  1967.  Time is Short and the Water Rises.  Tower Publications, New York.  262 pages.