Props to NR folks, & photo of bb teaching rocky intertidal mon. in 2002

bb training volunteers to conduct rocky intertidal monitoring at Cabrillo NM, 2002 (NPS photo).

In celebration of rocky intertidal monitoring everywhere.

I didn't help out at Cabrillo NM this year, so in lieu of that is this photo.

I am the bent over creature standing buns-to-sea.

I am surrounded by amazing people.

A few words about a few of them.

1. The guy w/his rubber boots near my head has since passed away, but he was this amazing just-for-fun geology professor at some local college, but really was a retired lawyer (and geologist?!?). He volunteered for our program 10 billion hours (rocky intertidal monitoring, and MILLIONS of hours for herp monitoring) Amazing, fun, super smart, interesting person, grew up in Wyoming, and game for anything. Helped me monitor veg, too, which can be SERIOUSLY rigorous on a v. steep peninsula made of crumbling sandstone and peppered w/cacti, poisonous plants, and rattlesnakes. He was a Vietnam vet, though, so this, for him, was a cake walk.

Spent his first social security check on a mountain bike. AWESOME!

Said he was living off $ he made from widows and orphans, so this was his way to give back, post-retirement. =) Fabulous. He would quote this if I tried to reimburse him for ANYTHING. He refused it all.

2. The guy standing furthest to the left is an amazing (USGS) herpetologist w/ridiculous photography chops. This guy is ALWAYS energetic and ALWAYS upbeat. And fearless. PERFECT personality for a delightful fieldwork experience. Besides having a lightning fast brain & being funny. A gem.

3. The woman standing behind the rubber-boot-ed-lawyer was marvelous, ALWAYS could be counted on to BE there for rocky intertidal monitoring (that's amazingly important) and was SUPER SOLID, smart, interested, gracious creature who was also (bonus!) a delightful person. And, far as I can tell, ONLY volunteered for rocky intertidal monitoring. JUST us. YAY, us!! (us = the science nerd division I headed)

4. Oh, and did I mentioned that ALL of these amazing people were VOLUNTEERS? Paid ZERO dollars to help. And SO marvelous; I was ultra-spoiled.

Anyhow, am kinda swamped for the next week, so thought I'd share that photograph, and through it

SALUTE EVERYONE WHO WORKS HARD

TO UNDERSTAND AND PRESERVE OUR NATURAL RESOURCES,
whether paid or volunteer.

YAY, YOU!!!!

And, thank you. =)

1,000 times.

You rock.

xoxoxoxoxxobb

tree of the week--not your usual tree-identification method...

The source of this story is
http://www.globaltrees.org/, but I learned it through their Tree of the Week Facebook page, and the tree of the week is:

The Wollemi Pine, or Dinosaur Tree (Wollemia nobilis) is an ancient tree, which was thought to have become extinct about 2 million years ago until it was rediscovered in 1994 in a gorge only 150 km north-west of Sydney, Australia. Once found all over the world, the species now numbers less than 100 mature individuals in the wild.

 

First of all, I must have you re-compute "extinct about 2 million years ago." That I did not catch right away. I've been around a few species that had been thought to have been extirpated, but due to, you know, fairly recent development, like in the 1960s-1990s.

This leads to what I thought was the best part, in a comment by an administrator:

Good question Eileen, it would seem that nobody had found the trees, as some of the individuals were thought to be over 1000 years old. The tree was reduced to a few small populations in remote areas of the Wollemi national park in the Blue Mountains. One of the National park rangers discovered the species whilst out trekking and brought a sample ... See Moreback to be identified - it was then matched with fossil specimens and the species was 're-discovered'. There is lots more information at www.wollemipine.co.uk

Makes me so proud of that ranger, but what I thought was most freaky about this very exciting discovery, is the necessity of bringing your tree sample back to the office and comparing it to a FOSSIL to confirm the species id.

That. Is. Nuts.

Anyhow, made me happy on many levels. LOVE it. Nice work, folks!!

And, of course, reinforced the incredible importance of setting aside protected lands to preserve our natural heritage. You never know what you'll end up saving.

=)


biobabbler