The Valley Habitat - Sierra Club...The Valley Habitat July/August2019 WANTED: The Energy of Youth By...
Transcript of The Valley Habitat - Sierra Club...The Valley Habitat July/August2019 WANTED: The Energy of Youth By...
The Valley Habitat
July/August2019
WANTED:
The Energy of Youth
By Kent Mitchell, Political
Chair
Recently a Modes-
to High freshman, Rana
Banankah, wrote an arti-
cle in the Modesto Bee on
Climate Change
(“Modesto’s rising genera-
tion pushes for climate
change solutions” Page
9A, May 17). It is wonder-
ful to see the energy and
talent of youth directed
toward such a worthy en-
deavor. In her piece, Ra-
na asks of the older gen-
erations, "What have you
done with our planet?”
and “Politicians, why isn’t
this problem solved al-
ready?”
In his book, “The
Uninhabitable Earth”, au-
thor David Wallace-Wells
writes that the vast majori-
ty of damage done to our
planet resulting in climate
change has been done
since the 1980s when we
already knew about the
problem.
(continued on page 6)
A joint publication of the Stanislaus Audubon Society and the Yokuts Group of the
Sierra Club
Recent Sightings 2
Field Trips 4
Natural Garden 5
Keep Reading 6
Inside this issue:
Sierra Club Monthly Programs will resume again in September
Check back with us in the next newsletter.
Electric Vehicle Love!
By Sandra Wilson
My husband, Jerry, has a new love in his
life, a 2018 Chevrolet Bolt. Fun to drive,
low maintenance, and money sav-
ing. The car is peppy and the fast accel-
eration makes merging onto freeways a
breeze. Jerry likes to surprise his passen-
gers by flooring the Bolt in sport mode. It is not as fast as a Tesla but accelerates
to 60MPH in 6.8 seconds. My Camry is no match.
When we picked up the car at the dealership, they said, “We will see
you at 150,000 miles for service”. Why? There is less wear and tear on an electric
motor with 20 moving parts compared to a gasoline car with 2000. There is no
oil, gas, spark plugs, valves, mufflers, smog checks, fancy transmission, etc.
Refueling is easy. Park, plug it in and forget it. Initially, we charged on a
standard 110V outlet, up to 12 hours or overnight charging. Later we installed a
240V charger near the garage door to charge faster (4-5 hours) and use less
electricity. It is near the door so we can charge inside the garage or on the
driveway. Typically, it charges faster because the battery is not fully run down.
We haven’t used a public charging station yet but we will get around to it.
Phone apps can direct you the location of charging stations.
The EPA estimates a gasoline car owner will spend $4250 more on gas
than an EV driver on electricity over a 5 year period. That estimate doesn’t in-
clude the California gas tax. You can cut the cost further if you get solar panels.
When you purchase an EV, there are also some incentives: a Federal Tax Credit
($2500-$7500), a California EV rebate (up to $7000) and a San Joaquin Valley Air
Pollution Credit (up to $3000). Research the incentives at https://
www.energy.gov/eere/electricvehicles/electric-vehicles-tax-credits-and-other-
incentives.
The new Chevy Bolt, Kia Kona, Tesla Model 3, and a number of other
cars all exceed 240 miles per charge which eliminates range anxiety., and gen-
erate electricity when driving downhill . If you are concerned about a long dis-
tance trip and don’t want to deal with charging stations, rent a car with all your
savings from buying electric.
Zero emissions, zero fossil fuels, saving money, never going to a gas sta-
tion, and having fun feels good. There are 40 models of electric cars on the
market including an SUV from KIA, the new AUDI, and an electric Pickup coming
soon.
Trade in your gas pedal for an electric accelerator and feel the love!
If you’ve read my col-
umns regularly, you may have
noticed that I have an avid
interest in American pioneer
naturalists. I have written be-
fore about such 19th-century
figures as Andrew Jackson
Grayson, William Gambel, and
Louis Agassiz Fuertes. Their
physical courage, dogged de-
termination, and boundless
curiosity are fascinating to me.
Over the course of reading
about that era, I’ve inevitably
come across accounts of the
most famous overland journey
of pioneers in American histo-
ry—namely, the Corps of Dis-
covery Expedition of 1804-06,
better known as the Lewis and
Clark Expedition.
Soon after the Louisiana
Purchase of 1803, President
Thomas Jefferson commis-
sioned Meriwether Lewis and
William Clark to accomplish
four main objectives. The chief
among them, he wrote, was to
establish a trade route from
the settled United States to the
vast unknown regions to the
West: “The object of your mis-
sion is to explore the Missouri
river, & such principal streams
of it, as, by it’s course & com-
munication with the waters of
the Pacific Ocean, may offer
the most direct & practicable
water communication across
this continent, for the purposes
of commerce..."
Of second emphasis,
Jefferson charged them with
discovering “the names of
[native] nations & their num-
bers.” He expected Lewis and
Clark to chronicle what they
could of the languages, meth-
ods of food gathering and of
war, and the domestic lives of
those tribes. Thirdly, Jefferson
expected his explorers to be
meteorologists and surveyors,
to chart the climates and ter-
rain that future settlers would
encounter when heading into
that wilderness.
The fourth and lesser
known objective, however, is
the one that I intend to explore
here. Jefferson charged them
with observing “the animals of
the country generally, & espe-
cially those not known in the
U.S….” I decided to find out
what kinds of birds Lewis dis-
covered and described for
Western science. That search
led me to the tragic dead-
ends that Meriwether Lewis
and his work encountered. The
movers of this tragedy are the
usual ones—fate, the vagaries
of chance, the implacable
grindstone of time—all of which
conspired to render Meriweth-
er Lewis virtually forgotten for
his seminal contributions to field
ornithology.
Lewis was not, of course,
the first man to “discover”
these birds. The first peoples,
who migrated 24,000-14,000
years ago from Asia to the Ameri-
cas, truly discovered these bird
populations and species. Native
Americans had an immersive,
holistic relationship with wild
birds, for their value as sources of
food and decorative feathers.
There was an aesthetic dimen-
sion to birds, too, that manifested
itself in myth and folklore. The na-
tive tribes were aware of the life
histories of birds, but they did not
undertake a written record of
such matters. Mainly, birds were
there to be eaten, not studied.
In this sense, Meriwether
Lewis was a more unique pio-
neer. Along with William Clark, he
practiced the skills of a naturalist
in the wild, using European scien-
tific methods of investigation. He
and his men collected many bird
species, from large game birds to
songbirds, and saved their skins
as specimens. He’d note the
dates and locations of where he
found the birds. He took field
measurements and wrote physi-
cal descriptions of their plum-
ages, calls, nests and eggs. Less
frequently, he’d record their diets
and behavior. He even drew a
few sketches of birds directly into
his journals. All of this material
was supposed to return from the
expedition, to be pored over by
trained naturalists back East.
Lewis had not been aca-
demically educated as a
“natural philosopher,” but then
again neither were many other
men of that era, most of whom
practiced this burgeoning sci-
ence as an avocation. Meri-
wether’s mother Lucy was an
herbalist,, and her son learned
(continued on next page)
MERIWETHER LEWIS, THE FORGOTTEN ORNITHOLOGIST by Salvatore Salerno
PAGE 2 THE VALLEY HABITAT
LEWIS'S TANAGER? © Tom Grey
Stanislaus Audubon Society Recent Sightings of Rare or Uncommon Birds
PAGE 3 THE VALLEY HABITAT
botany at her side. When
Lewis took over the Virginia
family estate of Locust Hill, he
undertook studies on his own
of the flora and fauna there.
After Jefferson hired Lewis as
his secretary and assistant,
the president introduced the
youth to the Linnaean system
of classification and nomen-
clature.
Once Lewis agreed
to lead the Corps of Discov-
ery, Jefferson sent him to the
American Philosophical Soci-
ety in Philadelphia, where he
studied natural history, bota-
ny, astronomy, and geology.
Meriwether Lewis may not
have been an expert in
those sciences, but he was
better trained in them than
were most other army cap-
tains.
Meriwether Lewis, Wil-
liam Clark, and their hand-
picked men left Camp Du-
Bois on May 14, 1804 to fulfill
the multiple obligations of
Jefferson’s commission. Nu-
merous books, besides Lew-
is’s journals, recount their full
adventures during the two-
year journey to the Pacific
Ocean and back. My view
here, however, is more nar-
rowly focused, so let’s look at
some of the birds that Lewis
found in the service of sci-
ence. (For the rest of this sto-
ry, go to “Sal’s Articles” at
stanislausbirds.org.)
STANISLAUS COUNTY
(*committee review)
Oscar Moss and two other bird-
ers had a GREATER SCAUP and a
MARBLED GODWIT at the Modes-
to Wastewater Treatment Facility
on April 13. Oscar and Adrian
Hinkle had a HAMMOND’S FLY-
CATCHER in Del Puerto Canyon
later that day. Eric Hopson had
seventeen MARBLED GODWITS
on April 16 at the San Joaquin
River N.W.R. Sal Salerno saw a
GRASSHOPPER SPARROW in Del
Puerto Canyon on April 20. Dan-
iel Gilman and Sal had a GRAY
FLYCATCHER at Del Puerto Can-
yon on May 1. Harold Reeve
and other birders had a MAR-
BLED GODWIT and a FRANKLIN’S
GULL at the Modesto
Wastewater Treatment Facility
on April 28. Emilie Straus heard
and recorded a NORTHERN PA-
RULA* singing at the San Joaquin
River N.W.R. on May 8. Ralph
Baker had two OLIVE-SIDED FLY-
CATCHERS and eight SWAIN-
SON’S THRUSHES on May 17 at
Dry Creek. Eric Hopson had a
MARBLED GODWIT on May 20 at
the San Joaquin River N.W.R.
Ralph Baker and participants of
an Audubon field trip saw a
HOODED ORIOLE near Patterson
on May 26.
MERCED COUNTY
There were numerous sightings of
HAMMOND’S and GRAY FLY-
CATCHERS migrating through this
county: Pete Dunten, one Gray
at Basalt Campground (4/7); Da-
vid Weber, one Gray at San Luis
N.W.R. (4/13); Pete Dunten, one
Gray (4/23), also two Gray
and one Hammond’s at Bas-
alt (4/25); Richard Jeffers and
other birders, three Gray and
two Hammond’s at Basalt
(4/25); Dale Swanberg, one
Gray at Basalt (4/27); Pete
Dunten, two Hammond’s
and two Grays at Basalt (5-4);
Doug Krajnovic, one Gray at
Lake Yosemite (5/7).
On April 14, John Harris and
several participants of an
Audubon trip into Basalt
Campground on April 14 had
three NASHVILLE WARBLERS.
Candice Davis and Jeffrey
reported seeing a LEAST BIT-
TERN on April 23 at San Luis
N.W.R. Dale Swanberg had
two BREWER’S SPARROWS on
May 6 along Fields Road.
Chris Johnson saw two BLACK
SWIFTS at Los Baños Wildlife
Area on May 19.
GRAY FLYCATCHER
© Pete Dunten
PAGE 4 THE VALLEY HABITAT
Audubon Field Trips
SUNDAY, JULY 21 & SATURDAY,
AUGUST 17 - SAN JOAQUIN RIV-
ER NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
This refuge near Modesto offers
diverse habitats, including
mixed species transitional are-
as, riparian forest, oak wood-
lands, grassland and seasonal
wetlands. On these field trips
we are allowed to go into are-
as of the refuge that are nor-
mally closed to the public. Bird-
ing may be on foot or by car
and we may walk anywhere
from 2-6 miles on mostly level
dirt roads and trails. Meet at
the Stanislaus County Library
parking lot (1500 I Street, Mod-
esto) at 7:00 a.m. We will return
to Modesto early-to-mid-
afternoon. Trip leader: Ralph
Baker
SUNDAY JULY 14 - YOSEMITE
We will search meadow and
wood for resident breeding
birds and whatever else we can
find. Woodpeckers, flycatchers,
vireos and warblers are all possi-
ble. Maybe we'll even be lucky
enough to find Mountain Quail,
Black-backed or Pileated Wood-
pecker or ? Some of the loca-
tions we may visit include
Hodgdon Meadow
Campground, Merced Grove
Trail, Crane Flat Fire Lookout
Road, Crane Flat Meadow and
Foresta. Dale Swanberg will be
our trip leader. We will meet in
front of the closed garden cen-
ter of the Riverbank Target, 2425
Claribel Road, at 7:00am. Bring
water, lunch and insect repel-
lent. We will return to Riverbank
late afternoon/early evening.
Email Ralph Baker at sas-
[email protected] if you
have any questions.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10 - RIPON
WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT
AND RIPON OAK GROVE PARK
We’ll visit the Ripon wastewater
ponds to look for early migrating
shorebirds, then retreat to the
shade of Ripon Oak Grove Park
to look for resident oak wood-
land and riparian birds, as well as
any early migrants. We’ll meet at
the parking lot at the south end
of Jack Tone Road at 7:30 a.m.,
and be done by noon. Contact
John Harris for questions:
[email protected] 510-504-2427
Directions: From the north on 99,
take the Jack Tone Road exit
(exit 237), turn right (south) and
go 1.8 miles to the end. The park-
ing lot will be on your left.
From the south on 99, take the
Main Street exit (exit 236) then
turn left onto South Stockton Ave
(third stop sign). After about .4
miles, the road curves to the right
and becomes Doak Blvd. Take
Doak to Jack Tone Road (about
1 mile), turn left, and proceed to
the dirt parking lot as described
above.
Lalayna Hablutzel and Cece Hunt are the
recipients of the 3rd Annual Audubon /
Grayson Scholarship, presented by Stani-
slaus Audubon Society President Salvatore
Salerno at Stanislaus State on May 8.
Websites to explore:
What is your ecological footprint? How
many planets do we need if everybody
lives like you?
http://www.footprintcalculator.org/
Learn how you can improve habitat for
birds in California—Working Lands, Land-
owner Resources:
http://ca.audubon.org/landowner-
resources-1
Think you know all about water in Califor-
nia? Think again! Check out the Water
Education Foundation:
https://www.watereducation.org/
PAGE 5 THE VALLEY HABITAT
Restore Nature, One Garden at a time
By Sandra Wilson
I replaced my lackluster lawn with native
plants, drought tolerant plants, and bark. Within a
year, birds, bees and butterflies began to vis-
it. Now a few years later, the yard is alive with
activity and fun to watch. Right now, the hum-
mingbirds like the sage, hummingbird mint, and
Red Yucca plants. People call me a gardener!
The truth is, I spend much less time gardening,
less money on water, and more time enjoying the
flowers in the native part of my yard. My plan is
to continue to phase out the high maintenance
plants with more natives.
Native plants attract birds, bees, and but-
terflies to your yard. They also use less water, re-
quire less maintenance and often don’t require
amending the soil. Visit the website Calscape.org
to see how many plants will grow in your
yard. The website sorts plants by sun, shade,
vines, trees, etc. so you can find the plant for the
tough spot in your yard. The fall is the best time to
plant native plants. Now is a good time to plan
for change. Visit the La Loma Native Plant gar-
den on Encina Drive in Modesto for ideas. Look
for plants in the fall when the California Native
Plant Society sponsors plant sales. Many local
nurseries have some native plants, even Home
Depot carries a few. Check with your city, Mod-
esto will pay you to remove the lawn to reduce
your water usage. Go native and restore nature.
Please join Yokuts members and the neigh-
borhood group for the monthly clean-up
along the Helen White Memorial Trail :
Wednesday, July 31
Wednesday, August 14
The group starts the cleanup at 8:00 AM.
Meet us at the King Kennedy Center, 601
Martin Luther King Dr., Modesto. We finish
by 9:00 AM. For more information about
this activity, contact Elaine Gorman at 209-
300-4253. You can also sign up on S-M-S
Sierra Club Meetup. Rain will cancel this
activity.
Bring gloves and a trash bag!
Buckets and trash grabbers are helpful too.
Helen White Memorial Trail
Clean Up
Recycle at the Yokuts
Monthly program!
Yokuts member Ray Nichols will accept
these materials for recycling at our
monthly programs:
Magazines and books
Household batteries
Button batteries
Burned out light bulbs, CFLs
Eye-glasses
Old cell phones
Please tape over the contacts on 9 volt bat-
teries.
THE VALLEY HABITAT PAGE 6
Stanislaus Audubon Society Board of Directors, 2018-2019
President: Salvatore Salerno [email protected]
Vice President & Conservation: Jody Hallstrom [email protected]
Treasurer: David Froba [email protected]
Secretary: Daniel Gilman Website: Jim Gain
Field Trips: Ralph Baker [email protected]
Christmas Bird Counts: Harold Reeve [email protected]
Online Newsletter: Jodi Smith; Events: Chris Magaña, Ralph Baker, Kathy Rasmussen;
Education: Daniel Gilman, Jim Gain, Harold Reeve, John Harris, Xavier Sandoval.
Visit our website: www.stanislausbirds.org
Join our Meetup Group and/or Like us on Facebook.
New or renewing members $20 From National Audubon Society: www.audubon.org/renew
Chapter Code C 36. Membership expiration date is printed on newsletter labels.
Continued from page one:
This is sobering and embarrassing. The author also points out that what is crucial,
however, is what we do in the next thirty years. Rana
is right when she states, “Instead of simply dreading
our future we must actively work together to prevent
disaster.”
We learned in kindergarten that if we make a
mess we need to clean it up. Well, this is a big one,
folks. The younger generation knows this, and we
who are older need to stop being comfortably numb
and take actions to address their concerns. How will
we want to be remembered by our children and
grandchildren?
A fifteen year-old girl, Greta Thunberg,
captured the world’s attention with her advocacy to
combat climate change. Rana is doing the same
thing locally. The Sierra Club is graying, and is finding
it difficult attracting younger members. Students like
Rana offer an opportunity for the club to revitalize
and widen our message of climate change advoca-
cy. We should align ourselves as responsible elders
with the younger generation in working together to
help save our planet.
Summer Reading, at the LIBRARY!
As some of the readers of this newsletter know,
the editor is currently an academic librarian, and one
of the previous editors is a retired public librarian.
So given an empty box this month, my inclina-
tion is to recommend specific books. However, I feel
bound by librarian duty to encourage all readers of
this newsletter to make an effort to renew your bond
with your local public libraries. There you will find
many fascinating books—free to all holders of a li-
brary card.
If you haven’t been to the library lately, please
do visit. If getting over there to a library building
seems difficult—go to the library website. There you
will find many resources available to you online—
books, newspaper and journal articles, language pro-
grams, and more.
Don’t feel limited by just what can be found
on the shelves in your small public library. After all, this
is the 21st century, and libraries have agreements be-
tween each other to lend books to wide geographic
areas. Just ask your librarian about these services.
If you are reading this online—go to your local
public library site, (most library catalogs are free for
the public to search). Type in keywords to represent
things about which you would like to know more—
building communities, alternative energy, downsizing,
birding, and of course, the Sierra Club and Audubon!
Peruse, borrow, read, and enjoy!
Yokuts Group of the Sierra Club
Management Committee
Chair: Rick Delvin: [email protected]
Vice Chair: Elaine Gorman
Political Chair: Kent Mitchell
Secretary: Sandra Wilson
Treasurer: Steve Tomlinson
Hospitality: Candy Klaschus
Program Chair: Elaine Gorman
Membership: Anita Young
Mailing: Kathy Weise
Publicity: Dorothy Griggs
Sustainability Chair: Milt Trieweiler
Population Chair: Milt Trieweiler
Calendar Sales: Doug Hardie
Outings Chair: Randall Brown
Outings Leaders:
Sandra Wilson
Randall Brown
Elaine Gorman; , [email protected]
Newsletter: Maryann Hight
To send stories to the Habitat, email
Website:
http://www.sierraclub.org/mother-lode/yokuts
For hikes and other outings
http://www.meetup.com/S-M-S-
SierraClub
PAGE 7 THE VALLEY HABITAT
Fun Read:
All Aboard the Electric Bus:
Modern Public Transportation Powered by
Electricity is Coming Back
Yokuts Group Non-Profit Organization
Mother Lode Chapter U.S. Postage PAID
Sierra Club Permit Number 139
P.O. Box 855 Modesto, CA
Modesto, CA 95353
CURRENT RESIDENT OR