Category Archives: Conservation

Founders Rule

By rbrewer | Published: January 3, 2012

A thread that began on the LANDTRUST-L listserv early in December 2011 had an outlier, a late post, a couple of days ago.  I read it over this afternoon as the first good-sized snow of the winter was falling–9 inches but slowing down. The thread had to do with term limits for land trust board [...]

Also posted in Land Trusts (& other private land conservation) | 1 Comment

L. A. Kenoyer on Saving Newton Woods

By rbrewer | Published: November 21, 2011

The essay that follows is a radio address by Leslie Alva Kenoyer, who served from 1922 to 1953 as Professor and Chairman of the Biology Department at Western Michigan University –at that time Western State Teachers College .  The piece is dated April 16, 1935.  It was written for Western’s Radio Hour, which was evidently a continuing feature [...]

Also posted in Land Trusts (& other private land conservation), Michigan (including Kalamazoo), Plants and Plant Communities, Quotations | Leave a comment

More about Ozone: Lisa was smiling till she saw Fred

By rbrewer | Published: November 5, 2011

In the preceding post, the question of why President Obama rebuffed the stronger ozone standards proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency was left unresolved.  Now we have the answer. The Kalamazoo Gazette for 2 November 2011 reprinted an article from the Washington Post by Ned Martel. The Gazette reprint was titled Upton Changing for good of GOP? [...]

Also posted in Michigan (including Kalamazoo) | Leave a comment

Ozone, Obama, and the Deregulation Doo Dah Parade

By rbrewer | Published: October 30, 2011

[This post appeared in briefer form as a Letter to the Editor of the Kalamazoo Gazette 12 September 2011.] President Obama made two serious mistakes early this fall. First, he told the Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw new, stronger, standards for ozone levels in the lower atmosphere that were intended to replace the standards held over from [...]

Also posted in Michigan (including Kalamazoo), Plants and Plant Communities | 2 Comments

How the Turkey Vulture Found the Raccoon

By rbrewer | Published: October 9, 2011

Coming up the driveway in the car a little before noon today (8 October 2011), I was surprised to see a very  large bird flap out of the trees, followed by a Blue Jay.  I had just seen crows along the road, so it was evident that this bird was much larger than a crow [...]

Also posted in Birds, Michigan (including Kalamazoo), Southern Illinois Ecology | 1 Comment

Find the three birds orchid in Michigan beech-maple forest, please

By rbrewer | Published: August 29, 2011

Today is a good time to take a walk in the forest, but then any time is.  It’s a really good time for a walk in the beech-maple forest, because a very rare orchid blooms this time of year. The orchid is three birds orchid (Triphora trianthophora).  It’s known from Kalamazoo County and in fact [...]

Also posted in Michigan (including Kalamazoo), Plants and Plant Communities, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Quote 4, Jeremy Grantham on human population size as the latest bubble

By rbrewer | Published: August 22, 2011

Whether the stable population will be 1.5 billion or 5 billion, the question is: How do we get there?… I have no doubt we’re going to have a bad hundred years.  We have the resources to gracefully handle the transition, but we won’t.  We apparently can’t. –Jeremy Grantham   Jeremy Grantham is an investment strategist [...]

Also posted in Quotations, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

What will happen to the sand dunes at Saugatuck?

By rbrewer | Published: August 9, 2011

At a time in southwest Michigan when protecting all our remaining natural lands and waters would make sense for human health and economic viability, threats continue. This morning I received the message copied in boldface below from the Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance.  It is their updated look at the controversy involving the Lake Michigan sand dunes and [...]

Also posted in Birds, Land Trusts (& other private land conservation), Michigan (including Kalamazoo), Plants and Plant Communities | 1 Comment

Quote 3, John Eastman on Wetlands as Wilderness

By rbrewer | Published: July 18, 2011

And the fount of biodiversity is wilderness.  Today, American forest wilderness exists, when at all, in patches, “museum cases” of public lands, which give only pallid ideas of the large biodiversity our ancestors blithely relinquished. Wetland wilderness, however has not fallen quite so far…. Although many surviving wetlands have indeed suffered irreversible changes… it is [...]

Also posted in Michigan (including Kalamazoo), Plants and Plant Communities, Quotations | Leave a comment

Double Tea Time for Towhees

By rbrewer | Published: July 7, 2011

My hearing is not as good as it was ten or twenty years ago, mainly for high notes.  That’s one reason I was pleased to hear an Eastern Towhee singing today when I walked down to get the newspapers.  It took me a moment to identify the song.  One problem with losing the high notes [...]

Also posted in Birds, Michigan (including Kalamazoo) | 3 Comments