Category Archives: Conservation

Michigan League of Conservation Voters: Rep. Robert Jones-100, Colony Farm Orchard-0

By rbrewer | Published: June 3, 2010

The League of Conservation Voters is a national environmental group that is best known for its Environmental Scorecard, where the league tallies the pro- and anti-environmental votes cast by our elected representatives.  I’m glad the organization exists; I strongly support the idea that we should know how politicians vote on conservation issues and hold them [...]

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Why are Yellow-headed Blackbirds rare in Michigan?

By rbrewer | Published: May 29, 2010

A Yellow-headed Blackbird, a rare bird in Michigan, was seen near the end of April at Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery.  The Fish Hatchery is west of Kalamazoo, a few miles over the Kalamazoo-Van Buren County line.  The bird was first reported on 30 April.   I drove out Sunday morning, 2 May, to try to get [...]

Also posted in Birds, Michigan (including Kalamazoo) | 7 Comments

Asylum Lake Preserve: What Kalamazoo ought to do, part 2

By rbrewer | Published: May 21, 2010

My last post several days ago repeated and updated some remarks I’d made on Earth Day 2004.   It ended with the following comment about the Asylum Lake Preserve situation at that time: Today’s Gazette (24 April 2004) had more good news. After a long process, a Declaration of Conservation Restrictions and Management Framework for the [...]

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A Cleaner, Greener Land: What Kalamazoo Ought to Do. 2010, Part 1.

By rbrewer | Published: April 22, 2010

I made the following remarks at the 24 April 2004 Earth Day celebration at Kalamazoo Valley Community College and included them on the earlier version of my website as Conservation Letter 2 . Today, in boldface , I look at the same topics six years later. When I agreed to give a talk at Earth [...]

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Land Trusts and The Land Trust Movement

By rbrewer | Published: April 17, 2010

This is an updated version of a page from the first version of my website.  It will be moved to the Pages section in a few days. For classification purposes, we can separate land conservation by government and land conservation by private organizations. Two models of private land conservation exist–land trusts and land advocacy organizations. [...]

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Field Trip to Big Island Woods (Cooper’s Island) Coming Up

By rbrewer | Published: April 6, 2010

Saturday 24 April I’m leading a field trip to the Big Island Woods, also referred to as Cooper’s Island.  It’s a trip for the Kalamazoo Wild Ones chapter. “Big Island Woods” refers to an “island” of forest in the middle of Prairie Ronde, southwest Michigan’s largest mesic (tall-grass) prairie. The village of Schoolcraft was founded [...]

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

Costa Rica in the Dry Season, February 2010

By rbrewer | Published: March 3, 2010

Katy and I just returned from two weeks in Costa Rica.  As part of an Elderhostel–though the program is now called Exploritas–we visited five sites ranging from mangrove forest along the Pacific Coast to the rather chaparral-like vegetation called paramo around 11,000 feet above sea level on Cerro de la Muerte.  Included were visits to [...]

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Colony Farm Orchard: A Time for Knowledge, Wisdom, Conscience

By rbrewer | Published: February 14, 2010

The Kalamazoo Gazette for Sunday 14 February carried a Viewpoint I wrote which they titled WMU can keep orchard in natural state.  It had been altered slightly, improving the message in some ways.  Nevertheless, I prefer the version below. Posting it here may also be useful to those who missed the piece in the Sunday [...]

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Colony Farm Orchard Art by Lad Hanka and Others at KNC

By rbrewer | Published: February 6, 2010

Beginning this weekend the Kalamazoo Nature Center will feature an art exhibition that includes images from the Colony Farm Orchard.  The show, entitled “Sacred Trees,” includes prints by Ladislav R. Hanka and paintings and photography by Sniedze Rungis and Zaiga Minka Thorson.   The opening is Sunday 7 February 1-3 P.M. Lad Hanka, a Kalamazoo artist [...]

Also posted in Michigan (including Kalamazoo) | 2 Comments

My Colony Farm Orchard Letter to Mark Brewer

By rbrewer | Published: February 2, 2010

A few days ago I received a letter from Mark Brewer (no relation), Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party.  A good many thousand others received the same letter, I expect.  It began, Dear Richard, said 2010 is a crucial year, and asked for some money.  Here is the answer I sent. 2 February 2010 Dear [...]

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