Heyday Publishing that is.
Looks like artist and water guru Obi Kaufann just signed a 6 volume contract with California’s favorite publisher. The latest book looks very nice. But it’s the one that comes after that which got my attention.
Artist, author of ‘The California Field Atlas’ talks about Sonoma County’s ecology
Bestselling author, artist and adventurer Obi Kaufmann answers to an unusual calling: over the past few decades he’s explored vast tracts of California’s wild backcountry on foot, from the Siskiyou Mountains near the Oregon border to the Salton Sea near Mexico.
In the process, he’s acquired a unique firsthand view of the state’s diverse natural world and the complex workings of its deepest systems.
This coming Tuesday, Feb. 11, Kaufmann will be in Santa Rosa to introduce a slice of what he’s discovered and his new hand- illustrated book, “The State of Water,” along with perspective on what he sees as California’s unfolding ecological story.
Okay now that looks like it definitely belongs at the beaver festival. And Californians thirst for knowledge about their own water. But guess what he’s working on now?
“I am working on a series of what will ultimately be six books,” he said. “And two of the main characters in the next book (on forests) are Sonoma County locals — the salmon and the beaver.”
“Can you imagine, just 200 years ago, nearly every watershed on nearly every water course in Sonoma County held these two species,” he said. “We’re looking at thousands of beavers, a beaver population density of two or three per kilometer.”
“Beaver created cold, clear, clean water habitat for salmon. And at the end of their life cycle, when the fish returned to the headwaters of their birth, they laid their bodies down, depositing hundreds of thousands of metric tons of calcium, phosphorus and nitrogen, which came back down the Russian River in big floods to feed the forests the fertilizer they need.”
Kaufmann believes the two native animals offer modern Californians an ecological architecture for restoration.
I’m guessing Brock Dolman promoting beavers and salmon will be heavily featured in that book. I just hope it comes out FAST. California needs to get the beaver salmon point soon, or it will be too late. For the salmon I mean, beavers of course will stick around no matter what stupid stuff we do.
Plenty of people get on the beaver bandwagon eventually. Check out this article.
Polluted, damaged streams in Chesapeake region at center of debate over cleanup
A billion-dollar industry has emerged as local governments work to stay below EPA limits for urban runoff that allow them to qualify for stormwater permits and that help determine federal funding to states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
But environmental scientists say it is unclear whether the high-cost projects are worth the investment. The work typically uses heavy machinery to clear old trees and plant new ones around re-engineered streams that contain boulders, wood and vegetation meant to absorb harmful pollutants.
In some cases, such projects may be hurting surrounding wildlife unnecessarily, some experts say.
“You modify the system so much that you risk transforming a stream ecosystem into something else. And the question becomes: Is that good?” said Solange Filoso, an aquatic biologist at the University of Maryland’s Center for Environmental Science who advocates for smarter stream restoration designs and a greater focus on the sources of urban runoff.
Now we all know that. And we all know what would do it better. But I didn’t know Maryland knew that too.
Thomas Jordan, a senior scientist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, said a fair amount of guesswork is involved in the effort. He cited a $1 million project on his center’s property in Anne Arundel County, Md., that initially caused the water to turn a rusty color — because of iron leaching out of rehydrated soil — and, later, appeared to be no more effective at removing pollutants than a beaver dam further downstream.
“And the beavers do that free,” he said.
Thomas Jordan at the Smithsonian Environental Research Center gets an email. Something tells me this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
