National Wildlife Refuges Archives ~ Rambling ranger

When it comes to biodiversity, my feelings run through the full gamut of emotions.

Happiness

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge — Biodiverse landscapes make us happy.

Being close to nature has been a priority of mine for nearly my whole adult life. From my first backpacking trip on, I realized that immersing myself in landscapes teeming with life – many different forms of life interacting easily and naturally with each other – kept me healthy, happy and sane. Knowing that I am just a piece of a very big puzzle, a cog in the unbelievably complex wheel of the Universe, helps me to regain a proper perspective when I get overwhelmed by challenges that seem too great for me to handle. It’s really not all about me; my problems are so inconsequential when I am surrounded by the real Big Picture.

I’m not alone. It has been acknowledged by cultures all over the globe that healthy, thriving ecosystems are necessary for our physical, mental, and spiritual health. Variety IS the spice of life.

Gratitude

Death Valley Monkeyflower — Plant biodiversity is incredibly important in our lives.

Every day I am grateful for the complexity of life. Biodiversity is responsible for all the choices we have in the foods we can eat. It is responsible for life-saving medicines, with more being discovered all the time. Lack of biodiversity has been connected to many disease outbreaks. Biodiversity is accountable for resiliency and flexibility in the face of dramatic changes to our planet. It is necessary for the very air we breathe and water we drink.

As a park ranger, biodiversity is essential to my employment. It’s probably the main reason people visit national parks. But you don’t have to work in the tourism industry to be economically dependent on biodiversity. According to the Living Planet Index, people derive approximately $125 trillion of value from natural ecosystems each year. Gotta be grateful for that.

Concern

We are losing our biodiversity at an astonishing rate, a reason for great concern. Species extinctions currently vary between 100 and 10,000 times the background extinction rate of one to five extinctions a year over the history of the planet. That doesn’t even get into the decline in populations of many species not yet in danger of extinction. The average population size of vertebrate species has declined by 68 percent from 1970-2016. Since biodiversity is essential to our survival, we should all be concerned.

Sadness

Monarch Butterflies — The Western Monarch Butterfly population is down more than 99% from the 1980s count.

Witnessing this decline breaks my heart. It makes me very sad when I read about mass die-offs of seabirds in western Alaska or see with my very own eyes the decline of a species like the Monarch Butterfly.

Fear

Denali National Park — After a lengthy court battle, grizzly bears are still covered by the Endangered Species Act in the contiguous US.

As I watch ecosystems crash one by one, as we continue to do little to nothing to address this issue, I feel fear. I fear for our quality of life and our very survival as a species as we continue to degrade the resources we need to depend on, both now and in the future.

Guilt

Wramgell St. Elias national Park & Preserve — Like most of us, I need to make more conscious choices.

I’m an American. I’m guilty. It’s ridiculous how much we Americans contribute to the loss of habitat and the loss of biodiversity. All because we have been trained to constantly want more, more, more, just to keep our consumer-driven culture intact.

I didn’t get a driver’s license until I was 50. I didn’t want to become part of the problem. But I am part of the problem. I’ve driven a couple of hundred thousand miles since then.

I’m not much of a consumer for an American. I’m not one of those getting Amazon packages every day. I seldom buy something unless I need it. But I don’t always buy organic or make wise choices about eating locally. Pesticides, herbicides, and industrial farming methods are some of the main drivers behind the loss of biodiversity. Transportation of foodstuffs from one part of the world to destinations tens of thousands of miles away is an incredible waste of our planet’s resources. I could do better. We all could do better.

Anger

graffiti on redwood tree — Disrespect for living things makes me angry.

Although I feel guilt, I feel a lot more anger. I feel angry at everyone that disrespects nature and the diversity of life. The thoughtlessness of an individual vandalizing or destroying a tree or a flower can make me mad, but the heartlessness of powerful corporations and individuals who put short-term profit before the long-term health of the planet makes me rage.

Despair

Sea Star and hermit crabs — Hermit Crabs scavenging a dead sea star

I’ve felt a lot of despair over the last 4 years as I’ve watched all the hard-won environmental reforms of the previous 50 years go by the wayside. I’ve felt despair as I’ve had to stand by while the Trump administration gutted the Endangered Species Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, two key pieces of legislation for the protection of biodiversity.

It can be overwhelming when the reality of the situation really sinks in. When I walk a beach in Olympic National Park that no longer supports starfish, or think of the reefs in the Florida Keys that I used to snorkel that are now white, dead skeletons, I feel despair.

Joy

But it’s not all doom and gloom. We humans have some amazing capabilities. We can turn things around when we really try. There are success stories out there. There are species that have been brought back from the edge of extinction and are now thriving.

Elephant seals are one of those species. So are sea otters. So are bison. They’re out there, those examples of times when we’ve corrected the mistakes we’ve made. I feel great joy when I see these success stories.

Hope

Yellowstone National Park — American Bison have come back from the brink of extinction.

“With unity, we can do great things.” – Joseph R. Biden

Although my emotions run the whole gamut, the main emotion I am feeling right now when it comes to biodiversity is hope. A new day is dawning. We have an opportunity right now to turn things around and build a better world for the future, a world where biodiversity matters. But to make this happen, we need to change our mindsets. Instead of asking ourselves, “What will best benefit me?”, we need to ask ourselves, “What will best benefit us, all of us? What policies can we enact that will be good for not just the short-term, but for the long-term health of our Mother the Earth?” We need to take a good look at how we do things and figure out better ways to do them, ways that protect biodiversity and lead to a cleaner, greener planet. We have a chance, and we need to act on it. Now.

“It’s time for boldness because there’s so much to do.” – Joseph R. Biden

Thank you to Patti of Pilotfishblog for this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge theme, Emotions.

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve — Biodiversity is good for all of us!

Answers to last week’s quiz – 1) Purple Cress, alpine 2) Purple Mat, desert 3) Bristly Langlosia, desert 4) Spring Beauty, alpine 5) Bigelow Mimulus, desert

I recently had the great good fortune to visit Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico. It’s a special place.

The refuge is an incredible winter destination for those of you who are fellow nature addicts. The Bosque is bird nerd heaven.

You’ve probably seen the pictures. Thousands of snow geese and sandhill cranes, that’s what the Bosque is famous for.

And for good reason. The cranes are everywhere – in the marshes, in the fields, flying overhead.

The snow geese are a little more elusive. My first day in I didn’t see any at all. But when you do find them, you find a lot! Thousands. The snow geese travel in huge flocks of hundreds, even thousands, of birds as they move from pond to pond.

When I was there, the geese were spending most of their time on the other side of the river, where they didn’t have to deal with tourists like me.

The Entrance Pond

But there is one time and place where you are very likely to find them. No guarantees. (I did get completely skunked by the geese my first day.) There is a long, shallow. marshy pond located shortly after you cross into the refuge on Old Highway 1. Flocks of geese show up just before sunrise and take off soon after the light hits the water.

You’ll find the cranes, there, too. After all, the cranes are everywhere. The shallow pond is a great roost for them at night. It’s deep enough to keep the coyotes at bay but shallow enough to sleep in.

It’s a tradition for the bird nerds who frequent the Bosque. It’s kind of like watching the sunset in Key West, a crowd gathering to applaud an everyday natural phenomenon.

Lines of photographers gather along the berm next to the pond, like combat fisherman in Alaska, tripod to tripod. Instead of salmon, they’re trying to catch that perfect shot, waiting for that sometime moment when all the geese take off at once. It doesn’t always happen, but when it does…

Photographing Bosque del Apache — Bird Nerds

These are die-hard nature photographers. I was part of the maybe 3% who DIDN”T have a lense as long as your leg.

Most of these folks come from a different tax bracket than I do. I overheard a conversation -“Well, I didn’t get the upgrade to the balcony room for the Antarctica trip because they wanted another 25,000 and I thought that was a little steep.” Uh-huh. No wonder she has that big long lense and I don’t.

As a photographer, I found it a great place to practice, and learn the art of nature photography. Low light and lots of movement are difficult taskmasters, teaching new skills in the art of capturing the essential moment. Practice, practice. I could see my photos improve with every day I had to learn here.

Refuge Roads

If your lense isn’t long enough to get that National Geographic shot at the pond, head on up to the other refuge roads and trails. There are plenty of other birds to see here, too.

Nestled in farming country along the Rio Grande River, the Bosque provides a patchwork of different habitats. From grasslands to marshes to patches of woodland, it’s a peaceful, pastoral setting.

Red=tailed Hawk — Immature Red-Tailed Hawk

Bosque del Apache is intensively managed to recreate conditions similar to what was found along the Rio Grande before the river was dammed and tamed. Fields are flooded to create temporary marshy areas, just as if the Rio Grande had flooded its banks with summer monsoons or fast-melting snow from the mountains. These ephemeral floods create an everchanging mosaic that supports nourishing plants like chufa and millet for the birds and other wildlife to eat.

Although there are two wonderful loops you can drive and half a dozen trails, most of the 57,331-acre refuge is not easily accessible to the general public. Thirty thousand acres of Bosque del Apache are managed as wilderness.

Stressing out at work and need a little more peace in your life? Come here and slow down. It’s zen, a perfect spot for a bit of nature therapy. A dozen varieties of waterfowl feed in the ponds and flooded fields. Raptors perch on branches and songbirds flutter by or rustle through the grasses. There are always birds flying by. This land is so full of life!

It’s not all birds, either. You might see deer, javelina, even a bobcat. I watched a skunk trot down the road one afternoon.

This land has a subtle beauty. It grows on you. It’s a place you could come day after day and never tire of. It’s a place that changes with every passing day, with every passing hour, yet still remains constant. It is a place to which I know I will return again and again.

Lodging

There is no camping in the refuge. There are a couple of spots where you can camp near San Antonio, the nearest town. However, it is very cold at night, with temps in the teens, during the prime time of year for the birds at Bosque del Apache. The camping areas are a muddy mess whenever it rains, too.

San Antonio has limited lodging. There are a couple of Bed & Breakfasts, an RV park or two and a couple of trailer/camper options available through Airbnb. There are two restaurants in this tiny town vying for the title of “best green chile cheeseburger in New Mexico”, though, so you may want to stop for lunch one day.

Most visitors stay in Socorro. It’s a charming town, big enough to support a good coffee shop and a micro-brewery but with a decidedly working-class feel to it. Socorro has not been gentrified, not quite yet. It means getting up a little earlier in the morning, though, as it is a 20-25 minute drive from Socorro to the pond.

But it’s worth the drive. When the cackling of the geese rises from a murmur to a roar and you watch thousands of birds burst into flight instantaneously, you will experience that National Geographic moment. You, too, will hold a special place in your heart for Bosque del Apache.

Tag: National Wildlife Refuges

Biodiversity is an Emotional Issue

Happiness

Gratitude

Concern

Sadness

Fear

Guilt

Anger

Despair

Joy

Hope

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Bosque del Apache is Bird Nerd Heaven

The Entrance Pond

Refuge Roads

Lodging

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Happiness

Gratitude

Concern

Sadness

Fear

Guilt

Anger

Despair

Joy

Hope

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The Entrance Pond

Refuge Roads

Lodging

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