I was super excited to see multiple Western Tanagers in my yard at the same time. These are some of my favorite birds because of how brightly colored the males are.
Pics from my ramble today. I found a remarkable nature park close to home but feeling much further away. This forest is only 24 years old! it was planted in 2000 in a bold bit of ecological restoration on 60 acres of degraded land next to the old dump. You can get here by bike or foot but but not car so it was very quiet. In an hour I saw only 5 humans and 4 dogs.
I wish they had taken better care against invasive plants though, there was a lot of English ivy and Himalayan blackberry. #ecology#rewilding#NativePlants#SalemOregon#WillametteValley#GoByBike
Ever wonder why when you were a kid in Oregon, you learned about the Iroquois and Cherokee tribes of the Eastern USA but nothing about local Native Americans? Why you learned about the pioneers crossing the plains on the Oregon Trail, but nothing about what they did once they arrived?
...Or maybe you didn't even notice how much was left out until this very moment, reading my words?
Here is the missing piece.
"Tribal Histories of the Willamette Valley" by David G. Lewis.
Fair warning, this book made me so upset that I cried. Not at the author, he's done an excellent job. At the astonishing cruelty, violence, and dishonesty shown to native people by (many) white settlers. At how little they asked for, and still didn't get. At how little is left of the ecosystems that sustained people and wildlife and were carefully maintained by native people. At how much astonishing wealth has accrued to those who stole from natives, even to the modern day.
Land acknowledgement statements are not enough! If you are a white person in Oregon, you need to read this.
Climate change means, among other things, that we can’t take anything for granted any longer. There is no normal now.
Used to be we would talk about how important it is to keep our tropical forests and other areas of vegetation intact, because they act as carbon sinks, absorbing CO2 from the air during photosynthesis.
But even this — one of the most basic science facts we learned in high school biology — is now in jeopardy.
"Parts of tropical rainforests could get too hot for photosynthesis, study suggests"
@breadandcircuses People say to plant trees, but here in the US #PacificNorthwest#PNW#WillametteValley established trees are parched and dying. #Native#Trees planted several years ago, and watered regularly, are dying. It seems like their vascular systems can’t pull up enough water even if it’s there.