Riled Up

Fall Photo Tips

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 18:04:00 GMT

In many locations, its fall and the perfect time for some excellent photo and video explorations. Nature photographer Juergen Roth provided Riled Up with a guest post about 11 Tips for Better Fall Foliage Photos .

New England Fall Color

(credit: Juergen Roth)

Read Juergen’s tips for producing better photos and start shooting before the fleeting colors vanish. Visit him at Juergen Roth Fine Art Photography to view more of his work.

Riled Up

Taku Summer, 2012

Sun, 09 Sep 2012 13:32:00 GMT

Round River is a conservation organization dedicated to strategies that preserve and restore wild places and to develop and support traditions that sustain wildness. The name is derived from the writings of Aldo Leopold, one of the founders of conservation biology. Round River runs study abroad programs for small groups of students to join field research efforts and work alongside biologists and local community partners. With projects in Canada, Namibia, Chile, and the USA, Round River’s programs can change a students’ life. This Riled Up guest contribution comes from Kaitlin Poulter, an undergraduate student at Weber State University, who participated in a British Columbia project. Another Weber State undergraduate, Renee Linford, who received a collaborative supported grant funded by a private donor, Round River, and WSU to participate in the project joined Poulter at Taku Lake, BC, this summer.

Not Just Cogs & Wheels by Kaitlin Poulter

“On some level I have always understood the importance of conserving an ecosystem as a whole. But I realize now that the farther into academia I get, the more the conservation hair gets split. Some how the conversation got moved from the earth as a whole to the importance of the sub-populations of the Socorro Wren in southern California? Since I have come to the Taku, BC this incredibly large, wild expanse that puts the wild lands from home to shame, the importance of the large scale functioning ecosystem has sunk back in.

It began the first night we had Jackie Williams ("Uncle" Jackie) over for dinner. He did what a thousand scientific, peer reviewed articles cannot. He related the conservation of the land to me as a person. Often times we read shocking studies on the loss of biodiversity, thousands of acres of ransacked rainforests, skyrocketing high levels of atmospheric carbon but what does this mean for our lives? What does it mean for your grocery list? Your job? Does it affect the ins and outs of your daily life? How does it translate into changes in our attitudes about the Earth? What Uncle Jackie did was call the river and the land my grandfather: "Treat it as you would your grandfather, so it may live a long time and well. Respect it." That I understood.

As a human, a grandchild, a part of a family. I can revere, respect, love, and learn from the land just as I would my grandparents. Not just wild lands either. All lands, whether they be back yards, cattle ranges parks, or back country. All lands have something to say and teach.

Kuthai Lake, BC (credit: Kaitlin Poulter)

I have heard people talk about the Earth this way, but I don't believe anyone ever meant it as much as Uncle Jackie did. His people are from this land, born and died here. He is tied to this ecosystem because he is a part of it. He told us that the river is the big artery that carries blood to our heart. As this sunk in, I realized if the river is the aorta, the salmon are the blood, the trees and plants the muscles, and the animals all the organs performing their functions. Damage to any part of this being will cause cascading complications throughout its body, causing pain and suffering.

The natural world is not a machine as you so often hear it described. It cannot be lubricated to extend its life, replacement parts are not standing at the ready. It lives and breathes, it requires nourishment, space and freedom. Just like you and I. As a young scientist I have to remember this and live by it. It isn't just numbers on a page, DNA samples in tubes, or specimens to be keyed and recorded. This is our grandmother, we must care, respect, listen, and learn from her. We cannot forget that she is a part of all of us and in her fate we foresee our own.”

Drought Monitor Maps

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 06:48:00 GMT

The National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska has just released its latest Drought Monitor Map for the United States. It shows four levels of drought intensity and one level of "abnormal dryness". The Drought Monitor, recognized the need for a simple, accurate way to communicate drought conditions and a map was devised to show drought intensity on a scale similar to tornadoes and hurricanes.

The percentage of the USA struggling in drought conditions this year now exceeds 60 percent with the percentage experiencing extreme or exceptional drought at nearly 25 percent. The current drought affects the entire states of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Colorado. This is the highest percentage of the U.S. in extreme or exceptional drought since the Monitors records began in 2000.

Drought Monitor Map

(credit: Drought Mitigation Center)

NASA published a report this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that additionally determined that the Earth's land areas had become much more likely to experience extreme summer heat waves than they were in the middle of the 20th century. The report’s statistics show that the recent bouts of extremely warm summers, including the intense heat wave afflicting the U.S. Midwest this year, were very likely the consequence of global warming. The report’s lead author, James Hansen of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said:

"This summer people are seeing extreme heat and agricultural impacts and we're asserting that this is causally connected to global warming. In this paper we present the scientific evidence for that."

Stay tuned as drought driven impacts to corn, soybeans, livestock, and other agricultural commodities, not to mention the misery index for people living in the affected regions, emerge as grim economic statistics.

WHB

Calving Season

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 06:38:00 GMT

by Wayne Osborn

Winter is whale calving season and the new birthing for humpback whales is up and running in Western Australia. These images of a mother and new born calf were captured during survey work along with The Centre for Whale Research vessel, 'Whale Song' along the WA coast.

Humpback Whale birthing Whale Song Research Vessel Humpback Mum & Calf

(credit: Wayne Osborn) (credit: SWP Media) (credit: Wayne Osborn)

Whale Song is an ice capable vessel recently acquired by CWR and ironically was operating just offshore from the abandoned whaling station Norwegian Bay towards the southern end of Western Australia's Ningaloo Reef. Just as it was when whalers operated from this station, it is an ideal location to observe humpbacks on both the northern and southern legs of their annual migration to Antarctica.

Most humpback calves are born 1200 km further north in the warmer waters of the Kimberley and scientists are concerned that these births may be occurring too early in the migration cycle and will incur high mortalities. This season, two calves have had to be euthanized after becoming separated from their mothers in Ningaloo Reef's shallow lagoons. Orcas (killer whales) have attacked and taken two other calves. It's a wild ride for the newborns and a sad end for some.

Wayne Osborn is a retired electrical engineer and business manager who, along with his wife Pam, participates with Western Australian whale researchers to better understand whale birthing, migration, and population dynamics. Their studies are assisting conservation policies and other efforts to prevent un-intended boat collisions with whales in WA.

White Fluked Ghosts

Sun, 22 Jul 2012 14:36:00 GMT

by Wayne Osborn

Riled Up guest contributor Wayne Osborn observed “ghost” humpback whales with white tail flukes during a recent population survey in Western Australia.

Wayne commented: “The humpback’s top fluke surface is usually black. This was the first all white flukes they had been observed in photographing 1480 humpback whales since 2006 in the Exmouth Gulf. This image was taken in October 2011 during the annual southern migration of humpback whales along the Western Australian coast.”

White Humpbacks in Exmouth, WA

(credit: Wayne Osborn)