The Rise And Fall Of The Great Lakes

Must watch:

In this short documentary from conservationist Bill Mason, he illustrates that although the Great Lakes have had their ups and downs, nothing has been harder to take than what humans have done to them lately. In the film, a lone canoeist lives through the changes of geological history, through Ice Age and flood, only to find himself in the end trapped in a sea of scum.

Red Rocks Wilderness Act

Southern Utah Wilderness Aliance:

America's Red Rock Wilderness Act was re-introduced in the 111th Congress on April 2, 2009 with 105 original cosponsors in the House and 15 original cosponsors in the Senate.America's Red Rock Wilderness Act seeks to serve the public interest by permanently protecting more than 9 million acres of wilderness-quality land in Utah. The proposal, based on an exhaustive field inventory conducted by citizen volunteers, was first introduced in Congress by former Utah Representative Wayne Owens in 1989. Representative Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) assumed the role of House sponsor in 1993 and Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) introduced the Senate version in 1997.With the addition in July of new cosponsor Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the bill broke the record for the most Senate cosponsors since it was introduced in that chamber 12 years ago. We now have 21 senators cosponsoring S. 799, America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, in addition to the bill's original sponsor Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL).

If your representative or senators are not on the current list of cosponsors, please ask them to cosponsor America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act.

Antiquities Act

The Antiquities Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by Teddy Roosevelt in 1906. It gives our president the authority to restrict the use of public land owned by the federal government by executive order and bypass the Congress. The aim is to protect important federally owned sites by prohibiting its excavation and destruction. The land is designated as a National Monument and although the land will receive less funding and protection, the process is much quicker than going through Congress to establish a National Park. There are National Monuments that eventually turn into National Parks though, like Arches in Utah, which was designated a National Monument in 1929 and then a National Park in 1971.The Antiquities Act was first used to designate Devil's Tower National Monument (pictured above) in Wyoming and has been used over a hundred times since. Grand-Staircase Escalante National Monument (post below) in Utah was dedicated by Bill Clinton in 1996 during the height of the presidential election. The Utah congressional delegation and state governor were notified only 24 hours in advance that the ceremony for Grand-Staircase would not be held in their own state, but at Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. That November, Clinton won Arizona by a margin of 2.2%, and lost Utah to Republican Bob Dole by 21.1%.*For much more info about the Antiquities Act click here and here. For a list of U.S. National Monuments click here.

Loudon Wainwright III Continued

A few years back, I spent an entire summer listening to Loudon Wainwright's A Live One on repeat. One of the first posts I ever made on this little ol' website, which was amazingly over a year ago, was about that album. Since then, I've posted several odes to Mr. Wainwright's "Raffi for adults" style and after lying in bed with Unrequited and a belly full of s'mores last night, I thought I'd share some more this morning. Loudon's a waspy, self-depricating Bob Dylan trying stand-up.Thanks for reading this rag, y'all. I appreciate it.MP3: Loudon Wainwright III - Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder MP3: Loudon Wainwright III - Kick In The Head

Woodstock

Smithsonian Magazine has a small article about the photograph that graces the cover of Woodstock:

Early Sunday morning, Uzzle, happily stuck at Woodstock, left his makeshift tent with two Leicas strapped round his neck. "Gracie Slick of Jefferson Airplane was singing, bringing up the dawn," he remembers. "And just magically this couple stood up and hugged." They kissed, smiled at each other, and the woman leaned her head on the man's shoulder. "I just had time to get off a few frames of black and white and a few of color, then the light was over and the mood was over," Uzzle says of what would become his best-known photograph. His subjects never noticed.

Youtube: Jefferson Airplane - Won't You Try

Deer Ticks

Ticks are always a concern on the trail so make sure you use bug spray with DEET, tuck your pants into your socks to keep them off your silky smooth legs, and check your body thoroughly when you get home. The black-legged tick (or deer tick, picture above) can carry Lymes Disease, so they're the ones you really want to make sure aren't creeping around under your skin. There was an article on the NYTimes Room For Debate Blog earlier this week written by five different professors explaining what we should know about ticks and their environment and the steps we can take to control them. Some interesting viewpoints by the authors are highlighted below:1) There are more and more ticks each year. This is directly correlated to the fact that there are more and more deers each year. In Rhode Island, each deer produces about 450,000 larval deer ticks every year.2) Virginia opossums play a prominent role in reducing human health to tick born diseases by grooming the ticks off killing them before they even have a chance to feed.3) This tick species bites dozens of species of mammals, birds and reptiles — not just deer. And several recent studies in New York and New Jersey have found no connection between populations of deer and ticks. In fact, abundance of black-legged ticks is more closely tied to that of white-footed mice. Ticks feeding on mice survive well and are highly likely to become infected with the Lyme disease bacterium.

Edward Abbey's Firetower

Last time I'll post on Abbey for a while, I promise. I'm sure it's annoying. The North Rim Firetower in Grand Canyon National Park, a firetower that Edward Abbey manned for four years in the late 60s and early 70s, has been named to the National Historic Lookout Register. What does this mean? Nothing, of course. And as The Goat points out, the solitude that the great men and women who man these towers experience is cleary not filled with thoughts of making this list. But an honor is an honor folks and, without the time that Mr. Abbey spent in that tower, we wouldn't have Black Sun, one of Abbey's most critically unsuccessful books he ever wrote. The story of a firetower lookout who falls in a love with a young girl and gets blamed when she disappears in the park where he works, the New Yorker called the book "an embarrassingly bad novel." I unfortunately have not had the pleasure of reading this book. Have you?More info hereMP3: Buffy Sainte-Marie - He's The Keeper Of The Fire

Pirates Of The Flats

Pirates Of The Flats:

What would happen if you took a group of world-famous fishing enthusiasts, brought them down to the Bahamas, set them loose on the flats for a week’s worth of bonefishing, and then captured it all on film? Well, you’d get Pirates of the Flats, which (despite the goofy name) looks to be about the coolest fishing show to come around since, well, ever.Talk about your all-star cast: The six-episode series features Tom Brokaw, Michael Keaton (yes, the actor), fly-fishing legend Lefty Kreh, Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, writer Thomas McGuane, and photographer Val Atkinson (and in case you’re wondering, they can all unfurl a sixty-foot cast into the wind before you can say “Bonefish at two o’clock”). The episodes will air on ESPN2 beginning this January. But there’s more than just star power and big fish here. Produced in partnership with the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust, the series will highlight conservation efforts surrounding this most hallowed of game fish and the coastal environments they call home, so you learn not just how to catch bonefish but how to protect them as well. Now that’s a fishing show worth its salt.

Very busy at work today. More tomorrow.

Yellow-Yellow

1,000 pound grizzlies in Yellowstone can't even get them open, but a small black bear in the Adirondacks named Yellow-Yellow seems to have cracked the BearVault code. Named after the yellow tags in both of her ears, Yellow-Yellow has found away to open the both the BearVault 450, which uses one tab to open the canister, and the BearVault 500, which uses two. And apparently Yellow-Yellow is now teaching other bears too; Campers have reported seeing other bears get into their BearVaults.Despite her knack for getting into people's camps and food, Yellow-Yellow, who weighs 350 pounds, is as shy as can be. Ben Tabor, a state wildlife technician who has tracked Yellow-Yellow claims "It would be ridiculous for us to remove Yellow-Yellow at this point. She’s not bold. She doesn’t charge. She steals food but runs away when confronted.”There's a pretty amazing story about Yellow-Yellow over at the NYTimes that I highly recommend you read.HOLY HELL MP3: Joe Cocker - Cry Me A River

Corduroy Mountain

Found out about Corduroy Mountain the other day when I got an email telling me that Cold Splinters had been put on their blogroll. Thanks for that. Peter, the site's writer, has a real ear for homegrown country rock and the stories that accompany each song are just as fine. Here's what CM has to say about "Smokies" by Barefoot Jerry:

Barefoot Jerry was an all-star band of Nashville session pros. Friday nights, when the studios closed, these friends would load Ford pickup beds with bags of groceries, instrument cases, and bottles of sour mash. Forty-eight hours of freedom awaited. Tucked in an Appalachian holler was a shotgun shack, its paint peeling from the elements. The men would wheel a piano onto the creaking wood porch, pull out guitars, pass the drink. And so they would play their music, not that of rote producers. Inspired by the living beauty and primal energy of the surroundings, the men wrote "Smokies." At least that's what I hope happened.

Go on over and look around. He doesn't have much up yet, but let's hope he keeps going. Go Peter. Go.MP3: Barefoot Jerry - Smokies

Honeybees

Got home from a great weekend in the Catskills full of music, barns, blueberries, ponds, bonfires and jalapeno cornbread to find a great documentary on PBS about the mysterious disappearance of the honeybee. The program is about two years old, so read this to get the latest on what those smart guys and gals in white coats are discovering. It seems as though it's a combination of factors, including farming practices, that are making the bees more vulnerable to disease. Recently a discovery has been made that bees sterilize their hives and in doing so, give the colony a form of "social immunity," which lessens the need for each individual bee to have a strong immune system.Godspeed, honeybees. Without you, those blueberries would never have existed.MP3: Gary P. Nunn - Tennessee Road (thx)

Ten Mile River Lean-To

A few weeks ago I went camping on the AT at the Ten Mile River Lean-To. Situated in a monster field of weeds and wildflowers surrounded by tall trees, the clean (!) lean-to is only a few hundred feet from its namesake river. Take the Metro North to the Appalachian Trail stop (weekends only) and head northeast (cross the highway) for about 10 miles. You'll pass the Wiley Shelter 6 miles into the hike, but keep going, because it's worth the extra time. Only bummer about the Appalachian Trail in Connecticut is that there are no fires allowed. But that ain't no thang. There's a huge river to keep you busy.I spent the night in the lean-to watching and listening to a storm pass over the field while sipping on tequila and blackberry brandy with two friends that I met on the trail. Was a real time. I had put in a fresh roll of film before I headed out of my Brooklyn apartment but the shitty photo above was the only one I took on the entire trip. For the first time, I had no interest in taking out my camera.