| <div class="ck-content"><h3>Come Out and Heal!</h3><p>I go out year round to rescue trees (remove invasives). Every season brings its own challenges and its own joys. During the summer, I noticed the volunteer turnouts go way down. Turns out, not everyone likes to muck around in the weeds in 95 degree heat and 95% humidity. Go figure. Also…vacations.</p><p>Now, however, more people are showing up and at just the right time. Temperatures have moderated, we are in a drought (not good for many living things, but it does make it easier to work outdoors). And this is a very good thing, because the fall is also the primo season to kill invasives, at least when it comes to applying herbicide.</p><p>Perennial plants are sucking down resources from trunk and branch to store during the winter months. So when we do our cut-and-paint dance, the herbicide we apply just to the stump is very efficiently absorbed by the plant leading to a higher rate of successful killing. </p><p>Applying herbicide to dormant trees (all the leaves have fallen, and we are well into the colder months) will not be effective. Applying herbicide to evergreens during the winter will still have an effect, though not when the temperatures hit the freezing point of water. And applying herbicide in the spring, when plants are pushing resources up from the roots to take advantage of the sun and rain, is least effective (though I will still do it, at least to larger shrubs and trees, because we need to stop seed production).</p><p>At Brumley Preserve, we are working our way through acres of dense autumn and thorny olive. Making <i>tremendous</i> progress, but still many acres to go. That will be our primary focus all through the winter months, over at Brumley. Elsewhere, I am prioritizing the removal of buckthorn at Mason Farm Biological Reserve. Both banks of Morgan Creek to the east of the trail head parking lot have been utterly transformed this year. I also expect to remove Chinese Privet as a serious threat at Leigh Farm Park in Durham by the end of the winter.</p><p>All of which is to stay: I am very glad to have more volunteers, <i>and</i> we can put many <i>more</i> of you to work healing the planet. So:</p><p style="text-align:center;"><span class="text-big" style="color:hsl(120,75%,60%);"><strong>Come Out and Heal!</strong></span> </p><p>Visit <a href="rewildearth.net">Rewild Earth</a>, check out our schedule and sign up for as many tree rescues as you can.</p><h3>Cloud Milking, seriously?</h3><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, seriously. From a fascinating </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/31/cloud-milking-fog-wind-water-keep-young-trees-alive-life-nieblas"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">article</span></a><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> in The Guardian:</span></p><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>‘Cloud-milking’: the zero-energy technique keeping young trees alive</strong></span></p><blockquote><p style="margin-left:0px;">Water condenses on the fine metal fronds of the structures, replicating the way conifers collect water from the atmosphere. The water is discharged automatically without any energy supply or CO₂ emissions and no machinery is used to transport it from one place to another. No electrical systems are us<span style="color:hsl(240, 75%, 60%);">e</span>d for irrigation and the water footprint is also reduced as no aquifers or rivers are exploited. The only power needed is for building the collectors and getting them in place.</p><p style="margin-left:0px;"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">The method is now being used to supply drinking water and water for irrigation to the Chilean coastal village of Chungungo in Coquimbo province, while in the Cape Verde archipelago Life Nieblas collectors, combined with locally-made wooden structures, are providing 1,000 litres of water per day, which is used to irrigate crops and water livestock.</span><br> </p></blockquote><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/95ac10a510954e5a4c008e98af6d33975916ebb0/0_0_4032_3024/master/4032.jpg?width=500&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none" alt="REPLACE"></div><h3>Funga to the Rescue!</h3><p><strong>Fungi could be given same status as flora and fauna under conservation plan</strong></p><blockquote><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">At Cop16, UK and Chile will co-sponsor a “pledge for fungal conservation”, which has been exclusively shared with the Guardian, arguing for the “recognition of fungi as an independent kingdom of life in legislation, policies and agreements, in order to advance their conservation and to adopt concrete measures that allow for maintaining their benefits to ecosystems and people in the context of the triple environmental crisis.”This refers to a growing body of evidence that fungi play a crucial role in </span><a href="https://technology.nasa.gov/patent/TOP2-135">remediating soil</a><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">, sequestering </span><a href="https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/news/fungi-stores-third-carbon-fossil-fuel-emissions-and-could-be-essential-reaching-net-zero#:~:text=The%20discovery%20by%20a%20team,change%20and%20reach%20net%20zero">a third of carbon</a><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);"> from fossil fuel emissions, and </span><a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/10/1024512">breaking down plastics</a><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);"> and polluting chemicals. Mycologists say that without fungi, </span><a href="https://www.newphytologist.org/news/view/250">most plants are unable to live outside water</a><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);"> and therefore life on Earth as we know it would not exist.</span></p></blockquote><p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/16/fungi-status-boost-conservation-cop16-uk-chile-biodiversity-plan">article</a> is a very upbeat indication of the growing understanding by humans of how much more complex and wonderful is our organic, natural world than we'd ever imagined.</p><p>I haven't yet seen any reports from Cop16 about this proposal, but I have been reading about how generally the conference was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/nov/03/cop16-ends-in-disarry-and-indecision-despite-biodiversity-breakthroughs">another massive failure</a> by those with the money and power to move things forward. </p><p>Next up is Cop29 (hosted by fossil fuel producer <span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:hsl(0,0%,0%);">Azerbaijan. Ah the absurdity of it all!) </span>and actually there is even a <i>third</i> Cop conference I hadn't known about, before reading <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/nov/04/degradation-of-land-is-threat-to-human-life-saudi-government-says">this article</a>: the <span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">CCD (Convention on Combatting Desertification) Cop16 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Yes, that's right, Saudi Arabia. Well, at least we can be certain that the murderous, disgusting Saudi ruling family really does care about desertification. After all, they can't drink oil and they can't drink blood.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">What? You think I sound cynical? I am <i>very</i> cynical about the “conference of the parties” (cop) gatherings. I believe they have generally done more harm than good. They consume enormous amounts of energy and life, and produce mostly lies and delay and frustration. They have been captured by lobbyists for the worst offenders, the worst violators of nature. </span></p><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">But, hey, let me tell you how I really feel. :-) </span></p><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">Bottom line: it's time to stop talking, stop setting goals. <strong>It's time to take action.</strong> </span></p><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">Participate in an upcoming tree rescue. And:</span></p><p><span class="text-big" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:hsl(240, 75%, 60%);"><strong>Vote like your future, and the future of your children and all life on our planet, depend on it. </strong></span><span class="text-big" style="color:hsl(240, 75%, 60%);"><strong>Because they do.</strong></span></p></div><div class="ck-content"><h3>Receive all my reports on tree rescues</h3><p>If you'd like to get some good news about restoring native habitats delivered straight to your brain upwards of a few times a week, sign in to <a href="https://rewildearth.net">Rewild Earth</a>, click on your name in top right, then My profile. Under Communication Preferences, switch “Send reports of all events” to ON. </p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1BeynVqu8taOGrsvi56u0mmDKuNJko22h&sz=w600-h400" alt="REPLACE" width="358" height="138"></div><h3>Resources you might find useful</h3><ul><li><a href="https://shop.naisma.org/collections/buckthorn-blaster">Buckthorn Blasters</a>: safe, easy herbicide delivery system from the North American Invasive Species Management Association. Don't start cutting without them!</li><li><a href="https://nc-ipc.weebly.com/nc-invasive-plants.html">NC Invasive Plants list</a>: recently updated by NC-IPC, the NC Invasives Plants Council.</li><li><a href="https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/AG259">Overview of different herbicides</a>: glyposphate, triclopyr and others - which should you use?</li><li>Volunteer for <a href="https://triangleland.org">Triangle Land Conservancy</a>: the biggest land conservancy group in our area. </li><li>Volunteer for <a href="https://ellerbecreek.org">Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association</a> (Durham): a wonderful group working hard to maintain contiguous natural areas along Ellerbe Creek.</li></ul></div> |