<div class="ck-content"><h4>Rewild Earth - looking <i>good</i>!</h4><p>I've been urged by several people to make signs explaining the work we do. A good idea, which also meant that I needed someone to help me design the signs. A volunteer had a friend who is a graphic designer. Claire of <a href="https://www.optioncdesign.com/">Option C Design </a>agreed to help, but suggested that the place to start was to come up with a logo and color palette. Over the last several months, we bounced ideas back and forth. Claire did an amazing job and just last week passed along to me a whole bunch of visual “assets” to get me going. Which means I am now very excited to present to you….</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1J6Co_8910FLyWnnmNTvYL_cJPqTeHvVl&sz=w600-h150"></div><p>Yes, we have a new “Three Rs” for the the rewilding of he 21st century:</p><ul><li>Remove invasives</li><li>Rescue trees</li><li>Resist extinctions</li></ul><p>I hope to offer t-shirts with this design on it:</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=18zVfTIwI1aVNGUTm5TZDggZhu_CJ22Ki&sz=w400-h400"></div><p>And of course update the website. I am very grateful to Claire for her inspired and inspiring work on behalf of our planet.</p><h4><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">“I </span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:hsl(0,75%,60%);">♥️</span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);"> my job” (and it's not even my job)</span></h4><p>Here is a very tall tulip poplar under attack from wisteria, near where I live. It bothered me a lot. </p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=17dhogm9bkxG25ElvG9N09CR9klM-Kv6h&sz=w400-h600"></div><p>Here it is several weeks later, after two forays to the base of tree, cutting my way through a thick curtain of live wisteria, dead wisteria, grape, large dead branches (killed by the wisteria, most likely), then cutting all the massive wisteria vines growing directly up the trunk:</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1CMW9iixdiUPBjNMI7VdNoyj1-2ssxc8o&sz=w400-h600"></div><p>One person, total of perhaps two hours work, 50 foot tree saved. It's incredible the positive impact we can have on the natural world around us, if only we have the right tools, the right determination, and the willingness to flaunt convention.</p><p>I <span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:hsl(0,75%,60%);">♥️</span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(15,20,25);"> my job. And I don't even think I'd like it any better if I got paid for it. </span></p><h4><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">"Sit back and be in awe at the spectacle"</span></h4><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">The cicada spectacle, that is. I very much enjoyed reading this </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/04/what-to-know-cicada-geddon"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">Guardian article </span></a><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">about the “</span>cicada-geddon." Have you tried any of them? Some friends prepared and ate from fried cicada and declared them delicious. My only disappointment from all the cicada analysis was my discovery that not all cicada periodicity (the frequency with which they appear, breed, and die) are prime numbers. I was enchanted by the excellent some had proposed that cicada had evolved to emerge after 13 or 17 years because that would minimize the chance of them being eaten. For example, from this <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-cicadas-love-affair-with-prime-numbers">New Yorker article</a>:</p><blockquote><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Since most predators have a two-to-ten-year population cycle, the twelve-year cicadas would be a feast for any predator with a two-, three-, four-, or six-year cycle. By this reasoning, any cicada with a development span that is easily divisible by the smaller numbers of a predator’s population cycle is vulnerable.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(0,0,0);">That is just so cool to contemplate, but sadly it also has lots of holes in it, most obviously the fact that there are many cicada populations around the world whose periodicity are even numbers.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Well, regardless of the true reason for the evolution of these cycles, cicadas are a wonder to behold.</span></p><p>But then every single bit of organic life is a wonder to behold, if only we slow down and get close enough to actually behold them.</p><p>Another reason I so love to go out to the woods so often - I get to watch changes on an almost daily basis.</p><p>On Saturday at Brumley, Libby called me over to see if I could identify a snake that was sunning itself on a small “hill” of dead stilt grass. It was a lovely little garter snake. Everyone gathered around to check it out.</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1keVtpGeaODhoLXRI8mUlkMGWPDD9A52o&sz=w300-h450"></div><p>It's always a joy to be reminded of all the creatures with whom we share this planet.</p></div><div class="ck-content"><h4>Receive all my reports on tree rescues!</h4><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><p>Resources you might find useful:</p><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> |