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Everyone Should Practice Environmental Libertarianism

ARTICLE MB PIC IMG_5839 — ©Marlene A. Condon

November 2, 2017

This stream ran red into the Moormans River of western Albemarle following logging upon the adjacent mountain. The dirt-laden water pouring into the river was unfortunate not only for aquatic wildlife, but also for the future growth of trees on the mountain. Photo: Marlene Condon.

Flowering plants (angiosperms that make up more than 80 percent of green plants in the world) depend upon wildlife for their continued existence. Conversely, wildlife depends upon plants for its existence. It is a form of quid pro quo, in which both entities benefit from each other’s activities.

Humans, just like plants, also depend upon wildlife for their continued existence. When people provide habitat for pollinators and numerous other kinds of critters, the animals provide people with the perpetuation of plants that provide oxygen and food, as well as great beauty in the form of flowers, birds, butterflies, dragonflies, and oh, so very many creatures!

Yet it can be very difficult to get folks to do what is proper for the environment, which in the end, is also going to benefit neighbors near and far as well as wildlife nearby and down the road. The situation with the Chesapeake Bay is a prime example.

Although people are aware of the causes of the bay’s problems, many refuse to change their ways to help the Chesapeake Bay to recover. Their inaction has brought great harm to the people whose livelihoods were dependent upon a healthy bay chock full of sea life. Environmental libertarianism would never have allowed this to happen.

A right-to-the-point summation of the political philosophy of libertarianism is that it advocates allowing folks to do pretty much whatever they wish, especially on their own property, so long as they do not bring harm to others. The idea is that state intervention in the lives of citizens should be minimal. Therefore, so long as people are not causing difficulties for other people, there should be a minimum number of government regulations for citizens to abide by.

Indeed, if everyone practiced libertarian ideals with respect to the environment, we certainly would not need so much government interference in our lives. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency came into being only because people refused to take proper care of the environment that all of us depend upon for our own health and wellbeing.

When too many people will not act of their own accord to do what is right for the natural world—and thus their fellow citizens—there is absolutely no choice but to rein in their behavior with threats of fines, or jail, or whatever it takes. More recently, government had to step in to demand that companies manufacture more-energy-efficient light bulbs because people would rather leave lights unnecessarily burning than to flick a switch to turn them off.

And while some farmers have put up fencing to keep their cows and cow waste out of our waterways, others continue to allow their animals to enter streams at will, the Chesapeake Bay and the people dependent upon it for jobs be damned (please excuse the language). I have heard straight from farmers’ mouths that they do not believe waste from their cows is a major contributing factor of bay pollution that harms sea life, but chemistry proves these farmers to be in denial of the truth.

Of course, home and business owners, as well as government, are equally guilty, if not more so, of polluting the bay. On many of their properties, laborers mow and weed-whack every last plant to such an extent that the soil often becomes exposed and then dries out. If you come by as they are working, you can see soil dust-clouds created by their machines. The dirt settles out on roads, eventually washing into drains and streams that feed the Bay.

In our forests, loggers may not feel obliged to take adequate precautionary measures to limit erosion if the logging takes place high up on a mountain hidden from view. However, a steady rain alerts those of us paying attention to the error of their ways.

I have seen more than one local stream run red with local clay during logging operations well out of eyesight, but not out of earshot. All that dirt ends up settling out eventually to smother aquatic habitat and wildlife.

Some folks leave trashcans out 24/7, creating a hazard for our wildlife. When people neglect to secure their trashcans so that animals cannot get into them, critters may eat plastic wrap because it smells like food, and die a horrible death due to intestinal obstruction. Bottles that were not cleaned up can lure and trap small animals.

The world would be a much nicer place in which to live if folks would just consider whether the things they do on their own land impact not only wildlife, but other people as well. On many a lovely day I have had to close my windows to keep the house from filling with smoke from neighbors burning yard debris (and sometimes plastic-laden trash, the fumes of which can cause cancer).

On those occasions, it is very upsetting that I am not able to bring fresh air inside, but it is also troubling to know that these folks are not letting their yard debris decay naturally. They would not be polluting the air, and they would be recycling organic matter while creating habitat for many different kinds of animals, such as lizards, salamanders, insects, and spiders.

We have so many environmental regulations because far too many people do not take proper care of the environment. Yet it is our moral duty to nurture it, and if everyone behaved morally in the first place, we would not need laws to make us behave appropriately.

I am not particularly political by nature, but I think it would be extremely worthwhile for people to start practicing environmental libertarianism, no matter what their political stripes may be. After all, a better world always begins at home.

Blue Ridge Naturalist: Everyone Should Practice Environmental Libertarianism

Little frogs, sure signs of spring, need attention

By Marlene A. Condon

From the Bay Journal, March 4, 2014.

IMG_1690.jpgtrim_1 — A Wood Frog blending in with dead leaves. Photo by Marlene A. Condon.

One late-February day as I was jogging early in the morning, I heard what sounded like distant Canada geese off to my left. I searched the sky but saw nothing.

Then I realized that the “honking” was actually coming from beside the road. I put my exercise regimen on hold and walked to the edge of the road to look down the embankment where the sounds were coming from. I had finally found my first wood frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus).

I had seen photos of these amphibians in field guides and knew that they should exist where I live.

As you might guess from the name, wood frogs inhabit woods, and woods make up most of my area.

I had wanted very much to see these frogs because they looked so attractive in field guides. A wood frog has a dark facial mask with a light stripe along its upper jaw, both of which contrast with its brown body. But wood frogs are not easy to find.

The easiest time to catch a glimpse of these animals is late winter to early spring, when they migrate from their overwintering sites to shallow pools or ponds where they will breed. They often begin to move during the last few days of February, especially if it is rainy and somewhat warm. The rest of the year they are silent and difficult to see against the background of dried leaves on the forest floor that they call home.

If you really want to confirm that spring is on the way, look for the earliest-appearing cold-tolerant amphibians (frogs, toads, salamanders) of late winter. These hardy little creatures offer the first clue that warm weather is coming, long before American robins that so often —and erroneously, as some robins may be in the area all winter — get credit for this prediction.

One does not need to rise as early in the morning as I do to notice the emergence of amphibians from winter hibernation. Any relatively warm wet evening from now until well into spring should reward those who look with the sight of these diminutive animals.

They emerge in great numbers during the hours of darkness and all of them head to ponds or short-lived (“ephemeral”) pools of water to breed.

Unfortunately, many amphibian species are losing ground in our modern world, both figuratively and literally.

Hundreds of amphibians need to cross roads to get to their breeding grounds. Sad to say, many, many of them get run over by cars and trucks as folks drive quickly along the roads, usually completely unaware that they are squishing animals underneath their tires.

(Anyone who gets up early and walks the roads before crows and other scavengers have a chance to clean up the carcasses will be astonished, and perhaps saddened, by the numbers of mashed amphibians.)

Those that do survive the road crossings often find it difficult to successfully reproduce because wetlands are disappearing.

Humans frequently find wet areas to be a nuisance, even if pieces of property are only wet in the spring and dry the rest of the year. They drain and fill in such areas, not realizing that they are wiping out the breeding grounds for many wildlife species.

And, perhaps, that is the problem.

Birds and mammals are much more noticeable because they are bigger and they visit open spaces where humans see them. Amphibians, on the other hand, are usually out of sight, hiding under decaying logs and branches or resting underneath stones or leaves. For humans, out of sight usually means out of mind.

Therefore, I hope you will take a late-winter or early-spring walk and become familiar with these inhabitants of the natural world that are somewhat hidden from our view most of the time.

I also hope you will drive more slowly on rainy nights and be alert for the presence of frogs, toads, and salamanders making their way to a very important appointment—a date with a female of the same species so they can reproduce.

The male frogs and toads (salamanders tend to be silent) that one can hear calling at this time of year are advertising from suitable breeding grounds for mates. The females arrive, eggs are laid, and within days, the adults have left. Soon the eggs hatch and frog and toad tadpoles and salamander larvae emerge.

Although it may seem surprising that any animal would want to attempt to reproduce while ice may still be on the ground and in areas that are sometimes only temporarily suitable, this early mating frenzy allows the amphibians a measure of protection from predation—most aquatic predators will still be hibernating.

Pay attention, and you may get to witness an amphibian migration!

Marlene A. Condon, author of The Nature-friendly Garden, believes saving the natural world begins in one’s own back yard. Distributed by Bay Journal News Service.

In your garden nurture a treasure trove of life

Marlene A. Condon, June 17, 2014

http://www.bayjournal.com/article/in_your_garden_nurture_a_treasure_trove_of_life

IMG_4132_1 — A Milkweed Beetle on a Common Milkweed inflorescence. Photo by Marlene A. Condon.

One day, my mother-in-law was strolling around the yard with me when we came to a large milkweed plant in the middle of what little lawn I have. She asked me, with much surprise, “Are you keeping this?”

I didn’t know whether it was the placement of the plant (coming up in the grass) or whether it was the type of plant (a “weed” to most folks) that made her think I shouldn’t want the milkweed there, but it didn’t matter. I knew that particular milkweed held a tiny treasure that I was delighted to have in my yard. I would never consider destroying such a valuable plant!

A minuscule (less than 4 mm long) monarch caterpillar was eating its way toward adulthood on that 4-foot-tall plant. It belonged to the last generation of the season and would fly to Mexico before freezing weather set in. I felt proud that my milkweed was helping to sustain the population of this tropical butterfly that can’t survive the winter in our area.

Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) is an early-summer flowering plant that comes up in dry fields and along roadsides, usually growing 3–5 feet tall. While the overall impression you might have of these plants from a distance is one of coarseness, a closer look reveals beautiful, goblet-shaped, pink flowers that perfume the air with a wonderful scent.

The blooms hold lots of nectar, which is especially alluring to bees and butterflies. Silver-spotted skippers, great spangled fritillaries, zebra swallowtails, American ladies, tiger swallowtails, Eastern tailed blues, and spicebush swallowtails are some of the butterfly species that you might see visiting.

You may even spot an unfamiliar species that you have not seen in your yard before. On June 18, 1999, I saw my first-ever variegated fritillary nectaring at common milkweed. This lovely butterfly spent the afternoon feeding in my milkweed patch before moving on. And, of course, milkweed will bring in the monarch butterfly whose caterpillar can eat only milkweed plants to survive.

The monarch has suffered very serious declines over the last several years, with 2013 being catastrophic. The clearing of the Mexican fir forests where these insects overwinter, in combination with the continued displacement of “weedy” habitat in this country, have made their prospects dim.

Gardeners can help save this disappearing species by growing milkweeds, especially the widespread common milkweed. These plants come up in spring, just in time for northward-migrating monarchs to lay eggs on them.

It should take about 13 days for the eggs to hatch, but that may vary, depending upon the weather. The teeny-tiny, colorful caterpillars are striped in black, yellow and white.

But monarchs are not the only interesting insects to be found on common milkweed. Orange-and-black insects known as large milkweed bugs may appear by the time that the green seedpods have begun to form. Or you may see small milkweed bugs that are red and black. Both insects pierce the pods to suck the juices from the developing seeds inside.

After you have seen milkweed bugs mating, you can keep an eye on the seed pods where the immature ones will appear. They will stay there for quite some time, which means you can check every day or so to watch them develop.

I usually see one or more adult large milkweed bugs with their nymphs (the immature milkweed bugs) until well into fall. The adults appear to be watching over the young ones, which is extremely unusual behavior in the insect world.

An interesting phenomenon associated with the common milkweed is that many of the creatures feeding on these plants are orange, including a species of aphid. A few organisms are red—the color which is closest to orange on the color spectrum.

Milkweed sap contains alkaloids that make monarchs that feed upon it somewhat poisonous to predators.

The fertilization process in common milkweed is so complex that very few flowers ever get fertilized. From each cluster of up to 75 blooms, only two seed pods will normally develop.

I highly recommend that you grow common milkweed. Then perhaps a monarch laying eggs will alert you to the plants emerging from the ground and soon, you too, could be able to enjoy seeing “tiny treasures.”

Distributed by Bay Journal News Service.

“Pests” are powerful allies in effort for healthy waters

By Marlene A. Condon. Text from article that appeared in the Bay Journal on July 14, 2015

http://www.bayjournal.com/article/pests_are_powerful_allies_in_effort_for_healthy_waters

IMG_2890trim_1 — The immature form of the Japanese Beetle is a grub that consumes (recycles) dead plant roots.

Soil constitutes the foundation that supports plant and animal life on Earth. Consisting of broken-down rock and the remains of organisms that once existed, it brings forth new life and takes back the old.

Soil is worth more than its weight in gold, yet humans tend to treat it as if it has little value and as if its loss is neither important nor consequential.

As a result, we don’t give much thought to soil erosion during rain storms, even though it can be quite visible.

In Charlottesville, Va., for example, the Rivanna River that runs smack through the city appears red during and after every rain storm. That obvious red coloring represents clay soil leaving the area, and it’s a serious problem for the local backyards and farmlands from which it came, as well as for the Chesapeake Bay to which it flows.

The loss of soil and nutrients negatively affects the landscape by reducing its productivity. When runoff from throughout the watershed reaches the Chesapeake Bay, it causes the die-off of underwater grasses that are needed by water-dwelling organisms to survive.

Excess nutrients cause algal blooms that cloud the water and starve it of oxygen while suspended soil blocks sunlight necessary to plants. Without access to sunlight, grasses can’t photosynthesize, or make food—and they die.

The loss of these plants affects the survivability of animals, such as young striped bass (Morone saxatilis) and blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus)—two economically important Bay species—that are dependent on underwater grasses for shelter from predation.

The grasses also oxygenate water, which benefits most aquatic animal life. And, well-established areas of grasses reduce erosion along shorelines during storms that roil the water.

There’s a simple, common-sense solution to help save the Chesapeake Bay as well as our yards and farmland from the movement of sediment: We should save the pests!

When burrowing animals, such as moles, voles, mice, ground hogs, chipmunks, ants, termites, grubs and cicadas—animals usually thought of as pests—make openings at the surface of the ground, and tunnels or burrows underground, they create air spaces into which rainwater can quickly disappear.

By accepting these critters and allowing them to coexist with us, we and the Bay receive immediate assistance limiting water run-off that carries away our priceless soil.

As an added bonus, plants are naturally irrigated and groundwater supplies are naturally recharged. But there’s more: Every single one of these “pests” plays a vital role in keeping the environment functioning properly.

Consider moles and grubs, which people love to hate. Moles are disliked because of the upraised tunnels they make when traveling through the soil to eat soil-dwelling creatures, such as grubs.

People don’t want mole tunnels in their yards because lawnmowers scalp the upraised earth and their feet sink into it as they walk. But we should feel grateful instead of aggravated.

First of all, tunnels provides natural aeration in a yard so the homeowner doesn’t need to pay for man-made aeration services to allow air to reach the roots of their plants.

Second, the mole that made the tunnel is announcing that there’s an overpopulation of soil creatures and that it’s going to reduce their populations—free of charge—before they cause problems for healthy plants.

Take, for example, grubs. The function of a grub is to recycle dead plant roots so they don’t sit there forever taking up precious space that could instead be used by a living plant. But if someone doesn’t allow the mole to do its job of limiting the numbers of grubs, these beetle larvae will become overpopulated.

When that happens, the grubs will eventually run out of their preferred food—dead plant roots—and start eating what’s left—the roots of healthy plants—to survive.

Therefore, the root cause of people’s dislike of both grubs and moles can be traced to their intolerance of mole tunnels. Yet these tunnels can be easily fixed by simply tamping them down. During the next rain, water will seep into the air spaces of the squished tunnel and it’ll be difficult to tell it had ever been there.

Your acceptance of a mole will have helped your yard and the Chesapeake Bay.

Robins & blossoms & snakes, oh my! A natural garden has room for all

By Marlene A. Condon. Text from article that appeared in the Bay Journal, July 19, 2016

http://www.bayjournal.com/article/robins_blossoms_snakes_oh_my_a_natural_garden_has_room_for_all

yellow-collard scape mothIMG_4880trim_1 — A Yellow-collard Scape Moth (left) and a Pennsylvania Leatherwing Soldier Beetle (right) feeding at a goldenrod. Photo by Marlene A. Condon

Providing habitat for numerous species of wildlife is a critically important to keep the environment functioning properly. And, it’s absolutely crucial to our well-being. Without the variety of services provided by wildlife, the environment simply cannot work as it should.

For example, without recyclers — such as slugs, snails, earwigs, flies, opossums — organic matter, which includes leaves, dried plant stems, animal droppings or dead animals, wouldn’t be broken down and returned to the soil for the benefit of plants.

If plants can’t access the nutrients locked up in organic matter, they run out of food and won’t be able to grow. Then animals, including humans, that depend on plant life won’t have food or survive.

It should be every person’s responsibility to help maintain the health of our environment by creating a nature wonderland that can provide homes for a great variety of species.

Unfortunately, many people prefer to garden only for particular species, such as birds or butterflies. But you can’t pick and choose without harming the very animals you want to help.

Let’s say that you put up shelves and/or boxes in the yard to make housing available for the kinds of birds that will make use of these structures to reproduce. But then a Black Rat Snake climbs into the structure and eats the eggs or chicks.

If you’re like many folks, you’d get angry and kill the snake (although this is illegal in some states). You’d think that the serpent was “bad.”

But the snake isn’t bad. If it didn’t help to limit bird populations, the birds would crowd and eat themselves out of house and home, bringing disease and starvation upon themselves.

For example, a pair of Carolina wrens can nest three times from spring to fall, averaging four chicks per brood. If the two adults, along with all 12 of their chicks, were to survive the season, your yard population would go from two Carolina Wrens to 14, which is an increase in population by a factor of seven. If year after year, all of the adult wrens mated and they and all of their chicks were to survive, each year your yard population of wrens would increase by a factor of seven.

In just 10 years, you would have produced — on your property alone — 565 million Carolina wrens. And don’t forget all of the other bird species that are nesting on your property and elsewhere!

There’s simply not enough space and food available for all organisms to survive to adulthood, which is why predators are so vital to the proper functioning of the environment. We must recognize that even those animals that we have a special fondness for do need to be kept limited in number. This truism applies to every kind of animal — including humans —because the Earth is limited in space and resources.

But this doesn’t mean you turn your birds into sitting ducks. If a snake gets into a structure much too often (I’ve found that, on average, you should expect this to occur only about once every three years) it tells you there’s something wrong with that location and you need to move the structure.

You needn’t feel stupid for having placed the structure in that location. After all, the birds didn’t recognize there would be a problem, either.

The guidelines for creating a nature-friendly garden are simple.

Minimize the lawn because it doesn’t provide much food, shelter or nesting sites for animals. Instead, grow a variety of plants of differing heights: herbaceous flowers and grasses, vines, shrubs and trees to create vertical structure.

To decide what kinds of plants to grow, walk around your neighborhood and local parks. Bring a small notepad and pen and watch for animal activity among plants.

Write down the kinds of plants being visited by any kind of wildlife, especially insects. Insects provide an important clue to how valuable a plant is. If they are visiting blooms, the flowers must be providing nectar and/or pollen, a necessary food source for numerous kinds of creatures, from bees to hummingbirds. The insects themselves are a valuable food source for spiders, lizards and birds.

Bring a camera to photograph plants you’re not familiar with so you can try to identify them later.

Note whether each plant is located in sun or shade and whether it’s growing in dry or damp soil. The plants you choose to grow must be those for which you can provide the proper environment.

Opinion/Letter: Nature should be natural, not chemical

Dec 14, 2015

The Dec. 1 gardening column by Mary Stickley-Godinez (“Gardening: Chemical warfare common in nature,” The Daily Progress online, Nov. 30) perpetuates the mistaken beliefs that humankind must constantly fight nature and that nature fights itself.

These notions — which every horticulture student learns and that virtually all garden writers, extension agents and nursery workers relay to the public — are wrong.

The horticultural industry is based upon experiences out of context. The difficulties encountered inside a greenhouse, or in an equally unnatural setting such as the monocultures created by farmers, occur precisely because these environments are artificial constructs out of sync with the natural laws governing nature.

The columnist’s comment that it’s “war out there” originates from the nonsense put forth by scientists who themselves work in an artificial environment of Petri dishes instead of the real world. Allelopathy — the concept that some plant species can hinder or prevent germination or growth of others by releasing chemicals into their environment — is dogma very much akin to that regarding “germs.”

Because scientists now possess the means to count the huge number of microorganisms that exist on surfaces that we touch, health hazards are suddenly deemed to be everywhere, when in fact, the effect of these organisms upon us is minimal. The preponderance of experiential evidence should tell us the truth, but people prefer to ignore facts in order to bash the natural world.

The concept of allelopathy, easily disproved by direct observation of the natural world over time, begs the question: If plants are capable of fighting their own wars, why do humans need to step in with yet more chemicals?

Truth be told, in gardens that support predators to prevent plant-feeding critters from overpopulating, the plants — which, by the way, exist to feed animals — do not need to chemically defend themselves.

Folks should learn to live in agreement with nature by growing a nature-friendly garden. It doesn’t require chemical warfare by plants or people.

Marlene A. Condon

http://www.dailyprogress.com/opinion/opinion-letter-nature-should-be-natural-not-chemical/article_0b647e06-a25a-11e5-b5ed-87b903a33a66.html

If you break it, you pay for it

Commentary from The Baltimore Sun

Marlene Condon

August 21, 2014

Some years ago, a colleague told me how, when he was a boy, he would vacation each summer with his parents in Ocean City. He and his mom always looked forward to crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Annapolis, where the sea breezes carried the very essence of this estuary — the smells associated with the vast array of organisms that live and die along the shoreline or in the saltwater.

But by the 1980s, Rick noticed that the air surrounding the bridge no longer brought to mind visions of the beach with its myriad periwinkles, sea stars, crabs, shorebirds and seaweed. The tell-tale aura of the sea had disappeared, and the family’s much anticipated arrival at the bridge had lost its magic.

The “magic” died because the bay was dying. And as the bay’s health declined, so did the once-bustling fishing industry that employed numerous workers, on and off the water. Only a remnant of what was once a thriving economy exists today.

The bay workers did not lose their jobs due to technological innovation, as happened when Henry Ford invented the assembly-line production of cars, thereby putting carriage and harness makers out of business.

No, these people lost their livelihoods because of the apathy and inaction of their fellow Americans upstream. Despite decades of media attention and scientific literature that rang again and again the alarm bell, society responded with a virtual yawn. The result has been devastating to the folks who have lived, worked, played and died in concert with the bay.

It’s not yet too late to restore the bay to health; the natural world has a remarkable ability to rebound as long as the needed variety of organisms still exists.

But people need to own up to their obligation to help the bay instead of railing against the “rain tax,” the derisive name given to fees that are supposed to be used to address deteriorating storm water infrastructure that local politicians have long neglected.

However, paying fees and pointing fingers at farms, factories and waste-water treatment plants — easy-to-identify and certainly undeniable sources of bay pollution — is not enough. We must also restrict pollutants that originate in our own backyards and end up in the Chesapeake Bay: chemicals (fertilizers and pesticides), soil and small-engine exhaust (from lawn mowers and weed trimmers).

The big problem is the American obsession with lawns around homes and businesses: Lawn and turf grass together are now considered the largest crop grown within the 64,000-square-mile Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Although seen as natural and water-absorbing, lawns actually function much as pavement does. The soil, compacted by lawn mowers, allows little penetration of water. Indeed, that is the reason lawn-care companies offer aeration services — they know lawns require man-made holes punched into the ground in order for water to penetrate the soil.

With ever increasing development in the bay watershed, there has been ever increasing lawn acreage. These green swards should be greatly minimized with encouragement from government. Homeowners and business owners who create nature-friendly (and thus bay-friendly) landscapes — lawn mostly replaced by flowers, shrubs, and trees — should be given reduced property tax rates.

Streams through properties should be required by law to be protected by natural vegetation. Current regulations often allow lawn to be grown right up to the stream edges.

And lastly, wildlife should be encouraged to live among us so that the environment can function as it’s supposed to do. People must learn to live in agreement with nature; living without it is not an option.

Unfortunately, most of the measures that have been taken over the past 50 years to address bay problems have involved trying to repair the bay itself (i.e., fix what was broken), rather than addressing the ongoing sources of the problems (i.e., the impaired state of the waterways flowing in).

Millions of dollars and much time and energy have been spent, for example, on growing a diverse assemblage of underwater plants and rearing oysters, as if these plants and animals could just be placed into a degraded system and survive. Needless to say, such efforts can only meet with minimal success.

It’s time for all citizens to recognize and take responsibility for their personal decisions in and around their homes and businesses that do, indeed, affect the Chesapeake Bay and those who live along its shores.

As signs in the fine-china shop declare, “If you break it, you pay for it.”

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-chesapeake-bay-20140821-story.html

Bats Endangered; The Crozet Tunnel Should Remain Closed

Marlene A. Condon

April 2013

Many years ago, when I first heard that people were interested in opening the Crozet Tunnel on Afton Mountain to hikers, I e-mailed a Nelson County supervisor. I was concerned about bats that might be using the tunnel to hibernate or roost.

I’d hoped those flying mammals would be taken into consideration and would not be disturbed at all during hibernation and minimally bothered during the rest of the year.

With animal populations crashing all around us, I recognized the value of preserving healthy populations of whatever critters had managed thus far to survive the increasingly disruptive impact upon wildlife by humans.

The supervisor responded to me as if I were a naïve little girl. He assured me that there were plenty of bats around and that there was nothing to worry about. He ignored my pleas to avoid harming these animals.

But within just a few years of that correspondence, a disease called White-nose Syndrome (WNS) was discovered in a cave near Albany, New York. It gets its name from the white fungus that is often visible on the muzzles and bodies of infected bats.

The fungus is deadly, killing bats by weakening them when it invades their body tissue and disrupts their hibernation. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a minimum of 5.5 million bats have since died in four Canadian provinces and 19 states, including Virginia.

Many species of bats have been affected, including the Little Brown Bat (Myotis lucifugus) and the Tri-colored Bat, which was formerly known as the Eastern Pipistrelle (Perimyotis subflavis). The Little Brown used to be the most common bat in North America, but it’s now threatened with extinction.

Research has shown that populations of the Little Brown Bat and the Tri-colored Bat have declined by more than 90 percent. Both of these species have been found in the Crozet Tunnel by game biologists from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

Our neighbor state to the north, Pennsylvania, has lost approximately 99 percent of its Little Brown, Tri-colored, and Northern Long-eared Bats (Myotis septentrionalis) since 2008, illustrating the speed with which almost entire populations of species can be wiped out. The probability for a rebound of populations is practically nonexistent.

Bats usually live for two to three decades and typically give birth to only one pup per year. Thus even if WNS could be stopped right now, it could take hundreds of years for populations to come back to pre-WNS levels. And that’s assuming there are no other assaults upon these mammals.

All organisms have important roles to play. The role of bats is to feed upon night-flying insects, limiting their numbers to sustainable levels. Bats themselves are fed upon by other animals, such as snakes and owls, and even humans in some parts of the world.

As species disappear, the environment comes ever closer to being unable to function properly. Mother Nature is no fool and has built into the system back-up creatures to fulfill roles played by other critters that may temporarily disappear or be in short supply. But that back-up system is becoming more and more depleted, threatening the existence of our own species.

The cause of WNS is a European fungus that somehow found its way to the United States, perhaps upon the sole of a traveler’s shoe. The spores from the fungus (Gomyces destructans) have been discovered now in 21 states.

If people pick up spores on their shoes or clothes and then go into caves or tunnels with roosting or hibernating bats, they can help to spread this infectious disease that, as of now, no one knows how to cure. (Humans are not affected by White-nose Syndrome.)

I myself would love to walk through Claudius Crozet’s engineering marvel. But the Crozet Tunnel needs to remain closed to the public. WNS is such a devastating disease that the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service suggests that people stay out of places where bats are known—or suspected—to hibernate (hibernacula) in all [emphasis mine] states.

Right now, this is a voluntary moratorium, but people must ask themselves whether it’s more important for folks to be able to visit this site than it is to help bats that have rapidly become endangered and may disappear in our lifetime.

Some might argue that humans created this tunnel and therefore it’s theirs to do with as they wish. However, it’s virtually assured that the deadly fungus wiping out our bats was introduced to this country by humans and that they have helped to spread it. Thus it’s incumbent upon us to try to limit further harm.

Many environmental problems have been caused by human ignorance and carelessness. But in this case, Nelson County officials can’t feign ignorance. If they choose to open the tunnel, they are knowingly inflicting harm and demonstrating mankind’s continuing disdain for the natural world that sustains us.

Man can do extraordinary things; the Crozet Tunnel is proof of that. Unfortunately, man’s extraordinary conceit often causes him to believe that other life forms aren’t important. But they are. We do not live in a vacuum. Opening the tunnel now is clearly not environmentally prudent.

Blue Ridge Naturalist: Bats Endangered; The Crozet Tunnel Should Remain Closed

Gardening in the Midst of White-tailed Deer

January, 2014

Deer aren’t supposed to kill plants. The problem nowadays is that we have one deer after another coming by and taking some bites and pretty soon, there are no bites left to take! Photo: Marlene A. Condon. — Deer aren’t supposed to kill plants. The problem nowadays is that we have one deer after another coming by and taking some bites and pretty soon, there are no bites left to take! Photo: Marlene A. Condon

One summer day I delightedly watched a Red-spotted Purple butterfly (Limenitis arthemis) laying her eggs upon a shrubby Black Cherry (Prunus serotina) by my driveway.

(When trees come up where I don’t want full-sized trees, I prune them so they grow into shrub form instead of getting rid of them. Keeping them shrub-sized allows me to maintain native-plant habitat for wildlife in areas where I can’t accommodate large trees.)

Unfortunately, the very next morning my heart broke when I went to check on the butterfly eggs. I had planned to get into the habit of examining the plant daily so I wouldn’t miss the hatching of the eggs. But overnight, one or more deer had completely defoliated the small plant, taking every young succulent leaf upon which I had fervently hoped I would get to see Red-spotted Purple caterpillars.

I’ve never heard anyone mention that deer impact the reproductive capabilities of insects and spiders when they consume (albeit inadvertently) their eggs. Of course, this occurrence was not “bad” in and of itself, as the populations of all kinds of organisms need to be kept in check by various means.

But the reality is that deer predation of innumerable kinds of insect and spider eggs located upon plants is undoubtedly happening far too often nowadays in Virginia. The deer population is out of balance with the rest of the ecosystem.

By the beginning of the 20th century, White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) were almost extinct in Virginia, thanks to 300 years of overhunting by European settlers, their descendants, and new immigrants. But before the white man arrived, these mammals had been an integral part of the environment, providing food and clothing for American Indians for more than 12,000 years.

(NOTE: Over the past few decades, some folks have tried to claim that Native Americans were just as disrespectful of the environment as Europeans. This contention is disproven by a simple fact: people living in hunter-gatherer societies cannot survive long if they don’t respect and value the wildlife and plant communities they are dependent upon for their own existence.)

Because of protective game laws and restocking efforts by the Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries (DGIF), deer populations have rebounded over the past century. Unfortunately, however, for most citizens of the state, deer have been allowed to overpopulate much of Virginia, as is obvious by how often you see these large animals. They should not be so numerous as to be visible to humans almost daily.

Yet according to the introduction to the DGIF 2006-2015 Deer Management Plan, “Virginia currently does not have many widespread ‘overpopulated’ deer herds. Although Virginia’s deer herds are often portrayed as being overpopulated, most can best be characterized as being at low or moderate population densities, below the BCC.”

BCC means the Biological Carrying Capacity, which refers to the ability of the landscape to support a species at a level that does not result in harm to either the animals themselves or to the environment. Thus as far as the DGIF is concerned, as long as deer appear healthy and are not obviously starving, the agency feels that these animals have not reached their BCC in most areas of Virginia.

But the only reason that deer are healthy and seem—to the DGIF—not to be overpopulated is that these hoofed mammals truly have an almost endless supply of food in the form of the average home landscape. However, lawns and gardens should not be taken into account when deciding how many deer comprise a “natural” population density because these areas artificially inflate the BCC.

What should count for management purposes is only how much natural landscape exists for deer, which would substantially lower the density of deer per acre of land in Virginia. Obviously deer would still find their way to suburban gardens, but there would be far fewer problems for gardeners (and drivers, farmers, orchardists, etc.) if there were far fewer deer around in the first place.

As long as the DGIF Board of Directors is composed solely of hunters or relatives of hunters, and as long as a majority of hunters feel that more deer are better than fewer, you are unlikely to see a decrease in the numbers of deer per acre anytime soon.

So how does the gardener coexist with an unending stream of deer coming by for a bite? There are steps you can take.

Because deer can jump as high as eight feet from a standstill and perhaps a bit higher from a running start, you would need a nine-foot-tall fence around your entire yard or food garden to totally exclude them.

Another option, depending upon the size of your wallet, is to build a six-foot-tall brick wall, which is more aesthetically pleasing. Deer will not jump over an obstacle if they can’t see what’s on the other side.

You can also use electric fencing which will give deer a shock, but it is high-maintenance and, in my opinion, a bit mean-spirited. After all, deer are simply trying to survive; they aren’t trying to be troublesome.

If your garden is quite small, perhaps consisting of just a few tomato and pepper plants, for example, you may find that a wire cage around each plant will be sufficient. Deer will be able to feed upon the parts of the plant that grow beyond the cage, but you might get enough tomatoes and peppers from inside the cage to be satisfied.

For vining food plants (such as cucumbers), you can grow them upon a trellis and can quite often keep deer at bay by using row covers. Simply cover the entire trellis with the cloth until the plants start to bloom. At that point, you will need to uncover the trellis each morning so that pollinators can reach the blossoms.

You must remember to cover up the trellis again before nightfall. Of course, any deer active during daylight hours will be able to feed upon the exposed vines, so this method works best if your yard tends to be populated by people or a confined dog during the day.

When growing plants for beauty, rather than a source of food, I recommend using cages for woody plants until they have “hardened” and (with luck) have become less palatable for deer. However, you must be willing to make sure that each plant never leans upon its cage. Such support will cause the trunk and stems to be weak and the plant will be unable to support itself after you’ve “freed” it.

You should consider buying plants from catalogs or local nurseries that label the plants that deer are not particularly interested in. Keep in mind, however, that buying only plants that deer are not supposed to want to eat is not a guarantee of success. The tastes of deer sometimes change over time due to a change in what kinds of food are available for them.

Lastly, the best way to be a happy and contented gardener is to simply accept that you may not be able to grow particular plants in the presence of deer. For example, I love the fragrance of old-timey roses, but when I tried to grow them, the deer literally ate them to death.

Rather than fencing the plants, which would have detracted from their beauty and my enjoyment of them, I changed what I could—how I felt about the situation. I accepted that roses were not something that I could grow, at least not as long as there are so many deer to contend with.

More details on gardening in the presence of deer and other kinds of wildlife can be found in Marlene’s book, The Nature-friendly Garden: Creating a Backyard Haven for Plants, Wildlife, and People (Stackpole Books). Autographed and inscribed copies can be purchased from the author.

Blue Ridge Naturalist: Gardening in the Midst of White-tailed Deer

Baffling Mammals

January, 2012

The “Raccoon Guard” baffle is excellent for keeping mammals from getting into bird feeders. (Photo: Marlene A. Condon)

Many folks are putting out seeds for birds at this time of year. However, birds may not be the only wildlife wanting to partake of your offerings.

Gray squirrels, southern flying squirrels, white-footed and deer mice, eastern chipmunks, common raccoons, gray and red foxes, Virginia opossums, and even white-tailed deer enjoy eating birdseed too, especially sunflower seeds. Although there’s no problem with these mammals scavenging seeds that the birds have dropped (someone has to eat them!), you would go broke if you allowed all of these larger critters to get food directly from your feeders.

The most sensible way to keep mammals from raiding your seed supply is to place your feeders on poles. Poles must be placed away from plants and buildings so that agile animals, such as squirrels, will not be able to jump directly onto the feeder.

Gray squirrels, the most common birdfeeder visitors, can jump almost eight feet horizontally. Therefore you should not place your pole within eight feet of trees, bushes, or any structures from which a squirrel can launch itself.

When you employ a pole to hold your feeder, you need to place a baffle on it to keep mammals from just climbing right up the pole to the feeder. The baffle should be placed at least five feet above the ground on the pole; otherwise a squirrel may be able to jump over it.

Occasionally you may get a squirrel that can jump higher and farther than most, or a raccoon that is bigger than most and can access the feeder. If this happens, you may have to make adjustments in the width of the baffle you’re using or in how far away you place the pole from other objects.

Baffles are usually round or hemispherical and made of plastic. I’ve found that the minimum size that works is one with an eighteen-inch diameter. A gray squirrel is usually able to get around one smaller than that.

Baffles that are constructed of thicker plastic are more durable and less easily broken than those made of thin plastic, so it’s worth the extra cost to buy the better baffle. Or you may want to construct your own cylindrical stove-pipe baffle out of thin sheet metal that can work well.

My plastic baffles worked well for a decade. But then a raccoon started visiting that was able to get around them. Luckily, I found a “Raccoon Guard” for sale in a catalog.

It was expensive, but it worked so well that I eventually ended up buying a few more. It not only keeps raccoons from the feeders but also squirrels and even bears! (My poles are extra tall to keep American Black Bears—which can reach 6 feet tall on their hind legs—from just reaching up to grab the feeders.) Thus this type of baffle is the most effective one that I have found.

The Raccoon Guard is a tube 28 inches long and 7½ inches wide. It’s made of galvanized steel with a weather resistant finish so it lasts much longer than plastic baffles. I’ve had mine for over 15 years now and they are still in great shape.

I’ve only seen these baffles in two bird catalogs: Duncraft (1-888-879-5095 or www.duncraft.com/Raccoon-Guard) and Audubon Workshop (www.audubonworkshop.com/).

Some people try to deter squirrels by using seeds that are less attractive to them, such as safflower. However, that stategy will also limit the number of bird species that visit. Animals have food preferences just as humans do!

Other folks attempt to repel squirrels by adding red pepper to the seeds in the feeder. Birds do not seem to be sensitive to capsaicin, the ingredient in hot peppers that causes us mammals to suffer intense burning in our mouths when our tissues come into contact with it. Red pepper is actually packaged for this use, but I would ask that you not buy it.

Some folks think that causing squirrels or other animals to suffer is humorous and justified. It isn’t. It’s never kind to deliberately inflict pain upon our wildlife, especially as it’s not necessary.

Additionally, if the pepper gets into the eyes of birds or squirrels, it would cause quite an irritation. As they struggle to relieve the burning in their eyes, they could be killed by predators.

Lastly, do not EVER use sticky substances on the poles. If mammals get it on their paws, they will have trouble functioning which means they will have trouble surviving. Grease or other such gooey substances also kills numerous kinds of wildlife, such as insects that can’t possibly free themselves from it.

Insects play extremely important roles in the environment as pollinators, recyclers, aerators of the soil, and as food for numerous other species. So please be conscious of the unintended consequences of your actions.

Blue Ridge Naturalist: Baffling Mammals