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 In building the filtered biodiversity table on my Eco page I have tried to find the most accurate sources for the numbers of plants and animals around the world. The purpose behind the exercise is to make the numbers to make sense. If there are a certain numbers of mammals in one area that information doesn’t tell me much when it is not compared to another site. Does the area I am studying have a high percentage mammal species comparatively and how does that affect the local ecosystem similarly? What I am really searching for when exploring the numbers however is how many special status species a site has. This information helps me understand whether a particular habitat is a biodiversity hotspot or an indicator of conservation need. The information is both quantitative and spatial according to what I know best: southern California.
The Atlas of Endangered Species has done this exact exercise creatively and effectively. Through a mature geo-referenced aesthetic, the book compiles terrific data of the most rare and sensitive species globally. Focusing on taxonomy before spatial concerns, the Atlas explores the bird, reptile, and other animal and plant species that would benefit from conservation prioritization. As a tool it helps me build context to develop meaning for understanding what it is occurring on all the continents and in our seas. The book doesn’t answer critical questions of value but it helps to create a constructive trajectory of discussion. I would recommend this book as an addition to the conversation of what we’re dealing with in biodiversity work. For a simple snapshot of where we are at, the Atlas is a great tool. For something larger and more complex I still haven’t found the tool to help develop the need and the engagement for rare species engagement but this book takes a great first step.  Some of the darting tools used in the course How do you get a 3 inch dart through the skin on the rump of a snared grizzly that’s staring at you ferociously? When you’ve got an unresponsive antelope that has stopped burping, where do you position the nose in relation to the larynx? If the heart of a wolf stops beating how many CC’s of Dopram V do you give? Hurry up, you have to answer these questions quickly – but calmly – or else that wild animal you’ve been trying to capture for months dies or takes out its frustration on you. These were actual questions and actual scenarios posed to me as I sat front row, mouth agape, in Dr. Mark Johnson’s Chemical Immobilization and Wildlife Handling course in Belgrade, Montana at the end of March 2015. Because of this class I now have a certificate earned through Dr. Johnson’s company, Global Wildlife Institute, which says I can answer these questions in the heat of the moment. And while darting and handling lions, tigers, and bears might seem a little dramatic, this is exactly what we talked about throughout each of the day’s activities.  Dr. Johnson showing how use one of the air pistols Dr. Mark Johnson has been teaching this course and several others for almost two decades. His resume and experience read like the list of a weekend marathon on the National Geographic channel: Yellowstone veterinarian during the 1995 wolf reintroduction, dog handling in Tibet, feral dog capture in the Caribbean islands and Indian sub-continent, Alaskan Grizzly Bear captures, and Desert Bighorn relocations. With a black belt in Aikido and accompanying build as well, imagine Steven Seagal mixed with Jeff Corwin and the gentleness (and patience) of a 3rd grade teacher and you get something resembling Dr. Johnson.  After sedating our animal, the team I was on had to do physical exams as well as draw blood The stories and videos shown in class ended with: “and that’s how you capture a ram from a helicopter” or: “now remember, a black bear in a tree is in a compromised position and you need to let the animal be your teacher.” Out of context, these are just great sentences that caught me unawares each time. Within the frame of this course, it still didn't seem exactly normal but it made sense that these are the maxims gathered from a life of experience working with wildlife. That experience has developed something else, something unique. Compassion is intrinsic to Dr. Johnson’s ethic and how to keep your animals and you as optimal as possible while still achieving your tasks is a lesson taught over and over. For example, when trying to draw blood my frustration was mounting because the animal we worked on started to come out of anesthesia. While still sedated and calm, it began to make noise and move and I was ready to give up. Dr. Johnson came over and said: “Now imagine you’ve been searching for this endangered animal for a year and finally have this one chance to collar it and get vital data from it for the survival of the species. Having this wild rare animal in your hands is a wonderful gift! Putting more drug might threaten the animal so what do you do?” That mind game helped focus my attention and I got the work done but it was the sense of wonder that is innate to Dr. Johnson’s methods that captured my attention. He’s right: having these wild animals in our hands is something special and something worth our compassion and diligence. Now, I doped a goat. The previous course Dr. Johnson taught worked on wolves and the next course will work on mountain lions in the Dakota Zoo. I got a goat. To assuage my initial let-down (or more likely, the affront to my manly manliness of not handling a wild beast with giant teeth), I was told that working on ungulates is actually harder and if you can handle a goat, a wolf is no problem. Those sound like somebody’s last words but I’m not going to push it because you know what? I liked that goat. I’m glad I got to work on that goat. That goat smelled pretty bad when I put the thermometer in his rectum and it smelled even worse when it belched but it was a terrific goat and even better teacher. That goat taught me how to keep an animal with an airway system that seems designed to die without warning alive. That goat taught me how to draw blood through dense hair and while constantly bleating a fragile sound intended to make your heart break for even wishing to take this animal’s blood out of it. Because of Dr. Johnson’s methods I found a weird sense of awe after our goat stumbled onto its hooves, looking dazed like it escaped an alien abduction –because, it, well, kind of did.  A curious kid from the goat farm that supplied our test animals/teachers Our team’s goat, and all of the 5 goats our class worked on, got back in the truck feeling, I’m sure, a little confused but without incident otherwise. It was probably an analogous feeling that I and my classmates felt after the week of studying ketamine doses, ideal dart sizes, optimal pressure on our dart guns, and proper compassionate handling of animals that would rather be running as far away from you as possible or finding your jugular with their canines. We walked out of the class with tons of information in our heads and for me a realization that this is not only a skill that professionals employ for critical research and management but also a philosophy that underlies their motives. The course and the experience once again showed me that those who choose this type of work for their profession are tapping into a different source of inspiration than what motivates many others. Conservation professionals who purposefully choose to utilize Dr. Johnson’s ethic of diligent compassion or those that come by it on their own are implementing their skills in some exciting ways. I am looking forward to putting both the practical and the equally important intangible skills I learned into practice.
You can find Dr. Johnson’s course and company on his website and Facebook: http://www.wildliferesources.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/wildlifehandling?fref=ts For more photos of the class, please visit my Flikr page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/118319178@N03/sets/72157649315441424/ Bird banding to Owl Surveys, Arctic Campaigners to Arctic Sea Ducks, and Fairy-wrens to Fire Beetles: this week's job opps looks pretty cool. Make sure to check out the Opps page for more. And remember, if you find a position from here, let me know - I want to see what works and what doesn't.
 A book to inspire and empower conservation professionals and a book for non-professionals to enjoy and understand easily would be a difficult book to write. EO Wilson has managed that several times over (Future of Life, The Social Conquest of Earth, The Meaning of Human Existence, etc) but he's had almost a century of practice, and he's, well, EO Wilson. David Quammen is also a rockstar in this field with his Song of the Dodo and Monsters of God and I would put Joe Roman's Listed in there too but there are few others that have really knocked my socks off. Enter Dr. Eisenberg with her smooth prose and natural-born educator approach to explaining the history, concerns and theories of conservation biology. She chose the lay audience to speak to the reasons why the field of habitat and biodiversity conservation is important and she directs her final chapters of creative problem solving toward the conservation technician. The best part is that with her pithy aphorisms and hair-raising anecdotes of the potential dangers of studying wolves in Yellowstone make all parts of the book accessible to anyone interested in the field. I am personally very interested in her concepts about the meta-theory of what conservation is all about. For instance, on page 166 she helps us understand what we're doing when we work on habitats and what we are trying to create: "...ecological restoration is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed. However, in any act of restoration it is never possible to return exactly to what once was; one can only move forward. This means recovering a natural range of variation of composition, energy flow, and change, bringing a system back to its historical trajectory. Historical trajectories are only that, since we cannot predict the future. We can only work with what we think will optimize adaptability, resilience and productivity. The past is not a blueprint for the future, but we can assess these historical trajectories and think about management for future change. This calls for restoring to landscapes as much of their functional diversity as possible, which often means including top predators. Restored systems ideally be self-sustaining and resilient, exchanging energy with interconnected ecosystems and migratory species. The system should contain all functional groups (plants, herbivores, predators) and should support reproducing populations of the species necessary for their continued development and resilience." These words are as poetic as they are helpful. I needed to take notes while reading her book. I have included them below if you want to check them out before picking up her text. In putting together a lecture on biodiversity conservation I have found several new websites that have been of particular help. (Click on the images below to take you to the sites) The first two are Scientific American's blog called Extinction Countdown by John Platt. I have been regularly checking his site for the latest in ES news since finding it.
The second site I found is a remarkable site studying the entire phenomenon. Of particular interest is a list of all of the 709 species that have gone extinct in near history due to humans. This site is incredible and is run by a Dutchman named Peter Maas. 
Here is a portion of the list of extinctions he has compiled: 
And, finally, here is a great article written by 
Below are some fun adventure opportunities in conservation that I found while searching throughout my Opps page:
Hummingbird Research Raptor Monitor Hawaii Hawksbill Turtle internship Wyoming Bat Field Technicians Yosemite Field Leaders Chainsaw Technician for Deer Study in Washington Costa Rican Orchid Garden Intern Volunteer Field Assistant in Yukon Delta |
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