FORESTS AND GRASSLANDS REACTION PAPER

 International Day of the Forest (3:22) A. Ten ecological services of the forest are supporting energy flow and chemical cycling, reduce soil erosion, absorb and release water, purify water and air, influence local and regional climate, store atmospheric carbon, provide numerous wildlife habitats, provide fresh drinking water, fresh food and help battle against climate change. B. Celebrating this day makes people stop and think about what the forest does for us and makes us appreciate it more. C. Two groups involved in the preservation of forests are IUCN and Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration.  Wild Earth Guardians.  A. Land is considered to be wilderness if there are no roads to travel. It has to remain untouched. B. I was surprised by some of the things they considered when looking into conserving the wilderness such as value of the wildlife habitat and the richness of the species. I would just think that with so many animals facing extinction these days that saving any animal habitat would be expected. C. Two groups on involved in preservation of wilderness are Grand Canyon Trust and Wild Utah Project. D. If you are interested in helping this effort you can donate money to the fund or contact Kevin Mueller for more information on how you can help.  The Land of Mountaintop Removal (2:57) A. The mine can contaminate their air and water causing health issues. Heart, lung, and kidney disease rates are higher. They have also seen a link to birth defects. B. I was actually touched by the video showing the mountains and then quickly showing the mine. It was sad to see all the forest beauty gone. It was also shocking to hear how communities had had to move because the land was bought up for miming. I can’t imagine having your whole community being told to move. C. Ilovemountains.org is a group fighting against mountain top mining and so is The US environmental Protection Agency. D. There are many groups involved in this fight. If you are interested in join them you can search the area you are interested in and contact that agency.  Avatar Grove Making a Stand (7:43) A.. Old growth holds biological importance by destroying large amounts of atmosphere carbon, supporting unique biodiversity and endangered species it also provides clean water for wildlife and people. B. Thinking about how old those trees have been around and hearing they are at risk to being logged was hard to hear. It was surprising to hear that only 20% of the trees are protected. C. Two groups involved in preservation of the Avatar Grove are Ancient Forest Alliance and Port Renfrew Group. D. These groups are asking that you write a letter to Forest Minister Pat Bell and Premier Gordon Campbell asking them to protect this forest.  Climate, Trees, and Legacy (45:23).  A. Assisted migration is a managed migration where colonies of species are forced out of their natural habitat. Connie Barlow is an advocate when it comes to assisted migration. She feels that it is a necessity. B. I found it interesting that it takes a tree about 30 years for a tree to start making seeds to reproduce. I had never thought of the life cycle of a tree. I also thought it was interesting learning about assisted migration. C. Look into the Great March for Action Campaign if you are interested in helping. D. I was unable to get video to load completely.  Importance of Northern Arizona Grasslands A. Five types of grasslands listed were open, restorable, non-native, transitional and historic. Five threats to grasslands are fire, drought, grazing, burrowing animals and soil erosion. B. I was surprised to see Big Chino listed in the grasslands that still need to be studied further. This stood out because I live in Chino. Another thing that stood out to me is that fire was natural and used to keep the bushes down and since we have suppressed fires so much the bushes has been able to grow bigger taking over the grasslands. This stood out to me because of the big fire we had last summer on Williamson Valley. C. Two groups that are working on preserving grasslands are Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program and The land owner incentive program. D. If you are interested you can always visit their websites to see how you can participate in their programs.  E.O. Wilson on Biodiversity and Hotspots A. I couldn’t find the names of the hotspots but, found a map showing where the hotspot was. They are: California Floristic Provence, Brazils Atlantic Forest, Madagascar, Colombia, Cerrado, Japan, Horn of Africa, Indoburma, Sundaland, and Wallacea. B. E.O. Wilson was born in June of 1929 in Alabama. An interesting fact I found was that he was blind in one eye due to a fishing accident as a child. He was interested in nature and science as a young child. He had a nickname “father of sociobiology”. He was an environmental advocate. C. It was interesting to hear that one is in California which is where I grew up. I wish I had been more aware. The other thing that stood out to me in the video is that if everyone chipped in to help out the cost would barely affect anyone. D. Two groups involved in preserving hotspots are MacArthur Foundation and Conservation International.