Wednesday, February 26, 2014

The Politics of Fowl

The New York Time has a conversation up on their website that starts with a few comments about non-native species and goes wildly off course.

Gail Collins: David, here in New York we’ve been having a crisis over swans. Can we talk about that today? I don’t think we’ve ever discussed large fowl before.
David Brooks: I’d be really happy to talk about them, but when I was growing up we called them pigeons. The only birds I remember in New York were pigeons — and maybe sparrows, but sparrows manage to live without actually entering the consciousness of the creatures around them. I’m guessing you’re referring to pigeons and that now we’re calling them swans in the hopes that it will boost their self-esteem.
Gail: Wow, I’m getting a vision of pigeons tattooing each other and shooting up steroids. I think we have another movie script idea. But no, this involves real swans – mute swans, to be precise.
Check out the rest of the discussion here.



They even bring up these guys.

Monday, February 17, 2014

The Wave and The Civil Wars



The Civil Wars released a new album called Between the Bars recently, which featured a album cover that looked oddly familiar to me. It is The Wave, part of the Paria Canyon Vermilion Cliff Wilderness Area in northern Arizona.

What it is about this place that captures the imagination? For once I won't try to guess but leave you, the reader, with images from my visit to the wave and let you decide. Make sure to listen to the tunes and see if you think they match the place on the cover.


Sunday, February 16, 2014

All Is Not Well In the Wildland Urban Interface



I have been spending the last few days staring at maps and thinking about communities. While communities are places to raise families, meet friends, work and create connections, in the eyes of those who exist in the world of wildland fire they are most often defined by a single question. Are they at risk?


Wildland fire, fire outside the confines of brick and mortar buildings, can certainly be a hostile environment to outsiders. It is filled with jargon that can be far from inviting for anyone who doesn’t know their FMO, how to find their PPE, or just exactly what an IC does. The important thing to know about wildland fire is that those who spend their careers managing fires when they do occur spend a lot of time thinking about one inconvenient acronym, WUI.


Simply put, wildland urban interface, wui for short, is any area where houses are next to a significant amount of plant life that has the habit of catching on fire. While the wildfires that make the news generally give the impression that it is only a problem in the Western part of the country. A quick look at the 2010 data on communities at risk, CAR for those inclined to brevity, from wildfire shows that it is largely a national problem.