Happy Valentines Day!!!!

While some of you went all out to show your valentines that you care with the traditional chocolate and roses I gave my wife the gift that keeps on giving - BIODIVERSITY!! Several years ago a late icestorm killed this pine. My wife wanted me to cut it down, but it was far enough away from the house and the dog pens that I convinced her to let me leave it. Lucky her - she got the opportunity to photograph this beautiful pileated woodpecker!

We need to recognize that in order to sustain biodiversity we need to have a variety of habitats and microhabitats - and that includes old dead pines. I can't recall where - but I certainly recall reading that in terms of biomass dead logs are some of the most productive microhabitats. So next year when you're shopping for that perfect valentines gift, give the gift of biodiversity. And maybe instead of roses and chocolate you can get your significant other organic chocolate and live native plants for the yard :).

Ripples in a pond

Whenever I begin to lose hope about the future of the world SOMETHING always happens to restore it. This Saturday was my most recent moment. I traveled to Clemson's Sandhill REC to a coaches workshop for the SC Envirothon. This is the first year that I've helped out with it, and I am very impressed thus far. The teacher/coaches that showed up gave up a precious Saturday so that they could get their students enthused about the environment. Now THAT is dedication. I promised those teachers that I would have some information for them here to take to their students...so here we go:

They should know what ecosystem services are http://www.uvm.edu/giee/publications/Nature_Paper.pdf
They should know where most of our medicine comes from.
http://www.gov.pe.ca/photos/original/ftc_MYarticle.pdf

They should be familiar with some of the major threatened and endangered species in South Carolina (Species of Concern) – Examples: shortnose sturgeon, flatwoods salamander, bog turtle, Schweinitz’s sunflower, Carolina heelsplitter, wood stork, red-cockaded woodpecker, mountain sweet pitcher plant, manatee, longleaf pine
a. http://www.dnr.sc.gov/cwcs/pdf/scwildlifearticle.pdf
b. http://www.dnr.sc.gov/cwcs/plan/Chapter2.pdf
c. http://www.dnr.sc.gov/cwcs/index.html


Biodiversity
· ESA Biodiversity Fact Sheet - http://www.esa.org/education_diversity/factsheets.php
· ESA Issues in Ecology, Number 4, 1999. Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning: Maintaining Natural Life Support Processes. http://www.esa.org/science_resources/issues/FileEnglish/issue4.pdf
·

Ecosystem Services
· ESA Ecosystem Services Fact Sheet - http://www.esa.org/education_diversity/factsheets.php
· ESA Issues in Ecology, Number 4, 1999. Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning: Maintaining Natural Life Support Processes. Ecosystem Services: Benetifts Supplied to Human Societies by Natural Ecosystems. http://www.esa.org/science_resources/issues/FileEnglish/issue2.pdf
·

Medicinal Plants
· New Scientist article - http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126903.200-medicinal-plants-on-verge-of-extinction.html
· World Health Organization - http://www.who.int/topics/plants_medicinal/en/index.html
· List of drugs derived from plants from about.com - http://chemistry.about.com/library/weekly/aa061403a.htm

Endangered Species Act
· Fish and Wildlife Service- main page- http://www.fws.gov/endangered/whatwedo.html
· Fish and Wildlife Service – brief overview - http://www.fws.gov/endangered/factsheets/ESA_basics.pdf

Biodiversity and Climate Change
· United Nations Environmental Program - http://www.unep-wcmc.org/climate/default.aspx

Well, there's a beginning for you. The camcorder died, so I won't be able to get the actual presentation to you all, but I am working on alternative means. Keep your eyes on this space, and as I gather more information I will get it out to you. If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me. Thank you all for being ripples in the pond.