SAVE OUR SALAMANDERS!

We’ve reached a point where survival is no longer about stopping global warming; it’s about saving our snails and salamanders.

Photo by Tyler Donaghy

One of my earliest recollections from childhood – and one in which I still indulge when there’s an opportunity – is turning over stones. The stones along the edges or in the shallows of streams or creeks are the ones I like best to turn over; also, the stones in tide pools at the beach. Whether it’s a walk in the woods, or a stroll along the ocean front, I’m still curious to know what small creature is hiding beneath the stones I come across.

This curiosity developed when my parents enrolled me, at age of ten years, in a week-long summer camp nestled in the forests near Portland, Oregon, where I was born. Each year after that, I longed for that week away from home and a chance to join about fifty other kids at Camp Gales Creek, named after the stream that flowed through the camp on its way from the snow-topped Pacific Cascade Mountains to the fertile Willamette River valley below.

The camp facilities were basic. They comprised a dining hall and nature-art center that flanked a fire pit, flag pole and exercise area big enough for playing tether ball. Off to one side were the girls’ dormitory and the counselors’ residences. Just upstream to where the creek was deep enough for a small swimming hole was a narrow wooden bridge that led across the creek to the boys’ dormitory on the other side.

What attracted me most about the camp was the creek where I could discover crawdads, minnows, snails and amphibious salamanders. I challenged myself with finding specimens rare enough to be included in the camp’s nature center aquariums or terrariums. My discoveries often drew counselors’ and campers’ Oohs! Ah’s! when I showed up with another creepy crawly to look at!

Camp Gales Creek also exposed me to the delicate balance of life at the bottom of nature’s food chain and to the vulnerability and resilience of creatures into whose habitats we have introduced ourselves with homes, roads, farms and factories. Some, like the house wrens, ground squirrels, field mice, deer and rabbits, have learned to adjust and cohabitate in our suburban surroundings. Too often, I’ve learned however, about species that have not been so adaptive and whose numbers have declined to the point of extinction.

There’s a basic problem in this evolutionary scheme of things today. Mostly, animal species evolve slowly in response to the changing conditions around them. Scientific evidence suggests, however, that rising temperatures and growing human populations are changing habitats faster than many species can adapt. It’s likely that we’ll shoot past even some of the most pessimistic predictions of planetary warming. The grip of fossil fuels on our market economy is too strong to avoid rising temperatures and increasingly more frequent extreme weather events.

Fortunately, we humans stand out in our capacity to protect our ourselves, or recover from weather disasters. We have at our disposal social and technological tools – for example, damage insurance, physical infrastructure and sturdy homes. Other species in the plant and animal kingdoms have none of these human tools for survival. They need our help. And it is in our interests to help them for one critical reason: our mutual survival. We are inescapably interdependent.

However, have limited resources -- time, money and people -- to advocate for and to conduct habitat conservation programs needed to achieve a sustainable and prosperous planet. We need to use those resources judiciously. That may even mean redirecting effort away from appeals and programs for ending our fossil fuel dependency when that money can produce greater welfare and benefits if budgeted to restore and maintain the natural habitats around us. Also to build the capacity of those habitats, and the living organisms that compose them, to bounce back quickly when impacted adversely.

It’s a disservice to the natural world, and most likely a disastrous course of action for humans, to pursue unrealistic goals to end the use of fossil fuels and then end up with little remaining money to budget for building resilience to coming global climate change.

It’s likely that fossil fuel dependency will give way to new technologies. History confirms that substitutes will be developed. In past centuries, global empires were built and defended by launching armadas of wooden sailing ships. The construction of those fleets of warships led to denuding European forests for wood to build them and for charcoal to refine the heavy iron weaponry they carried. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, European forests were disappearing at alarming rates.

In the mid-eighteen hundreds, however, fossil fuels – coal for making steel hulls and petroleum to fuel the newly invented steam and internal combustion engines that drove modern sea-going vessels – became the environmental saviors of Europe’s forests. Thanks to fossil fuel discovery and use, more forests stood in Europe and North America at the beginnings of the 21st century than did 100 years earlier. Coal, oil and gas made that possible.

I’m a vigorous advocate for applying our inventive skills and collective know-how as a nation to developing and bringing to market renewable energy sources that can gradually displace the use of fossil fuels. But today, the current political and economic climate makes it unlikely that fossil fuel use will decline fast enough to curb global warming. The political will and the sense of urgency are just not there and not likely to emerge until environmental degradation becomes so severe, we are forced to act. The problem: by then it will be too late to reverse rising global temperatures and to save much of the earth’s natural habitats.

That leaves us with only one choice: to prepare for a warmer world. Our focus now should be on habitat protection as much, if not more, on a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Here are some specific steps we can take:

• Build resiliency in both human and natural habitats. Working with our state and local governments to build resiliency in both human and natural habitats. We can start by advocating for sufficient state and local resources to protect and manage the natural habitats on which we all depend. State and local government own and manage large tracts of land. We should hold them accountable for assuring public lands are administered sustainably.

• Fund habitat preservation. Supporting local bond measures and property taxes is a practical way to support public investments in maintaining and operating public lands. This yields a range of dividends, among them: clean air, pure water, stable soils, sustainable forest products industries and jobs, and recreational outlets. And that includes summer camps for our kids!

• Reduce, recycle and reuse material goods. Clearing forests for wood products and agricultural or commercial use is over. A tree standing is worth more than a tree cut when we include all the contributions of forest habitats. We reduce commercial pressures on terrestrial and marine habitats when we reduce, recycle, or reuse what we’ve extracted from nature.

• Establish natural habitats at home. Our own backyards and community green spaces also serve as natural habitats. We can urge local stores and nurseries to carry drought-resistant plants that can tolerate the extreme weather that most likely we will confront. Exercise our ecological consumer purchasing power in this way to bend market forces toward environmental sustainability.

• Spend time in the woods. Find the time to live for a periodic walk in the woods each year. For many, that may be sending their kids to summer camp or sponsoring such opportunities for inner-city kids who could not afford the experience. We need to get out into forest – and marine - habitats and get better acquainted with them. If we can’t camp in the forest for a week, then we can budget a couple hours every couple of weeks to walk in the woods or along the beach shores. That totals up to almost 50 hours a year, a solid “work week” of outdoor experiences by most measures.

So, why do I focus on snails and salamanders? Because they are among the most vulnerable of animal species and the habitat to support them is among the most fragile. They can serve as our markers of sustainable progress toward preserving viable habitats. If we can preserve and protect salamanders and their habitat, then most other species – including ourselves! - will have a better chance at survival as well.

We can’t predict what a warmer world will be like for our kids. But we can work to give them the tools and training and to instill in them the empathy they will need to survive and thrive in partnership with nature. And a good place to start is preserving natural places where coming generations of kids can turnover stones with the anticipation and excitement of discovering what’s beneath them.