Coming Full Circle

* This blog was first published without editing. My wife and editor wants everyone to know that the copious amount of grammatical errors were not her fault, and that she has since edited.

We were without power for almost seven days. I haven't been out in the field in a couple of weeks, and I honestly haven't been doing very much birding lately; so this post is a smattering of a few things: a damage report, a little about some reading I've been doing, and finally something to think about that I noticed in Lawton, all nicely wrapped up right here!

I've been spending my time cleaning up the front yards of both mine and my neighbors' houses, which are littered with, well tree litter. Just don't ask about the backyard; I'm trying to ignore it! As always I'm keeping things rolling with the Important Bird Areas program, and I should have an update finished for the project in the very near future. I will post a link here later so anyone who is interested can check it out. In between those times I've been keeping my nose buried in Wade Davis's "One River," just trying to keep the brain moving, but in a relaxing way. There's a great video on "Ted Talks" in which Dr. Davis discusses endangered cultures, if you want to get an idea of this brilliant man's efforts.

This is the second time I've picked up "One River;" it's been well over ten years since the last time so it's pretty much like reading it for the first time. To sumarize, he discusses the ethnobotanical adventures of Richard Schultes, his mentor, and then treads off on his own adventures through the depths of the Amazon. I highly recommend the book; it is truly fascinating.

There was a chapter early on that was especially interesting and got me thinking about something I saw in downtown Lawton. The chapter's title was called "Peyote Road," it was basically a story about Richard Schultes's first forray into ethnobotony and it took place right here in western Oklahoma. It obviously involved peyote and his experiences with some members of the Kiowa tribe back in the late 1920's. If you want to know more about it, read the book, because that's not where I'm going with this.

There was a short passage about General Sheridan and how he basically pushed for the genocide of the Native Americans. He is quoted as making statements like, "the only good Indians I ever saw were dead," and is known for pushing for the eradication of the Bison in order to hit the Native Americans where they could be impacted the greatest....their food and leather supplies. I immediately realised this must have been the man that the street in downtown Lawton was named for; I was later able to confirm this notion, much to my dissaproval. I mean, are you kidding? Disregarding his pre-Oklahoma Civil War affairs, naming a main street in our city after a man who actually carried these opinions about other human beings makes me a little uncomfortable; I have to remind myself that those were different times.

What's really fascinating to me, and also the reason I named this post "Coming Full Circle," is sitting at the corner of Cache and Sheridan. It is a statue of a Native American man! Talk about making Sheridan roll over in his grave! I don't know who the artist is, or who made the descision to put this in the corner of their parking lot, but horray for you! It looks as though there is still a little work to be done, judging by the straps that are stabililizing it, but that's not important.

To me it's a symbol of change, hopefully for the city but also for me personally. To me it's about finally realising that we are all Native Americans in a way. No matter how little or how much native blood runs through your veins, most likely it's there nonetheless. It's about realising that I have blood of people from all the corners of the world coursing through my veins, some I know about, many I don't. It's about realising that through my everyday experiences, if I can remeber that one idea, then I see the world in a full circle; it's a complete and whole world. I'm not just a man of the US, I'm a man of the world, and everyday I should live to make this world better for everyone.

It's just something to think about. Stay tuned; I have a great new story to share about a new partner for the Oklahoma IBA program and a new chapter for me.

What They Didn't Show Us at the Oklahoma Wind Energy Conference

Keeping to my statement that I had planned to continue working on topics concerning the Lesser Prairie Chicken, I decided to tackle something I have been thinking about since the Oklahoma Wind Energy Conference in December. During the conference there were a number of presenters, but the few that I am thinking about showed the crowd slides of a few different maps. We had an example of the Oklahoma Lesser Prairie-Chicken Spatial Planning Tool , which if you don't use the link I provided you can find buried deep in the vaults of ODWC's web page. I've provided a little example of this tool that was developed through a pretty significant partnership between a number of NGO's and State and Federal level entities; it was developed so that planners/developers like Southwest Power Pool could use it to avoid the areas with the most significant habitat and accordingly significant local populations. Let me remind you though, unlike Wyoming, Oklahoma is relying on a volunteer-based approach to doing the right thing. The developers and planners can simply ignore this map if they like. No regulations here; just do whatever you please! Well........

So what am I getting at? Well, we were also able to view a number of other maps. These were from Southwest Power Pool and a couple of other planning/developing agencies. What bothered me was the fact that I've seen these maps a number of times, but what I haven't seen is anyone actually combining them. You know, the spatial planning tool for LPCH's and the wind farm/transmission line maps all on one page together. I thought about it a bit, and you know, why would they? They don't want the 1,000 people sitting at the conference to see just how carved up this population was going to become. Well I've taken some time to use the google earth habitat tool from above and a slide from one of Southwest Power Pool's presentations, and I've done just that.

So here it is for everyone to see. It is obvious what the little red boxes represent, wind farms (planned and constructed); the red and blue lines represent high voltage transmission lines (planned and constructed). Now, you tell me how a declining population of North American endemic grouse is going to survive the likes of this kind of development? Let's not forget the Lesser Prairie Chicken isn't far from the USFWS's threatened and endangered list. Sure it's only on the "warranted but precluded" list but let's think about what that means, because I don't think people really get it. To me it means yes, this species needs to be listed but there are a few other higher priority species at the moment and we just don't have enough money to spread around everywhere.....that is unless we elect another Teddy R. I think hell will freeze over before that happens, but oh wait, didn't the Saints just make it to the big dance? . . . maybe it could happen!

I'll say it again and I'll keep saying it. Responsible planning, responsible development, responsible construction, responsible maintenance, over and over again until the people that are in control of this situation start making the right decisions........

Responsible planning, responsible development, responsible construction, responsible maintenance,responsible planning, responsible development, responsible construction, responsible maintenance, responsible planning, responsible development, responsible construction, responsible maintenance. You're going to be sick of me before this ends. I may be a yankee, but my home and heart are in Oklahoma and I expect you to do the right thing! Am I getting your attention yet?

Citations:

Horton, R., L.Bell, C.M. O'Meilia, M.McLachlan, C. Hise, D. Wolfe, D. Elmore and JD Strong. 2009. A Spatially-Based Planning Tool Designed to Reduce Negative Effects of Development on the Lesser Prairie Chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicintus) in Oklahoma: A Multi-Entity Collaboration to Promote Voluntary Habitat Conservation and Prioritized Management Actions. Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. 79pp. http://www.wildlifedepartment.com/lepcdevelomentplanning.htm (accessed: 01/24-25/2009)

Disclaimer: The second map was something I created using a power point presentation prepared by Southwest Power Pool. I did not steal this image, I simply created it using their slide for an example. There was an important disclaimer at the bottom of the slide which stated: "Please note in the legend (not included in my version) that some wind farms are under construction and have not been committed to yet". I think the same can be said for the transmission lines you also see, although I couldn't find that disclaimer on the slide.