Parallel Universe 38°N: The Water Line

Japanese Crested Ibis: Back from the Brink

2011-09-17T15:36:00.000-07:00

A smooth, silent high speed train carried us across the volcanic interior of Honshu Island to the west coast city of Niigata. With Japan's dense population and limited space, the forested mountains are a nice break from land otherwise intensely cultivated or inhabited. Ubiquitous rice fields, turning golden yellow just before the harvest, were especially beautiful along the edges of forest land.

Before hosting us to a traditional Japanese dinner, Professor Tsuneo Sekijima of Niigata University described research supporting the breeding and reintroduction of Japanese Crested Ibis (called “Toki” by the Japanese). The Toki is very symbolic of Japan; its scientific name is Nipponia Nippon. Once common across the nation, Toki went extinct after the last 5 wild birds (by then found only on Sado Island) were captured in an attempt to save them in 1981. Those formerly wild birds eventually died of old age, but meanwhile, a small remnant population was discovered in China. The Chinese began a successful breeding program and gave Japan two Toki in 1999 for breeding on Sado, an island off the west coast that is bisected by the 38^th parallel. Today there are 33 released birds flying wild, with 132 in Japan's captive breeding conservation center. Though breeding has increased their numbers in captivity both in Japan and China, none of the released birds on Sado Island have yet been successful at hatching eggs.

Professor Sekijima has a cadre of graduate students working on data collection, measuring food resources in the rice paddies, and daily monitoring the activities of the wild flocks. Seeing such a rare bird up close, in cages, was a pleasure, but then going out at dawn with the surveyors, to see wild Toki flying free, was an exceptional thrill. Our escort was Dr. Endo, a post-doc student. The Toki's morning flight out of trees where they roost is fairly predictable, and they appeared right on schedule as the sun rose above the horizon.* Later that morning, while Dr. Endo was showing us her methods for surveying insects, frogs and loach ( a small fish) preyed on by the ibis in the rice paddies, another Toki flew in, an unexpected delight for us all (they generally stay roosting in trees during the heat of the day). “Toki need a certain landscape including rich rice fields with trees alongside to rest and preen in,” she explained. “Just because there is a lot of food available in a place does not mean they will come.” As the rice matures, the birds cannot forage among the tall stalks. Sado Island farmers now leave water in fallow fields throughout the year to improve ibis habitat.

Yoishi Kawaguchi , a professor from Tokushima University, was also there studying the irrigation system's effects on Toki and their prey. Open connections between the rivers, water ditches, and rice paddies are critical to the small loach that need to enter the paddies to spawn. Toki cannot land and take off in narrow, concrete-lined waterways, so Dr. Kawaguchi has designed fish ladders and ramps to help the fish pass up from the ditches into the paddies, and urges farmers to leave water in dirt-sided ditches beside the paddy when they drain a field before the harvest.

We spent an amazing day, moving from event to event on Sado with the National Park Senior Ranger Kei Osada. “The role of a ranger in Japan is changing,” he told us. “Now we are encouraged to be involved in community conservation efforts as well as taking care of parkland.”

Our first stop on that busy day was a community work-project where local farmers, non-profit groups;, Sado City officials, and park staff were working outside, together, for the first time, to remove large mouth bass and blue gill perch (non-native species introduced from the USA) from local ponds. The fish were introduced for sport fishing, but devour the small native fish and frogs critically important to the ibis. The pond had been drained to strand the bass and perch in small pools. Under the eye of local TV cameras, a flurry of activity ensued, mud flying as men in waders netted the thrashing fish and heaped them on boats and rafts. Hundreds of fish were caught that would be distributed to the locals to eat. Kei was in the middle of the action (in the yellow uniform shirt), scooping up fish and being interviewed for local television.

Next, we joined a group of local elementary school children a few miles away, who had caught creatures in the Ishida River for a wildlife survey. Though the channel was lined by concrete, the river was surprisingly rich with fish, insects and big, fuzzy crabs. This is part of the local effort to improve things for the ibis by improving conditions for “the small things,” and to involve all of the community in that effort, including children.

We continued up a mountain in the island's interior to meet another group, this time students from Wasada University, who volunteered to come from their homes near Tokyo for four days. We found them energetically stirring mud in a rice paddy to enhance oxygen flow in the “biotope” -- one of many small wetland habitats rich in food for the endangered birds, newly built throughout the island close to rice paddies.

Finally, Ranger Osada took us to the breeding center, including the “training cage,” where 18 of the birds could fly and get ready for their transition to the wild, later that month. Our busy day continued into the evening, as Ranger Kei escorted us to a dinner with the university students and local residents. The students enthusiastically practiced their English by telling us about their 4-day adventure on Sado. The evening culminated with a performance of traditional dancers and drummers.

In late September, 18 more Toki will be released on Sado Island and join the 33 birds already flying wild. These large pink birds are a symbol of hope and renewal for all of Japan. Sado Islanders, especially, have embraced the effort and are committed to making the changes necessary to their human system that will help sustain the birds. The mayor of Sado City, Koichiro Takano, has written: “Our effort ...is a direct response to the biodiversity crisis that confronts humanity, and our efforts to bring back the Toki through nurturing the small creatures on which it thrives is an attempt to restore the environment that is worthy of world wide attention."

*A volunteer with the ibis survey team allowed us to use his photo of a Toki in flight; we thank him, a Sado Island carpenter who prefers anonymity.

Recovery on Japan's Tsunami Coast

2011-09-17T13:40:00.000-07:00

On the morning of March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, with an epicenter at 38°19'N; 142°23'E, created a tsunami that reached the east coast of Japan in 30 minutes. A 30-foot wave struck Sendai (38°15'), the largest city near the epicenter. The tsunami caused much more damage than the quake itself or its many strong aftershocks. Over half a million people were displaced and more than 20,000 died. The quake also damaged several nuclear reactors south of the line, most critically at Fukushima (37°19'N) where reactors lost cooling capability and experienced meltdowns.

We arrived in Japan in early September, after postponing plans to visit in April. Japan is a land of contrasts: quietly speeding bullet trains, carefully tended gardens, clean well-kept cities, but also bright flashing lights, Karaoke bars and pinball machine gambling halls. It is a traveler's dream country of order, efficiency and politeness.

In Tokyo, we met with six National Park administrators in their offices on the 26^th floor of the Environmental Ministry building. They intend to create Sanriku Fukko (Recovery) National Park by combining existing local, regional and national parks and connecting them with a long trail the length of the affected coastline. They told us: “At first, we were overwhelmed by the earthquake disaster. We were here in Tokyo, but wanted to help those people because the National Parks there are a key to their local economy and the most significant features in much of that area. We have staff in several parks now, but hope to expand and create a new type of park.” Their goals are to increase tourism, provide employment and honor the victims of the tsunami with interpretive information. The new trail system will also provide escape routes to higher ground for future tsunamis. Though only at the vision planning stage, Tsunao Watanabe, the Director General of the Nature Conservation Bureau, said this was now the agency's most important national effort.

We traveled by bullet train to Sendai, the city where the massive tsunami wave swept across the airport, shown again and again in video news coverage of the earthquake disaster. Sendai is on the western edge of Matsushima Bay at the south end of the Tohoku region. North of the big city, at Matsushima, is Japan's oldest “Natural Park,”operated by the Miyagi Prefecture. Over 200 small islands topped by Japanese red pines are famed as one of three best visual features in Japan. We had a morning tour boat to ourselves; tourism has not fully recovered since the March disaster. Matsushima remains a magical place. Six months after the March 11 earthquake, the clean up already accomplished was impressive, but piles of debris remain and there were several wrecked boats on the beaches. Some pine trees were broken and brown, killed by waves and salt water, but trains and tour boats were running on schedule.

With the help of an English-speaking woman at the tourist information office (whose house was one of 200 in Matsushima destroyed by the quake -- already rebuilt), we asked local park administrator Hiroya Miura about the new Recovery Park idea being planned in Tokyo. He told us, “It will be difficult to coordinate so many different levels of national and local park operations but, yes, it could be a way to increase tourism and provide jobs.”

Though Matsushima Park still has bridges and walkways to repair near the main information center, the town bustled with Japanese tourists. Souvenir T-shirts were for sale everywhere, proclaiming: “Never Give Up, Japan,” and “Go For It, Tohoku.” Those words are being put into action.

That night, at our hotel in nearby Sendai, a magnitude 4.7 earthquake shook us awake – an insignificant aftershock, one of hundreds that size or bigger that still rock the region.

Restoration in Japan: final stop on the 38th Parallel

2011-08-29T13:32:00.000-07:00

On September 7 we fly to Tokyo from San Francisco to explore the 38th Parallel across Japan, including two stories of recovery and restoration. We will meet with Ministry of Environment officials in the national headquarters in Tokyo to learn about the Japanese Crested Ibis breeding and release program and also the new Sanriku Reconstruction National Park that is planned for the northeast coastline where the tsunami hit last March. During the following week, we will to go Sado Island (off the west coast of the main island; see map) where the Crested Ibis Conservation Center is located. Our hosts say that we may tie in with a university group doing a habitat project when we arrive and we also hope to attend a community get-together that evening for those students and locals. The ibis went extinct in Japan, so this recovery program, begun with a few birds provided by China, is something like our California Condor breeding and release program. The water connection here is the need to switch locally to organic rice farming, as the birds feed on frogs, fish, etc. in nearby rice paddies.
Returning to the main island, we will travel through the mountains to Sendai, on the Sanriku coast where the tsunami had such devastating impacts after the March 11 earthquake. We hope to visit at least one of the national parks (Matsushima) being consolidated into the new park along the affected coastline.
With the final chapter complete, our book will move ahead with editing and production at University of California Press (publication will be in 2012). Watch for our blogs from Japan between September 8 and the 15th.
(Our thanks to Javier Grijalbo of Madrid, Spain, for preparing the map in this message, one of 5 that he created for our book)

In Turkmenistan: Half-way Around the World from Mono Lake

2011-05-20T10:04:00.000-07:00

Half-way around the world from home, the GPS told us we had reached the 61°East longitude in Turkmenistan. The 38° latitude line intersects in Mono Lake with the 119°West longitude: 61 + 119 = 180° around the globe! Local clocks are 12 hours different from California (as bad a jet-lag problem as there can be, we would learn; after Turkmenistan we were homeward bound).

We landed in Ashgabat, the capital and largest city (37º58'N) and drove straight east toward Merv, the most influential ancient city they never taught us about in World History. Half-way there we stopped at that half-way around the world longitude point and took a photo beside a reservoir that stores Karakum Canal water. The canal was begun in 1954 when Turkmenistan was part of the U.S.S.R. and diverts 50% of the water that used to feed the Aral Sea, in Uzbekistan. It moves water almost 600 miles, one of the longest aqueducts in the world, to Ashgabat and to farms along the way. With the water, Turkmenistan grows lots of cotton, especially, and fruits and vegetables. The Aral Sea, which used to be the 4th largest lake in the world, meanwhile has lost 75% of its volume because of this and tributary diversions by other nations. The unlined canal seeps into the region's groundwater and evaporation draws salts to the surface, ironically taking some lands out of production..

Our goal that day was the city of Mary, which sits next to (and in some places slops over into) ancient Merv, a State Historic and Cultural Park. The local history began more than 6,000 years ago, with a series of cities that each built mud-brick walls, houses, fortresses, and mosques. The Greeks were there in the first few centuries B.C., including Alexander the Great's army. Some believe that Merv was the largest city in the world from 1145 to 1153, under the Seljuk Turks, with a population of 200,000. The Persian mathematician, Omar Khayyam, used an observatory in Merv; he is more famous in our country for his poems published as The Rubaiyat.
Merv existed here because of water, the Merghab River. Most of this nation is covered by the Karakum Desert. Ironically, that dependence on water was used by the sons of Genghis Khan, who arrived with an army of 8,000 soldiers in 1221 A.D., were repulsed by the walls and defenders, but finally forced surrender by destroying the city's dam on the Merghab River. With no water supply, the city gates were opened to the Mongols who proceeded to kill its inhabitants. Merv's ancient glory days came to an end.

In Ashgabat, we toured a stable to learn about the nation's fabulous Akhal Teke horses, a type that may have become the source for the Arabian breed. Women of Turkmenistan appear on the streets each day in lovely long dresses (green for the school girls) that most Americans would only consider wearing on special occasions.

We were helped in Turkmenistan by Berkeli Atayev, who came to Great Salt Lake 7 years ago with a group of Turkmenistan Tourism officials.
It is a relief to be heading home after 5 weeks of travel across Asia. This completes our around-the-world adventures on the 38th parallel--almost. Japan is still to come, we hope, in September. The book that will flesh out these stories about water-related water and cultural intersections along the 38th parallel will be published in autumn 2012 by U.C. Press.

THE KARAKORUM HIGHWAY TO THE WESTERN EDGE OF CHINA

2011-05-09T16:47:00.000-07:00

It was time for us, as mountain people, to see the high country near China's western border. We headed up the Karakorum Highway to Karakul Lake, at 11,999 ft (38°26'N), said to be the most beautiful lake in China. The weather cooperated providing a majestic view of Muztagh Ata beyond the lake, rising to 24,757 feet above sea level.

Enroute, we made a side trip to Oytagh Glacier, which is melting fast in a hanging valley with a viewpoint at 9,500 feet. The valley community was raising crops and livestock at this high elevation in small green fields along the river, backed by towering mountains.

Yaks, camels, yurts and Kyrgyz hats and dress appeared here, so close to the border of Kyrgyzstan.

Our final destination was the city of Tashkorgan, near the border with Tajikistan and Pakistan. Along the way, we stopped where the highway crossed 38°00'N, and took a photo in front of a mud- walled mosque. Traditional dress changed again, with the women wearing a kind of pillbox hat covered with a scarf. The stone castle ruins above the town date to 500 years before Marco Polo's arrival in the 13^th century. A waitress at our hotel told us that the townsfolk prefer to bring water in jugs from the local river, as the water in city pipes carries too much sediment.

We had crossed all of China, these final days on routes that were used by Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan and Marco Polo. Our guide Abdul introduced us to Uighur culture and explained that Alexander the Great coined that name, which means “united” people. It was a pleasure to dine with Abdul's family at their farm outside Kashgar. His mother seemed thrilled to receive a Mono Lake Committee shopping bag!

Our next stop: Turkmenistan, half-way around the world from Mono Lake.

6th China Blog: The Southern Silk Road: Hotan to Kashgar

2011-05-09T16:43:00.000-07:00

Hotan is an oasis on the Southern Silk Road, east of Kashgar, famous for centuries for its jade. It was here we met our friend from home, Rick Kattelmann, and our new guide Abdul, and began our trek through far western China's Uighur region. Hotan is an island of green in the Taklamakan Desert, with orchards of fruits and nuts and fields of wheat going on for miles. We drove to the “green wall” at the edge of town where men were planting and drip irrigating peach trees and tamarisk, trying to hold back the shifting dunes.

Hotan exists because of its water--the Jade River. A major discovery in 2001 in the river bed started a modern day “jade rush', a free for all that is tearing up the riverbed using everything from shovels to huge excavators. People sleep among the tailing piles, and work at night, looking for the shine of the precious stones. Men could be seen all over town haggling over stones. We presented a small piece we found to a jade buyer. The answer? He threw the worthless river stone on the ground.

Silk has been the key trade item for centuries. A factory in Hotan still does the whole process by hand, from stringing the silk off the cocoons, to spinning, dying and weaving.

Continuing west, we explored Yarkand (a “small” town of only 560,000 at 38°17'N) and a wonderful weekly market in Kargilik. Even with a nice van and a good driver, it was a long, bumpy ride. A railroad is set to open soon, and a new highway is under construction. The evolution of the Silk Road continues.

Kashgar has always been a crossroads and trading center, a bridge between China and Central Asia. The Uighur region seems like a whole different country, and for much of human history, it has been. Veiled women now mix with Han Chinese in mini-skirts and high heels. Color abounds everywhere, with beautiful fabrics, lucious fruits and shiny copper pots. Woman dress to go to market in exquisite dresses we would only consider wearing to a formal wedding. The transport mode of choice is an electric scooter. They zip around everywhere, including on sidewalks and through crowded market aisles. Women sit side-saddle in back, clutching small children and not even holding on to the driver or scooter.

Kashgar has a livestock market on Sundays, where sheep, donkeys, cows, goats and even cats and dogs have been sold or traded for centuries. Looking for a fast horse? There's a special area to “test ride”the sale horses at top speed. We sampled a traditional Uighur kebob here, lamb, dipped in flour and egg and baked in a stone fired oven.

Qinghai, Blue Lake of the Tibetan Plateau

2011-05-02T12:07:00.000-07:00

The city of Xining is the home of the Qinghai Salt Lake Institute and gateway to China's largest lake—Qinghai. Professor Fafu Li welcomed us to the Institute and we met with several scientists and graduate students interested in hearing about Mono Lake.

Janet and Professor Li at Cormorant Island, Quinghai Lake

Fafu led us on a 2 day visit to Qinghai, which is on the northeast corner of the Tibetian Plateau, 10,000 feet above sea level. Its water is less salty than the ocean, at 14 g/l, but is alkaline with a pH of 9.2 (Mono Lake is pH 10). Chloride, sodium and sulphates are the dominant ions. Qinghai is a huge inland sea, 5 times bigger than Mono at about 40 x 60 miles (4,437 square kilometers). The lake supports plankton, diatoms, algae and one kind of fish—the endemic Scale-less Carp. The water tastes slightly bitter, and we were pleased to see familiar suds forming along the shore. Seven tributary streams feed Qinghai Lake.

The main tourist destination is Bird Island, on the west shore, where Bar-headed Geese nest in the spring, after crossing the Himalaya from India at elevations over 33,000 feet. The Chinese have built an impressive bird blind, burrowing underground for 200 yards to a viewing area whose glassed windows put us just a few yards away from nesting geese. The birds were unaware of being watched. Common Cormorants and black-headed gulls also nest nearby on offshore rocks and cliffs.

We also visited the north shore of Qinghai. The largest town in the area is Kangtsa, north of the lake (37°20'N). There had been a grand plan for lake cruises at the national park near there. Docks and infrastructure were built, but the government decided that the boat engines were too polluting and stopped the project. In fact, no boats of any kind are allowed on Qinghai and a fishing moratorium is in place. The government has been “saving Qinghai Lake” with a number of protective measures since 2008. The lake level has been rising in recent years, partly due to the climate, but also by reducing the acreage of irrigated farmland (mostly rapeseed, the canola oil plant).

Grazing animals abounded in the high grasslands around the lake, and we got our first close look at yaks. Thousands and thousands of yaks and sheep. Livestock numbers are being reduced by allotting individual grazing land to the traditionally nomadic people and encouraging them to settle in one place with subsidized housing (they still roam in the summer). New electric lines were everywhere and the railroad to Lhasa passed though. The high plateau must have looked very different just 20 years ago.

Chaka Lake

Crossing a 12,500 foot highway pass into a separate basin, we visited hypersaline Chaka Lake. Fafu explained that Chaka could provide enough domestic salt for the entire world for 500 years! Only bacteria live in its concentrated brine.

As we traveled back to Xining, a sand storm blew in. These spring events are fairly common and the Asian dust sometimes travels on high-altitude jet streams all the way to the Mono Basin. Visiting Qinghai Lake took us south of the 38^th parallel, but it was a must-see location for us to visit the largest, saline lake in China...one that is now successfully recovering from human impacts.

Up the Yellow River to Lanzhou's Green Camel Bell

2011-05-01T20:30:00.000-07:00

The City of Lanzhou is long and narrow, snaking along the Yellow River for 15 miles where it flows between mountains. Here we met Liping Ran of the NGO Green Camel Bell, whose mission is “green mountains, clear water, blue sky, man and nature in harmony.” The camel is an animal well-adapted to its environment, the bell is for good fortune and green is for a sustainable future.
The NGO was founded by Zhao Zhong, a young physicist who received a Time Magazine “Heroes of the Environment” award in 2009. Their full-time staff of 6 people works with interns and volunteers on a wide variety of projects ranging from grass brick construction, eco-toilets, sustainable agriculture, environmental education, and community development. Liping was most proud of her project to improve drinking water quality in the small village of Liangjiawan. A new dam on the Yellow River near the village had greatly reduced water flow. The village's water intake pump became too close to water contaminated with sewage. Green Camel Bell helped organize the village leaders to ask for changes and secured water purifiers for the village homes and a new water pipe to the village.

We went up the river with Liping to another village dealing with similar problems--a new dam and insufficient maintenance of the village's well-water pipes (one lady told us they broke after 2 years and were never fixed), forcing the people to take water directly from the polluted river. The villagers either pumped it from the river or hauled water in buckets for their daily needs. The river is not clean. The young baby we met, and all the others, deserve better. Liping's next step will be to contact village leaders to begin working towards a solution.

Green Camel Bell is a pioneering group in China, helping to effect change in attitudes towards the environment. Liping told us the staff is all unmarried, completely dedicated to their work, and that it is sometimes hard to explain the value of that work to friends and family in the present Chinese culture. The day we left, Liping would travel north to Wuwei, a city on the 38^th parallel, to start another water quality investigation.

On our last afternoon, Liping showed us the ancient waterwheels designed to lift water high above the banks for irrigation, ingeniously powered by the flowing river. At one point, the city had over 200 wheels.
The Upper Yellow River at Lonzhou is lined with factories, spanned by dozens of small hydroelectric dams, and is home to millions of people. Liping and Green Camel Bell are hopeful they can teach people to respect and care for their Mother River in the Waterwheel City of Lanzhou.

Shapatou: Yellow River Oasis on the Silk Road

2011-04-28T15:13:00.000-07:00

Traveling toward Shapatou National Nature Reserve, we came upon a viewing tower for tourists being constructed on the bank of the Yellow River--at exactly 38º00'N! Shapatou was a major crossing on the Silk Road, where Tengger Desert sand dunes meet the Yellow River. A section of the Great Wall rises up east of the river, crumbling but still impressive. Ancient travelers crossed the river on rafts made of inflated sheepskins, which are still used to give rides to the tourists.

The 50-year old Desert Research Institute is within the park. We found a graduate student, Dr. Liu, studying soil samples in her laboratory. Forty researchers work at the Institute, which pioneered a straw-squares system for control blowing sand. This technique is especially important for keeping sand off the railroad tracks through the desert, from Inner Mongolia to Gansu.

Desertification is a major concern in this part of China.

blowing sand treatment

Tree planting is happening all over the country, as a carbon sink and an attempt to control sand storms. Winds on our second day in Shapatou gave us a small taste of the sand storm potential, which sometimes is so heavy in the spring that haze from China whitens the sky in our Sierra Nevada home.

Our rooms were right in the park and we enjoyed the river and wetlands at dusk and dawn. The meeting of sand and river at this ancient human crossing is truly spectacular. Riding camels up the dunes was unforgettable, and surprisingly comfortable, though there were jolts when the camels stood up and sat down. It was a treat to dip our feet in the cold river after a long day of walking.

If quiet contemplation of Yellow River history and nature if not enough, there are also bungee jumping, zip-lining, hang gliding, sand sledding, dune buggy riding and jet boating here!

Next stop is a half-day drive south along the Yellow River to the big city of Lanzhou.

(Thanks to our guide, Kinder Shu Jinde, for use of the Yellow River marsh photograph)

National Parks of Yinchuan: Playgrounds or Preserves?

2011-04-28T15:00:00.000-07:00

The city of Yinchuan (38º30'N; 106º20'E) sits near the Yellow River, in the shadow of the Helan Mountains just south of Inner Mongolia. We visited several national parks in the area including Sand Lake, known for its birdlife. A huge entrance arch in the shape of a crane greeted us, along with a bank of fee collection stations. One must pay the entry fee, then also buy a boat ride, the only way to really see the lake. Dave, being a senior, got to go in for free to scope out the boat docks. We decided to enjoy the birds outside in the fish rearing ponds instead: Grey Heron, River Lapwing, Great Crested Grebe, Grey headed Lapwing and White Wagtail.

The same situation repeated itself in the other parks; massive entrances, beautiful fountains, gleaming buildings, marble staircases and plazas, along with high entry fees and extra costs for trams, boats, movies, etc. It is an interesting cultural contrast in park presentation, with grandiose facilities (plus fees) accompanying landscape preservation. At the Helan Mountain rock art preserve, thre were magnificent museum displays of petroglyph replicas. We were happy to get outdoor onto the canyon trail with the real petroglyphs. There, hundreds of intricate petroglyphs date back as much as 6000 years, and exploring the canyon became one of our favorite experiences in this region. The interpretive signs were well done. True to form, the stream through the canyon had been re-sculpted into a series of man-made pools.

A few miles away, two Buddhist Twin Pagodas sit on a windswept hillside true to the ideal of feng shui: with “the mountain behind and the river in front.” Hundreds of bells on the towers gonged, blown by the wind. Here there was a staircase with twin lions, but no grand entrance arch or high fee.

Our final stop was a “wetlands national park” located in the city, built for the 50^th anniversary of the Ningxia Autonomous Province. A huge staircase led up to Romanesque arches framing a stadium, at the edge of an artificial lake, with water from the river that runs through the city. Birds and fishermen were enjoying the lake while wedding couples took photos amid the columns in the afternoon light.

Playground or preserve? China has impressive examples of both. Our next stop is the Shapatou National Nature Reserve, on the Yellow River south of Yinchuan.

Yellow River Delta

2011-04-21T13:47:00.000-07:00

CHINA BLOGS
Yellow River Delta

The Yellow River enters the Bohai Sea just south of the 38^th Parallel (at 37°45'N; 119°10'E), but just a few years ago it occupied a channel right on the latitude line. Because it carries so much silt—which turns it a yellow-brown color that explains its name—channels gradually fill with sand and the river has repeatedly jumped into new channels across this whole region. The Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve has China's newest wetlands, built since the last major shift in 1996.

Driving from the city of Dong Ying, out to the delta, it was hard to believe a protected wetlands would be at the end of the road. Construction zones gave way to farms, then to oilfields, and finally to the wetlands at the mouth of China's “Mother River.” Our first bird sighting was a massive Oriental White Stork, lifting off in a flash of black and white. Common Terns raced by in the high wind as we walked down beautifully designed boardwalks with intricate rails to birdwatching towers.

Our guide from the Reserve was engineer Shen Kai, a supercharged bird expert with a huge telephoto lens on his camera. We zoomed to spots in the wetlands in our rental car, trying to keep his car in sight (our driver is our Chinese guide and interpreter, Kinder.) The Reserve was created in 1992 to enhance and protect the wetlands for migratory and nesting birds. At the edge of a huge oilfield, the managers struggle to keep enough “eco-diversions” from the main river to optimize water levels in the marsh.

Surprises abounded, including the strength of a howling wind that, thankfully, abated after lunch. A modernistic 2-story visitor center, built in 2010 looms over the landscape. From its roof (6 stories high) we had jaw-dropping views of the marsh and the Yellow River heading toward the ocean, just a quarter mile away. So far there are no services inside; they seem to have spent all their money on the incredible building, but it looks large enough to handle thousands of visitors. On less windy days, two boats are available for touring the river out to the sea.

We were there at the end of the breeding season for cranes and saw red-crowned cranes in flight. The Reserve draws in more than 280 bird species and is one of China's largest natural reserves.
The Reserve staff treated us to a mid-day banquet in a nearby village restaurant, and yet another banquet that night. We asked Shen Kai and Deputy Director Li Juanzhang what they would most like the people of the world to know about their Reserve. They commented on how difficult water management is (we will be exploring some of the human thirsts for water along the upper Yellow River in the next 2 weeks), but agreed that is was a worthwhile, satisfying goal to serve the birds.

Called the “River of Sorrow” because of its history of flooding human habitations, the protection of the Yellow River Estuary, now alive with birds, is a hopeful sign that the Mother River will long enter the sea with the “birds of heaven” (cranes) winging above.

Itinerary for China and Turkmenistan

2011-04-07T12:26:00.000-07:00

On April 15 we will arrive in Beijing, and the next day begin our exploration of the 38th parallel across China at the delta of the Yellow River, where it empties into the ocean right on the latitude line. The Yellow River Delta National Nature Preserve is an important site for migratory birds, including cranes. Our route westward keeps intersecting the river as it swings in great loops, north and south of the line. Cities that we will visit along the river include Yinchuan, at the edge of Inner Mongolia (38°28'North; 106°16'E), and Lanzhou, once a key location on the Silk Road (Marco Polo passed through) and now a major industrial city. From there we will go to Xining and the Qinghai Salt Lake Institute, where we will be educated about the region's salt lakes, thanks to a connection made by Dr. Robert Jellison, a local expert on salt lake ecosystems here in the Sierra Nevada. Qinghai Lake is China's largest lake and shares some traits with Mono Lake: it is salty, a key location for migratory birds, and is currently being "saved" by the government from ecosystem declines caused by activities in the surrounding watershed. We will fly across the eastern half of the Taklamakan desert and then drive along the southern route of the Silk Road from the oasis town of Hotan west to Kashgar. We will also go to Karakul Lake (37º59N; 75º01E) and Tashkorgan, another Silk Road town along the Karakorum Highway on the Pamir plateau.

After more than 3 weeks spanning over 3,000 miles of China, we will fly direct from western China above parts of Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Uzbekhistan to land in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan (37º58'N; 58º24'E). We will learn about the 500+ mile Karakum Canal that transports water to that capital city and irrigates farm fields along the way, and also visit Merv, site of an ancient Silk Road city that is half-way around the world from Mono Lake along the 38th parallel. Merv was perhaps the largest city in the world from 1145 to 1153 A.D., with a population of 200,000 back then (it's a ruin now).

We will only stay 3 nights in Turkmenistan before flying on to Istanbul, then Madrid, and finally returning home on May 18. Following this trip, only Japan will remain to complete our around-the-world explorations (hopefully in September if conditions there allow). As always, while exploring the water-related cultural and environmental stories along the 38th parallel, we will blog about our experiences when time and internet connections permit. Your comments about the blogs are really appreciated.

Earthquake in Japan and Asia Travel Plans

2011-03-12T11:30:00.000-08:00

To complete our around-the-world exploration of 38th parallel water connections, we had planned to travel in Japan, China, and Turkmenistan in April and May, 2011. The massive 9.0 magnitude earthquake in Japan was at 38°19''N, offshore from the city of Sendai on the east coast of Honshu, just 4 weeks before our trip was to begin. Since then there have been hundreds of major aftershocks, including dozens greater than magnitude 6 and a few over 7.

Our itinerary did not have us going to the east coast that was hit so hard by the tsunami and nuclear reactor leaks, but inland to mountainous Bandai-Asahi National Park, then to Niigata (just south of the latitude line), and then by ferry to Sado Island (west of the main island and intersected by the line). We hope to learn about the captive breeding and release program for endangered Japanese crested ibis on Sado Island, whose success is closely tied to rice culture and forestry practices.

With food, water, and power shortages and an ever worsening nuclear reactor radiation leak situation, now is not the time to go to Japan. The estimated deaths from the tsunami keep growing, now almost 12,000 dead with another 15,000 missing. What a sorrowful tragedy

We now hope Japan will be the final country visited on our around-the-world travels, and hope to go in September if the recovery has progressed.

Our friend, Greg Reis, has a thoughtful blogpost about the on-going nuclear disaster: http://gregorreis.blogspot.com/2011/04/japanese-nuclear-disaster-at-fukushima.html

Japanese Red Cross Society Online

http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html

International Red Cross Appeals for Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami Relief

American Red Cross via iTunes and Amazon.com

Korean DMZ: A Wildlife Haven Behind Barbed Wire

2010-06-27T03:35:00.000-07:00

The Korean War started on June 25, 1950. Sixty years later, on June 25, we stood inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) with a delegation from Pasadena, which has a “Friendship City” relationship with the South Korean city of Paju (37°46'), on the edge of the DMZ. The Pasadena delegation included Alan Lamson and Jane Hallinger as well as Dr. Yung Nam, a Korean-American dentist, who has organized and was dedicating a dental Peace Clinic for residents of the DMZ on this special anniversary. This celebration was at a school in the Civilian Control Area, but plans are to provide another clinic at the Daeseong-dong village (37 °57'N) inside the DMZ. Until we were invited to join this effort, we had no idea that any people actually lived in that zone (controlled by the United Nations), but both South and North Korea maintain small villages within the otherwise closed off land. Most of the 30 students at the Daeseong-dong Elementary School honored us with a drum performance (see the short video clip).They have established pen-pal relationships with a school in Pasadena. This was a unique opportunity for us to enter the DMZ itself, something most tourists cannot do, and made possible by our new friends from Pasadena and our “friendship city” hosts in Paju..
The DMZ is a 150 mile long and 2.5 mile wide strip of land across the Korean Peninsula, more or less following the 38th parallel. With people excluded for 60 years, the land became a haven for wildlife. Behind the barbed wire, many endangered species are thriving, an ironic peaceful outcome from war. The estuary region of the Han and Imjin Rivers and the tideland and riparian vegetation zones are particularly valuable wetlands landscapes for animals. The once ravaged landscape is now green and lush.

Black-capped Kingfisher

The Paju City organizers, understanding our special interest in environmental issues along the 38th parallel, arranged a tour inside the Civilian Control Area along the edge of the DMZ with the DMZ Ecological Research Institute. Jung Rok An is a student at the Korea University in Seoul, only 20 years old, but an eloquent and knowledgeable researcher and organizer of environmental education efforts. He started the DMZ Ecology Research Institute (www.ecodmz.or.kr) along with his father and Mr. Kim, a school teacher, and they now train teams of high school students in research techniques. After a year of orientation and field camps, the students pick projects related to the ecology of the DMZ. We joined a group from 3 highs schools in Seoul on their first day of orientation; on that same day, two other groups , one a full year into their studies, and another group of elementary school students, were taken inside the area by the Institute. At the end of the day, some of the more experienced group shared their thoughts and hopes for the future on our tape recorder...fascinating quotes that we will eventually share in our book. They all hoped that this special place, full of cranes, geese, kingfishers and a host of other birds and mammals, will still be protected, even after the longed-for day comes when peace between the two Koreas opens up this landscape to humans once again. (Our thanks to Julia Kim for permission to use her photo of the egret behind barbed wire)

An Alkaline Inland Sea in Eastern Turkey

2010-05-20T11:14:00.000-07:00

A vast inland sea with alkaline water whose strange chemistry produces large calcium carbonate structures underwater, in a dramatic setting with snow-covered mountain peaks, and a lake level that is thousands of feet above sea level...that sounds exactly like Mono Lake, our starting place for this 38th parallel exploration, but it also describes Lake Van, the largest lake in Turkey. This was our final stop on a 6-week trip that began in Portugal, took us across parts of Spain, Sicily, Greece, and for the last 15 days, the length of this very large country.

Lake Van also differs from Mono Lake in significant ways. It is much larger: a 270 mile shoreline (Mono's is about 40 miles); an average depth of 560 feet (today, Mono Lake averages about 60 feet deep) with a deepest point that is 1,480 feet! (Mono Lake is only about 150 deep at its deepest point).

Van holds a lot of water, but not much salt. It is primarily a "soda" lake, dominated by carbonates, also containing some sulfates (both key ingredients in Mono), but without our home lake's chlorides--i.e. dissolved table salt. There are fish in Lake Van, but only one species that can handle the unusual water chemistry; Mono Lake, of course, is much too salty for fish. The alkalinity of both lakes is fairly close, around pH 9.8 for Van and 10.2 for Mono. Because Van's water is less harsh, it does have the one kind of fish plus hundreds of species of plankton. Though we did not see many birds on the lake--just a few gulls--the literature says Van supports many migratory and nesting birds. Van even has calcium carbonate structures chemically related to Mono Lake's tufa formations, but Van's are out of sight in the depths, where cyanobacteria build aragonite towers up to 130 feet tall!

What a fitting place to end this segment of our around-the-world travels. We arrived by bus in the city of Van (38°29'N; 43°23'E) on the southeast shore of the lake. Adem, a medical student at the university in Van, was on our bus, and as so many other helpful Turkish people have done, he answered all our questions, was interested in our project, and when the bus deposited us in the city center, walked with us to find our hotel. Following Adem's directions, we took a mini-bus out to the lakeshore where local kids were swimming. We felt the water, which was slippery, as expected. The water here, as at Mono Lake, has been used to wash clothes. We tasted a bit from our wet fingertips (like baking soda), and waded in the water.

There is so much we could have investigated here, given enough time. We understand that climate scientists are drilling down through Van Lake's bottom mud because they can find there a half-million years of climate data from the sedimentary record. We'd like to have seen more of the lake's bird life and volcanic features nearby, but this is our last night in eastern Turkey. Tomorrow we fly to Istanbul, spend one night, then fly all the way home for a break before finishing the around-the-world exploration by crossing Asia.

Mt. Nemrut: Where the Gods Lay Their Heads

2010-05-18T08:51:00.000-07:00

Today we stood knee-deep in Euphrates River water, north of Malatya in southeastern Anatolia. Only a few miles further east, archaeologists are presently uncovering a 7,000-year old city called Arslantepe. Along this river (and the Tigris, which we will visit soon) some of the oldest known human settlements occurred. This water has supported some of humanity's earliest agriculture and communities, along with the dreams and follies of kings.

On a 7,000 foot mountaintop to the south (with distant views of the Euphrates River valley as it curves east, turns back to the west, and then bends south toward Syria), a 1^st century B.C. king named Antioches built a monument to Roman and Persian gods so he could place his own statue among them. The exquisitely sculpted heads were forgotten by history until they were rediscovered in 1882. Major restoration was not complete until the early 1980s. The remote summit of Nemrut Dagi National Park lies exactly on our line at 37°59'50''. This is one of Turkey's must-see treasures, though it takes considerable effort for travelers to reach the mountain. We opted for an overnight trip from Malatya that required a 3-hour shuttle to a hotel that nestles one mile below the summit. With two other tourists (from Croatia) we visited the 2 terraces and sculptures at sunset and were woken at 4 AM to return for sunrise.

The massive heads, fallen from their bodies above, have a mystical quality that immediately captivates. Fine sculptors shaped the likenesses of Apollo, Zeus, Hercules, Tyche and, of course, King Antiochos. Honey- colored stone reflects the changing light, and the setting, on a summit crowned with small stones that may cover burial chambers, is magnificent. The green valley, rock outcroppings and wildflower gardens reminded us of Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite.

King Antiochos left a truly striking memorial behind two thousand years ago, and visitors today can share a bit of his dream of being with the gods on a mountaintop.

As for that wading experience in the Euphrates, we were actually in the Karakaya Reservoir. Turkey has built many dams in this region in recent decades...and that is our next topic to explore when we reach the Tigris River.

Fairy Chimneys of Cappadocia

2010-05-17T00:39:00.000-07:00

Volcanic ash, hardened into rock and capped by basalt from later eruptions, then eroded by water through the ages, has created a fantasy landscape in the Cappadocia region of central Turkey. Fairy chimneys, towers, and mushroom shapes became houses and fresco painted chapels as local people carved caves into the whitish tuff--but around here everyone uses the name "tufa." In our many years of telling visitors about Mono Lake's tufa towers--the photogenic limestone formed when springwater and lakewater mix--we often heard about the "tufa" formations of Cappadocia, which actually have more in common with the Bishop tuff formed near Mono Lake by the Long Valley volcanic eruption.

Beyond that terminology story, words cannot do justice to this landscape (so we've posted a lot of photos here). The fact that people still live in many of the caves and grow gardens and apricot orchards nearby adds to the Hobbit-y feel of the place. Visitors may stay in "cave hotels" complete with windows, terraces and satellite dishes. Huge horse stables have been carved into some of the larger rocks. Where people have moved out, birds have moved in (we watched a momma bird feed her baby chicks). Entire underground cities in multiple layers provided refuge during long ago raids. A huge, snowcapped volcano stands sentinel in the distance.

Most of our time was spent hiking, seeking the high viewpoints to look down and across the valleys. Many tourists seek similar views in the dawn balloon rides that contribute significant amounts of money to the local economy.

We met Hayriye Ciner selling her beautiful jewelry in one of our favorite parts of the valley. Wildflowers abounded, with Turkey mullein (that exotic pest at home that is native here) and irises decorating the hillside. A fox even gave us a glimpse. Camels are a sign of the historic Silk Road connections to China in this part of Turkey.

We spent 3 days here and barely began to explore the lovely spot, but our eastward journey pulls us on toward the Euphrates River region.

In Search of Tuz Golu (Salt Lake)

2010-05-16T01:05:00.000-07:00

Turkey's second largest lake, the salty Tuz Golu, proved surprisingly hard to find (its south end is at 38°30', and it extends north for 50 miles). A huge white expanse hovered in the distance, but was it water or a salt flat? In May, there is water in Tuz Golu, one of the saltiest lakes in the world at 33% salinity, but it was fast evaporating with the warm temperatures. The lake appeared tantalizingly close, but proved to be a long slog through farm fields and wildflowers to the "shore" with the water itself across the Tuz Golu muck. The lake dries out almost completely in the summer, leaving behind a thick layer of salt that is commercially harvested and supplies 60% of this country's salt. In winter, the lake's deepest point is only 6 feet deep.

Though it is a huge lake, the high salinity limits life, so there were no waterbirds to be found. Land birds abounded though, with storks and harriers flying overhead and many small birds flitting in the fields. A surprised jackrabbit bounded out of the grass by our feet-- when was the last time it had seen a human visitor?

A few small islets reflected the lake waters, reminding us of Mono Lake's two islands.
The day warmed up as we hiked back, and a very friendly dog adopted us at the gas station as we cooled off with an ice cream.

Toz Golu, Turkey's great salt lake of the 38th parallel.

The Travertine Terraces of Pamukkale

2010-05-11T23:50:00.000-07:00

Talking about tufa (calcium carbonate) is a constant at Mono Lake. It was a pleasure to learn that western Turkey has a spectacular feature made out of calcium carbonate--the travertine terraces of Pamukkale (37°55'). Overlooking the Lycos Valley and the Buyuk Menderes River (which twists so much it gave us the word "meander"), brilliant white terraces and aquamarine water draw tourists from around the world. The lukewarm spring water is loaded with calcium carbonate which precipitates out to form travertine when exposed to air, in a process similar to cave stalactite formation. Yet another example of how calcium, carbonate and water combine to form beautiful features around the world.

The white terraces need to dry out to really gleam, so the spring water is moved around throughout the day, providing changeable bathing experiences. One of the water management workers told us that this is a constant process throughout the year. The low-tech system includes ditches, sheets of metal and plastic bags. Pamukkale has a very interesting management challenge: dealing with thousands of bikini-clad tourists that want to frolic in the pools, while at the same time protecting the terraces. Artificial pools have been constructed along an old road route where people are allowed to swim near the natural terraces. A crew armed with brooms was cleaning dirt and algae from the lower terraces.

Adding to the scene are spectacular Roman ruins of Heiropolis above the travertine hillside (founded in the second century BC.) Multiple earthquakes forced eventual abandonment. The well-preserved theater overlooks ancient baths filled with visitors floating above broken columns!

The staff at the bookstore, Burak, Alper, and Nihan, showed us pictures of other limestone features in this part of Turkey, many in caves made beautiful by pools and limestone features.

Our day in Pamukkale was an interesting mix of wading, people-watching, and ancient ruins, punctuated by the shrill whistles of the "rangers" when people ventured too far up the terraces or neglected to take their shoes off...bare feet are required for everyone, including the cops.

The hillside is lit up at after dark, but it was the chorus from frogs in the lake below that delighted us that evening, especially when we spotted some and could watch their membranes inflate as they croaked and warbled (we'd never heard frogs sing like these).

Today we head even further east toward the volcanic tuff landscape of Cappadocia.

EPHESUS: Ancient City That Lost Its Port

2010-05-10T06:57:00.000-07:00

Ephesus, the grand archeological jewel of Western Turkey (37°56'N, 27°20'E) nestles in a canyon in a pine forest. During its heyday in 100-200 AD, 200,000 people lived in this Roman capital of Asia Minor. Notables from history such as Cleopatra, Alexander the Great, Saint Paul, and the Virgin Mary all are tied to the history of this great city on the hill. Though founded as a harbor-town, with a man-made port at the mouth of the Cayster River, that critical tie with the outside world eventually ended, which doomed the city itself because a flawed harbor design caused river sediments to accumulate. Today, from the top of the huge theater, the sea is barely a gleam in the distance, about 5 miles away. Hints of the city's watery history do remain, with a "Harbor Boulevard (paved with marble)," harbor gymnasium and baths, and wetland marshes where the port used to be. Beside the edge of the marsh on an old church site we saw several little frogs on the stone floor.

The Celsus Library of Ephasus, built in 117AD, was breathtaking. Terrace houses , replete with frescoes and mosaics, were being pieced back together by workers , like giant jigsaw puzzles. Our new Turkish friend, Omar Degirmenci, from the Liman Hotel in Kusadasi, told us that what impressed him the most about Ephesus was how they could construct such buildings “without any sticky stuff” (i.e. mortar) or modern measuring instruments.

One of the 7 wonders of the Ancient World was the nearby Temple of Artemis. Only one column remains of the once majestic temple with127 columns; much bigger than the Parthenon of Athens. A stork was in residence on top the day we visited! The fertility goddess known as Artemis was the symbol of Ephesus. Perhaps, by the time we finish this around-the-world exploration, we will generate our own list of the “7 wonders of the 38^th Parallel.”

AN ANCIENT WATER TUNNEL & ENDANGERED MONK SEALS

2010-05-09T10:53:00.000-07:00

We visited Greece for the first time during the Olympic Games in 2004. Though we were disappointed to not get to Athens on this trip, due to the airline strike, back then we had visited sites along the parallel at Delphi, Olympus, the canal at Corinth, and of course, in Athens.

Many memories of Greece came flooding back while on the island of Samos--- suvlaki (Greek kabobs), blue and white domed churches, gardens everywhere, olive trees, vineyards, clear blue Mediterranean Sea water with curiously little sea life...plus Mythos beer. The white skies we remembered from before remained-- is it something about the humidity in the Mediterranean or particulate pollution coming down from Europe, or are we just spoiled from the crystal clear air in the Mono Basin?

This time, a Turkish ferry from Kusadasi took us in the back door to Greece via the island of Samos, 37°46'N, 26°57'E. Gulls nesting on an islet as we approached made us feel welcome. Along the waterfront, we noticed an open door to the “Samos Ecological Society.” There we met three very nice, helpful people, though only one, Michaliadis Michael, spoke any English. The others nodded and smiled and answered his questions; Nicos Noou (editor of their newsletter for many years—they gave us 2 back issues) and Sofia Hatzinicolaau. On the wall were posters about World Wetlands Day last month, and about Monk Seals. The group works on education and environmental issues, but specifically mentioned the Monk Seal and concerns about oil tankers and wells in the area causing problems like those in the Gulf of Mexico right now.

We had not realized the significance of Samos to the very rare and extremely endangered Monk Seal. An environmental group here called Archipelago is leading the campaign to protect the seals from being killed by illegal fishing with dynamite (a seal washed up dead in April this year) and even concerns about uranium in the ocean that originated with military missile exercises a few years ago. So, the next day, in our rented car, we explored to the west end of the small island (it can be driven in about an hour if you don't stop at the beaches and overlooks and birding spots along the way) and hiked from the end of the paved road to an area that has been protected for the seals. Alas, the rare Monk seal remained elusive.

On our first afternoon we had crossed the island to the south shore and found the Eupalines water tunnel near Pythagorio, built through a mountain in 524 BC...that's 2534 years ago! It runs for over 1000 meters, was hand chiseled from both ends, the two crews met just fine in the middle, and its job was to bring water to a thirsty city of 80,000 people. (Today, the total island population is 32,000 and the biggest towns are on the north coast). They had no surveying equipment or compasses then, but used a series of right triangles to figure out the distances and direction. These were mathematics and engineering feats of major proportion, though Pythagoras (remember his theorem from school geometry?) was not born here until later. But what an intriguing connection this offers us to Mono Lake: a thirsty city reaches out and diverts surface water into conduits that bring it to a tunnel beneath a mountain, so it can enter an aqueduct to reach the city. A major engineering feat of the day. Does this ring a bell for those of us in the Mono Lake Basin, where Los Angeles reached so far to divert streams and completed an audacious engineering feat of tunneling beneath the Mono Craters to deliver the water to the L.A. Aqueduct?

SICILIAN SUCCESS STORY FOR MIGRATORY RAPTORS

2010-05-06T10:58:00.000-07:00

Our first taste of Sicily was at Trapani, where we spent a night after our flight from Barcelona. The vegetable gardens and olive orchards reminded Janet of her Italian grandfather. A train took us across northern Sicily to Messina, where the narrow strait between the island and the mainland provides an ideal corridor for migrating raptors to cross the water and head on to nesting sites in eastern Europe. Spring is an especially important time here, and the migration was in full swing. We had arranged to volunteer as counters with Anna Giordano, who had started protecting and counting the raptors 29 years earlier in 1981. There is a nice “camp” which turned out to be a house with a kitchen, dining room and our own private room!

We spent the morning on a windy ridge (1200 ft elev., 38°16'N; 15°30'E) enjoying a view of snowy Mt. Etna spewing ash and with several of the expert hawk migration counters who had years of experience : Jean Paul Fiott from Malta, who has worked on the count for 10 years, Michele Cento from Rome, who works with the Italian League for Protection of Birds and has done the count for 4 years; and also Sophie Tyldesley, an 18-year old English girl on her first birding adventure. In the last 3 days, the complete team of 10 persons had counted 12,000 raptors, with the largest number being honey buzzards, a magnificent hawk that migrates from Africa to Russia. The one day record for April had been smashed this year, with twice as many birds as the previous record, so spirits among the counters were high.

The ridge has been a particularly hot spot for poaching, in the past. Hundreds of the local Sicilians used to shoot thousands of migrating raptors every year, even though they were legally protected in 1977. Anna Giordano, when she was only 15 years old, began a campaign to end the poaching.

Anna had been a member of the Italian League for Birds since she was 6. At 15, a poacher offered to give her a bag with 3 dead kestrels. She refused and that was the beginning of a battle that ,at times, grew ugly and violent. When they heard shots or saw poachers shooting, in the days before mobile phones, she would drive the long windy road to tell the police, who in the early years were not very responsive. The first international camp was in 1984 in a caravan camper, with participants from Malta and Germany. “I have a genetic deviation in my mind that makes me seek the justice that here does not exist. Next time,” she joked, “I want to be born with a passion for stamps instead of birds.” Anna told us about one man she turned in who pleaded with the police and with her, “Don't destroy me. I have a family. I am a father.” She was tempted to be merciful, but looked at the dead honey buzzards and told him, “These were fathers of families too.” There were direct attacks on Anna's house and threats of violence against her. Not until the '90s did the forest officers regularly enforce the anti-poaching laws.

In recent years, local attitudes have improved. Few shots are fired now, though toward the end of our day two were heard from down in the valley and Anna and Jean Paul raced off to meet the police and try to locate the shooter. Later, she said the shots showed that, apparently 29 years is still not enough. More encouraging are the former poachers who have now taken up birdwatching and photography. A poacher Anna has dealt with for 25 years recently stopped and said hello and told her, “you were right to protect the birds”. It gave her goose bumps, she told us. Good signs.

Anna's story, documented in Time Magazine and in a British TV documentary called “Anna and the Honey Buzzards” is truly inspirational and reminded us of the successfuly battle to protect Mono Lake and the work of Dave and Sally Gaines. Anna is the spark plug that brought international volunteers to Messina for 29 years to count and protect the birds. Our presence was not so much for our (very limited) raptor expertise but to learn about and help provide international recognition and passion for this amazing spectacle of the spring migration.

“I am convinced that each one can make a difference,” Anna told us, “but I needed the help of more people. It was my place to start a song that became a chorus.” She added: “Never think that a fight cannot be won. Never, never.” Visit the raptor count website at www.migrazione.it

Our next planned adventure was to Athens and Greece, but a general strike closed the airport and we had to go to Plan B. We are now in Kusadasi, Turkey after a long day of flights. It is a wonderful, welcoming place on the Aegean Sea. Tomorrow, Ephesus!!

Saline Lagoons of Spain's Costa Blanca

2010-04-30T11:59:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Alicante on their first really warm day of the year, and for the first time, were among many northern European English speakers enjoying the beach. We had crossed all of Spain and reached the Mediterranean Sea. Melanie Frinke-Craig, a student friend from Mammoth, showed us the sights and the best place to buy ice cream.

Not far to the south we explored the 38^th parallel at Torrevieja (38°02'; 0°42'), an old town known for its salt works and singing competitions. There are two immense saline lagoons cradling the town, one green and one pink. At La Mata, the green lagoon, brine flies and bright red brine shrimp (artemia salina), eared grebes, osprey and avocets (with blue legs!) were in residence. So much like home!

Ranger Antonio Saez explained that the 2 lagoons are natural, but have been managed for salt production for centuries. A canal, controlled by the salt company, lets in the sea when the water level gets low. The pink lagoon, colored by bacteria, is hyper-saline. We were told it is the only place in the world where salt is harvested by scooping if off the lagoon bottom and drying it in huge piles on the shore. A colony of the rare Audouin Gull was using the salt works area as a nesting site.

The Mar Menor ("small sea" at 37°49') is the largest lagoon on the Spanish Mediterranean coast. Though surrounded by condos and beach development, the warm, calm waters serenely reflect the Mediterranean sun. Mud bathing is encouraged here, with a boardwalk infrastructure to get the people to the mud. How strangely enjoyable it was to coat ourselves in the smooth black stuff, hoping it would help our skin cope with salty years at Mono Lake. The Mar's buoyancy also reminded us of swims in Mono.

Spain's water issues are very similar to California's. They move water long-distance from the wetter north to serve farms and resorts in the south. A few years ago, the government decided to not transfer any more river water, but instead focus on construction of two dozen desalinization plants. The largest in Europe is under construction now at Torrevieja, but seems to be stalled. The guard at the gate of the complex just shrugged and rolled his eyes when we asked when they might finish. The usual issues of energy costs and environmental damage in the ocean are part of the problem, but Europe's economic crisis is also affecting things right now.

We have finished crossing Spain now, and tomorrow fly from Barcelona to Sicily. During our days with Javier and Virginia Grijalbo, Javi's list of bird sightings grew past 120 species. An amazing country.

The Sierra Morena; Last Refuge of the Iberian Lynx

2010-04-28T12:46:00.000-07:00

The dunes , scrub and pino pinyero ( Spanish pinyon pine) habitats of Doñana all seemed to be thriving after an exceptionally wet winter in Spain. In fact, it was harder to see birds since they could spread out so much. The Guadalquivir River delivers loads of sand and nutrients to he ocean here, forming the basis for the entire estuary.

Strawberry cultivation has converted some of the private land scrub habitat, but much of the "dehesa" (woodland) is providing a refuge in the Sierra Morena for the last stand of the Iberian Lynx. These mountains closely follow the 38th parallel across Andalucia from the west coast in Huelva to beyond Andújar.

. A tremendous amount of the landscape has cultivated olive trees (plus cork oaks) and areas managed for hunting grounds and raising pigs. Pata negra (black footed) pigs provide the finest ham in Spain. This is the watershed of the Guadalquivir River that passes by the ancient city of Cordoba (37°54').
North of Andújar (38°07'), we were fortunate to spend a day with German Garrote Alonso, of the Consejeria de Medio Ambiente; Junta de Andalucia ( environmental and conservation arm of the regional government). A half-million people were in this area on an annual pilgrimage just the day before. German works with the remaining wild Iberian Lynx population there and can individually recognize all of the animals older than a year, because he has photo points with motion-sensor cameras for every 100 hectares of the 2000 hectare project. Much effort has been put into expanding the rabbit population in this last stronghold of the wild lynx, which now number about 230. Rabbits are the main food source of the lynx and are critical to their survival. Disease has been decimating the rabbit population, dramatically impacting the lynx. It has not been easy to increase the rabbit population quickly, so instead relocation of wild lynx has occurred recently to expand their range. Of the 3 pairs relocated last December, one female has had 3 cubs and another is pregnant. We asked German what he would most like everyone to know about the lynx program.
His answer: "We have in our hands the power to restore the lynx-- they are flexible and will respond. They just need to have the chance with the protection of their habitat. In fact, since the lynx program began in 2003, numbers have increased by 40% in the wild". The area German showed us north of Andújar is one of the largest undeveloped areas in the country (really the first expansive, truly wild lands we've seen) and was at its spring best of flowery green.

Marshes of Western Spain

2010-04-27T13:45:00.001-07:00

On April 22 we left Portugal for Huelva, in southern Spain, where we met Javier and Virginia Grijalbo. Javi is an old friend of Janet's from her student days in Madrid, and it had been 35 years ! What a great moment to see each other again after so long. Not to mention that Javi is a well-known naturalist and illustrator in Spain-- the perfect guide for the Spanish 38th parallel. The marshes of Doñana and Huelva are renowned for their water birds (including flamingos, spoonbills, egrets, and chaffinch, shown int these photos) and for the wetlands at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River (we will be following that major river upstream from here). The birds and wetlands did not disappoint. We also visited the Iberian Lynx Captive Breeding Center in Acebuche, inside Doñana National Park (37°09'; 6°29'), and met with Director Antonio Rivas. The lynx is the most endangered cat in the world; and the breeding adults and cubs are definitely off limits to visitors but we were privileged to see the action on the video screens that are monitored night and day (check the photos at their website: Breeding and births have been occurring here and at several other sites and the plan is to move adult lynx into the wild. In fact, in the days ahead, we will follow the Guadalquivir River upstream and visit the site along the 38th parallel in the Sierra Morena mountains where several reintroductions have occurred in recent months. Stay tuned!

The Transported Town and Solar Donkey

2010-04-22T03:46:00.000-07:00

From the little town of Moura (38°08N; 7°27'W), where we appeared to be the only tourists, we visited the Alqueva Barragem ("reservoir," see last blog) up close and personal. The countryside is lovely, rolling hills carpeted with wildflowers of every color and hillsides of olive trees. The dam itself isn't huge, but the reservoir behind it is the largest in Europe. Much land was inundated in the process of filling the lake. The town of Luz was directly in the path of the rising water, so a whole new town was built and 300 townspeople moved to a higher spot. Rumblings were heard from several people we talked to that the new town just wasn't the same. A movie in the new museum brought tears to our eyes as stories were told of losing fruit trees, rose bushes and vegetable gardens to the lake. The old town and its surrounding forests were totally razed in anticipation of the filling of the reservoir. A reality check of what is really lost when waterways are changed and manipulated. (see photo of before, top, and after towns from the museum exhibits).

From the reservoir, we turned eastward and crossed into Spain and the province of Extremadura, the "extremely hard" land that produced so many of those extremely "hard" men, the conquistoadors. Jerez de los Caballeros (38°19') was the birthpalce of Henan de Soto and Vasco Nunez de Balboa. We circled south and back into Portugal to see the world's largest solar generating array not too far from Moura (38°12'N; 7°14'W). Each of the panel groups had 92 panels. Of course, this is a central utility approach; it makes so much sense to put them on every household and business roof. Maybe someday we'll get there, but right now, Portugal is a leader. Beside the solar facility we photographed our "solar donkey," a donkey cart driven by father and son with a load of hay. We have been amazed at how many storks are nesting on telephone poles and chimney tops all over this countryside. Next, Espana!

A Really Big Barragem

2010-04-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

We flew from the Azores to Lisbon, 2 hours late perhaps because of all the air delays due to volcanic ash in northern Europe. Got our rental car and drove south to rejoin the 38 degree latitude line at Sines (pronounced "seench.") and stayed nearby in the small fishing town of Porto Covo. Sines (37°57'N; 8°52'W) is the birthplace of Vasco de Gama, the seafarer who actually FOUND the ocean route to India from Europe. North of here is a major wetlands area with white storks and signs about nesting least terns (later in the year)...shades of California's coastline. A surf competition and a big bike race in the region livened up the weekend.
We drove across Portugal today (on the 38th parallel) to Beja (38°01'), where we met with Jose Martins, director of the regional Quercus office; that is the "Sierra Club" of Portugal, the major NGO environmental group of Portugal. Jose educated us about water issues, especially the "barragem" (reservoir) on the Guadiana River, which is the largest in Europe. The river has most of its watershed inside Spain, where there are about 40 dams before the water ever reaches Portugal. The new reservoir (completed in 2002, but just filled for the first time this year, which has been wet after years of drought) has not yet delivered any water, because the canals to move it around are still being built. It does not serve urban use, but like California's federal Central Valley Project, primarily serves farms. There are lots of issues and concerns, as always, with such an approach to water management. Many new olive orchards are being planted anticipating the water deliveries, which is interesting because olives, grown in the traditional way, do not require irrigation. Intensive olive growing has become the new way to boost production, with applied pesticides and water; a worrisome new trend in an industry that had been traditionally well-balanced with the Mediterranean climate. The wildflowers are beautiful, since this year the rain has been plentiful.
There is also a huge solar array near here, one of the largest in the world, which we'll visit tomorrow. At the moment, we are sitting on a skinny little sidewalk outside the Espacio Internet, picking up a wireless signal. World travelers must make do with what they have!

Volcanic Islands of the Atlantic-- the Azores

2010-04-16T13:43:00.000-07:00

The first thing we learned was how to pronounce the name of the Azores-- “eh-shurs” in Portuguese. The second thing was getting our heads around the fact that here, on Sao Miguel Island (the most populated island of the archipelago), we are WAY out in the Atlantic (at 37°46'N; 25°19'W), 940 miles from the Portuguese mainland, and over 2,000 miles from Assatague Island, the closest land to the west. One can't go more than a few miles without a glimpse of the ocean, a constant reminder that this is an island in a very big sea. It is very welcoming and comfortable here, the people extremely hospitable even though our Spanish seems a mystery to them.

Reminders that these islands are volcanic are everywhere: lava rock is used for building, hot springs and fumaroles abound, and people cook meals in holes dug into the steaming ground. We visited Furnas, the thermal capital of Sao Miguel, full of steam and bubbling pots. A huge thermal pool in the park welcomed swimmers. We plunged in, and now Janet's white shirt is a nice shade of orange from the minerals! Geothermal power is a force on these isolated islands. The geothermal plant, which looks a lot like Mammoth's geothermal facility at home, provides 40% of the island's power.

Sete Cidades (Seven Cities) despite its name only has one small village in the center of a huge caldera accented with 2 lakes, one blue and one green. The story goes that a princess and a shepherd were in love, but not allowed to marry, and cried 2 colors of tears from which each lake gets its distinctive hue.

A local fisherman at Mosteiros, on the island's far western shore, explained that the fishing boats can only go out when the sea is calm, and one never knows when that may be. There are natural pools along the rocky shore, protected by lava ridges from the crashing waves, that local swimmers use when it is warm, but not during this mid-April visit. In fact a woman hiker told us that it was warmer back home in Finland!

The island archipelago reminds us of Hawaii, and as in the Hawaiian Islands, there are lots of flowers—azaleas, in particular. Also, like in Hawaii, there are wetter and drier sides to the island depending on the wind direction, but (though they grow pineapples in greenhouses here), this is definitely not a tropical latitude with tropical temperatures and vegetation We are at 38 degrees north, after all!

Preparing to cross Europe; News about Korea

2010-03-14T19:02:00.000-07:00

With less than a month until we leave for Europe, we have been finalizing flight plans between countries, making rental car arrangements, and are very pleased that experts on water and environmental issues have agreed to meet with us in Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey.
But the big change recently is about Korea. We have been invited to join a group from Pasadena going inside the DMZ, the Demilitarized Zone, from South Korea on June 25, the 60th anniversary of the start of the Korean War. Pasadena has a sister city relationship with Paju, near the DMZ. The group will be visiting the only S. Korean village inside the DMZ to dedicate a new medical/dental clinic. Access inside the DMZ is very restricted, so this is a special opportunity. We hope to learn about the environmental recovery, including many endangered species, in the DMZ where, except for the two small villages maintained by South and North Korea, human presence has been generally absent for 60 years. After our stay in Paju, we will finish our week in Korea with a visit to Seoul to meet with the largest environmental NGO in South Korea to learn about the controversial "4 Rivers" project. South Korea is planning to build dozens of dams and channelize many miles of river across the nation, a plan that may have serious consequences for wetlands and migratory waterfowl preservation efforts.
First comes Europe, however. We are excited about traveling across Portugal, Spain, Sicily, Greece, and Turkey between April 13 and May 23.

Itinerary for Europe in the Spring

2009-12-19T11:01:00.000-08:00

On April 13, 2010, we fly from San Francisco, via Boston, then direct to Sao Miguel Island in the Azores, to continue exploring the "water line" along the 38th parallel. From the Azores, we will fly to Lisbon, Portugal on April 16, then drive south to reconnect with the latitude line at Sines. Several RAMSAR sites-- wetlands of international significance--are along that stretch of Atlantic coastline. Moving eastward across the Alentejo province will bring us to the Guadiana River, where a massive dam forms the largest reservoir in Europe, the Barragem do Alqueva. The nearby town of Moura is also host to the biggest photovoltaic solar generating plant in the world.

Exiting Portugal, we will enter Spain's Extremadura province, the home of several of the conquistadors who found familiar conditions in the dry harshness of the New World's desert lands. For example, Jerez de los Caballeros, in Badajoz, was the birthplace of Vasco Núñez de Balboa and Hernando de Soto. Our route intersects with Cordoba, Andalucia, and the Guadalquivir River, and then passes through the southeastern province of Murcia. Spain's recent approach to water supply issues has them planning 21 desalination plants; the one now being constructed in Torrevieja will be Europe's largest. We hope to see how well Spain is meeting its professed goal of using renewable energy to meet the large energy demands of these desal plants.

Reaching Sicily from Spain may involve round-about flights through Barcelona and Rome. If we find ourselves in Barcelona, the Maritime Museum and Aquarium there offer opportunities to learn more about the Mediterranean Sea. Alternatively, we may ride a ferry to Spain's Balearic islands of Ibiza and Formentera. By April 28, we expect to be in Sicily. The 38th parallel line runs along the north coast, from Palermo to Messina. Sicily has serious water supply issues to investigate, but another goal is to help out with the annual survey of migrating raptors at the Strait of Messina, where birds moving between Africa and Europe make their landfall on the southern tip of Italy.

Leaving Italy, we will travel by ferry to Greece on May 2. Zakynthos, west of the Peloponnesian coast, is one of a handful of Mediterranean islands where beaches serve as nesting sites for endangered loggerhead turtles. We will arrive a few weeks too early for the breeding season, but hope to meet with the local Archelon Sea Turtle Protection Society representatives to learn about their challenges and efforts where human activity on the beaches is the biggest threat to the nesting turtles. There are more RAMSAR wetlands on the west coast of Peloponnesia, south of Patra. And north of the Gulf of Patra is Greece's largest lake, Trichonis, being considered for inclusion in the Living Lakes network (Mono Lake is included). Reaching Athens, we will explore the history of water supply for that metropolis from the reservoir at Marathon (26 miles north, of course), and then cross over to the island of Evia. There, at Lake Dystos, local farmers once tried to fill in the lake to create more farmland, but it today remains an important wetland area for birds and yet another RAMSAR site.

Our route takes us by ferry across the Aegean Sea to the island of Samos, where, in the 6th century BC, a tunnel through a mountain was bored to carry water from the west side to the drier east side of the island--an amazing engineering feat in that ancient time.

On to Turkey, where the ancient city of Ephesus is on our latitude-line route. Cappadocia and salt lakes await us in the center of the country, and then the Anatolia region, and the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Turkey has built dozens of large dams there. The Ilisu dam, on the Tigris, is now under construction, but is very controversial, as villages and the town of Hasankeyf will be flooded, displacing tens of thousands of residents and covering archaeological sites that include some of the earliest known human settlements. Turkey's dams on these rivers have also heightened tensions downstream, where Syria and Iraq worry about how much water will still enter those countries. We will, finally, visit the large, saline Lake Van in eastern Turkey to finish this leg of our around-the-world travels.

We expect to be back in California about May 21, then will organize our travels in Asia, which will happen in September and October, 2010.

Water Line: Across California on the 38th Parallel

2009-11-06T13:19:00.000-08:00

A year ago we traveled from our home at Mono Lake, near the eastern edge of California, across the state to Point Reyes, where a lighthouse sits at 38°00' (it is intriguing that lighthouses mark the 38th parallel line at each edge of the continent). The 17-day trek was done on foot, bicycles, and by boat. Starting from Mono Lake, where a battle over stream diversions by the City of Los Angeles was won by citizen activists (the Mono Lake Committee, National Audobon Society, and CalTrout), our route intersected with the Sierra crest snowpack/glacial melting/climate change story; with Hetch Hetchy reservoir inside Yosemite National Park; with the New Melones Reservoir on the Stanislaus River; with the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta; with San Francisco Bay; and with Point Reyes at the Pacific coast. At each location we met with persons involved with those water topics--researchers, environmental activists, park rangers, and local residents--and were delighted that so many people took time to educate us. The full story will be told in our book and a shorter version was published by Coast & Ocean magazine (online, with 15 photographs, at coastandocean.org).

Water Grab in Eastern Nevada

2009-10-28T19:23:00.000-07:00

We arrived in the old mining town of Pioche, 37°56', 114°27', on a bitterly cold afternoon. The local history museum provided a warm shelter and many interesting exhibits. It was staffed by Barbara Zelch, who told us her husband has been very involved in the battle over Las Vegas planning to export groundwater from eastern Nevada valleys. There are so many parallels to the Owens Valley/Mono Lake/Los Angeles Aqueduct history in this current water grab--family ranches being bought up for their water rights, local people overwhelmed by the big city movers-and-shakers, water to be moved hundreds of miles to fuel development and growth in a sprawling metropolis.
Glennan Zelch met us in the Pioche library, across the street from a building rented by Southern Nevada Water Authority (Las Vegas), but sitting empty with only pretty photos of Nevada in the windows. so far. Glennon is a retired civil engineer who had lived in Louisville, Kentucky and worked with water systems. The Zelch's moved to Pioche 8 years ago, not knowing about Las Vegas's pipeline plans. This project is complicated by the biggest water basin, in Snake Valley being shared between Utah and Nevada. Concern is building in Salt Lake City, not only about the depleted groundwater basin, but unhealthy particulate dust (shades of Mono and Owens Lake, again) should the groundwater table drop significantly. On the day we were in Pioche, a district judge in Gardnerville, NV, overturned a 2008 state ruling that had granted the Southern Nevada Water Authority permission to take groundwater from three other valleys in central Lincoln County (west of Pioche). This should slow things down, but stay tuned for much more on this issue. This water grab issue seemed to bring us full circle, as we approached our Mono Lake home.
After Pioche, we crossed Nevada, seeing wild horses and watching for aliens along the Extraterrestrial Highway. Our first view of Mono Lake was a thrill-- back home in the Basin after a month exploring our nation's communities and landscapes along the 38th parallel. The angle of light and the evening sky are the same along that latitude, but there's no place like home.

We are home for the winter, now, but we'll be out on the line again by next April to extend this exploration across Europe and Asia. Please take a look at the list of countries we'll visit in the August blog titled "Where in the world does 38°N take us?" We would appreciate any suggestions of contacts for those regions.

Radioactive Cleanup on the Colorado

2009-10-28T19:11:00.000-07:00

In Moab, UT, 38°34', 109°32'; we met Kimberly Schappert by choosing the Up the Creek tents-only campground in the middle of town. Kim came to Moab over 20 years ago, and started a mountain biking magazine. She has seen Moab change from a small mining town with a Uranium Cafe and Atomic Grill, into a mecca for outdoor recreation. Kim became involved in county government and worked for years to get the huge uranium tailing pile on the north end of Moab cleaned up. Decades of tailings piled adjacent to the Colorado River were sending a radioactive plume of groundwater seepage (also polluted with ammonia) toward the river. The mill served dozens of uranium mines south of Moab (near the 38th parallel) and was located in Moab because of the large amounts of river water needed to process the ore. Millions of downstream users in Arizona, Southern California and Las Vegas, were threatened. The funding is finally in place to move ahead with the cleanup, which began last April (the mining company went bankrupt to protect itself, so we taxpayers are paying the bills). We had a morning tour of the site by Department of Energy contract geohydrologists, Ken Pill and Liz Glowiak. Truck containers are loaded with contaminated tailings, then the containers are transferred to clean trucks that move to trains hauling the material about 30 miles north out of the watershed. Moab wash runs right through the site, carrying surface water to the river. There is a need to dry out the tailings before they are moved, and much monitoring of groundwater going on with test wells. Ken and Liz showed us the "habitat " area along the river. Birds were singing and fish swimming among the small strip of riparian plants left along the river front. There is a huge potential for this site at the gateway to Moab once the tailings are gone. It will take 10 years of constant work to move 2 million tons, a mountain of tailings.

Arches National Park is literally next door to the tailings pile. Our driving route across Utah forces us to go around the majestic Colorado River and Green River canyons that we had canoed last spring (the confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers is within a mile of the latitude line). The 38th parallel route passes through a series of incredible national park landscapes, all sculpted by water: Canyonlands NP, Lake Powell NRA, Grand Staircase-Escalante NM, Capitol Reef NP, and Bryce Canyon NP.

Telluride 350

2009-10-25T17:50:00.000-07:00

A lot of planning has gone into this trip, but the surprises keep coming and have made for some of our best experiences.
Telluride is a ski town that used to be a mining town and is almost right on the 38th parallel. We planned to look into water issues (San Miguel Creek runs right through town), then learned that a 350 Global Climate Change event was scheduled for October 24. Mono Lake, our home in the Eastern Sierra had a similar event planned with canoes spelling out "350." In Telluride, they were making a 350 "sign" out of bicycles, solar vehicles and hybrid cars, and they asked if our Prius could become part of it! The "New Community Coalition" sponsored the local event which was also occurring, the same day, in over 5,200 locales in 181 countries, all pointing to the goal of reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere back down to 350 parts per million.
Our blue car ended up front and center in the picture, forming the top of the number "5," and directly in front of the court house podium. Dave was enlisted to climb up to the top of the building across the street and help the organizers with the photo shoot. Meanwhile, Janet spruced up a poster that the local high school kids had made, to make the letters stand out. It was nice to be a part of a community, if however briefly.

Telluride has solar panels on its schools and library and nearby Mountain Village has a "Green the Gondola" campaign to offset 20% of the energy used by the gondola that connects the two communities, by installing solar panels.
We also learned that Ouray (our previous day's stop) was the first town in Colorado to convert its street lighting to LED bulbs.
We met another cross-country traveler, William Grote, who happened to be in Telluride and also joined in with the 350 event. This young man is making the trip west to east in a solar-powered recumbent bicycle, and reading the Lorax book to school children along the way .
It was hard to leave Telluride (next stop, Moab, Utah), but we finished off with human-powered fruit smoothies that we blended by pedaling a stationary bike!

The Headwaters State - Colorado

2009-10-24T07:56:00.000-07:00

We reached Salida, Colorado along with a night of winter weather. So we stayed two nights with our former Mono Basin neighbors, Shannon and Brett, took a day off from traveling, and learned about a battle led by local citizens against the export of nearby mountain "springwater" (actually groundwater) by the Nestle Co. to their Denver bottling plant.

Then, on to the Great Sand Dunes National Park, which was a National Monument until the Nature Conservancy purchased a local ranch to foil a water export scheme meant to serve more development along Colorado's front range. As a result, enough acreage was added to the monument to reclassify it as national park, plus a new National Wildlife Refuge was made from the other Baca Ranch land. The entire water story across San Luis Valley is fascinating and will become a major story for our book. We were helped by Paul Robertson, the local project coordinator with the Nature Conservancy (seen here with Dave as they study our GPS unit to confirm that the highway sign is truly at 38 degrees north). The Rio Grande River moves across this large valley and there are two additional wildlife refuges. Migratory sandhill cranes were there the day we visited!
After an oil change for our dependable Toyota Prius, we drove a spectacular mountain road up to Ouray, where rivers run orange and there's an intriguing mining cleanup story to tell. Tomorrow, Telluride.

Santa Fe Trail--Kansas to eastern Colorado

2009-10-21T10:32:00.001-07:00

Across much of Kansas, the historic Santa Fe Trail closely follows our target latitude line and, not coincidentally, also closely follows the Arkansas River, the major surface water source in this part of the country.
We entered Kansas at Fort Scott, one of a series of forts built along what was intended to be the permanent boundary to Indian territory, and later functioned as protection for settlers using the Santa Fe Trail.

This is prairie country--rolling dry hills had replaced the green of the Midwest heartland. The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve (38°26', 96°33'), was established 12 years ago in eastern Kansas. Because of local opposition to a "real" national park, the legislation creating the park limited National Park Service acreage to about 100 acres; the rest of the 11,000 acres are owned by the Nature Conservancy and considered private land. Some of that history was told by William Least Heat Moon in his book PrairyErth, which focused on this Kansas county. Moon wanted to write about the "center" of the country, and traced diagonal lines from the 4 corners (northwest to southeast and southwest to northeast), finding that they intersected here--a calculation that also coincided with the 38th parallel. The week after our visit, 20 bison were scheduled to be introduced to the park, brought from Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota.
We visited Pawnee Rock, a major landmark along the Santa Fe Trail that was unfortunately quarried later. A viewing platform shows how tall the big black rock used to be. Not far away was Fort Larned ,on the Pawnee River, serving travelers on the trail.
In Dodge City, Queen of the Cowtowns, we reached cattle feedlots and the 100th Meridian--the 100 degrees West latitude line. From there on, as we moved westward, we would come to appreciate "the line between the humid east and the arid west," as recognized by John Wesley Powell. In land with less than 20 inches of annual rainfall, Powell wrote, "agriculturalists will early resort to irrigation."
In western Kansas, Garden City is home to the Sandsage Bison Range, (37°56', 100°54'), 3670 acres where Tom Norman, the State Park manager showed us the herd of 90 bison , about to be reduced to 60 with an annual round-up. Bison have been here ever since "Buffalo Jones," one of the founders of Garden City, rescued a few of the last remaining buffalo from extinction. A few scattered trees are also on the preserve, evidence of an attempt to create the Kansas National Forest Reserve early in the 20th century. Millions of tree seedlings were planted, but climate and soil realities doomed that quixotic project (a fascinating bit of history we will explore in the book to come).
The Ogallala Aquifer is the overlapping story as we travel through this region (see prior post).

Mining the Ogallala

2009-10-21T10:20:00.000-07:00

We had experienced a lot of surface water when we visited the wildlife refuges in the middle of Kansas. Farther west, we are now in an entirely different water basin, a portion of the vast Ogallala Aquifer that extends from Nebraska down to Texas. This enormous source of "fossil" groundwater allows the region to grow corn and grain and raise most of the nation's cattle on plains that could not be nearly as productive until the invention of efficient groundwater pumps and center-pivot irrigation sprinklers.

The Ogallala groundwater is being mined.
We learned about that situation by visiting the Kansas Groundwater Management District #3 in Garden City, (37°56', 100°54'). Director Mark Rude explained that there is less than an inch of recharge into the aquifer each year, but the withdrawal is happening, in places, hundreds of times faster than that recharge rate. Pumps are today working at reduced capacities. When the water runs out, the economy and environment of this vast region will have to change.
Meanwhile, in the attempt to slow, if not control the situation, each water user in the District is limited to a set allotment, enforced by well-monitoring meters and sensors. Some farmers, inevitably, play games with the District staff, reversing meters in the pipes so they run backward, for example.
The gloomy news is that the situation has not been stabilized, because the limits on pumping are not adequate. "Economists are winning; not hydrologists," Mark told us. Our investigation also led us to Garden City Mayor Nancy Harness and her husband Donald, and Regional Fish and Wildlife Supervisor Mark Sexson. The consensus was that, east of the 100th meridian, a plan for sustainability has a chance to work, but west of Dodge City, the "plan" is for depletion.
It was a hard thing to hear.
This story extends across the region on the surface, where up to 50,000 ephemeral playa lakes are the most important wetland habitat for birds in the region, while serving as a critical source of recharge for the aquifer.
The story also extends up the Arkansas River into neighboring Colorado. We noted the changing appearance of the Arkansas (pronounced Ar-Kansas in these parts), wet with emergent groundwater in Great Bend, bone-dry in Garden City, perking up near Bents Old Fort, and looking healthy in the mountain watershed in Colorado. But relations between the "upstream" and "downstream" user states are strained.
Before we left Garden City, Mark Sexson showed us an encouraging project he is conducting to clean the water in duck ponds at the city zoo using man-made wetlands. He hopes to extend that effort to clean up feedlot wastewater in the region.

The parallels between the mining dilemmas of the Ogallala and mountain-top coal mining are striking: in both cases, a current economic choice will leave future generations with enormous problems and environmental loss. The details of both stories will become important parts of our book.

"One would as soon expect to see seagulls in Kansas" Mark Twain (about Mono Lake)

2009-10-19T18:08:00.000-07:00

Well, we discovered there ARE seagulls in Kansas, and lots of them. Also cormorants, white pelicans and phalaropes. Central Kansas has the largest inland wetlands in the country. It was truly a treat to cross miles of prairie and arrive at the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge (38°12', 98°30'), which was celebrating National Refuge Week. Blue skies had returned and many familiar birds from home were out on the slightly saline water. Quivira and neighboring

Cheyenne Bottoms (38°27'), provide critical habitat for migrating birds, a big expanse of surface water in the prairie landscape. Biologist Rachel Laubhan and Ranger Barry Jones welcomed us into their event, shared much information and even fed us a roasted pig dinner. Sunset at the northern edge of Quivira was especially magical. The white fronted geese were coming in for the night, ducks were settling, blackbirds massing, and all were honking, quacking, or singing. It was a privilege to be there, in their place, sharing the evening with the birds.
The next morning, we stopped at the new Kansas Wetlands Education Center at Cheyenne Bottoms, a showplace for environmental education, and a joint effort between Fort Hays State University and the Kansas Dept. of Wildlife and Parks. Some of the Bottoms is also managed by the Nature Conservancy. The Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network sign brought back fond memories of installing the same signs years ago at Mono Lake.
We headed out of Great Bend, Kansas (38°21', 98°45'), on the Arkansas River, and stopped to replace Janet's dead cellphone at a Verizon store. Lo and behold, we met greeter Keith Herl, who had just returned from teaching in Korea and had travel tips for our journeys next year!
(Next: The Arkansas River and Santa Fe Trail, wagon ruts and forts, plus Crossing the100th Meridian: importance and gloomy status of the Ogallala aquifer)

A Pioneering Pioneer Forest and the Population Center of the U.S.

2009-10-17T08:31:00.000-07:00

Wendell Berry had suggested a visit to the Pioneer Forest in Salem, Missouri (37°34') to learn about a half-century long experiment in sustainable forestry. We met foresters Jason Green and Brandon Kuhn, and Terry Cunningham, the Forest Manager, told us about the forest. It began with Leo Drey, a visionary who purchased 150,000 acres of forest lands, most from a distillery company (that had used the oak wood for barrels). Drey aimed to demonstrate methods of sustainable logging of the oak forests. The Pioneer Forest follows a long-term cycle of single-tree harvesting that makes for an aesthetically pleasing forest with trees of different age-classes, that minimizes erosion and run-off impacts on the watershed, and improves reproduction and overall health of the trees. This stands in contrast to a clear-cutting approach favored by the Forest Service in such mixed hardwood forests, where regrowth produces dog-hair thickets that must be aggressively thinned. An aerial photograph on an office wall revealed how widely spaced the cut stumps were within an otherwise untouched-canopy of large trees.
During our visit it was cold and rainy, and we would have had to drive over 60 miles south to tour the forest, so we stayed at the headquarters in Salem on our visit. They loaded us up with publications about their management, including a dvd they produced for owners of private forest land, emphasizing techniques for minimizing watershed impacts.
Later, we drove to the north end of the Ozark National Riverways Park (a unit of the National Park System) where the Current River provides canoeing and fishing recreation. Along much of the waterway, the Pioneer Forest is a neighbor to the park (the park itself only owns a narrow strip of shoreline along the riverbanks). The Pioneer Forest staff have been encouraging the park service to reduce recreational impacts from its users and bring management more in line with standard national park service resource protection.
And then, off to nearby Edgar Springs and an intriguing geographical landmark. After each national census, the “population center” of the nation is identified. For the last few decades, that point has hovered around the 38th parallel, gradually shifting westward and southward. Edgar Springs (37°41', 91°52') is a tiny little place, south of Rolla in central Missouri. Its distinction was noted on the highway sign, but we went into town to see what else might be found. The lady at the general store said she thought maybe there was a stone marker up at the north end of town, but added, “I never go that way.” We found the stone (outside the gates of a cemetery with its own stones telling a population story), took our photos, and figured that, even in a hamlet that small there was a drift toward the southern side of town.
.Oak woodlands gave way to prairie, as rain chased us the rest of the way across western Missouri. Not far from Missouri's western border, we stopped by another presidential birthplace: Harry Truman was born in Lamar (37°30', 94°16'). The house was closed, but a friendly cat in the yard made us welcome. Tonight we are at Fort Scott, Kansas. Tall grass prairie, saline wetlands, the Santa Fe Trail, and the Ogallala aquifer are out there to the west.

Down the Ohio to the Mississippi

2009-10-17T08:17:00.000-07:00

We've been exploring one slice of the vast Ohio River watershed ever since we entered West Virginia: the New and Gauley Rivers, the Kentucky River, and the main course of the Ohio itself. Settlers, settlements, transport and the river's inclination to flood are parts of that story, and, finally, there's the fact that the mighty Ohio is simply a tributary to the even mightier Mississippi River.

Louis and Clark began their great expedition of discovery near the Falls of the Ohio (see earlier post). On the Indiana side of the river, we checked out the cabin of George Rogers Clark (William's older brother) where the expedition started in 1803.

A yen for chocolate then led us into Jeffersonville, to Schimpff's candy store, which has been in the family since the 1850s. Owners Jill and Warren had lived in California for years; he had worked for the Metropolitan Water District doing water quality work! The store survived the big flood of the Ohio in 1937, the worst natural disaster in the United States before Katrina (red marks high on the outside wall of the store show where the flood reached). We sampled warm marshmallow and caramel Modjeska candies, named for a Polish opera singer (who also has a canyon in southern California named for her).

Later that day, after crossing western Indiana, we crossed over the Ohio again, re-entering Kentucky to stop at Audubon State Park (37°52'), which has a wonderful museum exhibiting many of Audubon's original paintings. Audubon had a passion for birds and drawing that he followed in spite of struggling to support his family. Many of the copper etching plates from Birds of America were sold for scrap metal by his destitute widow. He was not truly recognized as a genius until after he was gone.

We spent a night right beside the Ohio River at Cave-In-Rock (37°28', 88°09'), as a birthday present for Dave, who remembered the place as the pirate's lair in the movie, How the West Was Won. It was disappointing to see the striking, historic cave defaced by spray-painted graffiti and with no interpretive information. Maybe the bad-boy atmosphere of the pirates simply lingers at that place. Through the night, the lights of passing coal barges glowed in the mist that hung over the river. In the morning, we finally got a good look at how much coal one boat can move.

The next morning brought our first view of the grand Mississippi at Grand Tower, Illinois (37°37'). Looking for a place to warm ourselves, we found the Mississippi River Museum being used as an office by the County Clerk, Charles Burdick, who explained that he was also a retired river boat pilot. We learned about river steering, pushing barges, reading radar and living conditions on the river system that extends from Minnesota down to New Orleans.

North of Chester, where a bridge crosses the big river, we were back on the line at Fort Kaskaskia (37°58'). Kaskaskia Island was visible on the far side of the Mississippi: the only piece of Illinois west of the river! The land ended up on the wrong side after the Mississippi changed course in an 1881 flood. It had been the first capital of the Illinois Territory and capital of the state until 1820, but the river washed all of that away in the flood.

The bridge at Chester led us over to Missouri and the beautiful little French-flavored town of St. Genevieve, the oldest town in Missouri. A car ferry crosses the river there, at exactly 38 degrees. Of course, a ride across and back over again as walk-on passengers was irresistible. The Mississippi seemed less than a mile wide here, but the moving water looked exceptionally swift and powerful from a small ferry boat chugging back and forth across the surface.

Rivers in Kentucky

2009-10-13T16:51:00.001-07:00

We were not yet done with coal upon entering Eastern Kentucky. In fact, one of the worst coal industry disasters occurred there on October 11, 2000, when a sludge dam gave way and swept millions of gallons of toxic, black goo through the community of Inez (37°52'), down Coldwater and Wolf creeks, and on down the Tug Fork clear to the Ohio River. No human lives were lost, but the EPA called it "the largest environmental catastrophe in the history of the southeastern United States." We reached the town 9 years later, as they were preparing for a Harvest Festival. A young woman selling popcorn had been in high school when the flood occurred and remembered a river of black sludge, so solid that thrown rocks would bounce off of it. We had another interesting encounter in nearby Paintsville, where an apple festival had drawn thousands of people the week before, though almost no apple orchards remain nearby. Coal companies have bought up most of the land. Apples now must be bought from outside the region for the festival.
The look of the forested land changed as we moved westward into Kentucky. We made stops at Natural Bridge State Resort Park, where one can walk over a sky high sandstone arch with nary a guardrail in sight, the nearby Red River Gorge (a national wild and scenic river), then at Fort Boonesborough State Park (37°56', 84°16'). There, where the Kentucky River flows, Daniel Boone had arrived with a party of settlers on April 1, 1775. Drawn by the river, there they established Kentucky's second pioneer settlement. The appearance of the river has changed, partly because of locks built early in the century to facilitate barge travel.
The Kentucky River is a tributary of the Ohio River. At Louisville, the state's largest city (38°15', 84°30'), an interstate freeway was built right along the Ohio River waterfront, blocking river views and access. The freeway remains, but now inviting access has been created through a lush park, with sculptures and architecture that celebrate water, and interesting views of barge traffic on the river. That story reminded us of San Francisco's recovery of its bayshore waterfront after an earthquake made it possible to correct a similar mistake in locating a freeway. As we travel around the world, the approach cities have taken to their waterfronts will be a theme to explore.
Louisville is also the site of the Falls of the Ohio, where a series of rapids interfered with river traffic until the Army Corps of Engineers built a dam and locks. The Falls of the Ohio park on the Indiana side has an excellent interpretive center and provides access to rich fossil beds along the north edge of the river itself. It was here that Lewis and Clark started on their expedition to explore the Louisiana Purchase.
Today, thanks to a mutual friend, musician Malcolm Dalgliesh, we had lunch with author Wendell Berry and his wife, Tanya, at their farm near Port Royal, Kentucky (38°33'). It was wonderful to meet someone whose books and poems have so eloquently explored the importance of place and home and sustainable farming. We'll cherish the memory of their hospitality and good wishes for our travels.

The Horse Capital of the World

2009-10-13T16:19:00.001-07:00

Lexington, Kentucky bills itself as "The Horse Capital of the World." In recent days we have explored Kentucky horse farms, the Kentucky Horse Park and International Museum of the Horse (38°08', 84°30'), a racing stable, and spent a day at the races. What has all this got to do with our exploration of the 38th parallel?
Though our primary focus around the world along the latitude line is on water- environmental issues, an intriguing "side-bar" theme has become evident. When we reach China, for example, we will visit the breeding center that is reintroducing the ancestors of the modern horse, the Przewalski breed, to that land; in Turkmenistan, ancestors of the Arabian breed originated, and Spain's Andalusian horses originated on the line. At the Atlantic Coast of the United States we saw the Chincoteague ponies. And mustangs run wild just east of our Mono Lake basin home.
So we have been wandering Kentucky's calcium-rich blue-grass pastures and sampling the thoroughbred racing world of Lexington.

Our guide through much of this world was Akiko McVarish Gothard, the oldest female racing trainer in the United States. Akiko is the mother of Kay Boudinot, married to Jim, one of Janet's college friends. She graciously introduced us to her world of thoroughbred breeding and racing. It was a thrill to see the beautiful horses up close during their exercise time, running like the wind, though they were never fully "opened up" to racing speed. Akiko had a horse running in the Keeneland Meet , and we spent a day with her and friends Bev and John Passerello
at the races, feeling like we had touched down in a Dick Francis story. Parade ring, winner's circle, bet to place, won by a nose --- all came alive in the lovely setting of Keeneland, giving us a whole new appreciation for all that goes into getting a horse ready to race.
We asked Akiko what she enjoys most about being a trainer. Her answer was that she likes to help the horses and the people that work with them reach their fullest potential. She works with many owners in Japan, and told us about the racing differences between the two countries-- in Japan the horses race in both directions , in the US it is always counter clockwise. We hope to find a racetrack on the 38th parallel in Japan!

Meeting the Mountain Keeper

2009-10-07T15:21:00.000-07:00

As we headed south from Charleston, the capital of West Virginia, to meet with Larry Gibson, the Mountain Keeper, we passed a billboard saying" West Virginia Coal, the Real Power behind America." We were about to find out how powerful King Coal really is in West Virginia. Larry's family has lived for 250 years on Kayford Mountain (37°58'), and he has become a guiding force in the battle to stop the surface coal mining known as Mountain Top Removal.

Larry's home is a small cabin in a leafy oasis in a sea of mining operations. There is no water because the mine blasting lowered the water table. It's hard to describe the devastation that Mountain Top Removal leaves behind. The mountain is turned inside out, the coal is dug out, and the debris is dumped into "valley fills," creating a huge wall where streams used to flow. Several thousand miles of West Virginia streams have been buried . Flattened, dead, unproductive rubble is left behind where mountains used to be, covered with a thin veneer of green, "restored" with an introduced Asian weed.

Mining jobs have disappeared with the mechanization. There are only about 18,000 coal miners left in W. Virginia, down from 150,000 in 1950. Water is polluted with heavy metals and acid drainage; sludge dams are a constant flooding threat to communities in the "hollers" below; blasting damages homes and coal dust sickens kids. It is heartbreaking.
Larry called coal "the most barbaric form of energy known to man." Over 1.5 MILLION acres on 51 mountains have been stripped and flattened in West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee in the last 20 years. You can fly for FIVE HOURS over the devastation.
Larry started telling people about Mountain Top Removal in the 1980s, figuring back then that once people saw what was going on, it would immediately stop. Twenty years later, his fearless dedication to the mountains in the face of intimidation from Big Coal and many personal threats, is truly an inspiration.
Tomorrow, Dave and I plan to join Larry and a group of local senior citizens on a protest walk to a mine site.

Going on the Gauley

2009-10-05T17:22:00.000-07:00

From Staunton, Virgnia, after we visited Woodrow Wilson's house, our first stop was the Cryrus McCormick Farm, where the inventor of the reaper that revolutionized agriculture was born and lived. Beautiful idyllic farm site. Then went in search of a working horse exhibit at the Virginia Horse Center, a large complex where the exhibit is no more, but we got to see parts of two competitions: Icelandic ponies and Pacer stallions. That led to an incredibly scenic road, Hwy 39, westward over the mountains to West Virginia, following the Maury River (and the Diggity Dog hot dog stand at a scenic pull-out) Scarlet fall color added a touch of flame. Pearl S. Buck was born in Pocohantas County, West Virginia, the "Birthplace of Rivers;" 8 of them have headwaters in this high mountain country. A small festival was underway at her well-preserved birthplace, celebrating Buck's connections to China. Several of the ladies enthusiastically suggested following up on Buck's connections on the 38th in Asia.
In the Monangahela National Forest, the Cranberry Glades site was a strangely fascinating stop along our route, where arctic bog species are found, remnants of an ice age glacial advance that delivered the species to this latitude. The conditions in this area (acidic soils, cold, snowy, etc.) are apparently right for the plant community to persist far outside of its regular current range.
We are now in Fayetteville, WV, next to the New River Gorge National River (an unusual national park designation) and today rafted the lower Gauley River (Janet's birthday present!) on a great 14-mile trip provided by the New & Gauley River Adventure company, with our raft guided by local West Virginian Justin Reynolds. The owner of the company, Skip Heater grew up here too and is a font of knowledge about local history. These 2 rivers are the most popular whitewater rafting areas in the eastern U.S. and we hit the Gauley season just right; it only runs for 6 weekends in the the fall. The latitude here is 38°04'. One reason the National River Park was created was to stop a coal strip-mine plan for the New River Gorge, back in the '70s. The Gauley is fed by a dam built to provide steady water flows for barges on the big river heading toward Charleston, WV. Today, releases from the reservoir are closely tied to the needs of recreational rafting; which serves about 200,000 people a year, an intriguing evolution that we will explore fully in our future book. These postings can only do so much!
In coming days, we are going to learn more, first-hand, about the latest coal mining technique that is devastating the region: mountain-top removal. Stay tuned!

We Begin: Chance Meetings on Chesapeake Bay

2009-10-03T15:31:00.000-07:00

On Monday, September 29, we began our east-to-west crossing of the United States at the Atlantic Ocean and Assateague Island. Tonight is our first chance to get online. The connections we had arranged at Chincoteague Island, Smith Island, the Rappahannock River and Mattawoman Creek all worked wonderfully, but the theme has been unexpected coincidences and encounters.
At the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge headquarters, biologist Joelle Buffa explained refuge management and, with volunteer historian Myrna Cherrix, we climbed 7 flights of the circular staircase to the top of the Assateague lighthouse for views of the barrier island and nearby Chincoteague Island. "Wild" ponies swim between the two islands each July so that young can be auctioned...a way to control the population which has no predators on the island.
Joelle invited us to spend the night at her home nearby, where she and her husband Clyde live exactly on the 38 degree line. Clyde retired after many years directing the Don Edwards NWR in San Francisco Bay, and Joelle had been in charge of the Farallones Islands in those years. Lots of mutual west coast birder and environmentalist friends among us.
On the 30th we took the ferry to Smith Island, 10 miles out into Chesapeake Bay, again right on the 38th parallel. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation runs an Education Center there, and that day a high school class from Clarke County, VA was going out on a CBF boat to drag the bottom of the bay and learn about the living creatures pulled up, to, as their teacher's explained, help those farm kids from west of Washington DC understand how agricultural practices within the greater watershed affect nutrient and sediment deposition and so the bay ecosystem. Sort of a reverse of the strategy of bringing kids from Los Angeles to the Mono Lake Basin, to understand how their actions in the distant city affect the upper end of their watershed. The students also pulled up 17 crab pots they'd put out the day before and brought in dozens of blue crabs...for their dinner that night. The environmental education coordinator is Krispen Parke, who told us, first thing, that her parents are named Janet and Dave.
As we waited for the return ferry, we met author Tom Horton, who wrote about his years living on Smith Island raising his family in the book Island Out of Time. He has not lived there for years, but happened to be there with another high school group...another fortuitous coincidence for us, as we had both read his book before the trip.
Joelle and Clyde suggested that, on our drive south to loop around the end of the Bay, we stop and see the hawk surveying and songbird banding going on near the end of the peninsula, where migratory birds are funneled toward the point of land before making the long water crossing at the mouth of the Bay. The research has been going on for decades, carried on by the Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory, with many volunteers working with the staff.
Looping around the south end of Bay we came back to the 38 degree region at Fredericksburg, where we visited the Friends of the Rappahanock River. Their director, John Tippett, took us on a short walk to the river's edge to see where Embrey Dam had been removed in 2004. The dam, built for hydroelectric generation and water supply to the city, had lost its usefulness due to sedimentation and another way of capturing domestic water farther upstream. John was eloquent about how moving it has been to see the once dammed water flowing again. Anadromous fish (types of herring, shad, alewife, and striped bass) can reach their spawning grounds again. The organization has also had successes at protecting the city ownership of river-front lands on the entire watershed and, as we heard time-and-again, is fighting the major battle of never-ending developmental sprawl: as the percentage of land made impervious to drainage grows past 10%, the nutrient and sediment run-off issues drastically reduce biological health in the Bay.
Yesterday, Friday, October 2, we were at Mattawoman Creek (camping at Smallwood State Park). Our contacts with the Mattwoman Watershed Society, Jim Long and Bonnie Bick (who also runs the local Sierra Club's campaign on this issue) suggested we rent kayaks and join them on the Creek. This watershed is threatened by development (a familiar story now) coming to a crisis point due to a major highway "improvement" proposal in the upper watershed that will itself harden lots of land, but also serve sprawl. For these reasons, the Mattawoman is listed number 4 on the American Rivers Organizations annual listing of America's most threatened rivers. (This year, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system is number 1 on the list). We learned a lot during the kayak trip, and on our return, another rather amazing coincidence happened: the national board of directors meeting for American Rivers was happening this week, and they had a large group ready to go out in kayaks as we landed. (In that group was Jeffrey Mount, author of the U.C. Press book California Rivers and Streams...we had not met before; amazing to have that happen so far from home).
Today was our VIRGINIA PRESIDENTS ON THE LINE day, as we encountered and/or visited the George Washington Birthplace National Monument, James Madison's Montpelier home, James Monroe's birthplace in Fredericksburg, Thomas Jefferson's Monticello home (they have a great new visitor center and helpful guides like Mimi Almy), and tonight we are in Staunton, VA, the birthplace of Woodrow Wilson.
Tomorrow-- almost heaven, WEST VIRGINIA!

Why the 38th parallel?

2009-09-21T18:14:00.000-07:00

Following a straight line in almost any direction around the globe begins to focus the opportunities for comparisons and connections. Holding to a specific latitude controls for even more variables, which should give deeper meaning to contrasts and similarities.
Why 38°N, specifically? Few other latitudes, north or south, pass through so many states and nations. This is a temperate, middle latitude that has proven conducive to human success. Because of its population concentrations, the Robinson map projection system, now widely used for world maps (adopted by the National Geographic Society in 1988), chose 38 degrees north and 38 degrees south as “standard parallels”--the two lines across the map where size and shape are depicted most accurately (while distortions occur at all other latitudes on maps).
The mean population center of the United States, today, falls near the 38°N latitude. This rather odd statistic identifies the “balance point” where an equal mass of people is found in all directions inside the 48 states. Though this point has gradually been shifting southward and westward, for the last few decades it has stayed very near the 38° line. The 2000 Census located it near Edgar Springs, Missouri, at 37°42’N, 91°48’W. Another way to locate the “center” of the continental United States was used by the author of PrairyErth, William Least Heat-Moon, who wrote about the Kansas county found by diagonal lines drawn between New York City and San Diego and between Seattle and Miami—an intersection that also marks 38°N. There, after decades of debates, a small remnant of the prairie ecosystem was recently protected as the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve.
One answer to this question is simply that our starting point--our home--is on the 38°N line. While other latitudes must certainly offer meaningful insights, it has been delightful to realize that “our” line coincides with so many intriguing environmental and cultural stories. Without venturing more than a half-degree to either side of the 38th parallel, a long list of historical and cultural sites can be encountered. The fact that this zone--between 37°30’N and 38°30’—can be so tight will make the encounters even more intriguing. Perhaps sharing them will spark others to similarly explore “their” latitude lines.
Our over-arching theme deals with water: wetlands conservation, pollution, domestic supplies, and international tensions. Because 38°N is a middle latitude lying between extremes of climate found farther north and south, successful agriculture there has depended on irrigation canals and reservoir storage. Now, at this point in human history, environmental challenges associated with altered natural water systems are ubiquitous. How those pressures are being dealt with around the world may be the most valuable contrasts and similarities we can uncover by exploring 38°N.

Where in the world does 38°N take us?

2009-08-28T15:50:00.000-07:00

An inevitable question is, "Where does the 38th parallel line take us?" From east to west, starting from the Pacific Coast (Pt. Reyes), where we finished our trek across California last September:

Japan: the line is north of Tokyo and intersects wetlands of international importance, protected by the RAMSAR treaty, before climbing into the mountains and Bandai-Asahi National Park;

Korea: The "38th Parallel" is where the DMZ, the demilitarized zone, divides North and South Korea; we will explore the interesting wildlife recovery that is on-going there where people have been excluded for 60 years and the renewal of a river through downtown Seoul;

China: the Yellow River empties into the Yellow Sea at the latitude line, (though the river is often entirely diverted before that point); we will explore Qinghai Lake, the country's largest lake, and its major environmental issues, and then cross the Taklamakan Desert along an ancient Silk Road route;

Things become very challenging for us as our route intersects with several of the "stans:" Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkmenistan (where the ancient city of Merv is exactly 180 degrees around the globe from our Mono Lake home);

Turkey: is the site of other ancient cultural sites, including some of the world's oldest that are threatened with inundation by a new dam on the Tigris River; we'll explore Cappadocia, more interior salt lakes, and Ephesus;

Greece: Ferries take us to Athens, Greece; did you know that Marathon is not only famous for the running race it inspired, but is also where the reservoir was built to provide Athens its city water? Corinth and Olympia are also on the line, and so are several lakes with intriguing environmental challenges;

Sicily and the very tip of mainland Italy, are where the line intersects the Messina Strait and an opportunity to join the annual raptor migration survey;

In southern Spain, water issues sound very familiar, mimicking the pattern in California, with long-distance diversions to serve growth in the south. The line also finds Cordoba, Extremadura, and finally

Portugal, where Europe's largest reservoir is along the line, as well as the port town of Sines; the Azores Islands are waiting way out in the Atlantic.

That's the international story. The U.S. portion comes first, this fall.

Preparing to travel the U.S.

2009-08-24T09:45:00.000-07:00

In the next year-and-a-half we will be traveling around the world along the 38th parallel, seeking water/environment and cultural connections intersected by that latitude line. The University of California Press will publish our book, Parallel Universe:38°N: The Water Line. But first we must continue our travels, beginning from our home by Mono Lake in the Eastern Sierra Nevada. Last September 2008 we hiked, biked, and boated across California to the Pacific Coast at Point Reyes. That story will be told in Coast and Ocean magazine's next issue, coming out in mid-September. (See November 6, 2009, post) This autumn we will cross the rest of the United States, intersecting with parts of Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada. Chesapeake Bay, mountaintop removal, wetlands in Kansas, the Ogallalla aquifer, and groundwater grabs by distant cities are stories we will explore. That portion of the trip begins on September 28 and will take 5 to 6 weeks. Next year, in 2010, we will continue exploring Europe and Asia on the 38th parallel. Stay tuned! Read more about David Carle's books at http://users.qnet.com/~carle