Conservation Starts With You and Me
A SayZu word cloud, built from tweets including the word "conservation". flickr.com/photos/hanspetermeyer
Conservation is a daily topic in my line of work. After all, my job is to promote the conservation efforts of San Diego Zoo Global. In my day-to-day conversations, I am often asked how individuals can help conservation efforts. I notice that people conjure images of faraway places when they hear the words “endangered” or “conservation.” We tend to forget that in our own backyards there are animals and plants that need help. There are so many things we can do, such as support conservation organizations, recycle, make environmentally friendly purchases, or, as I did this past weekend, get your hands dirty!
It was an unusually warm January day, even by Southern California’s standards, with temperatures reaching 24 degrees Celsius (75 Fahrenheit). It was a perfect day to be outdoors, so some 200 other volunteers and I, slipped into our best gardening attire, picked up shovels and gopher-proof baskets and started digging holes for native San Diego plants. The evening before, I had heard that a local nonprofit, Groundwork San Diego Chollas Creek, was going to be just around the bend from my home, helping to restore a canyon to its native splendor, but it needed volunteers. It was a great opportunity to do my small part for conservation with a direct impact on my neighborhood and my life.
I live in the City of San Diego, but my area has a great deal more open space than the area most known to tourists. In my neighborhood I often see barn owls, coyotes, hawks of all shapes and sizes and a variety of beautifully colored birds such as orioles and hummingbirds. Green space is a luxury for the human residents, but it is critical for wildlife. So, I woke up early on a Saturday, water canteen in hand and a hat on my head. When I reached the canyon and moved past thousands of pots with California buckwheat, desert thorn, adolphia, lemonadeberry, elderberry and prickly pear cactus waiting their turn for planting, I was a little daunted.
Thousands of pots waited for planting.
I have dug my fair share of holes for my own garden plants, but the task at hand was massive. Luckily, people of all ages, from a toddler to a 90 year old, kept trickling in, ready to volunteer their services. A short pep talk from the organizers who are restoring San Diego’s native habitats through community-based partnerships and volunteerism quickly reminded me of the importance of habitat restoration and why I was here. This canyon, just down the road from my home, is habitat for an 8 inch-long bird whose population is declining and becoming isolated due to urbanization and habitat loss.
Immediately I began to listen for the distinctive song of the cactus wren, a call that sounds like a sewing machine. I know this bird well. In fact, I have been at other habitat restoration sites, not as a volunteer but rather for work. I find myself in the field at conservation sites regularly. I previously posted a blog about efforts by the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, United States Geological Survey and Nature Reserve of Orange County to study a population of cactus wrens living at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. I didn’t do any planting that day, I just took notes so I could tell the story of this bird. But back in my neighborhood I had the opportunity to physically carry out the message of conservation that I discuss at work daily. I dug. I planted. I smiled.
In two and a half hours, every last plant was placed in the ground. It was a tremendous event that included volunteers from area high schools, elementary schools, a youth soccer club and other organizations. They were there to clean up their home turf, but they also took a big step in helping the cactus wren. On this day, I didn’t hear or see any wrens, but I’ll be back. Now that I know how extraordinary this canyon is, I will return to help with the continued restoration or to simply walk through and see how “my” plants are fairing. It was so easy to do my part, and it was great to see that conservation is not a lost cause. I’m sure there is a similar task somewhere in your neighborhood. Why not stopping asking what you can do? Get out there and get dirty. The wildlife will be thankful and so will your neighbors.
[...] tool for savvy travelers who want their trips to have a positive impact on the environment and the local community they’re visiting. The website is called SustainableTrip.org, and it features a directory of [...]
[...] is a big place, famous for incredible wildlife and stunning locations that attracts millions of tourists every year. Yet one ambitious project is [...]
[...] we could be overlooking the impact our endeavors have on the very environments we are trying to conserve. For example, what about the marine life surrounding these power generating structures? Would they [...]