University of California Press Blog

Bargaining for Eden: The Fight for the Last Open Spaces in America

As a Writer, Photographer, and Naturalist, Stephen Trimble explains the battle over open land in the American West in his book, Bargaining for Eden. (UC Press, June 2008). You can check out his website here, as well as his blog below.

By Stephen Trimble

As Bargaining for Eden approaches publication, I’ve been looking back on my ten-year immersion in these stories with both nostalgia and astonishment at just how much territory I’ve covered.

My journey began in 1997, when I drove up the winding road on Mount Ogden for the first time (just over the rocky ridgeline from Ogden, Utah), on assignment to photograph funky Snowbasin ski area before it became a mega-resort. The Salt Lake City Winter Olympics would transform the place.  As a writer, I saw an intriguing story.

In seeking answers to a simple question—“what will it take to bring an Olympic downhill racer to the finish line in 2002?”—I found myself reporting a chronicle, scene by scene, character by character—that captured the history of the Public-Lands West, from overused commons to reclaimed national forest to beloved local ski area, and finally, the transformation to corporate showplace and a resulting loss of community.

Earl Holding, owner of Snowbasin, wanted to craft his own version of the mountain.  His fierceness and ambition were implacable. And the United States Congress gave him what he wanted—by passing a bill to privatize public lands in the national forest at the base of Snowbasin.  To make that happen, Earl used the Olympics as an excuse.  And nearly every institution in our society fell in line. 

Every town in America has someone like Earl whose desires often trump community interest. He isn’t as bad as many other tycoons, but he gets his way. 
Earl Holding is a fabulously successful entrepreneur whose power grows—straightforwardly—from his $5 billion and his connections. Earl Holding owns the Little America hotels, Sinclair Oil, Sun Valley and Snowbasin ski resorts, and 500,000 acres of land in the West—making him the 63rd richest American.

If I expected to understand Earl’s dream for the mountain and penetrate to the roots of his values, I had to understand my own. I looked to my childhood and my family just as I poked around in Earl’s past, to comprehend why we had such contrasting visions of caring for landscapes.

And, then, in the middle of tracking these stories in the northern Utah mountains, my wife and I fell in love with a mesa just outside Capitol Reef National Park, near the village of Torrey in southern Utah.  To make our own dream of ownership financially feasible, we split the land, selling an existing house and a few acres.  And so I became a land developer, too.  On a tiny scale, I became Earl—and had to face Earl’s values within myself.

The tension I felt when confronting this irony became the dramatic core of the book.  It wasn’t just a theoretical acknowledgment of the old line, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” It was much more startlingly personal: I had become the enemy, and my story became much more complex and nuanced as I turned from observer to actor and struggled to come to terms with my new identity as a second-home owner in The New West, a newly-minted citizen of rural Utah.

Note: the caption to the picture to the right is:

The Henry Mountains framed by the author’s contractor as he positions a window in the bedroom of Trimble's house, Torrey, Utah, 2002.

Nature's Clocks: How Scientists Measure the Age of Almost Everything

As Professor Emeritus of Earth Sciences at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, Doug Macdougall writes about his findings while still in school about the earth's evolution and human prehistory in his blog below. Furthermore, you can check out Doug's latest book, Nature's Clock: How Scientists Measure the Age of Almost Everything (UC Press, July 2008). In addition to Nature's Clock, Doug is the author of Frozen Earth: The Once and Future Story of Ice Ages (UC Press, 2004).

By Doug Macdougall

Time is a sometimes elusive concept, but it’s crucial for understanding history, and that goes for everything from very recent history to the history of the universe.  Geologists are especially attuned to concepts of time, because the rocks they study – especially the layers of sedimentary rocks – contain a record of the earth’s history, ordered in time.
   

But until the discovery of radioactivity, there was no way to measure the earth’s history quantitatively.  Geologists studying layers of sedimentary rocks knew that the top layer was younger than the bottom layer, but they had no idea whether the difference in ages was a year, a few thousand years, or millions of years.  All that changed when they realized that the naturally occurring radioactive isotopes in the rocks act like built-in clocks.
   

When I was an undergraduate studying geology – it seems like an embarrassingly long time ago – dating rocks was in a fairly rudimentary state compared with today.  We touched on the topic briefly in our courses, but it was only when I was studying for a master’s degree that I really learned the details of dating and isotope geology.  From that point on I was hooked.  What could be more exciting than working out the exact timing of events in the earth’s distant past?  Much of my research since then has concerned geological time.
   

Radioactivity was discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie, and another French scientist, Henri Becquerel, near the end of the nineteenth century.  For their discovery they were awarded the Nobel Prize, but they didn’t really understand the phenomenon they had identified.  And they didn’t realize its potential for measuring the ages of natural materials.  It was another scientist, the New Zealander Ernest Rutherford, who, a few years later, discovered that radioactive isotopes decay at a constant rate and used this knowledge to date several rock samples from the earth’s crust.  His results – he determined the rock ages to be around 500 million years – were a shock to many scientists who thought the earth was much younger.
   

In Nature’s Clocks I’ve tried to bring some of the excitement of geological age measurements to life by delving into the discoveries of scientist like Rutherford and the Curies, and also by outlining some of the amazing techniques scientists have developed more recently to make accurate time measurements of the distant past.  It is a fascinating field, and it’s at the heart of our understanding of planet earth and everything that it has experienced over its long history, from plate tectonics to climate change and the evolution of life.

Darkening Peaks: Glacier Retreat, Science, and Society

Author and Professor of Environmental Science and Policy at UC Davis, Ben Orlove writes in his blog about glacier retreat and how it effects inhabitants in surrounding areas. For more information, check out his blog, Darkening Peaks. The University of California Press published the February 2008 edited collection, Darkening Peaks: Glacier Retreat, Science, and Society, edited by Ben Orlove, Ellen Wiegandt, and Brian H. Luckman.

The Secret Lives of Owls

For many California city dwellers, cackling ravens, scavenging seagulls and waddling pigeons dominate the birdwatching scene. Venture to a park at dusk or spend a weekend camping in the woods, however, and we may catch a glimpse an elusive, almost supernatural owl starting its nocturnal routine. Those of us who sleep through the night may not know it, but California is home to over a dozen owl species. In his book, Field Guide to Owls of California and the West, Hans Peeters details the features, activities and habitats of each species, and reveals the secrets of how to locate, identify and observe them. Easy to read and full of fascinating anecdotes, Field Guide to Owls of California and the West illuminates the majestic, oddly human lives of these mysterious creatures, and may spark owl-watching addictions in budding naturalists and seasoned explorers alike.    

Planet Earth on New York Times Bestseller List

Alastair Fothergill's Planet Earth ranked #33 on the New York Times Bestseller List this week. This splendid collection of facts and photographs is the result of the authors' 5-year odyssey to over 200 countries, including some of the most remote locations in the world.  The book's surge in sales coincides with the Discovery Channel's encore presentation of the Emmy award-winning Planet Earth miniseries. Oprah Winfrey also included the Planet Earth DVDs on her 2007 "Favorite Things" list, and has called it "my favorite gift to give".  Readers have described Planet Earth as  'breathtaking' and 'a treasure'.

Read the entire bestseller list here.

California Fire Ecology

Californians may be looking for resources to help explain the current tragedies. University of California Press' Fire in California's Ecosystems includes an historical overview of fire, vegetation, and climate in California; overviews of fire as a physical and ecological process; and reviews the interactions between fire and the physical, plant, and animal components of the environment. It also explores the history and ecology of fire in each of California's nine bioregions. This title examines fire management in California, including both Native American and post-European settlement; discusses current issues related to fire policy and management, including air quality, watershed management, invasive plant species, native species, and fuel management; and considers the future of fire management.

Weekend Gardening Tips

Looking for some ideas for your garden this weekend? The Landscaping Ideas of Jays, and its author, Judith Larner Lowry might just have some ideas for you. Lowry will be speaking this Saturday, April 7 (11am) at Native Sons Nursery http://nativeson.com in Arroyo Grande, Ca.

Thus far, gardening critics have gushed over The Landscaping Ideas of Jays. Most recent are two reviews at The Los Angeles Times and The San Francisco Chronicle.

For more upcoming events with Judith Larner Lowry, please visit http://www.larnerseeds.com/_pages/events.html

Plant Galls in Spring

Occasionally, we have the opportunity to bring you brief articles written by our authors. The following is by Ronald Russo, the author of our recent book, Field Guide to Plant Galls of California and Other Western States:

"As spring begins to unfold with buds swelling and leaves unfurling, there is a quiet awakening of tiny gall midges and gall wasps. They have spent the winter in an inactive state waiting for the right temperatures, which signals the swelling of host plant buds and leaves. Now is the beginning of yet another 'gall season' with the flush of spring galls on oaks, junipers, cottonwoods and many other native plants. Many of the spring galls will produce males and females who will lay eggs in buds and leaves by June and July, producing a second, female-only generation. The galls of this generation will catch your attention because of their bright red, pink, and orange colors, particularly on oaks and manzanitas as they reach their peak in late summer and early fall. One of the most interesting relationships in nature involves the larvae of some gall wasps stimulating the galls to release sugary compounds on the surface, called honeydew, which attracts ants, yellow jackets and bees. The presence of these pugnacious insects on the galls offers some protection to the vulnerable larvae within from parasitic and predaceous insects. Similar to flower nectar being the reward or enticement for pollination services, the availability of sugar in the late summer and fall entices bees and yellow jackets to provide protection simply by their presence. If bees, yellow jackets, and ants were not available for this mutually beneficial assistance, the rate of larval mortality would likely increase reducing the number of gall wasps that survive to carry on their species. Why is this so important? Because, the existence of these tiny gall wasps sustains countless other insects and hungry birds like vireos, kinglets, and chickadees. Without them, a small but essential web in the ecosystem of oak woodlands would collapse."

– Ronald Russo

Oprah Interviews Planet Earth Author

Oprah Winfrey interviews “Planet Earth” series creator Alastair Fothergill and producer Jonny Keeling regarding their 11-part documentary series to premiere on The Discovery Channel on March 25, 8 pm ET/PT. Fothergill discusses the 5-year project that took him, Keeling, and their film crew to more than 200 countries, documenting never before seen footage of various uninhibited landscapes and animal interactions. The project is a collaboration of scientists and film crews, who spent a great deal of time together capturing rare moments in the wild, including a 3-week stake out at various bear dens to finally watch a mother bear emerge with her cubs after 6 months of hibernation. The footage demonstrates Fothergill’s passion and dedication to providing a window for the human spectator into nature’s circle of life.

To view Oprah Winfrey's interview with Alastair Fothergill, please click here: Oprah Interview with Fothergill.

Courtesy of The Oprah Winfrey Show

The Abundance of Vernal Pools

by David Lukas, co-author of Sierra Nevada Natural History

Unless you are a soil scientist how often do you think about soil? Not often I’d guess, and you’d probably never imagine that California has an official “state soil”!

In fact, soil is the basis for all life on land. Deriving from local geology and weather conditions, soils are a complex and biologically rich mix of minerals and microorganisms that uniquely reflect each particular region in the state.

Of all the soil types in California, the oldest may be the San Joaquin soils of the Central Valley – California’s official and most famous soil type. Formed on alluvial plains left as Pleistocene seas retreated from the Central Valley, San Joaquin soils have a distinctive hummocky topography and an impervious hardpan just under the surface that limits root growth and restricts the percolation of water.

The result is a perfect example of how life adapts to soil. The hummocky surface collects water in small shallow pools during winter storms and the hardpan prevents the water from dissipating until it evaporates in the summer sun, creating what are called vernal pools.

While much of the Central Valley has been overwhelmed by invasive species, the unique vernal pool environment remains not only remarkably pristine but is also home for many rare and endemic species.

With the arrival of hard rains in December, vernal pools begin to fill and come to life. Threatened California tiger salamanders (Ambystoma californense) lumber out of rodent burrows and head for the nearest pools to breed. The delta green ground beetle, first described in 1878 then rediscovered in 1974, appears during the winter around the Jepson Praire Preserve and nowhere else in the world.

And most curious of all may be the highly adapted fairy shrimp that emerge from cysts buried in the mud. Looking like the 220 million year old crabs they are related to, these seemingly prehistoric creatures are restricted to specific vernal pools. The endangered conservancy fairy shrimp (Branchinecta conservatio), for instance, is found at only eight sites in the Central Valley.

Like all fairy shrimp, the giant fairy shrimp (B. gigas) which grows up to six inches long, is able to complete its entire life cycle in the short window of time before the shallow pools dry up – a necessary trait in this distinctive habitat.

Vernal pools, however, are best know for their flamboyant wildflower displays, especially for the way in which colorful flowers form concentric rings around each pool as it dries up. Wildflower enthusiasts come from far and wide to see species like white meadowfoam (Limnanthes alba), dwarf dowingia (Dowingia pusilla), and goldfields (Lasthenia californica), whose lives like the shrimp are fleeting and ephemeral.

Even if you seldom think about soils, it is not hard to imagine the impact that plows and agriculture have on these fragile ecosystems. California’s vernal pools have nearly all been plowed under or developed, and what is left is disappearing at a rapid clip.

Read more natural history features by David Lukas.