Two Day Intensive on Stream Habitat and Restoration at Sitka Center

Lindsay will be leading a two day stream lesson in the Nestucca River Watershed covering restoration and habitat complexity. Join us in September (unless you are attending the American Fisheries Society symposium which is unfortunately at the same time). We have tried to keep the cost low and there is an opportunity for scholarship. Hit the link for more information. Hope to see you there!

Description

The goal of this workshop is to expose participants to some of the uniquely beautiful streams and forests of the Northwest coast. The first day will be spent in old growth forests and the second in and around the streams. Both days will be spent in the field where you will learn how healthy streams and forests are meant function including the fundamentals of upland, riparian, and aquatic ecology. You will also learn how to identify common plants, animals, mushrooms, and insects that we encounter along the way.

About the Instructor

Lindsay is co-owner and lead analyst with Demeter Design, an Oregon-based environmental firm specializing in watershed research and restoration. He specializes in the design and analysis of natural resource assessment and monitoring programs. He holds a MS in Neurosciences from UC San Diego and a BA in Molecular Biology from UC Berkeley. He is an avid cook, brewer, and gardener. He lives in Nehalem with his wife and partner Cara.
Website: http//demeterdesign.net/about_us.html

Materials List

Students Bring:
Students do not need to bring any specific materials. They should come prepared with outdoor gear sufficient to hike off trail in the Oregon coast range. This includes sturdy hiking boot, rain and weather appropriate gear, including waterproof boots.

Instructor Provides:
The instructor shall provide all necessary maps and instructional materials. The instructor shall also provide example GPS and survey equipment as needed.

NYTimes article on biodiversity

Great article on the history of naturalist studies. Very informative, check it out when you get a chance. Generally discusses the importance of species preservation from the perspective of disease prevention and cure development.

Need Alternative Energy Sources

"The documents reveal that the wastewater, which is sometimes hauled to sewage plants not designed to treat it and then discharged into rivers that supply drinking water, contains radioactivity at levels higher than previously known, and far higher than the level that federal regulators say is safe for these treatment plants to handle."


Complications complications lead to lamentations. Although this is hardly news, why is it that the more energy we produce the more we need to fix the problems that the production process creates?


I feel like the industry has stalled to the point where we are using more extreme methods of production such as deep water drilling or fragging and miles of pipe when alternatives are cheaper and safer. Say what you will about wind power and the noise, micro-climate changes, etc, but how many turbines can be made from one NG pipe line? How much energy can be saved through increased efficiency? Frustrations!

Data Clearinghouse

We are updating our clearinghouse and are looking for more research to add. If you are looking for additional visibility for your environmental research or have independent studies that are not located elsewhere, contact me and I will (with exceptions) add them to our clearinghouse. Ideally this work will focus on restoration, water quality, endangered species, agriculture, or other research of a similar nature in and around the PNW.

The benefits of including your work on the Demeter Clearinghouse include easy backup storage of final reports and GIS databases, permanent links to your work, and inclusion in a larger community of private/public research. We also do limited indexing to make your work more searchable.

What I need is a .pdf file of your report (preferably in one file not multiple but I do condense and combine) and/or the zipped (.zip) GIS files of the data that goes with the report.

Contact info is on the titular site link. Cheers!

Lindsay Mico to Give Presentation at American Fisheries Society Symposium in Seattle

He will be presenting restoration planning work in the Pacific northwest specifically focusing on the restoration work happening in the Tillamook River Basin. Hope to see you there, hit the link for details.

Eating at Lucca

Having been to Lucca a few times I have to say it is quickly becoming one of my preferred go-to eateries. Friendly atmosphere, great wood-fired pizzas, nice wine list, great service, excellent vegetarian options. Not much more to say other than that I went, ate three specials: roasted sunchokes with rabe and kale; an amazing cheese plate; and a lovely salad. I also took home two pizza's to-go, both of which were excellent. I used a gift card so I wasn't worried about the price. You could easily go with $20-30 and get a pizza for two and maybe a couple of appetizers or sides. If you want drinks or more food the cost can hit $50-70 for two. Not a bad deal for a great night out. The chef is also very friendly and knowledgeable. Stand-out success in NE Portland, 24th and Fremont-ish.

Western Libyia Liberated

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Houselessness

There are 50,000 homeless children in Cairo! My ignorance astounds me.

Abstaining from food

I just closed an article from the NYTimes. I didn't finish it. Why? After a few sentences they mentioned something that turned my stomach, clear turtle soup. I can understand why the cuisine was created or prized, those living in countries where the only protein source is foods such as turtles shouldn't starve out of principal (although I would consider moving to greener pastures - I get that that is not very realistic for most people) but that isn't New York.

I can't really get behind a restaurant that encourages the consumption of animals such as turtles, horse, cats, dogs, or others in that group (I am an on again off again vegetarian). This group includes animals that we have bred for companionship or for labor, animals that are rare, or animals that are eaten only so that the diner can say "I ate turtle/shark/canary at such and such place and it was to die for." Especially since most of these animals are eaten for texture and not flavor or need. It seems arrogant to eat $20 turtle soup when most of the world has to feed their families on $20/month.

It also seems like the desperate attempt of a chef to get the rich patrons. A talented chef can make a chicken soup that is better than turtle soup. A kitchy NY chef resorts to variety meats. It would be nice to see a shift away from this mentality into reality. People are starving, dying, being murdered for their beliefs and some J-O cares more about being different than being responsible. Being responsible is never easy. Oh yes I am sure these turtles are bred in captivity etc etc. Replace the word turtle with dog or cat and most people (not all - recognize this is a cultural difference) would turn away.

Having lived in Arizona on a reservation I can say first-hand that even Native Americans have replaced the turtle in cuisine and dress with other foods. Turtle shells were commonly used in Hopi ceremonies until their scarcity made the people think twice. Rather than raise turtles they started using aluminum cans cut and rolled so that they made the same noise during their dances. Ingenious and beautiful.

I am a fine-diner, I love food, I would be more impressed with a chef that could develop an entire menu around beans as the primary protein source. Not only would that be more interesting to see (it is incredibly difficult to make beans every day appealing) but it would show me that they weren't stuck in a vortex of egoism. I mean really, turtle?

The only caveat being since I didn't finish the article the soup might have had fake turtle! Wouldn't that be funny.

Add Libya to that List

Nothing much more to say than that.

Marching in Tehran

Yemen, Iran, Syria, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia. The voice of the people echo's across the globe. They will not be silenced through oppression and greed. Peace? Maybe - maybe not. Let us hope that violence doesn't win out.

Also check out the DCPost

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/14/AR2011021403985.html

Homemade soy sauce update and shrimp paste

Its been a while since I posted about Soy Sauce. I'm on to a new batch which is pretty much the same as the last batch with one key change - I've used a natural salt in place of the industrial sea salt I used in my first few batches. I'm using a mined salt from Utah (once a sea bed). It is high in the "other" salts ie not NaCl, and has a nice reddish hue from the clay content. I've learned that there are often additional chemicals added to industrial salts that can mess up the fermentation process.

Right now it has a good, but strangely sweet smell to it ~ 2 months in. It should be ready for tasting by early summer.

I'm also making 2 other fermented products - a shrimp paste and whole fermented soybeans. The whole beans were boiled and added to a brine of 16% salt, 8% sugar mix and will sit as long as they last - they're pretty good after a week but not really fermented yet. The shrimp paste was based on blended bay shrimp mixed a lot of salt (I was kind of lazy and didn't measure). I mixed in a few slices of ginger and it has been sitting also for about 2months on my shelf at room temp. It smells a lot like a tide pool, and just like fish sauce, the fishiness disappears when you cook it. I used it to make dry fried green beans last week and it worked wonderfully.

Next fermentation post I'll talk about the fermented braising greens we use a lot in the winter - another chinese ingredient that seems crazy but tastes delicious! I also finished a batch of Sake that is out of sight.

The Ever-changing World

From the NYtimes "Mehdi Karroubi, an Iranian opposition leader, said Tuesday that a demonstration planned in Tehran next week [February 14 2011], nominally in solidarity with the protest movements in Egypt and Tunisia, was a test both for the Iranian government and its opponents."

If anyone is wondering why so much of this blog is devoted to politics and less and less to traditional environmental news I would like to clarify by saying that the environment can never be restored without a peaceful and representative democracy in every corner of the world.

Let us hope to get there soon!

HuffPo NoMo

Off-topic but I don't think it is any coincidence that AOL buys HuffPo and the first google news clips are about what makes a man attractive and Katy Perry's weight. Bye-bye legitimate news organization and hello corporate machine. Like they say you can take the rat out of corporate but you can't take the corporation out of the rat race, or something like that.

History in the Making

I have been a somewhat silent supporter of a peaceful Egyptian transition and was beyond happy to hear the news that the government is moving towards a legitimate democratic transition! One for the grass roots team :)

Here is to a long term sustained peace that involves all stakeholders including the Israeli and Palestinian peoples (of course I am including the rest of the world in that hope as well).

Congratulations and I am mourning those who died to make this happen, there are no words to heal those wounds.

Drought in the Amazon

Interesting article in the CSM - Check out the link for the full story.