Thursday, November 20, 2008

A recent study of ethnic minority groups within the United States asked people within these groups (anything from Native Americans to blacks to Latinos to any number of Asian minority groups and anything else in between here and there) which group they felt was the most discriminated against and the worst-off of any minority designation. In a sweeping show of support for our indigenous neighbors, every single minority group (in an overall round-up of scores) said that the Native Americans were by far the most “shit on” of American minorities. Except the blacks, who overwhelmingly pointed to themselves as the worst off.


I find that an extremely interesting dynamic.


Several studies (check out BBC) have pointed to indigenous peoples worldwide as being the worst-off groups of people in the world. Reports show that indigenous minorities (or sometimes even majorities) often fare much worse than even the poorest non-indigenous communities in countries. Even the poorest neighborhoods in Cairo cannot compare to the state of life in many Sinai Bedouin villages. Even the most dangerous Arab cities have nothing on the poor Turaeg ghettos that pepper the desert. American gangster grottoes are safe havens compared to many Indian Reservations. Consistently, indigenous peoples have the worst health, the most worthless land, and the lowest wages.


Interestingly, there is a push by several groups of indigenous people, notably Native Alaskans and South Pacific Islanders, to have governments and economists and anthropologists stop judging their quality of like by economic factors, especially wages. Quality of life doesn’t necessarily mean having a full-time job or a large house to many people, and many survive quite well on their own farms and through their own hunting or pastoralist efforts.
There has been a lot of talk about Yellowstone’s winter use plan. The buzz is everywhere, in emails and water cooler chats and on phones and in corners. It seems all of the world is up in arms about the now-adopted 2004 snowmobile plan, allowing up to 720 such vehicles into YELL a day (and something like 78 snowcoaches, which in addition to being more environmentally friendly, are way less fun). The original 720-a-day plan was shot down; YELL superintendent then attempted to call the judge’s bluff, threatening to shut down the entire park for the winter, to which conservation groups said, “go ahead.” So she finally accepted the need and general responsibility (I bet she didn’t think she’s have any of that as superintendent) to develop a new plan, allowing only 318 snowmobiles into the park each day. This was hailed as decent temporary compromise, with the ultimate goal (at least in conservationists’ and Clinton supporters’ minds) as the total elimination of snowmobiles in the park altogether, giving, of course, gateway communities (many of which rely on such winter sports to pay for their rustic log cabins in some of the most expensive real estate around) to adjust to the change in economics. This plan was accepted and was under public comment when, in a surprisingly underhanded move, even for the government, ANOTHER unrelated judge decided to interpret the previous judge’s decision to mean that the temporary plan should be to allow 720 snowmobiles in the park each day until next year or the year after, when we could maybe start to think about thinking about a slow transition. Of course, NPS immediately jumped on this, and BAM. 720 snowmobiles are now allowed in the park each day. Public comment ended approximately 30 seconds after the press release was written, but oh, we’ve been given ample time to make complaints. Score one for YELL superintendent.

However, just as an interesting point of fact. I just checked out the several webcams placed strategically throughout Yellowstone, and guess what? There is no snow! With the Park due to open in December 15, it looks like winter riders will be relegated to the sidelines, waiting for wintery-er skies. Kind of hard to ride snowmobiles on concrete, last time I checked. So with the wonders of global warming, it looks like us conservationists (not saying that I personally supported any of the suggested winter-use plans) won’t have to worry about snowmobiles in the park, after all. Ha! Take that, Wyoming judge!

Talk about irony.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Assessments!

Traveling for work is tough. I just spent two weeks out and about, the firt focusing on my very first NPCA assessment. It began at Cowpens National Battlefield, where we talked about resource conditions at that park and its co-managed companion, Ninety-Six National Monument (they have the same superintendant, despite the lengthy commute between them). I guess I should briefly describe what I'm actually DOING, since most people within NPCA have no idea, either. I am the cultural resources coordinator for NPCA's Center for State of the Parks. This is a center that focuses on resource conditions within the Park System. This applies to both natural and cultural resources, though I certainly have an expertise in cultural resources and less of one in natural resources, so I focus on the latter. We go into parks and review all their literature on their own resources and then provide a report outlining gaps in research, management and project needs, and recommendations for improvement. We do not produce any original research, more a synthesis of what is already out there. A new way of looking at what has already been done. A master's thesis. A means of collecting information for both advertising for parks and their needs as well as advocacy. A lot of sitting and reading and taking notes, and every once in a while we get to go into the field and be REAL researchers! While I won't (can't) go into detail of what went on in these workshops, I will include pictures of the sites. They were pretty neat, especially in the dynamics between them, though I am totally bummed that I didn't get to go to Ninety-Six. They were all Revolutionary War sites with very different histories, evidence of which you can see when you walk the grounds.

Anyway...


Kings Mountain National Military Park

Ferguson's Grave, Kings Mountain


Georgia Aster, a species of concern


Kings Mountain



US Monument at Cowpens National Battlefield




A moonshot at Kings Mountain


Tim Stone, the superintendant of Cowpens National Battlefield and Ninety Six National Monument




The US Monument at Cowpens National Battlefield

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Just to make it clear, I've been sick ever since I took an Not-100%-Hike up a mini-mountain. I must've caught something on the trip, so I've been pretty scarce. Also, my computer, my trusty Mac, will not turn on....

I did get to vote, and found I have strong opinions regarding unions and casinos. Go figure. But it was he first time I voted in an actual polling place, and it felt like I was taking a standardized test in high school, complete with the cheerfully condescending old people and the bubble sheets. I could have taken it on the computer, but I preferred the old fashioned way. Who needs technology anyway. Though there has been some controversy about Colorado nullifying people's votes due to mix-ups in who was registered where and whatnot. Who knows. These things only seem to come up at election time, even though they've been wrong for years. Funny how that works.

Anyway, I'm finally recovering just in time to hop a plane and do two weeks of travel. Kings Mountain National Military Park for an assessment this week, the weekend with Jonmikel's mother in Georgia, and next week in Harpers Ferry, WV for an all-staff retreat. Then a week here before hopping another plane to Burlington, VT for Thanksgiving. What a month. And what a month to experience with severe sinus pressure and chest congestion...

So I will leave you with a shot of City Park here in Ft. Collins, and some of FitzHugh, as he settles in quite nicely.





The day after I got back from Jackson, I decided that I had eaten my way through the Advisory Council meeting (its not hard to do when its all free!). So despite the fact that I wasn't feeling quite 100%, I made Jonmikel climb Horsetooth Rock with me. It was about a 2.5 mile one-way trail, with an elevation gain of only about 1000 feet. SO not so bad. A little more than climbing Arthur's Seat, and that was way steeper. People were reporting a hike time of 5 hours, which was a HUGE over-estimate for us. We spent only a couple of hours shuffling up the rock, hanging out in the bustling wind, and then meandering our way down. From up top, Ft. Collins doesn't look so.... ugly. Well, it looked flat, but you could look west and see mountains, which makes the place look not so desolate. And we could even pick out buildings from downtown Denver through the haze. Yeah, it's that flat out here.



My preferred view to the west, out toward Rocky Mountain National Park






Look! Look how flat it is! Isn't it horrid?!?!