Growing Wild

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1. Back from the brink: Bettongs return to the desert

“Alongside two fenced safe havens, researchers have established a 100-square-kilometer (39-square-mile) Wild Training Zone, where invasive predators like feral cats are reduced to low levels, giving native species a chance to adapt. [… “S]ome of our team had bettongs alongside feral cats and documented good survival rates when the cats were at low densities," West says. “They also saw incredibly rapid changes in the anti-predator behavior of the bettongs[….]”

2. Netherlands to ban conversion therapy for both kids & vulnerable adults

“The country already bans some of the more extreme methods of conversion therapy, like medication and shock therapy, [… and will now] also cover the dangers of exorcism, prayer-based therapy, psychological pressure, and pseudo-therapy sessions. [… A]nyone who practices conversion therapy on children or vulnerable adults [could receive] up to two years in prison and a fine of up to 27,500 euros (about $31,500). Therapists could also lose their licenses.”

3. First of a kind “carbon refinery” to embed emissions in concrete and other building materials

“The refinery would capture carbon emissions from factories and combine it with minerals to create a solid material […] such as concrete, glass and paint[…. It] could transform up to 2500 tonnes of carbon dioxide into 10,000 tonnes of saleable products each year [… as a] a practical way to reduce pollution. […] “We’re really targeting hard-to-abate industries like steel, cement, refractories, chemicals — industries where CO2 is an intimate part of the process for making what they make,” Dr Rayson said.”

4. Teeming with turtles: Cabo Verde island sees 80-fold increase in nesting loggerheads

“In previous years, each team […] encountered between five and 10 female turtles (Caretta caretta) a night. But now, the teams were each recording between 20 and 30 females a night. By 2021, that number had grown to between 30 and 40. [… T]he new study found that the three largest nesting sites at Boa Vista reached a whopping 22,000 nests per kilometer in 2021.”

5. Former Illinois coal mine now supports 650 community solar subscribers

“The two Minonk community solar projects have a combined capacity of 9.8 MW across roughly 40 acres, sending energy directly to the ComEd grid [… and] are among the first in ComEd’s system to incorporate […] a smart grid technology that monitors and manages distributed energy resources in real time [… which helps] ComEd more effectively balance load, manage variability, and enable […] reliability[….]”

Due to where it is typically grown, coffee farms are particularly vulnerable to damage from erosion when rain comes either too intensely or too sparsely. A coalition assembled by the Global Environment Facility set up test farms to help provide local coffee farmers in Uganda with the resources to apply regenerative agricultural techniques to their local farming conditions.

The results have led to better yields, healthier soil that is less prone to erosion, and more stable income for farmers.

these are images from a 1930s pamphlet that endorsed kudzu, entitled "stop gullies: save your farm"

Canebrakes built up incredibly rich, fertile soil and are amazing at preventing erosion. They form incredibly strong mats of rhizomes. And their roots are known to go 10 feet deep into the soil.

"With genetic test results back from U.C. Davis Laboratories of toe-hair samples from each side of his body, I am excited to share that this sheep

🌟 IS INDEED a CHIMERA 🌟

His black mouflon side is a genetically different individual from his black gray side. The lab ran the test twice just to be sure!

Oh but wait, THERE IS MORE!

He is ALSO a she!

The black mouflon side is male.

The black gray side is female!

What I can tell you beyond these test results, is that this beautiful creature successfully bred four solid patterned ewes this winter that produced a total of 9 lambs, of which all were either solid pattern or mouflon pattern; 5 rams and 4 ewes. "

Image: The Taylor's Checkerspot butterfly. [source]

Habitat loss is one of the biggest driving factors towards its decline, because its habitat is Garry Oak Prairie, which is an endangered ecosystem due to fire suppression, agriculture, etc.

A significant part of the Taylor's Checkerspot population in Washington is centered around a big swathe of land that wasn't converted to other uses due to being a military base (Fort Lewis), which means that it's also potentially threatened by military exercises.

I believe the push to grow Milkweed for Monarchs took less effort because milkweed grows like a weed. Paintbrush is hemiparasitic: it connects to other plants' roots for extra nutrients/energy, but usually specific plants, like lupine and grass species. So one would need to grow those first, or sow their seeds and paintbrush seeds at the same time, and hope they connect. I suspect it would be rather difficult to make growing paintbrush a widespread thing over there.

Images: harsh paintbrush; golden paintbrush. Golden paintbrush is a threatened species. [Source] [Source]

But you know what ISN'T hard to propagate?

Plantain.

Images: the two most common species, common plantain and ribwort plantain [source] [source]

That's right, this incredibly common non-native plant that will grow in your lawn is the ONE other genus that these endangered butterflies will eat.

But lawns are not hospitable environments for baby caterpillars!!

If you have a pollinator garden within the range of this butterfly, consider including plantain. I don't know how much it will help; I don't know what the likelihood of them finding it is, and there are more threats than just loss of host plants.

But I was in the land of milkweed recently, and it was incredibly heartening to see the number of people who had allowed Milkweed to grow: even letting it grow in the middle of their otherwise manicured lawn.

- the reason why the caterpillars can use plantain is because plantains have the same iridoid glycosides as golden paintbrush!

- as with Monarchs and milkweed, the plants the caterpillars feed on are mildly poisonous (because of the iridoid glycosides) and the caterpillars use these compounds to make themselves mildly poisonous and taste bitter to prevent predation!

- Golden paintbrush in the South Puget Sound region has most successfully been grown using yarrow or Oregon Sunshine as host plants. When I show people this plant in real life, I point out that you almost always see them right next to either yarrow or Oregon Sunshine. Sometimes they use other plants, but they have the most success with those two species.

- Golden Paintbrush itself used to be federally endangered, but once they figured out the host plants, propagation efforts became very successful.

- You can buy golden paintbrush here:

- You can buy Oregon Sunshine and Yarrow seeds here, from the CNLM which is very involved in the efforts to save Taylor's Checkerspot and Golden Paintbrush:

- You can also get the seeds here:

- Both yarrow and Oregon Sunshine are tough, resilient plants that like full sun and well-drained soil. Do not make the soil rich and fertile like you would for non-native garden plants. Do not water once established. Do not plant them in shade. They are prairie plants, adapted to the conditions and soils of the prairies that developed on glacial till and have been maintained by the native peoples of this area.

- Taylor's Checkerspot butterflies are present in three prairies located in the south sound region that I know about, and I have personally seen them using narrow leaf plantain. These are areas south of Olympia. If you're between exit 95 and Fort Lewis in the Puget Lowlands, there's a lot of work going on around you to support these species.

- while considering these, also consider Viola adunca (a host plant to multiple other local struggling butterfly species) and local Lomatiums (support SO MANY native bee species)

So, "everyone" pictures western Washington as naturally being covered in evergreen forests made up primarily of Douglas Firs. (If they know what a Douglas fir is) They think everything over here was just old growth evergreens. Therefore, many, many people's first thought when getting into ecological restoration is "Plant more trees!!!" And they go out and they get a bunch of Douglas firs and they plant them. Because they're cheap, they're native, and they grow well.

(Do you know what our most common tree is? Do you know what tree has actually expanded it's range since colonialization? Do you know what tree pops up everywhere? Do you know what tree will just show up on it's own and is doing JUST FINE and DOESN'T NEED ANY HELP????? And has actually caused a decrease in biodiversity as it takes over and crowds out other species????)

America's picture of ecological wellness, at least when it comes to Washington state, is a thick, vibrant evergreen forest full of Douglas firs.

But! That's actually not the only ecosystem that was here before colonialization, and before the diseases that Europeans brought over killed a huge percent of the native human population. A huge swath of what people now call the I-5 corridor was prairie and oak savanna! We only have 3% of the historical extent of the oak savanna!

That means there's less of it left than of the old growth!

But the thing is that those prairies and oak savanna had been actively maintained by native peoples (and these ecosystems have greater biodiversity than the Douglas fir forests!!!) Until! The U.S. government banned intentional fire and actively suppressed naturally occurring fires! Which turned out to be A BAD IDEA.

And the thing is, oaks support so many MORE species of insects and birds than Douglas firs, it's incredible. Oaks are a keystone species, and so many of the species that are struggling in this state are struggling in part because the DOUGLAS FIRS INVADED THE PRAIRIES AND OAK SAVANNAS and turned them into closed canopy evergreen forests with fewer species and less food for people and other animals.

Because the thing is that the oaks and the camas and the lomatiums and a bunch of other extremely cool plants that are super important to native bees, native butterflies, native birds, and native peoples, are adapted to fire.

Douglas firs (and scotch broom and Himalayan blackberry and a bunch of other invasive species that really want to take over the prairies) are not. So for many hundreds and thousands of years- since the last ICE AGE!- native peoples in this area have been intentionally maintaining open prairies and oak savannas by using fire to keep the Douglas firs from taking over and turning everything into a Douglas fir dominated closed canopy forest.

But when the people here were hit first by European diseases and then the U.S. banned intentional fires, Douglas firs started moving in from the surrounding forests. Their seeds are everywhere. They are pioneer species. They're widely adapted. They're fast growing. They transform every ecosystem into one ecosystem that they dominate. They're planted by the million each year! Because they're a great timber tree! But they're also literally everywhere else!

We have so many! SO many Douglas firs! More than any other tree species!

So tell me why people go out and plant EVEN MORE! Instead of, I don't know, something that actually supports way more species and is a much rarer tree and part of an ecosystem that has almost been wiped out, like, say, the Garry Oak?

But the other plants and the animals that depend on them need space to grow, too.

Redwoods National Park, northern CA, USA

Image: The Taylor's Checkerspot butterfly. [source]

Habitat loss is one of the biggest driving factors towards its decline, because its habitat is Garry Oak Prairie, which is an endangered ecosystem due to fire suppression, agriculture, etc.

A significant part of the Taylor's Checkerspot population in Washington is centered around a big swathe of land that wasn't converted to other uses due to being a military base (Fort Lewis), which means that it's also potentially threatened by military exercises.

I believe the push to grow Milkweed for Monarchs took less effort because milkweed grows like a weed. Paintbrush is hemiparasitic: it connects to other plants' roots for extra nutrients/energy, but usually specific plants, like lupine and grass species. So one would need to grow those first, or sow their seeds and paintbrush seeds at the same time, and hope they connect. I suspect it would be rather difficult to make growing paintbrush a widespread thing over there.

Images: harsh paintbrush; golden paintbrush. Golden paintbrush is a threatened species. [Source] [Source]

But you know what ISN'T hard to propagate?

Plantain.

Images: the two most common species, common plantain and ribwort plantain [source] [source]

That's right, this incredibly common non-native plant that will grow in your lawn is the ONE other genus that these endangered butterflies will eat.

But lawns are not hospitable environments for baby caterpillars!!

If you have a pollinator garden within the range of this butterfly, consider including plantain. I don't know how much it will help; I don't know what the likelihood of them finding it is, and there are more threats than just loss of host plants.

But I was in the land of milkweed recently, and it was incredibly heartening to see the number of people who had allowed Milkweed to grow: even letting it grow in the middle of their otherwise manicured lawn.

I love you. I appreciate you.

You got us here, and that was INCREDIBLY hard.

Thank you for surviving for us.

Just please, for the love of everything tell me,