Slightly jealous

I spent probably far too many visits to the general area of the Pike Place Market over the past week in Seattle. But it’s a really impressive space.

One of the things that struck me is its longevity and how it survived numerous challenges where sections of it may have been torn down or redeveloped.

It made me somewhat jealous of what Seattle has and what we’re not accomplishing in Pittsburgh’s strip district, which while it has many awesome attribute, it could be great. Sure the Terminal Building was largely saved (I really can’t imagine what it would be like 1/3rd shorter), it’s becoming a bland corporate destination rather than a more organic, quasi public space. We really need to do better here.

Christmas Eve

It’s 60F (15C) today here in Pittsburgh. While it’s nice to spend some time outside, it makes it hard to not be concerned about climate change. Pittsburgh’s December temperature typically ranges from 30-40F, so this seems to be not normal. Playing outside with the kids seems like a great example of shifting baseline syndrome.

Effects of Bridges on River Scour

The bridge that carries Route 381 over the Youghiogheny River has been there a fairly long time. At least in some form or another. We have often wondered if the placement of the piers have affected the river scour at this site, as there is a downward trend in the habitat quality at this particular site. The pier is directly in front of the scour and may deflect the following water from directly hitting the scour.

A bridge pier in front of the a river scour. The Youghiogheny is flowing from the right to the left.

A bridge pier in front of the a river scour. The Youghiogheny is flowing from the right to the left.

The other side of the bridge pier from the previous photo.

The other side of the bridge pier from the previous photo.

Just downstream of here, one can see a lot of the grasses are bent in the upstream direction, indicating that there’s some sort of eddy operating here. I’ve seen similar eddys at the downstream end of river scours before, typically after a series of rapids.

So many interesting questions about scour hydrology!

Book Review: The Future of Conservation in America

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My friend Lisa Smith, executive director of the Natural Areas Association convinced me to buy this book, The Future of Conservation in America: A Chart for Rough Water, at the NAA table at the Pennsylvania Botany Symposium. The authors, Jonathan Jarvis and Gary Machlis, delivered the closing plenary based on this book at the 2018 NAA Conference (I had to unfortunately miss it due to the Northeast Natural Heritage meeting scheduled at the same time). Unfortunately, this sat on the back of my couch for far too long before getting a chance to read it over the holiday break.

In short, this is a great short book. The authors, with decades of experience in the conservation field, are well qualified to cover this topic. They skillfully weave the core contributions of land protection and conservation science with the social, economic, and political facets of conservation. Speaking of politics, this book doesn’t shy away from the politics that affect land and water protection. As I write this, the federal government is in day seven of a shutdown over funding for Trump’s ecologically destructive (and frankly ridiculous) border wall. The authors don’t fail to recall that the previous long government shutdown was ended in part of by access to our national parks:

… the sixteen-day federal government shutdown in 2013 became an exercise in political theater, diversion of administrative effort, and economic disruption. The public outcry over the closure of parks ultimately forced the hand of Congress but reaffirmed the strong position that public lands have in American society.
(page 27)

They make the case that conservation in the future may be impeded by the lack of public support for science, especially as it relates to climate change.

Additionally, I was pleased to see a small shout-out to NatureServe and its Network of Natural Heritage Programs:

“Nonprofit organizations like The Nature Conservancy or NatureServe maintain their own research staffs…”
(page 74)

Natural Heritage data has a role in almost every natural area conservation decision in the US, and its unfortunately frequently unappreciated as part of the process. It’s good to see it referenced here.

This book is a great short read and has an inspiring message to an issue that seems dark at times. Highly recommended.

This book is available directly through the publisher or probably can be ordered through your favorite bookseller.

ps. A video of Machlis and Jarvis’ talk at the NAA meeting can be found here. Check it out after you read the book, or before, or even if you don’t read this book.

#365 Papers

As I've gotten more active on science Twitter after a long absence, I recently become more aware of the #365papers thing. Digging into it, it seems like something I would  be into: reading papers, sharing them, setting unrealistic goals...

I'm going to set some rules:

  • As some others have said, reading a paper a day and having a non-work life might be an un-attainable goal, so let's start with just reading one a work day, so that should be 260 days per year.
  • As I'm starting late in the year, let's make the 2018 goal somewhere around 80 papers. 
  •  Only counting papers that I read through the results and discussion sections.
  • Book chapters, reports, etc that follow the a general paper format count.

I'll update a list of the papers read here below.