Eye Opener 3: Summary of Reading 8:Wilding America

Summary of Article

Wilding America is about how our world today is becoming overpopulated and it is making our wetlands and wildlife scarce.  A great deal of our environment is beginning to disapear.  Southern California is the region in the United States with the most species who are being threatened with being endangered species.  Many habitats are being wiped out by grocery stores, office buildings, and shopping malls.  Coastal sage scrub (habitat near the water) is being replaced by the building of houses and condos near the ocean.  Coastal sage scrub alone consists of more than 35 plant species, two insects, seven reptiles, four birds, and seven mammals that are nearly endangered.

Mountain Lions

The mountain lion is another animal that is becoming endangered.  Because they need large areas for habitat, and large populations of animals to eat.  Scientists are worried that if they do not get more space soon, they will become extinct.  This problem would lead to more problems.  Animals lions prey on such as deer, would become overpopulated, taking up too much land and larger animals will hunt on too many smaller plants and animals.  The mountain lion simply creates a equilibrium in the jungle.  If the mountain lion goes extinct, that equilibrium would be really effected and many of our plants and wildlife would be effected in a dangerous way.  The only place that sees a large amount of mountain lions are those places that have worked hard to conserve their national habitat.  If we do not work to help out these places in need, we will be hurting in the long run, which will then make it harder to find mountain lions in their natural habitats. The Wildlands Project is a group that has worked for many years to conserve natural areas for animals and wildlife.   Even though they work with the California area, they plan to expand their project throughout the United States. There mission is to focus on protecting and preserving natural habitat.  Their dedication to connect, restore and expand wildlife areas has really helped with areas in need.  They adapt new buildings and developments so that habitats around those areas are not largely effected by the construction.

Corridors

Wildlife corridors are one way that can help protect national wildlife.  Many biologists believe it makes sense to connect smaller, established parks with wildlife corridors (Mckinnery 33).  Each little piece of land can be connected into larger pieces of land. Thinking about how we can link these corridors is the problem. Trying to link these pieces of land without taking wildlife out of the habitat. The department of Transportation has been working on redesigning highways with underpasses is one way this problem can be fixed.  This will allow animals to travel underground and now right onto the highway.  This will also allow the animals a safer alternative to the highway.  I think this is a good thing to do but it also takes away from the animals naturally way of habitat. Biologist Dan Simberloff says " In most cases, there is no direct evidence that corridors are used for movement or that movement is important to the persistance of population."  I think this statement is interesting because many people think that corridors are an easy fix for this problem when really this idea could not help the problem one bit.

Terms to know:

• Corridors: a path or guided way

• Wetlands: area of land whose soil is saturated with moisture either permanently or seasonally.

• Persistance- the characteristic of data that outlives the execution of the program that created it
  
• Coastal sage scrub- a low scrubland plant community found in coastal California. 

 Online Sources-

The Wildlands Project- Klamath- Siskyou Wildlands Center (KS Wild) is an advocate for the forests, wildlife and waters of Northwest California.  They use environment to defend healthy ecosystems and help build sustaibable communities.

Elizabeth Royte-this site explains the author of this reading Elizabeth Royte.