Mini Miracles in Chattanooga, Tennessee

The Tellico River in Tennessee. We visited, snorkeled, and waded through the river as part of the 2013 Society of Environmental Journalists Conference Copyright (c) 2013 Wendee Nicole.

I got back from the Society of Environmental Journalists Conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee a couple weeks ago and, as usual, had a fantabulous time. SEJ conferences are the absolute best writers' conferences in the world! They have the right mix of craft sessions and topical sessions, which I get a lot of great story ideas from. I love the Thursday Tours they have every year, where you go in the field along with a smaller group of SEJers, as well as biologists, business folk, politicians, or other people who tell us about whatever the tour topic is. I went on a "Biodiversity" Tour which involved snorkeling! We were supposed to go to one place in a National Forest but had to change it due to the federal government being shut down. Ahem. The conference seemed very small this year, probably because of the absence of federal government employees! That meant that several panel members for various sessions were missing in action, and it definitely affected the conference experience.

I called this post Mini Miracles because the most amazing thing happened! Well, a couple miracles - which will play themselves out in time - but the first one is so stupendous that my jaw still drops to the floor when I think of it. So the week of the conference, Monday and Tuesday respectively, I turned in my application for two grants -- the brand-new Mongabay Special Reporting Initiative (on the topic of tropical forest conservation) and the Alicia Patterson Fellowship. The focus of my grants was polycentric governance, a concept so revolutionary it won Elinor Ostrom the Nobel Prize in Economics. I won't get into the details here but to say, it essentially presents rules for how commonly shared resources -- forests, fisheries, air, water -- can be managed in a way to avoid the infamous "Tragedy of the Commons."

Ostrom turned the idea of the tragedy of the commons on its ear. So in my grant proposals, I chose several examples of polycentric governance in action, including the crown jewel of the application in my mind, which was this amazing project in Uganda called Conservation Through Public Health. Ugandan Vet Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka started this nonprofit to help improve the lives, health, and well-being of the people living immediately outside Bwindi Impenetrable Park, home to half the world's remaining mountain gorillas (and, my favorite animal!). The people living outside the park live in abject poverty, and because gorillas and people are so closely related they can and do pass diseases back and forth. Tourism to see gorillas in Uganda has picked up since the 1990s, meaning the gorillas are now more habituated to humans and they leave the park more than they used to because they don't see people as a threat. That has led to gorillas getting human diseases like scabies mites and tuberculosis, and gorillas are a critically endangered species. CTPH has helped empower the local people to take charge of their health, family planning, and well-being. That involves not just education but also teaching local individuals to become leaders in their own right, passing these messages of human health, family planning and about gorilla conservation and attitudes, to others especially people living in remote areas. CTPH also created a network whereby local healers report possible cases of tuberculosis and other diseases to health clinics for better monitoring of these health ailments. It's pretty cool stuff.

I first found out about CTPH through the Wilson Center, where Dr Kalema-Zikusoka had given a seminar (which I watched online), the week before the conference. I had emailed her and we exchanged a few brief emails about my project, but not too much since she was busy traveling. So like I said, Monday and Tuesday I submitted these grant apps on their deadlines. Wednesday I get up for my 530am flight to Chattanooga, I arrive at noonish, get a shuttle to the conference, and walk into the Population session halfway through the day - and who is there before me, across the room, but Dr Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka!! I went over and introduced myself and she was so sweet and gave me a big hug. We were able to talk a bit more during the conference about what it's like to travel to Uganda, and the logistics, and my project ideas. I had no idea she would be there. What are the chances? It felt like a mini-miracle to me, and a blessing. I also spoke a bit with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Ken Weiss, formerly of the LA Times, who has been to Uganda and reported on the work of CTPH. So keep your fingers crossed and pray for me that this works out and I get to go over there! I also submitted an app for funding through the Pulitzer Center. I am excited about reporting on these projects and hope I am able to get some sort of funding.

Ugandan Vet Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka from Conservation Through Public Health in Uganda & Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Ken Weiss on a panel at the SEJ conference.

Thursday was the "Tour" day and as mentioned above, I went on the "Biodiversity" Tour which went to the beautiful Tellico River. Everyone got in hip waders to walk into the shallow, wide river to watch biologists catch some fish and amphibians while telling us about various conservation efforts in the area.

Me in hip waders -- because I like to go with the sexy wader look at conferences.

The biologists used electrofishing to stun the fish so they could show us journalists. This shows several spotfin chub, a federally threatened fish reintroduced into the Tellico River by Conservation Fisheries Inc (CFI).

A red-lined darter biologists caught by electrofishing in the Tellico River. The fish biodiversity is very high in the Appalachians.

Rock bass & other fish from the Tellico River.

A crawdad!

After we had lunch and the sun came out, it was time to get in the water and snorkel. This is myself and a new friend, Liz Kimbrough, who works for Mongabay.

The picture didn't capture this well because I actually didnt have my camera in the river, but at one point all the biologists in their wetsuits started walking across this part of the stream with sharpish rocks towards where one of the biologists have captured a young hellbender salamander, and someone called out that they all looked like zombies moving and THEY DID!! It was hilarious!!! Everyone was moving slowly and deliberately and with their arms sort of outstretched, and it was so funny.

Thursday night was the "schmooze & booze" otherwise known as the Hospitality Events! Various companies and nonprofits set up sections with hors doevres and drinks and information. That night, VW unveiled a new vehicle, too: the electric Volkswagen XL1 - pretty bad ass!

Two of my favorite SEJers, Dale Willman and Jim Motavalli.

On Friday night, the conference had their annual soiree at the Chattanooga Aquarium which was so nice! We had libations and food and people were milling around the entire place. In fact, the place was so spread out that it took 3 hours to get through the whole thing and I'm not sure I even saw everything. But around 10pm I met Joe Romm (blogger at Climate Progress). Me, Joe, and some other friends went to a bar next door, Blue Plate, and stayed til 2am!

Silly iPhone pic Joe took. It was a lot of fun. He's such a sweetheart!

Jeff Burnside and Heidi Ridgley, who hung out with us that night. Heidi is an editor at Defenders Magazine and is who I traveled to Costa Rica with earlier this year.

Diving with Jane Lubchenco...or maybe not. Well to the to the Aquarius Undersea Lab anyway!

Me SCUBA diving in Australia's Coral Sea.
Copyright (c) 2008 John Rumney/Eye to Eye Marine Encounters

I'm headed to the Society of Environmental Journalists conference and am so excited! This is the BEST conference ever. Seriously. I have many great friends who will be there, and it's such a fantastic networking opportunity for me. I have never attended one of these conferences where it didn't pay off in assignments made after the fact from editors I met, or from the pitch slam - where you read aloud an article pitch in 60 seconds, and then a panel of editors gives feedback. In Burlington, I sold the pitch to Scientific American (Sympathy for the Devil - about Tasmanian devil cancer). Last year, I sold my pitch to Miller-McCune Magazine (Save the Birds - with Doppler Radar). The great thing is the connections made result in many more assignments down the line, as well.

Besides that, the conference has so many great things going on - not just sitting in rooms listening to people talk all day! The first full day of the conference, they organize "tours" which go to different places around the particular location. Last year was in Missoula, MT and I did a hiking tour where we saw how pine bark beetle infestations were devastating the forests. They are native beetles but because the winters are not getting cold enough to make the population die back, they're spreading like wildfire, and causing much death and devastation to the trees. There are always multiple tours, and this year I chose to go on one that brings us to the subject of this post...

I will be scuba diving to the world's only undersea laboratory - Aquarius Reefbase - in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. On the tour will be a handful of journalists and several scientists who will talk about the work going on undersea - work on sea sponges, corals, and ocean acidification. What's more, the Aquarius hosts NASA astronaut missions down there - the weightlessness of the sea simulates space! In fact, a NEEMO - NASA Extreme Environments Mission Operation - is starting any day now... the first mission that will begin to explore how to land on a near-earth asteroid (NEA). We were supposed to see the astronauts down there training but apparently they have been delayed due to weather... it has been raining in Florida for the past several days. It looks like it will clear up by Thursday, so we can still dive, but we will only get to talk to the folks about the NEEMO project rather than see them in action. What's more... Jane Lubchenco is diving with us!

Oh wait - just got an email that she didn't pass the NOAA dive test in time?! Sigh. (I'm not even kidding about this). Well she will be on the bus on the way over from our hotel in Miami to Key Largo, where our boat departs for - the Aquarius is in the Florida Keys Marine Sanctuary... It was going to be a lot more exciting blog post - ha! If you don't know who she is, she is the head of NOAA in the Obama Administration! She is also a world-renowned marine ecologist. I remember reading about her work with tidepools when I took Biology 101 at Texas A&M in my textbook! I actually met her at last year's SEJ conference in Missoula. I'm one of those people that goes up and talks to the people I want to meet after they give speeches - I'm not shy! You can't be, I suppose, to be a journalist. That said, I've never gotten up and lined up to ask questions during the conference Q&A...

I was really close to cancelling my involvement on the dive tour. They are optional and cost extra money and times are tight (The conference sessions are on Friday and Saturday but there's also an opening reception Wednesday night - in fact, this year the 4 Cousteau cousins will be together for the first time in public. I dove with Céline in Australia for the Discovery Channel Expedition Shark blog! I actually interviewed Alexandra this morning for an article - she has a newborn baby girl - Clémentine -who I heard in the background - so cute! But I digress.) So, money is tight, and the big project I was doing with the ASA ended, for now, and I was in between assignments, which is always unnerving... But I pitched something about the diving tour like mad, and I got an assignment yesterday - yay! And it will more than make it financially worth it!

At any rate, we will be diving down to the Aquarius, and then we will do another dive to a really freaking cool nursery for endangered coral species, and then we will do a third dive on a coral reef somewhere. I haven't dove since Australia when I did the shark diving so I'm stoked! (and I hope I remember what I'm doing - ack). There's lots more happening at this conference, and I am really excited. And maybe this year - unlike apparently last year and the previous one I attended in Burlington and Austin - I will blog about it this time!

Oregon Coast Adventures: sandboarding, marine wildlife and heli rides

I honestly can't imagine how we fit so much into one day, but Thursday was more full of adventure than any other - a great day! In the morning we explored some tidepools at Strawberry Hill Wayside, which is part of Neptune State Scenic Viewpoint. I'd have to say that compared to the other two spots - which were truly amazing - it was not as good for exploring. The tide was slightly higher so maybe some of the best tidepools were not exposed, and the rocks were incredibly slippery. In the other two locales, there were more spots to put your feet that did not have seaweed covering them. You had to be very careful not to slip here. And it seemed like the tidepools themselves were not as full of critters. But it is still always fun to explore and shoot photos. This is a purple ochre seastar. A shot of the landscape at Strawberry Hill. Oh and I randomly ran into some graduate students from Jane Lubchenco's lab at Oregon State! As head of NOAA she surely isn't actively researching right now but she still has a lab doing research apparently! I remember reading about her ecology/tidepool research in my massive Biology 101 textbook so I have great respect for the fact that she is now the head of NOAA is pretty cool to me. I actually met her at the last SEJ conference in Missoula (speaking of which - I'm excited to sign up for the SEJ conference in Miami this coming October!!)
The orange-colored seastars are so bright you can easily spot them across the way as the waves crash on the rocks.
But look up close, and what do you see? This starfish has a smiley face on it!! I swear I did not Photoshop that in either!
I just love starfish!
Starfish lovers.
After exploring the tidepools, we went to Sea Lion Caves, a private enterprise north of Florence on the Central Oregon coast that has a great view of an overlook where hundreds of Stellar sea lions haul out to mate and have babies every year. Birthing will happen next month, so any of the younguns you see in the pics below are yearlings. These are a different species than the California sea lions that we saw on the dock in Newport. You can see how gigantic the Stellar males are - they are massive! Stellars are quite a bit larger than California sea lions, and the folks at Sea Lion Caves told us that they generally do not haul out together. However an interesting sidenote is that when all the sea lions disappeared from the San Francisco Pier 39 in Nov 2009 (which I wrote about for Animal Planet), they showed up in Oregon, right in this same area! They can't be 100% sure they were the same animals since they are not tagged or anything, but it seems likely. I also blogged about their return in May 2010 for Animal Planet.
A shot of the sea lions from a perspective of many feet above.
Now I swear I didn't Photoshop this either but what the heck is on that one sea lion but ... the mark of the beast! The number 666 is clearly etched on its skin - the antichrist sea lion! I'm wondering if a biologist marked it for research purposes. I have to show this to the Sea Lion Caves folks - maybe they will know. It could have been an injury because another sea lion we saw had fresh wounds on its fur, but I didn't get a photo of that one.
A big daddy sea lion!
While watching the sea lions with binoculars, we saw some gray whales passing by!Another shot of the gray whales.
One of the best ways to spot whales is by their blow, and then if you watch the ocean for a while they will surface.
The Heceta Head Lighthouse is also visible from Sea Lion Caves. It's apparently one of the most photographed in the nation because of the great view on roadsides and other spots like here!
Another view, closer in.
Another feature of Sea Lion Caves is that they have an elevator that takes you down some 200 feet below to the world's "biggest sea cave" - and thgough sea lions normally don't hang out there this time of year there were some. All my pics were out of focus but I wanted to show this view of the cave - minus any sea lions. Underground they have some interpretive displays as well. Out of one of the cavern walls, you could see this nesting pair of pigeon guillemots.
Next we went to the Heceta Head Lighthouse Bed & Breakfast for a tour and a boxed lunch from Ona Restaurant (which was fantastic - they made me a baba ganoush veggie sandwich- OMG it was so good!), which is owned by the same people (on a sidenote - I'm impressed by how many restaurants specialize in "farm to fork" and local and/or sustainable meat and seafood). The B&B is in the home of the former lighthouse keepers (not in the lighthouse itself) but it's a short walk to the actual lighthouse. Apparently the B&B is "haunted"...
While there I ate my lunch on a bench overlooking this beautiful view... with a bird perched in the treetop. NEXT we went on another adventure - sandboarding lessons. It was SO much fun! I didn't even know sandboarding existed! I had so much fun. We got 30-minute lessons from 2 sandboarding champs, Gabriel and Joey, who work at Sandmaster Park in Florence, which was started by Lon Beale who was a pioneer of the sport in the 1970s and helped create the sand boards, as well as Dune Riders International - a governing body of the sport. They created a park dedicated to sandboarding, and rent boards and offer lessons. We just went on the bunny slope! Check out the cool video of people sandboarding. But I did fall once!
Cruising down the sand hill - woohoo!
We each got a dune buggy ride too.This is Pat and Eileen. When it was my turn, I got a face full of sand when the driver turned into a bank that he didn't quite make it up! I found sand all over me for days...
I rode with Rebecah - doesn't she look like she is having a blast! This one was definitely milder than the 390-foot drop we would do the next day at Sandland Adventure Park! I didn't get any photos because it's a freaking wild ride and they recommend you not take anything along.
This is an accidental photo I took with my phone that turned out pretty cool. Hang ten!
This is one of the instructors, Joey.
And as if we hadn't already squeezed in enough adventure for one day, we next went on a helicopter ride over the coast with Apex Helicopters, which just moved to Florence from Bozeman, Montana. They will no doing sunset and other coastal tours as well as flight training.
And last, we went back to our rooms at the Driftwood Shores Resort, where we ate at the Surfside restaurant and then I shot these photos of the sunset as well as those I posted yesterday. Of all the places, this was not my favorite in terms of the rooms but then again we didn't have as large of rooms as in the other resorts. The rooms were a bit older, but they have done some upgrades to make the place family friendly like a waterpark-like play area for the kids near the indoor pool and a huge hot tub that seats 10 or 12 people. I think in terms of views, I prefer the rockier shoreline of the spots further north; however, I really loved the way the photographs turned out with the light reflecting in the wet sand on the long, flat beach. The manager Martin - who is from Great Britain - was truly delightful! He ate dinner with us and was just a really interesting and nice guy. He told us how his wife wouldn't let him get a motorcycle so instead he got a "scooter." Only it goes 110 miles/hour... At least that is how fast he has gone on it. :)
Driftwood on the beach in Florence outside of the Driftwood Shores hotel.
Pat, Eileen and me on the roadside at one of the roadside pullouts we stopped at for photos.

friends new and old

Here I am at my cousin's house in Tacoma, about to hit the sack, because I fly out at 6am tomorrow but have to get up at 345am - ack! Yesterday was a very busy and fun day! I'll leave you with some pics rather than write about it! G'nite and I'll see ya on the flip side!

Self-portrait of me, Terri, & Eliza before our hike in the Wildwood Recreation Area on Mount Hood.
Eliza & Terri on a wooden bench with salmon carved on it. Salmon spawn on the Salmon River which runs through the Wildwood Rec Area. It was such an amazingly stupendously gorgeous place, the AIR was sooo fresh and everything was so green and lush. It was heaven on earth! And the company was awesome! I love these gals!
The Salmon River.
Terri and Eliza chatting by the river with a model of Mount Hood in the background.

Terri & Eliza hugging a huge tree!
The Salmon River.

Me and Annie Rose - a friend I went to visit the day before yesterday. I stayed with Annie Rose back in December when I got snowed into Portland!
After our hike, we met up with several journalists and writers from the Pacific NW at Hopeworks eco brewpub. It's Portland's only microbrewery run on 100% alternative energy. They use organic and locally grown food, and try to make the operations as sustainable as possible. This is a shot of the bar, which is decorated with old bike parts.
We sat upstairs at Hopworks at first and then migrated outside because it was a stunningly gorgeous day! This is, from left clockwise - Annie Rose, Jimmy (my high school boyfriend),
me, Valerie Brown, Dawn Stover, Orna Izakson, Lizzie Grossman (half hidden), Susan Hess, Terri Hansen and Eliza Murphy.
Annie Rose and Eliza chatting outside Hopworks. Telling roadkill stories! A shot of the beer cooler - all of their beers are organic!

Juergen and Susan Hess!

Elisa, Orna, Terri and I toward the end of our Hopworks get together.

But the night didn't end there! Me and Jimmy went back to Eliza's place and had some champagne! We walked around the neighborhood at dusk and chatted up a storm.

Eliza shows us her awesome sculpture and artwork. This is a piece on her wall.

This is a piece made of two roadkilled frogs. I like this photo!

Eliza reads a chapter of her book to us.

A shot of her sculpture, The Mermaid, made from garbage collected at the seashore. Notice also "the bird" in the foreground - another small scuplture that I think is really cool!

Jimmy and Eliza recreating the classic pitchfork farmer scene...she uses the fork to get roadkill! :)

This pic is actually from the other day at lunch at the Laughing Planet (Jimmy & I)- notice the T Rex toy dino in the forefround! I just like the pic and didn't put it up the other day :)