Meet our Guests: Cameron Barrows

Cameron Barrows

Research Ecologist, University of California, Riverside

Sand to Snow National Monument, CA

11/14/21

     Bearing southern California’s beating sun like a true local, Cameron Barrows, a retired UC Riverside research ecologist describes his efforts to model climate change and its impacts on the habitat of the famous Joshua tree.

     This charismatic desert plant is in danger of becoming extinct in the coming years, a fact that has motivated conservationists in California to come up with plans to save it. One such scenario involves protecting the swath of land between Joshua trees’ current habitat and the land that models show could be their future habitat, creating a migration corridor for the species. Unfortunately, this corridor would be 100 miles long, and Cam is not convinced the trees could make the trek. From beneath his baseball ball cap, Cam chuckles incredulously, “we're talking thousands of years to get that 100 miles, and climate change is going to happen in 20 to 30 years.” At the breakneck pace of climate change, the species will not be able to move quickly enough.

     Cameron does see hope in “climate refugia” – the place where current and future habitats overlap – because the trees don't have to move. He says that these areas should be the top priority for Joshua tree allies. While this strategy would result in less acreage of protected habitat, Cam believes it will ensure the survival of the population of Joshua trees that still have a chance.

Given that Joshua tree habitat also serves as prime locations for solar panels, Cam says that the smaller land requirements of focusing on refugia will “open the door for people who want to do energy production that is going to get us away from fossil fuels.” He believes that to ultimately help Joshua trees and species like them, we need to be dealing with the root cause of their demise: humans putting carbon in the atmosphere.

By Kevin Faeustle

Meet our Guests: Amanda Gardner

Amanda Gardner

Executive Director, White Clouds Preserve

Clayton, Idaho

9/11/21

Hiding from the sun, sunglasses cover a swath of Amanda Gardner’s face as she talks about the White Clouds Preserve (WCP), a budding nonprofit in central Idaho based around a 432-acre former cattle ranch. Amanda is the co-executive director of the organization, and since April of 2020, has lived on the preserve full-time. WCP’s mission is to “foster stewardship, education, and community,” Amanda says, while trying to wrangle her terrier on the lawn next to the three-story chalet on the property. Their most recent project has been restoring riparian habitat on the property – which was degraded by 100 years of ranching – to improve salmon spawning habitat. WCP has hired a local habitat restoration company to plant native species to provide shade for the overexposed river, serving the double purpose of helping the environment and supporting the local economy.

White Clouds Preserve’s lodge has floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the East Fork of the Salmon River and provides housing for AmeriCorps volunteers and veterans in recreational therapy programs.  Coordinating reservations and programs for the facilities comprises much of what Amanda does, and looking forward, the “hope is to be a hub,” from where more volunteer groups can “work out of, and go in different directions in central Idaho.”

By Kevin Faeustle

Meet our Guests: Joe McCormack

Joe McCormack

Tribal Fisheries Biologist, Nez Perce Department of Fisheries

Wallowa, OR

8/26/21

The Nimiipuu people, known by most as the Nez Perce, were forced from their homeland in what is now Wallowa County, Oregon in late 1877 by white settlers and the US Army. Since the infamous Flight of the Nez Perce, most tribal members live on a reservation in Idaho, hundreds of miles from their traditional territory. Joe McCormack is a biologist for the Nez Perce Department of Fisheries and one of the few tribal members still living in Wallowa County, working to revive populations of the salmon his ancestors subsisted off of since time immemorial.

Salmon historically spawned in the Wallowa River basin, but more than a century of stream channelization and habitat degradation has pushed their numbers close to extinction. After earning a degree in fish biology from Washington State University, Joe moved to a ranch in Wallowa County and today spends his time working to restore salmon to the Wallowa River. Most days, that means monitoring fish populations or adding structure and native vegetation to river banks. Joe considers himself lucky to have studied fisheries biology, as it gave him the privilege of living in his ancestral homeland, and he thinks education is an important step for other Nimiipuu to return to their ancestral land: “Young people now are getting undergrad degrees, graduate degrees, doctorate degrees... and that I think is key to people moving to Wallowa County, with those tools.” Joe is using his education and Western science as a lever to return culturally significant animals and tradition to his people’s home.

By Kevin Faeustle

Photo credit: Phil Brick