President's Message - Clare Oskay
CILTI Outreach and Education Aided By Grant
Board Member Honored
A Free Easy Way to Support CILTI
Land and Species Conservation Can Help Reduce Global Climate Change - Mary Wollitz-Dooley
Many Thanks!
Indiana Wesleyan Students Explore Burnett Woods
Called the Wapahani by the native Americans, early settlers named the river "White" because it was so clear. In Ye Old Pioneers, written in 1875 by John Matthews, the author describes the White River of 1828 as "so clear that the fish had no hiding places in them: they could be seen to the bottom of the deepest water." He goes on to describe an area of the White River two miles above Martinsville where two settlers managed to gig a large canoe load of fish in an almost unimaginable 21 feet of clear water.
In addition to the obvious aesthetic qualities of a tree-lined waterway with a multitude of opportunities for recreation and nature study, the riparian corridor of the White River provides wildlife with food, shelter, water and a migratory passageway. During a canoe river cleanup sponsored by the Friends of the White River a few summers ago in which I participated, the group received a special treat when an adult Bald Eagle flew along the River in front of us for several hundred yards. This experience was even more remarkable because it occurred in Marion County, less than one half mile from the hectic traffic of I-465 on the Southside of Indianapolis and within a short distance of commercial development and residential subdivisions.
The wooded areas along the White River provide nesting habitat for birds and other wildlife. Indiana's largest Great Blue Heron rookery is located along the White River in northern Johnson County. In 1998, almost 500 active nests of this magnificent species were counted, not far from the Marion County line.
Protecting riparian corridors is an essential mission of any land trust and CILTI is no exception, having listed riparian corridors as one of our protection priorities. It is significant that the acquisition of land and easements along the White River is a priority of the trust fund to be established by the recent out-of-court settlement between the State of Indiana and the Guide Corporation stemming from the 1999 fish kill. Acquisition and restoration of buffer strips will help to improve water quality and wildlife habitat. Restoring native vegetation to these areas will help to intercept pollutants and silt from entering the river, shade the water, keeping temperatures cooler for native fish and aquatic life and prevent erosion by stabilizing streambanks and reducing flow rates during flood events.
Unless people have opportunities to get out "in the field" with knowledgable guides, they can be unaware of the geological and biological richness of the places they live, the very land that surrounds them. And unfortunately, such ignorance can be a powerful partner in destroying (or allowing the destruction of) valued natural resources. Field trips that draw on the expertise of member naturalists and colleagues are one of the ways CILTI helps central Indiana residents get to know their own places up close and personal, from the view of the numerous plant and animal species -- including humans --that live on them.
While we stay focused on our primary purpose of acquiring land in order to preserve it, our outreach and education activities are linked to those efforts by nurturing an appreciation of nature. Since there are limits on the time and availability of human resources for field trips, CILTI has considered developing media and print materials that also help people get a tangible sense of the values of the local natural resources in our service area.
After several discussions among Board members and between CILTI and the Johnson County Community Foundation (JCCF), CILTI was informed that it has been awarded a $2,050 dollar grant from the JCCF Unrestricted Community Fund to help with production of such outreach and educational materials.
The project will be headed by CILTI Board Member Tom Swinford, who is also Regional Biologist for DNR. Tom brings his own love of the earth, a wealth of expertise and an artistšs sensitivity to such presentations. We look forward to the product(s) of this project, and will inform members upon its completion.
Many of you know him from the excellent slide show presentations hešs given, from a field trip hešs led, or an article hešs written. This man with a fondness for dragonflies, oak woods and wetland plant communities has many talents.
The award recognizes the expertise, dedication, and excellence in service that Tom brings to his areas of responsibilitiy. It also reflects the esteem in which he is held by professional colleagues who nominated him for the award.
Tom is a highly valued member of CILTIšs Board of Directors. We are proud he has been awarded this recognition.
There is absolutely no cost to our organization or to you, and signing up is easy. Just follow the steps below to become a Community Shopper supporting CILTI.
However, global climate change is real. The scientific evidence cannot be ignored. It has been documented again in the report from the National Academy of Sciences earlier this summer. Global waming is happening and is arguably the biggest environmental problem in the 21st century, since it drives species from their homes, shakes food webs to their foundations, and affects all life on earth.
And it is affecting us. Perhaps more tangibly here in the center of the country by changes in weather and seasons. What we've begun to experience is a shift toward extremes: droughts of increased frequency or severity, deluges that break flood norms, tornadoes and hurricanes of greater intensity. In 1999, a heat wave in the Midwest and Northeast killed 271 people. That same year there was a record drought in the mid-Atlantic states and Boston went a record 304 consecutive days without snow. The latest meteorological analyses confirm such changes on a global scale.
The heating of the atmosphere has changed the timing of the seasons in the Northern Hemisphere, bringing spring earlier and winter later. It is difficult for species to adapt to such changes. Birds and mammals arriving earlier in spring may be out of synchrony with vegetation and insect species on which they depend for nesting and feeding.
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in a report drawing on the observations of 2000 scientists, noted that the 20th century has had the fastest rise in temperature for our planet in the past thousand years. The IPCC went on to project that Earth's global average surface temperature will likely increase by as much as 6 degrees Celsius by the year 2100, three degrees higher than was forecast in 1995.
One of the major contributing factors? Greenhouse gases which increase with suburban sprawl. As land is cleared, decreasing vegetation and increasing solid surfaces (buildings, pavement), the soil surface loses its capacity to absorb both heat and moisture. The loss of trees and other plant life robs us of one of our best means of offsetting carbon dioxide emissions from motor vehicles.
On the other hand, conservation can prevent or act as antidote to the gases that contribute to rising temperatures. According to a research team at the University of Minnesota, biodiversity may act as a buffer to climate change. Diverse plant ecosystems are better able to absorb carbon dioxide and nitrogen. The more species, the better job they do at absorbing the greenhouse gases. "The key implication of this research is that, in response to elevated levels of CO2 and nitrogen, ecosystems with high biodiversity will take up and sequester more carbon and nitrogen than do ecosystems with reduced biodiversity," said Brookhaven plant physiologist David Ellsworth, one of the study's authors.
The IPCC report indicates that there is still time to make a difference on climate change. But this window is getting smaller with each day, and it is urgent that we implement a full range of possibilities.
Conserving nature is not just a luxury, it is a necessity. Your support of CILTI helps make that happen here in Central Indiana.
They clearly were stirred by their encounter with the woods. Soon after their trip each of them contacted CILTI with both thanks and inquiries. One student commented, "Most of all...I believe this visit has opened our eyes to a lot of what's happening in our ecosystem, and I believe there will be five additional advocates to these types of preservation..."