Southeast Volusia Audubon Society, Inc. www.sevolusiaaudubon.org Mid-Summer 2011

Programs & Field trips subject to

Prez Prez Prez Prez SezSezSezSezIt is always a trade-off

A few months ago, one of the environmental activism

emails to which I subscribe said something to the effect

that “Desert Tortoises do not need Solar.” It was in

response to a proposal to site an 850 megawatt solar

plant in the Mojave Desert of California. My first thought

was that, if I were to site a significant capacity solar plant,

the desert would probably be a top choice. Lots of open

land and lots of sun. But then there was

the Desert Tortoise and the Fringe-toed

Lizard.

Even though the desert may look life-

less to most people, you probably can’t

cover more than a few acres without run-

ning into a listed species. So where do we

put a solar installation with significant ca-

pacity? Senator Feinstein of CA and some

conservation groups say they should be

located in areas, private or public, that are

already disturbed. That’s a great theory

but where are these lands? The Bureau of

Land Management owns large tracts of grasslands in the

west but most of them are leased (at a very low income to

the taxpayer) for cattle grazing. How about the huge

cattle ranches out West? Anyone who has travelled there

knows how grass-poor these ranches are. It takes a lot of

acres to feed a single cow. Either of these solutions would

result in using food-producing lands for power. Sounds

like what we did with ethanol.

During the Farmton “Stakeholder meetings” in NSB, I

asked one of the Farmton lawyers, if the land has to be

cleared for development, why not just sell or lease it to

FPL for a large solar plant? He just blew off that sugges-

tion.

The movement http://millionsolarrooftops.com is trying to

get a million solar installations in Florida. I would like to

have a solar installation on my house, but I don’t have a

south-facing roof. And even if I did, i would have to cut

down three Live Oak trees and four Palm trees for the

panels to see the sun. Then I would get more sun on my

house which would require more air conditioning. It would

be great if we could get the Restoration and Farmton

developers to commit to solar installations on houses and

commercial buildings since developers take out all the

trees and shrubs on the entire tract so they don’t interfere

with their heavy equipment, but how likely is that? Maybe

by the time they are building out, there will be more

demand for it and the price of the installations will de-

crease.

Then there are the wind farms. Lots of them were

installed with little concern about the impacts on birds and

other wildlife. Lots of birds were and are being killed.

Now there are newer technologies which will diminish the

impacts on birds. But what about the farms that are

already there? How long will they continue

to function until they are replaced? And

what about public policy on the siting of

wind farms? It is one thing to have a wind

farm a few thousand feet below the migra-

tory flyway. It is another to have one near

a migratory drop zone like the Black

Swamp in Ohio (warbler capitol of the

world). Local, state and federal policy,

shaped with the input of the environmental

community will be necessary to ensure

wind farms are sited with due regard for

the environmental consequences.

The Orlando Sentinel on Jul 24 carried a syndicated

McClatchy/Tribune article on building a better Lithium-ion

battery for electric cars ( http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-

07-23/site/sc-cons-0721-autocover-20110723_1_electric-cars-

lithium-ion-battery-nissan-leaf ). In it, they cite the difficulty of

accomplishing President Obama’s goal of a million elec-

tric cars on the road by 2015 until the charge range is

increased to near the range of a gas automobile. The

article focused on better batteries, but there was no men-

tion of alternative methods of charging them such as PV-

powered charging stations at roadside rest areas. And

after a Google search, I could not find anyone talking

about the possibility of thin-film solar being used on the

horizontal surface of the cars. I have seen solar powered

cars with traditional solar PV panels, but the do not look

great. Thin-film solar has been under development for

quite some time and is used in roof shingles. Why can’t it

be adapted to car surfaces?

It will take a lot of time and effort by a lot of people to

resolve these trade-offs, but in the end it will be worth it.

—Don Picard

The Southeast Volusia Audubon Society promotes the protection of birds, other wildlife and their habitat through education and activism.

MeetingsMeetingsMeetingsMeetings Meetings are held the 3rd Wednesdays Sept. thru April - 7 P.M.

Edgewater Library 103 IndianRiver Blvd.

Smoke-free environment.Refreshments are served.Plenty of parking. Public

welcome.

The eSkimmer 2 Mid-Summer 2011

Conservation Conservation Conservation Conservation NotesNotesNotesNotesI have had a recent nightmare like this:

Planet earth is the right size and distance from a suit-

able star to accomodate life as we know it.

A few million years from now, some very sophisticated

space travelers from a distant galaxy were attracted

to planet earth with a view to colonizing it. Much to their

surprise they found that this planet was too hot to support

most kinds of life.

Why was this planet so hot? To gain answers to that

question, the space travelers began studying earth

with highly-advanced robots and analytical machinery.

They soon found that a heavy insulating blanket of atmo-

spheric carbon dioxide and water vapor kept the planet

hot. Seas had become too acid and warm for most life after

absorbing carbon dioxide to their maximum capacity. The

visitors had more surprises when their robots explored the

earth's land.

The robots soon discovered widespread remains of

buildings, bridges, pavements, railroads, monuments and

many other artifacts indicating well-advanced societies.

Scattered everywhere were groups of fossilized skeletons

of two-legged hominids with large brain cases. Undoubt-

edly the hominids had been well-organized and intelligent

enough to have built all those varied structures. Teeth

analyses revealed that those hominids were warm

blooded, but had perished in extreme heat. What had

happened?

The answer shocked the space travelers. Soil and sea

sediment analyses soon revealed that the large-brained

hominids had burned enormous tonnages of fossil fuels

which over-heated the planet in only three centuries. How

could they have been so stupid?

—Lee Bidgood, Jr.

Lee Bidgood is Conservation chair, emeritus.

He lives Gainesville, FL with his wife Catherine.

Native Native Native Native 'n' 'n' 'n' 'n' NiceNiceNiceNice

Firebush

Many native plants make good

additions to your backyard because

they are good bird attractors. The

firebush (Hamelia patens) is dou-

bly so; hummingbirds are drawn to

its bright orange tubular flower

clusters, and its dark juicy berries

appeal to birds and small animals.

The dark green leaves tinged in

shades of red make the firebush an

attractive shrub.

The firebush is a fast-grower so it may need to be cut

back. It will also die back in freezing temperatures. In

either case, the firebush will flourish again after pruning.

If you know someone with a firebush, there’s no need to

purchase one from a nursery, as they can be propagated

by cuttings.

—Donnadine Miller

Donnadine Miller was an active member of SEVAS and

wrote this column for years for The Skimmer.

She passed away April 7, 2008.

Of Of Of Of InterestInterestInterestInterestLinks

Conservation Lands Outreach Outdoor Learning

Adventures - Bonnie Cary

Here's the schedule: http://www.volusia.org/growth/learning.htm

Please forward this SkimmerSkimmerSkimmerSkimmer to friends.

Just Just Just Just Caws Caws Caws Caws

Books and Movies

Summertime always seems like a good time to catch

up on some reading. Actually, anytime should be a good

time to catch up on some reading, but summertime gives

us more opportunities.

I've mentioned this book before and I'll mention it

again simply because I think it's a good read for every-

body who lives on the planet.

The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher by

Lewis Thomas (VCPL has a copy).

While I'm at it, I'll mention another of his small books

of essays, The Medusa and the Snail:More Notes of a

Biology Watcher (VCPL has a large-print copy).

Although the library has these two books, you may

want to own these and more of Lewis Thomas' small

books of provocative essays.

And here's a movie worth watching, on your own or

with the kids :

MicroCosmos (VHS only - VCPL has a copy). . . .

A documentary (English narration) of insect life in a

French meadow . . . 75 minutes of fantastic special ef-

fects: Time lapse, micro- photography, beautiful music.

A winner.

—Gil Miller

Wandering Wandering Wandering Wandering MembersMembersMembersMembersTulip-watching

(Note:this is a follow up to the article

Zwinning posted on http://blog.sevolusiaaudubon.org

in April.)

After Beth followed me around battlefields and bird

marshes in France and Belgium for two weeks in April, I

agreed to tulip - watch in The Netherlands with her.

With the Fyocks, we boarded a river boat in Antwerp,

Belgium and cruised canals and lakes to several smaller

cities in Belgium and The Netherlands. Often the water in

the canal was higher than the surrounding countryside. At

one point we actually passed over a busy, four-lane di-

vided highway. We also visited Delta Works, the massive

dikes which are normally open to allow water and marine

life to pass back and forth into the Zeider Zee but may be

closed to prevent North Sea storm tides from flooding the

lowlands. We also visited a windmill “farm” at Kinderdijk

where the operator lives inside the body of his windmill

together with his wife and family.

The most impressive of the many interesting places we

visited was Aalsmeer Flower Market. It is a massive op-

eration where they sell 20 million flowers between 6 and 9

AM, five days a week. Sale is by auction in one of several

sales arenas. Above the sales floor are some 300 buyer’s

desks, each with monitor and keyboard. Flowers are pre-

sented in a continuous train of multi-tiered dollies, similar

to the type Wal-Mart stacks plants on, but on wheels. A

large scoreboard at the front gives pertinent buying infor-

mation. At the center of this board is a huge clock which

runs backward from 100 (1 Euro) to 1. Bidders hit a button

as the dial passes their desired purchase price. The num-

ber bought, buyer, price and number remaining are imme-

diately posted on the board as the clock moves steadily

onward – no place for amateurs. The train never stops and

as each dolly leaves the arena a sticker is affixed with the

buyers and number of units listed. The dolly is then re-

leased onto the warehouse floor where it is attacked by

one of several dozen men riding on very swift 4-wheel

scooters. They push or pull the dolly to an area reserved

for that buyer. Talk about organized confusion – but it

works! Flowers are picked in the early hours of the morn-

ing, sold by 9:00 AM, taken to the airport a few miles away

and arrive in New York, Sydney or Rio the next morning.

Amazing! As a side note, club member Sheldon Murphy

has sold ferns (small F) there.

We also visited Keukenhof Gardens, a spectacular 70

acres of flowers, mainly tulips, arranged in magnificent

arrays of shapes and colors. On the way, we passed

through fields of tulips in broad strips of brilliant reds,

oranges, whites, yellows, etc. It made Beth’s trip and Tad

Fyock has made a fabulous DVD of photographs he took

of this part of the expedition. Beth also took some great

photos, a few of which will be available through a link on

http://blog.sevolusiaaudubon.org shortly.

The eSkimmer 3 Mid-Summer 2011

Beth and I spent a few days in Amster-

dam after the tour and I got my 1400th life

bird – a Rose-ringed Parakeet, of which

there is a thriving colony in Vondelpark,

near our hotel.

—Ken Gunn

Officers Officers Officers Officers & & & & ChairsChairsChairsChairsPresident: Don Picard president@sevolusiaaudubon.org

Secretary: Fern Murphy sailorchick@bellsouth.net

Treasurer: Bill Cox billnmarsha@pshift.com

Newsletter: Gil Miller sevas.skimmer@gmail.com

Programs: Ken Gunn gunnsatbeach@cfl.rr.com

Field Trips: Gail Domroski sevas.skimmer@gmail.com

Conservation, Emeritus: Lee Bidgood bidgood@gator.net

Membership:Richard Domroski sevas.skimmer@gmail.com

Thanks to Fern Murphy for proofing this issue (in fact,every issue).

More More More More CawsCawsCawsCaws

Synchronicity

It started with a variegated pink-leaved espiscia I

bought on impulse because it caught my eye at Garden

Arts.

After bringing it home and realizing I knew next to

nothing about this plant I plopped in front of the computer

and Googled.

Suddenly, a whole new world opened, a new adven-

ture that suited me fine. The only traveling involved would

be to nearby garden centers. I had entered the world of

Terrariums!

How very Socratic that one tiny little Gesneriad (see

how much I've learned already?) could open up this vista.

So the obsessively compulsive me quickly (two days)

cleared a space on top of the bookcase under the front

window, placed the new 10 gallon aquarium there, and

reserved a few books on terrariums from Volusia County

Public Library. I was sailing along now.

My next trip took me back to Garden Arts a few days

later to buy more plants and some dirt. Yep, dirt.

That's where I ran into Valeh Levy and her daughter

Sydney who were circulating flyers and posters for a

charitable screening of the film Dirt! The Movie. Yep . . .

Dirt.

Turns out Sydney was a 1st prize winner at this year's

Audubon sponsored Tomoka Regional Science Fair.

Synchronicity. It works if you let it.

—Gil Miller