Environmental News

There is no 'they'. Beef production will not decrease for a long time. Or rather it will in years like 2025 (USA) when regional weather is adverse.

There is no 'they' forcing consumption of insect protein either. However I expect more to be used for chicken and fish feed. Describing that in positive marketing terms is somebody else's problem. Insects produce protein with remarkably low greenhouse gas footprints, and the good species are much more omnivorous than we are.

If a fella raised chickens outdoors, it would be a great challenge to prevent them from eating insects. That may be a marketing 'hook'.

 

I've been reading a lot of articles about VPD and Gs, at need, and I spare readers more details. But among today's was entitled:

"Magnetized water confers drought stress tolerance in moringa biotype via modulation of growth, gas exchange, lipid peroxidation and antioxidant activity"

Authors did not mention what magnetized water is nor how they prepared it. An article's Methods section normally would. I cannot being Journal editor nor among Journal reviews that gave that a green light. But happily for me, they provided no data about VPD and Gs, so I am not obliged to include it in my work resulting from all this reading. That would require an asterisk and some explanation I'd rather not write.

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Magnetized water sounds oooga boooga to me, but until I read what it actually is ... not much to say.

 

Death Valley is notably dry area of California (some Nevada also within boundary). It had another big rain flood this year. So I got to wondering - Are such events changing over time?

No one seems to have claimed so. Weather records for the (park) area have been kept since about 1916, so that time scale is available for direct analysis.

2015 was characterized as having a "thousand-year flood". But by golly (by gully) 2022 had another even larger flood. Extrapolating from 100 years to a thousand is risky business.

If a few more really wet years come in next few decades, people may dare to suggest that things are changing. But what about real long-tern records? It is realistically possible that thousands of years of sediment deposition are nicely stacked up in some local spots. Those stacks could have age determined by c14 (plant material) or a few different geological techniques. Flood years are marked by larger particle size of rocks in the stack. And so as they say, Bob's your uncle. I don't know why they say that.

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Because 2025 flooded, spring 2026 will be another wildflower superbloom. Whoever finds that surprising would mark themselves as not really paying attention.

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Blooms after desert rains was worked out by Frits Went decades ago. Desert plant seeds have germination inhibitors that take a lot of washing to remove. When that happens, the bloom booms and new seeds get buried to wait for sumpin to happen. Which it will, later or sooner.

 

Just now NPS reports deva (nice shorthand) road closures here:

Alerts & Conditions - Death Valley National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

If funding avails, repairs will be made to ease visits in Spring 2026.

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When I was a young desert ecologist, I thought of dumping buckets of water in small areas to stimulate plant germination. To see where Frits Went went under field conditions. But alas, too many ideas, and this one never germinated.

 

Both of those paleolakes - Manly and Lahontan were juicy until end or ice age. Since then those areas have become arid.

It is during post-glacial climate that people wonder if climates are sneaking back towards wetter.

 

N Amer deserts were mesic (I said juicy above) during glacial. Real forests, megafauna, so very different from their current setup.

Young deserts are common worldwide, it's part of their charm.

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I was walking Death Valley sand dunes early 2000s during a 'bloom' visit. I showed companion J-shaped tracks in sand indicating a sidewinder had buried itself to await prey. Yet another desert charm. Watch your step.

 

Entrance fees for National Parks and Monuments have been made economical for a long time by purchasing annual pass. I don’t know when that program began, but Tochatihu the car had a row of those decals across windshield.

In the news now is program change so international visitors pay $250 while US residents pay $80:

https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/department-interior-announces-modernized-more-affordable-national-park-access

I doubt this fee structure will have large effects because international visits are typically short term and not likely to buy annual passes. More likely to affect international visitors is $100 surcharge at 11 places (not yet IDed).

The stated motivation is recognizing that these places are supported by US taxes, and that is logical. However, $100 might be steep enough to reduce international visitation and overall revenues.

“The Department also unveiled new, modernized graphics for all annual passes” Which is shown elsewhere to have images pf George Washington and Donald Trump. There were never people pictures on these before. There was a lizard once.