[Scpg] [Permaculture International] passenger pigeon article

[Brock Dolman]

> Hi Joan,
> Peter Bane was the author of that article, although I can¹t find that issue
> right now, I would email him directly. I remember the article, because part of
> the inspiration for looking at the issue of passenger pigeon extinction was
> related to the issue of impacts to nutrient cycles from the functional
> extinction of American chestnut and the loss of nutrient dispersal via
> passenger pigeon poop.
> 
> Peter and I had been comparing notes about our shared interest in such issues
> and had had shared with him the emerging scientific recognition of what has
> become known as the ŒAnadromous Nutrient Pump¹ process of the salmonid
> lifecycle. The ecological benefits are very well documented as to the massive
> accumulation of marine nutrients (Ca, N, P, K, etc.) literally embodied by
> salmon who return to their natal watersheds and make these available after
> they spawn and die thus feeding and driving a whole trophic cascade. (Studies
> have found that 50% of the Nitrogen in juvenile steelhead and riparian
> conifers in Oregon streams is of marine origin) This is a key reason why many
> of us are clear that Totem Salmon are keystone species in our watershed
> systems because they are drivers for the keystone processes of critical
> nutrient cycling, such as the chestnut/Passenger pigeon nutrient guild were in
> the east coast. A great reference is a book by the American Fisheries Society
> Symposium 34 called Nutrients in Salmonid Ecosystems: Sustaining Producation
> and Biodiversity. John Stockner, editor. 2001.
> 
> Unfortunately the reality of this recognition about salmon nutrient cycles and
> all other bioacculmulatory organisms and processes get at the recognition that
> there is No Away! Garbage in- garbage returns in the form of toxic compounds
> such as PCBs¹ that have become highly concentrated in the flesh of salmon and
> are now being found accumulating in significant concentrations in Œpristine¹
> lakes and rivers in Alaska as a result of the ³Anadromous Pollution Pump²!
> 
> In sum contact Peter Bane, the publisher of the PC activist.
> 
> In honoring our Ability-to-Sustain life cycles, I entrust,
> Brock Dolman
>    
> Hi all, I remember reading an extraordinary article in an issue of
> Permaculture Activist (I think that's where it was) about the extinction of
> the passenger pigeon and the impact on the ecosystem of their demise.  In my
> APES (that's  AP Environmental Science - about as close to a permaculture
> course as you're likely to come in a public high school) course we are
> covering biodiversity next week and the text starts out with info about
> passenger pigeons. If you know the article could you let me know which issue
> it was.  I looked and looked through my collection and was unable to find it.
> I suspect it's gone.  If anyone has a copy of the article could you send it to
> me so I could share it with my students?
>   
> Thanks,
>   
> Joan
> 
> 
> "People cannot discover new lands until they have the courage to lose sight of
> the shore"  Andre Gide
> 
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> 


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