Still here: California condors

California condors almost didn’t make it. They were extinct in the wild in 1987, when the remaining 27 individuals were captured by scientists to breed in captivity. Today, there are around 560 California condors, the majority released in the wild.

I was lucky enough to see five of them or more last weekend, in Pinnacles National Park, in central California. It’s an amazing feeling to watch them circling with their huge wingspan, sitting together on tall rock towers, and looking like they’re having a really nice, carefree, sunny day.

The biologist Jan Hamber helped with the recovery of California condors for decades. This is a fascinating article about her life’s work: This Bird Lives Because She Never Quit

They captured the last remaining 27 birds to breed in captivity, and struggled to educate their offspring to survive in the wild. They had to scare them away from dangerous electrical equipment and power lines, for example.

Lead poisoning was a major cause of death of these huge birds, in addition to DDT, habitat loss, and poaching. Condors scavenge already-dead prey, so they eat dead animals containing lead bullet fragments from hunting.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service established the California Condor Recovery Program in 1979. This expensive program would not have been possible without government assistance. Lead ammunition was finally banned in California for hunting in 2019.

Without government assistance and protection of our land, many more creatures would be extinct. This is an example of resources being applied to help only a few individuals, but really, this recovery effort is only needed because a relatively few number of individuals can cause huge environmental destruction. The cleanup afterwards, if it’s possible, can be immense.

This is one of the reasons why, for example, it would be bad to develop or mine our National Monument land. We can never un-mine the land. Most of the places I travel, the old growth forests were logged, and although large trees are starting to come back, it’s not the same. It’s hard for us to envision the several hundred years it can take for a tree to mature. But that’s exactly why we should realize our limitations of imagination, and leave nature alone to surprise us with it’s wisdom.

I'm not, actually, anti-logging. I rely on a lot of buildings and furniture made out of wood. Sometimes, taking some trees down is what we think is best for the ecosystem. In Yosemite National Park and the Sierras, some places they cut down small pine trees to maintain or restore meadows.

Then there's also harvesting plants that regenerate very quickly. Bamboo is a great example of this. It's either very productive or invasive depending on where it's growing, and can be harvested every 3-4 years compared with trees that take decades to reach full size. Bamboo is a grass, actually, although some species are tree-sized!

I think using the land in a reasonable way is, well, reasonable. I just wish we (and by “we” I mean corporations and politicians) could be more aware of the long term impact of land use so future generations will be able to visit trees that are several hundred years old and watch California condors circling above the cliffs.

It’s not hard to see a parallel between supporting nature’s diversity and advocating for LGBTQ+ rights, immigrant rights, and everyone’s desire to live in a safe and peaceful place with their family and friends.

Praying for peace and hoping our success stories continue to multiply.

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think in the comments.

Take care,

Rey