The Friday Video: El Paso Zoo lion loves children

I took a friend who is visiting me from Philadelphia to our El Paso Zoo today. It's one of my favorite places to go. While we were there we ran into my friend, Rick LoBello, who is the Education Curator at the Zoo. He told us about plans for expansion which will be paid for with the the Quality of Life bonds. You can see the Master Plan HERE.

Not only is our El Paso Zoo the home of many exotic species from around the world, it encourages people to get involved and take action to protect animals everywhere. LoBello is the really the Activist-in Chief. The Zoo lets you know how to get involved and how to take action and support conservation.

I love the lions most of all. Here's a great video: El Paso Zoo Lion loves children.

The Friday Video: Good Morning from Franklin Mountains State Park

[Videos do not display when elpasonaturally© posts are emailed. To view, please go to elpasonaturally.com. The following video shows the beauty of the Franklin Mountains and states why sprawl should be contained on both sides of the mountain. You can still sign the petition to preserve our Franklin Mountains from Further Development.]



Please support elpasonaturally©. Go HERE to donate and help turn El Paso "green".

Contrast Desert Beauty with Sprawl

[What I like about Rick LoBello's video below is that it provides a stark contrast between the beauty of the Franklin Mountains in the Chihuahuan Desert and urban sprawl. Rick has stopped at the top of Smuggler's Gap at the top of Transmountain Rd. He does a bit of a ramble along the Ron Coleman Trail and discusses some of the flora and fauna. He then vividly shows the affects of sprawl on the plant and animal life. Finally, on his way home, he stops at the entrance to the Tom Mays Unit again to inform us about some of the native Chihuahuan Desert plants. 

His video gives us a graphic reminder why we should sign the online save our mountains petition.

You can still sign that petition to save our mountains. Just go to https://www.change.org/p/the-people-of-el-paso-texas-preserve-our-franklin-mountains-from-further-development. Be sure to tell your friends and family members.

If you receive elpasonaturally by email, the video will not display. Go to elpasonaturally.com to see it.]

Expanded Fossil Bone Exhibit development threatens wilderness experience at Big Bend National Park

Hello!

I've started the petition "Save the wilderness - cancel plans for the Fossil Bone Exhibit in Big Bend National Park" and need your help to get it off the ground.

Will you take 30 seconds to sign it right now? Here's the link:

http://www.change.org/p/save-the-wilderness-cancel-plans-for-the-fossil-bone-exhibit-in-big-bend-national-park

Here's why it's important:

Expanded Fossil Bone Exhibit development threatens wilderness experience at Big Bend National Park

By Rick LoBello

First look at the actual plan for the fossil bone exhibit. Then watch the video above if you haven't already.

(June 6, 2015) On May 23, 2014, National Park Service Intermountain Regional Director Sue E. Masica approved a Big Bend National Park finding on how building a new Fossil Discovery Exhibit in the Tornillo Flat area of the park would have no significant impact. Not so fast say wilderness and national park advocates who spoke out against the project on a change.org petition. Many comments on the proposal came in from El Paso, the largest city near the park, and other Texas cities and areas of the country including California, New Mexico, Wisconsin and Oklahoma. Marshall Carter-Tripp, past Director of UTEP's Centennial Museum in El Paso said “A smart-phone trail could be constructed for very little, and would have only a tiny portion of the impact that this huge display will have. No one is impressed by fake fossils anymore! We go to Big Bend to get away from our over-built world. Please leave Big Bend as it is.”

Diane Devine, wife of former Park Ranger Bob Devine and a former teacher at San Vicente School at Panther Junction Park Headquarters, stated that “BBNP already has visitor centers capable of housing displays; current staffing patterns will be stressed to cover additional exhibits, but lack of staffing could create safety issues. Have use statistics justified a need for a new exhibit?”

Mark Kirtley who worked as a volunteer at Persimmon Gap Visitor Center for many years summed up much of the opposition to the exhibit when he said “I've listened to thousands of visitors talk about why they love Big Bend. They often speak of a peace engendered by the wide-open spaces, a quality that the Park Service normally fiercely protects and a quality that buildings impact. Driving the gravel Old Ore Road or even the paved park road from Persimmon Gap to Panther Junction can feel like paradise, but a large exhibit at Fossil Bone, even a lovely one, would somewhat spoil the experience. Doesn't the Organic Act mandate that we preserve the scenery? And cannot education at a national park occur without compromising its beauty? Visitors do like wayside exhibits, but my impression is that they prefer the intimate and personal feel of the small ones, like the one at Anna Hanford’s grave.”

Many people who have fought against development project proposals in the park in the past believe that the park's staff was only able to gain support for the project by focusing solely on financial support from the friends group. Unlike environmental groups that are willing to be critical of park management actions, historically most National Park Friends Groups and Cooperating Associations support nearly everything that parks want them to. I saw this first hand when I worked for two of them over a 14 year period. During this time I also networked with others in similar positions across the country and served for a brief period as a member of the Friends of Big Bend National Park board of directors.

You would think that park staff would demonstrate a greater passion for conserving the park by focusing more on protecting park resources and working on plans to reintroduce extirpated species like the gray wolf and desert bighorn. I understand that there are also problems with exotic species like European wild boars and exotic plants species. Recently I learned that Mexico is moving forward with a plan to build a new road south of the park near the three newly protected areas that are adjacent to the park. How will these roads impact the wilderness quality that has been protected by the park since 1944? Why not re-direct funds planned for Fossil Bone to higher priority issues that directly impact the park’s ecosystem?

During my last year working in Big Bend National Park the Houston Chronicle on January 19, 1992 published an article entitled “Big Bend: At the Brink.” I am saddened to say that the park is still at the brink and echo the words of former Big Bend National Park Superintendent Robert Arnberger who was quoted in the article stating that the park's “remoteness does not entirely shield it from society's ills.”

Over the past 40 years I have supported and teamed up with members of the Sierra Club, Rotary International and other groups across the country in supporting conservation efforts at the park. One person who I have great respect for is Roland Wauer, Chief Naturalist at the park for many years, former Chief Scientist of the NPS and a hero of the current NPS Director, Jonathan Jarvis. Most people know Wauer as a prolific writer who has helped people better understand and connect with the natural resources the NPS is mandated to protect. But Wauer has also been known to be a passionate advocate for conservation and has spoken out publically on what he sees as threats to the parks. The 1992 Houston Chronicle summed up the problems in the park by saying “even a spot as big, rugged and remote as Big Bend National Park is subject to the ecological stresses and strains of modern development.” Wauer was quoted as saying “damned with the resource” Park Service managers must cater “to the whims of concessioners and public officials and are thinking more about visitation than natural and cultural resources.”

Big Bend's current Wildlife Biologist Raymond Skiles was also quoted by the Houston Chronicle when he stated that the “future of the park is far from secure." How secure is the park today when we see park managers devote resources towards projects like at Fossil Bone? Does the NPS at Big Bend really have the resources to waste on projects that do little to help protect the resource? Does the park's education program measure its success by how many exhibits it can build out in the middle of wild open spaces?

There was very little effort by the park to alert the public to the proposal and to seek input from wilderness advocate groups like the Sierra Cub. Big Bend Sierra Club member Roger Siglin, a former Big Bend National Park ranger who retired from an illustrious career with the NPS which included assignments as Chief Ranger at Yellowstone National Park and Superintendent of Gates of the Arctic, lives nearby in Alpine, Texas. In response to the proposal Siglin said that the “building design and size is totally inappropriate for the current location and would be out of place anywhere else in Big Bend NP. My experiences in Big Bend go back to 1966 when I was a ranger there. The existing exhibit is a disgrace and should be removed. I was therefore pleased when I heard the park was planning a new one. But the proposed structure to house exhibits is ugly beyond anything I might have imagined. I have frequently hiked in the hills across Tornillo Creek and this structure will impact the wilderness experience because it will be highly visible for hiking off of the Old Ore Road.”

When I visited the park in October, 2014 I decided to make a YouTube video of the area where the exhibit will be located to help people better understand the project and what the NPS has planned. Unfortunately the park did a very poor job in spreading the word about the new exhibit when an Environmental Assessment process was announced. What was shown and described in the EA documents did little to help the general public truly understand the big picture of the project. This approach to getting public input on project proposals is not an uncommon practice and it is not surprising to see how a project like the one planned for this wild area of the park could make it this far.

I contacted the park's geologist Don Corrick asking for more information on the status of the project. After hearing back from him I remain convinced that if Big Bend National Park moves forward in building a new Fossil Bone exhibit it will result in a negative impact on the park. According the Corrick the project will have a potential footprint of 4000 square feet. An area that large is big enough fit 21 cash register lines and several departments in a super discount store or build a colossus sized state of the art fast food restaurant. If built as planned the project will prove one thing, the depth of the National Park Service's commitment to its mission is both alarming and disturbing.

Corrick stated that “the project will be fully funded by donations gathered by the Friends of Big Bend National Park, and that the project will not proceed until the fundraising is complete, so a timeline is not available.” What this means is pretty simple - if fundraising is completed, destruction of the area will soon follow, UNLESS we the people can stop it.

You can sign my petition by clicking HERE.

Thanks! 
Rick LoBello

Sprawl is Bad for Business and the Environment

[The following is a post by Rick LoBello also posted at ricklobello.wordpress.com. Rick has written several posts for elpasonaturally. Bookmark his site. It's an encyclopedia of conservation information.]

A new wave of development along Loop 375 in El Paso is destroying lower elevation habitats adjacent to Franklin Mountains State Park and much of the wilderness scenery El Pasoans have cherished for years.  Where once there was a feeling of remoteness and an overall wilderness experience, there is now a 4 lane highway, new bridges connecting the road to Interstate 10 plus a multitude of new residential and business developments.

The current wave of development in cities around the world threatens both businesses and quality of life.  Here in El Paso when two men spotted a bulldozer blading a road across a pristine part of the Franklin Mountains in 1978, they inspired citizens across the community to take action to help stop the ravenous rampage of suburbia.   Today, a new conservation effort is underway as new bridges are built, roads are widened and more developments break ground.  Many El Pasoans are saddened by what they see and feel hopeless in doing anything about it.  Not so fast says the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition.   A new citizen’s petition with over 6000 signatures calls upon the city to preserve undeveloped public lands on both sides of the mountains.

Earlier this year National Geographic magazine characterized similar business and environmental challenges asking this question – “why do many reasonable people doubt science?  We live in an age when all manner of scientific knowledge—from climate change to vaccinations—faces furious opposition. Some even have doubts about the moon landing.”

It is shocking to learn that most of the people responsible for mapping out our future have no clue as to the scientific value of protecting natural landscapes to local businesses and people.

Ecological services are free and include purification of the air we breathe and the water we drink, protecting wildlife biodiversity, soil and vegetation regeneration, seed dispersal, and pollination of crops and natural vegetation.  These services also help to sustain aesthetically pleasing landscapes important to enhancing our sense of wellbeing and fighting off nature deficit disorder.

When ecological services are lost, taxpayers, businesses and governments incur significant costs to replace these services. Some services can be only be partially replaced, and some can never be replaced by any amount of dollar investment.  

Here in El Paso one of the drivers of rising health care costs is the quality of the air we breathe.   Desert plants help to maintain our air quality by capturing dust particles during dust storms. When bulldozers destroy what nature has spent thousands of years creating, businesses have to incur rising health care costs when people get sick and can’t make it into work.  People suffering from respiratory problems also experience a lower quality of life.

Another example is how the Franklin Mountains landscape is a significant driver for ecotourism and in encouraging people to live here and move here.  The value of that driver may be very comparable if not higher than the ecotourism potential of the newly established Organ Mountains - Desert Peaks National Monument a few miles north in New Mexico.  The protected mountain range is now estimated to contribute more than $7.4 million in additional annual economic activity in Las Cruces.   Every day that development in El Paso continues at its current rate, the potential of ecotourism as an economic driver decreases. 

Perhaps the current movement to protect natural resources in El Paso will trigger a new way of thinking about our future.   Let’s hope that local businesses and the community will demand change.  For more information on how you help visit franklinmountains.org. 

The Friday Video on Monday: We the People Petition

Please do four things: 

Watch the video
Forward this link to your friends and ask them to watch the video.
Sign the petition.
Ask your friends to sign the petition.

This is a beautiful video by Rick LoBello on behalf of the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition. To learn more about the petition and to download a copy to sign and get other signatures (if you can), go to franklinmountains.org. 

El Paso Sierra Club Hosts Public Event at Chamizal for Conserving Casner Range

Click on image to enlarge.

Did you know that, if it wasn’t for a group of El Paso citizens back in 1978 coming together to support protecting the Franklin Mountains, we might not have the Franklin Mountains State Park today?  If you have ever traveled across Trans Mountain Road you know that in the northeast there is a large area of the Franklin’s administered by Fort Bliss.  This area used to be an artillery range and over the past ten years a new movement has developed to protect what is called the Castner Range as an addition to the State Park. 

Click on image to enlarge.

A growing number of people across the city are showing their support for this effort and a number of organizations are hosting a free public presentation on conservation efforts to protect the Castner Range at Chamizal National Memorial next to Bowie High School on Wednesday night, January 28 at 7pm. (MAP) 

After introductions by El Paso Zoo Education Curator, Rick LoBello, El Paso's renowned documentary producer, Jackson Polk,  will show his film about Castner Range. Then Judy Ackerman of the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition will speak and give a presentation about conserving Castner Range. She will take questions at the end of her presentation.

Learn more about the program HERE.

elpasonaturally urges you to attend and bring family and friends.

The Friday Video: A Double Feature!

If you can't view the videos in your email, then go to www.elpasonaturally.blogspot.com. At the top of the blue column on the right is a way for you to sign-up to get elpasonaturally by email. Even if you once received email from us, you need to re-register. Thanks.

Today we have a double feature! We begin with "Love At First Bite - The Ad Doritos Don't Want You to See". Here's the scoop: 

"Rainforests across Southeast Asia are being destroyed every day to make way for massive palm oil plantations, where workers, even children, are trapped in modern slavery to cultivate the vegetable oil. The clearing of these rainforests and peatlands are driving many species like the orangutan and Sumatran tiger to the brink of extinction, while also polluting the Earth's atmosphere by releasing gigatons of greenhouse gases.


"Each year, PepsiCo buys 427,500 tonnes of palm oil. Given how high profile the Doritos Super Bowl campaign is, we're [SumOfUs]using this opportunity to let consumers around the world know about PepsiCo's irresponsible palm oil sourcing policy. there's never been a better time to spread the message and make friends, family and colleagues aware of PepsiCo's practices."

There's an online petition associated with the video. Also be sure to download the El Paso Zoo's palm oil app.



Speaking about the El Paso Zoo, here's one from Rick LoBello, the Education Curator there. Rick has a YouTube Channel where you will find more videos. The following went viral after NBC's Today show used it:



We need to post more of Rick's videos here on elpasonaturally!

EcoWise El Paso Recognizes JimTolbert

Okay - I'm bragging. Truth is I was honored and surprised when I was presented with yesterday's first EcoWise El Paso award at the annual Environmental Summit. 

My friend and the Master of Ceremony at yesterday's event, Rick LoBello read this commendation:

"Today we would like to honor with our first EcoWise El Paso Environmental Award one of the most respected environmental writers in El Paso.  For many years he has helped to inform the general public about a wide array of environmental issues.  His leadership is one of the main reasons why the City took action to protect nearly 800 acres of desert habitat near Franklin Mountains State Park along Loop 375 on the Trans Mountains Road. He consistently speaks out for the environment and helps to bring people together so that they can find consensus on important issues.   He has been very active as a member of the City's Open Space Board and over the past few years his leadership has helped to make El Paso's Celebration of our Mountains the city's number one "get outside and connect with nature" community event. He is one of El Paso's top conservation heroes and it is an honor for me to present this award to Jim Tolbert."

The award reads:

"EcoWise El Paso recognizes Jim Tolbert for invaluable dedication and commitment to preserving the Paso del Norte Environment. 2014"

Every now and then I am tempted to give up elpasonaturally. Well - not for awhile.

Jim Tolbert, Pat White and Judy Ackerman at the 2014 EcoWise Environmental Summit

EPWU Issues New Policy Mindful of Wildlife

A new policy regarding the clearance and dredging of irrigation drains was authorized by EPWU CEO John Balliew this past Friday. The policy was written in response to the massive destruction of animal habitat, including bird nests, and vegetation along the Montoya and Nemexas drains this past summer. That destruction was ordered by El Paso Water Improvement District Manager Jesus "Chuy" Reyes following a brush fire and a complaint by a prominent El Paso attorney. The El Paso Water Utilities was forced to help with the clean-up by prior agreements with the water district.

The extreme clear cutting of the drains resulted in an outcry from people living in that area of the Upper Valley, the El Paso conservation community and wildlife experts. Elpasonaturally had a number of posts about the operation beginning here.

John Balliew acted quickly to develop a new water utility policy that would be more mindful of animal life and vegetation. He put EPWU attorney, Lupe Cuellar, in charge of writing that policy. Ms. Cuellar worked with wildlife experts such as John Kiseda and Rick LoBello of the El Paso Zoo and Urban Wildlife Biologist, Lois Balin, along with leaders in El Paso's open space community. Very significantly she worked with utility field operations - the persons who actually do the work of maintaining the land. The new policy is written as a guide for field management.

Sensitivity to the nesting season and limiting the amount of vegetation to be cleared away during any given operation are central to the policy. Before any work can be done the EPWU's Environmental Planner will make an evaluation. That person has been identified as Valerie Provencio, the utility's archaeologist with expertise in ecology. A calendar governing the scope of operations was adopted as part of the project.

Here is the memorandum stating the policy and initialed by Balliew:

EPWU Canal Clearing Policy 101813

693!

Image courtesy of Benny Pol

475 adults and 218 children. That's the gate for this past Saturday's 2013 Chihuahuan Desert Fiesta as recorded by Park Superintendent, Cesar Mendez. That exceeded 450 from the year before. Indeed, in spite of the massive construction to widen Transmountain Road and the current lack of signage to the park, the turnout this past weekend was greater than expected. In previous years the numbers have dwindled. But not this year.

Credit goes to Diane Perez, Rick LoBello and Carlos Rodriguez. Many thanks to all the CDEC (Chihuahuan Desert Education Coalition) board and members and all those who participated in this year's event with booths, vending, entertainment and speaking. 

Be sure to check out, bookmark and keep visiting the CDEC web site.

Indian Fried Bread Tacos were a hit!

Image courtesy of Doug Agee

Park Superintendent and Daddy, Cesar Mendez

Master Naturalist Prez Bill Hoover in background

Image courtesy of Doug Agee

Aztec Troupe poses before performance.

Image courtesy of Benny Pol

The hay rides are always popular with the kids.

Image courtesy of Doug Agee

Two young dancers

Image courtesy of Doug Agee

LoBello Calls for Action to Protect El Paso Ecosystem

Rick LoBello

In response to my "Thank You, Supporters", Rick LoBello, El Paso Zoo Curator and author, sent this message to many in the El Paso environmental community about the value of our ecosystem and ecosystem services: 

Very well said Jim and I want to thank you for all you did in running the great race and for encouraging our community to take the next step.  I stand ready to support a petition to protect as much natural open space as possible.  El Paso needs to face up to the reality that we must take critical steps towards a sustainable future.  Those steps include taking necessary actions to help ensure that future generations will have the natural open space and life sustaining resources needed to maintain a high quality of life.  

Growth must be smart for the ecosystem, not just the pocket book.  We need a strong economy, but what kind of economy and quality of life will we have if most of the world surrounding us is devoid of natural landscapes.  We need native plants and soils to absorb the heat of the sun rather than all the new pavement and roads going up everywhere reflecting the heat back into the atmosphere. Native plants are also important to insects that provide pollination services and food for wildlife like nesting birds.  Did you know that few insects important to nesting birds feeding their young survive on exotic plants?

Protecting natural landscapes means helping to maintain fertile soil, filtering and cleaning the air we need to breathe, capturing C02 emissions from our vehicles and energy generation, and producing oxygen that we need to breathe. Simply put a diverse ecosystem cannot function as nature intended without all the parts intact.   

We need to make sure that our elected leaders understand the value of the ecosystem.  Those who create and implement future development plans must include the value of lost ecosystem services when evaluating development projects.  If they don’t know how they need to learn.  Our city and our country needs stronger mandates for the protection of the environment and your advocacy efforts are right on the mark.  As soon as the petition is ready I want to be one of the first to sign and to help others to sign as well.  What you have proposed in your blog is to me one of the most important issues facing our city today, after all, without a healthy natural environment nothing else matters.

Rick LoBello Receives Audubon Conservation Award

El Paso Zoo Animal Curator, John Kiseda, presents Conservation Award to Rick LoBello

Last Saturday, Rick LoBello received the El Paso/Trans-Pecos Audubon Society Conservation Award.  The citation reads:

Be it known that
Rick LoBello
has richly earned this certificate of conservation achievement in recognition of his tireless, dedicated work to conserve wildlife locally, nationally and internationally; to foster greater public awareness and appreciation of the Paso del Norte environment; and to promote protection of lands that possess, in their natural state, high human and ecological value.

Rick is the Education Curator at the El Paso Zoo.  He is also a prolific promoter of environmental and conservation efforts in and around El Paso and the Trans-Pecos region as well as the world.  Rick has been a park ranger and a research scientist and administrator.  He has worked in the Big Bend National Park and North Luangwa National Park in Zambia.  

Visit I Love Parks.com and join Rick's Conservation Action Network (CAN). Also visit and like Share El Paso with Native Plants and Animals and Rick LoBello on Facebook.

Land of Lost Borders

Land of Lost Borders may be the first film with sound documentary on the Chihuahuan Desert. It was produced by Harry L Gordon for the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute and filmed largely in Big Bend National Park, Texas. The film is part 1 of a three part trilogy. While the film quality is not that great compared to the films being made today, none the less the production is a work of art. Narrated by Burgess Meredith, Land of Lost Borders is a deeply personal, almost spiritual journey through the Chihuahuan Desert in the company of an unseen wise old man.

I am working with the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute (CDRI) in helping to preserve Harry's work by uploading this and other films on YouTube. Soon CDRI will have its own channel.

I met Harry at an evening program in the Chisos Basin at the campground amphitheater when I was a ranger naturalist working for the National Park Service in Big Bend National Park sometime during the late 1970s. Harry told me about the project and we spent hours over the years visiting about good locations to film different animals and sequences.  On a number of occasions I helped him film some of the scenes he needed to complete the project.

Completed in 1982 Land of Lost Borders won a CINE GOLDEN EAGLE FILM & VIDEO COMPETITION award.

Land of Lost Borders, 26 minutes
PRODUCTION: Lehr Picture Company -
Alpine, TX
SPONSOR/DISTRIBUTOR: Chihuahuan
Desert Research Institute - Alpine, TX
Producer: Harry L. Gordon
Director: Harry L. Gordon
Writer: Marshall Riggan
Editor: Harry L. Gordon
Camera: Harry L. Gordon
Music: Bob Farrar
Sound: Harry L. Gordon

Rick LoBello

Education Curator

El Paso Zoo

4001 E. Paisano

El Paso, Texas  79905

CDEC to Re-Landscape City Hall

Chihuahuan Desert Education Coalition to launch Healthy Families Live Outside the Box education initiative with wildscape project at El Paso City Hall

Volunteers needed Friday and Saturday May 11 and 12

The Chihuahuan Desert Education Coalition (CDEC) is in need of dozens of volunteers to help with a new native plant wildscape at El Paso City Hall. (Map) CDEC Director Dr. Gertrud Konings has been working with a small committee and city officials in planning the wildscape since late 2011. The project is part of a City of El Paso’s Think Tank project called "Healthy Families Live Outside the Box" presented to the City Manager by El Paso Zoo Education Curator Rick LoBello in March of 2011. 

This educational initiative is designed to get people outside while encouraging them to help restore wildlife habitat loss by development.  The idea is to get people outside planting backyard desert landscapes in hopes that in doing so they will connect with our desert by learning about plants that use little water and provide habitat for wildlife.  People who invest in a few desert plants will help (1) to provide habitat for wildlife like birds and butterflies that have displaced by development, (2) experience lower water bills and (3) hopefully become more active outdoors by discovering natural areas like Franklin Mountains State Park and Rio Bosque.

The first step in launching this important community project is putting in a demonstration habitat on the front steps of El Paso City Hall.  What a great idea thanks to the input from one of our education partners.  He said to me that if you want the community to get on board with this effort you need to start in the heart of the city where our elected representatives work.  I hope you will agree that this effort is an important step in helping our community become more aware of our natural environment.  We need your help in volunteering on Friday and Saturday morning, May 11 and 12.   You can learn more online at www.chihuahuandesert.org. 

Volunteers are needed for two hour shifts on Friday, May 11 and Saturday, May 12 to help replace non-native plants in the current landscape with native plants of the Chihuahuan Desert. Details for the two day project are below.

Friday and Saturday, May 11-12, 2012
8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Volunteers will remove shrubs and weeds and replant some plants in a different area. Soil and rocks will be moved to a cactus garden.

Volunteers need to bring shovels or a pickax, knippers, gloves, plastic bags, buckets and have a hat and water.  Volunteers who can provide a pickup truck are also needed to go to the plant recycling location on Doniphan Drive and pick up plants at a local nursery.

Once the landscape has been completed, plant ID graphics will be added and a new webpage will be launched with information on how residents can landscape their front and back yards with drought-tolerant native plants. For more information and to sign up to volunteer, contact Rick LoBello at lobellorl@elpasotexas.gov or by phone at 915-217-4233. 

At Least Save the Chimps

We all have heard by now the gruesome tragedy in Ohio of animals having to be put down after they were let out of their cages by their keeper who then killed himself. Most agree that little could be done once the animals were released near nightfall unlike the unnecessary killing of a mountain lion in downtown El Paso because of a total lack of crowd control by authorities.

International wildlife expert and Education Curator at the El Paso Zoo, Rick LoBello, had this to say about the tragic killings of animals in Ohio:

"We need federal laws to help prevent tragedies like this in the future. Unfortunately in this country we are often more reactive than proactive in addressing a whole range of national issues and concerns. What happened in Ohio is a perfect example. There were plenty of warnings that something was seriously wrong with the individual who owned these animals, yet the local authorities were not able to find a way to legally do anything about it. When it comes to animals and the environment more people need to get involved , speak out and step into leadership roles. Unfortunately too many of us are sitting on the sidelines."

Well, there is a way locally to get involved and not just sit on the sideline. LoBello explains:

Save the Chimps, the world’s largest chimpanzee sanctuary, cares for nearly 300 chimpanzees rescued from research laboratories, entertainment and the pet trade. They currently have 10 chimpanzees living in Alamogordo that will be transferred to their sanctuary in Florida sometime between now and Christmas and are in need of enrichment items. UTEP Student Arturo Rocha is collecting items and has asked the Zoo to provide a drop off point for donations between now and noon October 28. If you would like to help out a list of items they need follows. Donations can be dropped off at the El Paso Zoological Society Office at the front gate.

Here is how you can help:

Treats: Peanut butter- creamy only, powered Gatorade or Powerade (any flavor), fruit juice (any kind- no sugar added), nuts in shells (any kind, unsalted), sunflower seeds (unsalted), raisins, Craisins, pasta, rice, oatmeal, grits, applesauce, jams or jellies (any flavor), dried fruit

Blankets, toys and enrichment items: blankets – preferably fleece (no quilts, comforters, mattress pads or sofa covers), stuffed animals (not stuffed with pebbles, beans, pvc, pellets or foam), small plastic sturdy toys (age appropriate 1-3 years no chocking hazards), kiddie pools (hard plastic), basketballs, picture books, magazines

Household: antibacterial hand soap, hand sanitizer, laundry soap, liquid dish soap

Save the Chimps was established in 1997, under the leadership of founder Carole Noon, Ph.D., in response to the U.S. Air Force's announcement that it was getting out of the chimpanzee research business. At the end of the long giveaway process, most of the chimpanzees, described by the USAF in a Wall Street Journal article as "surplus equipment," were sent to the Coulston Foundation (TCF) in Alamogordo, NM, a biomedical laboratory with the worst record of any lab in the history of the Animal Welfare Act. Save the Chimps sued the Air Force on behalf of the chimpanzees given to TCF. After a year-long struggle, Save the Chimps gained permanent custody of 21 chimps, survivors and descendants of the baby chimps captured in Africa in the 1950's and used by the Air Force in the original NASA space research program. The vision of Save the Chimps was -- and remains -- to create a sanctuary where rescued chimps can live out their lives without the threat of ever returning to a laboratory, entertainment, and the pet trade. Save the Chimps is entirely funded through donations from individuals like you and private foundations.

Dr. Steve Ross of Lincoln Park Zoo who is chair of the Chimpanzee Species Survival Plan and founder of Project ChimpCare, endorsed Save the Chimps and their efforts in a phone call yesterday. Today in the United States there are over 2,000 chimpanzees living in a variety of circumstances: from zoos (both accredited and non-accredited), laboratories and sanctuaries to lives as pets and performers under private ownership. While many of these chimpanzees enjoy appropriate care and management and the security of long-term housing, many others do not. Furthermore, there is very little known about many of these chimpanzees, and there has been relatively little communication between these communities.

Project ChimpCARE is a non-partisan group committed to improving the wellbeing of chimpanzees, regardless of current circumstances, and opening the lines of communication between disparate groups to achieve this singular goal. Our objectives are based on the approach that accurate information is the basis for effective change.

Map and directions to the zoo are found on this page.

New Blog on the Block

Rick LoBello has done it again. As creator of the web site for the Chihuahuan Desert Education Coalition and other sites (including the very popular Facebook group Share El Paso with Native Plants and Wildlife) connecting people with nature, Rick has begun a blog where organizations can post post their events: chihuahuandesertcoalition.blogspot.com.

El Paso County Commissioners Sign International Park Resolution

Tuesday the El Paso County Commissioners Court passed a resolution which supported both the United States and Mexican government from establishing an International Commission to help advance the idea of an International Park, where both the Big Bend area and adjacent region in Mexico join as one. Rick LoBello, a member of the County Eco-Tourism committee spoke to Commissioners on behalf of the resolution.

The resolution comes on the heals of a joint meeting between U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Mexican Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Juan Elvira strengthening conservation cooperation in Big Bend area of the U.S. - Mexico Border.

The resolution was signed by all commissioners except Judge Cobos who was absent. Click on the image below to enlarge.

For more information about the Big Bend International Park, go to www.iloveparks.com.

El Paso as a Regional Eco-Tourism Hub

This past Friday I had the great fortune of joining a group put together by County Commissioner Veronica Escobar's office: the Eco-Tourism Committee. Its agenda opened with the message, "El Paso: The Gateway to Sustainable, Responsible, Multifaceted, Cultural Nature-Tourism." The agenda was comprehensive and each of the topics should be blogged about.

I'd like to begin with what I think is the most ambitious item: Rick LoBello's quest to create one big International Peace Park out of Big Bend National Park and adjacent, protected lands in the state of Coahuila, Mexico. As long as I have known Rick, the creation of the Peace Park is his passion. (He has others as evidenced by his energy in compiling web sites such as ILoveParks.com and the one for the Chihuahuan Desert Education Coalition. Rick is the Education Curator at El Paso Zoo. He blogs frequently.

The saga to create such a park has a long history and there is renewed hope that President Obama's recent talks with President Calderon included the park.

One might wonder how such a park could benefit El Paso. Big Bend is a good half day's drive from El Paso. Nevertheless, the park is this side of Pecos River and the closest international airport to it is in El Paso, Texas. Big Bend already showcases the diverse beauty and wildlife of the Chihuahuan Desert. A peace park would attract even more visitors to our region just as similar parks around the world do. In 2005, Brewster County, Texas (which encompasses Big Bend National Park) benefited from tourist trade to the tune of $17 million. Imagine the trade that El Paso County could generate from international tourists flying into El Paso, taking advantage of the numerous nature tourism sites and activities in the County and region prior to visiting Big Bend or the U.S./Mexico Peace Park. Combine that visit with a tour of the Guadalupe Mountains National Park and perhaps the Sacramentos or Gilas, and El Paso and its sister cities could richly benefit. (A similar "grand circle tour" includes the Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce National Parks in Arizona and Utah.)

LoBello also suggested an El Paso Great Southwest Tour: 7 Days, 7 Natural Wonders: the Franklin Mountains, White Sands, Carlsbad Caverns, the Guadalupes, Big Bend, Big Bend Ranch Park and a Davis Mountain loop that would include McDonald Observatory.

The eco-tourism committee enthusiastically and unanimously agreed to sponsoring a resolution in support of an International Park Commission - a resolution to go to local governments for adoption. Such a resolution was abandoned by Rotary International. However, that was Rotary. This is LoBello.