PBS films Elgin High’s environmental efforts
20 April 2009
Elgin Illinois
3 Comments
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By ERIN CALANDRIELLO ecalandriello@scn1.com ELGIN — Instead of Facebooking and playing “Guitar Hero,” some Elgin High School students are attempting to environmentally make over their city. What makes their effort particularly interesting is that PBS …
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The great thing about what Ms. Perryman is doing at EHS is that she puts a local focus on environmental issues. In pristine condition, the native landscape we have is every bit as beautiful as any other landscape, and its restoration and protection should be the environmental priority regardless of the general state of the planet.
“According to environmental science teacher Deborah Perryman, the 40 acres of oak forest behind the school is more endangered worldwide than rain forest”
An utterly meaningless statement completely unsupported with by any facts. And that is what now is defined as “great”!
“the native landscape we have is every bit as beautiful as any other landscape, and its restoration and protection should be the environmental priority”
So you are advocating the government confiscate all farmland and restore it to its native condition? I suppose we can all eat acorns and squirrels. And on top of that you probably want a government mandated biofuel program too! That or your statement is devoid of meaning as well.
Orwell was off on his timing by about 25 years.
And on to a related note of comedy - the powers that be out at Kenyon Woods forest preserve have discovered that getting little planted oak trees to become big oak trees is much more difficult than they assumed as the little trees are quickly defoliated by the NATIVE fauna.
For a measly $50K a local resident named Paul is willing to impart his knowledge of how to grow and protect little oak tress in their native habitat. The powers that be declined that generous off and instead went with the much more expensive and unsustainability option of buying big trees from a tree farm and hauling and tranplanting into a “native” habitat! Refer to Orwell for explanation on how to reconcile ‘native’ and ‘transplant’ in the same breath.
On the other hand buying large trees might make it easier to have annual controlled burns in “native habitat” area. Ref. Orwell again if confused about controlled burn and native. And if your aren’t confused you really need to reference Orwell.
P.S. Controlled burns destroy the native flora necessary for protection of tiny oak trees from the native fauna.
Paul, I agree with you that ethanol/biofuel is not the answer, and I view that as conflicting with the possibility of returning large amounts of farmland to native prairie/oak savannah. I think that’s a worthy goal, and certainly it would not be done through confiscation but through gradual purchases by the forest preserve districts.
I’m not aware of what they’re trying to do at Kenyon Woods, but I go there from time to time–I think it’s one of the most promising preserves in Kane County. With appropriate restoration it can possess sort of the same attributes that make Bluff Spring Fen such an appealing place. To me what makes BSF interesting is that it’s like a microcosm of the world. In some ways, it’s like an immense Zen garden.
I fully support controlled burn in all the forest preserves, because they are the most important and effective way to keep out foreign, invasive species of plants. The native flora is not at all harmed by controlled burns, so I would not be concerned about it.
As for oak seedlings, they take many years to grow, and if the forest preserve transplants large native oaks, I think that will make the preserves more attractive more quickly, and I fully support that.
In the United States we are fortunate to be blessed with an immense amount of fertile land, and we have never had a problem feeding ourselves. That will never change even as we return significant amounts of farmland surrounding urban areas to wilderness.