ecology

default blog post image

Croc Hunting

The vast Zapata swamp in on the southern coast of Cuba had long been on my wish list of mangrove sites, both because of its unique wildlife and also because of the basic intrigue of this country that has cocked a snoot at the Western world. My first quest was the Cuban crocodile. . . Read more »
default blog post image

Thoreau and the Value of Mangroves

I travelled to Massachusetts to talk to a mangrove expert about ecological economics, and took time out to pay respect to one of nature’s greatest freedom fighters, who showed us the way to transcend the soulless rhetoric of materialism. . . Read more »
default blog post image

Leave the Suntan Lotion

Sometimes the best way to move forward is to go sideways, and while exploring mangroves in Brazil I took time out to visit my son in Salvador de Bahia, and gained inspiration from an art exhibition and a Brazilian sport. . . Read more »
default blog post image

Pilgrim at Key West

Writers need heroes—or at least this one does, and while looking at mangroves in Florida I decided to make a pilgrimage to the home of one of American literature’s most famous sons: Papa Hemingway. I wasn’t disappointed. . . Read more »
default blog post image

The Path to Restoration

I was privileged to meet one of the leading experts in mangrove restoration in his home state of Florida. Robin Lewis has spent his working life fine-tuning methods for restoration former mangrove wetlands to full ecological functionality. As he explained and showed me, mangrove restoration is a lot more than just planting seedlings in the mud. . . Read more »
default blog post image

Panthers and Airboats

As well as being a fabulous place to get to know mangroves, the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge is home to one of nature’s rarest big cats: the Florida panther. I talked about panther management with the leader of the recovery program while airboating around the Picayune Strand. That night, a panther showed itself, to the elation of one person and the frustration of another . . . Read more »
default blog post image

Don't Have a Banana

The Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge is one of the great mangrove preserves of the United States. In fact, here mangroves are spreading where they’re not wanted—into former freshwater swamplands that were drained for a grandiose housing project that failed to get off the ground. I travelled to the refuge with a Fish and Wildlife researcher who was gathering groundwater data that will help environmental managers make the right decisions about how to restore the unique ecology of the area.
default blog post image

Kill the Frogs?

Feeling overwhelmed by civilization? Dreaming of getting away from it all? Before embarking on your great escape, you should know that these days we intensively manage all our "wilderness" areas, the wildlife you encounter out there will undoubtedly include exotic species that are wreaking ecological havoc, and that some natural resource managers now believe there is nothing we can or should do about these increasingly human-dominated "novel ecosystems." Welcome to the Brave New Eco-World.
default blog post image

Earth Day at the Shack

Three springs ago I visited the Leopold Memorial Reserve—the depleted Wisconsin sand county farm Aldo Leopold bought in 1930 known as the “shack.” In the 1940s he recorded in his field notes that without large predators such as wolves to regulate their numbers, deer were eating aspens and other trees and shrubs to death. I wanted to see whether this was still so.
default blog post image

Home Ground

While in Caravelas I met people whose lives are intertwined with mangroves. They live amongst them, make their livelihood from them and revere them. Here is what I wrote after meeting some of the fishers of Caravelas. . . Read more»

Pages