July, 1999

Santa Cruz Island Landowner Dies
Francis Gherini, 84, died April 1999. Gherini gained notoriety in a battle with the National Park Service over condemnation and seizure of his land at the eastern tip of Santa Cruz Island off the Ventura coast. In a court case, Gherini was awarded $13.4 million-more than three times the amount the government had offered. For more on recent Santa Cruz Island history see LEAF-let articles in Jan/Feb '97 and Jan/Feb '98 issues or at the Albright web site.

An Ecological Conundrum
It sounds like a plot for a Franz Kafka novel. The U.S. Navy on San Clemente Island is faced with the problem of state-protected endangered foxes dining on federally-protected threatened birds. Foxes on the Navy-owned island are killing loggerhead shrikes, of which fewer than 20 are known to exist in the wild. Benign attempts to protect the birds failed so some 15 foxes were killed. Now a new trap-and-hold program for the foxes gives young birds time to mature and fly out of harm's way.

Unintended Consequences
According to Cornell University researchers, corn crops that have been genetically altered to eliminate insect pests, while leaving beneficial insects unharmed, are killing monarch butterfly larvae. The monarchs do not feed on the corn but lay their eggs on milkweed that grows near cornfields. The toxins-which appear in corn pollen as crystals-are carried on the wind and settle on the sticky milkweed leaves where the butterfly larvae feed.

Real Firebugs
According to Associated Press reports from Alaska, this could be a bad year for fires in the northern state. Vast stands of spruce trees have been killed by the spruce bark beetle. Not only do the dead trees provide fuel, the resulting penetration of sunlight to the earth generates an increased covering of grass—which burns even hotter than the trees do. Grass, which previously covered about 5 percent of the affected areas, has increased to approximately 50 percent.

What Did You Do Today?
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization the number one task of the world's population is pulling weeds—by hand. The FAO estimates that more than 10 percent of the world's agriculture is lost to weed infestation—even in the face of this gargantuan human effort.

Getting Into Legal Hot Water
Microbes, called "thermophiles," found in Yellowstone National Park's 175-degree geothermal waters are useful in genetic fingerprinting and other industrial processes. A conflict between the National Park Service and a San Diego biotech company wanting to "mine" Yellowstone's microbes has landed in federal court. The outcome could be as interesting as these hot little buggers.