We all know that Southern Resident Killer Whales are in serious trouble, with a population of 77 that is declining rapidly. Their biggest problem is that they don’t have enough to eat because salmon don’t have enough clean, cool water to spawn in. It will take dam removal and culvert replacement to increase spawning habitat enough to recover SRKWs to a viable population size, but at the speed of government, that will proceed slowly. While waiting for government to do the big things, we can take action as individuals to do the little things. Therefore, I’m proposing the Million Tree Challenge. I’m asking friends in the whale community to join together to plant 1,000,000 trees per year. Trees provide shade to keep water cool, absorb toxins before they enter streams, prevent flooding that washes away eggs before they hatch, and provide other habitat benefits to improve salmon survival and make more food available to whales. Orca Network has 100,000 followers, so if each of them plant an average of one tree per month, we’ll make it. There are hundreds of thousands of vessel-based whale watchers, so if each of them plant an average of a couple trees, we’ll make it. There are also hundreds of thousands of shore-based whale watchers, so if each of them plant a couple trees, we’ll make it. There are millions of people who watch whales in aquariums, so if they plant an average of just one, we’ll make it. These four sectors can combine their efforts to increase the chance for success. We can make this a friendly competition, to see which sector can do the most, and which will be the first to do a million on its own (those of you who are part of more than one sector can decide which gets credit for your trees!). Those who live in or near salmon-bearing watersheds from Central California through British Columbia can recruit friends to help out. Those who don’t can make financial contributions to a restoration group in lieu of planting trees yourself. Please include participation in this challenge in your New Year’s resolutions (among the ones you actually plan to keep!) and share this with your friends. If you’re part of a group that does restoration, please let me know, so we can make it easy for whale watchers to find you (as Whale Scout has been helpin’ out Friends of North Creek Forest). I’ll work on getting lists of restoration organizations to whale watchers, figure out how to keep track of the number of trees planted, and post updates as needed. Let’s send more food to the whales, and a message to elected officials and resource managers that all aspects of whale recovery need to be expedited. Happy New Year!
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 00:07:34 +0000
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