kristaschlyer

[kristaschlyer]

Foggy morning in the #anacostiawatershed with one of my favorite wild neighbors the kingfisher. #urbanwildlife #washingtondc

[kristaschlyer]

I love surprises, and the Anacostia watershed is full of them. Right in the heart of Washington DC there are vernal pools and a beaver pond, home to an amazing variety of wild species, including this marbled salamander. I found this guy on a hike with Anacostia Watershed Society naturalist Jorge Bogantes Montero. The marbled salamander was snuggled under a log with a much larger spotted salamander.

They looked sleepy. But looks can be deceiving.  Washington DC's amphibians can be as busy as a K Street lobbyist this time of year--an explosion of breeding going on in the ephemeral pools of springtime.

[kristaschlyer]

At Playa Tijuana, where the US-Mexico border ends in the Pacific Ocean, the posts of US wall are painted on the Mexican side, with messages that change depending on where you stand. (@nprinskeep/NPR)

[kristaschlyer]

In 2012, the Border Patrol shot through the posts of a fence and killed Jose Antonio Elena-Rodriguez, a 16-year-old who was throwing rocks. The metal posts of the barrier divide Nogales, Arizona from Nogales in the Mexican state of Sonora. More than a year and a half after the shooting, a cross marks the spot of the teenager’s death. (@nprinskeep/NPR) 

[kristaschlyer]

When Ocsar Casares, a writer from Brownsville, Texas, showed us the local border barrier, he said, “Homeland Security calls it a fence; I call it a wall.” Does he call it that because “fence” minimizes it and “wall” suggests that you don’t like it? Casares replied: “wall” is “more honest.” Here are some of the barriers we’ve seen over the past many hundreds of miles. (@kainazamaria/NPR)

[kristaschlyer]

History in the Borderlands

Where there are borderlands there is richness. Natural borders between eco-zones are rich in biodiversity because tropical and temperate species co-exist together. Political boundaries are rich in history and culture because they mark a transition zone between peoples. They can be a meeting ground, rich in co-mingled cultures. They can also be tension zones, depending on how governments respond to these transitions, and how heavily politics determines the relationships.

I had the privilege today of speaking on a panel with three experts on borderlands environmental history from universities around the United States. Our panel was titled Nature at America's Borders. We were each speaking about our own disciplines, all relating to borderlands, at the American Association for Environmental History conference in San Francisco. 

Mary Mendoza was discussing her research about the history of migration across the US-Mexico border, including the exploitation and abuse of migrant laborers in the Bracero Program in the 1940s-60s.

Neel Baumgardener was discussing his work on wilderness at the borders.

I was talking about the impact of border walls and militarization on wildlife and wild lands.

And Rachel St. John was a commentator weaving our stories together. 

I don't often get to speak with historians--most of my work is about the here and now--the past 20 years of missteps on the US-Mexico border, and the current precarious reality for wild species. Linking this story to the context of the past 150 years added a great depth to the story. We have been struggling with our understanding of borders and our relationships with neighbors for a long, long time--and for just as long, the wild world has been caught up in our confusion. 

[kristaschlyer]

This used to be a forest

Whole Foods is cutting it down to build a store where people can buy environmentally sensitive foods. 

A few centuries ago European colonists cut down all the forests in the Anacostia River watershed to grow tobacco, then all the silt washed off into the river. A 50 foot deep river is now less than a foot deep at low tide because of all the deforestation over the years. 

I heard somebody say of this Whole Foods project once, "It's a great idea, that land is not being used for anything."

The creatures who live there might feel differently about that. 

[kristaschlyer]

That's March 21!

The Washington DC Mayoral primary is fast approaching and March 21 will be the only candidate forum to focus on the environment-including restoration of the Anacostia River. I’ll be showing some of my photography of the river that night. Come on out and support watershed restoration and a pro-environment candidate.

[kristaschlyer]

This map isn’t much use for driving directions, but is in our heads as we drive: The United States and Mexico as they looked in 1830. What are now Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California and parts of other states were in Mexico; Louisiana was a border state.

[kristaschlyer]

The Washington DC Mayoral primary is fast approaching and March 21 will be the only candidate forum to focus on the environment-including restoration of the Anacostia River. I’ll be showing some of my photography of the river that night. Come on out and support watershed restoration and a pro-environment candidate.

[kristaschlyer]

Charro Days was the biggest, most special thing that happened in Brownsville, an annual celebration, since 1938, of our cultural ties with our sister city of Matamoros. Like a second Christmas only two months after the first one, we couldn’t wait for it to come around. Men and women, boys and girls, young and old, we all attended in the thousands, many dressed up as the Mexican cowboys that the four-day festival was named after.

Our host during Charro Days is writer Oscar Cásares, who recalls a particularly memorable parade in this month’s Texas Monthly. (via nprontheroad) nprontheroad great to hear you are spotlighting the #borderlands! Hope you'll visit the wildlife refuges and national parks of the region, and talk about the impact #borderwall and militarization are having on the wildlife and environment of the borderlands. The senate-passed immigration reform bill would be a disaster for jaguars, ocelot, pronghorn and many other endangered species.