FERN’s Friday Feed: The ecological drama of coastal redwoods
Welcome to FERN’s Friday Feed (#FFF), where we share the stories from this week that made us stop and think.
The extraordinary lives of coast redwoods
Noēma
“The coast redwood holds up the sky. And what holds up the tree? Soil, and lots of it. The alluvium from which the trees grow — clay, sand and silt, the remainder of long-gone riverbeds — is some 20 feet deep in places. The root system of the tree spreads roots laterally for ridiculous distances — nearly 100 feet, although in a relatively shallow fashion,” writes Daniel Lewis. “The redwood’s bigness means it takes up a lot of ecological real estate. There are soil, air, water and chemical dramas. There are pollinators, incubators, microbes, contributors, givers, takers. All are actors in a production that stretches from the tips of the coast redwood’s roots to the tops of its canopies and then radiates out from there to the bigger world: the forests the tree makes.”
The next feral hog problem
Ambrook Research
“Feral swine are a notoriously damaging invasive species that can quickly impact agricultural facilities and products,” writes Michael Crowe. “They’re ‘ecosystem engineers,’ changing the environment around them by degrading water quality and wetlands, and altering plant makeup in an area …But all this destruction pales in comparison to a quick-spreading and deadly pig pandemic. The tabletop exercise in Spokane [last October] was concerned about pigs as a viral vector, potential carriers for disease that obey no laws of humanity — whether property lines, state lines, or international borders. Wild pigs are known to transmit parasites and diseases like pseudorabies, brucellosis, and tuberculosis. But most troubling in recent years is African Swine Fever.”
The butterfly redemption
Hakai Magazine
“Although never a wide-ranging species, [the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly was] once common from Oregon’s southern Willamette Valley to British Columbia’s Vancouver Island. Now, only 13 wild populations are known to exist in the United States; three more are known in Canada,” writes Brian Payton. “The Taylor’s checkerspot is considered a keystone species of the Pacific Northwest’s remaining open prairie-oak ecosystems—97 percent of which have been lost to development, agriculture, and encroaching forests. Recognizing the need for urgent action, the Oregon Zoo began a captive breeding program for the species in 2003. In 2011, the zoo helped establish the breeding program at Mission Creek as part of The Evergreen State College and Washington State’s Sustainability in Prisons Project. Since then, the work undertaken by these incarcerated women has become one of the last best hopes for the species’ survival.”
The new standard of Japanese fish
Taste
“The ocean teems with countless types of fish, but on restaurant menus across America, a few staple species reign supreme. We have only love for the rich flavor of fatty tuna, or the delicate nuance of slightly sweet yellowtail. But diversifying the fish we order doesn’t just help offset the overwhelming global appetite for overfished species like salmon and hamachi,” writes Aliza Abarbanel, “it creates opportunities to find a new favorite fish. In sushi restaurants and beyond, Japanese fish is the standard. The emergence of a new fish may seem unlikely, but the Japanese Farmed Fish Association has spent years partnering with research institutions and aquaculture tech start-ups to create new types of farmed fish that improve on sustainability and flavor. If you love fish, there are two new standards to seek out: Acerola Madai and Burihira, both available in America for the first time this year.”
Britain’s ‘Sublime Society of Beefsteaks’
Atlas Obscura
“Exclusive, men-only dining societies have long reveled in a combination of idiosyncratic eating and political partisanship. Consider the Fat Men’s Clubs of the late 19th-century United States, where members feasted on suckling pigs while networking with some of the country’s most powerful and affluent men … In Britain, these dining societies really took hold in the 1700s,” writes Rachel Naismith. “Leading this culinary revelry was the Sublime Society of Beefsteaks, started in 1735 by the theatrical impresario John Rich. Not the only society devoted to beef at the time (at least another five were meeting across the United Kingdom on a regular basis), it stood out as the most popular and continues as the oldest in Britain … Indulging in a beefsteak was an act laden with meaning, a bold emblem of patriotism set against the backdrop of England’s 18th-century wars with France. It was a direct challenge to the perceived elaborateness of French cuisine and the Catholic dietary practices of Lent.”