Josiah Clark - Naturalist

Only the best for the best crew around. ‘tis the tradition to share the first fish or two of the season. They are holding it down. Love my peeps.

Fair to say I’m the only Kayaker in the state that’s caught 4 Salmon in two days this season. It was not wide open fishing up there. Many boats and most Kayaks skunked completely.
Anyone who’s really tried understands that cracking the ocean Salmon code is a tricky and unforgiving beast. It’s brought many a grown man to tears. (At least I know what I like😂). This time I got the chrome I came for.

Elderberry Crusades chapter 3: A little bird told me. Native Fruit, Native Processes. Folllwing the shifting baselines of fruit currency and invasive seeds in the migration pipeline is like tracking a moving target. How do we know how native and invasive fruit get around? Bird watching is a practice of active observation. Let the plants speak. May the lessons emerge.

Red Elderberry: One plant, many uses to many kinds of wildlife. Stacking of function is a term often used to describe human created systems but is an excellent way to articulate the most important plants within a natural ecosystem. “Trickle down ecology” is where “producers” at the base of the ecosystem provide energy that trickles down through a wide range of organisms in the food web.

The elderberry Crusades chapter 1: A public service announcement a year for this exceptional plant is simply not enough. I have run out of superlatives to adequately capture the importance of this plant (and elderberry species cumulatively across their range ) to breeding birds in North America. If there were one single act any gardener in North America could do to aid breeding songbirds, it would likely be to encourage the presence of robust and productive elderberry trees. Please tell your gardening and Bird loving friends to spread the word! Imagine the difference we could all make together.