Sandhill Cranes and the Great Valley That Once Was, and in Places, Still Is (An Apologetic)

There's a difference between apologetics and polemics. The latter is an attack, but the former is a defense. I was writing a piece at my other blog, Geotripper's Birds of California about Sandhill Cranes, and in a few paragraphs it turned into an apologetic for living in the Great Valley of California, a place that few people find attractive. The thing is, when one searches carefully, there is much to see here in the way of beauty and grandeur. The Sandhill Cranes are but a single aspect. The original post follows:

These beautiful birds are among the reasons I took up bird photography a couple of years ago. I was astounded to find that Sandhill Cranes (Grus Canadensis) congregated by the tens of thousands very close to where I live, and I was not the least bit aware of it.

Living in the Central Valley of California (which I agree should always be called the Great Valley) is an exercise in frustration and futility. The natural environment, the greatest savanna environment in the United States, was almost completely co-opted by agricultural development, and then by urban development. It's not a great place for people to live...most of the jobs are poorly-paid manual labor, the soil, air and water are infused with pesticides, herbicides, and particulate air pollution, and health problems, especially asthma and related respiratory illnesses are rampant. Education is a low priority to those in power. We are consistently the first to suffer in economic downturns, and the last region to recover from them.

And yet there is still a greatness to this valley. In terms of the natural environment, dedicated people have worked tirelessly for decades to preserve the remnants of the rich ecosystem, and have worked even harder to rebuild some of the habitats as abandoned farmlands have come available. Thousands of acres of river floodplains have been replanted with native vegetation. There is now a string of wildlife refuges along the 400 mile length of the valley that provide shelter for the millions of winter migrants, the Sandhill Cranes, the Aleutian Cackling Geese, the Snow and Ross's Geese, and many others.

The Great Valley that existed hundreds and thousands of years ago is still available to observe and enjoy, and often only a few miles from the homes of everyone who lives here. In the Modesto-Turlock area, there are the San Luis and San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuges. The Beckwith Road viewing platform (part of the San Joaquin refuge) is only an eight mile excursion from Modesto's biggest shopping mall. I was there last night and had a real treat. The Sandhill Cranes are elegant large birds, beautiful to photograph, but they are a bit wary (with good reason) of human beings. They tend to stay towards the interior of the refuge, being heard more than seen off in the distance.

It's deep into winter now, and food stores are kind of low. The refuge managers grow fields of corn and other crops for the sole use of the birds, and they'll plow down the corn in sections so the birds can feed easily. Once those crops are gone, the birds make do, and last night they were roaming the plowed fields close to the road and viewing platform. I got some of my closest shots in a long time.

This is part of the valley as it once was, and still is. It belongs to all of us, and it is right in our own backyard. And to our coastal and urban center friends, don't forget that there are some incredible sights to see on the valley floor when you are on your way to Yosemite or to one of the Sierra ski resorts. For our international visitors, there are more places to see than the travel brochures hint at. If you are interested in the natural world want to see some of the real California, not just the tourist meccas, then check out these places. The refuges are worthy of a look.

Lady Gaga, Woody Guthrie, and the Times We're Living In

Lady Gaga has never been mentioned in my blog before, but she earned my deepest respect yesterday when she included the Woody Guthrie song "This Land is Your Land" to open the Super Bowl half-time show. Because generations of children learned the song in primary school, it has become so familiar that it is easy to forget that the song is a populist protest anthem of the people. And it has become more than appropriate to remember the song as we face the political situation of the present day. We face huge threats, not from terrorists, not from foreign powers, but from those who now control the apparatus of our own government, and who want to twist the power of that government to profit a handful of oligarchs.

This land is your land This land is my land
From California to the New York island;
From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and Me.

As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway:
I saw below me that golden valley:
This land was made for you and me.

I read these lyrics and think proudly of the beautiful lands that we've set aside for the enjoyment of all our people, and those who visit from across the planet. Not just our national parks, but all of the national monuments, national wildlife refuges, and state parks across the country. And yet at this very moment, there is a movement in Congress to sell off some of our precious lands to private interests, to let the fossil fuel industry drill without regulation. One of the most beautiful landscapes in our country was set aside in the closing days of the Obama administration, and now there are those trying to remove protection from the Bear's Ears National Monument and others.

I've roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;
And all around me a voice was sounding:
This land was made for you and me.

When the sun came shining, and I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting:
This land was made for you and me.

But the song is much more than a paean to the beauty of our land. Our people are precious too, all of them. The song was written in the depths of the Great Depression, when more than a quarter of the population was unemployed and hungry. The oligarchs didn't care then, and they don't care today. The people who came to California looking for a better life were mistreated then just as they are today, whether they came from Oklahoma and Texas in the 1930s, or from Mexico in the present day.

As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?

Others added to the protest. I'm not sure who wrote it, but this verse was taught to me 45 years ago:

This land is your land, but it once was my land,

Until we sold you Manhattan Island.

You pushed our Nations to the reservations;

This land was stole by you from me.

The last verse from Woody honors not the freedom to roam the highways, but anyone who fights to have the rights reserved for all Americans, and in case we've forgotten, the rights of all people worldwide to live free:

Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.

If you ever want to understand true populism, the kind that isn't sold like snake oil by wanna-be dictators, then embrace all the meaning of this incredible song. In these times, this should be our national anthem. It celebrates the people and the land, not military victories. The real strength of our country comes not from military conquest, but the preservation and promotion of freedom for all.