The Conservation committee encourages you to dig in and help repair the damage caused by last years October snow storm. We will be joining the Re-Tree WNY organization in planting trees on November 3rd and 10th. On 11/3 planting will be in several parks in south Buffalo and in the Town of Clarence. On 11/10 planting will be in Delaware Park, Squaw Island (500 trees), Amherst, Grand Island and northern suburbs. We will be using the bare root tree planting method which requires minimal digging and no heavy lifting. Leaders will be on hand to show you how to plant the tree to optimize their survival. The goal is to plant 30,000 trees by the year 2012. Please be a part of returning beauty to our area.

The Court has thrown out the Perrysburg forest sale (Friends of J N Adams Historic Landmark and Forest), citing its illegality. Local preservationists hope to buy the property, or at least bid the price up high enough to make it illogical for loggers to snap it up. Another ray of hope in our region and a hard fought victory.

Recently the former mayor of Milwaukee, John Norquist, was in town to give some advice to the Buffalo Common Council. Under his leadership, a structure similar to the monstrosity that we call the Skyway was removed in Milwaukee, helping to pave the way for a waterfront revival in that town. He brought many great representations of what our shoreline could look like if we did it right. The bad news is that a push is on to use an available pot of money to refigure (something that is badly needed) Fuhrman Blvd. He pointed out that the current proposal would keep the avenue at the grade it is and may make any possible tie-in with a Skyway removal project highly unlikely. The position was took by Mr. Norquist that to do it right, you need to include the impediment’s removal in the process. DOT’s alternative #3 was voiced as an option that would allow for a more conducive overall project. Let’s hope the zeal of our politicians to say ‘see, we did something’ does not make it more difficult for the future possibility of opening up the waterfront to all.

After sitting idle for years, the failed nightclub cited on prime Lake Erie waterfront land is no more. With confusing roundabouts to reach this destination, many were discouraged in their attempts to readily find the establishment. By the coming spring, there is slated to be a new shoreline trail spanning 6600 feet in length for everyone to enjoy and view our wonderful Lake from. This action will hopefully be a catalyst to more access to our treasure.

Life on Earth is disappearing fast according to the 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. According to the World Conservation Union (IUCN), the number of threatened species is increasing across almost all the major taxonomic groups. An IUCN Red List Index can be calculated for any group which has been assessed at least twice. Some of the highlights (lowlights?) are as follows:

Most threatened birds, mammals and amphibians are located on the tropical continents, regions that contain the tropical broadleaf forests which are believed to harbor the majority of the Earth’s terrestrial and freshwater species.

Australia, Brazil, China and Mexico hold particularly large numbers of threatened species.

Estimates vary greatly, but current extinction rates are at least 100-1,000 times higher than natural background rates.

The vast majority of extinctions since 1500 AD have occurred on oceanic islands, but over the last 20 years, continental extinctions have become as common as island extinctions.

Corals have been assessed and added to the IUCN Red List for the very first time. Ten Galápagos species have entered the list, with two in the ‘Critically Endangered’ category and one in the ‘Vulnerable’ category. Wellington’s Solitary Coral has been listed as ‘Critically Endangered’ (Possibly Extinct). The main threats to these species are the effects of El Niño and climate change.

In addition, 74 seaweeds have been added to the IUCN Red List from the Galápagos Islands. Ten species are listed as Critically Endangered, with six of those highlighted as Possibly Extinct. The cold-water species are threatened by climate change and the rise in sea temperature that characterizes El Niño. The seaweeds are also indirectly affected by overfishing, which removes predators from the food chain, resulting in an increase of sea urchins and other herbivores that overgraze these algae.

There are 41,415 species on the Red List, 16,306 of them threatened with extinction, up from 16,118 last year. The total number of extinct species has reached 785 and a further 65 are only found in captivity or in cultivation. One in four mammals, one in eight birds, one third of all amphibians and 70% of the world’s assessed plants on the 2007 IUCN Red List are in jeopardy.

The next meeting of the Conservation Committee will be on November 20 at 7PM. Email for more information.